The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
What goes into creating a draft?
Despite their differences, all brews start with the same base By Tim Simko tsimko@morningjournal.com @TimmySimko on Twitter What is it that makes beer unique? Is it the flavor, or perhaps the aroma? Is it the slight spice or sweet flavor that accompanies
the same.
While these four ingredients lay the foundation of a typical brew, mixing the ingredients in different proportions can yield different results.
According to the Euclid Brewing Company’s Doug Fry, there are two major types of beer — lagers and ales — and there are different factors that make each brew different.
Lagers
A lager is known by the type of yeast it uses, according to “The Beer Bible”. The yeast in a lager works better at cooler temperatures and will tend to sink rather than rise.
The taste of a lager is distinguishable from the tastes of other varieties of beer, according to Fry.
“A lager yeast creates a cleaner flavor,” said Fry.
The chilling in the process of brewing a lager inhibits the production of esters and phenols, which taste like fruit and spice, according to “The Beer Bible”.
The average time for a lager to brew at the Euclid Brewing Company is eight weeks, according to Fry.
When drinking a lager, one experiences the flavor without any filter or film. Lagers are considered refined, clean, and polished beers, according to “The Beer Bible.”
Examples of lagers include Budweiser, Coors, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Yuengling Lager.
Ales
“The Beer Bible” describes ales as “equal parts malt, hop, and yeast character, never favoring one over the other.”
What this means is that there is a particular balance among the ingredients in this variety of beer.
“Ale yeast utilizes different flavor compounds,” said Fry.
The innovation of hops and modern kilning techniques in the brewing process of beer led to the birth of the modern-day bitter ale.
According to “The Beer Bible”, people knew about hops by the start of the common era, but they were not used in the process of brewing beer until the ninth century. Before hops were used, beer had more of a mild and sweet flavor, which was balanced by a combination of herbs and spices.
“The Beer Bible” also said that there are different classifications of bitter ales, such as the ordinary bitter, the strong bitter, and a cask-conditioned ale.
An ordinary bitter usually has 3.5 to 4 percent in final alcohol content.
According to Alworth, they typically have an offwhite head. Ordinary bitter ales are often made with sugar, leaving them thin of body but crisp.
Strong bitters have less than 6 percent alcohol content.
Like its ordinary counterpart, the stronger versions have deep, woodtoned colors, according to “The Beer Bible”. The sensations of hop and malt are more intense than an ordinary brew.
According to “The Beer Bible”, a cask-conditioned beer is in “its most naked state.”
Beer packaged by cask is pulled from fermenting tanks just before the yeast has finished its work.
The yeast then “eats up” the remaining sugars and naturally carbonates the cask. This has been the practice since casks were made of wood and could only tolerate low pressure.
According to Fry, brewing an ale typically takes around 2 ½ weeks.
“It’s typically much faster to do ales (than a lager),” Fry said.
Examples of ales include Black Sheep Ale and Flying Fish Extra Pale Ale.
Other varieties
While ales and lagers are the two biggest categories, according to Fry, there are other categories of beer as well.
There are many different categories and sub categories of beer in “The Beer Bible,” but wheat beers and porters and stouts have grown in popularity.
With the growing prevalence of alcohol use in the United States, beer culture only grows as the years pass.
According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 86.4 percent of people ages 18 or older said that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime, while 56 percent reported drinking in the past month.
With the different tastes and cultures throughout the United States in the world, breweries have been working on formulas and making tweaks to figure out their marketplace and create brews that the public will enjoy.
“Making beer is part chemistry, part microbiology and part engineering, and part art,” Fry said.
What do consumers enjoy?
After looking at different varieties of beer, there is still one question: What type of beer do the consumers enjoy?
According to Fry, the tastes of their patrons vary. He said that some enjoy lighter beers, while others seem to enjoy the darker beers.
“It is an interesting mix,” Fry said.
What a consumer likes may delve more into what types of flavors they specifically enjoy.
According to Fry, the hops in a beer counteract sweetness.
A beer that has more hops will be more bitter, while a beer with less hops will be more sweet.
“Hops offset the sweet flavor,” said Fry.
While sharing what consumers may enjoy, Fry said that he enjoys an American Pale Ale.
“It’s not high in alcohol, it’s hoppy, it’s full of flavor, and it’s hard to hide flaws,” he said.
Connor Reichert, who helps Fry brew beer at Euclid Brewing Company, also shared his favorite type of brew. Reichert said that he enjoys an IPA, mostly because of the “hop profile.”
“It’s got a nice citrus flavor balanced by hops,” Reichert said.
While discussing varieties of beers, Reichert said that crowds at bars and breweries enjoy “sippable drinks” when going out.
Fry said that in 2017, with the growing beer market — including craft beers — that now there are more varieties than ever.
“It’s a good time to be alive,” he said.