It's beer time!
What is your favourite beer?
But before we learn
about beer...
Do you know the pronunciation of the word beer?
Beer vs Bear
History of beer
Beer is one of the oldest drinks
made by people. When they grew
certain grains long ago, they found
out these grains could become
beer. This happened because tiny
yeasts in the air mixed with the
grains and turned them into beer.
Different groups of people
worldwide learned to make beer
after they started farming grains. In
Mesopotamia, which is an old
place, the earliest proof of beer is
6,000 years old. There's a picture on
a stone tablet showing people
drinking beer with reed straws.
Etymology of the
word beer
The word 'beer' comes from
old Germanic languages. It's
used with slight changes in
German and Dutch, where it's
spelled 'bier', but not in Nordic
languages. The word was
brought to the British Isles by
groups like the Saxons. People
aren't sure exactly where the
word originally came from.
Etymology of the
word beer
Other languages used the
Dutch/German word for beer, like
French 'bière', Italian 'birra',
Romanian 'bere', and Turkish
'bira'. Nordic languages use 'öl' or
'øl', similar to the English word
'ale'. Spanish, Portuguese, and
Catalan have words that came
from Latin 'cervisia', which
originally came from Celtic.
Slavic languages use 'pivo', with
small changes, from an old word
meaning 'drink'.
For starters, there are three common
ingredients in beer (in addition to water):
Yeast – responsible for fruity, spicy, funky, and even more neutral flavors
during fermentation.
Hops – flower closely related to weed that is soaked in beer to produce
citrus, tropical, herbal, piney, dank, earthy, and floral flavors. Adding hops
before fermentation creates bitterness.
Barley/Malt – used to create the sugar that yeast turns to alcohol during
fermentation, and also contributes grainy flavors like water crackers, bread,
toast, caramel, dark fruit, chocolate, coffee, etc.
Some key terms
ABV – Alcohol by volume. Usually listed as a percentage so you know how strong a
beer is.
Imperial – This is used in the name of beers with an abv >7.5%. Basically beers that
are strong as heck and will knock you off your barstool!
IBUs – International Bittering Units. Measures how bitter a beer is, generally from 0
(no bitterness) to 100 (intensely bitter). Your personal taste might have a limit to
how bitter you like your beer
Types of beer
The most common are:
Ales / Wheat Beer / Lagers
Mostly blonde to orange in color,
Pale Ales have a strong hop smell
Ales and taste. They're a bit bitter, but
balanced with sweetness from the
malts or fruity flavors from the
yeast. The most common Pale Ales
go from less bitter to more bitter,
have varying alcohol levels, and
different levels of hop smell. They
can be:
Pale Ale, IPA (India Pale Ale), and
Imperial IPA (IPA >7.5% abv)
A lot of people connect
Hefeweizens with strong banana
Wheat Beer and clove tastes, and Belgian
Witbiers with bold citrus and clove
flavors. These flavors come from
the yeast used, not the wheat.
European versions usually have
fruity and spicy tastes from
fermentation, while American
versions are more like Pale Ales,
with extra body and a fresh bread
smell from the wheat.
People often think these beers
Lagers are the lightest option, but this
can be wrong. They have a very
clean taste because of how
they're fermented, without the
fruity flavors of ale yeast.
Instead, the subtle flavors come
from the type of malt and hops
used, which can be floral.
Time to have a pint!
We usually order small, medium or a pint
“SMALL” “MEDIUM” “PINT” “EXTRA
LARGE”
How to order a beer:
"I'd like a pint of lager, please."
"Can I get a small glass of pale ale, please?"
"May I order a large stout, please?"
"I would like a half-pint of wheat beer, please."
"One IPA in a pint glass, please."
"Could you bring me a small glass of Sleeman,
please?"
"I'll take a pint of Guinness, please."
"May I have a pint of brown ale, please?"
"I'd like a large glass of Belgian ale, please."
"Can I get a half-pint of Heineken, please?"
What would you like to drink?
Most common beers and brands in the USA
Stout:
Lager:
Founders Breakfast Stout
Budweiser
Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout
Coors Light
North Coast Brewing Co. Old Rasputin Russian
Miller Lite
Imperial Stout
Pale Ale:
Wheat Beer:
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Blue Moon Belgian White
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Allagash White
Anchor Steam Beer
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
IPA (India Pale Ale):
Pilsner:
Stone IPA
Victory Prima Pils
Lagunitas IPA
Firestone Walker Pivo Pils
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
Founders Solid Gold Premium Lager
Thank you!