Beer jargon buster

Beer jargon buster

Beer jargon buster

There’s a lot of jargon, buzzwords and terminology floating around the beery world. Beer Hawk is here to help make sense of it all

BEER
Admittedly, not jargon, but we know it is the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink in the world. Brewed using cereal grains and fermented.

MALT
Think of malt as the base of beer. It provides the sugar for alcohol, but also impacts on the colour and flavour.

HOPS
Hops are responsible for preservative qualities, imparting bitterness and giving flavour and aroma.

YEAST
A group of organisms that ferment sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. It also can add flavours to a beer.

BOTTLE-CONDITIONED
Naturally carbonated in the the bottle because of an additional fermentation from sugar added in packaging.

ABV
This is the measurement of alcohol in a solution described as ‘alcohol by volume’, in percentage terms.

ALE
A term usually describing some beers fermented with a top fermenting yeast at warm temperatures.

LAGER
Lager simply means ‘cold stored’. A bottom fermenting yeast in cool temperatures is used. Can be any colour.

DRY HOPPING
The addition of hops after fermentation. It is used to add loads of aroma to beers but no bitterness.