Five things must be done to maintain the quality of the beer being dispensed.
- Prevent oxygen from entering the keg. If your keg is going to last more than two days you must use CO2 to pressurize the keg. Hand pumps are not OK for anything other than one night long parties.
- Beer must be consumed in a reasonable amount of time. Draft beer is generally only good for 45 days after it is filled. Don’t buy a keg to save money if you cannot consume it in a reasonable amount of time, you will be doing yourself a favor to only buy as much beer as you can consume in a week, two at the most. 1/4 bbls and 1/6 bbls can be a good solution to this.
- Beer must be kept cold. The 45 day expiration date usually assumes the beer will be kept below 40 deg F. Higher temperatures greatly accelerate spoilage. The entire system must be kept cold, from the keg to the faucet. A good rule is to treat beer the same way you would treat milk.
- The system should be cleaned after every keg or every two weeks.
- You must keep the glassware in very good condition. If you do not use cleaner designed for bar glasses then beer glasses should be cleaned especially well and rinsed very well. Always allow them to air dry, do not towel dry. If you freeze your glasses, don’t put them in the freezer ’til they’re dry. Freezing your glassware will destroy the beer’s flavor and cause a lot of foam.
General Beer Types
Types of Lagers
Pale Lager
Pale lagers have a light color and are light-bodied. They are highly carbonated and have a light taste. Examples of pale lager beer are Coors and Budweiser.
Pilsner
A pilsner beer has a pale color like a pale lager, but is more bitter in taste. The flavors of pilsners are more distinctive than pale lagers.
Light Lager
There are two different types of light lager beers. American light lagers use less hops and barley in order to create low calorie beers. European light lagers are lagers that are pale in color and light in taste.
Dark Lager
Dark lager beers are made with roasted hops and barley. This means they have much richer flavors and are dark in color. They are full-bodied and flavorful.
Types of Ales
Brown Ale
Brown ale beer is red to copper in color and is rather mild in flavor.
Porter
Porter beer is darker in color and is full-bodied, with the barley flavors dominating over the mild hop flavors. They are richly flavored. Some porters even taste like chocolate.
Stout
Stout beer is very similar to a porter. Stout beer is the darkest and thickest of the beers. The strong barley and hops flavors prevail in this dark beer.
Draft Beer Vs. Bottled Beer
The major difference between a draft or bottled beer occurs during the pasteurization process. Draft or keg beer is not normally pasteurized, which means that the keg must be kept cold. Bottled beers go through the pasteurization process and are packaged at higher temperatures, which can affect the taste of the beer.
How to Pair Beer and Food
In general, it’s good to pair foods of like heaviness and flavor with like beers. This is the process followed by most beer connoisseurs. When you are drinking a beer you like a great deal, take some time to think about what food might complement the flavors naturally occurring in the beer. Take a sip of beer, close your eyes as you roll the beer around in your mouth, swallow and see what types of food come to mind.
Here are some recommendations for pairing.
Light Beer
Light ales and lagers go best with spicy foods. Heavy beers will make the meal too oppressive for the taste buds, and complex beers will be lost once your taste buds are met by the spicy food.
Brown Ale
Brown ales go great with mushroom gravies, beef dishes and wild game.
Porter
Try a porter with a bowl of beef stew or a bowl of chili.
Dry Stout
There’s nothing like shucking a plate of oysters or having a bushel of steamers while enjoying a mug of stout.
Sweet Stout
Pair a sweet stout with a rich dessert like chocolate cheesecake or flourless chocolate cake drowning in a raspberry sauce.
Pilsner
A pilsner is great with a plate of fried shrimp or fish and chips.
Amber Beer
Bring out the amber beer when you’re serving up a pizza.
