hopulist issue 3

CANS
The humble can
has been given new
purpose thanks to
craft beer. And there
are many reasons they
are so prominent in
craft brewing. For
starters, cans do not
let any light in and
subsequently stop
beers being damaged
or altered by the
effects of stray rays.
Secondly, they’re
incredibly air-tight,
again preserving the
beer for the way it
was intended. Also,
modern aluminium
cans do not give their
contents a metallic
taste. You’re basically
drinking from a mini
keg – it doesn’t get
better than that!
CARBONATION
In scientific terms,
this is the process of
introducing carbon
dioxide to a liquid.
To you and me, it
determines how fizzy
a beer feels in the
mouth. The home
brewers out there
will be reading this
with a dash of anxiety
in their hearts, as
it’s often one of the
harder parts of the
brewing process to
perfect. It can be
done in several ways
including pressurising
the fermentation
vessel, injecting CO 2
into finished beer or
priming.
CASK
The sweet deliverer of
beer, a cask is a barrelshaped
container used
to hold and transport
beer. In the olden
days these were made
from wood – and with
the brewing of some
cask-conditioned beer
it still is – but most
modern ones are now
available in stainless
steel or aluminium.
The cask has helped
allow craft brewers
make small-batch beer
on a regular basis,
which has helped push
the industry along no
end.