Beer

Beer

Beer can be considered as a refreshing beverage or as a balm at the end of a rough day. These are certainly valuable characteristics, but beer offers much more than that. When it comes to consumers who love beer, we recognize several types. Some of them regularly drink the same brand, but they miss a lot. There is a different beer type for every mood and every moment. In the following lines, we want to introduce you the beer history, so you would enjoy this unique drink with greater love and respect.

 

Beer and wine are as old as human civilization itself. However, beer is considered to be older from these two fermented beverages. It is assumed that beer came even before invention of bread. His oldest written as well as pictorial documents prove that it had been drunk more than 6 000 years ago. It was allegedly mushy and drinkable by a straw. An accurate description of brewing process has been preserved from 2000 B.C. in pharaoh´s breweries.

 

The first mention of breweries in our countries is dated back to 1080, founded in the charter of the Visegrad Chapter. There is written about 10° beer, hop and three brewers, who had the right to brew beers for surrounded villages. Much later, the beer was brewed for personal use in households, then in special rooms, which were the predecessors of current breweries. Gradually, brewing beers has become the prerogative of the state, the nobility, the church and the municipalities.

 

In the 15th century, the Czech brewers joined together and created a guild. They paid attention to the proper order while brewing beers because the old breweries were equipped solely for manual work. Dark room full of pungent smoke coming from a direct hearth was called a "digester house" and the beer was brewed inside. The main ingredients were barley, wheat and water.

 

From today´s point of view, the oldest way of beer production is the most recognizable with spontaneously fermented beers, so-called lambics, which are popular for their unique taste among beer enthusiasts. Those, who drink beers occasionally, could get the impression that the beer is spoiled as it is characterized by its strong acidity. In the second half of the first millennium the beer was enriched by various herbs in order to balance its taste, until hops became domesticated for beer production.

 

Currently, the beer is classified into several dozen beer styles of which the most famous is India Pale Ale, American Pale Ale, Belgian Ale, Stout, Porter, Lager, Lambic, Weizen, Witbier and Barley Wine. They are often matured in oak barrels and thus suitable for archiving.

 

Beer colour mainly depends on the usage of barley malts from which the beer is brewed. However, the beer colour can be also influenced by other ingredients such as herbs or fruits therefore the colour range can be really diverse. It is determined by two methods. SRM – Standard Reference Method is not that common in Slovakia, but it is rather used by brewers from USA. For European brewers, it is more natural to use EBC – European Brewery Convention.

 

For the palest beers we can consider style as Pale Lager, Pilsner, Witbier and Berliner Weisse, which reach 4 units on the colour scale according method EBC. Beers such as Maibock, Blonde Ale, American Pale Ale and India Pale Ale reach colour up to 12 units, where we can recognize shades of gold.

 

Using Munich malt and Vienna malt the colour gets darker tones, from orange to amber, up to 33 units on the EBC scale. Here we can include beer styles such as Saison, English Bitter, ESB, Double IPA, Biere de Garde, Vienna Lager, Amber Ale or Märzen.

 

If brewers go for dark, chocolate, roasted malts we talk about dark beers. The most beer styles are Dark Lager, Dunkelweizen, Brown Ale, Bock reach 39 units according method EBC. Among beers of dark brown and black colour we recognize styles as Doppelbock, Porter and Stout, which colour reach 70 units on the scale. The king of dark beers is Imperial Stout, which reaches 80 and more units.

 

No beer should disappear completely when you swallow. When placing the glass on table, the joy of beer should persist. There should be some kind of slow fading away. Such a positive experience with the beer mainly depends on hop quality. Hop adds to beer its aroma and taste as well as bitterness. All of these are affected by the brewers.

 

When tasting different beers, the professional tasters are those who have sensitive taste buds. Therefore, no special knowledge is required. Everyone can taste it and discover some surprising tastes. When tasting in a brewery, opaque glass is often used so the taster is not influenced by the colour. If the tasting is made in society, it is done in the opposite way, meaning that colour belongs to the overall evaluation and so it is drunk with clear glass without any pattern. Even wine glass is considered as the best, as its curvature helps to preserve the aroma.

 

We believe that you will find your favourite beer right here!