Cicerone Certified Beer Server Practice Exam

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Prepare for the Cicerone Certified Beer Server Exam with our comprehensive practice questions and study materials. Understand key beer styles, beer storage, and proper serving techniques to ace your test!

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Variation in which of the following ingredients is responsible for the difference between ales and lagers?

Barley
Hops
Yeast
Water

The correct answer is: Yeast

The variation that distinguishes ales from lagers lies primarily in the type of yeast used during fermentation. Ales are typically fermented with top-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which operates best at warmer temperatures (60-75°F or 15-24°C) and tends to produce fruitier and more complex flavors. Lagers, on the other hand, utilize bottom-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces pastorianus) that ferments at cooler temperatures (45-55°F or 7-13°C), resulting in a cleaner, crisper taste profile. The other ingredients, while important to the brewing process, do not inherently categorize the beer as either ale or lager. For instance, barley is a common grain in both ale and lager production, and the same is true for hops and water. However, it is the yeast strain and its fermentation temperature that fundamentally create the separation between these two major styles of beer.