Hop Mastery

Finback Brewery Stellar Wind

TripleIPA

Every year the world sees new triple IPAs. They are often too strong or too bitter, or both. But Stellar Wind is a different matter: the NEIPA influence keeps the bitterness (and body) soft, and the 10 percent alcohol burns less than you'd expect. Aromas of nutmeg, peach, freshly cut grass, warm orange blossom honey and sweet glazed cakes keep the NEIPA connection. All these notes are felt on the tongue before the sip, in which vanilla, wheat and creamy lollipops come to the fore, remaining against the backdrop of warming alcohol. This beer, instead of attacking the receptors, feels soft like fluff.

Cloudwater Brew Co. NW DIPA Citra BBC Simcoe

ImperialIPA

It would be a mistake to say that New England-style IPAs are limited by geography. This style may have originated in the northeastern United States, but now it has spread throughout the world. In our opinion, few American breweries brew NEIPA better than Cloudwater, and this double IPA is arguably the best British brewery has achieved. With every sip, a hurricane of flavors covers the tongue - nutmeg, pineapple, raw grass, the slightest notes. blue cheese. The initial herbaceousness explodes with tangerines and mango puree, and the bitterness rises to the finish, and although it is stronger than usual for this style, it does not seem superfluous.

Hop Butcher for the World Grid

American pale ale

Brewers have been honing and refining IPAs over the past few years, and pale ale has been a little bit abandoned. But Hop Butcher showed that classic American style can still surprise. Citra and Mosaic saturate the beer with a powerful aroma that mixes marijuana and freshly cut grass, as well as caramelized onions, grapefruit peel and soft notes of mango. The beer changes with every sip. In one sip, you can feel the odorous notes of onion, in the other - sour mandarin, which gives way to pineapple and peach. Herbaceous flavors remain in the mouth, grapefruit pulp tingles on the sides of the tongue, and in the finish there is a light sweetness reminiscent of herb crackers. We can't believe that such a strong taste (and a wonderful texture - soft as goose down) could be embodied in a pale ale, but every sip confirms it. This is probably the best style we've tried this year.

Burial Beer Co./Interboro Spirits & Ales Stay G-O-L-D

AmericanIPA

In June, we held a massive IPA blind tasting. Of the 386 samples that were sent to us from all over the country, Stay G-O-L-D turned out to be the best. How by the way that the word "gold" is in its name. This is not just a collaboration between brewers, but between brewers and musicians - Run the Jewels, who gave beer the name of the track from their new album. But Stay G-O-L-D won the first place not because of its musical background - it's a matter of taste. The beer is as juicy as freshly squeezed tangerine juice with mango and peach, with a soft breadiness and a hint of vanilla, reminiscent of milkshake. Further sips reveal jam pie, pine needles, and even some pineapple. Hopped with Citra and Mosaic plus a double dose of dry hopping with Mosaic lupulin powder (this year's trend) for a kaleidoscopic hop character. The beer is bitter, but the bitterness is so pure and soft that it is barely noticeable. In Stay G-O-L-D, everything - hop flavor, bitterness, malt base, body, alcohol - is balanced and in its place. And the tasting showed that such a balance is rare. You don't often find gold, but when you do, you should keep it with you.

Noble AleWorks Nuclear Haze

ImperialIPA

Haze continues to dominate IPAs, and more New England-inspired hazes have been released this year. This double IPA with Citra, Mosaic, Idaho 7 and Ekuanot, however, crushed everyone else like a 50 megaton warhead. Onions, wheatgrass and tangerine explode in this cloudy liquid, and among the decay products are pineapple peel, soft peach and dried vanilla. Sour citrus and pine needles are found in the next sips, the finish is mostly dry and grassy with chunks wheat bread and soft onion skins. The soft and juicy body is saturated with hop flavor, and almost capsaicin fire tingles the tongue like radiation. Don't forget to wear a protective suit.

SØLE Artisan Ales Mosaic Nerd

IPA hoppedMosaic

Mosaic hops have been used for a long time, first for flavor in traditional IPAs and pale ales, and now for the juicy fruitiness of New England style IPAs. Although Mosaic often plays a secondary role in addition to Citra or Simcoe, it is able to come to the fore, which is what happens in this SØLE Artisan Ales single-hop. This beer is the epitome of Mosaic character, filled to the brim with juicy oranges, sour citruses and fresh grapefruit. It is for the sake of such beer that hop growers allocate more and more areas for Mosaic. We hope they will keep up with the demand of brewers.

Allagash Brewing Co. BrettIPA

Brett beer

This year the brewers have found new interesting ways the combination of hops and aromatic yeast notes, but no one has done it better than Allagash. Hopped with Amarillo, Bravo, Cascade, Centennial, Citra and Galaxy, this Brett IPA beckons with warm flavors of sweet pineapple, meringue, orange blossom and lychee, followed by the lightest barnyard notes. Crispy straw and baguette crust coexist with melon and grassy notes of hops, the finish is almost dry and only slightly peppery, with moderate light bitterness. This is a beer of outstanding complexity and sophistication. Plus, part of the profits will go to the animal shelter.

Rethinking the IPA

Reuben's Brews/Siren Craft Brew Home From Home

CoffeeIPA

New wave coffee beans give brewers the same vast flavor spectrum as hops. And if you combine them, then the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. Such is this New England style coffee IPA, the perfect fusion of fruity Kenyan coffee beans with a trio of Galaxy, Mosaic and Motueka hops. Oat malt and lactose round out the beer, and hops and coffee show up brighter against their background. The sweet, croissant-like maltiness fades into an iced coffee with cream, light hints of grapefruit peel are refreshing, and mocha notes emerge in the finish. Every technical solution here is carefully thought out, you just have to enjoy every sip.

Modern Times Beer Triton Project

DoubleIPA with South African hops

Who would have thought a year ago that South African hops would be talked about so much? In May, in restricting small brewers' access to South African hops, the giant responded that it was all about the low yield. SAB Hop Farms is now owned by AB InBev, which means the multinational company has access to varieties that have recently become popular in the US - Southern Star, Southern Passion and African Queen. The last two, along with the experimental variety XJA2/436, have been successfully used by Modern Times. This trio provides flavors of mango, sweet grapefruit, lemon and lime, as well as pleasant grassy notes of freshly cut grass. Will craft brewers be able to purchase South African hops in 2018? Let's hope.

Perfect porters

Ecliptic Brewing Capella Porter

Stout

Every year beer becomes more and more strange: experimental styles, unusual ingredients, untried techniques appear. All this is interesting, but sometimes tiring, and you want a simple porter brewed exactly in style - and here comes the time of Ecliptic head brewer John Harris. As one of the founders of Deschutes Brewery, Harris created Black Butte Porter, a style that remains one of the best sellers. Capella, which has been part of the Ecliptic range since the very beginning, since 2013, was bottled for the first time only this year. According to Harris, the recipe has been completely changed, but the approach remains the same - "creatively traditional". Small changes (Munich malt to enhance the toasty and biscuity character, shellless chocolate malt to reduce astringency and softer roasted notes) created the character of the beer. Capella - with hints of cocoa, roasted peanuts, burnt sugar and crushed black pepper, dry finish and long notes of licorice and burnt toast - this is the best example of the style we have tried this year.

Abnormal Beer Co./J. Wakefield Brewing All of the Lights

Imperial porter with coffee, lactose and hazelnuts

On the Russian beer market, the vast majority of products are brewing giants, and only a small part of the drink is produced by home or craft craftsmen. Fans of this fermented product can argue for hours about their preferences, discussing which brands of beer are the most delicious and aromatic. Some prefer light, others unfiltered, and still others dark. But all beer lovers are united by the main requirement for a drink - it must be of high quality.

Features of choosing quality beer

Quality is an indicator that the product was manufactured in accordance with the regulatory documentation, good raw materials were used, the requirements of technology and sanitation were met to the smallest detail. Any violation of these points leads to damage to the product.

But a simple consumer is more interested in another aspect: tasty beer or not. He may not recognize subtle changes in pH or low attenuation, but excess bitterness, sour taste, or off-flavour will be immediately felt by the hobbyist.

In the bottle - a mystery to the consumer. It is impossible to know its taste without opening the bottle and tasting it. But you can get an idea of ​​​​the quality of the foam by examining the information on the label:

1. The variety indicated on the bottle will give the basic concept of the drink. Lager - light, transparent and refreshing with a clean aroma of noble hops. Ale - with a rich aroma of esters and citruses, pronounced hop bitterness. Stout is dark, thick and sweet.
2. The bottling date indicates the freshness of the product. The fresher the better. From the moment of bottling, oxidation processes begin in the drink. Therefore, during storage, the taste and aroma of the product change for the worse.
3. List of ingredients. A standard set of water, malt of various varieties, hops and yeast can be supplemented with other raw materials. Rice, corn, molasses are added to the recipe to reduce the cost, but do not spoil the taste. Preservatives, artificial flavors and colors are considered undesirable ingredients.
4. The volume fraction of alcohol is an aspect understandable to many. The most popular transnational lager has an alcohol content of 5-6%. There are strong varieties in which the alcohol level can be up to 15-20% vol. In a non-alcoholic product, this figure is close to zero.
5. Solids content, or extract, is the amount of sugar left after fermentation. The higher it is, the sweeter the beer will taste. If the extract is less than 1-2%, then the drink can be called dry.

The main part of consumers is guided by the price, believing that expensive beer must be of high quality. The lower threshold for the cost of foam in Russia is 100 rubles. for 1 liter. What is cheaper will be questionable. A high-priced beer is a product of marketing or an import. Domestic beer is not inferior to foreign in quality, and its price is significantly lower. Therefore, you should not put an equal sign between an expensive and a good product.

Another aspect of choosing a foamy drink: which beer is better, draft or bottled. It's all about filling technology. On automatic line filling into kegs, the oxygen pickup is reduced to almost zero, which cannot be said about filling bottles with the product. A bottled drink has a much higher oxygen content. In the first days after bottling, the foam from the keg and the bottle will be identical, but after a month or two the difference will be obvious and not in favor of the product packed in glass.

Top non-alcoholic beer

Non-alcoholic beer is a product that satisfies the needs of a large group of beer connoisseurs. This is a favorite taste and aroma, but without the unhealthy alcohol.

True connoisseurs of the foam product say that good beer cannot be non-alcoholic. Beer is obtained by fermenting sweet wort with yeast, and alcohol is a natural product of this process. For getting soft drink alcohol is removed by distillation or fermentation is suppressed in the early stages.

But the demand for non-alcoholic fermentation product is growing all over the world. In Russia, the demand for such a product increased by 9.5% in 2017. Among the offers on the market, one can single out expensive beer and affordable domestic analogues.

Favorite brands of non-alcoholic foamy drink are represented by the following beer brands:

1. Products of the Baltika Concern: Baltika 0, Carlsberg Non-Alcoholic and Zhatetsky Goose Non-Alcoholic.
2. Beer from AB InBev: Stella Artois non-alcoholic, Hoegaarden 0.0 and BUD Alcohol Free.
3. "Heineken 0.0".

Rating of the best Russian beer

On the shelves of Russian stores are products of domestic breweries and their imported counterparts. A rating of the most demanded brands of beer in Russia was compiled, presented at various prices.

1. Efes Golden Mine Beer.
2. Heineken "Three Bears".
3. "Zhigulevskoe beer" "Zhigulevskoe".
4. Efes "The Old Miller".
5. Baltika Baltika Classic.

1. Efes "The Great Goat".
2. "Moscow Brewing Company" "Khamovniki".
3. Calsberg "Zhatec goose".
4. AB InBev Lowenbrau.
5. Efes "Golden barrel".

The best foam, the price of which is 70-100 rubles:

1. Heineken "Edelweiss".
2. "Moscow Brewing Company" "Oettinger".
3. Heineken Guinness.
4. AB InBev Hoegaarden.
5. "Baltika" "Warsteiner".

Rating of the best foreign beer

The leader in this list are US brewers, which occupy 73 lines out of 100 possible. Common brands include:

1. Hill Farmstead.
2. Firestone Walker.
3. Russian River.
4. Toppling Goliath.
5. Cycle Brewing.
6. Funky Buddha.
7. Prairie Artisan Ales.
8. Side Project Brewing.

Belgian brewers lost in popularity to their American counterparts and were represented by brands:

1. Bockereyder.
2. Cantillon.
3. Het Anker.
4. Brasserie Rochefort.
5. Westvleteren.

1. cloudwater.
2. Northern Monks.
3. Old Chimneys.
4. Thornbridge.

The top list also included Swedes (Omnipollo), Danes (Mikkeller), Norwegians (Lervig Aktiebryggeri), Italians (Le Baladin), Spaniards (Nómada Brewing), Poles (Browar Artezan) and Greeks (Seven Island Brewery).

The most expensive beer in the world is served in London's Bierdrome bar and is called Vielle Bon Secours. A 12 liter bottle costs about $1,000.

Features of the correct use of the drink

You can argue for a long time about which beer is better to drink, but spoil even the most delicious product wrong delivery.

Each type of foam has its own tasting temperature. The shape of the glasses is important, which helps to reveal the taste and aroma of the drink.

Light lagers should be drunk chilled to +7…+10⁰С, dark and amber lagers, as well as pale ale - to +10…+13⁰С, and stouts or dark ales open best at +13…+16⁰С.

A pint glass is suitable for British-style ales, a tall thin-walled glass for a German pilsner. Czech dark lager is drunk from small “pot-bellied” mugs, and German wheat weiss is drunk from tulip-shaped glasses. Oktoberfests are poured into liter mugs - masses, and Belgian ales - into small stemmed glasses.

Glasses are thoroughly washed with an odorless detergent and wiped dry with a clean towel. The chilled product is poured down the side of the glass in a thin stream to form a 2-finger head of foam. You should drink the liquid slowly, feeling the aroma.

Attempts to define the best beer in Russia, as, indeed, in other countries, are constantly being undertaken, however, true beer lovers are skeptical about such ratings. And there are several reasons for this:

• firstly, there is never a stagnation in the production of a foamy drink, and therefore strict judges will not have time to name the best beer (based on market research and a consumer survey ), how another leader comes to replace him in the new rating;

• secondly, any survey covers a relatively narrow circle of beer admirers, and therefore it simply cannot reflect all the tastes and preferences of a multimillion-strong army of consumers. That is why in the comments to any rating you can find angry statements like “Your best lager is just rubbish”;

• thirdly, in Russia, such ratings are completely empty, since it is simply impossible to objectively determine the best beer for such a huge country. Most often, beer ratings are guided by the main metropolitan areas of the European part of Russia, and sometimes they simply do not go further than Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Rating of the best Russian beer

Still, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the latest ratings of the best Russian beer. At least for the purpose of obtaining information that can be useful to many. So, according to them, several varieties of light lager from the Moscow Brewing Company are considered the best. These are "Khamovniki": "Munich", "Pilsen" and "Vienna". “Munich” is especially famous in bottling, which can be tasted in best bars and restaurants in Moscow. It is worth paying attention to the brand of the same manufacturer "Cervena Selka".

The second place is confidently occupied by a number of varieties of the Anapa Bogerhof brewery, among which Rye semi-dark and Bannoe dark stand out (although many people prefer the light lager of this brand).

The third place was occupied by two varieties of "Tomsk beer" (light and dark) of the Siberian company of the same name. Although lovers of strong beer would certainly prefer to move from fifth to one of the leading positions the porter "Afanasy" of the Tver brewery of the same name, and lovers of light lager would prefer the varieties "Sibirskaya Korona" of OJSC "SUN Inbev". And it’s hard to say which beer is actually better, it’s not for nothing that they say: there are no comrades for the taste and color ...

For example, brewers from the Ulyanovsk region assure that there is no better drink than the one produced in the Zlata Podkova mini-brewery in Dimitrovgrad in all of Russia, and maybe even in Europe. It is no coincidence that even Muscovites and Petersburgers come here to try it, and rare foreign guests are surprised to find that you can drink simply amazing ale in the Russian outback!..

The best foreign beer in Russia

Many people remember that thirty years ago any foreign beer was the best of the best for the Russian consumer. Fortunately, this state of affairs is a thing of the past. Today, the domestic foamy drink is no worse, or even an order of magnitude better than the "foreign" one, and this is firstly. And secondly, an imported product is always more expensive than a similar domestic product. For this reason, by the way, foreign beers are considered in a separate rating category as the most expensive.

The first place among such drinks in many Russian ratings occupies the Bavarian beer Spaten (full name - Spaten Munchen Hell) of the German brewery Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau GmbH, which has been producing it in Munich since 1397. The Spaten logo has even become the symbol of Germany's main annual beer festival, the Oktoberfest.

In second place, most Russian brewers put the Belgian ale Blanche de Namur with its spicy fruity aroma (curacao and coriander). In 2009, at the international exhibition World Beer Awards, this drink was recognized as the best white blanche in the world.

Well, our consumer by a majority of votes awarded the third place to the German unfiltered wheat drink Franziskaner, which has been produced by the Munich brewery of the same name since 1363. Its undoubted advantages are a special culture of brewer's yeast, unique wheat malt and strict use in the production of three main ingredients: water, hops and malt.

As you can see, it is quite difficult to unequivocally answer the question of which beer is better than all others in Russia. Probably, for this reason, the First Beer Club was created in due time, which helps its members to keep the right course in the modern "sea of ​​beer". Although, to be honest, many who come to this wonderful association are no less interested in discounts, which bars and restaurants - partners of the club - provide to its members.

And since such cooperation is very mutually beneficial, there are more and more such benefits, as well as institutions that provide them, in Russia (and not only). Therefore, trying the best beer, including foreign production, is not a problem for club members. If you want to drink only the most the best varieties beer at affordable prices, then we are waiting for you at the "First Beer Club"! To receive discounts at popular establishments, you need to get a special one.

Most of the goods included in the study are Russian-made, including from Moscow and the Moscow region (12), St. Petersburg (6), Nizhny Novgorod region (2), Yaroslavl region (6), Tula region (3), Samara region (2), Kaluga region (4), Ivanovo region (1), Bashkortostan (1), Tatarstan (2). The cost of production ranged from 67 to 260 rubles per liter.

The study is being carried out in stages at several accredited testing centers in several areas, including the mandatory requirements of the current legislation, an extended tasting program, as well as increased requirements for the quality of raw materials.

The results are published on a special page www.roskachestvo-beer.ru .

At the first stage, experts checked the beer for compliance with its identification characteristics, having studied indirect indicators of the quantity and quality of raw materials - malted and unmalted products that are used in the production of light beer.

There are myths among consumers that beer, especially cheap beer, is a kind of artificially carbonated surrogate of powder, alcohol, water and various additives (for example, dyes, flavor enhancers), which is made literally in a day.

Already at the first stage, the study allowed to debunk this consumer myth, says Deputy Head of Roskachestvo Elena Saratseva. « In the course of monitoring the quality of beer of all the most popular brands on the Russian market, not a single “synthetic” product was identified that would be made, as consumers sometimes think, by the express method of blending various additives and adding alcohol". Consumers who suspect that a foamy drink is all “chemistry” should take into account: it is simply expensive and impractical for a manufacturer to prepare beer from certain “powders” and extracts. But here is an expensive raw material - malt, indeed, in the established proportions, it can be diluted with unmalted products, which is allowed by law.

So, for the preparation of beer, at least 80% of malt (germinated and ground grains of barley, wheat or rye) should be used, and up to 20% may be unmalted raw materials - these are not germinated grains of barley or other cereals. They are added to create a blend. But if there is more than 20% of unsprouted barley or wheat, this indicates that the manufacturer violated the law and tried to save money. Such a drink cannot be considered a classic beer.

An indicator such as the mass concentration of total nitrogen can indirectly indicate a violation of these proportions. If its concentration is less than 600 mg/dm3, then the manufacturer could save on fermented malt. Also, such a deviation may be due to the quality of the malt and low protein content. Note that the protein content in the grain is unstable. It varies depending on the crop, year, sun. However, a range has been established where beer contains at least 600 mg per dm3 of total nitrogen: this figure is met if the manufacturer used 80% of the poorest barley (low protein) for the wort and 70% of the most selected barley was used. This indicator is included in the increased requirements of the Roskachestvo standard for applicants for the State Quality Mark.

In five cases out of 40, due to deep laboratory analyzes, a deviation in nitrogen was detected, which indirectly indicates the use of a reduced amount of raw materials or its low quality. From the point of view of the consumer, such a beer should be called rather a beer drink. Notes on nitrogen - to the beer "Arsenalnoye", "Okskoye", "Gorkovskoye", "Sverdlovskoye" and "Samara". Data trade marks were at the bottom of the rating and received a yellow card.

The top ten products with more malt compared to other brands included Okhota, Ochakovo, Siberian Crown, Lowenbrau and Krusovice Imperial, Zhiguli Barnoe, Khamovniki Venskoye, Bud, Amstel, Carlsberg.

Checking the correlation between the amount of malt and taste was carried out by Roskachestvo with the involvement of a tasting commission, which included leading industry experts from international associations and certified organoleptics. Members of the commission gave scores to impersonal samples for taste, color, aroma, and foam resistance. The last indicator, according to the mandatory GOST, will be checked by measuring the height of the foam and the time of its settling. In particular, beer is poured into a special glass with a diameter of 70-75 mm and a height of 105-110 mm so that the drink enters the center of the container. Foam, according to the national standard, with such a “guested” filling should be at least 3 cm high, and at least 3 minutes should pass before it dissolves.

Note that three products were removed from the tasting by the commission, because their foam settled a little earlier. These are Siberian Crown, Samara and Arsenalnoye. The remaining 37 samples were admitted to the next stage of tasting and received marks for taste, color and aroma.

According to the results of taste tests, beer has the highest mark of the Roskachestvo commission of all products Amstel (5,167 points). It was followed in descending order by Khalzan, Bud, Heineken, Stella Artois, Three Bears, Krusovice Imperial (Czech production), Efes, Bavaria, Krušovice (Russian production), Faxe.

The anti-five that received the lowest commission scores based on the results of a blind tasting (except for Arsenal, Sibirskaya Korona and Samara, who were not admitted to the main tasting) were: Zhigulevskoye Bochkovoe (manufactured by the branch of JSC Moscow-Efes Brewery in Moscow). Kazan), "Gorkovskoye", "Okskoye", "Baltika No. 3", "Sverdlovskoe".

After completion of all laboratory tests, Roskachestvo will submit to the Government of the country a detailed report on the results of the research, as well as form proposals for improving the quality alcoholic products, including proposals to change the current GOST.

Reminder, abuse alcoholic drinks fraught with your health. We also inform you that this material is not recommended for viewing by persons under 18 years of age.

Malt, hops and water are the main components of the wort. Almost everyone knows what a wort is. Experts also operate with such a concept as the extractivity of the initial wort - this is the content of dry extractive substances in beer. What forms the color, aroma, consistency, foaming, rich taste, persistent foam. If the beer is clearly diluted, then such beer will have a lower extract than necessary. With this indicator, all the studied samples are in full order.

All samples sent for analysis are also tested for the DNA content of various cereals to determine the origin of unmalted raw materials. To create a certain blend, the manufacturer can use not only wheat, but also other cereals. According to the results of the research, DNA of corn, rice, soybeans, oats was not detected in any of the samples.

7th place. Krusovice Imperial 5,034 points - 5th place in the malt ranking

2nd-3rd place: "Siberian Crown" - withdrawn from tasting due to low foaminess.