Grouped out on their due to their incompatibility with the standard rules that apply to either ales or lagers, hybrid and specialty beers take processes, ingredients, and brewing practices from within and sometimes without the previous two types of beer to craft something completely unique.
The easiest way to define hybrid beers is that they take brewing practices from both ales and lagers and combine them together, using ale yeast in a lagering method for instance.
Specialty beers on the other hand take regular lagers or ales and include special or unconventional ingredients during production, such as various fruits, to enhance flavour.
In our guide to hybrid and specialty beers we examine the prominent styles within these two types of beer, including their flavour profiles and food pairing options.
For more on the technicalities of these two unique styles of beer, consider these two useful articles that explore how they can be differentiated.
With boundless possibilities for brewers to explore when crafting beer, the number of new styles that exist within both of these categories is constantly expanding.
That being said, it is possible to refine the list of prominent styles within these two distinct types of beer into those few considered below.
Treasured the world over for their ease of drinking and incredibly refreshing character, kölsch beers make use of ale yeast alongside the cold conditioning used in making lagers. To develop a thorough understanding of kölsch beers, follow through to our complete guide, where we examine the specific flavour profile and food pairing options.
Due to the German city of Düsseldorfs unique environment, altbiers emerged as a special type of copper to dark brown hybrid beer that employs ale yeast in a cold fermenting brewing process. Follow through to our comprehensive guide to altbier in order to learn more about the flavour profile and food pairing notes for this style of hybrid beer.
These specialty beers take a standard ale or lager and combine them with various fruits or vegetables at different points in the brewing process, leading to the creation of extremely flavoursome beers. For a complete guide on the typical flavour profiles of these beers, including the relevant food pairing options, follow through here.
