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Bottled Beer - Alcohol glossary Category: Food and Drink > Beer Date & country: 10/11/2007, UK Words: 64

AA
apparent attenuation, giving an indication of levels of residual sugar. Calculated from original gravity minus final gravity

abbey-style
a range of strong ale styles originating from Benelux monastic brewing traditions (see also enkel, dubbel, tripel, quadrupel)

ABV
alcohol by volume; the most common measure of the strength of an alcoholic beverage

ABW
alcohol by weight; can be calculated from original and final specific gravities of the brew

adjuncts
unfermentable additives that add to the flavour or texture of the finished brew

ale
beer brewed with a top-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

alt bier
copper coloured, top-fermented beer made almost exclusively in Dusseldorf. Hoppy, slightly bitter beer - famous example is from Zum Uerige Brauhaus

aroma hops
hops chosen for their aromatic qualities. Generally added to the brew by dry-hopping, e.g. Goldings

barleywine
an exceptionally strong style of old English ale, typically dark, rich, fruity and malty

BCA
see bottle-conditioned ale

beer engine
mechanism used in traditional British pubs to pump beer from keg to glass, avoiding false CO2 carbonation

bière de garde
lit. 'keeping beer'; a style of strong beer (normally but not always lager) from northern France.

bittering hops
hops chosen for their bitter flavour. Generally added to the wort by boiling, e.g. Fuggles

black and tan
a layered mixture of stout and lager or ale. The stout goes on top. Exists in many vareties, Guinness and Harp or Guinness and Bass being the best known

bock, bok
originally a dark German lager brewed with travelling in mind ... strength of around 6.5 in a dark beer

bottle-conditioned ale (BCA)
an ale that is bottled as a live product with conditioning yeast. Technically classed as a real ale

Burtonising
the process of treating water in order to add calcium carbonate to it (originally to make it more similar to the water of Burton-on-Trent, UK)

CAMRA
Campaign for Real Ale; UK organisation devoted to the promotion and protection of real ale (see also Craft Brewers Guild, Les Amis de la Bière)

cask-conditioned ale
an ale that has its final fermentation in the cask from which it is dispensed

copper
vessel in which additives such as hops and adjuncts are added to the liquor from the mash tun

Craft Brewers' Guild
represents US craft brewed beers sold in and around New York. Owned by the Brooklyn Brewery (see also CAMRA, Les Amis de la Bière)

doppelbock
a high-gravity bock

dry hopping
the addition of hops near the end of the brewing process to impart aroma. The hops are par-boiled (so are not strictly 'dry')

dubbel
Abbey style definition. Can mean two fermentations. Usually a dark beer

dunkelweizen
dark German wheat beer, usually served cloudy with conditioning yeast

eisbock
a strong German lager in which ice forms in the final stages of secondary fermentation, thus concentrating the alcohol

enkel
Abbey style definition. Single

faro
a sweetened young lambic, or a young lambic served with sugar that can be added 'to taste'

fermentation
the process by which yeast turns sugar (malt) into alcohol. One by-product (in the brewing process) is carbon dioxide, which gives many beers their fizz

finings
added to the brew to aid clarity by causing the yeast particles to coagulate. Common types are made from fish scales or seaweed

framboise, frambozen
a lambic flavoured with raspberries

goblet
glass that is bulbous so as to allow warming from the hand, which releases the fine aromas and flavours of the beer

golden ale
a strong Belgian style of ale, of which Duvel is the best-known example

gueuze
a mixture of an old and a young lambic, combining the complexity of the old lambic with the spriteliness of the young lambic

hefeweizen
cloudy German wheat beer, originating from Bavaria

IBU
international bittering units. Measured as parts per million of isomerised hop resins.

IPA
India Pale Ale. Heavily hopped strong pale ale originally brewed in the UK for shipping to the colonies. Nowadays it is a hoppy, light-coloured ale

kettle
see copper

kriek
a lambic flavoured with cherries

Kräusening
the addition of a little wort to the fermented product to add some body and sweetness, but chiefly live yeast to restart the fermentation process in order to generate carbon dioxide.

lacework
mark left on side of glass by head as the beer is drunk, resembling lace

lager, lagering
beer that has undergone a period of lagering, i.e. a long fermentation in a cold environment; brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, now classified as Saccharomyces uvarum)

lambic
a light and fruity Belgian style of ale, which uses stale hops to avoid bitterness and ferments with wild yeast (e.g. Brettanomyces lambicus and Brettanomyces bruxellensis). This is treated as an appelation of origin

Les Amis de la Bière
French beer-promoting body. Partly responsible for launching seasonal styles in France (see also CAMRA, Craft Brewers Guild)

liquor
water before it has malt or hops added to it

Lovibond (L)
colour index measured in degrees; higher number equals darker colour

mash tun
vessel where the brewer puts the malted grains to steep in hot water to produce 'liquor', to which hops, adjuncts and other additives are later added in the copper

milk stout
originally a stout brewed with lactose, which only partially ferments, producing a very sweet, nutritious, beer. The term 'milk stout' was outlawed in the UK because of its misleading name

old ale
a vague UK style, covering various traditional strong, rich ales. Overlaps somewhat with barley wines

original gravity
specific gravity of the wort before fermentation

pilsner
the original clear, pale lagers (and originally from Pilsen). Nowadays characterised by the citrusy Saaz hops and bubbly body

plato
a system used to measure alcohol content, relating to the ratio of fermentable malts to water.

porter
thought to originate from the mix of sour and young beer drunk by porters working in the London stations and docks. Nowadays taken to mean a dark bitter beer, half way between a bitter and a stout

quadrupel
Abbey style definition. Very strong (around 10%+ abv), chewy, dark and fruity beer

real ale
ale which is a live product at the point of delivery, i.e. still containing live yeast. This includes both cask- and bottle-conditioned ales.

Rheinheitsgebot
1516 Bavarian purity law, still adhered to: only water, hops, malt and yeast may be used in the brewing of beer

schooner
type of glass tapering from top to bottom. Generally used for lagers. (Also a sherry glass and a boat)

sour red ale
a Belgian style of ale, of which the best-known example is brewed by Rodenbach

specific gravity
density of a liquid expressed as a ratio to that of water

stout
a black or dark brown beer originating from Ireland. This is brewed with soft water like a lager, but with top fermenting yeast like an ale. Its colour comes from the highly roast barley, which also imparts its characteristic bitterness

tripel
Abbey style definition. Pale, strong ale (around 9% abv). Can mean three fermentations

weissbier
cloudy, pale German wheat beer

wit bier
see wheat beer, weissbier. Wit bier is the Benelux version, brewed with added curacao zest and coriander

wort
mix of water, malt and additives ready for fermentation