Beer style and hops guide

Explore hop varieties suitable for the beer you want to brew.

India Pale Ale (IPA) Bitter Pilsner Wheat Lager Pale Ale Red Ale Porter Stout Ale Belgian Ale Sour

India Pale Ale (IPA)

India Pale Ale (IPA) is a light, more strongly brewed Pale Ale.

Hops used for India Pale Ale (IPA) style beers

Bitter

Bitter is a variation of pale ale and originated from England, which is why most traditional bitters would use British hop varieties like Fuggle or Goldings. It's gold to dark amber or copper in colour. Bitters are normally lower in ABV and served cask-conditioned.

Hops used for Bitter style beers

Pilsner

Pilsner is a pale lager, light straw to golden in colour. It's named after the Czech city Pilsen, where the style emerged first in the 19th century. What sets a pilsner apart from a lager is its slightly spicier, more hop-forward flavour.

Hops used for Pilsner style beers

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Wheat

While other beer styles mainly use malted barley, rye, rice or oats, wheat beer contains more than 50% wheat. Wheat beers are typically cloudy and light-coloured but dark wheat beers (*Dunkelweizen*) and filtered wheat beers (*Kristallweizen*) are also popular variations of the style.

Hops used for Wheat style beers

Hallertauer Tradition

Lager

Lagers include a large family of bottom-fermented beers, where the yeast slowly ferments at low temperatures. Lager is possibly the world's most popular beer style by volume.

Hops used for Lager style beers

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Pale Ale

The term 'pale ale' is a very diverse beer style and encompasses a breadth of mostly light-coloured (due to the use of pale malt), more sessionable, hop-forward ales.

Hops used for Pale Ale style beers

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Red Ale

Red ales get their name from their amber to copper colour, which typically comes from crystal malts and roasted barley. They commonly taste slightly malty with a toffee-caramel sweetness.

Hops used for Red Ale style beers

Porter

Porter is a type of dark beer, which uses darker malts such as brown malt, chocolate malt or even smoked or peated malt.

Hops used for Porter style beers

Stout

Similar to porter, stouts use rich and dark malts and typically have chocolatey, toffee or coffee flavours.

Hops used for Stout style beers

Ale

Ale comprises a huge variety of top-fermented beers, ranging from light pale ales to robust Belgian IPAs, stouts and bitters.

Hops used for Ale style beers

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Belgian Ale

Belgian-style Ales are strong golden ales with complex, fruity flavours, which originate from specially selected Belgian yeast strains.

Hops used for Belgian Ale style beers

Sour

Sour beers have a distinctively acidic or sour taste, which derives from the use of wild yeast strains and the introduction of souring bacteria into the brewing process. Popular sour beer styles include lambic ales, Berliner Weisse or gose.

Hops used for Sour style beers