Ales vs. Lagers - What's the Difference?

Everyone knows someone who enjoys beer (and hopefully you're one of them).

There are few things more satisfying than the refreshing, delicious first sip of your favourite beer after work or on a hot day. 

Most people think that beer is just beer. A pilsner is a beer, a stout is a beer.

They're not quite wrong, but they're not 100% correct either.

At one point this question may or may not have crossed your mind: What's the difference between an ale and a lager? 

Glad you asked, we are happy to explain. 

Beer is either an ale or a lager.*

Beer is a simple yet stoic drink - in its basic form its only made up of four ingredients: water, malt, yeast, and hops.

Hops are given for aroma, bitterness and flavour, but also act as a natural preservative. The malt is what the yeast feeds on during fermentation, and the by products of this feeding are carbonation (CO2) and alcohol. 

There are 2 ways in which the yeast can feed on the malt in the fermentation vessel: either at the top of the vessel, or at the bottom of the vessel. 

Ale yeast will ferment at the top of the vessel, with a higher temperature maintained within the vessel for the entire fermentation process. This process doesn't take very long, only about a week to ten days. 

Ales will also generally have many more aromatics to them, and more flavour due to esters, phenols, and leftover malts during the fermentation process. 

Lager yeast, in comparison, ferments at the bottom of the vessel, in lower temperatures. The time it takes lagers to completely ferment can vary between weeks to months.

Due to this long fermentation process, the phenols, esters and other flavour-making compounds created early in the fermentation process break down, creating a lighter, cleaner and crisper taste. 

*There are very few exceptions to this, which we can look into another day. 

How to remember the difference between the two: 

Without a mnemonic (ie. method of remembering), I knew I'd never retain this information. So, I came up with something simple and easy. Plus, who doesn't love pictures? 

Ales: The 4 As

Ales: above wort (yeast), temperature is above (higher), accelerated fermentation, aromatic. All As.

Lagers: The 4 Ls

Lagers: lower temperature, lower in vessel (yeast), longer fermentation, lighter/crisper taste. All Ls. 

Styles of ales: 

Pale Ales (India, Double, English, American, etc), Red and Brown Ales, Stouts, Porters, Hefeweizens, Witbiers, Dubbels, Tripels, Saisons, Kölsches, Berliner Wiesses

Styles of lagers:

Golden Lagers, Pilsners, Bocks, Doppelbocks, Eisbocks, Munich Dunkels, Märzen, Schwarzbier 

Now that you know the difference and have some example styles, it's time to impress your friends over drinks.

What category does your favourite beer fall under?