Category:Hybrid beer styles

Hybrid is a term used by some to describe beers and beer styles that cannot be neatly categorized as an ale or a lager. This includes beers whose fermentation includes elements from both the ale and lager tradition. For example:

• Steam Beer and Cream Ale were historically brewed with lager yeast, but fermented at ale temperatures
• Australian Sparkling Ale and many styles of Altbier are top-fermented, then lagered for long periods

The term is not generally used to describe beers brewed with yeast that is neither an ale nor a lager yeast, such as, for example, Weizen (brewed with distinctive yeast strains of its own) or sour beer styles incorporating wild yeast and bacteria.