Beer Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
England when people received less than a pint (568 ml) of beer for the price of a pint.]]A beer is any of a variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grainss or other plant sources. The production of beer and some other alcoholic beverages is often called brewing. Historically, beer was known to the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians, and dates back at least as far as 4,000 BC. Because the ingredients used to make beer differ from place to place, beer characteristics (type, taste, and colour) vary widely.
Ingredients
Typically, beers are made from water, malted barley, hops, and fermented by yeast. The addition of other flavourings or sources of sugar is not uncommon.
Because beer is composed mainly of water, the source of the water and its characteristics have an important effect on the character of the beer. Many beer styles were influenced or even determined by the characteristics of the water in the region.
Among malts, barley malt is the most often and widely used owing to its high enzyme content (which facilitates the breakdown of the starch into sugars) but other malted and unmalted grains are widely used, including wheat, rice, maize, oats, and rye.
Hops are a relatively recent addition to beer, having been introduced only a few hundred years ago. They contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malt and have a mild antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable organisms. Enzymes in yeast, in a process called fermentation, metabolize the sugars extracted from the grains, producing many compounds including alcohol and carbon dioxide. Dozens of strains of natural or cultured yeasts are used by brewers, roughly sorted into three kinds: ale or top-fermenting, lager or bottom fermenting, and wild yeasts. The scientific name for brewer's yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an important model organism in molecular and cell biology.
One pint of beer typically contains about two unitss of alcohol, although alcohol content can vary significantly with style and brewer.
History
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Almost any sugar or starch-containing food can naturally undergo fermentation, and so it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented in cultures throughout the world. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is on a 6000-year old Sumerian tablet which shows people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl. Beer is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and a 3900-year old Sumerian poem honoring the brewing goddess Ninkasi contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. Beer became vital to all the grain-growing civilizations of classical antiquity, especially in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi required that tavern-keepers who diluted or overcharged for beer should be put to death.
Beer was important to early Romans, but during Republican times wine displaced beer as the preferred alcoholic beverage, and beer became considered a beverage fit only for barbarians. Tacitus wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the Germanic peoples of his day.
Most beers until relatively recent times were what we would now call ales. Lagers were discovered by accident in the sixteenth century when beer was stored in cool caverns for long periods; they have since largely outpaced ales in volume. (See below for the distinction.) The use of hops for bittering and preservation is a mediaeval addition. Hops were cultivated in France as early as the 800s. The oldest surviving written record of the use of hops in beer is in 1067 by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen: "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops." In 15th century England, an unhopped beer would have been known as an ale, while the use of hops would make it a beer. Hopped beer was imported to England (from the Netherlands) as early as 1400 in Winchester and hops were being planted on the island by 1428. The Brewers Company of London went so far as to state "no hops, herbs, or other like thing be put into any ale or liquore wherof ale shall be made — but only liquor (water), malt, and yeast." However, by the 16th century, "ale" had come to refer to any strong beer, and all ale and beer were hopped.
Methods of brewing changed very little from that time. In 1953, New Zealander Morton W Coutts developed the technique of continuous fermentation which was the first major change to brewing since the 16th century. Morton patented his process which revolutionised the industry by reducing a four-month long brewing process to less than 24 hours [1]. His process is still used my many of the world’s major breweries today, including Guinness.
Etymology
Of the two terms, ale is the elder in English. It comes directly from the proto-Indo European root *alu-, through Germanic *aluth-[1]. Beer, on the other hand, is presumed to come from the latin bibere (to drink)[1]. Old English sources distinguish between "ale" and "beer" but do not define what was meant by "beer" during that period, although there is some speculation that it refers to what would now be called cider (alcoholic form). The Old English form of "beer" disappeared shortly after the Norman Conquest, and the word re-entered English centuries later, in exclusive reference to hopped malt beverages.
In Slavic languages, beer is called "pivo", from the verb "piti" — to drink. So, "pivo" could be translated to English as "the drink".
Mythology
The Kalevala, collected in written form in the 19th century but based on oral traditions many centuries old, contains more lines about the origin of brewing than are devoted to the origin of man.
Types of beer
There are many different types of beers. A comprehensive description of beer styles can be found at the website of the Beer Judge Certification Program.
Lager
Lagers are probably the most common type of beer consumed. They are of Central European / German but actually Austrian (see biography of Anton Dreher at ) origin, taking their name from the German lagern ("to store"). Bottom-fermented, they were traditionally stored at a low temperature for weeks or months, clearing, acquiring mellowness, and becoming charged with carbon dioxide. These days, with improved fermentation control, most lager breweries use only short periods of cold storage (1–3 weeks).
Although many styles of lager exist, most of the lager produced is light in colour, high in carbonation with a mild hop flavour and an alcohol content of 3–6% by volume. Styles of lager include:
Ale
Top-fermented beers, particularly popular in the British Isles, include mild, bitter, pale ale, porter, and stout. Top-fermented beers tend to be more flavoursome, including a variety of grain flavours and fermentation flavours; they have also lower carbonation and are fermented and ideally served at a higher temperature than lager. Stylistic differences among top-fermented beers are decidedly more varied than those found among bottom-fermented beers and many beer styles are difficult to categorize. California Common beer, for example, is produced using a lager yeast at ale temperatures. Wheat beers are often produced using an ale yeast and then lagered, sometimes with a lager yeast). Lambics employ wild yeasts and bacteria, naturally-occurring in the Payottenland region of Belgium. Other examples of ale include stock ale and old ale. Real ale is a term for beers produced using traditional methods, and without pasteurization.
Other
North American beers are listed below.
Lagerbier was invented in Vienna
The principal categories of Belgian beer are:
Beer and nationality
Albania
Albania's most famous beer is Birra Tirana, which accounts for roughly 30% of the beer consumed in the country.Armenia
Armenia is more famous by its cognac, vodka and also wine. Three local beer brands are available throughout the country: Kilikia (named after a historic Armenian kingdom at the Mediterranean coast), Kotayk (named after Armenian province east of Yerevan) and Erebuni (historical settlement in southeastern part of present day Yerevan). Russian beers, especially Baltika, are also widely available throughout the country.Austria
People usually drink beer that is brewed locally, like Mohrenbräu or Fohrenburger in Vorarlberg, Gösser in Styria or Schwechater and Ottakringer in Vienna. In Salzburg is the Zipfer-brewery.
There still are some little Breweries. Australia
Contrary to popular belief, the so-called original Australian beer, Foster's Lager, has declined in popularity, and the popularity of various beers differs by state. XXXX is popular in Queensland, Coopers in South Australia, Tooheys in New South Wales, Swan in Western Australia, Boags in northern Tasmania, Cascade in southern Tasmania, and Carlton Draught and Victoria Bitter are popular in Victoria. With the exception of Coopers, these are all mild-tasting commercial lagers. Though Australians usually prefer the beer of their home state, other popular brews are Hahn and Crown. Particularly in the trendier areas of the major cities, specialty brews produced by major brewers and by microbreweries, including a wide variety of ales, are increasing in popularity, as are some foreign beers.Belgium
Even more so than other nationalities, Belgians pride themselves on their rich beer culture. Naturally, Belgians claim that theirs are the best beers in the world. This view is supported by beer experts such as Michael Jackson (not to be confused with the pop star of the same name). Although beer production in Belgium is now dominated by Interbrew (the world's largest brewer by volume), there remain 115 breweries in the country, producing about 500 standard beers. When special beers are included, the total number of types of Belgian beer exceeds 1000. Each brand of Belgian beer is served in a specific glass. Although mainly a marketing ploy, the different shape and size of each glass is designed to enhance the flavor of the particular beer.Bulgaria
Bulgaria, while being quite a small country in Eastern Europe, has quite a number of beer brands. The most popular breweries (all producing namesake lagers) are Kamenitza (produced in the city of Plovdiv), Zagorka (produced mainly in Stara Zagora) and AstikA (Produced in city of Haskovo). Other remarkable brands are Stolichno (bock beer produced by Zagorka), Shumensko (both lager and red ale, produced in the city of Shumen), Burgasko (produced in the city of Burgas), MM (produced in the city of Varna), Pirinsko (brewed in the city of Blagoevgrad), and Plevensko (produced in the city of Pleven). Most of the Bulgarian breweries are currently owned by foreign breweries, such as Heineken (Zagorka) and Interbrew (AstikA and Kamenitza).
Canada
Canada has a long history of beer production as the cold winter climate provided ideal conditions for brewing before artificial refrigeration was invented. It is well known for its two large commercial breweries, Molson, Labatt (owners of Halifax, Nova Scotia's Alexander_Keith's Brewery and Kokanee). However, there are numerous mid-sized companies brewing premium beers. Among these regional/micro breweries are Guelph, Ontario's Sleeman Breweries Ltd; Saint John, New Brunswick's Moosehead Brewery; Calgary, Alberta based Big Rock Brewery and Wildrose Brewery; Vancouver, British Columbia's Granville Island Brewery; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan's Great Western Brewing; and Unibroue from Montréal, Québec. Finally, Canada has a proud tradition of pubs and microbreweries and within any city you can generally find at least a few pubs which brew their own beer (often from scratch). SCTV characters Bob & Doug McKenzie; are two world-renowned Canadian icons that are closely associated with beer.
China
Tsingtao beer is the most famous one made in China.
Czech Republic
The Pilsener style of beer originated in the town of Plzen in Bohemia, and the Czechs make many well known and well regarded beers of this style, including the original Budweiser that recently obtained the PDO/PGI/TSG in the EU. The Czechs consume the highest per capita amount of beer.
Denmark
Danish industrialist J. C. Jacobsen revolutionized the world of brewing when his brewery, Carlsberg, bred a pure strain of lager yeast, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. This enabled the breweries to achieve a large and consistent output, and lager has been the most popular style of beer in Denmark since Carlsberg started selling it in 1847. Smaller breweries in Denmark suffered greatly under the Carlsberg market dominance, especially during the middle of the the 20th century, and this led to a large reduction in available beer quality and styles. In recent years the interest in higher quality beer has risen sharply, and the Danish beer landscape is now dotted with several microbreweries and brewpubs, producing a wide range of beers.
Egypt
The local brand is called Stella, not to be confused with the Belgian Stella Artois. It is primarily sold to foreign, non-Muslim, tourists.
Estonia and Finland
Both of these countries are known for their traditional Sahti, which is a beer made from rye or oat malts that are filtered through straws and juniper twigs. According to beerhunter Michael Jackson, it is by far the oldest continuous living tradition of beer making, representing nothing less than a direct link with Babylonian beer-making methods.
While the beer market is more centralized in northern Germany (with the biggest brands Krombacher, Warsteiner and Bitburger each selling about 400 million liters), the south has lots of very small, local breweries which add up to a total of 1350 breweries in Germany producing over 5000 brands of beer. One of these breweries, the Benedictine abbey Weihenstephan (established in 725) is reputedly the oldest existing brewery in the world.
The alcohol content usually is between 4.7% and 5.4% for most traditional brews. Bockbier or Doppelbock (double Bockbier) however can have an alcohol content of up to 12%, beating many Wines. Bockbier season is during June and July and a lot of local Bockbier festivals are typically held in the south of Germany.
The Munich Oktoberfest is well known for the quantity of beer drunk as well as the friendly, social atmosphere created by the massive marqees with long tables and bench seating. Almost 6,000,000 litres of beer is served every year at the festival.
Modern brewing began for India in the early days of the British Empire — the mid-1700s. The demand for beer in the hot Indian climate by the British administrators and the troops was so great that it led to the creation of a completely new style of beer by George Hodgson in his London brewery — India Pale Ale. IPA is a strong, highly hopped ale designed to survive the five month ocean voyage to India without spoiling. India Pale Ale was shipped with every voyage for over a century and became very popular in Britain and North America.
In the late 1820s Edward Dyer moved from England to set up the first brewery in India at Kasauli (later incorporated as Dyer Breweries in 1855) in the Himalaya near Shimla, producing Asia's first beer called Lion. The brewery was soon shifted to nearby Solan (close to the British summer capital Shimla), as there was an abundant supply of fresh springwater there. The Kasauli brewery site was converted to a distillery which Mohan Meakin Ltd. still operates. Dyer set up more breweries at Shimla, Murree, Rawalpindi and Mandalay.
Another entrepreneur, H G Meakin, moved to India and bought the old Shimla and Solan Breweries from Edward Dyer and added more at Ranikhet, Dalhousie, Chakrata, Darjeeling and Kirkee. In 1935, when Burma was separated from India, the company was restructured with its Indian assets as Dyer Meakin Breweries, a public company on the London Stock Exchange. Following independence in 1949, N.N. Mohan took over management of the company and the name was changed to Mohan Meakin. The company continues to produce beer across India to this day and Lion is still available in northern India.
Today however, no brewer in India makes India Pale Ale. All Indian beers are either lagers (5 per cent alcohol — such as Australian lager) or strong lagers (8 per cent alcohol - such as the popular MAX super strong beer). International Breweries have recently announced an intention to work with Mohan Meakin to produce and launch an India Pale Ale called Indian IPA from India's first brewery at Solan.
In various parts of north-eastern India, traditional rice beer is quite popular. Several festivals feature this nutritious, quite intoxicating, drink as part of the celebrations. The rice is fermented in vats that are sometimes buried underground. It is quite popular, and not only with humans. Elephants have been known to attack villages and raid these vats.
Nastro Azzurro is a local Italian lager-style beer of around 5% strength. Birra Moretti is a cheap but refreshing lager sold in 66cl bottles, it has a premium version, Baffo d'Oro (Golden Moustache). Another historical brand is Peroni. Menabrea is a famous award-winning lager fron Lombardia. Sardinia has its own beer, Ichnusa.
While at first, most modern brewers were small operations, by 1890, the first substantial, industrial brewing facility in the country was built in Monterrey. Four years later another large brewery opened in Orizaba. The industrialization of the Mexican beer business was on.
Most Mexican beers are produced by the two beer giants, FEMSA and Grupo Modelo. FEMSA is a general beverage corporation whose roots date to back to 1890 and the first large Mexican brewery, Cervecería Cuauhtémoc in Monterrey. With their brands Tecate, Sol, Dos Equis, Carta Blanca, Superior, Indio, Bohemia and Noche Buena - FEMSA is a major international brewer. Labatt's of Canada (a subsidiary of the Belgian brewer Interbrew) owns 30 percent of FEMSA.
Grupo Modelo has fewer brands but a larger part of the Mexican beer export market with Corona, Corona Light, Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial, and Pacifico their five export brands. (In Mexico, they also brew Victoria, Estrella, Leon and Montejo.) Grupo Modelo is 51 per cent owned by Anheuser-Busch but, in accordance with Mexican law, control of the company remains with Modelo.
Corona is the flagship beer of Grupo Modelo. It is a very light lager, and the number one imported beer in the world. Corona is the best-selling non-domestic beer in both the U.S. and U.K. Many say the brand's marketing and easy drinkability account for its success, as most beer aficionados agree that other Mexican lagers such as Dos Equis, Bohemia, and Negra Modelo are far superior.
No discussion of Mexican beer or Corona would be complete without mentioning the lime. Serving Mexican beers, especially the light lagers, with a slice of lime, is mostly a marketing gimmick and has no real basis in tradition. In Mexico, the only people who drink beer with a lime are tourists. Outside the tourist areas among native Mexicans, it's not prevalent at all.
The late European history is characterised by the dominance of about three large breweries. The dominance of these was helped by the buying of some of the small local breweries. From the mid 1980s small boutique or microbreweries started to emerge. Consequently, the range of beer styles increased. Some pubs operate their own small breweries, often housed within the pub itself. Wine and ready mixed alcoholic drink consumption is increasing and is lessening the quantity of beer being sold.
Romanian beer is known in Central and Eastern Europe for its taste and low price. Ursus (from Cluj) is the king of the Romanian beer from 1879 (a brand of South African Breweries). Other traditional Romanian beer brands are Timisoreana, Bucegi and Neumarkt.
There are 15 breweries in Slovakia:
Beside two major players there are several small breweries that (with the exception of Adam Ravbar in Domžale;) only sell their products in beer halls attached to them.
San Miguel (which is nowadays also produced in a variant called "1516" referring to the German Purity Law) has quite a general lager taste which supposedly makes it suitable for the "gusto" of not only the Spanish population.
Estrella Damm is probably the most cosmopolitain beer in Spain and according to the name must have been invented by Spaniards of German origin as the brew has a taste distinctive for German Pils beers.
Cruzcampo's taste fails to please the gusto of most of the foreign lovers of beer as it tends to have a mouldy notion to it. The invention of a 0,33l-PET-bottle didn't really help much.
Taiwanese Aborigines have consumed millet beer for centuries. In the modern era, Taiwan Beer is by far the most popular brand. Initially produced by a state monopoly during Japanese rule in the early twentieth century, the beer is now produced by a privatized company and is drank cold along with snacks or appetizers. Beer games – played both in private and in restaurants, to the chagrin of some customers – are popular among working-class men.
The brewing traditions of England and the Netherlands (as brought to New York) ensured that the colonies would be dominated by beer drinking and not the imbibing of wine. Up until the middle of the 19th century, ales dominated American brewing. This changed as the lager styles, brought by German immigrants, turned out to be more profitable for large-scale manufacturing and shipping. Names such as Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz became known through the breweries they founded or acquired, and many others followed. Czech immigrants also made their contributions to US beer.
The lager brewed by these companies was not the extremely weak and mild lager now associated with modern US megabreweries. This American pilsner was a significantly stronger beer, both in flavour and alcohol, that was designed to meet the appetites of both native Americans and central European immigrants.
All of this came to a halt when Prohibition was imposed. Only a few of the largest breweries were able to stay in business — by manufacturing near beer, malt syrup, or other non-alcohol grain products. Production and shipping of alcohol was largely confined to illegal operations, which could deliver potent liquors — smuggled rum and domestic moonshine — more efficiently and safely than bulkier products such as beer.
For more than fifty years after the end of Prohibition, the United States beer market was heavily dominated by large commercial breweries, producing beers more noted for their uniformity than for any particular flavour. Beers such as those made by Anheuser-Busch and Coors followed a restricted pilsner style, with large-scale industrial processes and the use of low-cost ingredients (such as rice and corn). The dominance of the so-called "macrobrew" led to an international stereotype of "American beer" as poor in quality and flavour.
However, since the resurgence of the commercial craft brewing industry in the 1980s, the United States now features many beers, offered by over 1500 brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional brewers such as Anchor Brewing Company (San Francisco) and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company (Chico, CA), and contract brewed brands such as Samuel Adams. In much of eastern Pennsylvania including Philadelphia, the word "lager" is synonymous with Yuengling Traditional Lager, a flavorful beer from a regional brewery in Pottsville founded in 1829, making it the oldest continuously operating brewery in America. While in volume, the macrobrews still dominate, smaller producers brew in a variety of styles influenced by local sources of hops and other ingredients as well as by various European traditions.
The Association of Brewers has identified the following styles of North American origin:
This is an Article on Beer. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Beer France
Although the French market is dominated by industrial breweries, the Nord/Pas-de-Calais possesses strong brewing traditions and breweries (Pelforth, for example), which it shares with its Belgian neighbor across the border. Alsace, also has a strong tradition of brewing beer with bottom fermenting yeasts in the German style.
Nowadays, there are more and more micro breweries that are producing "fashion beer", especially in the regions with a strong identity (Brewerie Lancelot in Bretagne, beer Pietra in Corsica,...)Germany
With an extremely strong beer-oriented culture, the German market is a bit sheltered from the rest of the world beer market by the German brewers adherence to the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot (purity requirement) dating from 1516, according to which the only allowed ingredients of beer are "Wasser (water), Hopfen (hops) und (Gersten-)Malz (barley-malt)". After the invention of cultured yeast it entered the deal as the fourth legal ingredient. Through this agreement (which was law up to 1988 but it still adhered to by virtually all German brewers), beers from Germany tend to have a good reputation for their quality. The Germans are slightly behind the Czechs in their per capita consumption of beer. There are a variety of different styles of German beer, such as Helles (lager from Bavaria), Weizen (fermented wheat beer), Kölsch (top-fermented beer from the Cologne region), Alt (a dark beer drunk around Düsseldorf and Dortmund), the most popular kind Pilsner, Export (a milder version of Pilsner, more suited to "international" tastes) and Bock beer (a dark, very strong beer).India
Ireland
Ireland is best known for stout, of which Guinness is the largest selling and most widely distributed brand. Guinness also make the most widely distributed Irish lager: Harp. It is recommended that Guinness be served after being poured, waiting for three minutes and then topped-up. Along with Guinness there are also Murphy's, Caffrey's and Beamish.Italy
Jamaica
Red Stripe is Jamaica's best-known beer. It is considered to be a blonde lager.Japan
Beer is the most favoured alcoholic drink in Japan. It was introduced in the early Meiji Era from Germany. Major makers are Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo while small local breweries supply distinct tasting beers. Lager beers are most common but beers made with lower grain contents called "Happoushu" (low malt beer, sparkling alcoholic drink) have captured a large part of the market as tax is lower on these products. Drinking beer with salted boiled beans, edamame, is known as a favourite summer pastime for adults.Latvia
Beer is a historic traditions in Latvia and is known to have been made before the Northern Crusades in the thirteenth century. Today, the most popular brand in Latvia is Aldaris.Mexico
As in most early societies, Mayas and Aztecs were brewing grain-based alcoholic beverages (primarily from corn) long before the Europeans arrived - in addition to pulque, an indigenous Mexican beer made from the fermented sap of the agave plant; and the precursor of distilled tequila. But it was the influx of German immigrants and the influence of a brief Austrian rule over the country in the middle of the 19th century that helped cement the art of brewing as an all-Mexican endeavor. Mexico spent four years under Austro-German emperor Maximilian, who apparently never traveled without his brewmasters. As a result, two of the more popular brands of Mexican beer -- Negra Modelo and Dos Equis -- come from the darker, more malty subset of German lagers known as Vienna style. While not as weighty as most British ales, the Mexican Viennas are fuller bodied with more malt sweetness and character than the pale pilsners. New Zealand
The indigenous people of New Zealand (Maori) did not brew beer. Major ingredients of beer were not introduced to New Zealand until Europeans arrived in the mid 1800s. The first beer brewed in New Zealand was by Captain Cook while anchored in Ship Cove in the outer reachs of Queen Charlotte Sound in January 1770. Here he experimented with the use beer brewed with young Rimu branches as a treatment against scurvy.Netherlands
Among the most popular beers in the Netherlands are Grolsch, Bavaria, Heineken, and Amstel. Most large breweries in the Netherlands are owned by Heineken. The amount of breweries in the Netherlands has grown from 14 in 1980 to 70 in 2002. Heineken is the world's second-largest brewer of beer, after Anheuser-Busch in the United States, it is also the largest export brewery in the world, with sales to 150 countries.Nigeria
A ban on imports of barley malt imposed in 1990 forced brewers to find ways to produce beer with locally-available sorghum and maize. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is an intriguing brew with a unique flavour, made in Nigeria but available around the world.Norway
High taxation and stringent rules governing when and where alcoholic beverages may be sold have made Norway somewhat of a harsh climate for beer drinkers. Nevertheless, in common with many European countries, there is a rich tradition of brewing in Norway. Currently, the Norwegian beer market is dominated by two large brewers: Carlsberg-Ringnes and Hansa-Borg. Most of their output is in the form of lager-style beers such as Pilsner and Fatřl which are widely (and to some extent exclusively) available and heavily consumed. Bayerřl, a kind of dark lager, slightly sweeter than German dark lagers, is also readily available. Frydenlund Bayerřl, brewed by Ringnes, is the most ubiquitous example of this style. Bokkřl is a stronger style of beer, typically 6-7% ABV, dark, with a sweet, complex flavour. A good example is Mack Bok-Řl, produced by the Mack brewery in the arctic city of Tromsř. Due to government restrictions, beers above 5% ABV are only available from licensed premises or the state-run Vinmonopol chain of shops. This rule has had a rather drastic impact upon the market, hence the production of strong beers, yet it is well worth the effort of locating them. Good locally produced beer can also be found at the small number of Norwegian brewpubs: for example the Trondhjem Microbryggeri in Trondheim and Oslo Mikrobryggeri in Oslo.Philippines
The Philippines produces one of the most popular beers in the region, San Miguel, which has been brewed there since 1892. Spain also has San Miguel beer, but this was brought over from the Philippines by its German brewmaster, and did not originate in Spain. San Miguel Pale Pilsen is the most popular variety, and enjoys widespread recognition in Hong Kong and China as a cheap but well-crafted, refreshing beer. San Miguel also produces a kind of stout-porter (Cerveza Negra or Black Beer). Several competing brands from Asia Brewery such as Beer na Beer and Lone Star are also available but hardly widespread. The beer is also fondly remembered by American GI's from WWII who were stationed or fought in the Philippines. Sadly, harsh economic times have led to a drop in beer sales as customers switch to the "quick fix" of distilled spirits to wash away their woes.Poland
Beer has always been extremely important for Poles. One Polish ruler, encouraged by the Pope to take part in a crusade, refused because, as he wrote to the Pope, the holy land has no beer. Traditional Polish beer is usually pilsener, lager or porter. The most popular Polish brands are Żywiec;, Okocim, EB, Lech, Lezajsk, Tyskie and Warka.Portugal
In Portugal there are several brands of beer, the two most famous ones are Superbock and Sagres. Portuguese beer is considered very good, and a lot of barrels are drunk every day by young and old persons. Romania
Russia
Russians have always been known as heavy drinkers and beer (Russian пиво – Pivo) is probably the nation's number two alcoholic drink after Vodka. Unlike the rest of the world, Russians categorize beer by color, not by fermentation process: Light, Red or Semi-Dark, and Dark. Light is a more or less equivalent to Lager and the last two are close to Ales. There are also super-strong beers (6-10% of alcohol) which are very popular in Russia. The most known brands of Russian beer are Baltica and Stary Melnik, however almost every region of Russia is proud to have its own brewery. By Russian laws, beer is not categorized as an alcoholic drink so it can be bought anywhere.Serbia and Montenegro
see Beer in Serbia and MontenegroSlovakia
The most famous brands in Slovakia are ?ari, Smädný mních (Thirsty Monk) and Zlatý ba?ant (Golden pheasant).Useful links
Slovenia
Slovenia is situated somewhere between Mediterranean wine loving area and Alpine beer loving area, so both, beer and wine, are very important to most Slovenians.
There are two breweries in Slovenia, brewing various kinds of beer and trying to take as much control over nonalcoholic drinks industry as possible: Laško; in a town with the same name (situated south of Celje) was established in 1825, Union in Ljubljana has been brewing beer since 1864. Thare are holy wars among drinkers of both brands, esp. to some people from eastern Slovenia Laško is a sort of their local pride. The most fanatic "supporters" of any brand often say "We drink insert one brand and piss insert the other one".
In 2001 Laško announced their plans about merging with Union and thus create a drinks holding. The management of Union immediately asked Belgian Interbrew to buy the brewery. A so called "breweries' war" arose, and somebody quoted that "it is a national interest that Slovenian breweries are owned by Slovenians" (there were no such quotes a year later when Novartis purchased entire pharmaceutical blue chip Lek.). Laško managed to obtain a slightly higher share than Interbrew but still a bit less than 50%. Interbrew's advocates still try to "convince" courts that Laško obtained a portion of their shares illegally so the "war" is not over yet.Spain
As far as the author's knowledge is concerned, there are three major brands of beer available throughout Spain which are San Miguel (brewed in Madrid and being the most famous), Estrella Damm (originated in Barcelona, making it the favourite in all of Catalonia) and Cruzcampo (made in Andalucia).Taiwan
United Kingdom
One common stereotype of the British (and indeed most residents of the British Isles) concerns their love of "warm beer". In fact, their beer is usually served around 12 degrees Celsius — not as cool as most cold drinks, but still cool enough to be refreshing. Modern-day pubs keep their beer constantly at this temperature, but originally beer would be served at the temperature of the cellar in which it was stored. Proponents of British beer say that it relies on subtler flavours than that of other nations, and these are brought out by serving it at a temperature that would make other beers seem harsh. Where harsher flavours do exist in beer (most notably in those brewed in Yorkshire), these are traditionally mitigated by serving the beer through a hand pump fitted with a sparkler, a device that mixes air with the beer, oxidising it slightly and softening the flavour. Nowadays, only real ale tends to be served via a hand pump, not a typical way for
mass-produced beers to be served; it is common to find the latter sold in bottles or drawn from a carbon dioxide-driven tap. Real Ale is championed by the Campaign for Real Ale. With the growing of hops being characteristic of southern counties in particular Kent, traditional southern beers, such as London Pride, south of a line that can been drawn from the Bristol channel to the Wash (on the east coast of England) typically contain more hops than those found north of this line such as Boddingtons.United States
The USA has always been a beer-drinking nation. The diary of William Bradford records that the Mayflower made landfall at Plymouth Rock under duress: "We could not now take much time for further search...our victuals being much spent, especially our beer." [1]
The success of the commercial craft brewing industry has led the large breweries to invest in smaller breweries such as Widmer, and to develop more complex beers of their own.Related drinks
Beers, and similar beverages made from raw materials other than barley, include:
Brewing industry
Commercial brands of beer
See also
External links