Poll: Ale or Lager?

True. Very true.

 

Ales, there is more variety in styles I enjoy that are ales. That being said I do enjoy many lager styles and am glad I don't have to choose one.

 

Care to explain?

 

Ale yeah!!

 

Most of the time when I see the word "ale" on a new-to-me beer, at least some portion of me is hesitant to try it. This extends to stouts and other such styles where the word ale doesn't appear, but they're considered ales nonetheless.

I haven't run across many lagers as of yet where that hesitation kicks in (I'm lucky enough to live nowhere near Jack's Abby, or that'd likely not be the case). I also mainly look forward to bock season and märzen season.

So, while I enjoy examples from both categories, I'm one of the lonely lager votes. I'd miss the heck out of Ayinger Bräu Weisse.

 

And Texas calls Doppelbock an Ale.

Oh, wait -- they fixed that, didn't they?

 

This decision was quite easy for me to make since I am on the lager lifestyle. Few things are better than a cold, refreshing lager on a hot, sunny southern California day. Ales are ok, but nothing beats those refreshing lagers. Cheers to all the lager drinkers!

 

depends on the season. Great lagers do exist.

 

Ale, preferably old, like my women...

 

CAMRA is an embarrassment when it comes to talking about beer types and background and has regularly been slated by more knowledgeable beer writers. So is the germanbeer institute which sounds very authoritative until you find out it's written by the same person who wrote the Scottish entry in the Oxford Guide.
http://zythophile.co.uk/2013/09/19/why-is-camra-still-getting-beer-history-so-very-badly-wrong/
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/classic-horst.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/more-dornbusch-bullshit.html
Defining by yeast type is frankly ridiculous.To begin with , lager was brewed in the same way as all other beer (they didn't know about yeast then) but the cool temperatures favoured bottom fermenting strains of yeast.These are the result of lager brewing not the definition.Shouting loud can give you a sore throat but having a sore throat doesn't make you shout loud.The yeast does not define a brew any more than painting something with yacht varnish turns it into a yacht.
Also , brewing techniques and genetic engineering are moving on.The open fermenters are giving way to conical ones.But the (top fermenting) yeast can be skimmed off in an open tank , it is removed from the bottom of a conical fermenter.Quite clearly a warm temperature acting bottom fermenting yeast would be a great advantage for ale and porter brewing.Point is, yeasts are subject to change so watch this space.

 

Has anyone said ale yet?

 

it has lol

 

Ales all day.

 

I agree with everything you say here, which is unusual in and of itself, but we are left with three things to consider.

1. However you determine the heredity of a yeast it is now what it is. To borrow an illustrative technique you used, dogs are descendants of wolves, but a dog is not a wolf. Cold temperatures caused the genetic development of yeast that do better in the cold, and others warm. That is how yeasties are, they are adaptable like that, and their evolution is remarkably quick, and results in yeast far different, no matter if they all are from the same origin.

2. It has become so common here to classify by ale or lager that asking Americans to switch would be equivalent to asking you guys to stop using the nonsensical term 'spanner' for the utilitarian term 'wrench' to describe a tool that wrenches nuts.

3. There actually isn't a better way to classify beer in its most general way of being classified. At least none I know of that won't run into the problems of both #1 and #2.

Interested to hear your, or anyone's, take on this as I lay it out above.

 

While I selected lager (and without the slightest bit of regret), I must admit that I do get into ales. The beautiful thing about beer is that there's always a little something for everybody. That tepidly said, I have always found lagers to be very strong/bold in flavor, which has drawn be back to them time and time again. They keep you warm in the winter and cool you down (when had cold/chilled) in the summer. They also taste great with peppery foods, which I generally prefer.

 

I get all of this, but I'm still not entirely clear on what you preferred way of differentiating between a pale ale and a helles lager. I thought you were suggesting we discuss top fermenting vs bottom fermenting beers, but now I'm now sure. How would you prefer to classify them?

 

So, your original post of "FTW..." and "No wusses..." had nothing to do with semantics and all about fun? You weren't expecting any sort of debate?

The real answer is, why should we even have to choose? I just had a top-fermented, cold lagered Reißdorf Kölsch just to "exercise my ego." I may have a Schlafly Summer Lager next, or even an Oberon ale -- and you know what? It just.doesn't.matter. It's beer. If you feel the need to pick sides or create a competition to chose your beer, you're only a semi-Beer Advocate.

Funny thing is, in any beer competition, home-brew or commercial, I've never seen winners chosen because they're top-fermenting or bottom-fermenting -- only that they're the best tasting example in front of the judges at that point.

 

My main point was that brewers' requirements of yeast could and may well result in the development of one which ferments at ale/porter temperatures yet which collects at the bottom (yeast isn't actually top or bottom fermenting as fermentation takes place throughout the whole body of liquid)........in other words any classification by yeast type will be stood on its head.

I don't actually see why people find it necessary to divide beer into two camps when things were perfectly easy to deal with anyway.Is it really too difficult to accept ales and stouts can be two sorts of beer? We have vast numbers of supposed "styles" listed quite unnecessarily but to cope with more than two overall classes of beer is too demanding? People seem quite happy to differentiate between stout and porter (or try to because they are the same thing) yet not between stout and ale.