Beer brewing is an art, and this ancient art is dying a slow death. With the advent of technology and the introduction of numerous catalysts for speedy fermentation, the unique taste and aroma of authentic beer is vanishing slowly. Nowadays there is a huge misconception of differentiating ales and lagers based on its taste. Sometimes a question arises, are ales and lagers both similar kinds of beers? No, it’s not! Ale and lager are distinctively two different branches of the beer family tree.

Ales are older, more traditional and distinguished brews of the world, predating lagers by a few centuries, whereas lagers are comparatively the modern creation, most probably a few hundred years old.

Better Yeast Makes the Beer Better

The differentiation of the branches of the beer family tree corresponds to the type of yeast used to ferment the beer. There are two distinctive kinds of yeast, ale yeast and lager yeast. These yeasts typically dictate the fermentation temperature. Ales are more traditionally fermented at warmer temperatures (12 to 21 degree Celsius), whereas lagers mostly ferment at slightly cooler temperatures (3 to 10 degree Celsius).

Source: https://insightscare.com/ale-lager-no-not/