Craft beer: how to recognize the real one?
Craft beer and craft beer: which is the best?
Beer has a history going back thousands of years, around 3500 B.C. thanks to the Sumerian population, known as the first brewing people. Beer was a status symbol, each social class had in fact directed to access different quantities and different types per day. According to the tradition of different populations, a woman invented te precious drink. The Armenian mythology tells that the goddess of the earth, known as Armalu, was experimenting in the kitchen with different cereals, until she came to invent beer.
In addition to being one of the most appreciated drinks, according to several studies it also seems to have some benefits on human health. Among the main ones:
- Thanks to the action of a phytocomplex, hops is able to prevent the growth of blood vessels in the vicinity of a tumor. Therefore prevents tumor progression;
- Silicon, a substance contained in beer, should instead prevent osteoporosis, a disease that attacks bones;
- Drinking beer also seems to facilitate diuresis and thus reduces the risk of developing kidney stones by up to 30%;
- Its digestive properties stimulate the production of gastric acid, which promotes the digestion process;
- Finally, some studies have shown that beer, moderately drunk, decreases cholesterol deposits in the arteries;
However, there are different types of beer, categorized according to the temperature of fermentation and yeast used. The main classes are high fermentation or Ales beers, low fermentation or Lager, and finally spontaneous fermentation or Lambic. But, beyond its types, a fundamental distinction addressed is between industrial and craft beers, but also between craft beers and craft beers. Grifo Marchetti, who has been working in the beer sector for years, is well aware of this, always offering quality machines for its customers.
Industrial beers, craft beers and craft beers
First of all, industrial beers are always characterized by filtering and pasteurization, this allows you to keep the drink and thus avoid possible changes in taste. Pasteurization is in fact a thermal process that raises the temperature of beer for about half an hour. This procedure eliminates any micro-organisms. At the same time it blocks the transformation of sugars into alcohol and therefore you inevitably lose some characteristics of the taste of beer.
Craft beers, however, are not subjected to any chemical process, so it is not even pasteurized. Obviously, you have to consume them faster, but it manages to keep intact the typical taste of beer.
In recent years, a new concept in the beer sector has also begun to emerge, namely crafty beer. You might think crafty beers are craft. However, these drinks are only apparently artisanal. They, in fact imitate the same marketing techniques, on the technical level the processes are more similar to an industrial production. Craft beers can therefore mislead the consumer by incorporating elements in the packaging that recall craft beers. Some of the most common ways are:
- Insertion of the number, but not of the type, of the hops;
- Insistence on a particular ingredient;
- Using a brewer’s signature;
So how do you recognize real craft beers?
First, you can taste the quality. By doing a short taste test you can notice some typical traits of industrial beers. If you feel the bread, then the beer has had too many changes of heat, if you can smell the cardboard, then the beer is old. If you can smell the solvent, then there was a bad fermentation.
In addition, in Italy since 2016 has been introduced a legislative definition referring to craft beers: “Craft beer is defined as beer produced by small independent breweries and not subjected, during the production phase, to pasteurization and microfiltration processes. Both legal and economic independence”.
Grifo Marchetti has been supporting the quality production of small and medium-sized Italian companies for more than fifty years. We want to bring Made in Italy all over the world. Discover our catalogue here!
