ETYM Old Eng. beor, ber, AS. beór; akin to Fries. biar, Icel. bjerr, Old High Germ. bior, Dutch and German bier, and possibly Eng. brew. Related to Brew.
Alcoholic drink made from water and malt (fermented barley or other grain), flavored with hops. Beer contains between 1% and 6% alcohol. One of the oldest alcoholic drinks, it was brewed in ancient China, Egypt, and Babylon.
The distinction between beer (containing hops) and ale (without hops) was made in medieval times. Beer is now a generic term including pilsner and lager. Stout is top fermented but is sweet and strongly flavored with roasted grain; lager (German “store”) is a light beer, bottom fermented and matured over a longer period. Modern ales, like beer, are made with hops but are fermented more rapidly at relatively high temperatures. In the US, light beers and lite beers are made with more water, fewer calories, and less alcohol.
(Homonym: bier).
Fermented alcoholic beverage brewed from malt and hops; SYN. suds.