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Hefeweizen: Wheat beers that are bottled with the yeast in suspension, creating a cloudy, frothy, and refreshing effect.

Hop/Hops: A perennial vine that produces resinous flowers that impart bitterness and aromas to beer.

IIPA/Double IPA/Imperial IPA: Like an extra-strong IPA; robust and malty with a high hop content; originated in the western United States.

IPA: India Pale Ale; Has a strong bitter taste and a higher hop content than most ales.

Izakaya (Japanese): A Japanese bar that also serves food.

Kellerbier: Literally “cellar beer;” usually German-style lager, served directly from conditioning tanks with a bready, yeasty flavor at the peak of freshness.

Kettle: Meaning brew kettle, in which the brewer boils the ingredients of beer. Often made of stainless steel; occasionally copper-plated.

Kölsch, or Koelsch: A straw-gold, clear, light-bodied beer with a prominent hoppiness locally brewed in Cologne, Germany.

Lager: The beer that results from yeast working at colder fermentation temperatures than ales; typically results in breadier, crisper-tasting beer than ales.

Lambic (Belgian): A typically dry, sour beer created through spontaneous fermentation in a small number of rural breweries in and just outside of Brussels, aged in oak barrels up to three years.

Lupulin: The pollen-like, resinous powdery substance in hop flowers which impart bitterness and aroma to beer.

Macrobrewery: A large industrial brewery making beer on a massive, profit-driven scale.

Malt (ingredient): Barley which has been harvested, wetted, germinated, and dried (or kilned). “Malting” modifies the internal structure of barley to make it ready for brewing.

Malty (descriptor): Tasting like malt sugar, or maltose, which is present in malted barley and other grains that are prominent players in the fermentation of beer.

Märzen-style or Maerzen-style: A style of German lager beer characterized by a reddish brown color, medium to full body, a malty flavor and a clean, dry finish. Traditionally German “Oktoberfest” beer was made in the maerzen-style, but in recent years Oktoberfest beers have gotten more pale.

Mash: (Verb) To release malt sugars by soaking the grains in hot water. (Noun) The liquid that results is called wort, and that is brewed with hops in the brewing kettle.

Michael Jackson, writer: (March 27, 1942 – August 30, 2007). Yorkshire-born journalist whose 1977 book The World Guide to Beer and 16 later titles on beer and whiskey firmly established him as the world’s foremost authority on both. Known for his gentlemanly demeanor, dry wit, and warmth, he was also the host of “The Beer Hunter,” a two season beer and travel program shown on the U.K.’s Channel 4 and Discovery Channel. A massive image of his face hangs on a banner over the Great American Beer Festival, held in Denver each fall.

Microbrewery: A brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels per year.

Munich-style: A dark lager with a distinctive taste of malt, produced in Munich since the tenth century.

Nanobrewery: A brewery operating with a system no larger than seven barrels—many have just one or two barrels.

Orval: The beer and company name of one of the most storied breweries in Belgium is in the Notre Dame d’Orval monastery in Villers-devant-Orval, near Florenville in the Belgian province of Luxembourg (not to be confused with the independent duchy of Luxembourg to the east). It is one of the world’s six remaining Trappist abbey breweries, owned and occupied by cloistered Trappist monks. The Orval abbey is more than 850 years old.

Oud bruin: Also known as Flanders Brown, a sour tasting beer originating from the Flemish region of Belgium with long aging process that can take up to a year, including secondary fermentation and bottle aging. Often has some residual balancing sweetness.

Pasteurize: To heat beer to a certain degree in order to sterilize it, increasing shelf life.

pH (for brewing): The ideal number is 5.2, which facilitates perfect starch to sugar conversion