Are you a Zythophile? That’s beer lover for the unversed. Celebrate International Beer Day which was on August 4, with a beer-licious weekend.
Acquaint yourself with and learn to discern the Indian brews to suit your penchant.
Ales vs lager
The brewing is the main difference between ales and lager. Master Brewer, George Jacob, of Hops Haus Brewery and Kitchen – Bengaluru, reveals, “Lagers are fermented by dint of a bottom fermenting yeast at cool temperatures done in quite a considerable time, while the ales are fermented with a top fermenting yeast at more flushed temperatures and can be drink-ready in about three weeks.”
Sunny in hue, easy to swig, the beer style of lager rates high in popularity chart for its crispness and brisk finish.
Craft beer
You can compare them to artisanal chocolates or breads. While draft beer is mass produced, craft beer are created in craft breweries. They are comparatively small independently owned commercial breweries that engage traditional techniques of brewing and is known for bolder, hoppier flavours that underscores innovative flavours and quality.
Renowned Mixologist and Corporate Beverage Head, Eric Lobo accords it the status of an art, mentions “The craft brewing process is time consuming. The Indian beer scene is inundated with microbreweries and brewpubs using local spices, floral notes, herbs to create flavour profiles with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, hibiscus, passion fruit and even tea and coffee.” One of his beer cocktails, The Cure, contains cold brew of Southern Indian coffee.
Other types
Hops cannot be unfamiliar to beer aficionados. With various kinds of hops worldwide, they impart bitterness, flavour and aroma to a beer.
If you are a consumer of mass-produced, inexpensive beer, it’s time you know the ingredients of your mug. Adjuncts are cheaper ingredients like rice, oats, corn along with honey or other sweeteners to yield flavor and colour to a beer. As they provide more of a hoppy high with a full-bodied flavour profile, Indian Session ales contain less than 5% alcohol making it an easy-to-drink beer.
There are barrel-aged beers and fruit-infused ones too. Find out your choice of beer by familiarising yourself with the various beer types and try out these beer cocktail recipes shared by well-known mixologists.
Beer facts
A female beer maker is called an alewife, brewess or brewster.
A heavy night of beer drinking leads to ‘beer fear’ or hangover guilt.
The beer was invented by Sumerians.
Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian Goddess of beer and brewing.
The foam head on the top of beer heightens its aroma and flavour.
Mexican fish bowl
Ingredients:
1 bottle Corona beer
45 ml Tequila
150 ml Orange juice
2 ml Tabasco sauce
2 ml Horseradish sauce
2 ml Worcestershire sauce
Salt a pinch
3-4 pcs Pineapple chunks
2-3 pcs Jalapeno
Method: In a shaker mix tequila, orange juice, Tabasco, Horseradish, Worcestershire, salt, Pineapple and jalapeno. Shake it well with ice. Pour it in a fish bowl with a Corona upside down.
The Beer Cocktail
Ingredients:
150 ml Beer
15 ml Elderflower syrup
15 ml Grapefruit juice
10 ml Lime
Method: Shake the ingredients except for beer and pour into a beer glass - with half ice. Top it up with beer and mix and serve. Garnish with edible flower and grapefruit slice.
(Recipe by Mixologist Varun Sudhakar, Cray Craft)
The Cure
Ingredients:
60 ml scotch
60 ml cold brew (Southern India coffee)
10 ml hazel nut syrup
15 ml toffee caramel syrup
1 can lager beer
Method: Blend hazel nut and toffee caramel syrups. Blend cold brew and scotch. Blend all the ingredients with three cubes of ice. Pour into a beer mug. Top with lager beer. Serve with wafers
(Recipe by Mixologist Eric Lobo)
