The craft beer culture has been continuously growing in popularity in recent years.

Particularly in Orange County with the emergence of microbreweries such as: Bootleggers, The Bruery and Valiant Brewing Company.

As everyone is enjoying these delicious brews some individuals may want to know more about what their drinking.

Here are some terms that new and old craft beer aficionados should know about.

A session ale: is a craft beer that is usually 4 percent or less in alcohol volume and meant to be drank as many as possible in a single sitting session.

Hops: gives some beers what is known as that “hoppy” unique bitter taste. According to byo.com hop comes from dried seed cases of the Humulus Lupulus plant.

IPA the acronym for India Pale Ale a type of hop-style beer that is widely popular.

Malt according to world of beer.com is after a beer is made, the grain is made to release enzymes that make fermentable sugars to give the beer its flavor.

Lager: according to world of beer.com can be dark or light and usually made and fermented in low temperature.

Most of the beers out in the market fall into one of two categories of ale or lager.

“Most of the beer you see are lagers and ales. There’s a lot more in ales than in lagers over 100 different styles,”said Director of Marketing and Cicerone at The Bruery, Benjamin Weiss.

ABV meaning alcohol by volume.

IBU international bitterness unit which measures how hoppy and/ or bitter a beer tastes.

SRM stands for standard reference measure. Which measures the color of a beer.

Aside from terms and abbreviations craft beer aficionados should know about there are some facts that are good to familiarize with as well.

Aging beer doesn’t only happen in a barrel or cask. Steel can also be used to age beer.

“Wood adds character to a beer,” said Weiss.

In every bar and brewery there’s glasses of different shapes and sizes to serve that nice cold brew.

The shape and style of the glass really does matter for the temperature, sensory and that nice foam seen at the top of the glass.

“It’s not crucial, but the glassware does make a difference. Temperature for the beer can depend on how the glass is held it could get warmer or stay colder,” said Weiss. “The Bruery uses a tulip glad for all beers.”

There are living microorganisms in beers such as bacteria. This is done to give sour ales that flavor.

“Some of the bacteria used is similar to what you would find in yogurt,” said Weiss.

Hops are grown by farmers mainly in the regions of Oregon, Washington, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Grains and barley are grown in the mid west of the United States. Most breweries will have their grain, barley or wheat shipped malted due to it being a separate process.

Beers are recommended to be tasted weakest to strongest.

There is the common misconception according to TheBruery.com that the darker the beer the higher the alcohol content. This isn’t true always the color and alcohol doesn’t correlate together. Color is determined by the malting process.

This is just the surface of craft beer knowledge there’s always more to explore and learn.