ALE: The English term for a brew made with a top fermenting yeast, which should impart to it a distinctive fruitiness. Ales vary from light to dark and delicate to full bodied, depending upon the volume of malted barley, hops, and degree of roasting of the malted barley. Because of the relatively higher fermenting temperatures, ales often extract more of the flavor from their ingredients. Ales are still brewed around the world, but most of the distinctive styles known today originated in Britain. The British used hops in brewing by the 10th century, but the practice somehow died out and did not reassert itself until 1552, when King Edward VI issued an edict allowing their use. Virtually all ales now use hops in the recipe, though some use additional flavorings. Ales also are commonly conditioned or aged in the bottle to develop strength and flavor.

ALT: A German style of top-fermenting beer, altbier comes from the German alt, meaning "old." These light ales are cold-conditioned, making them more similar in taste to lagers than ales.

AMERICAN LAGER: The largest selling beers in this country, including the leading lights, all fall into this rather broad category. The style is derived from European pilsners and tends to be clean and crisp with more carbonation and minimal hop character.

BARLEY WINE: An English term for an extra-strong ale. These brews are very strong (7.5% to 14% alcohol by volume) and are intended to rival great wines in terms of depth, complexity, smoothness and body.

BITTER: This name implies a depth of hop bitterness. These beers are usually bronze to deep copper in color and heavily hopped, giving them a high degree of hops bitterness with some acidity in the finish.

BOCK: The German term for a strong beer. They can range in color from golden to tawny to brown and are generally stronger than typical lagers (more than 6.25% alcohol by volume). Bock beers are usually brewed to be served in Autumn, late Winter, or Spring depending on the company.

BROWN ALE: Traditionally this is a mild brew that is also called Nut Brown Ale. A sweet, dark brown ale is brewed in southern England. Brown ales brewed in northern England are more reddish in color, slightly higher in alcoholic content, and have a drier finish.

CREAM ALE: An American invention, cream ales are usually blends of pale golden, mild, light-bodied ale and lager. Only two outstanding examples remain in this country, Geneses Cream Ale and Little Kings.

DOPPELBOCK: "Double" bock. German extra-strong bottom-fermenting beer. Usually tawny or dark brown in color. Names of this type of beer usually end in-ator.

DORTMUNDER: Technically, this is a beer brewed in the German city of Dortmund, but it often refers to the city's classic style of Export. There are actually seven brewing companies in the city of Dortmund producing a wide variety of beer styles with the name Dortmunder. The Export style is a beer that is pale and medium dry, with a little more body and alcoholic content than pale lagers from Munich and Pilsen.

DRY BEER: Originally a style in Germany where carbohydrates were diminished by a very thorough fermentation (creating a high alcohol content), dry beer was popularized by Japanese brewers. The mild

version brewed in America has a conventional alcohol content, and is noted for having no "beery" aftertaste. Although brewers felt the category showed a great deal of promise in the late '80's, it turned out to be more of a fad than a new direction.

DUNKEL: German word for dark.

GOLDEN ALE: Originally produced in the lateth century to compete with the growing popularity of golden lagers. They tend to be light to medium in body with some hop aroma and a clean finish.

HEFE: In Germany this means yeast. If a beer is sedimented with yeast, it may be prefixed Hefe.

ICE: First introduced in Canada in 1993, this style has been embraced by most of the large U.S. and Canadian brewers. It has been more successful than dry beer but still accounts for less than 4% of U.S. beer volume. There are several different methods being used for brewing ice beer although Labatt claims to have invented ice brewing at cooler-than-normal temperatures then chilling the beer to below freezing to form ice crystals, which are then filtered out.

INDIA PALE ALE: This style was originally created in the 1700's with a higher alcohol content and a double dose of hops (a natural preservative) to withstand the long and arduous shipment to British troops and colonists in India. This style is popular with many American microbrewers.

LAGER: When bottom-fermenting yeasts were discovered, their advantages were quickly promoted first through Europe and then the world. Bottom fermentation takes place at lower temperatures of between 40 and 55 degrees, and the yeast settles to the bottom of the fermenting vat, out of harm's way. When the process was first discovered, many brewers produced the new lager during the colder winter months, and continued to brew ale the spring and summer. As advances in refrigeration techniques took hold, brewers were able to brew the new type of beer year-round. Lager comes from the German word lager, which means to store. The beer was not only brewed at lower temperatures for a longer period of time (anywhere from five to fourteen instead of the two to four days for ales), it was then stored in cold cellars to undergo a slow second fermentation and aging process. The classic lager is made from only malted barley, hops, yeast, and water as dictated by the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Lagers range in color from straw to chocolate.

LAMBIC: Brewed in Belgium, lambics are made with both barley and 30% TO 40% unmalted wheat. The mash is left to ferment spontaneously with wild yeast from the atmosphere for a night, then barreled for the rest of the primary and a secondary fermentation. Lambics are sometimes casked with cherries, raspberries or other fruit. Young lambics are dry, sour, cloudy, and similar in taste to a cider. Aged lambics are more mellow and settled.