The colors of beer: a journey through shades and flavors
When talking about beer, color is one of the first characteristics that catch the eye and anticipates what to expect on the palate. From golden Pilsners to impenetrable Stout, every shade tells a story made of ingredients, production techniques, and brewing cultures.
But what determines beer color at the recipe level? And which famous styles stand out for their hues?
What determines the color of beer?
The color of beer is mainly determined by the types of malt used and their proportions. Malt, that is germinated and dried barley (or other cereals), can be roasted at different levels of temperature and humidity: the more intense the roasting, the darker the malt and, consequently, the greater its coloring power in beer production. All beers are made with a predominance of light malts, lightly or not roasted at all, but dark beers also include low or minimal percentages of roasted or very roasted malts, sometimes even torrefied. Not only that, because even the boiling of the wort (a mixture of water and malt), in some cases, can result in a darker beer color. At the level of chemical and physical processes, these first two causes of beer color - which are the most important and widespread and also have aromatic and taste implications - are easily explained by:
Although to a lesser extent, there are also some additional ingredients - such as sugars, fruit, spices, roots, seaweed, or syrups - that can influence the final color of the beverage.
Beer styles according to color
Each beer style is identified by a color or, even better, by a color gradation that can have a range of more or less wide shades. Here is an overview of the most well-known styles, divided by tone:
Light Beers (straw-colored, blonde, golden)
Amber and Red Beers
Dark Beers (“monk’s robe”, dark, black)
Now, if you want to try new beers based on their color, maybe because you are used to blondes and have never tried an amber or a dark one, you can search for them on our site: the Maltese craft beers are categorized and filterable in many different ways to help you easily find what suits you, even based on the shade.
