What Kind of Beer does West Side Tap House Have?

Westside Taphouse can carry almost any and every kind of beer there is available at any given time. Check out our current TAPLIST to find out what is on tap right now. But in the mean time if you wondering what it means when it is say “IPA” or “Belgian Ale” or any other kind of kind of beer, we have put together this list of beer types and what they mean to help you along on your beer education. Enjoy!

Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops.

As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale was originally bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs or spices boiled in the wort before fermentation. Later, hops replaced gruit as the bittering agent.

Brown ales tend to be lightly hopped, and fairly mildly flavored, often with a nutty taste. In the south of England they are dark brown, around 3-3.6% alcohol, and quite sweet and palatable; in the north they are red-brown, 4.5-5% and somewhat drier. English brown ales first appeared in the early 1900s.

Pale ale was a term used for beers made from malt dried with coke.Coke had been first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn’t until around 1703 that the term pale ale was first used. By 1784 advertisements were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for “light and excellent” pale ale. By 1830 onward the expressions bitter and pale ale were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. By the mid to late 20th century, while brewers were still labelling bottled beers as pale ale, they had begun identifying cask beers as bitter, except those from Burton on Trent, which are often called pale ales regardless of the method of dispatch.

In the nineteenth century, the Bow Brewery in England exported beer to India, including a pale ale that benefited from the duration of the voyage and was highly regarded among consumers in India. To avoid spoilage, Bow and other brewers added extra hops as a natural preservative. This beer was the first of a style of export ale that became known as India Pale Ale or IPA.

Golden Ale was developed in hope of winning the younger people away from drinking lager in favor of cask ales, it is quite similar to pale ale yet there are some notable differences—it is paler, brewed with lager or low temperature ale malts and it is served at colder temperatures. The strength of golden ales varies from 3.5% to 5.3%.

While the full range of ales are produced in Scotland, the term Scotch ale is used internationally to denote a malty, strong ale, amber-to-dark red in color. The malt may be slightly caramelized to impart toffee notes; generally, Scottish beers tend to be sweeter, darker, and less hoppy than English beers. The classic styles are Light, Heavy and Export, also referred to as 60/-, 70/- and 80/- (shillings) respectively, dating back to the 19th-century method of invoicing beers according to their strength.

Barley wines range from 6% to 12%, with some stored for long periods of time, about 18 to 24 months. While drinking barley wine, one should be prepared to taste “massive sweet malt and ripe fruit of the pear drop, orange and lemon type, with darker fruits, chocolate and coffee if darker malts are used. Hop rates are generous and produce bitterness and peppery, grassy and floral notes”.

Mild ale originally meant unaged ale, the opposite of old ale. It can be any strength or color, although most are dark brown and low in strength, typically between 3 and 3.5%.

Burton ale is a strong, dark, somewhat sweet ale, sometimes used as stock ale for blending with younger beers.

In England, old ale was strong beer traditionally kept for about a year, gaining sharp, acidic flavors as it did so. The term is now applied to medium-strong dark beers, some of which are treated to resemble the traditional old ales. In Australia, the term is used even less discriminately, and is a general name for any dark beer.

Belgium produces a wide variety of speciality ales that elude easy classification. Virtually all Belgian ales are high in alcoholic content but relatively light in body due to the substitution of sucrose for part of the grist, which provides an alcohol boost without adding unfermentable material to the finished product. This process is often said to make a beer more digestible

Cask ale is unfiltered and unpasturised beer which is conditioned (including secondary fermentation) and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. Cask ale is also sometimes referred to as real ale in the United Kingdom.

Altbier (German: old beer) is a style of beer brewed in the historical region of Westphalia and around the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Its name comes from it being top-fermented, an older method than the bottom fermentation of other lager beers

Amber ale is an emerging term used in Australia, France and North America for pale ales brewed with a proportion of amber malt and sometimes crystal malt to produce an amber color generally ranging from light copper to light brown. A small amount of crystal or other colored malt is added to the basic pale ale base to produce a slightly darker color, as in some Irish and British pale ales. In France the term “ambrée” is used to signify a beer, either cold or warm fermented, which is amber in color; the beer, may be a Vienna lager, or it may be a Bière de Garde. In North America, American-variety hops are used in varying degrees of bitterness, although very few examples are particularly hoppy. Diacetyl is barely perceived or absent in an amber ale.

American pale ale (APA) was developed around 1980. The brewery thought to be the first to successfully use significant quantities of American hops in the style of APA and use the name “pale ale”, was the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company,[11] which brewed the first experimental batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in November 1980. American pale ales are generally around 5% abv, with significant quantities of American hops, typically Cascade. Although American brewed beers tend to use a cleaner yeast, and American two row malt it is particularly the American hops that distinguish an APA from a British or European pale ale. The style is close to the American India pale ale (IPA), and boundaries blur, though IPAs are stronger and more assertively hopped. The style is also close to Amber ale, though these are darker and maltier due to the use of crystal malts.

Bière de Garde, or “keeping beer”, is a pale ale traditionally brewed in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. These beers were usually brewed by farmhouses in the winter and spring, to avoid unpredictable problems with the yeast during the summertime.

The origin of the name lies in the tradition that it was matured or cellared for a period of time once bottled (most were sealed with a cork), to be consumed later in the year, akin to a Saison.

Blonde ales are very pale in color. The term “blonde” for pale beers is common in Europe and South America – particularly in France, Belgium, the UK, and Brazil – though the beers may not have much in common, other than color. Blondes tend to be clear, crisp, and dry, with low-to-medium bitterness and aroma from hops, and some sweetness from malt. Fruitiness from esters may be perceived. A lighter body from higher carbonation may be noticed. In the United Kingdom, golden or summer ales were developed in the late 20th century by breweries to compete with the pale lager market. A typical golden ale has an appearance and profile similar to that of a pale lager. Malt character is subdued and the hop profile ranges from spicy to citrus; common hops include Styrian Golding and Cascade. Belgian blondes are often made with pilsner malt. Some beer writers regard blonde and golden ales as distinct styles, while others do not.

Later in the second half of the nineteenth century, the recipe for pale ale was put into use by the Burton upon Trent brewers, ales from Burton were considered of a particularly high quality due to synergy between the malt and hops in use and local water chemistry, especially the presence of gypsum. Burton retained absolute dominance in pale ale brewing until a chemist, C. W. Vincent, discovered the process of Burtonization to reproduce the chemical composition of the water from Burton-upon-Trent, thus giving any brewery the capability to brew pale ale.

Later in the second half of the nineteenth century, the recipe for pale ale was put into use by the Burton upon Trent brewers, ales from Burton were considered of a particularly high quality due to synergy between the malt and hops in use and local water chemistry, especially the presence of gypsum. Burton retained absolute dominance in pale ale brewing until a chemist, C. W. Vincent, discovered the process of Burtonization to reproduce the chemical composition of the water from Burton-upon-Trent, thus giving any brewery the capability to brew pale ale.

India pale ale (IPA) is a style of pale ale developed in England for export to India. The first known use of the expression “India pale ale” is in an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser on 27 August 1829. Worthington White Shield, originating in Burton-upon-Trent, is a beer considered to be part of the development of India pale ale.

The color of an IPA can vary from a light gold to a reddish amber.

“Scotch ale” was first used as a designation for strong ales exported from Edinburgh in the 18th century. As with other examples of strong ales, such as Barley wine, these beers tend toward sweetness from residual sugars, malty notes, and a full body. Examples from the Caledonian brewery have toffee notes from the caramelizing of the malt from the direct-fired copper.[35] This caramelizing of Caledonian’s beers is popular in America and has led many American brewers to produce strong toffee sweet beers which they label as “Scotch ales”. Scotch ales are also an accepted style in Belgium.

“Scotch ale” or “whisky ale” is a designation used by brewers in France for peat-smoked malt flavored beers. This style is distinct from the Scotch ales, having a translucent amber, rather than opaque brown, appearance, and a smoky rather than sweet taste. Even though the malt used by brewers in Scotland is not generally or traditionally dried by peat burning, some Scottish whisky distilleries have used low nitrogen barley dried by peat burning. The distinctive flavor of these smoked malts is reminiscent of whisky, and some peat smoke flavor is added during malting by an additional process. While the full range of ales are produced, and consumed, in Scotland, the classic names used within Scotland for beer of the type described abroad as “Scotch ale”, are “light”, “heavy”, and “export”, also referred to in “shilling categories” as “60/-“, “70/-” and “80/-” respectively, dating back to a 19th-century method of invoicing beers according to their strengths. Scotch ale is sometimes conflated with the term “wee heavy”, as both are used to describe a strong beer. In North East England, “best Scotch” refers to a beer similar to mild ale but with a drier, more burnt palate.

“Scotch ale” was first used as a designation for strong ales exported from Edinburgh in the 18th century. As with other examples of strong ales, such as Barley wine, these beers tend toward sweetness from residual sugars, malty notes, and a full body. Examples from the Caledonian brewery have toffee notes from the caramelizing of the malt from the direct-fired copper.[35] This caramelizing of Caledonian’s beers is popular in America and has led many American brewers to produce strong toffee sweet beers which they label as “Scotch ales”. Scotch ales are also an accepted style in Belgium.

“Scotch ale” or “whisky ale” is a designation used by brewers in France for peat-smoked malt flavored beers. This style is distinct from the Scotch ales, having a translucent amber, rather than opaque brown, appearance, and a smoky rather than sweet taste. Even though the malt used by brewers in Scotland is not generally or traditionally dried by peat burning, some Scottish whisky distilleries have used low nitrogen barley dried by peat burning. The distinctive flavor of these smoked malts is reminiscent of whisky, and some peat smoke flavor is added during malting by an additional process. While the full range of ales are produced, and consumed, in Scotland, the classic names used within Scotland for beer of the type described abroad as “Scotch ale”, are “light”, “heavy”, and “export”, also referred to in “shilling categories” as “60/-“, “70/-” and “80/-” respectively, dating back to a 19th-century method of invoicing beers according to their strengths. Scotch ale is sometimes conflated with the term “wee heavy”, as both are used to describe a strong beer. In North East England, “best Scotch” refers to a beer similar to mild ale but with a drier, more burnt palate.

Strong pale ales are ales made predominantly with pale malts and have an alcohol strength that may start around 5%, though typically start at 7 or 8% by volume and may go up to 12%, though brewers have been pushing the alcohol strength higher.

Irish red ale, red ale, or Irish ale (Irish: leann dearg[30]) is a name used by brewers in Ireland. There are many other examples being produced by Ireland’s expanding craft beer industry. There is some dispute as to whether Irish red ale is a genuine style or the same as English keg bitter.

In the United States, the name can describe a darker amber ale or a “red” beer that is a lager with caramel coloring.

The term dubbel (also double) is a Belgian Trappist beer naming convention. The origin of the dubbel was a strong version of a brown beer brewed in Westmalle Abbey in 1856, which is known to have been on sale to the public by June 1861. In 1926, the recipe was changed, and it was sold as Dubbel Bruin. Following World War Two, abbey beers became popular in Belgium and the name “dubbel” was used by several breweries for commercial purposes.

Farmhouse ale is an ancient European tradition where farmers brewed beer for consumption on the farm from their own grain. Most farmers would brew for Christmas and/or the late summer work, but in areas where they had enough grain farmers would use beer as the every-day drink. This was in a time when it was safer to drink beer than water. Farmhouse ale has enormous variation in the ingredients and brewing process used, both of which follow ancient local traditions.

Gose (/ɡoʊzə/) is a warm fermented beer that originated in Goslar, Germany. It is usually brewed with at least 50% of the grain bill being malted wheat. Dominant flavors in gose include a lemon sourness, a herbal characteristic, and a strong saltiness (the result of either local water sources or added salt). Gose beers typically do not have prominent hop bitterness, flavors, or aroma. The beers typically have a moderate alcohol content of 4 to 5% ABV.

Kölsch (German pronunciation: [kœlʃ]) is a style of beer originating in Cologne, Germany. It has an original gravity between 11 and 14 degrees Plato (specific gravity of 1.044 to 1.056). In appearance, it is bright and clear with a straw-yellow hue.

Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London, England in the early eighteenth century. It was well-hopped and dark in appearance due to the use of brown malt. The name originated due to its popularity with street and river porters.

Baltic porter is a version of imperial stout which originated in the Baltic region in the nineteenth century. Imperial stouts exported from Britain in the eighteenth century were popular in the countries around the Baltic Sea, and were recreated locally using local ingredients and brewing traditions. Early versions were warm fermented until the late nineteenth century when many breweries began to brew their porter with cool fermentation. Baltic porters typically have a minimum gravity of 18 degrees plato and a high alcohol content, even over 10% abv. They are produced in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden and the United States.

A Quadrupel (Dutch for ‘quadruple’) is a type of beer, with an alcohol by volume of 9.1% to 14.2%. There is little agreement on the status of Quadrupel as a beer style. Writer Tim Webb notes that similar beers are called Grand Cru in Belgium even though the idea is derived from the Belgian beer naming convention of that uses numerical values descriptive of the number of prominent ingredients.

Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout.
The first known use of the word stout for beer was in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscripts, the sense being that a “stout beer” was a strong beer, not a dark beer. The name porter was first used in 1721 to describe a dark brown beer that had been made with roasted malts. Because of the huge popularity of porters, brewers made them in a variety of strengths. The stronger beers, typically 7% or 8% alcohol by volume (ABV), were called “stout porters”, so the history and development of stout and porter are intertwined, and the term stout has become firmly associated with dark beer, rather than just strong beer.

Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose cannot be fermented by beer yeast, it adds sweetness and body to the finished beer. Milk stout was claimed to be nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers, along with other stouts. Milk stout was also said to be prescribed by doctors to help nursing mothers increase their milk production. The style was rare until being revived by a number of craft breweries during the craft beer boom of the twenty-first century. With milk or sweet stout becoming the dominant stout in the UK in the early 20th century, it was mainly in Ireland that the non-sweet or standard stout was being made. As standard stout has a drier taste than the English and American sweet stouts, they came to be called

Dry Stout or Irish Stout to differentiate them from stouts with added lactose or oatmeal. This is the style that represents a typical stout to most people. Draught Irish stout is normally served with a nitrogen propellant, (rather than carbon dioxide as most beers use) to create a creamy texture with a long-lasting head. Some canned and bottled stouts include a special device called a “widget” to nitrogenate the beer in the container to replicate the experience of the keg varieties.

Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose cannot be fermented by beer yeast, it adds sweetness and body to the finished beer. Milk stout was claimed to be nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers, along with other stouts. Milk stout was also said to be prescribed by doctors to help nursing mothers increase their milk production. The style was rare until being revived by a number of craft breweries during the craft beer boom of the twenty-first century. With milk or sweet stout becoming the dominant stout in the UK in the early 20th century, it was mainly in Ireland that the non-sweet or standard stout was being made. As standard stout has a drier taste than the English and American sweet stouts, they came to be called

Oatmeal Stout is a stout with a proportion of oats, normally a maximum of 30%, added during the brewing process. Even though a larger proportion of oats in beer can lead to a bitter or astringent taste, during the medieval period in Europe, oats were a common ingredient in ale, and proportions up to 35% were standard. Despite some areas of Europe, such as Norway, still clinging to the use of oats in brewing until the early part of the 20th century, the practice had largely died out by the 16th century, so much so that in 1513 Tudor sailors refused to drink oat beer offered to them because of the bitter flavor.

Chocolate Stout is a name brewers sometimes give to certain stouts having a noticeable dark chocolate flavor through the use of darker, more aromatic malt; particularly chocolate malt—a malt that has been roasted or kilned until it acquires a chocolate color. Sometimes, the beers are also brewed with a small amount of chocolate or chocolate flavoring.

Wheat beer is a beer, usually top-fermented, which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are Weißbier, based on the German tradition, and Witbier, based on the Belgian tradition.
Wheat beers vary in name according to the place in which they are brewed and small variations in the recipe. Among those used are:

• Weißbier, short Weiße: “Weiß” is German for “white”. These terms are used almost exclusively in the southern German state of Bavaria and in Austria.
• Weizenbier, short Weizen: “Weizen” is German for “wheat”. These terms are used in the western (Baden-Württemberg) and northern German regions for Weißbier.
• Hefeweißbier or Hefeweizen: “Hefe” is the German word for yeast, added to indicate that the beer is bottle-conditioned (unfiltered) and thus might have sediment.
• Kristallweißbier or Kristallweizen: “Kristall” being German for crystal, added if Weißbier is filtered clear of sediment.
• Dunkles Weißbier or Dunkelweizen: a dark version of a wheat beer (“dunkel” is the German word for “dark”).
• Weizenbock is a wheat beer made in the bock style originating in Germany.
• Witbier (Literally, “white beer”) or simply Wit: Dutch language name for the Belgian style of wheat beer.
• Bière blanche (Literally, “white beer”): The French language name for wheat beer.

Lager is a type of beer conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer.

• Helles, a pale malty lager brewed in southern Germany around Munich.
• Pilsner, a pale hoppy lager originally from the city of Plzeň in the Czech Republic, which influenced the modern American lager style.
• Märzen, an amber lager, traditionally brewed in Munich for the celebration of Oktoberfest, though the beer served at modern day Oktoberfest is Festbier, a style closer to Maibock or Helles than Märzen.
• Bock, originating in Einbeck in central Germany, is of a higher alcohol content (7% abv or more) than most lagers. Sub-styles include Maibock (traditionally served in May, lighter in color and body), Doppelbock (with an even higher alcohol content), and Eisbock, a type of ice beer which has been concentrated by freezing.
• Vienna lager, which can range from medium amber to brown, originating in Vienna, Austria, but also influencing brewing in Mexico, typified by beers such as Dos Equis Ambar.
• Dunkel, a dark brown lager; the word (meaning dark) can also be appended to other styles to indicate a darker variety (e.g. “Dunkelweizen”).
• Schwarzbier, a dark brown to black lager.

Rye beer refers to any beer in which rye (generally malted) is substituted for some portion of the barley. Rye beers are considered specialty beers that are brewed with unusual fermentables such as rice, corn, or wheat.

The most common lager beers in worldwide production are pale lagers. The flavor of these lighter lagers is usually mild, and the producers often recommend that the beers be served refrigerated.

Vienna lager is a form of Märzen, an amber to reddish-brown to copper-colored style of lager developed by brewer Anton Dreher in Vienna in 1841. German-speaking brewers who emigrated to Mexico in the late 19th century, during the Second Mexican Empire, took the style with them.

Lagers would likely have been mainly dark until the 1840s; pale lagers were not common until the later part of the 19th century when technological advances made them easier to produce. Dark lagers range from amber to dark reddish brown, and may be termed Vienna, amber lager, Dunkel, tmavé, or Schwarzbier depending on region, color or brewing method.

Dunkel, a dark brown lager; the word (meaning dark) can also be appended to other styles to indicate a darker variety (e.g. “Dunkelweizen”). is a word used for several types of dark German lager. Dunkel is the German word meaning dark, and dunkel beers typically range in color from amber to dark reddish brown. They are characterized by their smooth malty flavor. In informal terms, such as when ordering at a bar, “dunkel” is likely to mean whatever dark beer the bar has on tap, or sells most of; in much of north and western Germany, especially near Düsseldorf, this may be Altbier.

Schwarzbier, or black beer, is a dark lager that originated in Germany. They tend to have an opaque, black color with hints of chocolate or coffee flavors, and are generally around 5% ABV. They are similar to stout in that they are made from roasted malt, which gives them their dark color.

Sour beer is beer which has an intentionally acidic, tart, or sour taste. Traditional sour beer styles include Belgian lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale, and German gose.

Making sour beer is a risky and specialized form of beer brewing, and longstanding breweries which produce it and other lambics often specialize in this and other Belgian-style beers. Sour beer has also spread outside Belgium, to other European countries, the United States and Canada.

While any type of beer may be soured, most follow traditional or standardized guidelines.

Beers brewed in the United States utilizing yeast and bacteria strains instead of or in addition to standard brewers yeasts. These microflora may be cultured or acquired spontaneously, and the beer may be fermented in a number of different types of brewing vessels. American wild ales tend not to have specific parameters or guidelines stylistically, but instead simply refer to the use of unusual yeasts.

At one time the most popular alcoholic beverage in Berlin, this is a somewhat weaker (usually around 3% abv) beer made sour by use of Lactobacillus bacteria. This type of beer is usually served with flavored syrups to balance the tart flavor.[8]

Flanders red ales are fermented with brewers yeast, then placed into oak barrels to age and mature. Usually, the mature beer is blended with younger beer to adjust the taste for consistency. This is also sometimes referred to as “flemish red”.

Gose is a top-fermenting beer that originated in Goslar, Germany. This style is characterized by the use of coriander and salt and is made sour by inoculating the wort with lactic acid bacteria before primary fermentation.

Lambic is a spontaneously-fermented beer made in the Pajottenland region around Brussels, Belgium. Wort is left to cool overnight in the koelschip where it is exposed to the open air during the winter and spring, and placed into barrels to ferment and mature. Most lambics are blends of several season’s batches, such as gueuze, or are secondarily fermented with fruits, such as kriek and framboise. As such, pure unblended lambic is quite rare, and few bottled examples exist.

Originating from the Flemish region of Belgium, oud bruins are differentiated from the Flanders red ale in that they are darker in color and not aged on wood. As such this style tends to use cultured yeasts to impart its sour notes.