Beer Styles
The growth of the Irish craft beer industry has brought with it an excellent range of beer styles, but this can be overwhelming if you don’t know what style of beer is for you! To the general population beer means lagers and craft beer means pale ales, but this is not quite right. Craft beer refers to the production methods of how a beer is created. Craft beer is really about hand crafted, high quality beer and the styles created by breweries vary.
There are four main styles of beers that you will come across: lagers, stouts, ales and wheat beers.
Lager/Pilsner
- Crisp and refreshing, light-coloured beer with a hop presence which can range from low to mild, floral and fruity flavours.
- Pairing suggestions: shellfish, mild, hard cheese and beef burgers.
Stout/Porter
- Dark in colour with lots of roasted, chocolatey and coffee-like flavours, generally with a low hop bitterness. Styles can range from dry to quite sweet, with porter generally being lighter in body and less dry than stout.
- Pairing suggestions: venison or beef Stew, blue cheeses, vanilla ice cream.
Ales
Red ale
- Similar to an amber ale, this style of beer is red in colour and generally has a low hop bitterness and has a malty profile with toasted and toffee flavours which come through from the toasted malts used in the brewing.
- Pairing suggestions: spicy beef or pork dishes, aged cheddar
Pale Ales
- Originally an English style of beer, pale ale can generally indicate a mid-strength, moderately hopped beer which can encompass a wide span of varieties. For a lighter take on the style, look out for ‘session pale ale’ which indicates a lower alcohol content.
- American Pales Ales, IPAs and double IPAs are all under this umbrella.
- Pairing suggestions: mild-strong cheddars, Steak
Blonde Ales
- Mid strength golden coloured ale with good malt flavours and medium hop bitterness.
- Pairing suggestions: pizza, smoked cheese
Wheat Beers
- Also known as weissbier or witbier.
- From pale yellow to dark gold in colour, wheat beers generally have a distinctive fluffy head. Hop aromas are low but they classic fruity esters of banana and clove are generally present.
- Pairing suggestions: spicy food (pad thai), seafood linguine and goats cheese