Beer, Sake, and Spirits Flashcards
What is the oldest fermented beverage in history? What is the second-oldest?
Mead
Beer is the second-oldest
At the heart of beer fermentation what conversion must take place in a grain before fermentation?
conversion of starching fermentable sugars
What is the name of the sugar-rich liquid that is fermented into beer?
wort
What are the four basic ingredients that are utilized in the production of beer?
water
yeast
a starch source
hops
What do the hops provide to a beer?
adds flavor and bitterness, and has both preservative and antiseptic qualities that prohibit bacterial growth.
When was the Bavarian Purity Law passed into legislation? What is its German name? What did it codify?
1516 Reinheitsgebot
codified the three ingredients for beer production as barley, hops, and water
What is the cereal grain of choice for most beer production? What other grains are used?
barley is the most used for beer production
wheat is also used
What is “green malt” and how is it created?What enzyme is created during the process of creation and what does it do?What are the two sugars created?
green malt is the product of barley that has germinated creating the enzyme amylase which converts the starches of the grain into fermentable sugars maltose and dextrin.
How is the green malt processed prior to the mashing process?
The green malt is roasted with hot air in a kiln to halt further growth.
What does the mashing process consist of? What is sparging? What’s the product of this process?
The mashing process involves combining the grist with hot water for the purpose of converting and extracting fermentable sugars from the malt.
Sparging is an additional rinse of the rinsed grist for additional sugar extraction.
The product of this entire process is the derivation of the wort, the sugar-rich liquid that will serve as the source of fermentable sugars for alcoholic fermentation.
How does roasting the green malt affect the style of the beer? Two type of malts?
The heavier the roast and degree of roasting will create black malts that are used for porter-style beers
Lighter roasting creates pale malt and it will be used for the production of pale ales
What is the grist?
The product of grinding or cracking the roasted malt
Following derivation of the wort, the wort is boiled. Why?
To stabilize and sterilize the brew, darken the color, and cause excess water to evaporate.
How do the hops influence the flavor and aromatics of the wort? When are they added? What happens to this affect on taste and aromas of the hops during the boiling process? How is this adjusted?
Hops contribute bitterness to the flavor and add aromatics
They are added when the wort is boiled
The longer they’re present in the boiling wort the more bitterness they contribute and the more the contributed aromatics fade
Aromas are retained by passing the boiling wort through a hopback chamber prior to chilling, contributing fresh aromas.
What happens to the wort after it has been boiled properly? Describe how this process differs for ale and lager production and list which strain of yeast is use for each.
The wort is strained leaving spent hops behind and then chilled to an appropriate temperature for fermentation.
Wort destined to become lager is cooled to a lower temperature than wort for ale production and bottom-fermenting Saccharomyces pastorianus (formerly Saccharomyces carlsbergensis) is added
Wort destined to become ale is cooled to a higher temperature than that for Lager and the top-fermenting Saccaromyces cerevisiae is added.
How does an ale differ form lager in taste?
Ale is more richly flavored and fruity
Lagers are more delicate and cleaner in flavor.
Yeast for ale fermentation is ____-fermenting. yeast for a lager is ____-fermenting? (top/bottom)
Ale is top-fermenting
Lager is bottom-fermenting
What happens to the beer following fermentation?
Following the fermentation, the beer is transferred to conditioning tanks or casks and often pasteurized prior to bottling unless it’s a cask ale sold as a draught in which it will be unpasteurized.
What does “bottle-conditioned” indicate?
Beers are unfiltered and undergo partial fermentation in the bottle.
What is a lambic? How is it fermented? Describe it stylistically.
A unique specialty of Belgium that is the product of a spontaneous fermentation in open-top containers with native (NOT AMBIENT) yeasts, such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus.
What are the two most common strains of yeast used for a lambic fermentation?
Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Brettanomyces lambicus
What is Geuze and how is it produced? How does the fermentation initiate
A style of beer produced by mixing one-year-old lambics with beers that have aged for two to three years old.The blend is then refermented with aged hops in the bottle, giving the beer its sparkle
Because the young one-year old beers have not fully fermented there is still some sugar to be fermented.
How are fruit lambics produced? What are two common styles and what is the name of the style for each?
Lambics that have been refermented using the addition of fruits as sugar source.
Kriek (sour morello cherries)
Framboise (raspberries)
What are two major producers of fruit lambics?
Lindemans
Cantillon
What style of beers benefit from aging?
Higher alcohol beers such as the Trappist Ales of Belgium and Holland and the Strong Ales of England
What are the proper service temperatures for the following: Lagers? Lighter ales and draught bitters? Trappest ales, lambics, stouts, brown ales, and other powerful strong beers?
Lagers: 48-52F
Lighter Ales and Draught Bitters: between 54-57F
Trappist Ales, lambics, stouts, brown ales, and other powerful, strong beers: should be served at a cool room temperature (50-55F)
Stouts, porters, and Abbey Beers are all types of what style?
Ale
Pilsners, Bocks, Mäzen/Fest Beers, Schwartz, Vienna Style, and Dortmund’s are all what style of beer?
Lager
What is the benefit of using aged hopes?
Provides antibacterial qualities, not bitterness
What is a Mars beer?
Mild lambic produced by reusing the malt form previous lambic fermentation.
What is a Faro beer?
A mixture of lambic and a lighter brewed beer with Belgian candy sugar added for sweetness. Commonly spiced with pepper, orange peel, and coriander
Grist for German wheat beers must be made of at least what % of wheat?
50%
What are four styles of wheat beer?
Hefe Weizen
Dunkel/ Dark Weizen
Kristall Weizen
White Beer
What two additional ingredient are often utilized in the production of White Beer?
Orange peel and/or coriander
Regarding Trappist Ales list the common strength designations from lightest to strongest (5).
Patersbier Enkel Dubbel Trippel Quadrupel
Name four Trappist Breweries.
Orval
Chimay
Westmalle
Rochefort
Where is Biere de Garde produced?
Belgium and Northern France
Is California Common a lager or an ale? How does it differ from others in its category?
Lager
It’s fermented at a warmer than average temperature for lagers.
Where is Kölsch traditionally produced? Is it a lager or ale? What is peculiar about its fermentation temperature?
Ale traditionally produced in Cologne (Germany)
It’s fermented at cooler than average temperatures for most ales.
What is Kvass?
Rye-based Russian beer usually fermented with fruit juices.
What is Rauchbier and where is traditionally produced?
Smoked beer famously produced in Bamberg within Franken, Germany
What does MPF stand for and how is it unique from beer and wine fermentation?
Multiple Parallel Fermentation
It is unique from beer and wine fermentation because the conversion of starch to sugar and sugar to alcohol occur simultaneously in the same vessel.
What is the name of the mold used in MPF for sake production and what is its Latin Name?
koji-kin
Aspergillus oryzae
What is the shinpaku refer to in Sake fermentation?
The pure starchy heart of the rice grain
What type of rice is generally considered the most superior?
Yamada Nishiki
What is the Seimaibuai?
The degree to which the rice has been milled.
What is the maximum % of rice remaining for Junmai? Honjozo? Gino? Daiginjo?
Junmai (max remaining was 70% prior to 2004, now a higher percentage may remain)
Honjozo (max 70 % remaining)
Ginjo (max 60% remaining)
Daiginjo (max 50% remaining)
What is the difference between Junmai and Honjozo?
For Honjozo, as opposed to Junmai, a slight amount of brewer’s alcohol (pure distillate) is added to the sake before pressing following fermentation.
If either Ginjo or Daiginjo is produced without the addition of brewer’s alcohol how will each style be listed for each respectively?
Junmai-Ginjo
Junmai-Daigingo
List the following steps of sake fermentation in order form first to last: Rinsing of the freshly milled rice Creating the Moto Rice is milled Rice is rinsed and soaked Fermentation Pasteurization and Filtration Creating the Koji Creating the Moromi Addition of water for alcohol level adjustment Sake is pressed
Rice is milled Rinsing of freshly milled Rice Creating the Koji Creating the Moto Creating the Moromi Rice is rinsed and soaked Fermentation Addition of water for alcohol level adjustment Sake is Pressed Pasteurization and Filtration
What is the name of the scale that measures sake’s specific gravity, or density in contrast to that of water? Describe what values corresponding to this designate. (positive, negative, neutral)
Nihonshudo
Designation of values:
Negative values indicate sweetness
Positive values indicate dryness
Zero indicates neutural
The following are service vessels for sake: Tokkuri, Ochoko, Sakazuki. What are they and how are they used?
Tokkuri: A ceramic, narrow-neck flask that sake is poured into from the bottle that is used as a decanter
Ochoko: small cylindrical vessels that sake is served in
Sakazuki: a more ceremonial vessel than Ochoko
What is the term used to indicate that a sake is unpasteurized?
Namazake
What is the term used to indicate that a sake is unfiltered?
Nigori
What is the term used to indicate that a sake is aged in wooden barrels?
Taruzake
What is the term used to indicate that a sake is from a smaller kura (brewery)?
Jizake
What is the term used to indicate that a sake is undiluted?
Genshu
What is the simple premise upon which the principle of distillation relies on?
Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water
What is the boiling point of ethyl alcohol at sea level?
173F (78C)
What is fractional distillation defined as?
the separation of two liquids with different boiling points
What are the three most common vessels for distillation?
Alembic still
Pot Still
Continuous Still/Coffey/column/patent still
Describe how a pot still functions.
Fermented liquor (the “wash”) is placed into a closed vessel and heat is applied directly to the vessel. This vaporizes the ethyl alcohol, a certain amount of water, and congeners-volatile molecules such as esters, other alcohols, and aldehydes, which contribute to the flavor (or off-flavor) of a spirit. The Vapors are then cooled, condensed into liquid and collected in a separate vessel. In this simple form the spirit will be impure. The distiller must discard the foreshows-the first vapors to condense- as these contain a toxic alcohol. The tails are also discarded, as unwanted congeners tend to collect in the distillate residue. The middle vapors are collected as the desired spirit.
Describe how a Continuous still functions. How does it differ from a pot still? (anatomy, source of heat, purity/strength of spirit)
A continuous still has two columns- an Analyzer and a Rectifier. Steam is used rather than direct heat to vaporize the alcohol. The wash travels through steam heated layers in the Analyzer and the alcohol vapors leave the Analyzer and enter the Rectifier where they condense and are collected. Excess condensation continues back into the Anaylzer again and the process repeats until the desired strength of the spirit and purity is achieved.
Do spirits improve with age? Which do? Which don’t?
Some do. Brown spirits, such as brandy and Scotch whisky, gain color and character from oak aging
Bottled spirits, unlike wine, do not continue to develop.
What are the three most common methods aside form oak aging that are used to flavor spirits? Describe how they work.
Infusion: Warmer quicker process with alcohol and flavoring agents
Maceration: Slower, colder steeping with flavoring agents
Percolation: base spirit is pumped through the flavoring method. Resembles coffee brewing.
Alcoholic strength of a spirit on EU and US bottles is listed as ABV at what temperature?
20C (68F)
If a bottle is listed as 101 proof in the US, what is its abv?
50.50%
What is the typical abv range for liqueurs? Vodka & Gin? Whiskey, brandy, and rum?
Liqueurs (15-30%)
Vodka & Gin (40-50%)
Whiskey, brandy, rum (more than 60%)
If a spirit is “cask-strength” what does this indicate?
It has not been diluted with water prior to bottling.
What type of still is usually used for the distillation of wash destined to become vodka? How is it usually filtered?
Continuous still
Usually filtered with charcoal
How does the number of distillations affect a spirit’s abv? Purity?
The more distillations a spirit goes through the stronger and purer the final spirit will be.
What is Acquavit? (regional origin, base, flavoring ingredients)
Scandinavian clear spirit made from fermented potato or grain and flavored with caraway root and other aromatics.
What is the difference between Soju and Schochu? What is the wash traditionally used to make them? Awamori is an Okinawa style of Shochu that is always distilled from what?
Soju is Korean and Shochu is Japanese
Sake is the traditional wash, but the spirit is now made from all manner of grain and potato
Awamori is always distilled from rice.
Why do vodkas form Eastern Europe and Russia typically have more character than vodkas from Western Europe and America?
Because in the EU and the US there’s a mandate on every spirit labeled as vodka to be neutral in flavor.
An EU producer must state the base for its vodka unless it is produced from what two bases?
Potatoes or Grain
Belvedere and Chopin are vodka producers from what country?
Poland
Ketel One and Smirnoff are Vodka producers form what country?
Holland
Though Smirnoff is originally from Russia
Where is TIto’s produced and from what base ingredient?
Texas
Corn
Gin was developed in the 1500s first in what country? What was it originally called?
Holland
Originally called Genever (Jenever)
What is the most common flavoring component of Gin?
Juniper berries
What are four styles of Gin produced?
London Dry
Genever
Plymouth Gin
Old Tom Gin
What is the difference between oude and jonge Genever? What is the name of the cask-aged Genever wine made from at least 51% malt wine?
Oude or “old” is the old style that incorporated minimum 15% “malt wine”, a distillate of corn, rye, and wheat
Jonge is a cleaner more neutral Genever with less malt wine.
Corenwyn is the cask-aged Genever mad from at least 51% malt wine.
What is the proper Gin for a Pink Gin cocktail? What other classic cocktail uses this style as its base and considered to be the precursor to the Martini?
Plymouth is the proper style for a Pink Gin
Martinez
What style of gin is notable for having a citrus and spice element in addition to juniper berries? Name 3 producers of this style.
London Dry
Producers:
Beefeater
Boodles
Bombay Saphire
What is the preferred spelling of whiskey in Scotland? Ireland?
Whisky in Scottland
Whiskey in Ireland
Who is credited with the first distilled whiskey produced in Kentucky?
Elija Craig in 1789
Whiskey is the distilled product of what? What types of these are the most common?
Distilled product of fermented grains, including unmalted and malted barley, maize, rye, oats, and wheat
Bourbon must be distilled form what minimum % of corn?
51%
If a bourbon is labeled “straight” what does this indicate?
Indicates that the bourbon is aged for at least two years and made without any added coloring or flavoring.
What stipulations exist for the production of Tennessee whiskey in regards to grain used, filtration, and geography?
Made from at least 51% corn and aged in new oak barrels
Must be filtered with charcoal prior to aging and manufactured in the state of Tennessee.