Craft Beer Cultural Keywords

1. BA

Short for the Brewers Association, they have three strict definitions of craft breweries in the U.S. and have been using them for years:

(1) The maximum annual output is no more than 6 million barrels

(2) The brewery is not or less than 25% controlled by a non-craft brewery

(3) At least one of the main products, or more than 50% of the sales volume, does not use auxiliary materials to make wine, or uses auxiliary materials to increase the flavor rather than reduce the flavor.

2. BJCP

Beer Judge Certificate Program (Beer Judge Certificate Program) for short, founded in the United States in 1985, has a history of 30 years and has more than 5,200 members with qualifications as sommeliers. According to the standard of BJCP, beer is divided into 28 categories. . Their purpose:

(1) Promotion and dissemination of various knowledge and culture related to beer, cider and mead (beer is the most important, but also includes the other two)

(2) Improve the public's awareness, tasting and evaluation of these wines, and make it easier for everyone to communicate in professional terms

(3) Create a standardized evaluation program for the beer industry, teach beer lovers how to correctly evaluate and drink beer, facilitate the ranking and evaluation of these wines, provide a large number of professional evaluation talents for the industry, and provide correct feedback for brewers .

3. Hoppy hops

Hops are a plant. The early role is for preservation, and the role of seasoning is not obvious. The function developed now is to balance the sweetness of malt and moderately inhibit yeast. Hops bring floral, citrus, herbal and many other flavors to the beer. And has antibacterial effect and helps maintain the activity of yeast. With U.S. craft beer makers reaching an all-time high in recent years, hop production has not kept pace with brewers' ramping up.

4. Dry Hopped

The "dry" of dry casting does not refer to adding dried hops to the beer, but refers to the brewing technology of batching hops again or again during beer fermentation. Dry casting can maximize the aroma of hops, and because the hops are not boiled at this stage, the bitterness in them cannot be completely released, and the final bitterness of the beer will not be affected. A hoppy American light beer or American IPA uses this technique. Here are ten tips to make better use of hops in craft beer:

(1) The use of hop granules can release the flavor faster and more thoroughly

(2) The use of a variety of hops can greatly increase the sense of hierarchy

(3) The flavor of adding hops at different stages will also be different

(4) The higher the temperature when adding hops, the more aroma will be incorporated into the wine (12.8°-18.8°)

(5) Optimize the contact time of hops to fully release the aroma

(6) Add hops at the completion of the primary fermentation or at the final stage

(7) Reduce oxygen intake in the later stage of fermentation

(8) Extract more flavor by adding hops/vortex bath later

(9) The law of diminishing returns for hop release (4g/L-12g/L)

(10) Determine the average hop input rate and input method according to the analysis table of hop dry input

5. IPA

IPA is the abbreviation of "India Pale Ale", which literally translates to "Indian Monochrome Ale", which is an Ale beer with a strong hop flavor. IPA is produced in England, originally to serve as a beer in the British colonies in India. Increased alcohol content and increased hops increase the beer's resistance to spoilage during long-distance shipping. Later, because of the end of colonial rule and the rapid development of industrial beer, it was almost forgotten by the world. It was not until the mid-to-late last century that the United States launched a "craft brewing movement" that resisted the big factory model and positioned its own brewing style on IPA, which made it shine.

In recent years, due to the influence of the popularity of IPA in the world, India has changed from the name of a country to a synonym for the strong aroma of hops in the world of craft beer, which has derived some new styles, such as India Pale Lager, India Saison and more. In addition, the United States also designated the first Thursday in August as the IPA Beer Festival (National IPA Day).

6. Imperial Stout

Imperial stout first originated in England. Because the Tsarist royal family liked Stout very much (the top-fermented dark brown beer, the raw material is roasted barley malt, with a strong burnt flavor, but soft foam and glycol after drinking), so the British wineries exported to it. However, due to the long distance, the regular version of Stout is easy to spoil, so the winemakers increased the amount of malt and launched a high-alcohol version of Stout. Because it was exported to the Russian royal family, this heavy-flavored version of Stout was named Imperial Russian Stout, or Imperial Stout for short.

Imperial Stout is characterized by the "three highs" - high alcohol, high bitterness, and high color. The general Imperial stout alcohol content is at least 8% abv, and the mainstream is generally around 12% abv. The bitterness is generally above 50, and the mainstream is generally around 70. Due to the use of a large amount of highly roasted malt and roasted barley, the color is dark and the aroma and taste are dominated by the caramel aroma of dark malt and roasted barley. This kind of wine may be the heaviest taste of all beer categories now, and it is also the most varied and derived style in the craft beer world.

7. Barrel-Aged barrel aging

At a time when the craft beer trend is sweeping the world and various innovations continue, the trend of barrel-aged beer is spreading rapidly across the world. Very distinctive barrel-aged beer, forming a very tempting beer flavor. Barrel-Aged barrel aging is when the beer is brewed and then re-aged in barrels where other alcohols have been brewed to add flavor. This beer is made from red wine barrels with strong flavors of spirits. The aged beer will be thicker and heavier, and it will also absorb the taste of the original wine in the barrel, giving the beer a deeper layering. The Imperial Stout that has passed the cask is almost popular in the United States, and almost all the famous Imperial Stout in the United States have a cask version.

8. Sour beer

Sour beer is an increasingly popular flavor in the craft beer community in recent years. The sour taste of this beer is mainly formed by the following two ways: The first and most important way is through the fermentation of other bacteria except yeast. Generally speaking, the bacteria involved in the fermentation of sour beer mainly include Chlorella and lactic acid bacteria, Acetic acid (acetic acid) and lactic acid are formed by fermenting maltose and other sugars in the wort; the second is by adding some sour fruit to the wine, most commonly tart cherries.

There is also a more exotic sour beer, the Belgian Lambic Lambic beer, which is cooled directly after the wort is boiled, allowing the natural yeast to ferment, and then aged in wooden barrels for three years or more, before adding the older Hops also have a bactericidal effect. According to research, there are more than 100 types of bacteria in it. In short, the technology of deliberately produced sour beer is more complicated, so in the most expensive beer, there must be sour beer.

9. Seasonal beers

This type of beer is usually added with seasonal ingredients during brewing, such as pumpkin in autumn and watermelon in summer, and this type of beer is also the most suitable for fresh drinking in the season, so as to best reflect the unique flavor of seasonal ingredients.

10. Spiced flavored beer

In order to make the taste of beer richer and more diverse, other raw materials are sometimes added in addition to water, malt, hops, and yeast to enhance the taste of beer. Common ones include fruit, coffee, and milk, and less common ones include pepper and oysters. , Beef kidney, etc. Spice Beer, Herb Beer vanilla, Vegetable Beer, Christmas Beer, Winter Specialty Spiced Beer, these are.

11. Vintage Year

For most beers, aging is not required. The lighter the beer, the more it should be drunk while it is fresh; the more complex and grand style beer, such as Imperial Stout Emperor Stout, high alcohol barley wine barley beer, etc., the more time it takes to age and develop better. flavor.

When the alcohol content of beer is close to 10% or more than 10%, it means that it will have a long shelf life. Some breweries also label these beers with a year, and this beer can be bought several at a time and tasted year after year, because their taste changes wonderfully over time.