Learn The A-Z Of Beer With Mahou India’s Ultimate Beer Glossary

Always wondered what it would be like to hop on the beer bandwagon? Or are you a beer enthusiast but never quite got around to understanding what terms like ‘pilsner’, ‘hops’ or ‘cana’ mean? Well, whether you’re a rookie who wants to start their beer journey or a beer fanatic looking to amp up your beer knowledge, Mahou India is here with a beer glossary to help you master some basic and fundamental beer and beer-related terms.

Mahou India is a 100% subsidiary of Spanish brewing major, Mahou Group, a Spanish-owned family company and market leader in Spain. Headquartered in Gurgaon, Mahou India is currently present in 11 states and includes four products – Mahou 5 Star, Mahou Clásica, Dare Devil Royal Export, and Dare Devil.

However, to truly appreciate each of these four products – or any other brew – it is essential that you know the A-Z of beer. Here’s an extensive glossary to walk you through the basics of beer.

A

Ale: A dark coloured beer, it is brewed from a top-fermenting yeast with a relatively short, warm fermentation

Apparent Attenuation: The test for the fermentation degree undergone by wort during the process of beer making

 

B

Brew: Drink made by steeping and fermenting rather than distilling

Bittering Hops: Refers to hop additions that take place early in the boiling stage of the brewing process

Barm: The cream on the top of beer that is the reason for the actual taste of the beer

Brettanomyces: A type of yeast that ferments sugar and are important to beer and wine industries due to the flavours they produce

Bottom Fermentation: One of the two basic fermentation methods characterized by the tendency of yeast cells to sink to the bottom of the fermentation vessel

Bock beer: A very strong lager traditionally brewed in the fall and aged through the winter for consumption in the spring

 

C

Craft beer: A traditional beer made without mechanised techniques

Caña: A small 200 ml glass used to drink beer in Spain that also promotes the concept of moderate drinking

Cellaring: Storing or ageing beer at a controlled temperature to allow maturing

Closed Fermentation: Fermentation under closed, anaerobic conditions to minimize risk of contamination and oxidation

Craft Brewery: Another word for microbrewery

Cenosillicaphobia: A phobia or fear of an empty glass

Cervezas: Spanish for beer

 

D

Dry Hopping: The process of adding hops to a beer to add more of a hop aroma to a finished beer without significantly affecting its bitterness

Draught/ draft beer: A beer brewed and stored in the traditional way, maturing naturally in the cask and served unpasteurised from the cask rather than from a bottle or can

 

F

Fermentation: The chemical conversion of fermentable sugars extracted from grains, through the action of yeast, into approximately equal parts of alcohol and carbon dioxide gas, and thereby turning wort into beer. In addition to fermenting the beer, yeast influences the character and flavour.

 

H

Hops: The dried ripe flowers, especially the female flowers, of the hop plant, used to give a bitter taste to beer

 

L

Lager: A general term for beer made with bottom fermenting yeast (usually by decoction mashing); originally it was brewed in March or April and matured until September

 

M

Microbrewery: A small brewery; consumption of the product is mainly elsewhere

Mahou life: The Spanish way of life enjoyed in Madrid where people enjoy canas (beer) and tapas (snacks) with Mahou beer, music and dance

 

P

Pilsner: A pale lager with strong flavour of hops; first brewed in the Bohemian town of Pilsen. It is a lager that is made hoppy and is light, and clear, with a beautiful white head, using pilsner malt and usually Noble hops

Pint: A unit of liquid measure of capacity equal to one-eighth of a gallon. 1 British pint is equal to 0.568 litres, 1 US pint to 0.473 litre

Pale ale: An amber coloured ale brewed with pale malts; similar to bitter but drier and lighter

 

S

Suds: A slang for beer (especially for lager that effervesces)

 

T

Tapas: A type of snack enjoyed with beer (the concept of canas and tapas is popular in Spain)

 

W

Wet Hopping: The addition of freshly harvested hops from the vine used for the brewing process

Wort: The bittersweet sugar solution obtained by crushing the malt and boiling the hops, which becomes beer through fermentation

 

Y

Yeast: During the fermentation process, yeast converts the natural malt sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas – forms an essential component of brewing process

 

Z

Zymurgy: The branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation processes, i.e. brewing.

Zythology: The study of beer

 

So, make sure you have your beer terms on point before you hit a microbrewery this weekend!

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