Beer Style Guide: Lager, IPA, Stout & More | MMI
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Beer is old. Really old. Some of the earliest evidence of fermented drinks dates back thousands of years. Long before anyone was blending cocktails or ageing whisky, humans were brewing beer, and they've barely stopped since.
And today, there are well over 100 recognised beer styles, depending on how you classify them, plus countless variations and new hybrids being invented all the time. But don't let that number scare you, because almost every one of those styles traces back to two major beer families, and a handful of key moments in history. So instead of a dry list, let's take a journey through time, from some of the world's earliest beers to the delightfully strange stuff being brewed right now.
Before we get started, let's clarify one of the most frequently asked questions:
Lager vs Ale: What's the Difference?
Almost every beer on earth belongs to one of two families, and the difference comes down to yeast. This magical microorganism is what drives fermentation, breaking down the sugars in the wort (the sweet liquid drawn from malted grains) and transforming them into alcohol and CO2. And that process is what defines the beer's character.
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Ales are fermented warm, with top-fermenting ale yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), producing full, expressive flavours. Lagers are fermented cool and slow, with bottom-fermenting lager yeast (Saccharomyces pastorianus), giving a crisper, more refreshing result.
Stay with me, habibi, the fun starts when you look inside those two families.
In the Beginning, There Was Ale
Beer's story starts thousands of years ago in the ancient world, in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, where it was so nourishing it was practically food. "Liquid bread," it was called, and with good reason: brewers back then would crumble sourdough into grain macerating in water and let the whole thing rest. The sourdough, full of wild yeast, became the fermenting agent, producing a thick, nutritious (and slightly alcoholic) soup-like beverage. Essential to daily life, it was often far safer to drink than the local water.
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Beer mattered so much to these ancient cultures that it reached the realm of the gods. The Sumerians worshipped Ninkasi, whose ancient hymn doubles as one of the oldest known beer recipes. And in Egypt, beer was woven into the myths of Hathor, goddess of joy and celebration, honoured with actual "Festivals of Drunkenness." Clearly, habibi, humans have taken their beer seriously for a very long time.
That ancient beer was ale, the older of the two great families, and one of the biggest branches of the entire beer family tree. The vast majority of characterful styles you'll meet on this journey (porters, stouts, IPAs, wheat beers, Belgian ales) are all, at heart, ales. Remember that one word and you're already ahead of the game.
Then The Monks Perfected Belgian Beer
Fast-forward to medieval Europe, and brewing found some unlikely masters: monks. In the monasteries of Belgium, brewing became an art form, funding the abbeys and feeding the faithful, and remarkably, it still is today. A handful of Trappist breweries still make beer under the supervision of monks, following recipes refined over centuries.
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Belgian beer is a world unto itself: from crisp, fruity golden ales to rich, warming abbey and Trappist styles, often remarkably strong yet dangerously smooth, layered with notes of honey, spice, clove, and orchard fruit. What many share is wonderful depth and distinctive, yeast-driven complexity. If beer has a spiritual home, habibi, it's Belgium, and a great Belgian ale proves just how sophisticated this ancient drink can be.
Home-brewing also has a long tradition there. I will always remember the day I was at dinner at a friend’s chalet in the Swiss Alps, and a Belgian friend made the hike up with three home-brewed bottles of beer in her backpack. They were absolutely delicious and so smooth, they could have come straight out of an abbey. But, word of the not-so-wise-but-experienced: if a Belgian hands you a home-brewed beer, pace yourself. You’ll avoid learning the hard way that “one more sip?” is not always a question you should answer yes to.
London Gets Thirsty: Porter and Stout
Now to 18th-century London, and two of beer's greatest characters. The city's markets and docks teemed with hard-grafting porters, and a dark beer called porter became particularly popular among them: a smooth ale layered with roasted, coffee-like flavours, and named, rather charmingly, after the very workers who drank it by the gallon. It became one of the first beers to be brewed on a truly industrial scale, with enormous quantities produced across London.
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Naturally, brewers began making stronger versions known as “stout porters”, with “stout” simply meaning strong or robust. Eventually, the shorter name stuck. Darker, richer, and fuller-bodied, stout is all deep roasted malt, espresso, and dark chocolate, with a velvety smoothness that coats the glass. BrewDog Black Heart is a gorgeous modern example, luscious and indulgent, the kind of craft beer to sip slowly rather than gulp. Pour a great one for anyone who claims beer can't rival wine for complexity, habibi, and watch them change their mind.
A Golden Revolution: Lager and Pilsner
Here's the moment beer changed forever. For much of beer's early history, ales dominated, often producing beers that were darker, hazier and more variable than the crisp lagers we know today. Then, in 1842, in the Czech town of Plzeň, Bavarian brewmaster Josef Groll brewed a brilliantly clear and golden beer using bottom-fermenting lager yeast and local ingredients.
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It was the first Pilsner: a type of lager, typically crisp and aromatic, with a distinctive floral and hoppy bite. From there, lager would go on to become the world's dominant beer family.
This is the family of the great golden everyday beers, the beers nothing beats on a scorching Dubai summer afternoon. Heineken, Amstel, Sol, Tiger, the smooth NOAM Lager and Italy's much-loved Birra Moretti are all classic examples.
Beer Sets Sail: Pale Ale and IPA
Back to the 1800s and the height of the British Empire. As the popular story goes, brewers needed a beer that could survive the long sea voyage to India, so they loaded it with extra hops, a natural preservative, and the India Pale Ale was born. It's a wonderful tale, and like most wonderful tales, a little tidier than the messier truth (hoppy beers already existed, and plenty of other styles made the trip too). But the beer it gave us is glorious.
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Start with its gentler relative, the pale ale, the friendliest bridge into hoppy beer: balanced and flavourful, with a gentle hop character that won't overwhelm. BrewDog Wingman and Shore Leave are lovely examples. Then comes the bolder descendant that launched a thousand craft breweries: the IPA.
Hoppy, aromatic, and often bursting with citrus, pine, and tropical fruit, it's the definitive modern craft style. BrewDog Punk IPA is the icon of craft beer, with caramel and punchy, grapefruit-bracing bitterness, while Elvis Juice piles on zesty citrus and a grapefruit twist. And for a softer landing, the cloudy, juicy hazy IPAs, Hazy Jane and Double Hazy, deliver all that tropical flavour with far less of the bitter bite. This, habibi, is the corner of the craft beer world where brewers experiment hardest, and you can taste it.
Meanwhile, in Bavaria: Wheat Beer
No history of beer is complete without Germany, whose brewing traditions run centuries deep. The most famous of them is the 1516 Reinheitsgebot, the "purity law," which decreed that beer could contain only barley, hops, and water. Strictly speaking, that ruled out wheat. Yet wheat beer not only survived, but it also thrived, because the right to brew it was controlled as a royal monopoly, granted and licensed by the Bavarian dukes. Rules, it seems, are rather more flexible when there's a privilege to be profited from.
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And thank goodness wheat beer survived, because it's a joy. Brewed with a hefty proportion of wheat alongside the barley, it has a signature hazy, golden glow and a smooth, refreshing character, with gentle notes of banana, clove, and citrus. The classic German Paulaner Weissbier is a benchmark of the style. After the bittersweet punch of an IPA, a cold wheat beer is pure refreshment.
The Newest Chapter: Beer Reinvented
Which brings us, at last, to right now, and to why that "over 100 styles" number keeps climbing. The modern craft beer movement has brewers gleefully breaking every rule, blending traditions, and inventing entirely new hybrid styles, and no beer proves it better than Vuurzee.
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It's a "brut beer," an exceptionally rare style inspired by the world of Champagne, brewed in the Netherlands with sparkling-wine yeast and hand-picked Pinot Noir grapes. Fresh, delicately acidic, and finished with fine wine-like bubbles and a whisper of grape-skin bitterness, it sits somewhere between beer and sparkling wine, and it's utterly one of a kind. From liquid bread in the ancient world to a beer that thinks it's Champagne, what a journey beer has been on, and it's nowhere near finished.
Your Turn to Explore
That's thousands of years of brewing distilled into one glass-sized tour, habibi. All the styles we've met are still being brewed, reinvented and loved today, and they're all waiting for you to discover them.
Fancy something crisp and refreshing? A lager or pilsner. Something bold and hoppy? An IPA or pale ale. Something dark and indulgent? A porter or stout. Something that'll genuinely surprise you? Try a Belgian ale, a wheat beer, or that mad and marvellous brut beer.
Explore the full range, from everyday lagers to bold craft IPAs and beyond, at MMI, in-store or via the MMI Cheers Club App, delivered chilled to your door within two hours.
Cheers, habibi, and drink responsibly.
Celia Rime
The Storyteller. Part word witch, part curious sipper, Celia brews stories to keep your glass (and your mind) topped up.