The Lowdown on the Language of Beer
As the craft beer phenomenon increases in popularity, the terminology gets stranger and more complicated. But, it doesn’t have to be. We want everyone to have a better handle on all the brew-specific words in the intoxicating world of craft beer, so here are a few:
1. Adjunct= Grain that is not malted barley, like rice, oats, wheat or corn.
2. Bottle Conditioning= Carbonation via the addition of sugar and yeast prior to capping.
3. Dry Hopped= Additional hops added for flavor at the end of brewing.
4. Esters= A flavor compound occurring mostly in ale.
5. Gravity= A measurement used to determine ABV.
6. Imperial= A style that’s intensified by increasing malt and hops.
7. IBU= International Bittering Units, a scale for the amount of bitterness.
8. Macro Lager= Typically mass-produced beers like Miller and Budweiser.
9. Malty= Any brew with apparent malt characteristics.
10. Noble Hops= Aromatic hops used in European lagers.
11. Piney= Hoppy beers with predominantly pine notes.
12. Single Hopped= Beers with only one type of hops for a specific flavor profile.
13. Brettanomyces= Wild yeast used in fermentation.
14. Clean= Not much complex texture or flavor.
15. Session Beer= Low alcohol, about three to four percent.
16. Skunked= Exposed to sunlight and having a skunky flavor and smell.
17. Fresh or Wet Hopped= Fresh-cut hops dumped in for a delicate green hop flavor.
18. Yeasty= Intentional yeast flavor.
19. Cask Beers= Unfiltered, hand-pumped, and unpasteurized with a little yeast added, giving them gentler carbonation.
20. Phenols= A fermentation product much like esters.
