Beers are mainly categorised into 2 separate styles. Ale or Lager, although many styles may combine both techniques.

The main difference comes in the fermentation process. Lagers are brewed at cooler temperatures with bottom fermenting yeast (with a cold storage time to follow), whilst Ales are brewed at warmer temperatures with top fermenting yeast.

There are a number of organisations and writers that attempt to categorise the many styles of beer available to us today, and although they have quite an American slant, We find the list of styles of beer developed by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) to be one of the most comprehensive.

You can find out more about the BJCP or get various downloadable formats of their style guidelines at www.bjcp.org. Listed below are the 23 main style ‘families’, click on each, to find a breakdown of the specific related styles.