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- Written by Ilija Karjakovic
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In my opinion pairing beer and food is simple individual thing. There is a lot of studies which beer should go with which food, some made science of it. For example, lagers are good with seafood, fast food, crispy chicken, salads or cheese. Wheat beer goes wi
th spicy food like Mexican or Indian and fruity deserts. IPA is good with Asian food, fish, burgers and barbecue. Stouts are good with chocolate desserts, shellfish and grilled meat. Ales are good with pizzas, smoked meat, fish…
Maybe there is some science behind that but if I don’t like some beer, no matter what science said, that beer will ruin my food experience. Also, I like my beer before meal, it tastes better and I enjoy it more. Once I was invited to my friend’s party. He prepared a grilled fish. After meal he poured me a glass of white vine and said that I should drink vine after fish, it is the right way… It didn’t set well on me because I don’t like vine, I am beer man…
So, instead of listening other people I suggest you to combine beer you love with food you love… That way you will have the best from both worlds. Some might disagree with me, but like I said, it is individual thing. The rule is there are no rules…
Also, you can combine beer with food on another way. I’ll give you some of my tested recipes.
Barbecue Marinade
Take a pork loin or leg, chop it to small pieces like small cubes 3 or 4 cm. Cut 2 or 3 big onions on bigger pieces and put all in a bowl and season it by your taste. I recommend salt, pepper, garlic powder, ground paprika or you can season it with some barbecue mix… whatever you prefer. I would throw some chili as well. Mix it 
well with hand to combine all ingredients. Take one beer, I prefer lager, and pour it in the bowl with your meat. Put some lid on it or wrap it with cling film and leave it in the fridge overnight. That way your meat will be tender, soft and juicy, and it will have beautiful flavour. Strong smell of beer will be lost in the smoke.
Before grilling take the skewers and soak them in the water. Cut the bacon (pork belly) on thin pieces. Now take the stick and start arrange your skewer. First put one piece of meat, then bacon, onion, meat… Until you fill the stick. You can use bell pepper, mushroom or any other vegetable to fill space between meat. Put it on a hot coal for a few minutes, turn it regularly. This can work with chicken as well… The most important thing is to drench your throat with beer of your choice while meat is on fire…
Braised Pork Chops
Take a pork chops or steaks, season it the way you like, salt, pepper… On a hot pan put some oil, throw the chops in the pan, fry them one minute on each side, pour beer in the pan and small amount of water, just to almost cover the meat. Put the lid on and lower the heat. Occasionally turn chops. When all liquid evaporates, pour just one spoon of olive oil and small amount of beer and fry them until brown. Sauce from frying pour over the mash potato.
Beer Donuts
Mix two eggs until foamy, gradually add 120g of sugar, 600g of flour, two small tea spoons of baking powder, and one wheat beer. Take the dough with a wet spoon and put it in a hot oil. Season it with powder sugar, Nutella or jam…
Crunchy Sticks
Make a dough from 450g of flour, 1 egg, 1 tea spoon of baking powder, 2 dl of oil, 1.6 dl of beer. After you made dough leave it aside around half an hour. Roll it out on 1 cm thick. Cut the sticks 8 – 10 cm long, sort it on a baking pan, coat it with scrambled egg and sesame seeds. Bake in the hot oven on 200 oC for 20 minutes.
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- Written by Ilija Karjakovic
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Are there any benefits of drinking beer? Of course!
First of all, it will make you happy! ? But there are some health benefits of drinking beer as well…
- It lowers Blood pressure
According to Harvard’s research and study, moderate drinking beer can significantly lower your blood pressure. Some people will say it is not true because alcohol can lead to high blood pressure but what do they know, right?
- Beer keeps your kidneys healthy
Some smart researchers in Finland (thank God for them) found that one bottle of beer daily lowers the risk of developing kidney stones by 40%. They also said, some stuff in hops can help slow the release of calcium from bones, which in turn prevents build-up of lost calcium in the kidney in the form of stones.
- Beer belly myth
Good fellow researchers at the University College of London and the Institut Klinické a Experimentální Medicíny in Prague come to conclusion that beer will not give you bigger overhang if you drink it moderately. But if you combine beer with non-moderate portion of popcorns, burgers, cheeseburgers, pizzasssss… well, that’s another story…
- Cancer fighter
Some great stuff called xanthohumol has a major role in the chemoprevention of cancer, including prostate cancer. According to Bio-medicine, it is also a good source of polyphenols, due to the grains used for fermentation. It has been proven effective in fighting cancer. You see… one went to invent nice alcoholic beverage and accidently made a cure…
- Beer can help with insomnia
Can it really help with insomnia? Well, you have to test for yourself, because if you drink one too many you will have to go to toilet and your lovely dream will be interrupted. But if you have few too many you can cure insomnia to much and get hypersomnia…
- Protects your heart
Beer is full of vitamin B6, which protects against heart and cardiovascular diseases. Also, it lowers bad cholesterol in your blood. But those Italian researches said only one pint per day. Except if you drink because of broken heart, then it is allowed more until you heal…
- Reduces risk of type 2 diabetes
Again, smart heads from Harvard, testing 38000 people came to conclusion that moderate drinking beer can reduce risk of type 2 diabetes. These research results were also confirmed by the American Diabetes Association. Just think of that… 38000 people in 4 years…How many pints is that?
- Bone straightener
On 2009 group of scientists on Tufts University came up with idea to test how beer affects the bone density. The results showed that if you drink one or two pints per day it can increase your bone density by 4.5%. So, your bones will be less prone to fractures and osteoporosis. But if you drink more than two it will have the opposite effect, with up to 5.2 percent lower density.
- Stress reliever
Going for a pint after work? Of course, a pint or two will reduce work-related stress or anxiety. Even Researchers at the University of Montreal proved that with scientific methods… But we don’t need scientists to prove that…
- Nectar of the Gods
I’m sure many will say there is a lot more benefits like it delays aging, prevents dementia, it’s good for skin, for your brain… But most of all, it is far more enjoyable to have nights out with your friends or cheer for your favourite team with beer is in your hand…
Just drink responsible, drink moderate, drink to enjoy life not to get drunk…
Cheers!
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- Written by Ilija Karjakovic
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BREWING
Main ingredients of every beer are water, malt, yeast and hops. The brewing process starts with grains, usually barley, which has to be dry or roasted, and mold free.
Malting
Grains need to be crushed so the starch from grains can be converted into fermentable sugars. If it is not crushed enough less starch will be fermenting, if the crush is too fine the brew will become gummy and unusable.
Mashing
Crushed grains are mixed with hot water in the large mash tun. The heat from the water activates the enzymes from grains wich begin to convert the starch into sugar. Brewers can control sweetness of beer by controlling the temperature. Lower temperature will produce less sugar, higher temperature will result in sweeter beer.
Lautering
From the mashing tun, mash is transferred to lautering vessel where all the liquids are drained with false bottom of the vessel. Those liquids are called wort. More water is sprayed through the grains to wash out as much of the extract as possible. This is known as sparging. Sparging must be short as possible, as eventually the bitter tannins from the grain will also be added to wort.
Boiling
After the wort has been separated from the grains, it is transferred to a huge kettle to boil for one to two hours, where beer is sterilized, and hops are added. If hops are boiled for long time, one hour or more, they will produce more bitterness. If hops are boiled for short period of time, 10-15 minutes or at lower temperature, hops will release aroma and flavour to the beer. When the boiling is finished beer is transferred to a whirlpool to collect boiled hops. Then it is immediately cooled. Cooling the beer quickly is important, since the beer will immediately begin to oxidize and produce off-flavours.
Fermentation
The fun starts here! After cooling beer is transferred to big stainless steel or oak vat and yeast is added. Yeast starts to eat the sugar and in that process alcohol and carbon dioxide is released as well as a variety of flavour. Storing depends on the type of yeast. Ale is stored for a couple of weeks at room temperature and a lager is stored for many weeks or months at cold temperatures. When fermentation is over beer is filtered to remove yeast.
Bottling
After allowing it to age for some time, the final step in the brewing process is packaging the beer. Beer is packed into bottles, cans or kegs and CO2 is added.
BEER TYPES
In the process of production, fermentation of yeast determines type of beer. There are two ways of fermentation – top and bottom. Top produces Lager beer, and bottom produces Ale beer.
ALES
Ales are brewed using top fermenting yeast at warmer temperature. Yeast sits at the top of the fermentation tank and it ferments quickly. Ales are characterized by a full bodied and fruity flavour, also darker in colour. Many ales, such as India pale ales, contain more hops which results in a slightly bitter taste to help balance the sweetness.
Types of beer in the ale category include pale ales, wheat beers, bitters, porters, stouts, barley wines, brown ales and triples.
LAGERS
Lager is brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast at a lower temperature and it ferments slowly, on the bottom of the fermentation tank, usually three weeks or more, and is characterized by a mild, crisp, and refreshing taste than ale and has less hop flavouring.
Types of beer in the lager category include pilsners, Vienna lagers, bocks and marzens.
STYLES
Style is determent by its colour, aroma and taste. Colour comes mainly from malt. Variety goes from pale ale to dark black. Heavily roasted malt produces dark colour and gives beer a creamy taste. Depending on type of malt, taste could be slightly chocolate or coffee. We can also influence the colour by adding flavour ingredients like fruits, spices or herbs.
Amber
Amber beers are medium bodied with toasted malt aromas with hints of caramel sweetness. Colour vary from light copper to light brown in hue. These beers could be either lager or ale.
Blonde
Blonde has low to medium bitterness, very pale colour and tend to be clear, crisp, and dry, with aroma from hops and some sweetness from malt.
Stout
Stouts are thick and creamy, also dark brown or jet-black color thanks to characteristic of long-roasted malt and flavours enhanced with notes of cocoa, coffee, chocolate or toffee.
Brown
Brown ale are medium bodied with hint of caramel and chocolate flavours and may have a slight citrus or malty or nutty accent, depending on the area of brewing.
Cream
A very mild, sweetish, golden style of ale.
Dark
Dark ale is a dark brown colour, with a delicate fruity smell and robust, malty character.
Golden
First developed in the UK, Golden ales are straw coloured with a slight hint of citrus and vanilla. The beer can sometimes contain spicier flavours.
Honey
A full-bodied beer with slightly hints of caramel and a creamy texture and copper colour.
India Pale Ale
IPA has a characteristic of very hopped, lightly malted body, aromatic and extra bitterness with hint of citrus and fruits. Usually they have higher percentage of alcohol. The name comes from period when England occupied India. They were shipping beer overseas but due to long journey beer kept spilling. So, they come up with solution, to add more hops (which is natural preservative) and alcohol. It worked, and everyone were happy.
Light
Extremely light in colour and mild in flavour. Light beer has less calories and lower alcohol content.
Pilsner
Great pilsners are technically difficult to make and relatively expensive to produce. They are delicate and for great taste must be fresh. They are medium- to medium-full bodied with a dry, crisp, and somewhat bitter flavour and golden colour. Made with neutral and hard water and more hops, Pilsner surly stands out from other lagers.
Red
Red Ales use specialty roasted malts that create a light red to a dark brown colour with red hues and gives it a sweeter, butterscotch or caramelized flavour, and tends to leave a dry finish. Its alcohol content is medium.
An Irish ale are lightly hopped with toasted malt flavour and dry finish. It may also be slightly sweet. There are also Belgian Reds (more sour notes) and American Red Ales (similar to amber ales).
Strong
This is a broad grouping that can describe any beer over 7% ABV.
Wheat Beer
Lightly coloured, full flavoured and it must be made from at least 50% wheat malt and top-fermenting yeast. Wheat proteins contribute to a hazy, or cloudy appearance and are commonly unfiltered, leaving yeast sediment in the bottle.
Bock
Bock beer is stronger than typical lager, dark amber to brown colour with malty flavour and hop bitterness. Its malty, full-bodied, creamy, full-mouthed taste can feel like a meal, which brings the old legend of Bavarian monks to truth as they subsisted on bock during long fasting.
Porter
Porter is dark and creamy with Low to medium malt sweetness and hint of caramel or chocolate. It is very similar to stout, but porter has no roasted barley and strong burnt malt character because it is made from, or mostly from, unroasted barley.
Tripel
Tripel (Trappist) is a Belgian ale, complexed but very good balanced between malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Tripel has deep yellow or golden colour and a lightly sweet flavour with a crisp, dry and spicy finish with citrus notes. Its alcohol content is high.
