Thursday, June 01, 2006

inner dork: The difference between lager and pilsner beer

One of my favorite subjects.

Did you know...

Lager is produced by slow bottom fermentation and aged under refigeration for several months. In German, 'lagern,' means "to store" or "storehouse."

Pilsner beer is a light lager beer with a strong flavor of hops. It originated in Pilsen, a city in the Czech Republic, in 1877.
The flavor comes from pale malts, soft water, German or Czech hops, and lager yeast. These pale malts are dried for shorter periods of time and at lower temperatures than darker malt. The result is a beer with a golden color. Pilsner is the most widely copied beer and is the world's most popular beer.

All beers can be defined as either lager or ale. The difference is in the brewing. Whether a beer is a lager or an ale depends on the yeast used and the temperature of the fermentation process.
Lager ferments more slowly and at cooler temperatures than ale. Because the yeast settles to the bottom of the tank, it is called "bottom-fermented" beer.
Ale tends to ferment rapidly and is referred to as "top-fermented." Ale tends to have a higher alcohol content and to be heartier and darker than lager.

Malt liquor is a beer that has too high an alcohol content by law to be labeled lager or ale. Malt liquor is 5 to 6 percent alcohol, ale is 4 to 5 percent and lager is 3.5 percent alcohol.

In America, 90 percent of all malt beverages produced are lager beers.

Factoids:

An ancient Babylon clay document indicates that beer making dates back to around 6000 B.C. Hops were first used around 3000 B.C.

Ancient Greeks believed that drinking beer would cause leprosy.

While visiting Dortmund, Germany's King William IV of Prussia drank a 10-year-old, very strong ale and was unconscious for over 24 hours. (OY! The hang-over he must have had!)

Beer cans were not produced until 1935.

American pale lager beer has fewer calories than an equivalent amount of 2% milk or apple juice. (All the more reason to drink it, I say.)

9 comments:

Phollower said...

Fewer calories than 2% milk? So why the hell haven't I been having beereal for breakfast? All I know is I'm going to go home and start drinking because of this post and it's all your fault. Thanks in advance.

Dagny said...

One of my uncles used to try to argue that beer was better for you than water.

Karl said...

- sigh -

Every day my crush on you becomes a little bigger.

TrappedInColorado said...

Do they still have 99 cent pitcher nights?

Party Girl said...

Phollower: You're welcome. I do what I can to help others.

I like the idea of beereal. Liquid bread on top of grain and oats? Fiber and fiber.

Dagny:...and that thinking is...wrong..??

Karl: *winks and smiles*

trapped: ah, memories. The days of nickle draws and quarter pitchers. Oh, and college towns where you could drink a whole night on Lincoln.....sigh....

Joe said...

heh. Beereal. I'm up for that.

Jay Adkins said...

Just quickie here. Too tired to think.

Did you know that Heineken sold here in America is a lager, while the domestic version sold in Europe is a pilsner?

Heineken is SO much better as a Pils!

Dirty Bunny said...

lager or pilsner...all beer sucks, but it does smell good on Joe's breath.

Party Girl said...

JOefish: Me, too.

Jay: I miss the outer dorkings!! But thanks for the quickie. A girl can always use a quickie!

Dirtybunny: Blasphemy!