Ale
This products' fruity accent comes from relatively quick, warm fermentation with a variety of yeast that rises during the process. This procedure (known as top fermentation) classically defines an ale. There are many types and colour and strength of the brew may vary.
Beer
Any fermented drink made primarily from malted grain and seasoned with hops.
Bright
A beer that has been matured and filtered before leaving the brewery.
Bitter and Pale Ale
Describes a beer which is usually copper coloured and has a noticeable bitter bite. Best served in a plain pint glass at 12-13°C (54-55°F).
Brown Ale
Sweeter, darker and less bitter than Pale Ales but usually lighter in colour and body than Porters.
Export Style
In Germany, a pale, dry lager and reasonably strong lager. Elsewhere the term has simply come to mean 'premium'.
Fermentation
The process by which yeast converts the sugar in wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Grist
Malt that has been crushed to a coarse flour.
Head
This is the foam that masses on the top of poured beer.
Hops
Hops provide the characteristic bitterness and contribute to the aroma of the beer.
Lager
In some countries the term 'lager' is applied only to the most basic beers. In general, however, the term applies to any bottom fermenting beer.
Liquor
A brewer's term for water which has the correct balance of minerals to produce beer of the required palate. It provides the liquid medium essential for the fermentation process. The bulk of beer is water, with the type and quality being essential to the flavour of the final beer.
Malt
Barley grains that have been soaked and then allowed to germinate in air before being kiln-dried in a stream of warm air. Malt lends flavour and colour to beer.
Mashing
The barley malt is added and crushed to expose the inside of the kernel, this process is known as 'mashing'.
Mild
A lightly hopped beer that is generally sweeter and darker than bitter.
Porters
This is a very dark beer. Some have a chocolatey silkiness whilst others are more acrid and sharp tasting. Either way they are usual fairly dark in colour.
Sparging
Also known as 'lautering', this describes the process following mashing where the spent grains are filtered from the liquor.
Stout
A very dark ale made with roasted malt.
Wort
Wort or sweet wort is how the liquor is described once the mashed barley malt grains have been filtered out. The liquid is now essentially a sugar solution and is ready to be boiled and the hops added.
Yeast
Yeast is the key component in brewing, carrying out the fermentation reaction in which enzymes are used to change sugar (present as starch in the cereal grains) to alcohol.
