Know your brew

By Jesse Granger

Monday, July 6, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Beer was discovered accidentally about 7,000 years ago in what today is Iran, and the frothy, intoxicating drink has been quenching the masses since.

Ancient Egyptians paid pyramid builders a gallon of beer for a day’s work. The Sumerians worshipped the beer goddess Ninkasi. The oldest beer recipe on record was written on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet.

Many of America’s Founding Fathers — including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and of course, Samuel Adams — were brewers and beer lovers.

Today, Americans drink 7.4 billion gallons of beer every year. That’s 27.8 gallons, or roughly 300 bottles, per drinking-age adult.

Beer often is portrayed as a simple, blue-collar drink, but the truth is, beer is complex. It involves a highly scientific brewing process and includes hundreds of classifications. Understanding beer can be difficult, but knowing exactly what’s pouring from the tap and foaming over your frosted mug can greatly enhance your drinking experience.

LAGERS

Lagers are newer beers, only several hundred years old, and are fermented in cold temperatures — 45 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit — for a longer period of time. Lagers use bottom-fermenting yeast that sinks during fermentation.

American

■ The American pale lager is by far the most commonly consumed beer in the United States. Lagers comprised 19 of the top 20 of beers sold in America last year, with Anheuser-Busch owning 11 of them. They usually are light in color and flavor, with little or no bitterness from hops.

Popular American pale lagers: Budweiser, Coors, Miller, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Michelob Ultra

■ Malt liquors generally are higher in alcoholic content with few hops.

Popular malt liquors: Bud Light Lime-A-Rita, Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor, Olde English 800, Colt 45

German

■ The name Märzen is derived from from the German word for March. Before refrigeration, it was difficult to brew beers during the summer, so many beermakers brewed in March, then kept beer on ice to drink throughout the summer.

Popular Märzens: Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Gordon Biersch Märzen

■ Bocks are German lagers with a deep copper to dark brown color. They are the darkest and fullest of all lagers and typically are made from a single Munich malt.

Popular bocks: Point Bock, Holsten Festbock

■ Similarly, Kölsch-style beer falls into the German lager category, with a hint of grape flavor from the malts used.

European

■ Pilsners are the most common European lagers in the United States and get their name from the city of Plzen in the Czech Republic. They generally are light in body and color with a clean, crisp taste lacking in hoppy flavor. A signature of pilsners is their aggressive carbonation.

Popular pilsners: Stella Artois, Beck’s

■ Other European lagers include pale and dark varieties.

ALES

Ales have been around much longer, dating back thousands of years, and are fermented in warmer temperatures — 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit — for a shorter period of time. Ales are made with top-fermenting yeast that floats during fermentation.

■ Stouts are strong in flavor and dark in color. They originated as the strongest form of porter but now are widely considered their own classification. Stouts have a heavy roasted malt flavor and sometimes include coffee, chocolate or caramel tones.

Imperial generally is a term companies use to designate their top-of-the line beer.

Oatmeal stouts, brewed with oats, tend to be sweeter and smoother than other stouts.

Popular stouts: Guinness, Murphy’s Irish Stout, George Killian’s Irish Stout, Old Rasputin Imperial Stout

American and Irish stouts are brewed in the countries they’re named for.

■ While porters are dark and full-bodied like stouts, they aren’t quite as strong. The hops flavor in porters can range from bitter to mild, and the beer often has a smoky taste.

Popular porters: Stone Smoked Porter, Sierra Nevada Porter, Black Butte Porter

■ Brown ales were popularized in London. As the name suggests, they are a deep amber brown color. Brown ales range in flavor but typically have a malty, nutty base.

Popular brown ales: Newcastle Brown Ale, Tommyknocker, Imperial Nut Brown, Brooklyn Brown Ale

■ American pale ales are the lightest ales in terms of color and body. They range in hue from light golden brown to amber, and are known for their strong hoppy taste — especially Indian pale ales, or IPAs.

Popular pale ales: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Samuel Adams Rebel IPA, Goose Island IPA

Wheat ales, which have exploded in popularity in the United States, are brewed with more than 50 percent malted wheat and often have strong citrus and coriander flavors.

Popular wheat ales: Shock Top, Blue Moon, Dogfish Head Namaste

Amber ales are reddish and typically made from floral accented hops.

Blonde ales are lager-like, comparable to a Kölsch.