Beer is considered as one of the most favourite as well as most consumed beverages among the alcohol lovers of the world. A drink which is so old, thousands of years or probably as old as civilisation itself, and that can be taken to quench your thirst on a hot sunny day as a cold beer, or with lunch/ dinner or even to pass time with friends or on a cold day a hot mulled beer. Without any doubt, it is the most popular alcoholic beverage consumed in the US, though the American palate generally does not cater to mulled beer unlike the English one. Just for the awareness of those who are ignorant, lager, stout, ale all are beer though technically differ in constituents, flavour and method of brewing.
Beer brewing itself can be micro brewing and nano brewing as against mass brewing in large scale though these terms also do reflect a different stand out approach to brewing customer service. Craft brewing is also micro brewing and it refers to traditional brewing method, with lot of experimentation focussing on quality as well as flavour. This is something that is gaining a lot of popularity in the recent times in the US. Finally, as a completion to the technicalities, a brewpub is a pub which brews its own beer for sale and can be considered as microbrewery too. Alcohol content and even the bitterness of the beer are gauged by standard units. Alcohol is measured by volume - ABV and bitterness is measured in IBU (international bitterness unit).
Alcohol content in the American beer usually ranges from 4-6% ABV. The popular brands like Budweiser, Miller lite, etc. have an average of5%. They used to be quite popular before and now are on the verge of being taken over by craft beer in the US.
Like fashion, changing trends catch up with the choice and taste of consumers in beer too. IPA (Indian pale ale), is a beer that is flavoured with the fruit hop. It used to be hopped moderately with an ABV of 5.5-6.5%. But with time the taste preference of beer lovers has shifted to IPA with higher alcohol content and IBU especially in the US.
The sourness is also getting lot of popularity!
To those newly initiated to craft beer, something light similar to Pilsner / lager or session ale or something less bitter that is light on hop like stout/ Belgian blond etc are recommended.
Now, if you are wondering if the US is the topmost among the countries producing beer in volume, the answer is no; it is China! Wait, time for surprises continues. So which country produces the best beer in the world? The answer is Belgium. But don't be disappointed beer lovers of the US, our country occupies a proud second in both the cases, quality as well as quantity, which is quite good. Anyway let us see which the best haunts are for beer lovers of America for whom drinking beer has become more or less a fashionable hobby.
For craft beer in the US, the most sought after places could be Tornado pub in Sanfransisco and Mekong restaurant in Henrico , Virginia. Another such place worth a visit is Bob's bar in Columbus, Ohio.
A piece of good advice on concluding note- dear beer lovers, do dare to seek your beer out of your local zone, for, the best beer beckons you may be from only just a few states away!