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Beer Styles - Flavoured & Traditional

Styles & Seasonals July 4, 2005      
Written by Oakes


Richmond, CANADA -

Fruit Beer



Fruit has been used to flavour beer since the very beginning. Egyptians and Mesopotamians both used dates as a source of fermentable sugars, wild yeasts and flavour. In this tradition, and in the tradition of more recent fruit beer styles like kriekenlambic, the fruit is macerated or added whole to the barrel in which the beer is fermenting or aging.



Modern brewers often eschew whole fruit, as it has a tendency to make the cleaning process more difficult. Some still uphold this tradition, however, and thankfully so because the common alternative – fruit extract – often has an artificial character. The extract may of course be naturally produced, but is typically added post-fermentation so that the sugars in the extract that help carry the fruit flavour across the palate are not fermented out. The result is a cloying beer where the fruit flavour sits on top of the beer flavour, rather than melding seamlessly.



The ultimate goal of any fruit beer should be seamless integration. The fruit flavour should strike some sort of balance with the beer. It shouldn’t taste like a cooler. This doesn’t mean that the fruit needs to be relegated to an accent role, but there should be a noticeable malt component to the beer and hopefully some yeast character as well. Moreover, fruit tends to clash with harsher elements such as hop bitterness and alcohol, so avoiding that clash is essential to creating a top-flight fruit beer.



Fruit beer can in theory be based on any beer style. For Ratebeer purposes, those based on lambic receive their own category and those based on Flemish Sour will be listed there, as these are traditional fruit styles that predate the modern concept of fruit beer. One question regarding the classification of fruit beers is at what point does a beer leave its “base” style and become a fruit beer. Ideally, this would be at the point where the fruit is no longer an accent but a feature flavour. That line can be arbitrary, resulting in some judgment calls, but that is the most logical way of viewing the issue so that is what we aim for.



Most popular examples: Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat (USA), Éphmémère Apple (Canada), Pete’s Wicked Strawberry Blonde (USA), Quelque Chose (Canada), Dogfish Head Aprihop (USA)



Some of my favourites: Quelque Chose (Canada), L’Inox Viking (Canada), La Choulette Framboise (France), Southampton Peconic County Reserve (USA), Brasserie de Fribourg Framboise (Switzerland)



Colour: 1.25 – 3.5

Flavour: 1 – 4

Sweetness: 2.5 – 4



Spice/Herb/Vegetable



The use of hops in beer is a relatively new idea. Beer has been made for upwards of 10,000 years, but hops did not become common until 500 years ago. Before then, given the unstable nature of beer, spices and herbs were commonly used to lend flavour and in some cases bitterness. A wide variety of spices were used, but the ultimate goal was the same – to mask the off-flavours that were common in ancient brews.



Today, spices are used not to mask off-flavours but purely for pleasure. Coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg find their way into many beers, as do the occasional herb and vegetable (most commonly chile peppers).



As with other “flavoured” beers, spiced ales should ideally incorporate the flavouring into a distinguishable base beer. It must have beer character. The flavours should meld well with one another. Many spices are great fits in beer, working easily with all of beer’s key elements.



Beers can be spiced to any level of flavour. For classification purposes, there is an arbitrary line where a beer goes from being accented with a spice to a beer which features the spice as the defining flavour element. The former would be classed under the base style, the latter as a spiced beer.



Most popular examples: Dogfish Head Raison d’Etre (USA), Traquair Jacobite Ale (Scotland), Rogue Juniper Ale/Yellow Snow (USA), Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig (USA), Anchor Our Special Ale (USA)



Some of my favourites: Traquair Jacobite Ale (Scotland), Sweetwater Festive Ale (USA), Rogue Chipotle Ale/Mexicali (USA), Capital Wild Rice (USA), Big Time Frosty’s Spiced Winter Warmer (USA)



Colour: 0 – 4.5

Flavour: 1.5 – 4.25

Sweetness: 2 – 4.5



Traditional Ale



There have been literally hundreds of beer styles throughout history. Most of these are lost for all time, but not all. Traditional Ale is a catch-all category that incorporates these ancient brewing styles. Some are surviving examples with a lineage stretching back hundreds of years. Some are revivals of dead styles. Some are modern interpretations of what ancient beer must have been like, based on archaelogical and written evidence.



Some of the major substyles are specific and I’ve outlined them below, but in practice Traditional Ale is near limitless in interpretation. Even the majority characteristic of being unhopped or lightly hopped does not apply to all traditional styles. The only mandatory feature is that the beer must be in or based on a historical style.



Among Traditional Ales, the most populous in terms of number of examples is Lithuanian Farmhouse beer. However, the region of production and availability is extremely limited. Even in the large southern cities of Vilnius and Kaunas, traditional Lithuanian beer is very difficult to find. As with most farmhouse beers, the style’s interpretation is loose. Some major characteristics stand out, though. It is strong – ranging between 6-10% (10% is the legal limit for beer in Lithuania or this might be higher), yet alcohol flavour doesn’t make much impact on the palate. It is malty, and hugely yeasty. Hard water makes for a minerally beer. Diacetyl at high levels is common, but not as off-putting as it would be in other beer styles. Hopping is light, with the leafy-tasting local hops. Carbonation is soft, and the beer is extremely drinkable. Combined with high alcohol and low prices, it is a bit of a recipe for disaster.



Gruit is a common form of spiced ale. Gruit is the name for a spice mixture that was brewed and then added to beer. Common gruit spices include bog myrtle, yarrow, meadowsweet and wild rosemary in addition to more familiar clove and nutmeg. Gruit is traditionally unhopped, though not all modern interpretations are. It often took on a sour character as well, but this should be palatable (not all sourness is, but for Berliner Weisse and Lambic it is more than palatable).



Sahti, Gotlandsdricke and Koduõlu are traditional juniper beers of the Baltic region. Sahti is made commercially by half a dozen Finnish brewers and is occasionally produced as a special by North American micros. In Finland, there are distinct regional variations of sahti. In general, it is strong (7-9%), sweet and phenolic (bubblegum is very common). It is filtered through juniper branches which are whole (including berries) and this character is imparted to the beer. Some sahti is lightly hopped, but some is not. All commercial examples are, but for example Finlandia Sahti grows all the hops they need on the side of their building. Gotlandsdricke is similar, but uses a portion of smoked malt. It comes from the Swedish island of Gotland and is not commercially produced, though it was in the mid-90’s. Koduõlu (“home beer”) is made on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. There is apparently one commercial example but is only available on the island. These styles are still widely homebrewed in their local regions and there is a Juniper Beer Brewing Championships.



Another traditional ale is Heather Ale. This hails from Scotland and comes with a sexy legend about a Pictish king who, being the last of his race, killed his son and then himself rather than give up the secret of the reknowned Pictish heather ale. In the most simple terms, wild heather is used to flavour a malty, mid-strength ale. The result, predictably, is sweet and flowery.



In recent years, a few breweries have launched beers even more ancient, dating back to Egypt or Mesopotamia. These have included honey, dates and ancient grains such as emmer in their production. The first of these was Anchor’s Ninkasi, the most common is Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch.



Traditional fermented beverages, if they are made from grain, fall into this category as well. Some of the ones still made in their region of origin include sorghum beer, which is still widely popular throughout southern Africa; chang, still made in mountainous parts of Nepal; yinjiu and sulima, both from the region around Lijiang in northwestern Yunnan Province, China. Except for chang, these are all commercially produced on a fairly large scale.



Most popular examples: Hair of the Dog Adam (USA), Dogfish Head Midas Touch (USA), Fraoch Heather Ale (Scotland), New Belgium 1554 Brussels Black (USA), Alba Scots Pine Ale (Scotland)



Some of my favourites: Joutsan Sahti (Finland), Jovaru Alus (Lithuania), Hair of the Dog Adam (USA), Heavyweight Two Druids Gruit (USA), Chimkora Dvaro (Lithuania)



Colour (Lithuanian): 2 – 3.75

Flavour (Lithuanian): 3 – 4

Sweetness (Lithuanian): 3 – 4.5



Colour (Gruit): 2 – 3.5

Flavour (Gruit): 3 – 4.25

Sweetness (Gruit): 3 – 4.5



Colour (Sahti): 2 – 3.5

Flavour (Sahti): 3 – 4.25

Sweetness (Sahti): 3.5 – 4.5



Colour (Heather Ale): 2.5 – 3.5

Flavour (Heather Ale): 2.5 – 3.75

Sweetness (Heather Ale): 3.5 – 4.5



Colour (Sorghum Beer): 0

Flavour (Sorghum Beer): 1 – 2.5

Sweetness (Sorghum Beer): 1.5 – 2.5



Colour (others): 2 – 4.5

Flavour (others): 2 – 4.5

Sweetness (others): 2 - 5



Barrel-Aged



A modern trend has been towards barrel-aged beers. What precisely this means is unclear, but hopefully things can be made clear.



Historically, all beers were either made or served from wooden barrels, and usually both. Even today, barrels are used for some English bitter, lambic, Franconian lager, Altbier, a few India Pale Ales, and even Pilsner Urquell was produced in wood barrels until a few years ago. This is traditional for all of these beers styles. So the presence of wood alone does not alone make a beer fit into the style, though some less-worldly writers and style theorists persist with this ignorant notion.



Barrel-aged is a flavour style. Like fruit, spiced and smoked beers, barrel-aged beers are built by adding an additional layer of flavour to an existing beer style. Unlike the others, they flavour is added by process rather than ingredient and they are typically built not just upon an existing style, but an existing beer. Indeed, if it is not built on an existing beer, it may not even be recognized as a barrel-aged beer, especially if it is a barley wine and the barrel-aging results in nuanced rather than brash flavours.



As with all flavour styles, Barrel-Aged beers should blend seamlessly the flavour element with the base beer. Some barrels, particularly bourbon, tend to lend a powerful flavour element that can easily drown out the base beer. Moreover, the process can sometimes add a significant amount of alcohol, or at least alcohol flavour to the beer, again putting the balance at risk.



Most popular examples: Dominion Oak Barrel Stout (USA), Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (USA), Central Waters Brewer’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout (USA), MacTarnahan’s Bourbon Cask Aged Blackwatch Cream Porter (USA), Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti (USA)



Some of my favourites: Nynäshamns Fatlagrad Smörpundet Porter (Sweden), Fish Leviathan (Batch 1-4), De Dolle Oerbier Reserva (Belgium), AleSmith Barrel-Aged Speedway (USA), Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (USA)



Colour: 3 – 5

Flavour: 4 – 5

Sweetness: 2.75 – 4.5

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