Industrial or craft beer? Look for these two points to easily buy cheap and good beer

In the hot summer, besides air conditioning and watermelon, the most popular thing is ice beer.

According to statistics on global beer consumption in 2020, China took the lead with a share of 22.7%, becoming the veritable "country that drinks the most beer."

But did you know that many of the beers you drink today are actually industrial beers?

1. What is industrial beer? What is craft beer? Beer is divided into two categories according to the brewing process: lager and ale. Ale has a strong taste, while lager has a light taste.

After the Industrial Revolution, the low-temperature brewing conditions of lager beer were met, which made it quickly occupy a dominant position. Now more than 90% of beer products on the market are industrial lager beer (hereinafter referred to as industrial beer).

The difference between ordinary industrial beer and craft beer lies in the ingredients and fermentation process. In order to save costs, ordinary industrial beer will use rice, corn or even starch to replace part of the malt.

In terms of alcohol content, it actually has little impact, because whether it is barley, corn, or cassava, starch will always turn into alcohol. However, malt also contains various proteins, amino acids, and various flavor substances produced during the malt roasting process, and these ingredients are much less in industrial beer.

Therefore, industrial beer has a lighter taste, lacks the aroma of malt and hops, and has a distinct bitterness, a bit like drinking "beer water", but it is cheap, so who wants more than that.

There is currently no standard definition of "craft beer". Some people say that craft beer is beer that tastes good, while others say that hand-brewed beer is craft beer.

In fact, the word craft beer comes from "craft beer". Currently, there is a generally accepted saying about craft beer:

Beer brewed with malt + hops + yeast + water without adding any artificial additives.

This type of beer has a strong malt and hop aroma, rich taste, and fine and long-lasting foam.

Another type is the so-called "flavored craft beer", which is to add flavors, spices, fruit juice, etc. to adjust the taste in addition to water, malt, yeast, and hops. The flavor will have some fruity and flavorful flavors, and the original hop flavor and bitterness will be covered up. This type of beer is very popular among girls.

2. How to choose good beer? When buying beer, remember to look at these two points:

Ingredients

Beer that contains corn, starch, rice, hop extract, and hop products is basically industrial beer, and the taste will be lighter. Beer that only contains water, barley germ, hops, and yeast is a better beer.

Wort concentration

The "14.2°P" that we often see on beer bottles actually refers to the original wort concentration of the beer. The alcohol content ≥5.2%vol on the product parameters on the back of the bottle refers to the alcohol content of the beer.

If you have a high demand for beer flavor and don’t like a bland taste, you can give priority to beer with an original wort concentration of more than 10°P.

Under ideal fermentation conditions, alcohol concentration ≈ malt concentration/2. The higher the alcohol content, the higher the malt concentration.

However, beer that contains white sugar, honey, and glucose syrup is an exception, because these added sugars will also be converted into alcohol by yeast, so even if the alcohol content is high, the malt concentration may not be high.

3. Beer recommendations for different groups of people We have listed some recommended beers based on the taste preferences of different groups of people. You can choose according to your preferences~

Craft beer lovers prefer the taste of the ingredients list

The ingredients list of beer should not contain hop products, hop extract, beer syrup, rice, corn, starch and other ingredients. You can choose craft beer and beer from Germany.

For example, these are good ones:

Girls' Choice

If you are a girl who doesn't drink much and is new to craft beer, you can choose fruity ones, that is, fruit juice is added to the ingredients. This kind of wine tastes better and has a sweet taste.

The following ones have better taste and are recommended for girls to try:

Girls should pay attention to these wines

Be careful when it comes to wines that contain sugar in the ingredient list, as sugar mixed with alcohol can make you drunk more easily, so be sure to choose wines with a low alcohol content.

For example, the following is the legendary "virginity-losing wine". If a girl goes to a bar with someone she doesn't know well, she should be careful about this type of wine:

If you think craft beer is too expensive, you can also choose relatively cheap industrial beer. It is recommended to choose one with a higher concentration of original wort, that is, a higher P value.

For example, these flavors are good:

4. Tips for drinking: How to eliminate beer foam?

Pour the beer slowly, commonly known as "flowing down the glass".

The animated picture comes from SOOGIF

The so-called chopsticks dipped in oil and inserted into the beer have no real effect. But if you put the beer in a little colder in advance, the foam will be less.

If you accidentally pour out a lot of foam, you can only wait for a while and wait for the foam to dissipate on its own.

How to quickly chill beer?

Wrap the beer with wet paper towels and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Don't freeze it for too long.

The best temperature for iced beer is between 5℃ and 10℃. If the temperature is too low, the protein in the beer will decompose and its nutrients will be destroyed. At the same time, the various ingredients in the beer will also be out of balance, thus affecting the taste of the beer.

Drinking beer is not as refined and restrained as drinking coffee, it is mostly for fun and atmosphere. Most of the scenes are groups of three or five friends, ordering a barbecue, eating skewers and watching the game together, with hearty laughter one after another.

But drinking has an impact on your health. Just have a small drink to enjoy yourself. Don't drink too much, and don't force others to drink.

Friends walk together for life, drinking days are hard to come by~

The summer of 2021 is almost over. Who did you drink beer with this year?

References: [1] Wang Lei, Xue Yiming, Wang Jie, Ban Yunjiang, Wang Qiaoqiao, Luo Jia, Liu Jiayao, Zhang Wenqing. Current situation and development of craft beer in China[J]. Modern Food, 2020(14):18-20.