Bière brut, also known as bière de Champagne, is a somewhat new beer style that was first introduced in Belgium in the early 2000s. The beers are top-fermented and then allowed to mature in the bottle with Champagne yeast cultures.
These beers are dry, clean, bubbly, light-bodied, and refreshing. They can range from very pale gold to pale amber. Their alcohol content is higher than in most beers, typically around 8% ABV. They are usually bottled in 750-milliliter champagne-style bottles that are corked and caged.
Kölsch (the Low German name for Cologne) is a specialty beer brewed only in Cologne. A document known as the Kölsch Convention was signed in 1986 by the directors of two dozen Kölsch breweries, ensuring that Kölsch beer can only be brewed in Cologne and its surrounding area, and nowhere else in the world.
The guidelines stipulated that Kölsch is not only a type of beer, but also a designation of origin. They specify that true Kölsch beer is a pale yellow, clear, highly fermented, fully-rounded ale, brewed according to the German Beer Purity Law of 1516.
Altbier, meaning old beer, is a German beer style which originated in Düsseldorf. The style falls somewhere between a lager and an ale—the beers are fermented warm like ales but are then aged cool like lagers. The name altbier, which originated in the 1880s, refers to the traditional brewing process of using top-fermenting yeasts.
The name arose to distinguish traditional brews from the new lagers that were mainly produced in Bavaria. Before that, it was simply known as bier. These full-bodied beers are typically malty, clean and crisp, while their color may range from copper to amber.
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