National Culinary Review

Dave Moore, founder of Pipe Dreams NYC, a draft beer system installation and maintenance company in Brooklyn, N. Y., notes that draft beer is generally easier to handle. Bottles need to be moved from one cooler to another. “When they’re empty, they sit in the back room attracting fruit flies while you wait for someone to get rid of them,” Moore says. “Especially if you’re a green operation, you want draft, not bottled, beer.”

WHERE TO START

Setting up a draft beer program takes some thought and planning. “Begin by looking at your focus. Then ask yourself these questions,” says Grant Wood, senior brewing manager for The Boston Beer Company (producer of Samuel Adams) in Boston. “What are my customers drinking now? Would beer sales support draft volume? Will a draft beer program enhance my menu? Will it bring more variety to my bar menu? What are my competitors doing? Am I in a ‘draft beer’ town? Is my business seasonal? Would it make sense to have draft at specific times during the year?”

All beers fall into one of two categories:
ale or lager. The basic difference
is determined by the type of yeast
used to ferment them. Yeast used
for ale coagulates at the top of
the fermentation tank, and prefers
temperatures in the 60-72°F range.
The resulting beer tends to be complex,
with a rich aroma and flavor. Yeast for
lager gathers near the bottom of the
tank and prefers colder temperatures
( 46-55°F). Lagers tend to be lighter in
aroma and flavor than ales.
BEER STYLE GUIDE

India pale (I.P.A.): highly hopped
with high alcohol content
Pale: more bronze than pale in color,
with nicely balanced malt and hops
Porter: black, dry and hoppy, with
chocolate flavors
Stout: opaque black with coffee
flavors and malty sweetness, made
sweet or dry
Wheat beer: cloudy and spicy, with
subtle hops
Wit (white): a slightly hazy spiced
Belgian wheat beer

Once you’ve determined that a draft program is for you, think over the technical considerations. Do you have room for a small keg cooler, or can you accommodate a larger keg cooler room and draft lines? What kind of support will your wholesaler and beer company give your system, and are there any legal issues related to that support? Not all states allow breweries, wholesalers or distributors to be directly involved with on-premise operations.

Two other key ingredients in beer are malt and hops. Malt comes from grain, usually barley, that germinates in water and then is kiln-dried. Hops are climbing vines. Their flowers are used by brewers to add bitterness to beer. The balance between the sweetness of malt and the bitterness of hops creates different styles of beer.

Ales and lagers are crafted into many styles, and brewers produce many beers in each category. Here are some of the most common.

LAGERS
Bock: dark or amber in color, rich,
malty and often low in hops
Dark: medium hoppy, with caramel
syrup added for color
Dunkel: smooth, with subtle malt
and hops
Oktoberfest: malty and nicely hopped
Pale: clean-tasting, with mild hops and
dense carbonation
Pilsner: clear gold in color, with a
hoppy bitterness
Schwarz: German black lager, lighter
than porter or stout
Steam: sometimes called California
Common, fermented at warmer
temperatures, making it somewhat like ale