Tuesday, April 13, 2021

WEEK 188---What or How beer should taste like?


someone who is fairly new to craft beer recently had a heavily fruited berliner weisse---his first reaction "is this beer?"--followed with "feel strange, this don't seem like beer, more like sweet sour cordial, never thought beer can be like this..."
indeed beer can be like that---specifically speaking craft beer---this is the world of beer where traditional ways of brewing is very much respected but at the same time freehand /unorthodox are very much embraced---meaning beer can be anything a brewer intended it to be--beer can be very beer like--or beer can be very very un-beer-like.

前不久有新朋友喝了一款感觉完全不像啤酒的水果浸泡德式酸啤,根据他的说法是,好奇怪,又酸又甜的像是在喝果汁,想像不到啤酒可以是这样的味道表现
在尊崇传统酿法同时也极力鼓励创意发挥跳脱固有框框的craft beer世界里,啤酒的确是可以那样,而且是可以更多变化更多样性的,换个角度看的话,可以说跟比如时尚界那样,变与不变,经典和新风格一直是并存的,craft beer界每隔一段时间也有所谓的流行风潮出现,意思是某个类型风格的酒款会爆红会当时得令,一时之间很多不同酿坊都会推出自己版本的同类型酿品,好像不那样做就跟不上市场脚步。

In some ways the craft beer world is quite similar to for examples the world of fashion where there is this cliche thing about InTrend--about being Trendy--over recent years the craft beer scene has seen some emerging new trends where a particular beer style became HOT ITEM and suddenly many breweries are onto the bandwagon brewing each's version of that same style of beer(with or without the somewhat "obligatory" twist or tweak). One of the most obvious trend in recent times is that somehow many breweries were into brews which either "DON'T taste like beer or Totally Don't taste like beer at all".....

当然也不是所有酿坊会跟风,craft beer世界之所以有趣就是因为不同类型风格啤酒选择非常多,而且,在市场出现被追捧爆款啤酒类型时,总有好些酿坊完全不为所动的只是专注于酿造自己绝对拿手专长的酒款。

近几年流行趋势显示,更多时候酿坊都倾向于酿造<喝起来比较不像/或根本不像啤酒>的类型风格,比如说:-
here's some of the recent HOT ITEMS which somewhat made beer taste not so beer :-( and yeah i don't even included the popular SELTZER)

Heavily Fruited Beer
throwing all kind of fruits into a beer to either soak it or mash it in order to make beer more flavourful is nothing new---not until brewers started throwing at times ridiculous amount of fruits into the tank---or sort of making fruits/puree the center of attractions rather than usual ways of using fruits as supplementing item---the idea is to make a beer much more closer to either a fruity slushie or fruity cordial--and turned these into NOT your typical beer like beer be it color/ body /thickness / taste and so on..
Heavily Fruited Beer (重手水果啤酒)
在啤酒中投放水果或使用水果浸泡提味是常见的手法,从农场风格啤酒到黑啤到不同类型酸啤都有,但近期有不少酿坊把投放水果这件事成倍放大,基本概念是把啤酒变成类似水果沙冰或浓缩果汁那样,无论酒体或颜色或口感都不会是那种大家认知中的啤酒。

NEIPA
long before this "mostly sweet/cloying fruit juices" version of IPA came a calling and swept the craft beer world away----IPA has always been( and likely very much still is to the hardcore) the glorious Bitter King of beer---especially if you are the heavy West Coast IPA type---but everything we thought we knew about IPA was sort of turned upside down with the popularity of NEIPA--the fruit juice like version of IPA is so popular some newbies don't even know there's such a thing as old school bitter ipas though technically speaking NEIPA is still very much hops centric brew where the differences is more on twist and tweak on the technic /timing /amount of hops thrown in as well use of supporting brewing materials for examples use of oats....
NEIPA (类果汁印度淡啤)
在类果汁味道口感变奏版出现之前,印度淡啤(IPA)一直都是苦味啤酒象征,特别是美国西岸印度淡啤(West Coast IPA)更加让一些人觉得只有大喇喇的苦不堪言才是好料,不过类果汁印度淡啤的出现完全改变了这些观点,虽然有争论说NEIPA并不是一路来认知中的印度淡啤所以应该把这类啤酒排除在IPA类型之外,但事实是酿酒师用的主料的确是啤酒花(HOPS),而且是大量投放,啤酒味道口感酒体颜色浑浊或清澈之所以跟传统认知的印度淡陴很不一样是在手法和佐料上做了调整。

Pastry Stouts
similarly--using adjuncts in a stouts has long been the way brewers adds intended taste/aroma/flavours to a stout---but the emergence of Pastry Stouts would mean brewers are throwing much bigger quantities of food items/spices/adjuncts---the idea is to make a stout as close possible to or even way more decadent than actual dessert or pastry items---though at times most would think of pastry stouts as too sweet/cloying/thick/lower drinkability but not all are like that--there are nice and balance tasty ones out there to be found.
Pastry Stouts (甜点黑啤)
同样的,黑啤中添加食材蔬果香料是一直都有的,但甜点黑啤通过重手投放食材大力加料的做法,把酿酒师想呈现的黑啤风味更暴烈直白的加倍体现出来,虽然有批评觉得这类型黑啤很多时候倾向过甜过腻过于厚重,但也不是所有都一样,还是可以找到有不同口感味道表现的重手甜点黑啤。

should a beer always taste beer-like is something not every geeks or brewers would agree upon---for examples this is what Shaun Hill of Hillfarmstead said not long ago to Seven Days( a local weekly in Vermont)--click for full interview here:-Shaun's interview

"I think that to some extent beer can be prized and analyzed — but at the same time it is getting further away from itself.
On one side (perhaps the "negative" side), some brewers have gone beyond the beverage formerly known as "beer" to adding oddities such as hamburgers and French fries, Oreos, cereal brands and just about any other food product into their mash tun or fermenter. 
Brewers are now fermenting water and dextrose (100 percent GMO corn sugar), calling it seltzer, and falling under the umbrella license of beer manufacturing. 
啤酒是不是喝起来一定要有“啤酒味道这件事(跟一般大众认知的大厂啤酒味道完全无关),不同啤迷有不同看法,不同酿酒师也有不同认知,比如公认为当今世上最佳酿坊Hill Farmstead的主创酿酒师Shaun Hill不久前接受酿坊所在美国Vermont当地周刊Seven Days访问时说,某种程度来说,的确出现了偏离啤酒现象,比如会有些人把汉堡,薯条,奥利饼或其他奇怪食材丢进酿酒桶,又或是近期出现的利用啤酒酿造执照把玉米糖浆加水酿造成酒精气泡水(Seltzer)的情况。
那么,对绝对顶级酿坊大师来说,什么才是追求目标?酿造有质感让人愉悦易喝啤酒

so what is beer to a master brewer like Shaun? "many of us do love beer that is still beerBeer-flavored beer. "
"I set out to create beer that possessed a formerly unexplored quality of mouthfeel and that was pleasant to drink. Simple."

啤酒应该是什么样的酒体颜色厚薄口感味道尾韵,不同人一定有不同个人喜好,很大程度上这也是craft beer让人着迷因素之一,不管喜欢的是高质简单易喝啤酒还是复杂度高甚至花样百出的酿品,懂得喝啤酒一定要选喝高质有层次craft beer是唯一不变的道理。

It is obvious not everyone would agree on how  a beer should taste like or even look like---and that's perfectly fine--in fact that's part of the fun of craft beer--the diversity of beer styles/flavours is the reason why craft beer is fascinating and worth exploring---though personally i would think one thing is for sure---that regardless if one like very beer like beer or very un-beer-like beer---those who knows will certainly choose to drink well made tasty craft beer.( not that this whole discussion has anything to do with MACRO BEER anyway.....)

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