Draft Beer Flashcards
Beer Overview
The primary stage of brewing beer is to turn your starch into a fermentable sugary liquid, called wort. It is made by mixing the barley with hot water and cooked for 1-2hours. The fermentable fluid is then drained from the mash. This is known as the sweet wort. Hops can now be added at this stage, or later in the brewing process. The wort is then introduced to yeast. Yeast feeds on the sugars producing ethanol and CO2 as a by product. Ethanol is the alcohol content of finished beer.
Now that we have the (very basic) basics out of the way let’s talk about style. There are three main categories of beer based upon the style of yeast that is used.
Top-Fermenting Yeast
This is commonly referred to as ale yeast. The fermentation occurs between 10c and 25c. During the fermentation these yeast strains rise to the surface. A few styles include ales, porters, stouts, and wheat beers.
Bottom-Fermenting Yeast
These are typically called lager yeast. They ferment at lower temperatures, 7c to 15c. During the fermentation process these strains tend to settle to the bottom of the fermentation tank. Lager styles include pilsners, american adjuncts, bocks, and American malt liquors.
Spontaneous Fermentation
This is when beer is exposed to open air and natural, or wild, yeast strains are allowed to ‘infect’ the beer. This is a less common type of fermentation, but is typical in sour ales and lambics.
➔ Kirin Ichiban
◆ Style: American pale lager ◆ Origin: Japan(brewed in U.S.) ◆ ABV: 5.0% ◆ Special Info: ◆ Tasting Notes: easy drinking pale lager, touch of malty sweetness
➔ Sapporo
◆ Style: Japanese rice lager ◆ Origin: Japan ◆ ABV: 5.0% ◆ Special Info: ◆ Tasting Notes: light malt and grain, floral/lemon hops, bread
➔ Firestone Walker PIVO Pils
◆ Style: German Pilsner
◆ Origin: Paso Robles, CA
◆ ABV: 5.3%
◆ Special Info: founded by two brother-in-laws in 1996, one of the most awarded mid sized breweries
◆ Tasting Notes: bread, pilsner malt, light spice, moderate hop bitterness, grassy, herbal
➔ Geary’s Pale Ale
◆ Style: English pale ale
◆ Origin: Portland, ME
◆ ABV: 4.5%
◆ Special Info: Geary’s began brewing in 1986, founded by David and Karen Geary. They were the first microbrewery in New England and among the first 15 nationwide.
◆ Tasting Notes: malt, caramel, hop leaf, herb, spice
➔ Ballast Point Sculpin
◆ Style: American IPA ◆ Origin: San Diego, CA ◆ ABV: 7.0% ◆ Special Info: ◆ Tasting Notes: grass, citrus, malt, piney hops
➔ Sixpoint Resin
◆ Style: American Double IPA ◆ Origin: Brooklyn, NY ◆ ABV: 9.1% ◆ Special Info: hop bomb ◆ Tasting Notes: dank hops, resin, pine, mint, toasted grain, touch hot
➔ Mystic Table Beer
◆ Style: saison/farmhouse ale ◆ Origin: Chelsea, MA ◆ ABV: 4.3% ◆ Special Info: ◆ Tasting Notes: citrus and grassy hops, earthy yeastiness, spice
➔ White Birch Berliner Weisse
◆ Style: Berliner Weissbier ◆ Origin: Hooksett, NH ◆ ABV: 5.5% ◆ Special Info: sour wheat ale ◆ Tasting Notes: bright, light, sour, lemony citrus
