Regular beer gets boring with its mundane flavors, so when you want to spice things up, a trip to Lowercase Brewing is in order.
There are levels to just about everything, so when you're out and about trying to find the best beer for you, you may want to consider what exactly is going in it. When you go beer tasting, it's unlikely that you're going to be tasting the standard run-of-the-mill cans you can find at any grocery store.
How Craft Beer Is Different From Regular Beer
What's in a Seattle Craft Beer?
The Right Ingredients
The first step in understanding the difference is by looking into the ingredients. This might be confusing at first as you'll see that plenty of beers have the exact same ingredients listed, and yet they taste entirely different. Craft brewers might still use yeast, malt, and hops, but they take care to select the highest quality versions of each before adding in their various brewing methods.
It might not sound like much of a difference, but when you think about the lengths people will go to in order to have a wagyu steak over a regular one, it starts to make sense. There's a strong correlation between better ingredients and a better product, and craft brewers take this seriously. You can expect them to have plenty of unique drinks, which is one of the defining differences of your local beer that catapults it above the rest.
Creativity Grows
They can also get extremely creative when it comes to making their batches as they don't have to cater to an entire nation's palate and can instead worry about the individual customer. You'll be hard pressed to find other beers that have hints of everything from passion fruit to pineapple. There's always an adventure to be had when drinking craft beer as the flavors are like nothing you've ever seen before.
What's the Brewing Method?
A Bland Taste
When you think about the mass-produced beer you might normally buy from a grocery store or gas station, you can probably already imagine what it tastes like without having to think too hard. When every single can has to be made the exact same way, manufacturers turn to modern production methods. This might not sound too bad at first, especially if it's a taste you like, but this can leave the beer tasting bland.
You can see it in other spaces of the culinary world as well, as companies slowly start to branch out to neighboring cities. If you're selling chips in the south, it might help to have things a little spicier. When that doesn't exactly sell very well in the north, you're only real option is to take a good bit of spice away from the entire thing so that you can mass-produce it.
Going International
This happens all the time with products that are sold in multiple countries and is a leading reason why craft beers taste as good as they do. When you sip on a craft beer, there's a good chance it was made with traditional brewing methods that don't skimp out on any of that amazing flavor.
Beer Tasting With Friends
A Great Experience
Another thing to note when beer tasting is that you can have all your best friends tag along. This is especially important when you find yourself in need of a designated driver, but it also adds to the overall fun of it all. There's probably not a strong chance that your friends are going to want to gather around just to drink some subpar brew that came out of a lackluster case.
When you're enjoying your Seattle craft beer, you can also look forward to plenty of different pairings that are designed to go perfectly with your current drink. If you order something a little more bitter, your server might recommend a sweeter option on the menu, and likewise, there's almost always a pretzel board to pair with sweeter notes.
Making New Connections
Going to your local brewery can be a great way to meet new people or reconnect with old friends you haven't seen in a while. There's nothing better than a stiff drink to kickstart a good conversation, so make sure you're bringing some good company in order to make for some moments you won't forget any time soon. Much of the food is also shareable, in case you want to save money with everybody pitching in just a little bit.
Cutting the Cost
Quantity Over Quality
Big beer companies are less interested in making sure you have a quality experience and more interested in making sure that they can pump enough beer out to hit quarterly goals. The truth is if the beer is enough for you to say "it's alright," it's good enough to roll out of their doors at breakneck speeds. This might be great for profit margins, but the drink suffers in terms of depth and flavor.
Because of this, you'll notice that a lot of beer sold by big companies is actually watered down a fair amount. If you've ever wondered how they can achieve such a low alcohol rating, it's because they're purposely diluting their beer in order to fill more cans. When you order a craft beer, they aren't trying to cut down on costs, and instead, they're focused on making sure that they're putting out the best possible version of their signature beer.
Penny-Pinching At Its Finest
You'll notice companies cutting corners in other areas, as they tinker with their beer to make sure that they can sell it for as cheap as possible. If you ever find your drink tastes slightly differently or that suddenly the can feels a bit thinner, you can blame it on their production cost and desire to increase their profits. In comparison, your local craft brewery may have fewer liters per batch, but each batch can be expected to be outstanding.
The Strength
Craft beer doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the amount of alcohol in each pour. You may be wondering why the brews are especially strong, and the simple reason is that it isn't watered down. Because of the cost-cutting mentioned earlier, it may take much more booze from your average case for you to actually feel the effects.
Each craft beer is designed to be sipped so you can enjoy it to its fullest. If you're put off by the high alcohol content, it's important to remember that when it comes to beer tasting you probably aren't going to be putting back multiple beers in one sitting, and instead, you'll want to focus on getting the most out of each glass of Seattle craft beer.
At the end of the day, beer is amazing, but when you're spoiling yourself with a drink, you're going to want to do it with something with quality. Regular beer gets boring with its mundane flavors, so when you want to spice things up, a trip to Lowercase Brewing is in order. They've got multiple year-round flavors while also offering some unique variants that show up seasonally. Paired with their food, you can't go wrong here.
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