Beer guides without the fog.
What is the difference between lager and pilsner? Is cask better than keg? Are porter and stout genuinely different? Start here.
Six useful distinctions
The honest answer is sometimes a neat dividing line. Sometimes it is a boundary that brewers have spent centuries blurring.
Ale versus lager
The broad fermentation divide, with the myths stripped away.
Lager versus pilsner
Why every pilsner is a lager, but not every lager is a pilsner.
Pale ale versus IPA
How hop intensity, strength and balance usually differ.
Porter versus stout
A genuinely blurred boundary with a shared history.
Cask versus keg beer
Conditioning, carbonation, temperature and dispense explained.
Real ale versus craft beer
A technical process compared with a broad cultural label.
Flavour beats hierarchy.
None of these labels makes a beer automatically better. Use them to predict flavour, texture and serving, then decide what works for your palate.
- Look for aroma, balance, body and finish
- Check the brewery's own description
- Treat style boundaries as guides rather than laws
Ready to explore the actual styles?
Move from the comparisons into full guides to lager, pilsner, IPA and stout.
Ready to put the beer on the table?
Use the food pairing guides for fish and chips, curry, pizza, steak, cheese and barbecue.