WEEK 137--Things beer label did & did not tell us

If last article was about what beer label could tell us--this one is more about certain things which beer label don't/can't tell us.

craft beer特点是大小酿坊星罗棋布，不同风味类型风格啤酒多如繁星，酒标设计更是各有特色。

一瓶（或近年更频密出现的罐装）啤酒的酒标除了是酿坊品牌标志，也可以是酿坊主人的个人设计喜好取向表现（比如摇滚音乐，漫画或者文化信仰影响），当然最主要基本功能在于告诉喝酒人这是款什么类型风格的酒。

一般来说，酒标会告诉我们一些基本讯息，但是，有些更细微的讯息则需要喝酒人自己用点心思去寻找，下面几个例子会告诉我们什么是酒标有但也没有说出来的事：

For examples:-

1) Beer Styles

One of the best things about craft beer is the seemingly endless choices available--not just from thousands of different breweries but more importantly choices for very differing beer styles, i.e. different taste profile of a beer.

So it's very helpful for beer label to inform drinkers what style of beer a particular bottle/can it is ---just like when in a bread shop one would want to know if a bread is savoury or sweet or plain before buying.

But--knowing if a bottle/can of beer is an IPA, a pale ale or a stout is just the first step---you will need to drink it to know if the beer is well made/well taken care of by the bar/bottle shop/tasting good or bad/ to your taste or other wise.....

1）类型风格（beer style ）

craft 的不同风味太多，喝之前当然需要知道这是一瓶/罐什么样的啤酒，道理就像吃面包前知道里面的馅料是红豆甜还是火腿咸那样。

不过，只是知道喝的是什么类型风格并不足够，就像知道面包馅料是什么并不代表一定好吃或够甜够咸或对不对个人口味那样，酒标不能告诉我们的是，这瓶/这罐啤酒到底好不好喝，也不能告诉我们酿的好不好，虽然有些酒标上偶尔会有些自夸自说多么好喝说词，但大家都知道，任何酿品只有细味品嚐过才能领会水准高低。

2) ABV(alcohol by volume)

All beer label will have this info--it's the indication of how 'strong" a beer is( alcohol strength wise)---while it's mostly mandatory by law ----this is also necessary because in craft beer some brew are easily over the 9-10% abv level---and it's not uncommon to see some hitting well over 15-20% abv.

Sometimes it's dangerous to just drink and not knowing what's the actual abv level of a brew----some really well brewed beer/mead can conceal/hide it's alcohol very well where one would be misled to think it's a low abv brew while in actual fact it could be well over 10% abv level.

Hence it is important to know the strength of a particular brew before you started drinking---and if you are planning a bottle sharing session---then both beer styles and abv would play a big role in determining if it would be a palate pleasing session or turning into a palate numbing binge session.

2）酒精含量（ABV) 

这是重要基本讯息之一，不同于一般人概念中的啤酒就介于5度左右，craft不同类型啤酒中高过10度的比比皆是，也有少数是接近或高过20度的。

一些酿得好把酒精感收于无形的不同类型啤酒，单只是靠味蕾感觉来判断喝到的大概有多少酒精度是不准确的，这些把酒精藏得好的酒可以让人误以为是低于真实高度的酒，一不小心是会被酒精力度打败的，所以说，不管是新人还是资深的，喝之前了解下酒标知道酒精度高低是必要动作之余，一支酒酿的够不够均衡，酒精感收的好不好都只能是味蕾感受後才能了解。

3) Ideal Drinking Temperature

Some brewers would tell you through beer label info about what temperature he/she think would be best to express the full flavours of  their brew---in some rare cases there's even advice to decant a beer for certain period of time before drinking....

But NOT all beer label would contain 'ideal drinking temperature" info---while it depends on beer styles---the common understanding is that:-

1) craft beer DON'T NEED ice-cold or even worse FROSTED glasses---those are big no no---only bad beer need ice to conceal it's bad taste or tastelessness( though some can be so bad that even ICE can't help to hide)---a room temperature glass is generally good for any craft beer which would allow the flavours to open up is the right thing to do.

2) in some styles---the likes of barley wine/lambic/porter /stouts/ or mead---it's a given that these are slow sippers---these are the brew which require time to "wake up and open up"---the nuances/different layers a brew could generate while temperature changes is certainly a process to enjoy.

3)适饮“冷度”（ideal temperature) 

这是酿酒师觉得最能表现这瓶/罐啤酒风味的适当温/冷度，喝craft beer需要稍微讲究温/冷度不是绝对大多数喝啤酒人的认知，但确是必要动作，只有那样才能真正享受不同类型风格啤酒不同层次味道。

实际上，并不是所有酿坊都会在酒标中表明这个提示，如果你懒得上网找相关啤酒的适饮冷度，或许可以遵循以下简单准则，比如：-

第一，不管喝什么类型风格啤酒，绝对不要用冷到结霜的杯子（太过冷会让啤酒“不能呼吸”，展现不出应有风味），实际上，喝craft beer用室温杯子就可以。

第二，喝黑啤或大麦酒或天然发酵果酸啤酒或蜜酒这些比较“重”类型酒时，因为啤酒本身已经冷藏，除了要使用室温杯子，绝对不要快快喝，要给点时间让啤酒在杯中逐步回温，可以是开瓶後十多到四十分钟内慢慢喝，酿得好的能喝出不同温度带出的不同层次美味。

4) Adjunct / Barrel Aging

Adding food items/fruits/spices to enhance/change the basic taste of a brew is a common practice in the craft beer scene---and aging using various types of used barrel(you name it--from bourbon, calvados to wine barrel to most recently mead barrel) to impact complexity to a beer---sometimes there's seemingly no end to what craft brewer would try to experiment to try and find that unique flavours/nuances a brew could bring.

While beer label would usually reveal info about adjunct or which barrels a brew went through---some label even tell drinkers how those process has impacted the brew---but end of the day it is still up to the drinkers to feel for themselves if those changes/additions are a welcome one or seen to be more of a disruption than betterment to the base beer---while there are many good ones after adding adjunct or after BA process quite some examples did showed that more don't always make a brew better---but at times less is more---where a base beer instead taste more balance/better than the adjunct or barrel aged version.

4）酿酒用料或用什么桶熟陈（Adjunt /Barrel Aging) 

除了告诉喝酒人这是一款什么类型风格的啤酒，酿坊很多时候都会在酒标上说明用了什么食材或水果或香料增添风味，比如黑啤中的咖啡豆，香草，枫糖之类，或比如酸啤酒中加了什么水果草本植物等等。

当然很多啤酒也利用之前装过不同类型烈酒或葡萄酒或葡萄牙波特酒桶来让啤酒熟成增添风味，知道有关酒桶既有风味的可以大概猜想桶陈後啤酒呈现出来的最后酿品味道层次变化。

的确，利用不同食材或桶陈方式为啤酒增添风味层次听起来会让酿品更加精彩，不过，就像烹煮食物一样，有时候不是越多不同食材香料集在一起就一定更好味，同样的，不是所有桶陈版本啤酒就一定会比原版的更美味，酿酒不一定是加法就胜，跟世上很多不同事情一样，有时候用减法反而效果更好。