“Beer, it’s the best damn drink in the world.”
Jack Nicholson
Everybody loves a cold beer, right? Actually, beer is one of the top five most consumed beverages in the world, right after water, tea, coffee, and soft drinks. Songs have been written, documentaries have been made, and we celebrate beer at fairs and festivals. Beer even had its own goddess in ancient times, and a famous song “The Hymn to Ninkasi” praised the Sumerian goddess of beer, as well as an ancient recipe for brewing. Now, that’s what we call a success story!
History of Beer
It’s thought that the first beer in the world was brewed in ancient China around 7000 BC. Back then, people used the fermented beverage as part of a ritual to honor the dead. About 3500-3100 BC in Mesopotamia, paintings, poems, and myths describe people and their gods enjoying beer for celebration. At that time, beer was thick, like oatmeal and it was consumed through the first straws, invented by the Sumerians, to filter out pieces of bread or herbs in the beverage. Later, the Egyptians believed that beer, which was made from barley, was a nutritious and healthy drink and that the fermentation process helped to purify the beer and made it safer than water to drink.
As we turn the pages of history, beer continues to rise in popularity. The Industrial Revolution was an era of unprecedented progress that saw beer embracing modern technology while the following modern era was a period that rekindled appreciation for traditional methods and the art of experimentation. Today, beer making has evolved even further and we face a flourishing beer scene with many styles, ingredients, and techniques.
Brewing Non-Alcoholic Beer
Almost all beer is made from four ingredients - water, grain, yeast and hops. Brewing any type of beer begins with a process called mashing. In this step, malted grain (or other types of grain) is partly crushed and mixed with hot water. The grain goes through a few more steps - lautering and boiling - before it reaches fermentation. This is where the alcohol is produced. Non-alcoholic beer is made by either removing the alcohol afterwards or restricting alcohol formation during the fermentation process. Here are three methods breweries use nowadays to remove alcohol.
Dealcoholization
This is the most commonly used method to make alcohol-free beer. The beer is brewed the same way as alcoholic beer, with the alcohol removed after fermentation using advanced techniques such as dealcoholization through evaporation and dealcoholization through membranes, among others.
Dilution
This is also a method where the alcohol is removed after fermentation. By creating a beer that will be a lot more concentrated, the brewers can dilute it without losing all of the flavor. The dilution process starts after fermentation and water is added until the alcohol level is under 0,5%.
Limited fermentation
The alcohol in craft beer is created during the fermentation process, when the yeast breaks down the sugar. So, by limiting the amount of alcohol produced during fermentation to keep it under 0,5%, you’ll be left with a low-alcohol beer.
The most effective way to create a completely non-alcoholic beer is just to skip the fermentation process altogether. Of course, fermentation is an important part of the process that also gives the beer fizz, flavors and aromas. Luckily, brewers can make tweaks to the production process and the recipe to create a drink that looks, smells and tastes like beer.
If you want to quench your thirst with some non-alcoholic beer, check out our non-alcoholic beers at Sansad Bar. We hope you’ll like them as much as we do. One thing is for sure, there is more to come.