Beer Styles
Month after month, year after year, we take pride in assembling our monthly beer club shipments. We look at each brewery, see which styles they are locally famous for, and include their most popular, award-winning brews in our Craft Beer Club shipments. Read more about our beer philosophy.
We include a wide variety of beer styles in our shipments, which gives our members an opportunity to discover new favorites and expand their beer tasting palate! The Original Craft Beer Club’s monthly deliveries feature 2 different craft breweries and 4 different beer styles - with 3 beers of each style.
Craft brewing is an art form that is constantly evolving and enjoyed by beer lovers across the world. The combinations of aromas and flavors experienced when enjoying craft beers are endless. Whether you enjoy roasted malt flavors, fruit forwardness, hop bitterness, easy to drink American Lagers, or classic Wheat beers, craft brewers have a recommendation for you.
If you discover a beer with unusual flavors or aromas, remember that it is available and perhaps popular for a reason, so don’t hesitate to try something new, because you may just discover your new favorite beer.
Our craft beer club’s goal is to place in your hands, the most unique and rare beers, from incredible brewing companies all over the United States. These craft beer artists work hard to develop unique practices, adding in new ingredients, fermenting different ways with different yeasts, experimenting with new hops combinations, and the list goes on. It is our job to help these artists be recognized for their hard work and risk taking, by sharing them with you.
7000 years of beer
Craft beers have a rich and diverse history from all over the world, dating back over 7,000 years! Today, you can still taste this history through the unique and revitalized craft beers served at your local microbrewery, beer pub, or in our craft beer of the month club shipments. With multiple beer styles in each shipment, it just might be the best history lesson to date!
Types of Craft Beer in our boxes
With many different beer styles, and even styles-within-a-style, tasting new craft beers seems to be the name of the game nearly anywhere you go. Not sure where to begin? Take a look through our ever-growing list of beer styles below. Each of these beers has been featured in our Craft Beer Club. Have you tried them all? Read more about the styles of beer we pick.
You'll find descriptions for beer styles of all ages, from all countries, including: Ales, Lagers, Stouts, Ambers, Blonde Ales, Pale Ales, India Pale Ales, Dark beers, Wheat beers, Sour beers, and the list goes on. Under each beer style, we have included a brief history of the brew, the aromas and tasting nodes, the prominent ingredients used, the beers color and ABV, the food pairings, which glasses the brew should be drunken from, and plenty more fun facts.
Learn more about your favorites, or hone in on a new style that intrigues you.

Altbier
Altbier are ales first brewed in Cologne and Düsseldorf Germany. The name alt means “old” - suggesting that this brew had an older style to it, highlighting da ...
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Amber Ale
Amber ales were first brewed in the style of English bitters. The emphasis was on balance with a bit maltier and sweeter taste than the early pale ales. Approa ...
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American Adjunct Lager
American Adjunct Lager is now the catch-all term for beers brewed by giant commercial breweries - but it didn’t start out that way. These light-bodied, pale, f ...
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American Amber / Red Ale
This an umbrella term that is often used to described beer that is lighter than a Dark ale, with colors ranging from amber to red tones. These beers have a sty ...
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American Amber / Red Lager
American amber / red lager is a variation on the Vienna-style lagers but drier and less hop centered. It is a popular craft beer style that highlights both hop ...
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American Black Ale
American Black Ale, said to have gotten its start in the Pacific Northwest, can also be found under the names Cascadian Dark Ale, Black IPA, or India Black Al ...
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American Blonde Ale
American Blonde Ale is sometimes also called Golden Ale. The history of American ales is pretty short going back to the mid 1970’s, but the roots can be traced ...
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American Brown Ale
American Brown Ale beer, inspired by the English-style Brown Ales and Porters, originated a long time ago by US home brewers. The brew color as the name sugges ...
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American Dark Wheat Ale
This is considered an American version of the German dunkelweizen, where brewers traditionally added dark malts to their hefeweizen recipe. The color of the br ...
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American Double / Imperial IPA
The origin of the American Imperial IPA came about when a Southern California brewer accidentally added too much malt to the mash. Since wasting a whole batch o ...
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American Double / Imperial Stout
The style behind the American Double/Imperial Stout originated in the Russian Imperial Court, became extremely popular in England, and then virtually vanished. ...
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American Golden Ale
American Golden Ale is sometimes also called Blond Ale. The history of American ales is pretty short going back to the mid 1970’s, but the roots can be traced ...
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American India Pale Ale
IPAs are hop focused beers with fragrant aromas ranging from citrus, to pine and flowers. These beers tend to have a sharp bitter finish. With hop front and ce ...
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American Pale Ale (APA)
Pale ales are have a hop forward scent and flavor with a strong foundation of malt sweetness. They are light and flavorful often with hints of citrus, pine or ...
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American Pale Lager
American Pale Lagers are the generic spin-off of the Pilsner beer style. The discovery of yeast, innovations in kilning, and the invention of refrigeration, al ...
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American Pale Wheat Ale
This beer is the American version of a German Hefeweizen. It is distinguished by a pale to golden color, a long lasting head and a light to medium body. A big ...
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American Stout
American Stout beer is the American beer maker’s reinvention of the original stout from Europe, more specifically Ireland. This familiar style embraced by Ame ...
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American Strong Ale
This beer style was said to have started on accident by Stone Brewing Company by making a Pale Ale with an overload of intended ingredients. American Strong A ...
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American Wild Ale
American wild ale's are beers introduced to "wild" yeast or bacteria, giving it an extremely unique flavor and funky aroma. The Brewer’s Association guideline ...
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Bavarian Dark Lager
Bavarian Dark Lagers get their name from the Bavarian villages and countryside in Germany. It is here they’re often referred to as Dunkels (doonn-kel) which me ...
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Bavarian Style Lager
Bavarian brewers in 16th century Germany were required by law to only brew beers during the cooler months of the year. In order to have beer available during t ...
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Belgian Dark Ale
Belgian Dark Ale is a broad term for all Belgian dark beers that fall somewhere between a Belgian-style Dubbel and Belgian Strong Dark Ale. The brew ranges in ...
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Belgian IPA
The best way to describe a Belgian IPA beer is if an American IPA and Belgian Witbier fused together to make one outstanding creation. What separates a Belgian ...
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Belgian Pale Ale
Belgian Pale Ale beers got their start during the era of WWII when they were brewed to be mass-produced and compete with Pilsners. Their Belgian Pale Ale was i ...
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Belgian Witbier
Belgian Witbier, meaning “white beer” in Flemish, is pale and cloudy in appearance due to being unfiltered and the high amounts of wheat or oats used in the br ...
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Belgian-Style Golden Ale
The Belgian-Style Golden Ale is a deceiving brew whose pale color gives the impression that it will be innocent and easy to drink when in reality, it is known ...
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Berliner Weissbier
Berliner Weissebier is a historic beer style from Berlin, Germany that dates back to the 16th century. By the 19th century Berliner Weissebier was the most pop ...
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Bière de Garde
The Bière de Garde, meaning “ beer for keeping”, is a French-style Strong Pale Ale which is traditionally brewed in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Th ...
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Bock
Traditional Bock beer dates back to the medieval era, originally brewed in the northern German town of Einbeck during the 14th century. Since the Bock beer ori ...
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Braggot
Braggot Ale is an ancient mead beer hybrid with references dating back to the 12th century. The Braggot recipe consists of honey, malt, yeast, hops, and any oth ...
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Brown Ale
The Brown Ale term was coined in the late 17th century by London, England brewers. By the 18th century, the style had largely disappeared due to pale malt bein ...
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California Common / Steam Beer
The California Common beer history dates back to the late 1800s. At the time Lager brewing had become the popular new trend, so lager yeast began traveling fro ...
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Cream Ale
The Cream Ale beer style is a light-bodied, cold-fermented ale that has been around since the pre-Prohibition era when brewmasters brewed an American light lag ...
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Czech Pilsener
First and foremost, a Pilsner is a refreshing, palate cleansing, thirst quenching Pale Lager beer. These Pilsners come in several styles, such as German, Ameri ...
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Doppelbock
In German, Doppel means double, therefore making Doppelbock a bigger and stronger style than the traditionally lower gravity German style bock. With this rich ...
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Dortmunder / Export Lager
Dortmunder Export Lagers were first brewed in 1873 by brewers in Dortmunder, Germany to compete with Pilsners. Around this time men and women were working hard ...
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Dubbel
A Dubbel is a Belgian style ale with a name that means "double" for its increased intensity, yet it is not big enough to surpass its fellow Belgian style ...
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Dunkelweizen
Before we get into what a Dunkelweizen beer is, we're going to have a quick German lesson. When breaking down the word, "Dunkel" means dark, and "weizen" means ...
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Eisbock
The (somewhat accidental) discovery of German Eisbock beer comes with a fun tale, whether it is a tall tale or not is up in the air, but nevertheless it makes ...
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English Bitter
The name of this British Style Pale Ale is quite deceiving for its not very bitter at all. English Bitter beer styles were designed as the original session beer ...
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English Brown Ale
Evolving from early ‘mild ales’, the English Brown Ale can be categorized into three different sub-styles: Mild English Brown Ale, Southern English Brown Ale, ...
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English IPA
The English IPA beer style got its start while British troops were stationed in India and needed a brew that could withstand the voyage. To help the beer endur ...
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English Stout
English stouts have evolved over time from English Porters, and have since evolved into other variants based on ingredients and strength. A traditional English ...
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English Strong Ale
Falling somewhere between an English Pale Ale and an English Barely Wine is the English strong ale. Very few examples of the English strong ale, both new and o ...
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English-Style Brown Porter
As one of the oldest continually made beer styles in the world, the English-style Brown Porter dates back to the early 1700s. Sadly, Porters popularity decline ...
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Euro Dark Lager
This German inspired beer styles have become a global phenomenon, since they were first brewed in the mid 1800s. In general a Euro Lager is the more premium ve ...
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Euro Pale Lager
This German inspired beer styles have become a global phenomenon, since they were first brewed in the mid 1800s. In general a Euro Lager is the more superior v ...
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Euro Strong Lager
This German inspired beer styles have become a global phenomenon, since they were first brewed in the mid 1800s. In general a Euro Lager is the more premium ve ...
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Extra Pale Ale
Since Extra Pale Ale beers are only about five years old and are not recognized as a beer style category, the term "Extra" is open to interpretation. This beer ...
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Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
Extra Special Bitter ale, also referred to as ESB, is a British beer style that despite the name is not all that bitter. Bitter varieties such as this one, got ...
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Faro
Faro craft beer is a Belgian style ale consisting of sweetened lambic beer. Up until early in the 20th century, Faro lambic beer was widely available in the Se ...
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Foreign / Export Stout
This special style stout started back with the 19th century, being developed in the year 1801 by Guiness, who initially named the beer, the West India Porter. H ...
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German Pale Lager
The German Pale Lager, many may know better under the label German style Helles. In German "Helles" means pale, hence the light golden color of the brew. The s ...
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German Pilsner
The German Pilsner (also known as Pilsen or Pils) is one of the most popular kinds of Pale Lager in Germany. Pilsner History starts in the mid 1800s in Pilsen, ...
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Gose
Before you start trying to read this article lets make sure you know how to say Gose correctly. Gose is pronounced GO-zuh, and now that that's out of the way, ...
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Gueuze
Gueuze beer pronounced "gewze" or "gooz" is a spontaneously fermented Belgian blend of several different aged Lambic beers. The Belgian beer styl ...
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Hazy IPA
What is now best known as the Hazy IPA has gone by several different names, the first ever being New England Hazy IPA. Remarkably fruit and citrus forward, the ...
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Hefeweizen
A Hefeweizen (hay-fuh-veyt-sssenn) is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of beer styles. Germans often call this style a Weissbier while North ...
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Imperial Porter
An Imperial Porter is an Extra-Strong Porter similar to and often referred to as a Baltic Porter. Although the beer falls somewhere between a Traditional Porte ...
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India Pale Ale (IPA)
The History of IPAs is over 300 years old. IPAs, which stands for India Pale Ale, is actually an English brewed beer which was exported to British troops in In ...
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Irish Dry Stout
The beer that you will see excessively drunk on St. Patrick’s Day, and is synonymous with all things Irish is an Irish Dry Stout. This black beer is mainly cha ...
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Kölsch
The Kölsch ( cœll - shh ) brew is an obscure style that originates from Köln (Cologne), Germany. This region gained Protected Geographical Indica ...
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Kristalweizen
This German wheat beer, sometimes called a Kristal Weissbier, or a Kristallweizen, is simply the filtered version of a Hefeweizen. After fermentation, the brew ...
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Kvass
Kvass pronounced 'quass' is a 16th century beer like beverage found in countries in the Slavic region such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Latvia, and so on. In Russian ...
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Lager
As the world's most widely consumed beer, its no surprise that Lager beer has an extensive history. Lets start the story off with the name and meaning of Lager ...
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Light Lager
Light Lager beer, one of, if not the most popular beer style in the world today, is largely an artifact of post-Prohibition pragmatism. The American Light Lag ...
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Marzen / Oktoberfest
German Marzen beer is a style that was originally brewed in Bavaria. The beer style was traditionally brewed in the spring, more specifically March, hence why ...
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Mexican-Style Lager
The Mexican style Lager beer has a long brewing history. In 1864, Napoleon III appointed Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Habsburg of Austria as the Emperor of Mexi ...
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Milk / Sweet Stout
Just over a century ago in 1875, John Henry Johnson of Lincolns Inn Fields first proposed the idea for Milk Stouts, also referred to as Sweet Stouts. Un ...
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Munich Dunkel Lager
Let's start by breaking down this beer styles name, Munich Dunkel Lager. Munich is not only the German city that made this beer famous, but is also a type of m ...
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Munich Helles Lager
A Munich Helles Lager (Myoo-nik Hell-us), often referred to as simply a Helles, is a vibrant golden lager first brewed in Munich, Germany in 1895 ...
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Oatmeal Ale
Oatmeal beers were first brewed briefly in the 1500s, but were unsuccessful and did not last because of the overpowering bitterness that came from using solely ...
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Oatmeal Stout
Oatmeal Stout Beer are dark Ales that rest comfortable somewhere between a typical Sweet Stout and a Dry Stout. This unique station of flavor lies deep in Oatm ...
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Old Ale
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, your average English beer lover possessed an attraction to old beers. This older style beer became known as Old Ale. English ...
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Oyster Stout
Although Oysters in beer may be a newer phenomenon, Oysters paired with beer, specifically stouts has been around for quite some time. In the early 1900s in En ...
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Pilsner
Pilsner, also called Pilsener or simply Pils is a pale lager with an interesting history. The Pilsner beer gets its name from the Czech city in which it was cr ...
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Porter
Porter beer history dates back to the early 1700s in England with London brewer Ralph Harwood. At the time this London porter was called an ‘Entire’ and was ac ...
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Rauchbier
Rauchbier is a long-standing German style that comes from the district of Franconia and the town of Bamberg that originated in the 16th century. With Rauch bei ...
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Red Ale
Red Ales originate from Europe and refers to styles of beer that are dark red or are reddish in appearance. This brew style is still, to some extent, waiting f ...
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Robust Porter
Originating from England in the 1700’s, the classic Porter brew style earned its name as a ‘Porter’ due to its popularity amid dock workers who, in the 18th ce ...
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Roggenbier
Roggenbier is an ancient style German Lager that directly translates to rye beer. The best way to dive into this beer style is with a little bit of Roggenbier h ...
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Russian Imperial Stout
Way back in the early 1700s, the emperor of Russia, Peter the Great, requested a stronger version of an existing beer from England. After the first batch spoile ...
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Rye Beer
Rye beers can be either an ale or lager, and are generally based on a classic beer style with the addition of rye malt that makes up at least 20 percent of th ...
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Sahti
The history of the Finnish beer, Sahti, is certainly an interesting one, as it is one of the world’s oldest continually brewed styles of beer. The origin of Sa ...
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Saison / Farmhouse Ale
A Saison beer, also known as a Farmhouse Ale, emerged from the small town of Wallonia in the French-speaking area of Belgium. ‘Saison’, meaning ‘season’ in Fre ...
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Schwarzbier
German Schwarzbier is a dark lager that literally translates from German to black beer. This style tends to depend heavily on the heavily roasted malt characte ...
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Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
The Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy brew style has a long history, emerging in Scotland roughly 5,000 years ago. Temperatures in this region were cool enough to where e ...
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Scottish Ale
Initially, dating back 5,000 years or so, Scottish Ales were brewed across Northern Europe where temperatures remained cool. With the lack of hops in this regi ...
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Session IPA
Although not yet a formally recognized subcategory of IPA, the Session IPA offers the hoppy character of an India Pale Ale with a lower ABV level. Typically, a ...
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Smoked Beer
Smoked beer is a style synonymous with the German Rauchbier. This beer style has distinct smoke flavor imparted by malted barely, which is dried over an open f ...
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Sour Ale
With its recent spike in popularity, it's hard to believe that Sour Wild Ales are virtually the oldest style of beer around. At one point, before sterilization ...
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Vienna Lager
The Vienna Style Lager beer, named after the city it originated in, Vienna, Austria, introduced most of Europe to what modern-day bottom-fermentation is. The V ...
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Weizenbock
Weizenbock beer was introduced by the first family of wheat beers in 1907. Contrary to the bottom fermenting German lager, Bock, a Weizenbock is the top ferment ...
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Winter Warmer
Just as there are lighter, fruitier, floral beers for the summer, there are also heavier, darker, spiced brews to embrace the winter, specifically, winter warme ...
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