The Brewhoppin Beer Glossary

For those moments when you just aren’t sure what we mean by that.

 

 

 

a | b | c | h | t | w

abbey beers – 
Abbey beers are a type of beer usually associated with Trappist monks. In many cases these aren’t really trappist beers but are brewed similarly. Much like champagne is sparkling wine if made outside of Champagne, abbey beer is beer brewed outside of a monastery.

– Synonyms: abbey beer
ABV – 
Alcohol by volume.  It is the measure of the amount of alcohol in a given liquid.  It is calculated by measuring the liquids specific gravities at different times of the brewing process.
alewifes – 
A woman who keeps an alehouse.  A woman brewer.  
Strangely enough, also a foodfish of the herring family.  


– Synonyms: alewife
beer – 
Really?

You are on a beer blog and need me to define beer?
Beer is the nectar of the gods.

Brewster – 
The name for a female brewer.  A woman brewer.  A lady who makes beer.
Cistercian – 
Monks that follow a strict mantra of self-sufficiency. Cistercians branched off from original Benedictine monks in the 1600s.


– Synonyms: cistercians, Cistercians
Hymn of Ninkasi – 
Borne of the flowing water,
Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag,
Borne of the flowing water,
Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag,

 

Read the full hymn here.

three-tier system – 
Simply put, the three-tier system was put into place after prohibition by the government.  It consists of producers, distributors, and retailers.   The producers make the beer, distributors buy it from the producers and sell it wholesale, and the retailers sell it for a profit.

 

Trappist – 
Trappist is the general term for beer brewed by monks in Trappist breweries.

– Synonyms: trappist, trappist monks
wort – 
/?w?rt/ is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol. Production[edit] The first step in wort production is to make malt from dried, sprouted barley.