Bars are wondrous places full of beer, chatter, celebration, ways to get drunk and opportunities to meet friends. But they are also tricky. As with most niche scenes, there is lingo you need to know, terms you should memorize and slang with which you should show facility. What’s Imperial mean? How do you pronounce “weisse?” And how much should I tip my bartender? Hang on, because you’re about to find out the answers to all of these. Here is your beer lingo, a guide to becoming a better patron. BTW, the Slavic word ‘beer’ came from the verb ‘to drink’. Initially, beer was any kind of drink.
Hops
Small green pine cone-like buds that grow on vines. Their oils and acids preserve and flavor beer.
Hoppy
The thing snobby people refer to about beer, and what people who hardly ever drink beer say they don’t like. Hoppy is often used as a synonym for the word ‘bitter,’ but there are plenty of beers that use loads of hops and don’t taste the least bit bitter.
Malt
The sugars used to sweeten beer.
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Malty
That syrupy, sweet flavor in beer drunk by amateurs.
Perry
A cider-like drink made exclusively with pears.
Imperial
A word out in front of certain beer styles (Stout, IPA) meaning they’re much stronger.
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Mead
Beer produced from honey, water and yeast.
Ale
Ale is brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. It is a maltier, top-fermented beer.
Lager
A beer that is effervescent and light in color and body. it is a dry, bottom-fermented drink.
IPA
Stands for India Pale Ale because it was originally brewed in the United Kingdom and shipped to British soldiers in India during colonization (which is still basically happening). It is made with more hops, to give it a stronger flavor. There’s no standardised threshold at which a pale ale becomes an IPA, though.
Cask-Conditioned
The process in which a draught beer retains yeast to enable a secondary fermentation to take place in a cask in the pub cellar. Cask conditioned beer is the traditional drink of the British pub, and served properly, it can be among the most subtle and beguiling of beer types.
Fresh Hop
Beer made with recently picked hops that haven’t been dried. It provides distinctively grassy, plant-like, and “green” flavor profiles without the bitterness associated with IPAs and other beers featuring copious dried hops.
Weisse
Pronounced ‘Vice’ is the counterpart in German for “white,” most commonly used in reference to the sour Berliner type of beer, but also sometimes to the Bavarian type, as in weissbier. Weizen is the German word for “wheat,” most often applied to the Bavarian wheat beer style.
Microbrew
The type of beer you do not use for beer pong unless you make more money than your bartender.
Pint
The size of glass most beers are served in, and also the thing you dropped and smashed when you were trying to text your Uber driver.
Dive Bar
The kind of bar you actually really like going to, unless you’re trying to impress a date or a friend. It is typically a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style drinking establishment with inexpensive yet strong drinks; it may feature dim lighting, shabby or dated decor, neon beer signs, packaged beer sales, cash-only service, and local clientele
BTW, the strongest beer in the world has a strength of 67.5%. It was created in 2017 by the Scottish brewery Brewmeister. The beer is called Snake Venom
Pickup Line
The thing you should never say because it never works.
Tip
The amount of money you give a bartender after a transaction, which should be more than you initially think to give because A) most bartenders are relatively poor and deserve dough, and B) if you tip a lot you’ll be remembered C) if you tip too little you’ll be remembered D )
How do you want to be remembered?
Patron
Someone who loves the bar they go to, not just someone who is there a lot. If you’re unclear on the distinction, you’ve never loved before.
Bar Napkin
Where much great poetry started.
The Bar
Don’t touch anything behind it.
Hope you enjoyed our beer lingo, a guide to becoming a better patron.
