How many types of beer are there?!
Answers: ale, malt ,
According to Ratebeer.com there are 71 styles of beer. A lot of what Mayor Adam West posted is true, however, some of those are actually the same style.
Infinite b/c there are blends and too many home breweries to count... your basics are ale, lager, pilsner, porter and stout...but the two main categories which all fall into are lager and stout...happy drinking!
Possibly only two:
Lager
Ale
(which depends on the type of yeast used to ferment the sugars in the malted barley)
From there, each can be broken down into many flavors and styles, a near infinite variety. (yum)
for instance, a Pilsner is a type of Lager. A Porter is a type of Ale.
In truth, beer styles all fall into two broad types, determined by the time and temperature of the primary fermentation as well as where the yeast sits during fermentation: ales and lagers. As the terminology of brewing arose before the advent of the science of microbiology, “yeast” in this context may refer not only to fungi but to some bacteria.
Ale
Ale is beer that is brewed using only top-fermenting yeasts, and is typically fermented at higher temperatures than lager beer (15–23°C, 60–75°F). Ale yeasts at these temperatures produce significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products, and the result is a flavourful beer with a slightly “flowery” or “fruity” aroma resembling but not limited to apple, pear, pineapple, grass, hay, banana, plum or prune.
Principal styles of ale include
* Barley Wine
* Belgian Trippel
* Belgian Dubbel
* Bitter
* Amber Ale
* Brown Ale
* Pale Ale
* Porter
* Stout
* Wheat beer
Lager
Lagers are the most commonly consumed type of beer in the world. Lagers are of Central European origin, taking their name from the German lagern (”to store”). Lager yeast is a bottom-fermenting yeast, and typically begins fermentation at 7-12°C (45-55°F) (the “fermentation phase”), and then stored at 0-4°C (30-40°F) (the “lagering phase”). During the secondary stage, the lager clears and mellows. The cooler conditions also inhibit the natural production of esters and other byproducts, resulting in a “crisper” tasting beer.
Modern methods of producing lager were pioneered by Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger, who perfected dark brown lagers at the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria, and Anton Dreher, who began brewing a lager, probably of amber-red color, in Vienna, Austria, in 1840–1841. With modern improved fermentation control, most lager breweries use only short periods of cold storage, typically 1–3 weeks.
Most of today’s lager is based on the Pilsner style, pioneered in 1842 in the town of Pilsen (Plzeň), in an area of the Austrian monarchy now located in the Czech Republic. The modern Pilsner lager is light in colour and high in carbonation, with a strong hop flavour and an alcohol content of 3–6% by volume. The Pilsner Urquell or Heineken brands of beer are typical examples of pilsner beer.
Principal styles of lager include
* American-style lager
* Bock
* Dunkel
* Helles
* M?rzen
* Oktoberfest
* Pilsner
* Schwarzbier
* Vienna lager
Cheers!
There are three main types of beer. These are top-fermenting, bottom-fermenting and spontanious-fermenting beers.
The way you asked it, this is a rather difficult question to answer. Really, there are 3 'types' of beer, ale (top fermenting yeast), lager (bottom fermenting yeast), and 'other' (which includes lambic, or naturally fermented).
As far as styles go, there are 23 main styles that the BJCP recognizes, and several of those styles have sub-styles, etc.
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/
There are two main catigories Ale and Lager. In those two categories there are a lot! Lucky for us I can just cut and past from a power point presentaion I gave in November!
Ales:
American Ales
American Amber / Red AleAmerican Barley WineAmerican Blonde AleAmerican Brown AleAmerican Dark Wheat AleAmerican Double / Imperial IPAAmerican Double / Imperial StoutAmerican IPAAmerican Pale Ale (APA)American Pale Wheat AleAmerican PorterAmerican StoutAmerican Strong AleAmerican Wild AleBlack & TanChile BeerCream AlePumpkin AleRye BeerWheat Wine
Belgian / French Ales
Belgian Dark AleBelgian IPABelgian Pale AleBelgian Strong Dark AleBelgian Strong Pale AleBière de Champagne / Bière BrutBière de GardeDubbelFaroFlanders Oud BruinFlanders Red AleGueuzeLambic - FruitLambic - UnblendedQuadrupelSaison / Farmhouse AleTripelWitbier
English Ales
Baltic PorterEnglish Barley WineEnglish BitterEnglish Brown AleEnglish Dark Mild AleEnglish India Pale Ale (IPA)English Pale AleEnglish Pale Mild AleEnglish PorterEnglish StoutEnglish Strong AleExtra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)Foreign / Export StoutMilk / Sweet StoutOatmeal StoutOld AleRussian Imperial StoutWinter WarmerFinnish Ales Sahti
German Ales
AltbierBerliner WeissbierDunkel WeizenGoseHefe WeizenKristal WeizenK?lschRoggenbierWeizenbockIrish AlesIrish Dry StoutIrish Red AleRussian AlesKvassScottish AlesScotch Ale / Wee HeavyScottish Ale Scottish Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale
Lager:
American Lagers
American All-Malt LagerAmerican Amber / Red LagerAmerican Double / Imperial PilsnerAmerican Macro LagerAmerican Malt LiquorCalifornia Common / Steam BeerLight LagerLow Alcohol Beer
Czech Lagers
Czech Pilsener
European Lagers
Euro Dark LagerEuro Pale LagerEuro Strong Lager
German Lagers
BockDoppelbockDortmunder / Export LagerEisbockGerman PilsenerKeller Bier / Zwickel BierMaibock / Helles BockMunich Dunkel LagerMunich Helles LagerM?rzen / OktoberfestRauchbierSchwarzbierVienna Lager
Japanese Lagers
HapposhuJapanese Rice Lager
There are also Hybrids that don't fit into either:
Fruit / Vegetable BeerHerbed / Spiced BeerSmoked Beer
Cider, Malt beverages and Mead contrary to popular ARE NOT beer.