Ask me something about beer - Part 2

Hey guys! If you are following us on social media, you notice our series of posts about common questions around beer. I will start to colapse some of the posts here, always trying to expand a little bit, as I believe here we have a more reader public.

As I explained in the first post, the inspiration came from following many beer influencers and observing they answer a lot of such questions with DEPENDS!

Maybe, many people think “beer geeks” dive in the beer world because of a favorite style, or because of a favorite beer, brand or etcs. However, most beer lovers are not really loyal to a style or a brand, but what make us fell in love is exactly the opposite: the never ending discovery of beers. That's why we love a BrewVenture! But also, it is what makes very hard for us to pick one single style, one single brand, or even one single beer destination

To explore such subjects I decided to create this series of posts explaining why, at least for me, the answer is depends. In part 1, I answered the questions about what is my favorite beer, and what is my favorite beer style. Today, in part 2, I will answer my favorite type of beer conditioning and my favorite beer destination.

On the left, the keg I use at home for reducing the number of bottles to fill. In the center, a fridge full of glass bottles only with local beers at the Zapfhahn, in Bamberg. On the right, a pint of Guinness with a beautiful creamy head thanks to the nitrogen gadget of the can.

Do you prefer tap, bottled or canned beer?

It DEPENDS! Yes, but this is easy to explain. Once you allow yourself to learn more about beer, you'll discover that some beers are bottled for a reason. The flavors and aromas in beer can change over time. So, we should look at a beer’s conditioning format more from a storage point of view.

Let’s go one at a time:

Tap beer: What you don’t see behind the wall of taps at your favorite pub are the kegs. Kegs are pressurized containers and a very functional way of distributing beer. Many beer styles lose their flavors and aromas quickly, and the shelf life of unpasteurized beer in kegs is around 60 days.

Therefore, drinking tap beer usually means you're drinking fresh beer and experiencing its full flavor and aroma potential. Drinks in general were stored and shipped in wooden barrels for years. Kegs nowadays are mostly made of stainless steel offering protection against light, oxygen and contamination.

In the United Kingdom, the ‘Casks’ are the traditional kegs, but producing Cask Ales is a whole religion. If you want to know more about that, I strongly recommend you to watch the ‘Keep the cask alive’ series by the Craft Beer Channel (CFC). Thanks to the CFC effort, now, the Britain government is working on the application of the cask beer process as a recognized intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Bottled beer: Glass is a great inert container for beer—just like how we often serve beer in glassware. Bottles are also commonly used for aging certain styles. However, only a few beer styles actually benefit from aging.

Depending on the color of the glass, beer can be more or less affected by light exposure. Dark glass blocks a large amount of light, offering better protection. On the other hand, clear or green bottles are more susceptible to what we call “light-struck.” This is when light reacts with compounds in the beer, producing a skunky aroma and flavor. I know some of you may even enjoy this characteristic in green bottle beers like Heineken —but I don’t!

Another aspect that can make bottles prefered to cans is pressure. Bottles like the ones used for sparkling one are more resistant to pressure and therefore safer for high carbonated styles.

Canned beer: Cans offer many of the same benefits as glass (they're inert, handy, and easy to stack and transport), with the added bonus of full protection against light. Cans are also a great canvas for marketing—many brands put tons of creativity into making eye-catching labels.

Personally, I always prefer cans when buying beer at the supermarket.

Also, they allow utilization of nitrogen gadgets developed by Guinness that deliver a greater experience when drinking Irish Stouts or Irish Red Ales.

That said, many beers are still finished in the final packaging. Styles like Geuze, or Weissbier, and others traditionally go through a second fermentation step in the bottle. I once heard from a German beer expert that they would never drink a Weissbier from the tap—always from the bottle. For them, this is part of the process and something that you should never skip. Hopefully, now, you can agree with me that, at least for this question, DEPENDS is the best answer.

What is your favorite beer destination?

It depends! Because I actually have two favorites: my next dream beer destination and the best beer destination I’ve visited so far.

When it comes to the next beer adventure, I’d definitely pick Belgium! The Belgium Brewventure is still on my list. I mean, how can anyone resist so many amazing beer styles? Lambic, Geuze, Dubbel, Belgian Pale Ale… the list is longer than my excuses to go on another beer trip!

Plus, Belgium is a small country bursting with historic breweries and iconic bars like Kulminator, so exploring shouldn’t be too complicated (famous last words!). On the right, you can see how my ‘places to visit’ map looks like for Belgium. So, the real challenge? Deciding where to go first. I’d definitely kick things off with a BeerSecret tour to get insider tips and avoid looking completely like a lost tourist. Then, of course, I’d follow local recommendations until I’m on a first-name basis with half the bartenders.

I can’t wait to visit places like the Brasserie Cantillon, and all the Trappist Abbeys like Westvleteren, Westmalle, Chimay, Orval and others. Another place to not miss is De Dolle. I had the pleasure of participating in a tasting of 10 bottles of their special Christmas beer, the ‘Stille Nacht’ here in Thessaloniki last year. I must confess things became very dizzy after the seventh bottle, but it was incredible to taste the differences between beers that more or less have a similar base. It is a very creative brewery and a visit would be more than deserved.

Now, about the beer destination I liked the most so far — it comes down to one question: where would I happily go back tomorrow? The answer was easy: BAMBERG!

I only spent an afternoon and evening there, but that was enough for Bamberg to steal my malt-loving heart. Even after just a few hours, I left wanting more — especially to explore those small, local breweries outside the city center. And let’s be honest: as you all know, I’m a huge fan of smoked beer (Rauchbier) — and Bamberg has Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial that keep smoking their own malt and feeding all the local smoked beer industry. If you want to know more about my visit to Bamberg check out the post about the German leg of the first BrewVenture here.

Germany, in general, impress for the amount of breweries they have, and Bamberg is quite a place. I remember stopping at the ‘Zapfhanhn’ and looking to a whole fridge full of beers. When they handed me the menu, they have a small map showing that all the beers they have were produced in breweries from the surroundings of Bambergs. Well, it was enough to fill a whole two-door fridge. Again, the hardest part is pick one! That’s why I would love to return and explore the beer scene in a slower pace.

That was all for the ‘Ask me something about beer’ part 2. If you have any question about beer, please reach us by email or in our social media. We will be answering that on the next posts. Thank you for reading! Cheers!