ABCs of Beer Terminology

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ABCs of Beer Terminology

  • Alcohol by Volume Most commonly known by its acronym, ABV, alcohol by volume is used to show the consumer the percentage of alcohol in each beer.
  • Berliner Weisse A variation of a bottle-conditioned wheat beer, which contains wild cultures to give it a refreshing yet tart and often lemony fruit flavor, a Berliner Weisse is usually low in alcohol and a good starter beer for those not familiar with the sour beer styles.
  • Cellaring Not unlike wine connoisseurs, craft beer lovers also enjoy cellaring—or aging—beers that can go through distinct and unique changes over time. While not all beers can be cellared, styles such as stouts, Belgians, sours and barleywines can do wonders with a little age.
  • Dry Hopping This is a technique used late in the brewing process to draw out hop aromas rather than create more of a bitterness to the profile.
  • Esters These flavors that arrive during the fermentation process can give a beer both fruity aroma and flavor.
  • Fresh Hop Season The hop harvest begins in late August and usually lasts about four weeks. Some of the best fall beers released throughout the country each year come during harvest season in the form of fresh hop and harvest ales.
  • Gose A once nearly extinct German beer style, the gose is now a much beloved staple of the beer drinking community. This unfiltered wheat beer is brewed with the addition of salt that births flavors of lemon sourness and, as one would imagine, a characteristic saltiness.
  • Hops A female herb that grows in a vine and yields pine-like cones, hops are used to create a distinctly bitter aroma and flavor to each beer. Currently there are hundreds of different hop varieties, each with its own smell and taste profile.
  • International Bitterness Unit Commonly abbreviated as IBU, this is the universal measurement of how bitter the hops are in each beer.
  • Juicy Most recently the perfect describer for the latest way of hoppy beers, this term denotes a fresh, wet sweetness that might be the opposite of a dry, tannic experience. Juicy, almost juice-like IPAs are all the rage these days.
  • Kettle Sour This latest controversial craze is to make inexpensive sour beers by speeding up the brewing process. Instead of spending its fair share of time souring in a barrel, this process includes souring within the brew kettle instead.
  • Lactobacillus A wild bacteria used to sour beer, lactobacillus is commonly used in such styles as Belgian lambics and American Wild Ales
  • Mead Considered one of the oldest alcoholic beverages, mead is created from fermented honey and can contain fruit, spices and even hops.
  • Nitrogen Used to carbonate beer, this gas creates a thick and creamy head and mouthfeel to the beer.
  • Open Fermentation Often done in large open containers known as coolships, this traditional European process yields higher generations of yeast.
  • Package This general term is used in the beer industry to identify beer in bottles or cans.
  • Quaffable This commonly-used term describes a beer as being incredibly easy to drink.
  • Resinous This term denotes a piney, almost chewy taste and aroma.
  • Session beer This type of beer typically has a thinner body and low percentage of alcohol, generally under 5 percent ABV, of which multiples can be consumed in one “session” without worry of falling over.
  • Table Beer With origins in both Belgium and France, this term denotes a beer that is extremely low in alcohol, traditionally enjoyed during dinnertime by the entire family.
  • Untappd This popular social media app allows beer drinkers to keep track of when, where and even how they experienced each brew. Like other social networks, users can communicate their love of the brew to others across the world.
  • Variant This term often describes different varieties of the same beer, such as a barrel-aged version with coffee or another with chocolate, etc.
  • White Whales Recalling Melville’s classic novel of an epic hunt, this term refers to the most sought-after and prestigious beers that are often incredibly hard to get your hands on.
  • X As in old-time moonshine bottles, this letter is used to describe the strength of a beer. For example, a Belgian tripel was identified by XXX.
  • Yeast This is the ingredient in beer that converts natural sugar into alcohol.
  • Zymurgy This is the applied science that studies the process of fermentation.

Expand your palate with these up-and-coming breweries throughout Ohio.

5 Common Off-Flavors in Beer

With over 100 breweries in the state of Ohio alone and over 5,300 across the nation, consumers are gulping down more beer than ever before. As beer lovers, we wish every glass was filled with perfection, but unfortunately that is not always the case. While dislike for a particular beer oftentimes comes from personal preference, sometimes the brew is quite simply “off,” which is to say, not in keeping with the taste profiles of its style. On occasion the problem could be a common off-flavor, which could arise as early as the brewing process or as late as its rest period on a dusty shelf.

Here are a handful of common off-flavors that can appear in beer:

  • Diacetyl // Descriptor: Buttery, buttered popcorn or butterscotch taste // Some styles of beer use this to a minor degree to create a desired flavor; however, an overabundance of it can be a warning sign of bacterial contamination in the beer.
  • Light Struck // Descriptor: skunky taste // Possibly the most well-known off-flavor—at least to the consumer—comes from excessive exposure to daylight or artificial light. This happens most commonly from the use of clear or green bottles, which is why you tend to see a large number of breweries gravitating towards brown bottles or cans.
  • Dimethyl Sulphide // Descriptor: creamed corn or tomato sauce // Formed during either wort production or fermentation, this off-flavor comes from a growing amount of contaminant during the brewing process and is most commonly found in lagers, where low levels are acceptable.
  • Papery // Descriptor: cardboard taste or oxidation // This off-flavor comes to a beer as it ages, is an obvious indicator that the beer is beyond its ideal drinking expiration, and can sometimes be controlled by proper storage of beer over time.
  • Hydrogen Sulphide // Descriptor: Rotten eggs // An off-flavor in nearly every beer style—but the signature flavor in UK’s Burton Ale—this off-flavor is produced by yeast during fermentation and maturation and is one of the most off-putting smells in beer.