Are the terms "dry", "low FG" and "drinkable" synonymous?

Question

Hopefully this doesn't fall under "opinion" but I believe this will help alleviate some questions on mashing/fermentation techniques. I guess you could break this question into parts. Also the term "drinkable" is assuming the beer is without off-flavors:

Are the terms "dry" and "drinkable" synonymous? My initial answer would be no, since I've had Imperial Stouts that I'd consider more drinkable (not to be mistaken with sessionable) than a dry-stout, say Guinness. Then I've had stouts with lots of residual sweetness that were good, just more of a sipping beer. Although, a "bone dry" beer may not be considered drinkable either. So without answering my own question, I guess it's safe to say drinkable is more related to residual sweetness/alcohol perception?

Are the terms "dry" and "low FG" synonymous? Again, a dry beer tends to be low FG but not necessarily the other way around? Can you have a dry beer that was mashed at the higher temp range.. if so what type of body would you expect? I'll use Duvel and Jolly Pumpkin as an example. Both produce great beers that favor the dry side, but certainly do not lack in body. I know Duvel finishes low, Jolly Pumpkin it depends on the beer.. but a good amount finish low.

I see these terms being tossed around a lot, it would be good to back them up with some facts.

Answer 1

Dry is the same as "not sweet". But high FG is not necessarily sweet. If the residual sugars are long-chain carbohydrates, they will contribute to body but not much to sweetness. So I'd say that low FG implies dry, but high FG does not necessarily imply sweet.

Answer 2

In my own experience, "dry" and "low FG" are completely unrelated. This surprised me at first, but there are a lot of other factors besides FG that determine the 'dryness' of the beer.

Right off the bat, the amount of hop bitterness counterbalances the sweetness. Likewise, any astringent character from the mineral qualities of the water will start chipping away at the perceived sweetness.

Answer 3

My understanding of "synonymous" is that it means "equivalent to". Therefore clearly no, "dry" is not equivalent to "low FG" which is not equivalent to "drinkable".

However, they may well be related since low FG correlates with light body which can aid in drinkability. Similarly, if you like dry beer then you'll find it drinkable.

And why exclude "sessionable" here? Session beers are highly drinkable.

Answer 4

The words may get frequently overloaded, but they actually all mean different things. I'll attempt to explain below.

Dry(ness) -- Tends to refer to the amount of detectable sweetness in the final beverage. A beer that is hardly sweet would be considered dry. A dry beer could be correlated to Low FG, as little sugar would remain in the beer to taste.

Low FG -- Doesn't really mean anything by itself, per se, as it's the measure of sugars still remaining in the liquid. The important calculation here is the difference between OG (Original Gravity) and FG (Final Gravity). If the beer had a high OG then the beer will have a high alcohol content, assuming fermentation didn't stall. Low FG would merely indicate the yeast did a good job of converting the sugars.

Drinkable -- Shorthand for refreshing beers, which you can drink a great quantity of without getting sloshed or noticing that you are sloshed. Not necessarily low in alcohol, but there will be no alcoholic harshness. Similar to the Belgian idea of "digestable".