If your bar attracts avid beer drinkers then today is a day that you should be packing the house! It’s time to convince your customers to put down that glass of wine or fancy cocktail and pick up an American craft beer. Because it’s National Drink Beer Day!
There are hundreds of different varieties of beer, but most often divided into one of two categories – ale or lager. Each of these types of styles has their own traditions and history; however the main difference is fermentation temperature. Lagers use a type of yeast adapted to cold temperatures (45E to 50EF) that works on the bottom of the fermenter. Ales’ yeast is fermented between 60E and 70EF where the yeast works on the surface.
Humans have been producing beer since the Neolithic Era and today the craft beer movement is out of control with new exciting breweries popping up all over the country. Craft beer is a delightfully varied and complex beverage. Here are some things that you should consider the next time you pour a customer their favorite beer, according to the Brewers Association.
AROMA – The many different scents coming out to the liquid
TASTE – the flavors on your tongue: sweet, sour, bitter, salty or umami
FLAVOR – encompassing both taste and aroma
MOUTHFEEL – various textures: fullness, creaminess, astringency
HEAD – tiny bubbles filled with carbon dioxide, held together by malt proteins
CLARITY – Some beers are best presented clear, but other types are purposefully hazy or cloudy
COLOR – pale straw to inky black, beer color comes from various shades of kilned or roasted malt
CARBONATION – fizziness from carbon dioxide gas given off by yeast during fermentation
BALANCE – Interplay between malt sweetness, hop bitterness, roastiness and other flavors