Despite our unseasonally cold weather, at least here in New England, I think it's summer, a time when beer comes into its own as a beverage of choice. So I thought I'd share a little information about the types of beer. 

There are a large variety of beers, but they can be divided into three categories. The first two, lagers and ales are much more common than the third category, which is steam beer, (aka California common). This latter category is really a hybrid of lagers and ales.

Once divided into the lager and ale category, there is a second differentiation among beers. Gaining in popularity are craft or artisinal beers i.e. those brewed by microbreweries and often not widely sold. These tend to be more expensive than the mainstream beers as they use 100% barley malt, expensive hops and few if any additives. There are over 1,000 microbreweries in the U.S. and Canada alone.

An excellent site on the Web for information about beer styles and these microbreweries, is http://www.beermonthclub.com/ where you can learn about the craft beers, and even join a beer of the month club.

Lagers:

Lagers are more popular than ales. They differ from ales in both fermentation technique and aging. Lager is bottom fermented, i.e. the yeasts are in the bottom of the barrel. It is a moderately hopped beer which is aged under refrigeration for 6 weeks to 6 months. Most lagers are fairly light in color, highly carbonated, and have a light to medium hop flavor. Most beers consumed in the U.S. are lagers. Budweiser is a lager as are beers made by Coors and Miller. Imported lagers include Foster's, Corona, and Heineken.

There are relatively few lager beer styles. They include:

• Pilsner: These are pale, dry, and crisp beers; most imported lagers are pilsner style. They're designed to be thirst quenching.
• Amber: These are light bodied and mild flavored. This is the style associated with the big American breweries like Bud or Miller.
• Bock:  This is a strong flavor for a lager. It is a traditionally German beer with a high malt flavor.
• Ice Beer:  Ice beers are higher alcoholic beer with medium body.
• Light or Lite:  These beers, like Millers Lite, are pale and watery, noted largely for their low calories.

Ale:

Ale, by contrast to lager, is top fermented, i.e. the yeast is floated on top of the liquid. It is not refrigerated, but rather aged only two to three days in room temperature conditions. Since they could be made easily and fast, ales became especially popular in the British Isles where pubs historically made their own proprietary ale on site. Ales generally have a stronger hop flavor and higher alcoholic content than lagers. There are also many more ale than lager styles; here are some of the most common

• Bitter ale has a low carbonation and medium to strong bitterness.
• Brown ales are moderately bitter with a nutty or chocolate flavor midway in strength between pale ales and porters.
• Cream ales are mild in taste.
• Hefe ales are made from wheat, not barley, and have quite a distinctive taste. They're also cloudy.
• India Pale Ale or IPA ales are dark, full-bodied, quite bitter, very hoppy, and have a high alcohol content.
• Lambid/ Fruit Beers are wheat beers with fruit or sugar added; they're very distinctive.
• Old Ales are aged ales, medium to strong ales, served seasonally, usually in the winter.
• Pale Ales are gold to amber in color with low maltiness and bitterness.
• Porter is strong ale - brown to black in color, very hoppy and malty, with a taste of  burnt charcoal derived from roasting the barley before using.
• Scotch Ale is smooth and strong, aka wee heavy.
• Stout is the strongest of the ales, very dark to black, also made from roasted barley.
• Trappist is a flavorful ale - fruity, dark, rich, and strong.

California Common or Steam Beer:

This is an American invention which is a hybrid of lager and ales. It is bottom fermented like lager, but is fermented at ale's room temperatures. Steam beer can be considered a hearty lager or a light ale. The style was introduced by a San Francisco company called Anchors, hence this style is also known as California Common.