Beers and beer related stuff

According to latest figures compiled by the Brewers of Europe average beer consumption per person in Poland in 2007 was 93litres. That’s the fifth place in global consumption of this alcoholic beverage. And with our well known trade mark – Żywiec, we should have some knowledge of beer, or do we really have?

The basics. Beer is one of the world's oldest beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9000 BC, and is recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. [by Wikipedia]
I believe many of you will say that beer is made from hops. That’s partly true, but basic ingredients are water, malted barley(sometimes wheat or other) yeasts, and just a little bit of hops for flavouring
Of course there are many varieties of beer, and depending on particular beer style and region of brewing those ingredients(or their proportions) may vary, especially type of malt and yeast.

So drinking our beloved zywiec, how could we described it? Is light in colour and the taste is lightly hopped. But beer categorization looks slightly different. There are two main beer types based on the temperature of the brewing. Those which yeasts are fermenting at high temperatures are called ales, and those brewed at low temperatures are called lagers. And so is zywiec and other most popular products on polish market. Lagers are the most commonly consumed beers in the world. But the color doesn’t determine the style, and malt is responsible for the shade. So we have light pale lager or simply Pilsner(with distinct hop flavour) first time introduced by brewery from Pilsen ( the present-day Czech-Republik) Pilsner Urquell, dark Bock (or koźlak, with malty flavour) almost black Baltic porter(very strong)
And the most popular ales are: wheat beer contain malted wheat and barley, usually the yeast is not filtered out, giving the beer a cloudy appearance. German wheat beer(weizen) becomes more and more popular in Poland
Stout – the most famous example Guinness, very dark in colour and dry in flavour
And the Trappist beers, brewed by or under control of Trappist monks. Only six trappist monasteries from Belgium and one in the Netherlands produce this beer, contain complex aroma and flavor, often spicy and fruity

Most beers are cleared of yeast by filtering when packaged in bottles and cans, there are many kinds of bottles and some breweries use plastic (PET) 1l or 1.5l bottles – unseen in polish market. What else should we know, that the beer should be drank from a glass or a mug, because the aroma plays great role in tasting and enjoying the beer, and the temperature - low-strength lagers prefer to be served chilled, while strong porters may be served at room temperature,
Health effect. Don’t forget that the main ingredient of beer is alcohol, typical lager based beer contain 5-6% alcohol, Czech pilsners are of lower alcohol content (3-5%) but still provide nice hop bitterness flavor and aroma but despite the alcohol, brewing yeasts are known to be a rich source of nutrients, like magnesium, potassium, B vitamins, so sensible, moderate drinking especially unfiltered and unpasteurised beers does no harm, only good ;-)
Are you a beer enthusiast? Have you ever tried some of the earlier mentioned beer types?