Drinking is never just about getting drunk, nor is it a habit that has built up over the years, but it's because it's good! Drinking! In the summer, Benguet's favorite thing to do is to grab a cold beer, eat some meat, drink some wine, and talk about old times. The beer I'm talking about here is definitely not Budweiser, Snowflake, Tsingtao..., but Craft Beer, which is a good beer that definitely meets the requirements in terms of alcohol content and taste.

Craft beer is simply high-quality, concentrated beer made with more and better ingredients. The key is that each craft brewery can add different ingredients such as chocolate, coffee, fruit, or even wood to flavor their beer, resulting in a wide range of flavors that are highly creative.

Trust Bengal, after drinking craft beer you'll have nothing but MMP in your heart for the masses.

◆ What is craft brewing

Craft brewing is another type of high-quality beer as opposed to mass-produced industrial beer. What is industrial beer? It's the big names like Budweiser, Heineken, Snowflake, Yanjing, Tsingtao, and Corona that people usually blow up bottles to drink. Industrial beer is like the FMCG of beers, with a bland flavor, low alcohol content and highly uniform packaging, while craft brews are more like independent designer brands, with plenty of aroma, individual flavors and low production.

According to the requirements of the American Brewers Association BA, craft brewing must meet three requirements: 1 small, annual production should be less than 6 million barrels; 2 independence, non-craft brewing company's equity shall not exceed 25%, 3 traditional, 50% of the production of the brewing without the addition of adjuncts, even if the addition of adjuncts are used to increase the flavor. In other words, craft brewing is the independent label of beer.

Of course, not just any beer from a small factory is considered craft, but its taste can't be ambiguous, or else a poorly made beer will call itself craft, and that's not a good idea.

Currently Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, these cities have local characteristics of the craft brewing brand, often also have their own bar nested sales, such as Beijing's Beijing A, Great Leap, Beiping machine, Shanghai's boxing cat, Tap House, Nanjing's Gao Masters, Wuhan's 18th Tavern and so on. So some of you may ask, why do so many craft brews say they are IPA or Saito, shouldn't that be a brand?

Wrong! The IPA and Stout we often see are actually subdivided types of beer because of different brewing methods, similar to the difference between bourbon and scotch.

◆ A few common types of craft brews

The most common types of craft brews are IPAs, Stouts, Pale Ales, Abbeys, and Lagers, each with a different flavor profile. Remember that these are different types of brews, not brands. The exact type of beer it belongs to will be indicated by the different breweries on the front label.

▲The famous Horned Shark 90 has an IPA in the middle of the label

-?IPA (English Pale Ale)

The full name of the beer is India Pale Ale, the color is mostly amber, the aroma is fresh, but the taste is a bit bitter, which is a relatively hot kind of beer nowadays. Americans are particularly fond of it, and almost every major craft brewing label will have its own flagship IPA, while Britain's veteran brewery Greene Kine's IPA is also very good and worth a try.

In addition to this, Bengal also recommends the Punk IPA from the well-known American brewery BrewDog, or you can try the American brewery Goose Island IPA, which has a strong fruity flavor, and which has been recommended by Barack Obama.

▲Left: Blue BrewDog Right: Goose Island IPA

- Stout

A highly concentrated beer that is dark brown or even black in color. It is made from roasted malt and has a thick body with dense foam and a slightly bitter aftertaste, the famous stout Guinness belongs to Stout.

You can try Left Hand (Lefthand) Brewery's Milk Seltzer, which has a caramelized mouthfeel and a strong milk aftertaste. In addition, Boulder Distillery's Coffee Milk Seltzer and Founder's Breakfast Seltzer have a creamy coffee flavor, which those who like Bailey's and coffee should enjoy.

▲Left Hand Milk Seltzer

▲Founder's Breakfast Seltzer

▲Stone Coffee Milk Seltzer

In fact, Benguet is a big fan of the Seltzer, and when he attended the Beijing Craft Beer Festival over the weekend, many of the Seltzer breweries' Seltzers came with creamy, chocolaty and coffee flavors, and tasted mellow and easy on the head, but many of the labels' seltzers had a lot of flavor. It's just that a lot of these beers are hard to come by in China, so when there's an event like this, everyone's happy. So as soon as there is such an event, people should go quickly.

- Abbey beer (Trappist)

Relatively niche but now also increasingly hot, its bitter and hoppy aroma is not as pronounced as most IPAs, the color is brown, the taste is very heavy, the alcohol content is higher. Authentic abbey beer has to be made in an abbey and is one of the representatives of Belgian beer. For starters, you can try Roosevelt as well as Chi Mei Blue Cap, which is available at convenience stores.

- Pale Ale

The lightest color and the most refreshing taste, most people start out with "craft" 1664 (not really), Fuchsia White, and White Bear are all pale ales. However, in recent years, the taste of Fuchsia White has been declining seriously. If you want to drink it, we suggest you try the Belgian brand Blue Moon, which is fresh and smooth, with a distinct citrus flavor, and a slice of orange to enhance the taste.

Lastly, lager, lager flavor is lighter, typically Brooklyn beer. It's not considered an impactful craft brew since the taste isn't particularly different from popular beers.

To summarize, if you like the taste is light, choose white beer or IPA, and if you like the taste is full-bodied and high degree, choose Saito and Abbey. Most of the hotter craft brands can be purchased online, but if you're in a big city go to a bar and try a local craft brew.