Comparison of Alcohol Types
Beer
Along with wine, beer is probably one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man and the most popular one at that. All over the world, with the possible exception of France, Italy and
Portugal, people guzzle beer in copious quantities.
Even in India, beer is one of the fastest growing segments within the liquor industry. But it is in England and Germany where beer drinking takes on an entirely new meaning.
It is, in fact, almost a religion. Consider the numerous English pubs with their individualistic styles of beers; the stein wielding barmaids at a German beer garden.
It is a way of life rather than the road to destruction. You could go on a `beer trail' and drink zillion different kinds of `tap' in one evening, then wonder how the simple beer could reach
heights thought unattainable.
Read on to figure out the basics about beer, how it's made, what the different types of beer are, what's the best way to drink it, so on and so forth.
Technically speaking, there are two basic styles of beer - lagers and ales - different in the type of yeast used to brew it.
This is what gives ales (top fermenting yeast) its characteristic hoppy (bitter) tastes, thicker texture and darker colour. Lagers (bottom fermenting yeast) are lighter and they are what we get in India.
What then is a Pilsner?
A lager made in the style of that brewed in the Czechoslovakian town of Pilsen. A simple breakdown might make this easier. Lagers (3.2 - 4.5% alcohol) light-coloured lager dark lager Pilsner light/diet beer malt liquor (strong beer over 5% alcohol) Bock beer (sweet, heavy lager with a max of 3.5%alcohol) Ales (4.4 - 6% alcohol) Pale ale Brown ale Porter Stout Draught is unpasteurised beer, fresh though faintly yeasty and keeps for about a week.
Ice Beer is a new addition with a curious process - the brew is brought down to freezing temperature which concentrates it, increases the alcoholic content and imparts a crisp, clean flavour to the beer. Unlike wines, most beers do not keep and are best consumed within six months (bottles).
Some big international names in beers are Budweiser, Heineken, Fosters, Coors, Carlsberg, Michelob, Amstel, Guiness, Oranjeboom, San Miguel, Stella Artois, Kirin, Tiger, and Anchor amongst a host of brands.
After the commercial beer boom of recent years, there has been a decided shift in the focus to small `microbreweries' both in the US as well as Europe.
These small units are committed to reviving the old, individual style of beers, which have greater depth and character than the mass-produced `lights'. Rather than just purely refresh, these micro beers are appreciated for their finesse and `breeding'.
A concept not likely to arrive in India in the near future.
Indian Scene
Not that we haven't had our share of innovation. Years ago, in the early eighties, Associated Breweries (of London Pilsner fame) launched London Stout into a market not quite ready for such adventure. It was soon shelved.
They were also the first to introduce the concept of `diet' beer.
This time they were just about there and the consumers were more accepting, albeit slowly. Soon after came the first cans in Seagull (Doburg Breweries) and Jubilee (UB) to a still adolescent market. Both crashed.
Breweries already operate on much smaller margins than the IMFL market. Setting up a beer plant is very expensive and at this rate, the industry is likely to show no appreciable growth. It is already exaggerated at 10%.
Maharashtra is the highest consumer of beer and has registered a rise from 100-lakh cases in '91 to 120 lakh cases in '96, an average growth of 3%.
Draught beer is around 10% of the beer market here with all three major players enjoying a similar share. Nationally, the draught beer and canned beer shares are under 5%.
The only beers that consistently fared well were the strong or fermented beers, which gave rise to the spurt in the category. Khajuraho, Haywards 2000 and 5000, and others of this ilk flourished and continue to do so.
In fact, the strong beer segment is growing at a much faster rate than the mild. From a market share of 28% in 1991, it has cornered between 35 - 40% by the end of '97.
In the mild beer segment, the UB group is the market leader once more with strength of 12 breweries nationally and a market share of over 40% of the approximately 55 million case beer industry. Their two biggest brands are Kingfisher and Kalyani Black labels.
Mohan Meakins with its flagship Golden Eagle and others attracts an 18 - 20% market share followed by Shaw Wallace with Haywards and Royal Challenge premium lager at around 15%.
Then comes Associated Breweries with London Pilsner at 6%. Mysore Breweries with Knockout, Cobra and Pal's is a serious contender as are Arlem, Mount Shivalik and a plethora of regional brands.
Sandpiper from Inertia Industries, a beer that stormed the Indian market with its aggressive marketing, was thrown by the imposition of prohibition in Haryana where its lone brewery was located.
With Haryana’s return to the real world, this young brand has its second lease to make it big.
Our first taste of an international beer came in a can. Stroh's, the great American beer, stormed the market and within a short period has established itself as a force to reckon with.
Hakke Beck in collaboration with Him Neel Breweries has yet to make a dent while San Miguel, the Fillipino giant working with Associated Breweries, is seriously making its presence felt.
Its advertising campaign though raises an eyebrow or two! Foster's, Australia's mega brand, has also thrown its hat into the ring and its logos alone have given it great visibility.
The ad campaign reinforces the distinct Australian identity of the brand.
Vodka
There is a small section of historians who strongly support the theory that it was vodka that was in great measure responsible for the `bloody' end of the Czarist regime in Russia!
The Reds, it appears, made up for lost drinking time imposed by the imperial ban of 1914 (as a war-time measure), fuelling the already existing mayhem. Crazy idea, what? Not quite.
Attempts to re-impose the ban on vodka after the revolution in 1917 failed miserably with Lenin resignedly saying, "Drunkenness is better than slavery!"
Vodka has its origins in Russia, but it has been distilled in Poland and Finland as well since forever. The base is usually grain (wheat, rye, corn), though in Scandinavia they use a lot of potato - and call their drink `aquavit'.
In Denmark and certain parts of Central Europe it is known as `schnapps'. Schnapps and aquavit are quite often flavoured, but are drunk much in the same way as vodka is - ice-cold in
small shooter glasses, and neat; accompanied by caviar and other strong fishy stuff.
Tequila
If there ever was a spirit replete with history, mystery and intrigue, it must be tequila. Even today, years after its arrival on bar shelves, tequila is often regarded as a strange Mexican potion containing worms, hallucinogens, et al.
And these same wondrous attributes have probably contributed towards establishing tequila as the most `hip' liquor to drink.
Almost everyone I meet seems to want to know where they can find a bottle of this happening liquor. Yet most are uncertain about what it really is.
There seems to be a strange fascination for drinking something which might have a worm floating in it. Yuck! Does it really?? Let's discover the inside story.
Tequila-like spirits have been produced in Mexico from the age of the Aztecs, long before the arrival of its Spanish conquerors in the 16th century.
It was in 1795 that Jose Cuervo, under a license from the government, began distilling tequila in the region of Jalisco (which includes the town of Tequila), where there was an ample supply of the Weber blue agave `cactus'.
Actually, the agave is not a cactus at all but a sort of succulent, related to the aloe and lily family! Jose Cuervo is still one of the foremost brands of tequila in the world.
Types:
Silver: Most silver tequila is filtered, brought to potable strength with de-mineralized water and bottled straight from the still.
Ultra premium silver tequila is often left unfiltered. El Tesoro, 100% blue agave tequila, is not diluted at all - distilled to proof. Fine silver tequilas can be surprisingly smooth and peppery.
Gold: the colour of gold tequila comes from the addition of caramel to silver tequila and not from age.
Reposados: This tequila is aged in wooden barrels for between two months to a year and is mellow enough without losing the fresh spiritless of the silver.
Anejos (aneho): To be eligible for the anejo label, the tequila must be aged in oak barrels for over a year.
The ageing leaves the tequila smooth and lush with a warm amber hue. Much like whisky, anejos show characteristic tannin flavours with a hint of vanilla. A deep golden colour often indicates the addition of caramel.
Rum
The name is doubtless American. A manuscript description of Barbadoes, written twenty-five years after the English settlement of the island in 1651, is thus quoted in The Academy:
"The chief fudling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor."
This is the earliest-known allusion to the liquor rum; the word is held by some antiquaries in what seems rather a strained explanation to be the gypsy rum, meaning potent, or mighty.
The word rum was at a very early date adopted and used as English university slang. The oldest American reference to the word rum (meaning the liquor) which I have found is in the act of the General Court of Massachusetts in May, 1657, prohibiting the sale of strong liquors "whether known by the name of rumme, strong water, wine, brandy, etc., etc."
The traveler Josselyn wrote of it, terming it that "cursed liquor rum, rum bullion or kill-devil." English sailors still call their grog rum bowling.
But the word rum in this word and in rum booze and in rum fustian did not mean rum; it meant the gypsy adjective powerful.
Rum booze or ram booze, distinctly a gypsy word, and an English university drink also, is made of eggs, ale, wine, and sugar. Rum fustian was made of a quart of strong beer, a bottle of white wine or sherry, half a pint of gin, the yolks of twelve eggs, orange peel, nutmeg, spices, and sugar. Rum-barge is another mixed drink of gypsy name.
It will be noted that none of these contains any rum.
Beer
Along with wine, beer is probably one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man and the most popular one at that. All over the world, with the possible exception of France, Italy and
Portugal, people guzzle beer in copious quantities.
Even in India, beer is one of the fastest growing segments within the liquor industry. But it is in England and Germany where beer drinking takes on an entirely new meaning.
It is, in fact, almost a religion. Consider the numerous English pubs with their individualistic styles of beers; the stein wielding barmaids at a German beer garden.
It is a way of life rather than the road to destruction. You could go on a `beer trail' and drink zillion different kinds of `tap' in one evening, then wonder how the simple beer could reach
heights thought unattainable.
Read on to figure out the basics about beer, how it's made, what the different types of beer are, what's the best way to drink it, so on and so forth.
Technically speaking, there are two basic styles of beer - lagers and ales - different in the type of yeast used to brew it.
This is what gives ales (top fermenting yeast) its characteristic hoppy (bitter) tastes, thicker texture and darker colour. Lagers (bottom fermenting yeast) are lighter and they are what we get in India.
What then is a Pilsner?
A lager made in the style of that brewed in the Czechoslovakian town of Pilsen. A simple breakdown might make this easier. Lagers (3.2 - 4.5% alcohol) light-coloured lager dark lager Pilsner light/diet beer malt liquor (strong beer over 5% alcohol) Bock beer (sweet, heavy lager with a max of 3.5%alcohol) Ales (4.4 - 6% alcohol) Pale ale Brown ale Porter Stout Draught is unpasteurised beer, fresh though faintly yeasty and keeps for about a week.
Ice Beer is a new addition with a curious process - the brew is brought down to freezing temperature which concentrates it, increases the alcoholic content and imparts a crisp, clean flavour to the beer. Unlike wines, most beers do not keep and are best consumed within six months (bottles).
Some big international names in beers are Budweiser, Heineken, Fosters, Coors, Carlsberg, Michelob, Amstel, Guiness, Oranjeboom, San Miguel, Stella Artois, Kirin, Tiger, and Anchor amongst a host of brands.
After the commercial beer boom of recent years, there has been a decided shift in the focus to small `microbreweries' both in the US as well as Europe.
These small units are committed to reviving the old, individual style of beers, which have greater depth and character than the mass-produced `lights'. Rather than just purely refresh, these micro beers are appreciated for their finesse and `breeding'.
A concept not likely to arrive in India in the near future.
Indian Scene
Not that we haven't had our share of innovation. Years ago, in the early eighties, Associated Breweries (of London Pilsner fame) launched London Stout into a market not quite ready for such adventure. It was soon shelved.
They were also the first to introduce the concept of `diet' beer.
This time they were just about there and the consumers were more accepting, albeit slowly. Soon after came the first cans in Seagull (Doburg Breweries) and Jubilee (UB) to a still adolescent market. Both crashed.
Breweries already operate on much smaller margins than the IMFL market. Setting up a beer plant is very expensive and at this rate, the industry is likely to show no appreciable growth. It is already exaggerated at 10%.
Maharashtra is the highest consumer of beer and has registered a rise from 100-lakh cases in '91 to 120 lakh cases in '96, an average growth of 3%.
Draught beer is around 10% of the beer market here with all three major players enjoying a similar share. Nationally, the draught beer and canned beer shares are under 5%.
The only beers that consistently fared well were the strong or fermented beers, which gave rise to the spurt in the category. Khajuraho, Haywards 2000 and 5000, and others of this ilk flourished and continue to do so.
In fact, the strong beer segment is growing at a much faster rate than the mild. From a market share of 28% in 1991, it has cornered between 35 - 40% by the end of '97.
In the mild beer segment, the UB group is the market leader once more with strength of 12 breweries nationally and a market share of over 40% of the approximately 55 million case beer industry. Their two biggest brands are Kingfisher and Kalyani Black labels.
Mohan Meakins with its flagship Golden Eagle and others attracts an 18 - 20% market share followed by Shaw Wallace with Haywards and Royal Challenge premium lager at around 15%.
Then comes Associated Breweries with London Pilsner at 6%. Mysore Breweries with Knockout, Cobra and Pal's is a serious contender as are Arlem, Mount Shivalik and a plethora of regional brands.
Sandpiper from Inertia Industries, a beer that stormed the Indian market with its aggressive marketing, was thrown by the imposition of prohibition in Haryana where its lone brewery was located.
With Haryana’s return to the real world, this young brand has its second lease to make it big.
Our first taste of an international beer came in a can. Stroh's, the great American beer, stormed the market and within a short period has established itself as a force to reckon with.
Hakke Beck in collaboration with Him Neel Breweries has yet to make a dent while San Miguel, the Fillipino giant working with Associated Breweries, is seriously making its presence felt.
Its advertising campaign though raises an eyebrow or two! Foster's, Australia's mega brand, has also thrown its hat into the ring and its logos alone have given it great visibility.
The ad campaign reinforces the distinct Australian identity of the brand.
Vodka
There is a small section of historians who strongly support the theory that it was vodka that was in great measure responsible for the `bloody' end of the Czarist regime in Russia!
The Reds, it appears, made up for lost drinking time imposed by the imperial ban of 1914 (as a war-time measure), fuelling the already existing mayhem. Crazy idea, what? Not quite.
Attempts to re-impose the ban on vodka after the revolution in 1917 failed miserably with Lenin resignedly saying, "Drunkenness is better than slavery!"
Vodka has its origins in Russia, but it has been distilled in Poland and Finland as well since forever. The base is usually grain (wheat, rye, corn), though in Scandinavia they use a lot of potato - and call their drink `aquavit'.
In Denmark and certain parts of Central Europe it is known as `schnapps'. Schnapps and aquavit are quite often flavoured, but are drunk much in the same way as vodka is - ice-cold in
small shooter glasses, and neat; accompanied by caviar and other strong fishy stuff.
Tequila
If there ever was a spirit replete with history, mystery and intrigue, it must be tequila. Even today, years after its arrival on bar shelves, tequila is often regarded as a strange Mexican potion containing worms, hallucinogens, et al.
And these same wondrous attributes have probably contributed towards establishing tequila as the most `hip' liquor to drink.
Almost everyone I meet seems to want to know where they can find a bottle of this happening liquor. Yet most are uncertain about what it really is.
There seems to be a strange fascination for drinking something which might have a worm floating in it. Yuck! Does it really?? Let's discover the inside story.
Tequila-like spirits have been produced in Mexico from the age of the Aztecs, long before the arrival of its Spanish conquerors in the 16th century.
It was in 1795 that Jose Cuervo, under a license from the government, began distilling tequila in the region of Jalisco (which includes the town of Tequila), where there was an ample supply of the Weber blue agave `cactus'.
Actually, the agave is not a cactus at all but a sort of succulent, related to the aloe and lily family! Jose Cuervo is still one of the foremost brands of tequila in the world.
Types:
Silver: Most silver tequila is filtered, brought to potable strength with de-mineralized water and bottled straight from the still.
Ultra premium silver tequila is often left unfiltered. El Tesoro, 100% blue agave tequila, is not diluted at all - distilled to proof. Fine silver tequilas can be surprisingly smooth and peppery.
Gold: the colour of gold tequila comes from the addition of caramel to silver tequila and not from age.
Reposados: This tequila is aged in wooden barrels for between two months to a year and is mellow enough without losing the fresh spiritless of the silver.
Anejos (aneho): To be eligible for the anejo label, the tequila must be aged in oak barrels for over a year.
The ageing leaves the tequila smooth and lush with a warm amber hue. Much like whisky, anejos show characteristic tannin flavours with a hint of vanilla. A deep golden colour often indicates the addition of caramel.
Rum
The name is doubtless American. A manuscript description of Barbadoes, written twenty-five years after the English settlement of the island in 1651, is thus quoted in The Academy:
"The chief fudling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor."
This is the earliest-known allusion to the liquor rum; the word is held by some antiquaries in what seems rather a strained explanation to be the gypsy rum, meaning potent, or mighty.
The word rum was at a very early date adopted and used as English university slang. The oldest American reference to the word rum (meaning the liquor) which I have found is in the act of the General Court of Massachusetts in May, 1657, prohibiting the sale of strong liquors "whether known by the name of rumme, strong water, wine, brandy, etc., etc."
The traveler Josselyn wrote of it, terming it that "cursed liquor rum, rum bullion or kill-devil." English sailors still call their grog rum bowling.
But the word rum in this word and in rum booze and in rum fustian did not mean rum; it meant the gypsy adjective powerful.
Rum booze or ram booze, distinctly a gypsy word, and an English university drink also, is made of eggs, ale, wine, and sugar. Rum fustian was made of a quart of strong beer, a bottle of white wine or sherry, half a pint of gin, the yolks of twelve eggs, orange peel, nutmeg, spices, and sugar. Rum-barge is another mixed drink of gypsy name.
It will be noted that none of these contains any rum.