Why does everyone like to drink craft beer?

Drinking is not just for getting drunk, nor is it a habit accumulated over the years, but because it is good! drink! In summer, my favorite thing is to hold a glass of cold beer, eat meat, drink wine, chat and reminisce about the past. The beer I am talking about here is definitely not Budweiser, Snowflake, Tsingtao... but craft beer (Craft Beer), a good beer that absolutely meets the requirements in terms of alcohol content and taste.

The so-called craft brewing simply means high-quality and high-concentration beer brewed with more and better raw materials. The key is that each craft brewery can add different auxiliary ingredients such as chocolate, coffee, fruit, and even Wood is used for flavoring, so craft beer has a variety of flavors and a strong sense of creation.

Believe me, after drinking craft beer, you will only have MMP in mind for Volkswagen beer.

◆ What is craft beer

Craft beer is another type of high-quality beer compared to mass-produced industrial beer. So what is industrial beer? It’s the big-name beers like Budweiser, Heineken, Snowflake, Yanjing, Qingdao, and Corona that everyone usually drinks in bottles. Industrial beer is like a fast-moving consumer product among beers, with a bland taste, low alcohol content, and highly uniform packaging, while craft beer is more like an independent designer brand, with full fragrance, unique taste, and low output.

According to the requirements of the American Brewers Association, craft brewing must meet three requirements: 1. Small, with an annual output of less than 6 million barrels; 2. Independence, with non-craft brewing company equity not exceeding 25, 3. Traditional , 50% of the output does not add auxiliary materials to make wine, even if auxiliary materials are added, they are used to increase the flavor. In other words, craft beer is an independent brand among beers.

Of course, even if the beer produced by any small factory is craft beer, its taste cannot be ambiguous, otherwise it would be a mess if inferior craft beer also calls itself craft beer.

At present, cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Nanjing have local specialty craft beer brands, and often have their own bars for nested sales, such as Jing A, Dayue, and Peking Machine in Beijing, and Boxing Cat in Shanghai. , Tap House, Master Gao in Nanjing, No. 18 Tavern in Wuhan, etc. So some people may ask, why do many craft beers say they are IPA or stout? Shouldn't this be a brand?

Wrong! The IPA and Stout we often see are actually subdivided beer types due to different brewing methods, similar to the difference between bourbon and Scotch whiskey.

◆ Several common types of craft beer

The most common types of craft beer are IPA, Stout, white beer, monastery and lager. Each tastes different. Remember these are different types of wine, not brands. Different breweries will indicate the specific type of beer on the front label.

▲The famous Dogfish 90 wine label has IPA marked in the middle

·?IPA (English Pale Ale)

The full name is India Pale Ale , mostly amber in color, with a fresh aroma but a bitter taste, it is a popular beer nowadays. Americans especially like it. Almost every major craft brewery brand has its own flagship IPA. The IPA of Greene Kine, a long-established British brewery, is also very good and worth a try.

In addition, I also recommend the Punk IPA from the well-known American winery BrewDog, or you can try the American winery Goose Island IPA, which has a strong fruit aroma. This one has also been used in the past Recommended by Obama.

▲Left: Blue Brew Dog Right: Goose Island IPA

·Stout

A high-concentration beer that is dark brown or even black in color . The raw material is roasted malt. The wine is thick and thick with dense foam. It is slightly bitter in the mouth and then sweet afterward. The famous dark beer Guinness is a stout.

You can try the milk stout from Lefthand Distillery, which has a caramel flavor and a strong milk aftertaste.

In addition, Boulder Distillery’s Coffee Milk Stout and Founder’s Breakfast Stout have a creamy coffee flavor. People who like Baileys and coffee will probably like them.

▲Left-Hand Milk Stout

▲Founder's Breakfast Stout

▲Stone Coffee Milk Stout

In fact, I secretly like Shita very much Tao, when I attended the Beijing Craft Beer Festival over the weekend, I saw that the stouts from many foreign breweries were flavored with cream, chocolate and coffee. They had a mellow taste and could be enjoyed in minutes. However, many brands of beer are not easy to buy in China. So as soon as there is such an event, everyone should go quickly.

·Trappist

It is relatively niche but is becoming increasingly popular. Its bitterness and hop aroma are not as obvious as most IPAs. It is brown in color and has a strong taste. Higher alcohol content. Authentic monastery beer must be made in the monastery and is one of the representatives of Belgian beer. To get started, you can try Roosevelt and Chimei blue lids, which are sold in convenience stores.

·White beer

The lightest beer with a refreshing taste. Most people first come into contact with the "craft beer" 1664 (actually not counted), Fujia White and White Bear. All are white beers. However, the taste of Fujia white has declined seriously in recent years. If you must drink it, I recommend trying the Belgian brand Blue Moon. It has a fresh and smooth taste with an obvious citrus flavor. Adding a slice of orange when drinking will enhance the taste.

Finally, let’s talk about lager. Lager has a lighter taste, and the typical one is Brooklyn beer. Since the taste is not very different from popular beer, it is not considered a highly impactful craft beer.

To summarize, if you like a light taste, choose white beer or IPA, and if you like a richer taste, choose stout and monastery. Most of the popular craft beer brands can be purchased online, but if you are in a big city, it is better to go to a bar and try local craft beer.