Brown Ales have been a staple part of British brewing traditions for nearly 300 years. In order to be considered a brown ale, a beer needs to be brewed with a combination of various types of brown malts. Most modern brown ales are brewed primarily with caramel malts and chocolate malts.

Dunkel lagers are dark, German-style beers. Dunkel is the German word for dark, and dunkel beers tend to range in color from amber to dark, reddish-brown. Dunkel-style beer is a traditional style brewed originally Munich and popular throughout Bavaria. Dunkels typically contain alcohol concentrations of 4.5-6% ABV, making this style significantly weaker than doppelbocks or stouts.

Barley wine beer is a type of English strong ale that was first brewed at the turn of the 20th century by England’s Bass Brewery. A barley wine typically reaches an alcohol strength of 8-12% ABV and is brewed from specific gravities as high as 1.120.

For a beer to be called an ale it must be brewed with malted barley using a top-fermenting brewers’ yeast. This yeast ferments the beer quickly which gives it a sweeter, full bodied and sometimes fruity taste. Dark ales are brewed using dark-roasted barley malts and tend to be thicker and creamier in texture and stronger and sweeter in taste than traditional ales.

The Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) has kicked off its annual search for the world’s best beers, with UK brewers encouraged to enter the second largest beer competition of its kind, joining the global battle for beer supremacy.

A bock beer is a very strong type of lager, ranging in color from pale to amber to even dark brown. Bocks were originally brewed by Roman Catholic monks in Einbeck, Germany during the 14th century.

A new cook book to be published by Phoenix Books, Inc. promises to help single men find their way around the kitchen using a familiar fridge staple: beer.

The weather is getting cooler, at least here in New York. I’m going to pull a hermit crab and stay inside, brew some new beers, and maybe enter in a few contests. You should too! There are so many types of beer related contests out there. I bet you can find some that interest you.