BEER
In this
presentation I would like to share with you some
information and facts about my new passion - beer.
Many people associate beer with pale drink widely available in every
store. The most popular type of beer in the
world is pale lager. Also in Poland lager is the most popular style of beer. It
has circa 95% of market share. Commerial examples are: Tyskie,
Zywiec, Zubr, Carslberg, Heineken, etc.
But lager is only one from
over 100 beer styles in the world. And to be honest - it’s one of the worst.
Why is it so popular?
Because
it is very watery, cheap
in production and its taste does not deter
anybody.
Ingredients of beer:
1.
Water
2.
Malt
3.
Hops
4.
Yeasts
5.
Herbs and other additional ingredients
Malt - (pol. słód) is a special type of grain prepared for brewing. Most
popular grains: barley(jęczmień), wheat(pszenica), rye(żyto). There are many
types of each grain. With special preparation, some companies create malts
like: chocolate wheat malt, smoked barley malt,
roasted malt or even peat smoked malt(similar to whisky malts)
Hop - (pol. chmiel) has
multiple functions in beer. First of all, it preserves beer from spoiling. Another thing is its bitterness.
Bitterness from hop depends on Alfa-acids
included in the hop cone.
To some hop type there are also
added fruits: resins, citrus, melon, mango and many
other flavours and aromas.
There is a beautiful chart
defining most popular hops:
[Hop chart, Source: hopchart.com, Hi res picture]
Yeast - (pol. dożdże) is needed to make fermentation. There are many yeast types. Yeasts can be dry or liquid.
Beer styles
As I said before there are
plenty of beer styles in the world.
A very nice graphic shows most of them:
[Beer styles map, Source: shopify.com, Hi res picture]
At the top level beer styles are divided into 2 main groups:
1. Lagers –which fermentate in lower temperatures 8-12*C, get
clear profile and no effects from yeasts
2. Ales – which fermentate in
higher temperatures 16-24*C, get flavours and
aromas from yeast, sometimes fruits/herbs/spicy
profile
Another category is color: Dark and Pale styles and
ingredients used for brewing.
Want to try something different?
If you would like to taste
something different than simply lager or so, I
recommend you to try Inida Pale Ale style beer. If you may like dark beers try e.g. dry stout.
In Poland there are over 100 breweries nowadays.
Some of them are huge
corporations which take 90% of the market share. There are also mid-size regional
breweries. Most interesting are small breweries which do
not hesitate to create great beer with the best ingredients. They are craft
brewieries.
Most popular and the best are:
-
Pinta
-
Dr
Brew
Current rating of the best Polish beers is at ratebeer.com
Stay open minded and let beer
surprise you.
Final questions:
Have you ever heard about small
breweries in Poland?
Do you drink kind of niche
beers?
What is the most
exotic/unusual beer you have ever drunk?
Very interesting post, thank you. I am more of a whisky guy myself but I’ve been trying to get into beers for a while now. It’s a really complex topic though and the more I read the less I feel I know.
ReplyDeleteMy friend is really into brewing his own beer, haven’t tried it myself but it looks like a lot of fun! Is that something you do?
As a part of learning about beers I’m forcing myself to try new stuff - beerhawk.co.uk (and a few others, I’m taking advantage of the introductory offers to test them all:) is pretty amazing for that purpose. If you join their club they will select beers they like and send them to you every month. You are guaranteed to dislike at least a couple of them but you are exposed to stuff you wouldn’t normally buy for yourself.
The most interesting beer I’ve ever had was Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbrok.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/263/1324/
It’s smoked to the point of tasting like bacon. It’s bottled in October every year, I cannot wait until I can order it again.
Thanks for nice comment and you're first :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, yes, I make beer at home from time to time. It's great but also demanding :) But the effects are great and compensate for the effort.
Second, something like beerhawk is starting in Poland. Check this out: http://www.subclub.pl/piwonia-midi-k68.html?birthDateConfirmed=True
There are many unusual beers in the world. Sad is that it's impossible to drink them all :(
Piwonia looks pretty great. In the context of my blog post " (..)pierwszy box otrzymasz(..)" made me smile.
DeleteIs it expensive to make your own beer? What's the cost per bottle?
There are few costs of making beer at home:
Delete1. Equipment:
- 30-40L pot (180PLN)
- Starter kit (220PLN) http://www.browamator.pl/szczegoly.php?_BA_Browar_Domowy_SUPER_START_-_bez_surowcow&przedm=187642&grupa_p=6&pwd[6]=%2F163929%2F164395%2F11261166&sortuj=kod
- other equip - 50PLN
Cost of ingredients for beer depends on style. It's possible to make light beer with a little of hop with 40-50PLN per 20L of beer. And on the other hand strong beers full of hops may cos ab. 120PLN for 20L of beer.
You also need bottles, water, energy to heat and things like that.
TL;DR
0,5L bottle of home beer costs depending on style 3-5PLN.
Cool, thanks for all the info.
DeleteMy favorite beer is : http://blog.kopyra.com/index.php/2013/05/15/king-of-hop-z-alebrowaru/
ReplyDeleteIf you like beer like me, check this site: http://www.alebrowar.pl/en
If you have opportunity to import beer from uk , you should check this one : http://brewmeister.co.uk/beers
To summarize , It would be nice to write something about glasses, mugs and so on designed for beers. You should have written some examples of ale's, lagers divided by malt or so.
I would like to read about your personal recommendations , which beer to choose if I like India Pale Ale, Stout and so on.
Anyway nice post.
Good point about glasses, malts and styles. I don't want to make this article too long.
DeleteMy personal recommendations?
Well. Polish craft breweries make very good beer. Not all beer are soo good, but there are examples of world class.
I highly recommend most of beers from: AleBrowar, Pinta, DrBrew, Artezan, Pracownia Piwa, Piwne Podziemie, SzałPiw, Birbant, Widawa(&Kopyra).
Check out rating on the ratebeer. Link is at the end of my presentation.
My favourite beer styles are American Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Double IPA, Barley Wine. But I also like to taste new flavours and combinations.
Very interesting article!
ReplyDeleteThe most unusual beer I've ever drunk is that one:
http://www.img.pl/Sprg
Frankly speaking I don't know any small breweries in Poland. To be honest I don't know even big one :)
I'm a real fan of "Fortuna Czarne" - especially after football game.
Do you drink kind of niche beers?
Ehh... to be true I have only one rule as goes with drinking beer... it has to be cold ;)
Thanks for a comment. Cold beer in not always the best.
DeleteThere is a joke/saying:
What is Pole favourite beer:
1. A cold one.
2. A free one.
3. A next one.
Most of beer styles has it's own recommended serving temperature.
Simple rule is: lighter beer - can be cold 6-10*C, heavier beer - 12-18*C.
Why temperature matters? Becase in higher temperature more aromas can be nosed out.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this article. I'm also a beer fan like you :)
ReplyDeleteA few months ago I found Tomek Kopyra's blog about beer and brewery:
http://blog.kopyra.com
He is judge on beer contests, has his own niche brewery and he also says that beers like Tyskie is not really a real tasty beer.
Thanks to his blog I realized that I can choose from different beer style's and tastes.
So now I'm trying to avoid main beer brands :)
Some of my last favorites (not really expnesive):
- Misłosław
- Braniewo
and beers from Browar Kormoran
Check out "The Great Test Of Consortium Beers" by Tomek Kopyra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPQAhor10nM
Don't forget that there are different glasses for different beer styles! :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks for a comment,
DeleteWell, Kopyra's YouTube channel is a great place to found information about beers, styles, glasses, contests, festivals and so.
I started brewing my own beers from his tutorials and it was very helpful at the beginning :)
If you like Kormoran beer, I highly recommend you American IPA from "Podróże Kormorana" series. Imho it's the best beer from Kormoran.
Ok, that's an interesting one! I don't drink much but when I drink I prefer more expensive beer which in most cases entails higher quality beverage. Recently I've tried stout Milkołak Milk Stout Reden and it was quite cool but not extremely delicious for sure. Once I've tried dark Grolsch which was surprising beer experience worth recommendation. Far interesting and profitable is brewing beer on one's own that definitely requires some labour but is adequately profitable, just imagine sitting comfortable in front of a fireplace with your own ale chilling and enjoying every sip... Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
DeleteMaking my own beer takes some time, needs a lot of concentration. And also some boring tasks like cleaning equipment or cleaning and disinfecting bottles.
But final effect gives huge satisfaction.
It's also very nice to drink your own beer at warm summer evening in the garden, lying on a hammock.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI will start with a reference to one of my favourite stand-up comedian – Jeff Dunham and his puppet – Bubba J: What’s your passion? You enjoy drinking beer? Do you like Nascar as well? (https://youtu.be/stzgan_uxlA?t=39s).
ReplyDeleteI was familiar with some info you wrote, because I had an opportunity to visit Heineken Experience in Amsterdam – some sort of interactive museum, where can you learn the history and creation process of the beef. The only answer I couldn’t get was that – how do you actually try beer? I assume that it’s not like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2AcCGyAslE, but is it like with the wine so you smell, take small gulp then spit it out? Or just drink it and enjoy? What are the categories to compare beers? Or it’s just subjective opinion?
It’s a tricky topic for me, because I do not drink beer at all, but I really appreciate your knowledge and hard work you put in preparing this presentation.
Tasting beer is similar to wine, not the same. First you look for a color and foam on the beer. Then you smell it and think what you feel. And finally you drink it without spitting out. Polish homebrewing association named PSPD has it's own beer evaluation sheet. Here it is:
Deletehttp://www.pspd.org.pl/uploads/dokumenty/arkusz-oceny-piwa-pspd.pdf
There is also some kind of tutorial about tasting beer:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVfE77NnRt4drb1jtUy3oWNRHGct8EP7
Very interesting. I think you will find a lot of people with same passion :) I also like beer very much. For some time I am trying to taste diffrent types of beer, I am focused on smaller breweries. In most cases it is a random choice and to be honest in most cases this a very nice suprise :) look out with your passion ;)
ReplyDeleteTo me tasting new beer is a kind of adventure :)
DeleteYou can find interesting beers even if the beer style is not you favourite.
In Poland there is variety of smallbreweries and beer style so we are in a great position to explore new tastes :)
Nice article. I like beer too but unfortunately I don’t know about beer as much as I would like to. Of course I have heard about small breweries in Poland and in my opinion in many cases that beers are much more tasty than beer from a big company. Usually when I am in a store I try to search new make of beer. Sometimes it is something more casual like wheat beer (my favourite one) but also I would like to taste more unusual combination like beer with banana and so one.
ReplyDeleteIf you like Belgian beers I’d recommend checking Delirium pub in Warsaw. They have rather heavy types of beer but even if you don’t like it you probably will have at least one beer for you because they have something about 100 makes of beer.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNice article. I like beer too but unfortunately I don’t know about beer as much as I would like to. Of course I have heard about small breweries in Poland and in my opinion in many cases that beers are much more tasty than beer from a big company. Usually when I am in a store I try to search new make of beer. Sometimes it is something more casual like wheat beer (my favourite one) but also I would like to taste more unusual combination like beer with banana and so one.
ReplyDeleteIf you like Belgian beers I’d recommend checking Delirium pub in Warsaw. They have rather heavy types of beer but even if you don’t like it you probably will have at least one beer for you because they have something about 100 makes of beer.
Thanks for a comment.
DeleteIf you like wheat beer there are 3 main styles style of it. Weizen - style from Germany, smell and taste is banana and cloves. American Wheat - more tastes and smells of malt, citrus, flowers. And finally there is Belgium Witbier. Smell and taste profile includes spices, herbs, coriander and pepper.
I recommend you to try every style of wheat beer.
At last a good staff for me but you`ve unwittingly stolen my idea for presentation. Apart from this fact I really like beers and I wouldn’t imagine life without it :) . I like a wide range of beer types - normal or classic from popular big brewery to proposals from smaller one. Mostly it depends on opportunity or my current mood. I have a lot of favorites labels from Czech Republic but concurrently our polish staff is as good as abroad one. It’s perfect drink for whole year so don’t be afraid to taste a flavor of hops. Automatically I was starting thinking about well cooled one… ehhh
ReplyDeleteSorry for stealing your topic. But the beer is my passion and I wan't to share it with you. To be honest Polish microbreweries make a great beer. Really a world class beer. In my opinion much better than Czech or Germany. Of course it depends of your preferences, but I highly recommend Polish beers.
DeleteNice article.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a fan of good beer. Recently i've tried Czarna Dziura from Pinta and it was amazing. It seems that they created perfect beer for me :). I also like to try IPA's and AIPA's (I can recommend Ciechan Grand Prix, its amazing). The only problem with that kind of beer is that those are still hard to find in shops, and almost nonexistant in pubs except maybe few multitap pubs like 'cuda na kiju'.
Do you know any good beer shops in warsaw with broad offer ?
DeleteThere are some shops with very good beer:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beermap?p=0&z=12<=5219932&ln=2101929
If you want to find more check some small breweries websites like this:
http://www.browarpinta.pl/gdzie-kupic
AIPA's are great. That's my favourite beer style :)
Ciechan Grand Prix is very interesting beer.
It's a beer made by a homebrewer Czesław Dziełak as a prize of a Warsaw Homebrewing competition in 2014. And his winning reciepe is available:
http://www.pspd.org.pl/pagesnews/receptury-zwycieskich-piw-i-warszawskiego-konkursu-piw-domowych
But in my opinion this beer was great only in first 2-3 batches. Then the quality of this beer dropped.
I don't know much about beer, all I can do is drink what they offer me :) Great presentation, swiftly explaining general categorization of beer. Now I can distinguish lager from ale and I will definitely explore more exotic (from a typical Polish lager-drinker standpoint) types thanks to your presentation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a comment. It's nice to know that I convinced you to try something new :)
DeleteGood presentation, short and solid portion of information regarding beer.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge beer enthusiast but I havent experimented much with smaller breweries and niche beers. But I'm catching up by frequenting places like Spiskowcy Rozkoszy bar, which change their repertoire frequently.
I can't recall any particularly exotic beer that I drank because as I said,I don't experiment much. I don't like flavoured beers because I think that beer should taste like beer and nothing else :p
Quoting you: "I think that beer should taste like beer and nothing else ". There is no thing like beer taste at all. Beer taste depends on style. And as I wrote in my presentation there are 100+ beers styles. Most of people associate beer smell and taste with lager, beacause it's most popular style in the world. And that's ok. Everyone has own preferences
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a beer fan. Maybe because I'm always sleepy after first glass. And yawning all the time it's the last thing i expect when a friday's or saturaday's evening begins.
ReplyDeleteBut I've heard about some local breweries like Ciechan. I'm waiting for a post about vodka :-))
To be honest, I am not a big fan of beers. As a real Polish girl I prefere pure vodka. But it is said that beer is the healthiest kind of alcohol so maybe I should change my habbits :)
ReplyDeleteI have heard about nice brewerie with exotic king of beers in Warsaw - at Parkingowa strees. If you like extraordinary kind of beers you should try it.
PiwPaw pub is on the Parkingowa in Warsaw. There are ab. taps insid, so you have range choice of beers there.
DeleteTo be honest, I am not a big fan of beers. As a real Polish girl I prefere pure vodka. But it is said that beer is the healthiest kind of alcohol so maybe I should change my habbits :)
ReplyDeleteI have heard about nice brewerie with exotic king of beers in Warsaw - at Parkingowa strees. If you like extraordinary kind of beers you should try it.
Great topic. I am in love with beer. I can see you are also a fan of Tomasz Kopyra and his lessons :-) I have tried something different 2 years ago and it changed my beer-menu totally :-) I don't even like international lagers anymore. I tried to drink and compare carlsberg, tyskie, kasztelan, heineken. These green bottles really makes hop taste and smell bad :-) The interesting topic is talk is the coming shortage of hops on the Polish markets because of the commercial breweries. Now we only have actually 2 types of hops ? marynka and lubelski. You should know already that these hops are not the best quality and you must add a huge amount of these hops to actually feel their taste and smell :-) not like any american hops, for example my favourite and the best ever hop is Cascade. I can drink 10000 litres of any APA or IPA that has cascade, mosaic or simcoe in it. Probably while reading this, you already know that my favourite brewerie is Ale Browar and their Rowing Jack, King of Hop and also Citra from Birbant brewerie is one of my favs. I personally do not brew beers, but I have a friend from Poznan which brews and sometimes we organize beer tasting sessions. So if you ask me what was the most exotic beer I have ever drunk I'd say, my friend's Lager hahaha :-) Srsly :-) ... LoLzzzz. I can't wait for the sunny hot summer to come because I want to grab a cold bottle of Citra... fast open, smell it, drink the whole thing :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. You know the topic well :)
DeleteThere are ab. 9 polish hops:
http://www.wiki.piwo.org/Charakterystyka_polskich_odmian_chmielu
But mostly used are Marynka, Lubelski, Sybilla, Iunga.
Homebrewing a lager is a challange.
Beacase of fermenting temperature - ab 10-12*C. You need a fridge for a fermentor to keep it cool. Also lagers has a clear profile, so it needs to carefully prepare a reciepe for it.
This is great to read that there is so many fans of beer here, between us ;). There is nothing like a good beer during a sunny day. I like trying new things and tastes so "exotic" beers are in my menu very often. U are asking what is the most unusal one I've drunk. I have to admit that niche beers have very exotic names and this is hard to remember them. So I will not tell it's name :(. That was long time ago - in this place: http://www.piwpaw.pl/
ReplyDeleteI've asked the barman for something bitter. And I've got it. OMG- that was so bitter, very interesting taste but only to try it once :D. BTW check this place out.
The first names of beers which comes to my mind and I like are: Kormoran and Guiness. I would like to visit Dublin and drink the real one...
The funny thing is your article reminds me the Heineken commercial:
http://joemonster.org/filmy/23514
I don't like that beer but the idea is just brilliant. Generally beers commercial are funny XD
Thanks for a comment. When I first tried beer like Rowing Jack which has a strong bitterness it explodes in my mouth. I was strucked with the bitter and taste of grapefruit and citrus.
DeleteThere is a scale for a bitter in the beer. It is called IBU - International Bittering Units. It can be measured in laboratory. Probably the highest possible bitter in a beer is 130-150IBU. Typical commerial lager has ab. 20-25IBU. Rowing Jack has ab. 70IBU. Everything 100+ IBU is very, very bitter.
I have never heard about small breweries in Poland. I usually drink tipical and popular beers which are easily available. I am not an expert but I really like trying new tastes. That's why sometimes I buy more expensive and unpopular beer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a comment. That's nice you sametimes try new tastes :). You don't have to be an expert. Just buy something different and taste it ;)
DeleteBeer is one of the tastiest and the funniest hobbies one can choose to have. To be honest as a girl I do not really find all the differences between particular beer types. Of course I am able to recognize Karmi- type (which seems to be made in particular or girls:) ), Guiness beer or just normal blonde beer. Friends of mine are big funs of small local breweries. Every time we are visiting new place we have to try some new beer, which cannot be bought in chain stores. This locality is magical. On the other hand I have heard that even those small, local breweries are all owned by big corporations which just keep separate brands to boost their sale. So if you are positive on locality of some beer you have to try it, before it will become part of world wide enterprise.
ReplyDelete