Beer 101

Flight of Craft Beer


BEER 101

In the beer world and especially the Craft beer world the terminology is daunting. You have old world and new world where terms are made on the fly as brewers push the limits of their craft.

Let’s start with buying a beer. The bar in a craft brewery is known as a Tap Room. You can order a glass (generally 12 ounces) a sleeve (16 ounces) or a pint (a Canadian pint should be 20 ounces but some pour 16 ounces which is an American pint). Hope you’re with me so far!

You can order a sampler selection, known as a “flight”, generally 3-5 different beers in a 4-5 ounce pour. If a tap room like ours has a large selection, then you can typically choose your flight. Paddy’s offers a flight of 4, in a 4 ounce pour.

Also in the tap room, you can order a 64 ounce jug of beer to go, called a Growler, generally for a price less than that of ordering by the glass, but only to go. Breweries will have their own vessels for sale or you can bring your own to fill. Also available to purchase in some breweries are Howlers, one half the size of a Growler.

In our fridge, you will find Bombers and Tall boys. A Bomber is typically a 22 ounce or 650 ml bottle. Many breweries will feature a special limited edition beer in a bomber and price it a little higher than normal for the extra work involved. A Tall boy is a large can, 16 ounce or approximately 500 ml. Generally available singly or in groups of 4. 

There are many websites that can help with the beer terminologies and types. Here is a link to Beer Styles and this is a great A-Z glossary of terms but still not complete

With a little bit of study, you can learn to beer speak.