If you’re looking to become part of the thriving beer scene, it can be a lot of fun. But it can also be intimidating. Here is an informal primer to get you up to speed.
Craft beer: This refers to the little breweries, the underdogs, the up-and-comers. But wait. Aren’t behemoths Sierra Nevada and Lagunitas craft breweries? Well, yes. Craft beer gatekeepers keep changing the definition.
The Brewers Association says any brewery that produces 6 million barrels or less annually, uses traditional brewing methods and is not more than 25 percent owned by non-craft brewing interests qualifies as craft.
Barrel: A unit used to measure beer. It’s equal to 31.5 gallons or two standard kegs.
Hoppy: This adjective may refer to the bitterness you smell and taste in a beer. The term generally is associated with India pale ales and pale ales, whose hoppiness or bitterness is actually measured as international bittering units (IBUs). The higher the IBUs, the more bitterness you’re going to taste and feel. To some, it’s unpleasantly harsh. To others, it’s joyous.
Hops: They grow on vines and brewers use the flowers, or cones. There are all kinds of hops used for flavoring and bittering beer, but you only have to know a few to start.
Cascade is the most popular hop and is important because it was the first American-bred variety, dating to the 1950s. Centennial hops have similar, though bolder and more bitter, characteristics. Citra is all about wonderful aromas in IPAs. Take a whiff of many an IPA and you’re likely to get notes of grapefruit, melon and more. That’s probably the Citra hop on full blast.
Brett: This is a term you’re likely to hear more and more often. Short for Brettanomyces, brett is the wild yeast that can either contaminate beer and render it undrinkable or infuse beer with a kind of funky complexity that makes it taste magical — depends on the brewer’s skill.
Nitro: The process of using nitrogen along with carbon dioxide to create carbonation with smaller bubbles that imparts a smooth, creamy mouthfeel. Guinness stout is the most famous nitro beer.
Bomber: This is a big bottle of beer, a 22-ouncer. Many of the best beers in the world are bottled this way.
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