Talk the Talk

Craft beer. According to the Brewers Association, an American craft brewer is "small, independent, and traditional" and produces at most 6 million barrels of beer a year. The beer is generally made with traditional ingredients such as malted barley, although the brewers may be "innovative," adding "interesting ingredients . . . for distinctiveness." Craft beers are supposed to be free from substantial ownership by a non-craft brewer. Some beers that call themselves craft don't actually adhere to that description. Of the more than 2,400 breweries in the U.S., the Brewers Association notes, only several dozen aren't defined as craft brewers.

For the purpose of this report, we included craft beers that market themselves as such as opposed to making selections based solely on barrel production or company ownership percentages.

Ale. It's typically fermented warm, using a strain of yeast that rises to the top of the brew. It ferments faster than lager and is more strongly flavored. Esters produced during fermentation lend a slightly fruity and floral taste. Hefeweizen is a wheat beer. IPA stands in for India Pale Ale, which long ago was high in hops and alcohol content, to survive a voyage from Britain to India. It still tends to have an intense hop flavor. Hops impart fruity, floral notes and often add bitterness.



Lager. This is another basic type of beer. It's usually fermented cold, using yeast that sinks to the bottom during fermentation and works slowly. Long, cold fermentation inhibits the production of esters, and lagers have a cleaner, crisper taste than ales.

