Beer Basics, Quirks And The Birth Of A New Hobby

Many people from all walks of life enjoy a cold beer at the end of a workday. Beer is considered to be one of the best thirst quenchers and a great way to unwind after a stressful day at work. We'll begin this short article by reviewing the different types of beer, than I'll share some of what I call quirks from different countries regarding beer and finally close with a hobby that has begun as a result of beer.

Types of Beer
Lager beer get's bottom fermented. It is light bodied, and appears pale to yellow golden in color. It is refreshing, well carbonated and has a slight bitter taste, depending on the brewer.

Dry beer has no residual sugar and has a weak taste with more alcohol content than mainstream beer. It was first marketed in Japan and its popularity in the US is due to heavy marketing efforts.

Bock beer, introduced by the Germans used to be a specialty.

Ale, which is top fermented beer is a style invented by the English brewers.

Lager beers properly brewed need at least a month to age, so considering the consumption levels breweries are required to have a very large storage capacity.

Steam beer is an exclusively brewed blend to San Francisco, California. This uses a hybrid technique where both lager and ale brewing technology are used.

Bottled beer is pretty much all pasteurized. This may impair taste, but it prolongs the shelf life.

A Couple Brewing Quirks From Around The Globe

From Europe:
Most of the European breweries stick to the purity laws of Bavaria from 1516, which insist on using yeast, malted barley, hops and water. A later addition was wheat.

From North America:
To appeal to some market segments and to bring down the cost, the most well known North American beers have many additives.

From Belgium:
Belgians are popular for their fruit flavored (raspberry, cherry, strawberry, peach) ales. These are quite refreshing and appealing, both in aroma and texture.
Draught beers that are imported are micro filtered and not great in taste. Therefore, the low volume bars and restaurants would do better to stick to serving locally bottled beer. However, draught beer that is locally brewed is not pasteurized and its shelf life is limited.

From Switzerland and Norway:
In Switzerland and Norway, there are no regulations. They can use corn syrup, rice flour etc to give beer its different flavors and textures.

Beer Tappers and Beer Can Openers
When it comes to storing and serving beer, beer tappers are more useful than the beer pitcher, because the beer is kept cold and can be dispensed whenever required.

The Rise Of A New Hobby
In closing, beer can collecting as a hobby began shortly after the first beer cans, from the Krueger Brewing Company, appeared in stores in January 1935. This was a packaging revolution in the beer industry. Beer can collecting officially started as a hobby in St Louis in 1970 when Beer Can Collectors of America (BCCA), now the Beer Collectibles Club of America was formed. This has now triggered off the collection of another item, the beer can opener!

Users Reading this article are also interested in:
Top Searches on Beer Guide:
Lager Beer Beer Breweries
About The Author, Thomas Macintosh
The above information about beer bottle or can and beer tappers submitted to us by Thomas MacIntosh from: http://www.beer-can-collecting.info