As the craft beer phenomenon increases in popularity, the terminology gets stranger and more complicated. But, it doesn’t have to be. We want everyone to have a better handle on all the brew-specific words in the intoxicating world of craft beer, so here are a few:
1. Adjunct= Grain that is not malted barley, like rice, oats, wheat or corn.
2. Bottle Conditioning= Carbonation via the addition of sugar and yeast prior to capping.
3. Dry Hopped= Additional hops added for flavor at the end of brewing.
4. Esters= A flavor compound occurring mostly in ale.
5. Gravity= A measurement used to determine ABV.
6. Imperial= A style that’s intensified by increasing malt and hops.
7. IBU= International Bittering Units, a scale for the amount of bitterness.
8. Macro Lager= Typically mass-produced beers like Miller and Budweiser.
9. Malty= Any brew with apparent malt characteristics.
10. Noble Hops= Aromatic hops used in European lagers.
11. Piney= Hoppy beers with predominantly pine notes.
12. Single Hopped= Beers with only one type of hops for a specific flavor profile.
13. Brettanomyces= Wild yeast used in fermentation.
14. Clean= Not much complex texture or flavor.
15. Session Beer= Low alcohol, about three to four percent.
16. Skunked= Exposed to sunlight and having a skunky flavor and smell.
17. Fresh or Wet Hopped= Fresh-cut hops dumped in for a delicate green hop flavor.
18. Yeasty= Intentional yeast flavor.
19. Cask Beers= Unfiltered, hand-pumped, and unpasteurized with a little yeast added, giving them gentler carbonation.
20. Phenols= A fermentation product much like esters.
