Craft Beer. The mecca of the hipster culture (that’s not including beards). America is young. There has never really been a big craft beer scene until recently. The microbrewery scene has been starting thriving for the last couple of years. Personally, I’m loving it. I’m loving every aspect of the craft beer scene. There are so many different kinds out there too. There is literally a beer out there for every person’s taste in the world. I’ve had a good chunk of friends that there have avoided beer like the plague because they all think that every beer taste like Bud Light or Coor’s Light. Newsflash: those are two of the crappiest beers out there. You might as well be drinking water. It might be a personal opinion, and I may offend some people. Oh well. It’s like going to a fine dining restaurant and asking for a Big Mac. You just don’t. Trust me though, there are better beers out there. Some we can get state side and some that we can’t.
Out of all the craft beers that I’ve tasted, because there literally are as many beers as wine out there, I’ve found that I’ll have an easier time telling you what I don’t like versus what I do like. I avoid sours like the plague. They taste exactly how it sounds. Enough of that though.
I’m going to cover the basics here. I’m not going to try to get too deep into it. There’s just way too much stuff to cover. I’ll continue this series for a bit on beer.
Here goes.
Beer is made up of four main ingredients: water, a starch, brewer’s yeast, and hops.
Water is pretty obvious. It’s a liquid. The other parts of the beer don’t work well without it. The interesting thing here is that water from different parts of the world have different minerals, so certain parts of the world are clearly better at producing different types of beer than others. Technically, in today’s day and age, you could add those missing minerals to the brew and you should be able to go ahead and make the beer taste as if it came from whatever region it is that you’re trying to mimic. Most people avoid the hassle though.
“I’m a fan of craft beers that are have a good amount of malt in the brew, but not too much. I don’t like too sweet. I like balance.”
Starch is just as important. Many of the starches that are used in brews have gluten in them. There are some breweries that use sorghum in place of gluten starches. The majority of all beers out there contain barely malt. It actually makes up the majority of most starch blends in beers. Pretty much the starch give the beer it’s flavor, strength, and provides a fermentable material. The grains are soaked in water, they begin germination, and are then dried. The malting grains produces enzymes that turn the starches into fermentable sugars. In short, it sweetens the beer. I’m a fan of craft beers that are have a good amount of malt in the brew, but not too much. I don’t like too sweet. I like balance.
Hops are known for flavoring the beer as well. The flower of the hop bine is used as a flavoring agent as well as a natural preservative. Hops contain a very distinct bitterness that is sought after by most brewers. Those sours that I mentioned earlier go heavy on the hops. Craft beers each have their own take on how they use the hops. They also contribute to the citrus and floral notes that are found in craft beers.
Yeast is the smallest, but most important aspect of the craft beer. It’s responsible for the fementation in beer. Pretty much, it takes the sugar that’s taken out of the malts and metabolizes it to create alcohol and CO2. On top of that, it also helps in the flavor of the craft beer. Back in the day, most breweries relied on airborne or wild yeast, but now pure yeast is added for a more consistent flavor profile. Lambics still use the old school airborne and wild yeast, but most craft beer breweries don’t. There are different types of fermentation processes: top and bottom fermenting are the most popular, but there are other types as well.
“There are vegan craft beers. Those are the ones that use seaweed or artificial clarifying agents.”
There are a couple of other things that go into making craft beer, but that’s the majority of it. There are some breweries that use a clarifying agent. This is usually some sort of protein solid. They’re barely found in the final product if at all. Pretty much this makes the beer appear clean or clear instead of the cloudy look that older styles have (kind of like Blue Moon). Isinglass is an example of a clarifying agent. It’s found in the swimbladders of fish (it’s the organ that helps them control their buoyancy. Then there’s Irish moss, which is a seaweed. Artificial agents can be used too, like polyclar. Good ol’ gelatin works as well. There are vegan craft beers. Those are the ones that use seaweed or artificial clarifying agents.
“Keep in mind that when I say ‘basics’ that I say it with a wide net cast into the world of craft beer.”
That covers the basics as to what is in beer. Keep in mind that when I say “basics” that I say it with a wide net cast into the world of craft beer. There are so many variations and styles. That’s enough for now. I think I’ll go ahead and cover every single style of beer out there and what differentiates each in time. For now, here’s the main stuff. Until next time. Now, I’m going to go have a craft beer. Probably a Jai-Alai.
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