A Guide to Common Beer Styles

Beer styles can seem overwhelming at first, with dozens of names and subcategories used by breweries and beer lists. In practice, almost every beer style falls into one of two broad families, based on the type of yeast used to ferment it: lagers and ales. Understanding this basic split makes the rest of the vocabulary much easier to follow.

Lagers

Lagers are fermented at cooler temperatures using a yeast strain that works slowly and settles at the bottom of the tank. This slow, cold process tends to produce cleaner, crisper flavours with less fruitiness than ales. Lagers are often lighter in body and are typically served cold.

Pale lager: the style most South Africans associate with everyday beer, light in colour and flavour, easy to drink and widely available.
Pilsner: a slightly more assertive lager style, often with a noticeable hop bitterness and a crisp, dry finish.
Amber or dark lager: fuller bodied than pale lager, with toasted or caramel notes from darker malts.

Ales

Ales use a yeast that ferments at warmer temperatures and rises to the top of the tank during fermentation. This process tends to produce more complex, fruity and sometimes spicy flavours compared with lagers. Most craft beer innovation happens within the ale family, since the wide range of possible flavours gives brewers more room to experiment.

Pale ale: a balanced style with moderate hop character, often showing citrus or floral notes alongside a light malt backbone.
India pale ale, or IPA: a stronger, more heavily hopped version of pale ale, known for pronounced bitterness and bold aromas of citrus, pine or tropical fruit depending on the hops used.
Brown ale: a maltier, less bitter style with nutty or caramel flavours and usually a darker colour.
Stout and porter: dark, roasted styles with flavours reminiscent of coffee, chocolate or dark toast, ranging from light bodied to very rich and full.
Wheat beer: made with a significant portion of wheat alongside barley, often lighter and slightly tangy, sometimes with notes of banana or clove depending on the yeast used.

Specialty and mixed styles

Beyond the core lager and ale families, many breweries produce beers that borrow techniques from both or introduce additional ingredients and processes.

Sour beer: deliberately tart, often produced using wild yeast or bacteria cultures, sometimes with fruit added during fermentation.
Saison: a traditionally farmhouse style ale, often dry, peppery and slightly funky in aroma.
Barrel aged beer: beer matured in wooden barrels previously used for wine or spirits, picking up additional flavour from the wood and residual liquid.

Reading a beer label or tap list

When looking at an unfamiliar beer, three details are usually most useful: the style name, the alcohol by volume percentage, and any description of hop character or malt profile. Alcohol content for most beers ranges roughly from around 4 percent for easy drinking styles to 7 percent or more for stronger ales, though individual products vary and should always be checked on the label itself.

Knowing the basic style families does not guarantee you will like every beer within that category, since individual breweries interpret styles differently. It does, however, give you a reasonable starting point for predicting roughly what a beer will taste like before you try it, which is especially useful when choosing from an unfamiliar tap list or fridge.