Sort beers is not a very simple task, because the number of factors that can rank a beer is immense: color, ingredients, production method, alcohol content, etc..
Most beers are classified according to the fermentation process in three groups:
A.) Ale: Surface brew or high fermentation,
B.) Lager: Bottom fermentation or low fermentation,
C.) Gueuze or Lambic: spontaneous fermentation.
Despite splitting in a practical way, this process is not suitable to be very little detail, having little use to the connoisseur.
One of the most accepted classifications is the Beer Judge Certification Program Inc. (BJCP), American non-profit created precisely to certificate critics and beer reviewers.
Their style guide, developed by dozens of master brewers and volunteer beer connoisseurs is accepted and adopted in most of the world today.