It’s summertime and there’s a lot of drinking to be done. Be Better Guys suggests that this is the time to figure out what type of beer you like and develop a vocabulary. So, the next time you’re at a beer bar (or any bar) or enjoying a cold one with friends at home, drink your way through Beer 101, as taught by Father's Office  Beer University dean and bartender Hallie Beaune, with help from other beer aficionados around the nation. Let this guide you through the many flavors of beer, created during the fermentation process when the yeast eats the malt, producing carbon dioxide and our beloved alcohol.Lager: Start with a Dogfish Head Afternoon Delight. Lagers are fermented longer and at lower temperates than ales, giving the yeast more time to eat the malt, typically leaving a beer that’s clean and dry on the palate. Lighter lagers can have crisp flavors of green apple, corn, and bread. Perfect for sunny summer days.

Yeast: Move on to Rogue Half-e-Weizen. Ales are brewed at higher temperatures for shorter periods of time, often creating more complex flavors and residual sugar. This is a unfiltered beer with a unique ingredient – ginger. If you taste banana, well that’s the yeast. Yeast can give beer deep aromas and varied flavors like banana, clove, sourdough and butterscotch.

Hops: Next, try a contrasting Racer 5 India Pale Ale, with a bitter, refreshing taste thanks to hops. Hops act as a preservative in beer, balance out sweetness, and give the bitter bite typical of an IPA. Hops look a bit like dried chamomile and are related to cannabis (no you can’t, it won’t work).

Malt: End your lesson with a Deschutes Black Butte Porter, a showcase for malt. Malts (grains, usually barley) are soaked, dried and roasted until they turn into sugar that can be eaten by yeast. Taste the roasty chocolate and subtle spice in the Deschutes porter.

For less than the cost of a movie (alone, with no popcorn or soda), you can enjoy a quality, handcrafted beverage, and become a bit of a know-it-all, but not in that wine-lover sort of way.

This article appears courtesy of The Rundown. It has been edited for use by Be Better Guys.