What is an Ale beer?

Question

I have no clue what that means. Sometimes I even see things written like an ale hefeweizen. But what exactly is an ale?

Answer 1

YES!!!!!!!

Answer 2

an ale is a type of beer that uses "top fermenting yeast"...

a lager uses bottom fermenting yeast... an ale requires cooler tempatures..

ales are usually easier to make.. since they require a somewhat normal tempature...

a hefeweizen is a type of ale...

Answer 3

A beer can be one of two things; either an ale or a lager.

Ales use top-fermenting yeast that ferments at higher temperatures

Lagers are made from bottom-fermenting yeast that ferments at cool temperatures

All of the beer styles you've heard of falls into one of those types.

Pilsners are lagers

Stouts, hefeweizens, white/wit beers, IPAs are all examples of top-fermenting ales

Answer 4

Up until the mid-19th century, all beer was ale.  What happened is Pilsner Urquell, from Pilsen, Czech Republic.  By using a bottom-fermenting yeast at lower temperatures (45-55F), and then storing ("lager" means storage) the freshly made beer in a low temperature (30-40F) cellar, the result was the now common clear, light yellow lager beer.  Specifically, this is called Pilsner, a style of lager.  Other styles of lager are Bock, Marzen / Oktoberfest, Schwarzbier (a tasty black lager), and Vienna lager.  

Ale, is the opposite of lager.  Instead of using low temperature fermentation with bottom-fermenting yeast and then storing it at low temperatures, an ale uses warm temperatures (65-75F) and top-fermenting yeast, and requires no storage after fermentation.  It goes straight from fermentor to bottle, to condition (carbonate).  Most breweries skip conditioning and just inject CO2 into the bottle.  The result: no yeast in the bottles, and quicker turnaround on production.  Homebrewers can invest in a similar method, although it is uncommon.  It is usually expected with homebrew to get yeast at the bottom, and to have naturally carbonated beer, you just don't pour the last 1/2" or so into your glass and never drink from the bottle.

So, what's the difference in flavor now that I went through how they are made?  You are probably familiar with lagers, as it is the most commonly sold beer in the US.  An ale has a more robust flavor, with each style having tremendously different flavors.  There are many more styles of ale than lager.  Brown ale, Pale ale, India Pale Ale (IPA), Stout, Porter, Wheat beer (hefeweizen), all the Belgian beers, scotch ale, and Kolsch.  For example, an IPA is a very hoppy bitter beer.  Good examples will have a malt backbone so that the bitterness isn't overwhelming.  Typically, an IPA can be expected to be around 45 IBU, whereas an American Lager is 10 IBU (IBU is a bitterness scale).  There are niche styles, such as Double IPA, where the IBUs are over 60, with some having as much as 130 IBU (and 21% ABV).  Most IPAs fall in the 6-7% ABV range, however.  Then you also have the porter and stouts, which are of course rich, dark beers.  These will use roasted malts, and often have a coffee or chocolate taste to them.  The IBUs here tend to be high, again 40+, but because of the heavy malt flavor, they are not bitter.  So, you have two extremes, IPA is mostly hops with enough malt to support it, while Stouts are mostly malt with enough hops to prevent it from being too sweet.  Even within stout, you also have the Imperial Russian stout, a heavily malted style of ale, which commonly will have 9-10%ABV or higher.  Speaking of alcohol content, most lagers manage about 5%.  Most ales you find will have more than this, commonly in the low 6% range.  There are exceptions, such as barley wines, so named because this style of ale is about 12% ABV, average, and makes it similar to wine strength (the barley of course is the grain used as malt in beer).

By and large, due to the popularity of lager, we get a lot of cheap lagers -- Bud, Miller, Coors.  Even the flagship brands aren't good.  None of them are true beers -- the use of rice, corn, and beachwood aging are all called adjuncts, making them defy the definition of beer (water, malt, yeast, hops, nothing else is allowed).  The sad fact is by pricing them well and marketing them frequently, they are one of the first alcoholic drinks people will have, and many don't see the point in drinking something better; whether it costs more for good beer or they actually don't like the bitterness of good beer (I recall a marketing campaign of one product which claimed to have no 'bitter beer face,' the implication that bitterness is a sign of an inferior product, when it is actually a sign of using good hops).  So, my point is, that since ales are a smaller market than lagers, you see a lot of competition between brewers to produce a good beer.  The overall quality that you get with ales is going to be higher than most lagers.  There are exceptions, as there are some very good lagers.  Lagers are not an inferior style, by any means.  They are just not being respected by massive companies.  Sam Adams makes a good lager, for example, as well as others.

Perhaps a taste test is in order?  Compare Sam Adams Boston Lager to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  Compare Sam Adams Black Lager to Sierra Nevada Stout.  You have a pretty standard quality lager vs quality pale ale, generally about as close a matchup between lagers and ales.  The second one is a black lager vs a dark ale.  You should notice the Black Lager isn't as heavy as the stout, but they both have a similar coffee/chocolate taste to them.  My guess is the Black Lager is easier to drink than the Stout, but I've been wrong before ;)

Answer 5

Samuel has it right, ale vs lager is all about the yeast. (Although even within the ale/lager yeast categories there are different types which give different characteristics. Lambics, sour beers, and high alcohol brews come to mind.)

Because ales usually brew at warmer temperatures (so faster) they often have a "fruitier" or "tangier" taste. Lagers, which brew cold (so slower) are usually more smooth and mellow.  Some might argue that lagers vs ales is a similar division to Velveeta vs a sharp cheddar.

But there are a lot of other factors that determine characteristics as well; type and quantity of hops (the bitter stuff); type, quantity and roast of grain (barley vs wheat vs rye vs oatmeal vs corn vs rice, etc), and the water used in brewing.

Through varying all these factors there is a huge range in the final product. Some lagers wind up being "ale-like" while some ales can be "lager-like".

Also there are styles of beer which can use fruit juices, other sugars than from grain such as molasses, lactose, etc., and other, even weirder, things.

Answer 6

A type of beer that is made from fermented barley malt and hops. Sometimes referred to as English beer, it has a strong and slightly bitter taste. A dark malted beer, lighter and paler than Stout.

Guinness for example

It is also flat