what is difference between beer and ale
Difference Between Ale and Beer. Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink all over the world. Ale is another alcoholic drink very common in places such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, and Germany etc. Most of you must be familiar with the term beer but what is ale? This article aims at making you more familiar with the two terms and the differences between them.
There are many different types of beer, although they are usually broken up into two basic categories: ale and lager. The term lager is often interchanged with âbeerâ, especially outside of Germany, which is why some consumers make a distinction between beer and ale, rather than lager and ale. The difference between beer and ale has to do with the way in which is it brewed, and how the yeast ferments. Before hops became widespread in Europe, ale was a beer created without the use of hops, while lager combined hops with the other ingredients.
As hops began to pervade breweries, however, this distinction between beer and ale no longer applied. Brewers began to differentiate between beer and ale on the basis of where the yeast fermented in the cask: ale uses yeast that gathers on the top, and lager uses yeast that ferments on the bottom.
Ale is fermented at a higher temperature, and matures more quickly as a result. The yeast rises to the top as the beer ferments, creating a yeasty froth on the top of the beer cask. Lager is fermented at a lower temperature, and the yeast settles to the bottom as the beer matures.