A recent discussion on USENET may be of interest to us as brewers. A question was posed:
I should probably already know this, but what is the difference between “beer” and “ale?” I gather from reading “Wassail! In Mazers of Mead” by Gayre that, historically speaking, beer was a more alcoholic beverage than ale (though not necessarily fortified with spirits…right?) and that beer was flavored with bitter herbs (hops) while ale was not. But does that distinction have any legitimacy nowadays?
When I go to the supermarket to buy crappy beer, some stuff (like for instance Miller Lite) is described as “beer” (I think) whereas fairly similar stuff (like Miller Lite Ice) is described as an “ale.” Is there any real reason for this distinction or is it simply some marketing ploy?
And on a related note…It seems to me that (at least in the recent past), the beverages that described themselves as ales were more likely to print the alcohol content on the packaging while the “beers” were less likely to report that info. Is this my imagination, and if it is not my imagination, then why this difference in packaging?
ANSWER #1
Yes there is an Ale yeast (Top fermenting) and a Larger yeast (Bottom fermenting), but the term beer has been for centuries a generic term used for all the different forms. It was only later in this century that the terms have found new meaning. Here in the UK, just after the turn of the century the term Bitter, began to be used to describe the ales brewed
ANSWER #2
from Robert Marshall
Basically it is a **LEGAL difference. **
The basic ATF ruling, unless superceded by state law, is:
**Anything 4%, or lower, must be labeled as beer. Anything 4%, or higher, must be labeled as malt liquor or ale. If a beer is below 4%, and the producer wants to label it as ale, then he must have some sort of labeling that specifically states it contains less than 4%. **
Here in Calif. we’ve got new labeling laws that come into play this spring.
Anything 5.7%, or lower is beer Anything 5.7%, or higher, is ale or malt liquor.
If you’ve got a lager, which certainly isn’t ale, that’s where the malt liquor labeling comes into play.