Asian Beers - Not Just for Restuarants

If beer is the most misunderstood of the world’s beverages, then Asian lagers are clearly the most misunderstood of the world’s beers. Anyone who has been to a Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian or Vietnamese restaurant has seen crowded tables speckled with colorful bottles of beer bearing strange names like TsingTao, Asahi, Singha, Kingfisher and the cryptic 33*. Problem is, if you want to find any of these beers at all, you pretty much have to go to these restaurants to find them. Which is a shame, because to surrender these beers to the enhancement of an occasional ethnic meal is to deprive oneself of a truly great beer experience that goes well beyond that Sunday night trip to Chinatown. A lifetime of beer drinking has led to the observation that even though most folks would never dream of having their usual beer when dining Asian style, they never think to have Asian beer when they’re not. But the odd thing is, the taste of most Asian lagers is by no means as foreign to the palate as the taste of Asian food is. In fact, most Asian breweries produce beers with flavor profiles that are already familiar to Americans. This is no accident. While many immigrant German brewers were defining our national lager by setting up shop in 19th-Century America, others were busy opening breweries throughout Africa, South America and Asia. The most popular of today’s Asian lagers are direct descendants of the Bavarian helles style, which is distinguished by its light, refreshing body, soft, malty sweetness and slightly grassy aroma. The characteristic mild sweetness of Asian lagers comes from the grains used in the beers, and is allowed to shine through because of the subordination of hop flavors in the final stages of the brewing process. This profile is the southern compliment to the stinging hop bitterness of the visually-identical pilsener of Northern Germany, which is by far the planet’s most ubiquitous style of beer. The beauty of Asian cuisines is the delicate nuance among ingredients and flavors, and the same goes for their beer. Most Asian dishes demand that the beer they accompany not be too fragrant -- the aroma of fresh hops is an unpleasant mate to assertive smells like those of sesame oil and herbs like cilantro and Thai basil. Likewise, an overly-bitter beer would heighten the pain of firey dishes that scream for the soothing relief that a malty beer can best provide. So next time you’re treating yourself to a meal that leans toward the oriental or even just taking home a pizza -- don’t comprimise your experience with the same old Rolling Rock or house chardonnay. Pop open a bottle of Asian lager. I think you’ll agree that it’s anything but a Sunday night beer. * Vietnamese Beer that is also sold as 333. Source: http://www.beerphiladelphia.com/beer_07.htm From Article by Jim Anderson