Beer Information

Information About Beer

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:56:43 +0000

If you check out some things about beer in general, you’ll find that there is more to beer than just who makes it, how it tastes and how much it costs. Sure, if you’re just interested in popping open a cold brew and sitting yourself down in front of the TV, you probably only care about those 3 things and most likely just number two. But you’d be surprised how much you can learn about beer from magazines, books and the Internet. For example. You can learn about the different kinds of glasses you can get to put your beer in. No kidding. You’ve got your flute glass, goblet, mug or stein, pilsner glass, pint glass, snifter, stange, tulip, Weizen glass and even an oversized wine glass. Of course you’re probably used to seeing most beers being drunk either from the stein or pilsner glass in movies or commercials. Most guys just drink out of the bottle.

But we’re just getting started. Did you know you could even learn how to store your beer? If you want, you can cork your beer and age it for about 3 to 6 months. Supposedly, this really brings out a very rich flavor from your beer. There are even different kinds of corks you can get. Bet you didn’t know that.

From storing we go to pouring. Yes, you can learn how to pour your beer just right. Want a nice big thick head on it? No problem. Just pour it from a height of about 4 to 6 inches above the rim of the glass. However, if you want a perfect pour, then you have to hold your glass at a 45 degree angle and pour while making the middle of the glass your target. Yes, there is an art to pouring beer, one that all great bartenders have down to perfection.

Want to learn all the beer brewing lingo so you sound like a real cool dude? You can actually do that as well. Yes, you can learn all the hip words like hops, keg, lager, draft or draught, malting, extracting and on and on. If you needed to pass on test on all the beer terms, you’d have to study for a month of Sundays.

Speaking of hops. Did you know there is an actual hops guide? What, you thought there was just one kind of hops? There are a zillion types of hops (okay, not that many) and the names read like a chapter out of “What the heck is that?” Need a few? Well, there’s crystal hops, which is actually a half sister to Mt. Hood and Liberty Hops. Okay you got the idea. There are a lot of hops.

But hey, hops isn’t the only thing that goes into the making of beer. You’ve also got yeast and malt and a number of other things. There’s more ways to actually make beer than there are beers. Of course if you threw enough things together in a rotten enough manner you’d probably come up with a pretty rotten tasting beer. But it would still be beer.

Beer Taps

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:54:15 +0000

There are some important factors to remember when you have a draft system at your house. Two of these factors are heat and light. You could also think cool and dark. Light, specifically direct sunlight, is your beer’s most dediblitating factor. If you have a cellar in your house to store your beer in, sunlight might not be that big of an issue, but always remember, a lot basements have small windows that can allow some sunlight to come in. So what is the best temperature for your beer? Often times that depends on your beer, but usually shoot for no more than 68 degrees at the most, and pretty much try to keep the temperature at that steady rate at all times. If you let the beer get any warmer you risk shortening the lifespan of the freshness of your beer, or ending up with an undrinkable beer. Now, does this mean that cooler is is always better? Only up to a certain point really. If beer is too cold it will get a chilled haziness and if served too cold will have less aroma and less flavor. If it’s possible, store beer at the recommended serving temperature – higher alcohol beers, such as Kalik or Guiness, will do okay at just below room temperature, usually around 55-60 degrees. Standard ales and pilsners should be a little cooler, usually around 50-55 degrees, and lighter beers do best chilled at about 45-50 degrees. Should you use a refrigerator to store beer or let it age? There are arguments to be made either way for freshness and taste. Beer often like wine, ages best in a relatively moist atmosphere, and refrigerators are designed to keep food cold and dry, so it can be argued either way. Many pros think that a typical refrigerator can dry cork or the rubber seal on caps of bottles and cause differences in taste or even shelflife. This will let more air get in the bottle and possibly oxidize the beer, shortening its life. For long-term storage, it might be better to stay away from the refrigerator, especially if you are storing corked beers.

Drinking Game

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:52:35 +0000

Liar! Liar! is a drinking game played by as many players as there are cards.The dealer will deal the cards until they are all gone and so there is an even amount of cards to each player. The person to the left of the dealer places their first card or cards face down on the table; then the player declares what he put down. If the player DOES put down two cards together, he must add the value of the two cards as the number. Players cannot lay down more than two cards at a time. From here, the player to his/her left places their card/s on table face down and declares if they are one above or one below. For example, if a player puts down two cards and declares the value 13, then the next player would want to put down two cards and delare the value of their two cards to be either 14 or 15. At this point, the player could be lying or telling the truth– it is up to the other players to decide this. Any player can call “liar” at any point if they believe the player putting down the cards is lying about the value of their cards. If the player was lying– then the caller wins and the cheater has to pick up the pile of cards,and take a drink (size can be determined by players from a shotglass of beer to half a can). If the player was not lying and the number revealed was right, then the caller takes the pile and takes a drink. The game continues until you run out of beer or nobody can sit up straight anymore. Get about 4 or 5 friends and play a few rounds of this game; you’ll find that it’s a blast! The best part is players trying to keep a poker face after they’ve lost enough rounds to be really tipsy. See all your buddies that are good at poker and have their “poker face” down crack under the pressure of declaring their bogus amount on the cards they just put down. Great fun! Give it a try!