Answers.Body: <p>What you're most likely to find everyday are not beers that are flat, exactly, but are very low in carbonation.   Barleywine ale is one of these styles, and though it will typically have some carbonation, it will be very little.  In the UK, real (or cask) ale is another style with very little carbonation.  </p>
  
  <p>The only style I can think of off the top of my head that is really and truly uncarbonated are the super high alcohol beers like Boston Beer's Samuel Adams Utopias and some of the various high-alcohol freeze-distilled* varieties.  To me, these styles have nearly as much in common with fortified wine or spirits as they do with beer, and they're not easy to find, so they're a bit of an outlier.  </p>
  
  <p>*<em>Distillation requires heat, so the process of freezing to concentrate alcohol in a beer isn't really technically distillation, but hey, that's what it's called, so when it Rome...</em></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-02-02T03:29:44.377Z
Answers.Text: By freeze-distilled, do you mean the [eisbock](http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/36/) style?
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Xander
Answers.Body: <p>Historically beer was almost definitely still (flat) for thousands of years. Before the discovery/invention of force carbonation methods, all beer was carbonated naturally via bottle or cask conditioning. But people were brewing alcoholic beverages commonly referred to as beer in antiquity, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Edward_McGovern#Investigations_of_ancient_dyes.2C_foods.2C_beverages.2C_and_other_organics" rel="noreferrer">evidence</a> from these cultures (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiahu" rel="noreferrer">ancient China</a>, Neolithic culture, etc) suggests that they were doing this in big stone and earthenware pots and jugs, which may have had no lids or loose lids. Their vessels probably could not have withstood the pressure of carbonation even if they were using wax or cork to seal the vessels.</p>
  
  <p>So if you were to brew a historical style and you wanted to be truly accurate, then you would not carbonate it. But the modern historical interpretations usually are carbonated (like <a href="http://www.dogfish.com/ancientales" rel="noreferrer">Dogfish Head's ancient ales</a>), because they are selling them and Westerners generally prefer them :)</p>
  
  <p>There is one "modern style" (e.g. <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php" rel="noreferrer">a style you'd find in the BJCP style guide</a>), that can be served with <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=gYVLHMmplRcC&amp;pg=PA221&amp;lpg=PA221&amp;dq=oxford%20beer%20companion%20carbonation&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=MGgbsp_cV7&amp;sig=34ClGqwJYwLtNhACLrhsw7Ot8Zc&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=itX_Ut-2PKPWyQG5m4DQDw&amp;ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;q=oxford%20beer%20companion%20carbonation&amp;f=false" rel="noreferrer">no carbonation</a>, namely <a href="http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style17.php#1d" rel="noreferrer">straight (unblended) lambic</a>. Several have little or low carbonation, (e.g. barleywine) mentioned in other answers. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti" rel="noreferrer">Sahti</a> also has very little carbonation.</p>
  
  <p>But people do still drink flat/still beer all over the world, for example there's some uncarbonated corn beers that are popular, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicha" rel="noreferrer">chicha</a> in Latin America (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/dining/09beer.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1&amp;sq=dogfish&amp;st=cse&amp;scp=1" rel="noreferrer">Dogfish Head made a Chicha inspired beer</a>) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umqombothi" rel="noreferrer">umqombothi</a> in South Africa. There are other names for similar beers in other regions. These are typically homebrewed.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-16T02:21:32.050Z
Answers.Text: Purple corn...chewing...ancient ales...I've learned quite a lot from this answer.
Answers.UserDisplayName: IBG
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Answers.Text: "Modern" straight lambics (not gueuze or kriek) are served still, and are [BJCP](http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style17.php#1d)-recognized.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ernir
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Answers.Text: Good catch @Ernir! I have updated my answer to include the fact that straight lambics can be served with no carbonation according to the BJCP style guide.
Answers.UserDisplayName: paul
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2015-10-07T19:46:09.380Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: paul
Answers.Body: <p>Cask beers have very low levels of carbonation, enough that one could almost consider them to be flat. This is due to the fact that they aren't served under any pressure.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Schleis
Answers.Body: <p>I home brew ales and stouts all the time and have never carbonated or even bottled it. I have never missed the bubbles or the constant burping. In fact, I am enjoying a glass of English Bitter right now. Tasty and refreshing. Five gallons of beer so that I can dip a jug whenever I want, and no messing with bottles. By the time you finish the 2nd one, you will not miss the carbonation.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: user7545
Body: <p>I thought of this question when I've read the one about <a href="https://alcohol.stackexchange.com/questions/597/are-there-any-beer-styles-that-are-best-enjoyed-hot">mulled beer</a>. I thought heating the beer would make it lose carbonation, but then I've read somewhere that you have to <a href="https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/2652/what-would-make-a-good-mulled-ale">carbonate</a> the mulled beer as well.</p>
  
  <p>So are there any beer styles that are served without carbonation or nitrogenation? I myself think that there are probably none, but I'm no beer expert (yet :D).</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-05-26T15:24:24.270Z
Comments.Text: Porter and stout are usually very close to being flat (at least they are in Britain)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Paul Michaels
Tags: <taste><gas>
Title: Are there any beer styles that are served flat?
UserDisplayName: IBG
ThreadText: # Are there any beer styles that are served flat?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-15)
  
  I thought of this question when I've read the one about [mulled beer](https://alcohol.stackexchange.com/questions/597/are-there-any-beer-styles-that-are-best-enjoyed-hot). I thought heating the beer would make it lose carbonation, but then I've read somewhere that you have to [carbonate](https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/2652/what-would-make-a-good-mulled-ale) the mulled beer as well.
  
  So are there any beer styles that are served without carbonation or nitrogenation? I myself think that there are probably none, but I'm no beer expert (yet :D).
  
  **Tags:** taste, gas
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Porter and stout are usually very close to being flat (at least they are in Britain)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2014-02-15. Score: 22 | Accepted answer
  
  Historically beer was almost definitely still (flat) for thousands of years. Before the discovery/invention of force carbonation methods, all beer was carbonated naturally via bottle or cask conditioning. But people were brewing alcoholic beverages commonly referred to as beer in antiquity, and [evidence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Edward_McGovern#Investigations_of_ancient_dyes.2C_foods.2C_beverages.2C_and_other_organics) from these cultures ([ancient China](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiahu), Neolithic culture, etc) suggests that they were doing this in big stone and earthenware pots and jugs, which may have had no lids or loose lids. Their vessels probably could not have withstood the pressure of carbonation even if they were using wax or cork to seal the vessels.
  
  So if you were to brew a historical style and you wanted to be truly accurate, then you would not carbonate it. But the modern historical interpretations usually are carbonated (like [Dogfish Head's ancient ales](http://www.dogfish.com/ancientales)), because they are selling them and Westerners generally prefer them :)
  
  There is one "modern style" (e.g. [a style you'd find in the BJCP style guide](http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php)), that can be served with [no carbonation](http://books.google.com/books?id=gYVLHMmplRcC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221&dq=oxford%20beer%20companion%20carbonation&source=bl&ots=MGgbsp_cV7&sig=34ClGqwJYwLtNhACLrhsw7Ot8Zc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=itX_Ut-2PKPWyQG5m4DQDw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=oxford%20beer%20companion%20carbonation&f=false), namely [straight (unblended) lambic](http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style17.php#1d). Several have little or low carbonation, (e.g. barleywine) mentioned in other answers. [Sahti](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti) also has very little carbonation.
  
  But people do still drink flat/still beer all over the world, for example there's some uncarbonated corn beers that are popular, like [chicha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicha) in Latin America ([Dogfish Head made a Chicha inspired beer](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/dining/09beer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=dogfish&st=cse&scp=1)) and [umqombothi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umqombothi) in South Africa. There are other names for similar beers in other regions. These are typically homebrewed.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Purple corn...chewing...ancient ales...I've learned quite a lot from this answer.  
  > **username_5**: "Modern" straight lambics (not gueuze or kriek) are served still, and are [BJCP](http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style17.php#1d)-recognized.  
  > **username_4**: Good catch @username_5! I have updated my answer to include the fact that straight lambics can be served with no carbonation according to the BJCP style guide.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2014-02-15. Score: 8
  
  What you're most likely to find everyday are not beers that are flat, exactly, but are very low in carbonation. Barleywine ale is one of these styles, and though it will typically have some carbonation, it will be very little. In the UK, real (or cask) ale is another style with very little carbonation.
  
  The only style I can think of off the top of my head that is really and truly uncarbonated are the super high alcohol beers like Boston Beer's Samuel Adams Utopias and some of the various high-alcohol freeze-distilled\* varieties. To me, these styles have nearly as much in common with fortified wine or spirits as they do with beer, and they're not easy to find, so they're a bit of an outlier.
  
  \**Distillation requires heat, so the process of freezing to concentrate alcohol in a beer isn't really technically distillation, but hey, that's what it's called, so when it Rome...*
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: By freeze-distilled, do you mean the [eisbock](http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/36/) style?  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2014-02-15. Score: 5
  
  Cask beers have very low levels of carbonation, enough that one could almost consider them to be flat. This is due to the fact that they aren't served under any pressure.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2018-01-31. Score: 3
  
  I home brew ales and stouts all the time and have never carbonated or even bottled it. I have never missed the bubbles or the constant burping. In fact, I am enjoying a glass of English Bitter right now. Tasty and refreshing. Five gallons of beer so that I can dip a jug whenever I want, and no messing with bottles. By the time you finish the 2nd one, you will not miss the carbonation.
  
  
  ---
  
  