75 Beer Trivia Questions for Pub Night and Beer Bars

If you run a pub, taproom, or beer bar, a tight set of beer trivia questions is one of the highest-leverage things you can put on your slowest weeknight. It pulls in regulars, gives staff a reason to upsell flights, and turns the bar from a transactional space into a hangout. The questions below are organized into six rounds you can run as a single 75-question marathon or split across a multi-week beer trivia league.

Every fact has been verified against brewery histories, the BJCP style guide, and standard reference sources. Read each question twice, give teams 30 seconds, and reveal answers between rounds.

Round 1: Easy Beer Trivia (15 Questions)

1. What are the four traditional ingredients of beer as defined by the German Reinheitsgebot?

Water, barley (malt), hops, and yeast. Yeast was added later when its role was understood; the original 1516 law named only water, barley, and hops.

2. What does the abbreviation IPA stand for?

India Pale Ale.

3. What unit measures the bitterness of beer?

IBU, which stands for International Bitterness Units.

4. What two main categories do all beer styles fall into based on yeast type?

Ales (top-fermenting yeast, warmer fermentation) and lagers (bottom-fermenting yeast, cooler fermentation).

5. What is the most consumed beer style in the world?

Pale lager.

6. What grain is most commonly malted to make beer?

Barley.

7. What does ABV stand for?

Alcohol By Volume.

8. What color is a stout typically?

Black or very dark brown, due to roasted malt.

9. What flower is used to flavor and preserve beer?

The hop flower, also called the cone, from the plant Humulus lupulus.

10. What is the term for a beer with very low or no alcohol?

Non-alcoholic beer, generally defined in the U.S. as under 0.5 percent ABV.

11. What yeast species is used in most ales?

Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

12. Which Irish beer is famous for its dark color and creamy head?

Guinness.

13. What is the popular Mexican beer often served with a lime?

Corona.

14. What word describes a beer that has gone flat and lost its carbonation?

Stale or, more specifically, flat.

15. What is the typical serving temperature for a pale lager?

Cold, around 38 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 7 degrees Celsius).

Round 2: Beer History (12 Questions)

16. In what year was the German Reinheitsgebot beer purity law enacted?

1516, in Bavaria.

17. Which ancient civilization is widely credited with some of the earliest known beer production, dating back over 4,000 years?

The Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia, who even had a goddess of beer named Ninkasi.

18. What 19th-century French scientist is credited with the discoveries about yeast and fermentation that transformed brewing?

Louis Pasteur.

19. In what year did Heineken begin brewing in Amsterdam?

1864, when Gerard Adriaan Heineken purchased the Haystack brewery.

20. What U.S. constitutional amendment kicked off Prohibition?

The 18th Amendment, ratified in 1919 and effective in 1920.

21. What 1933 amendment ended Prohibition?

The 21st Amendment.

22. What style of beer was developed by British brewers to survive the long sea voyage to colonial India?

India Pale Ale (IPA), heavily hopped and higher in alcohol to act as a preservative.

23. What German city is famous for its annual Oktoberfest celebration?

Munich.

24. In what year was the first modern Oktoberfest held?

1810, originally as a wedding celebration for Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.

25. What was the name of the act that effectively allowed home brewing in the U.S. when President Carter signed it in 1978?

H.R. 1337, which exempted small amounts of home-brewed beer and wine from federal taxation, effective in 1979.

26. Which Czech city gives its name to the original Pilsner style?

Plzen (Pilsen), where Pilsner Urquell was first brewed in 1842.

27. What ancient Egyptian beverage, similar to beer, was a staple food and even a form of payment for laborers?

A barley-based beer often called heqet or hek, which was consumed daily and used to pay pyramid workers.

Round 3: Craft Beer and IPAs (12 Questions)

28. What organization publishes the BJCP style guidelines, the de facto standard for categorizing beer styles?

The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).

29. What sub-style of IPA is known for being hazy, juicy, and lower in perceived bitterness?

New England IPA (NEIPA), also called hazy IPA.

30. Which hop is famous for its grapefruit and pine character and helped define the American West Coast IPA?

Cascade.

31. What is the term for adding hops late in fermentation for aroma rather than bitterness?

Dry hopping.

32. What hop variety, often described as tropical and fruity, is grown almost exclusively in New Zealand?

Nelson Sauvin.

33. What is a session IPA?

A lower-alcohol IPA, typically under 5 percent ABV, designed so you can drink several in a session without overdoing it.

34. What does the phrase "single hop" mean on a beer label?

The beer was brewed using only one variety of hop, showcasing its specific character.

35. What style is essentially a stronger, more intense IPA, often above 7.5 percent ABV?

Double IPA (DIPA) or Imperial IPA.

36. What is the opposite of a hazy IPA in terms of clarity and hop profile?

West Coast IPA, which is clear, dry, and hop-forward with assertive bitterness.

37. What ingredient is sometimes added to a milkshake IPA to give it a creamy mouthfeel?

Lactose, an unfermentable milk sugar.

38. What craft beer style is essentially an IPA brewed as a lager rather than an ale?

India Pale Lager (IPL) or, more recently, the cold IPA.

39. What is the name for the cloudy yeast and protein particles intentionally left in a hazy IPA?

Suspended yeast and hop polyphenols, often referred to collectively as haze; brewers also call this "biotransformation" character when it comes from active fermentation with hops present.

Round 4: Famous Breweries (12 Questions)

40. What U.S. brewery, founded in 1980 in Chico, California, is famous for its Pale Ale?

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

41. What Boston-based brewery makes Samuel Adams Boston Lager?

The Boston Beer Company, founded in 1984 by Jim Koch.

42. What Belgian Trappist brewery is famous for producing one of the most highly rated beers in the world, Westvleteren 12?

Saint Sixtus Abbey (Sint-Sixtusabdij) in Westvleteren.

43. What Vermont brewery created the cult-favorite hazy IPA Heady Topper?

The Alchemist.

44. What St. Louis brewery, founded in 1852, is famous for Budweiser?

Anheuser-Busch.

45. What Colorado brewery is the largest craft brewer in the U.S. by volume and makes Fat Tire?

New Belgium Brewing Company.

46. What Delaware brewery is known for its 60 Minute IPA and continual hopping technique?

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

47. What Scottish craft brewery, founded in 2007 in Fraserburgh, became famous for its punk branding?

BrewDog.

48. What Belgian Trappist brewery makes Chimay?

Notre-Dame de Scourmont Abbey.

49. What California brewery, founded in 1996, is famous for Pliny the Elder?

Russian River Brewing Company.

50. What Munich brewery is known for the brand Spaten and helped popularize the Helles lager style?

Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau.

51. What Japanese brewery, founded in 1876, produces a flagship lager named after the city it was first brewed in?

Sapporo Breweries.

Round 5: Beer Around the World (12 Questions)

52. What country consumes the most beer per capita in the world?

The Czech Republic, which has held the top spot for decades.

53. What country produces the most beer by total volume?

China.

54. What Belgian beer style is fermented with wild yeast and bacteria in open-air vessels in the Senne Valley?

Lambic.

55. What blended lambic style is sweetened and refermented in the bottle?

Gueuze.

56. What German wheat beer style is unfiltered, cloudy, and known for banana and clove notes?

Hefeweizen.

57. What style of strong dark German lager has a name meaning "billy goat"?

Bock.

58. What is the national beer of Jamaica, often paired with jerk chicken?

Red Stripe.

59. What style of beer, originally from Cologne, Germany, is a hybrid using ale yeast at lager temperatures?

Kolsch.

60. What Belgian style is a strong, pale, dry ale brewed by monks?

Belgian Tripel.

61. What dark, strong Belgian Trappist style is rich with dark fruit and caramel notes?

Belgian Quadrupel (or Dubbel for the lighter version).

62. What is the most popular beer brand in Mexico by volume?

Corona Extra.

63. What Australian word for a 285ml glass of beer is common in Victoria?

A pot.

Bonus Round: Beer Cocktails (12 Questions)

64. What classic beer cocktail combines lager with lemon-lime soda or lemonade?

A shandy (also called a radler in German-speaking countries).

65. What German beer cocktail name translates as "cyclist"?

Radler.

66. What beer cocktail combines stout poured carefully on top of pale ale to create a layered drink?

The Black and Tan.

67. What is the Irish version of the Black and Tan called, using Guinness over Harp lager?

A Half and Half.

68. What cocktail layers Guinness over a glass of champagne or sparkling wine?

The Black Velvet.

69. What beer cocktail uses tomato juice, beer, and often lime and hot sauce?

A Michelada.

70. What is the simpler Mexican beer-with-lime-and-salt drink that is the precursor to a Michelada?

A Chelada.

71. What is a Snakebite, in its classic British form?

Equal parts lager and cider.

72. What is added to a Snakebite to make it a Snakebite and Black?

A splash of blackcurrant cordial.

73. What beer cocktail combines a shot of whiskey dropped into a glass of beer?

A Boilermaker.

74. What is a Hefeweizen mixed with banana liqueur sometimes called?

A Bananenweizen, popular in parts of Germany.

75. What is the U.S. summer favorite that mixes a wheat beer with lemonade?

Summer shandy.

FAQ

How long does a 75-question beer trivia night usually run?

About 90 minutes for the full set with breaks for ordering, or 60 minutes if you trim to 50 questions. Most pubs run two rounds before a break and three rounds after.

What is the best beer trivia format for a pub night?

Five rounds of 12 to 15 questions each, with answer reveals and scoring after every round, plus a bonus tiebreaker. Teams of two to four work best in a bar setting.

How can I make beer trivia harder for serious craft beer fans?

Add specialty rounds on hop varieties, BJCP style numbers, and brewery founding dates. Include bottle-label and logo identification rounds for visual variety.

What prizes work best for pub beer trivia?

A bar tab for the winning team is the gold standard. Branded glassware, brewery merch, and gift cards to the next event also work well.

Can I use these questions for a brewery taproom event?

Yes. Most of these questions are general enough for any beer-curious crowd, and you can swap in 5 to 10 questions specific to your brewery's beers and history for a great house round.

Do you offer pre-built themed trivia packs?

Yes. Browse our themed trivia packs or our full collection for ready-to-host packs covering food, drink, music, sports, and more. For more pub and bar food and drink questions, see our food and drink trivia hub.