Beer drinking is one of life’s simple pleasures enjoyed by virtually everyone. The reason it’s so popular around the globe has to do with it being a drink that has the power to boost everyone’s mood and the way it brings people together over social gatherings. Plus, there’s literally a beer bottle for everyone’s taste, no matter how peculiar it may be. The fact it leaves room for plenty of experimentation, especially with the recipes and the ingredients, explains why craft beer has especially grown in popularity over the years.

You don’t have to be up for homebrewing adventures yourself to get your hands on an amazing range of craft beers from Australia and the world with all the craft options available. Choosing a bar where you can ask for help and the opinion of the bartender is one thing, and it’s a completely different one when it comes to buying a craft beer bottle from some of the finest Australian and foreign breweries.

Know Your Beers

I don’t mean for you to be all too technical and go into the finest of details of beers and brewing, but rather it can be helpful to know a thing or two about the different styles you can find at the stores. The main distinction between them all falls down to the yeast, with usually there being three categorisations: the ale, the lager, and the sour.

Ales

These are types of beers made using a warm fermentation method, with a top-fermenting yeast, resulting in a more complex and robust flavourful taste. They’re characterised as full-bodied, bitter up to a point, and with a strong hoppy aroma. Some of the most popular options of ales are the fruitier and flavourful pale ales with pale malt, and the hoppy IPAs, but there are ranges of beer bottles of stouts, porters, wheat beers, and wild ales too.

Each of these comes with its own variations depending on the ingredients they’re brewed with. For example, the stouts are dark top-fermented ales that can be dry, imperial, oat and milk stouts. The porters, just like the stouts, are brewed with heavily-roasted malts and can have a taste and aroma of coffee and even chocolate. Although creamy on their own, the addition of lactose for sweetness and more creaminess results in milk stouts.

Wheat is those ales brewed with a considerable amount of wheat and malted barley. They’re somewhat sweeter than IPAs and lagers, and some, like the German-style wheat beers, have notes of bananas, cloves, and bubble gum.

Wild ales are those cases of craft beer bottle made with wild yeasts which tend to produce a sour acid and in addition to the sour notes have a rather wild flavour – this sets them apart from the sour beers. The natural fermentation process, and the unique tastes, are what make these beers particularly popular in the world of craft beer as of late. For light to moderate hops pick one of the red, brown, blond or golden ales.

Lager

This is a style of beer that’s different from the ale because it’s made with a bottom-fermenting yeast, brewed and conditioned at a lower temperature. Typically, it’s light-coloured and highly carbonated. It’s the perfect option of craft beer for anyone looking for a refreshing crisp flavour that isn’t as sweet or fruity as the ales.

It’s also light and less bitter which is why many love having it (even non-beer lovers) over a few snacks without feeling guilty about the intake of calories. Same as the ales, lagers have their own variations based on the colour and malt character, so you have the famous pilsner, imperial pilsner, Vienna lager, American lager, bock, doppelbock, maibock, California common, marzen, and dunkel.

Out of these, if you’re looking for more alcohol content, you should try the imperial pilsner, whereas if you’re up for something that’s not quite lager and not quite an ale, the California common is the perfect hybrid for you with its incredible caramel-like malt flavour.

Sours

This is a broad style of beer that is quite sour thanks to the friendly bacteria (mainly lactobacillus and pediococcus) in them, the same that can be found in yogurt in fact. These types of beer bottles for sale you can find at the stores are also funky and earthy due to the yeast (Brettanomyces). Some of the usual variations include Lambic, Flanders, Americal wild ale, Gose, and Berliner Weisse.

Mind Your Palate

You’re probably aware of how big of a role the palate plays in beer experimentation and you probably wouldn’t want your adventure in the craft beer world ruined straight away by drinking beers in the wrong order. So, even if you subscribe to receive a craft beer batch or order several options separately, it’s important to be careful of how and when you drink them.

To make things exciting, and tasty at the same time, it’s best to be careful with the beer order and start things off with light and airy beers before moving on to the stronger and more flavourful ones so as not to overburden the palate. Light lagers are a great start as they prepare your taste buds for the drink without preventing you from enjoying some richer and more aromatic beers afterwards. Pale ales are the next best thing before you’re ready for imperial stouts.

Remember Your Favourites

If you’re new to the world of craft beers, it’s necessary to keep track of everything you’ve tried so you know what it is you prefer out of a whole range of options. Keep a beer journal or a list as you experience new and different tastes to be aware of what it is you like the most about hoppy, sweet, bitter or dark beers. Talking it out with family and friends can be helpful too – more so as you’d know what to get them for the next gift-giving occasion.