What's the difference between a lager, a stout, a porter, an ale, a meade, a pilsner, and a bock?

Question

What's the difference between a lager, a stout, a porter, an ale, a meade, a pilsner, and a bock? What the heck do all these crazy things mean? I know it's all beer. But what the difference? The ingredients? How it's made? The thickness or color?

It's nuts, really.

Answer 1

Lager
Lager originates from the German word lagern which means "to store" and refers to the method of storing it for several months in near-freezing temperatures. A lager is usually used to describe bottom-fermented brews of Dutch, German, and Czech styles. Lagers can range from sweet to bitter and pale to black. However, most are a pale to medium color, have high carbonation, and have a medium to high hop flavor. Their are several strains of lager one of the more well-known is the pilsner or pilsener.

Stout
Stout is a dark beer made using roasted malts or roast barley. It is generally darker, fuller bodied, maltier, and hopier than other ales. Stout Ale originated in Ireland as a variant of porter beer.

Porter
Porter is a style of ale which has a malty aroma, hop bitterness, and a bittersweet chocolate flavor. It is generally strong and dark and brewed with soft rather than hard water.

Ale
Ale is an ancient word for a fermented alcoholic beverage obtained mostly from malted barley. Prior to the Netherlands introducing hops to England in the 15th Century the term ale was used to refer to unhopped fermented drinks. The term beer was used to describe a brew that had used hops. Generally speaking this distinction is no longer used. Ale is different from other brews because it is a top fermenting ale so the yeast tends to ferment quicker, convert less sugar to alcohol, and produce more esters than the lager yeasts. This is what causes them to have their sweeter and fruitier taste. Their are several different kinds of ale such as Old Ale, India Pale Ale, Mild Ale, Bitter Ale, Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Scotch Ale and Belgian Ale, Porter and Stout.

Meade
Usually homemade. It poures a medium yellow colow with just the slightest bit of carbonation. The smell has a little honey present, not much else. A decently pleasant smell. The taste is sweet with lots of honey flavor. A light tart taste on the finish. The body is nice and thick, yet smooth.

Pilsner or Pilsener
The pilsner style of beer was developed in Plzen (Pilsen in English), a city in what is now the Czech Republic. It is made with neutral and hard water and tend to golden in color and having a dry, crisp, and somewhat bitter flavor. Pilsner stands out from the other lagers due to its more distinctive hop taste.

Bock
Strong Lager served as a warming beer in late winter, early spring, or autumn, depending upon the part of the world. Color varies. Classically served at not less than 48F; 9C, from a stoneware mug. In Germany, sometimes served with the seasoned veal sausage Weisswurst.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What's the difference between a lager, a stout, a porter, an ale, a meade, a pilsner, and a bock?
What's the difference between a lager, a stout, a porter, an ale, a meade, a pilsner, and a bock? What the heck do all these crazy things mean? I know it's all beer. But what the difference? The ingredients? How it's made? The thickness or color?

It's nuts, really.

Answer 3

Stout Vs Porter

Answer 4

The guy above is absolutely right (who said it would take a couple books), but I will give you a start. The differences between an ale and a lager.

In the most parts of the world, these are the two main groupings of beer, so it's good to know these two, and then build on this basic knowledge.

Both are made with basically the same ingredients: water, yeast, hops, a bit of sugar and malted barley roasted to varying degrees (contributing to different colors and sweetnesses, especially for ales, as you'll see below). The ingredients are boiled (brewed) for differing periods with ingredients added at different times (it makes a big difference chemically when you add what ingredient). The concoction, called wort is then cooled and placed somewhere to ferment. While fermenting, there's no air available, so the yeast breaks down the sugar in the wort, creating alcohol. Then the beer is bottled with a little sugar (to create carbonation when the yeast breaks down the sugar). Voila... you have beer 3-4 weeks later.

Here are the differences in plain terms:

Ale is beer that is brewed using yeasts that ferment from the top down (yeast is placed on the surface of the beer and it works its way downward) and is typically fermented at higher temperatures than lager beer. Ale yeasts at higher temperatures (a cool room temperature usually) produce many secondary flavours and aromas products, and the result is a flavourful beer with a slightly fruity aroma resembling many fruits and smells, such as apple, pear, pineapple, grass, hay, banana, plum or prune.

Some important styles of ale include: Brown Ale, Pale Ale, Porter, Stout, and Wheat beer and barley wines.

Lagers is the most commonly consumed beerstyle in the world. They are of Central European origin, taking their name from the German lagern ("to store"). Lager yeast is a bottom-fermenting yeast, and are stored at cold temperatures (near freezing) during the secondary fermentation process (the "lagering phase"). This makes lager beers very clear, and the beer tastes more "crisp" than ales and other beers.

Principal styles of lager include American Lager, Pilsner, and other German-style beers such as Oktoberfest, Bock, Märzen,and others.

That's the basic difference between the two main types of beer. Master these, and then work your way into something a little more difficult.

If you read the other detailed explanation above, I'm sure you got bogged down in the vocab, so I thought I'd break it down for you.

It's better to understand the basic processes and tastes involved before getting bogged down in all the specific categories and chemical details.

ALL BEER IS NOT THE SAME!!!

Answer 5

Porter Vs Stout

Answer 6

I like the fact that you ended your question with "it's all nuts" because really it's all about barley, malt, and hops . . . but I'm just as confused so I thank you for your question. Now time to learn something 8-)

Answer 7

Sorry no real short answers for that but I have one quick one. They all taste great and most of what you have listed are rich and full in various flavors.

Answer 8

NO IT IS NOT NUTS .... ALL THESE NAMES REFER TO SPECIFIC TYPES OF BEER THAT ARE ALL VERY DIFFERENT IN TASTE AND BLEND .... TO GO INTO DETAILS WOULD TAKE A BOOK ... I SUGGEST YOU FIND A GOOD BOOK ON BEERS OF THE WORLD AND EDUCATE YOUR SELF YOU MAY FIND IT INTERESTING ....