Did You Know - Beer Edition

13 Facts Every Self-Respecting Beer Drinker Should Know

2. The four main ingredients of beer are grain, hops, yeast, and water Just like baking bread, the ingredients that go into beer play huge parts in their own rights. Grains (usually malted barely, but sometimes a blend of rye, oats, or other grains) give beer the sugar needed for fermentation. Water (which, at 95% of the product, is often the unsung hero) has to be treated to make sure nothing affects flavor or fermentation, and allows for all of the chemical reactions to take place. Hops act as a preservative and provide the bitterness to counterbalance the sweetness of beer and give it beautiful aromas. Yeast is the actual worker behind it all, converting sugar into alcohol and actually creating beer.

The process is so tried and true it’s even been legislated: in Germany, purity laws called Reinheitsgebot have ensured the ingredients have stayed the same since the 1500s (although actually sticking to it these days is sort of considered to be optional).

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