All Beer Styles articles are written by Mark Meli, author of Craft Beer in Japan.
(photos and text by professor Mark Meli) In Japan, all of the major industrial breweries produce a dark lager. It usually isnât clear, however, what style of beer these are. Some have been called stouts but use lager yeast. Some have been branded using the English word black, but most have been labelled kuro. Kuro…
The Japanese craft beer world has always had something of a complex, if I may be allowed to say so. It has never had its truly own national style of beer (âDryâ doesnât quite countâthe original idea was German). Belgian beers, whether the uniquely funky and sour lambics, Flemish reds or browns, or their spiced…
(by Prof. Mark Meli) Since gaining steam in the United States in the 1980s, the craft beer movement has been all about ales. From pale ales to IPAs, barley wines to imperial stouts, this movement was built on top-fermented ales as a reaction to the âfizzy, pale yellow lagersâ that dominated American industrial brewing at…
Winter is back, so it is only natural to choose a winter warmer for this issueâs style. What is better on a cold winter night than a strong, dark beerârich, malty and contemplative? Scotch ales, also known as Wee Heavies, fit that role perfectly. Beers typically referred to as Scotch ales today are dark, strong…
(TDM 1874’s kölsch; photo, Mark Meli) In the dialect of Cologne (Köln), the word âkölschâ is an adjective describing all things from that city. Kölsch the beer is a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) under EU laws. This means that for a beer to be called a Kölsch, it must be brewed within 50km of Köln.…
