History Main / AllBeerIsAle

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. There is frequent mention of ale, but never lager. Westeros is clearly based upon Europe in the Late Middle Ages, i.e. before lager was a thing.

* Averted in ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series as while there is ale there's also beer, wine, brandy, whisky, mead (especially in [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Province of Skyrim]], and distilled skooma (a drink made of refined "moon sugar", a sugar that also acts as a potent narcotic).

* ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'' has a [[RecycledInSpace science-fiction version]] with the Bajorans drinking ''synthale'', their version of synthehol. Quark doesn't think much of it, commenting that you should "never trust ale from a god-fearing people." Clearly Earth's monks could teach them a thing or two.

* Before the invention of the refrigeration, bottom fermentation (with which beers like lager or bock is made) was notoriously difficult to perform, and will succeed only in certain months during the autumn and winter when it is cold enough for ''Saccaromyces carlsbergi'' yeast to function, even in the caves in which the Germans traditionally produced the stuff. On the other hand, top fermentation (with which ales are made) will succeed at any temperature, using ''Saccaromyces cerevisiae'' yeast. Indeed, many German states had prohibitions on the production of lager--and in some cases, on the production of ''all beer''--between March and September because attempts to make the stuff outside the season invariably produced an inferior product. Also, modern efficient methods of refrigeration were first developed in the 1870s by the engineer Carl von Linde for Gabriel Sedlmayr's Spaten Brewery, who was trying to find a way to make lager year-round.

Compare {{Uncoffee}} where coffee goes under another name or actually is something else. See also TheNeedForMead (where, despite the name, ale is more likely to be the drink of choice than actual mead).

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->''American beer is fizzy, weak, cold, and contains salt. That is not beer. Real beer is ''ale''. Ale is served at room temperature, has a stupid name like "Old Gruntfuttock"," and usually comes in at six-point-five to seven percent by volume. It tastes of yeast and hops, not recycled water.''

** [[LampShading Lampshaded]] in ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'', which notes that "Ankh-Morpork beer was technically ale, that is to say, gravy made from hops", in the context of explaining why Rincewind doesn't take the light, fizzy stuff they have in Fourecks[[note]]Discworld Australia, where lagers predominate[[/note]] seriously... until he wakes up with little memory of the previous evening.

[[MedievalEuropeanFantasy Medieval Europe (or something very much like it) is a common setting for fantasy stories]], and [[TruthInTelevision the typical Medieval European beer would have been an ale]]. Lager ''wasn't even invented'' until the fifteenth or sixteenth century; the process was serendipitously discovered when some ale casks stored in cold caves in Germany tasted like something else, and the actual yeast required for making it might have been accidentally brought from South America (!). While the common belief that medieval water supplies were so bad that beer was needed to avoid being made sick is a myth, the calories, taste, and mild buzz of weak beer (around 1-4% ABV) meant it was consumed in large quantities by all ages and professions throughout the day.

* [[LampShading Lampshaded]] in the Discworld novel ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'', which notes that "Ankh-Morpork beer was technically ale, that is to say, gravy made from hops", in the context of explaining why Rincewind doesn't take the light, fizzy stuff they have in Fourecks[[note]]Discworld Australia, where lagers predominate[[/note]] seriously... until he wakes up with little memory of the previous evening.

[[MedievalEuropeanFantasy Medieval Europe (or something very much like it) is a common setting for fantasy stories]], and [[TruthInTelevision the typical Medieval European beer would have been an ale]]. Lager ''wasn't even invented'' until the fifteenth or sixteenth century; the process was serendipitously discovered when some ale casks stored in cold caves in Germany tasted like something else, and the actual yeast required for making it might have been accidentally brought from South America (!). Most of it was probably "small beer," an unfiltered, low-alcohol beer that people drank instead of water because of the prevalence of waterborne disease.

* Almost all really strong natural brews, such as stout, barley wine and porter, are technically ales. ''S. cerevisiae'' yeast can produce higher alcohol contents than ''S. carlsbergi''. On the other hand, the quality and taste variations with ''S. cerevisiae'' are wider than with ''S. carlsbergi''. That is the reason why lagers usually taste just the same, the only differences being the ethanol contents and use of hops.

Many fantasy tropes [[FollowTheLeader are taken from]] the very, very, British ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and the vast majority of British beers actually are ales--again, lager is a German invention, and it wasn't until relatively recently that lager spread outside Germany, broader Central Europe and the Americas. (This is where German and other Central European brewers settled in the 19th century--why do you think all of the Americas from Argentina and Chile to Canada and Alaska drink lager?)

Compare {{Uncoffee}} where coffee goes under another name or actually is something else. See also TheNeedForMead (where, despite the name, ale is more likely to be the drink of choice than actual mead.)

-->-- ''TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming''

* In Series/FirekeeperSaga there are no bars or pubs, only alehouses - guess what is served there. Lager is never mentioned.

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