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Becoming a ‘beer expert’ begins with telling the difference between ale and lager

Becoming a ‘beer expert’ begins with telling the difference between ale and lager

Posted May. 14, 2016 07:23,   

Updated May. 14, 2016 07:26

한국어
Understanding craft beer begins from being able to distinguish between lager and ale. Lager is made by fermentation for a long time at a low temperature while ale goes through maturation for a relatively short time at a higher temperature. Ale maintains deep flavor of the ingredients, and lager gives a clearer and light-weight taste. Domestic beer products in Korea are mostly lagers.

Traditionally, Americans had a strong taste for lagers. The country used to have small-sized breweries in each neighborhood, but they declined after the prohibition law enforced in 1919. When President Franklin Roosevelt abolished the law later after the Great Depression, only big breweries managed to survive. American lagers produced during this era were similar to Korean beers of today.

On the other hand, England and Germany have well preserved their small local breweries. Unlike in America where huge capitals frequently took over small businesses, European craftsmanship went on for generations. Most beers produced in local European breweries are ale types.

This landscape of the beer industry began to change in 1979 when then U.S. President Jimmy Carter allowed home-breweries to encourage local beer industries. Many adventurous youngsters jumped into making the type of beer beloved by Europeans; ale.

Since then, the history of American beer craftsmanship started to unfold. Home breweries came up with specialty ale beers by adding vanilla, coffee, and fruit flavors. This gave birth to “American-style ales," which tend to have stronger hop taste compared to traditional European ales with strong malt tastes. Nowadays, craft beer population in the U.S. amounts to more than 1 million.

The change in the taste of Americans, the largest number of beer customers in the world, contributed to the transformation took place in the global beer market. A global alcohol maker AB InBev acquired five craft beer breweries since 2011, including Goose Island and Golden Road. “Large beer manufacturers are speeding up on M&As of craft beer breweries,” said an expert at global market research agency Mintel.

Japan, which is known for its relatively advanced beer culture, has surprisingly never been into Western-style craft beer so much. This may sound odd for a country not short of prosperous local breweries and tasteful beers. The country has long been producing special localized beers called Jibiru. There are already more than 10 -20 different types of beer produced by large alcohol makers in the market. These beer brands often market exclusive or limited products for special events. This plentiful option to choose from in the market makes craft beer less popular.

Korean craft beer industry seems to be following the footsteps of the U.S. in the 1980s. Korea also used to have booming local breweries but most of them were taken over by bigger companies. Some traditional booze such as makgeoli still preserve their historical uniqueness, but beer, which took off as a foreign import, has yet had enough time for new experiments in the Korean market. It is only recently when individual breweries began to pop up.



김수연기자 sykim@donga.com