Portal:Beer/Selected article
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This page is an archive of articles displayed on the Beer Portal. For food and drink articles that have gained the featured article status see Wikipedia:Featured articles#Food and drink.
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Today, June 8, 2008, week number 23.
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| Victoria Bitter - a bitter lager |
Australian beer is mostly now lager. Although Australia was settled predominantly by the British, it was found that, before the availability of modern temperature control systems, the brewing, distribution and storage of British style ale was difficult in many parts of Australia due to high summer temperatures and often sudden day-to-day weather changes in Southern parts of the continent. The introduction of refrigeration lent itself to lager production, as well as enabling beer to be served cold.
The oldest brewery still in operation is the Cascade Brewery, established in Tasmania in 1824.
The majority of the large Australian breweries are now owned by the conglomerates Foster's Group and Lion Nathan. A notable exception is Coopers, which is the only large brewery that is still privately owned. Boutique brands of beer are fast becoming the flavour of the masses which is forcing the large brewhouses to change their ideas on what the drinkers want. Australia's numerous microbreweries are gaining decent market share.
Despite its heavy international presence, the so-called original Australian beer, Foster's Lager, has relatively low appeal throughout Australia.
Lager is a type of beer which was first brewed in Central Europe some 500 years ago, and has since become the most popular type of beer in the world. The word comes from German and means "storage". Traditionally, the beer is stored for several weeks or longer before being served. Lager is a general term that includes several variations or styles, such as Pilsener, Vienna and Märzen.
Lager is distinguished from ale by its yeast. Lager yeast ferments at colder temperatures and flocculates on the bottom of the fermenting vessel, while ale yeast ferments at warmer temperatures and settles on the tops of fermentation tanks.[citation needed] The organism most often associated with lager brewing is Saccharomyces pastorianus, a close relative of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
As the modern definition of lager relates only to the method of fermentation, lager beers' characteristics are quite varied.
The default lager encountered in worldwide production is light in color and usually represents the helles, pale lager or Pilsener styles. The flavor of these lighter lagers is usually mild and the producers often recommend that the beers be served refrigerated. However, the examples of lager beers produced worldwide vary greatly in flavor, color, and composition.
In color, while helles and pale lager represent the lightest lagers at as pale a color as 6 EBC, the darkest are Baltic porters which can be as dark as 400 EBC; darker German lagers are often referred to as Dunkel lagers.
The flavor of a lager can be quite simple, with the most mild being light lagers. The most complexly-flavored lagers are usually the darkest, although few lagers feature strong hop flavoring compared to an ale of similar alcohol by volume. In general, however, lagers display less fruitiness and spiciness than ales, simply because the lower fermentation temperatures associated with lager brewing cause the yeast to produce fewer of the esters and phenols associated with those flavors.
In strength, lagers represent some of the world's most alcoholic beers. The very strongest lagers often fall into the German-originated doppelbock style, with the strongest of these commercially produced, Samichlaus, reaching 14% ABV.
Japanese beer had its start during the Edo Period when the Dutch opened beer halls for the sailors who worked on the trade route between Japan and the Dutch Empire. Japanese-style commercial brewing has been exported to much of southeast Asia and factories are spread throughout the world.
Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in Japan, accounting for nearly two thirds of the 9 billion liters of alcohol consumed in 2006. It was introduced in the early Meiji period from Germany. Major makers are Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo while small local breweries supply distinct tasting beers. Lager beers are most common but beers made with lower grain contents called "Happoushu" (low malt beer, sparkling alcoholic drink) have captured a large part of the market as tax is lower on these products. Drinking beer while eating salted boiled beans, edamame, is known as a favorite summer pastime for adults.
Fermentation is the process of deriving energy from the oxidation of organic compounds, such as carbohydrates, using an endogenous electron acceptor, which is usually an organic compound. This is in contrast to cellular respiration, where electrons are donated to an exogenous electron acceptor, such as oxygen, via an electron transport chain. Fermentation does not necessarily have to be carried out in an anaerobic environment, however. For example, even in the presence of abundant oxygen, yeast cells greatly prefer fermentation to oxidative phosphorylation, as long as sugars are readily available for consumption.
Sugars are the common substrate of fermentation, and typical examples of fermentation products are ethanol, lactic acid, and hydrogen. However, more exotic compounds can be produced by fermentation, such as butyric acid and acetone. Yeast carries out fermentation in the production of ethanol in beers, wines and other alcoholic drinks, along with the production of large quantities of carbon dioxide. Fermentation occurs in mammalian muscle during periods of intense exercise where oxygen supply becomes limited.
Fermentation, as a step in the brewing process, starts as soon as yeast is added to the cooled wort. This is also the point at which the product is first called beer. It is during this stage that sugars won from the malt are metabolized into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Fermentation tanks come in all sorts of forms, from enormous tanks which can look like storage silos, to five gallon glass carboys in a homebrewer's closet.
A wheat beer glass is a glass that is used to serve wheat beer, known also as Weizenbier or Weißbier. The German glass generally holds 0.5 litres with room for foam or "head". It is much taller than a pint glass, and is considerably wider at the top than at the base, with a slight hourglass taper toward the bottom. This design purportedly allows greater production of foam, as well as increased exposure to air when the glass is tilted back. In other countries such as Belgium, the glass may be 0.25 litres or 0.33 litres.
Because of its unique shape, extra care must be taken when pouring a beer into a wheat beer glass to produce the desired head volume. The traditional method of pouring Weißbier is to first rinse the glass with cold water, then, without drying the glass, hold the bottle and glass almost horizontally while slowly pouring the beer. When the level of the beer touches the lip of the bottle, slowly bring the glass upright. When there is less than one inch (or a few centimeters) of beer left in the bottle, swirl the bottle vigorously to pick up the sediment and create foam, which is poured on top.[1] If done correctly, the foam should just crest the lip of the glass without pouring over.
Draught beer (also known as draft beer or tap beer) has several related though slightly different understandings. The majority of references to draught beer are of filtered beer that has been served from a pressurised container, such as a keg or a widget can[citation needed]. A narrower meaning is beer that is served from a keg (or tap), but not from a can, bottle or cask, is also used. A more traditional definition is beer that is served from a large container, which could be either a keg or a cask. The different understandings may at times overlap and cause confusion. Some traditionalists object to the more modern use of the word when applied to canned beer. The slight usage differences of the term is due to the history and development of beer dispensing.
- July 2008
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