Beer … when it is heard on hot days, I am sure that it is a relaxing and a little alcoholic beverage that many of us breathe in, “if we drink now”, “what would go well”. (I’m sure even now there are sighs.)
In fact, the history of this drink dates back to 4000-3500 BC. The first findings are revealed during the excavations in 3500 BC in Iran. To make the comparison more apparent, we can say that it is older than the religions. In short; We can assume that the first craft beer dates back to 3500 BC.
So what is “Craft Beer”?
It is a kind that is produced as a boutique away from industry, has more quality concerns than commercial anxiety, has different flavors and aromas, and can be called more artisan beer.
As time progressed and the related places opened up, the interest in boutique beer started to increase. Because now people instead of drinking one type of industrial beer, try different brands and move away from standard beer, which will be a culture that will become more popular in our country. Of course, there are some factors that increase this popularity. Compared to other alcoholic beverages, beer is more economical and accessible in general.
Beer culture in some countries, such as Germany, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and America, are also in a relatively advanced state compared to other countries. Again in these countries there are schools and also programs on beer production, which is why they are so good at this.
In the chart below, you can find the number of companies producing “Craft Beer” (2015).
In line with the graphic above, America’s superiority at this point is remarkable. If we elaborate the chart a bit more in line with America, California comes to the fore in craft beer production.
(The data below belongs to 2013)
Another graphic below shows the amount of craft beer produced in the USA between 2008-2014.
In the above data, it supports the argument that the interest in craft beer in the world is increasing day by day.
BEER TYPES
We can divide the beer into two groups, generally ale and lager.
Lager beers are known as sub-fermentation: In this type of beer, the wort resulting from fermentation is collected at the bottom. In addition, fermentation takes place at 6-8 ° C and 8-12 days.
Ale beers are known as top fermentation. Unlike lager beers, wort accumulates on top. Fermentation takes place at 14-15 ° C in 3-5 days.
Since different types of microorganisms are used during fermentation in these two types of beer production, it has its own characteristics in flavor, color and taste. Since there are limited production methods in industrial productions, taste and flavor properties are also limited in a particular scale. The difference between craft beers and industrial ones starts here.
It is possible to find different tastes and characteristic beers in line with the amount of hops, sugar and yeast used, and the variations in temperatures and times during fermentation. Of course, taking into account the effort and conditions, the production cost is higher than industrial beer.
In fact, much can be written and drawn on this subject, both as technical details and other statistical data. However, without going much details, I tried to simply explain what craft beer is.
While trends in the world are heading towards that direction, yet Turkey has not synchronized with the trend. Big brewer componies in Turkey should seriously work on this issue, if they want to grab a share of this pie, otherwise it is likely to start losing in the current world market rates.
Another possible scenario is that boutique brewers around the world will collaborate with purchasing departments due to the difficulties in industrial arena.
We can support the potential here with statistical data as follows.
You can see the growth in world beer consumption compared to other alcoholic beverage types in the graphic above. Since this statistic shows the overall beer consumption, we cannot see its share in boutique beer, but we can catch the upward trend as time goes on. The rising in beer will also reflect on boutique beer production and consumption.
As a result; In the brewing sector, we see that a different formation is emerging especially against industrial products. My advice to beer lovers; they are definitely giving a chance to boutique products.
Wish you to understand the difference and not to miss an important opportunity to take the beer out of the standards …
We talked about that much craft beer, now it’s time to taste it.