10 things you need to know about beer

How should you pour, serve and drink beer? What's the difference between an ale and a lager? If you're stumped by these questions, it's time to take a short course in beer. And yes, the pub time you logged during your college years is enough of a prerequisite.

Here are 10 things you need to know about beer.

1. Good beer is delicious. Bad beer? Not so much
There are so many people who have discovered this lately that there's a community of beer-lovers developing that's devoted to -- and knowledgeable about -- good beer. Perhaps it's a coincidence, but this beer-loving community seems attached to some solid, earthy values that seem suddenly appropriate.

Good beer has lots of flavour, a great aroma and a lingering, appetizing finish. Bad beer is gassy and slightly bitter with a hint of sweetness. Beer production tends to be local so it's the drink of the energy-conscious, conservation-oriented, planet-sparing gourmet. Local beer production uses less transport resources and draft beer is packaged in bulk, in a reuseable, easily cooled container. So you can raise a glass of something delicious and be on the side of the angels.

2. There are two main kinds of beer: ale and lager
-lager is usually lighter in flavour
-ale tends to be richer in flavour and more full-bodied

Try keeping a few of each kind around to go with your mood and your food. By the way, it's a myth that ale has more calories or alcohol than lager (see point #6 on the next page.)

3. How to serve beer
Beer tastes best when it's chilled to the right temperature. You wouldn't freeze champagne and you shouldn't try to freeze beer.

Lagers are best chilled to temperatures in the low 40's (F)
Ales show off their flavours in the 50's

Refrigerator temperature or colder kills flavour -- your taste buds don't work below about 40F/4C. Extreme cold also stops the bubbles from forming until after you swallow. Then that gas rises to the top of you instead of to the head of your glass.

Of course, drink beer out of a clean, clear glass: no grease, no soap film, no lipstick stains. The best glass shapes for beer seem to be the tulip and the thistle.

4. You shouldn't judge a beer by its colour
As pretty as beer is, its colour doesn't tell you much about its taste or body. Dark beers can be fresh and crisp on the palate; pale beers can be rich.

Click to continue to learn how to pour beer to perfection...

Page 1 of 2

5. How to pour beer
You know that foamy top that forms on beer when you've poured it into a glass? It's called a head and you should allow at least an inch of head to form. Along with visual appeal, the head helps release the drink's aroma.

Tilt the glass and pour slowly until it's about 2/3 full. Then bring the glass to an upright position and pour straight down the middle. Didn't get it quite right the first time? You'll just have to practise.

6. Beer can be low in calories
There are some good-tasting ales -- like Guinness -- that have as few as eight calories per ounce. A regular cola drink has about 13 calories per ounce. Almost all of the world's best beers have fewer than 100 calories for a 6-ounce serving.