BEER GUIDE
At Stage Stop Liquors...
We. Love. Beer.
It’s a great time to be a beer-lover in America. From the rise of craft beer to your good ol’ American classics, beer drinkers have never had so many options to choose from. We’re here to help guide you through them with our Beer Guide.
The Brewers Association lists well over 100 different styles of beer, but divides them up into three main styles:
Ales
Ales are top-fermenting beers, where the yeast rises to the surface of the fermenting wort and fermentation is carried out at traditionally higher temperatures.
Ales tend to be darker and cloudier in appearance with stronger, more full-bodied flavor and notes of fruit or spice.
Blonde / golden
Considered by some as the “gateway to craft beer”, blonde and golden ales are smooth and light and can have notes of honey, spices and fruit.
- Laughing Sun – I ❤️️ ND
- Kona – Big Wave
- Squatters – Golden Ale
Pale Ale
Pale Ales are golden to amber colored with balanced hops & malt flavor.
- Sierra Nevada – Pale Ale
- Summit – Extra Pale Ale
- Meadowlark – Badlands
IPA's
India Pale Ales (IPA’s) are more hoppy, with double IPA’s being even hoppier. IPA’s tend to be more bitter but bold and full of flavor, often with notes of citrus and tropical flavors.
- Surly – Furious IPA
- Sierra Nevada – Hazy Little Thing IPA
- Lift Bridge – Hop Dish IPA
Amber
Amber ales are copper to light brown in color, light to medium in body and brewed with amber malt. They’re balanced between malts & hops and often infused with chocolate, caramel & toasty malts.
- New Belgium – Fat Tire
- Odell – 90 Shilling
Altbier
Altbiers are a longstanding German tradition from Rhineland. They’re similar to an amber, but made with a unique blend of malts, yeast and hops and extended conditioning that leaves a dry yet smooth and clean malty flavor. Altbiers are amber to dark brown in color, crisp and clean-tasting with full body.
- Alaskan – Amber
Brown
Brown ales are dark amber to brown in color and tend to be more malty and rich with nutty, caramel or chocolate flavors.
- Lift Bridge – Fireside Flannel
- Big Sky – Moose Drool
- Bitter Root – Barley Ridge Nut Brown
Black
Black ales Made with caramel & dark roasted malts that are balanced with hops (typically citrus) – often caramel, chocolate or coffee flavors.
Strong / Barleywine
Strong ales tend to be tend to be malty (typically with barley) and have a higher alcohol content. They are often sweeter with some fruitiness. Barleywines tend to be more bitter and complex with caramel, honey, molasses or toffee flavor.
- Laughing Sun – Sinister Pear
- Big Sky – Powder Hound
- Schell’s – Snowstorm
Porter
Porter ales are brewed with malted barley and are dark, dry, sweet and fruity.
- Founders – Porter
- Breckenridge – Vanilla Porter
- Wasatch – Polygamy Porter
Trappist
Traditionally Belgian, Trappist ales have been brewed for centuries at Christian monasteries in Belgium (but now include select other monasteries from other places around the world). True Trappists are top-fermented & aged inside an approved monastery, overseen by monks, and brewed not for profit but support of the monastery. Dubbels are strong, rich amber to copper in color and made using candi sugar, giving them a toasty caramel, chocolate or nutty flavor. Tripels are made using Pilsner malt. They are golden, cloudy and hoppier with a higher alcohol content and often a citrus flavor. Quadrupels are golden/amber to dark brown in color, heavy, maltier, and yeasty with the highest alcohol content. They are often dark fruity to molasses or bready and peppery in flavor.
Abbey
Abbey ales are brewed in the style of Trappist beer, but not by an approved monastery.
Weisse
Weisse ales are a German style of wheat beer made with pale wheat and barley malts, at least 50% of which must be malted wheat. They are unfiltered, light & carbonated, often with notes of clove, banana, bubblegum or vanilla.
Saison
Traditionally Belgian, saisons are light, golden orange and highly carbonated with citrus & fruity hop flavor. They are made with Saison yeast that gives them a uniquely spiced flavor.
- Lift Bridge – Farm Girl Saison
Sours
Sour ales are made with wild bacteria and yeasts, where the bacteria turns sugars into acid to give sours their unique sour or tart taste. Sours vary widely in flavor.
- Laughing Sun – Red Dwarf
Gose
Gose ales are German sour wheat beers that are most unique for being brewed with salt. Gose is brewed with at least 50% malted wheat with the addition of herbs (commonly coriander or cilantro), and salt. They tend to be spicy or lemony in flavor.
Lambic
Traditionally Belgian, lambics are sour ales with mild carbonation and cloudy appearance, often fermented with fruits. They are made by spontaneous fermentation method in open vats with wild yeast & bacteria, then stored in barrels and aged for up to several years during fermentation.
Lagers
Lagers are bottom-fermenting beers, where the yeast strains that are used work effectively at lower temperatures and ferment more slowly and less vigorously. Yeast precipitates to the bottom of the vessel early in its life cycle.
Lagers tend to be lighter and clearer in appearance with a smoother, crisper and refreshing flavor. They are the most commercialized beers in America (Budweiser, Miller, Coors, etc.).
Pilsners
Pilsners are a Bohemian lager brewed with pilsner malts and Saaz or Noble hop. They are light straw to golden in color with crisp, clean refreshing flavor.
- Summit – Dakota Soul
- Lakefront – New Grist
- Meadowlark – Badlands
American Style
American-style lagers are straw to gold in color, light, clean, crisp & highly carbonated. They are often made with corn, rice, or other grain or sugar adjuncts.
- Founders – Solid Gold
- Kona – Longboard
- Samuel Adams – Boston Lager
Helles
Helles beers are German pale lagers that are similar to a pilsner but more full-bodied, malty and bready. They are golden in color with sweetness that is balanced by spice and bitterness of the hops.
Amber
Amber lagers are medium-bodied with caramel or toasty malt flavor. They include varieties such as Dortmunder, Vienna, Marzen & Oktoberfest.
Dortmunder
Dortmunder beers are crisp and malty German lagers that come as a cross between a Helles and German Pilsner. They are deep golden in color and can include caramel, biscuit or toffee flavor.
Vienna
Vienna beers are Austrian lagers brewed with Vienna malt, made using a hot-air kilning process and lager yeast. They are reddish amber in color with crisp, toasty flavor and caramel sweetness.
Marzen
Marzens are similar to Vienna lagers but are made using malt kilned to a higher degree. They are less hoppy and slightly sweeter than a Vienna, reddish amber in color, and slightly bready, toasty or caramel in flavor.
Oktoberfest
The style currently served in Munich, Germany during Oktoberfest is a pale, golden Vienna-style lager similar to a Dortmunder. In America, Oktoberfest is a Marzen, the style that was originally served in the early years after Oktoberfest was first founded in Germany in 1810. They are brewed with Munich & caramel malts and are amber in color and sweet in flavor.
Kellerbier / Zwickelbier
Kellerbiers and Zwickelbiers are a German tradition dating back to the middle ages. They are unfiltered and smooth with a balance between yeast, hops & malts. These lagers are unique for being unpasteurized and conditioned in an oak cask that is open to the environment – often served directly from the cask. Kellerbier (cellar beer – brewed at cooler temperatures) tends to be hoppier and aged longer than Zwickelbier. Zwickelbier tends to be darker and weaker.
Dunkel / Dark
Dunkel or dark lagers are amber to dark reddish brown and made with dark roasted malts for a rich malty flavor, often with notes of bread, nuts or chocolate.
Rauchbier
Rauchbiers are smoky-flavored lagers made with malt smoked directly over a fire (often beechwood).
Light
Light lagers are traditionally American and lower in calories and carbohydrates. They are dry and light in color and flavor. Light lagers are made with high amounts of adjuncts like corn or rice to lighten the beer.
Ice
Ice beers are pale lagers that have undergone some degree of fractional freezing during production, giving them a slightly higher alcohol content and a cheaper price.
Malt
Malts are sweet lagers brewed with little fermentation and low alcohol content.
Hybrids
The hybrid or mixed-style category include beers that can be made as either an ale or a lager (or have properties of both) and have unique characteristics.
Kolsch
Kolsch beers are light, pale & easy-drinking with properties of both an ale and a lager. They are fermented with ale yeast but finished in cold temperatures like a lager, often with notes of fruit.
Cream Ales
Cream ales are similar to a Kolsch. They are cold fermented ales that are light bodied and lightened with adjuncts like rice, wheat or corn. In contrast to the name, they are not “creamy” but light and pale.
Sessions
Sessions are beer that is low in alcohol content and can be drank in large quantities with less intoxication. They have a maximum of 5% ABV and easy drinkability with balanced malts & hops.
- Surly – Xtra-Citra Pale Ale
- Founders – All Day IPA
- Golden Road – Wolf Pup Session IPA
Wheat Beers
American wheat beers are made with at least 50% wheat and fermented with either ale or lager yeast. They can range from light to dark and lightly hazy to cloudy, depending if they are bottled with yeast or not. These wheat beers often have notes of fruit, flowers or spice, though dark versions may have chocolate, caramel, toffee or biscuit flavor.
- Goose Island – 312
Fruit Beers
Fruit beers are made with fruit added as an adjunct or for flavor. They can be an ale or lager.
- Leinenkugel’s – Berry Shandy
- Golden Road – Pineapple Cart
Coffee Beers
Coffee beers are those that incorporate coffee in any form with methods ranging from adding coffee grounds during fermentation or adding cold-brew coffee after the beer is finished.
- Surly – Coffee Bender
Herb / Spice
Herb or spice beer is flavored from roots, seeds, flowers, vegetables or fruit. They are clear to hazy and exhibit a spicy and/or herbal character.
Chocolate Beer
Chocolate or cocoa beer is any beer made with dark chocolate or cocoa in any form.
- Boulder Beer – Shake Chocolate Porter
Honey
Rye beers are brewed with rye as part of the malt. They are light gold to copper or dark brown and hazy to cloudy. Darker ryes may have chocolate or caramel flavor, while lighter versions have tones of banana and clove. Try:
- Meadowlark – Ole Gus Scotch Rye
Rye
Rye beers are brewed with rye as part of the malt. They are light gold to copper or dark brown and hazy to cloudy. Darker ryes may have chocolate or caramel flavor, while lighter versions have tones of banana and clove. Try:
- Meadowlark – Ole Gus Scotch Rye
Brett
Bretts are brewed with a type of wild yeast called Brettanomyces that gives them a tart and uniquely “horsey”, “goaty” or leathery flavor along with notes of spice or fruit. They vary widely in color with darker versions having a roasted malt, chocolate or caramel flavor. Unlike Lambics, Bretts do not incorporate bacteria in the brewing process.
Hop Beer
Hop beers are brewed with freshly harvested hops. They have a prominent fresh hop flavor reminiscent of green grass or fresh-mowed hay or grass.
Aged Beer
Aged beers are those that have been aged for more than one year in bottles, cans, kegs or other non-wooden vessels. They often take on a fruity or sherry-like flavor that is balanced.
Wood & Barrel-Aged
Wood and barrel-aged beers are those that have been aged in a wooden barrel or in contact with wood. These beers take on unique attributes of the wood or liquids previously stored in contact with the wood (used whiskey, wine, port, tequila, rum or sherry barrels, etc.).
Smoke Beer
Smoke beers include any style of beer that incorporates smoke.