Ale

Historically a beer brewed without hops; in modern usage, a broad family of beers fermented warm with top-fermenting brewer’s yeasts — pale ales, IPAs, bitters, porters, stouts and barley wines among them. Warm fermentation produces the fruity esters and complex flavours that distinguish ales from cool-fermented lagers. The ale-lager distinction is fundamentally about yeast strain and temperature rather than colour or strength. Ale’s diversity makes it the brewer’s canvas for innovation, and its revival through craft brewing reshaped beer culture worldwide.