Choose a Quality Beer

For about 8000 years, beer has been an important, nourishing beverage. Beer was traditionally brewed as a "liquid bread", and as such has been an important source of calories and nutrients. Beer contains vitamins, minerals, and healthy plant constituents, such as phytochemical antioxidants. But not all beers are created equal. The specific brewing process that is used, as well as the types of ingredients that a beer is made from, help to determine the wholesomeness of a beer.

Steps

  1. Go to a store that sells a variety of imported and micro brewed ales and lagers.
  2. Determine which beers are bottle-conditioned. Bottle-conditioned beers contain living yeast, and have a layer of yeast sediment on the bottom of the bottle, which can be seen when the bottle is viewed from the bottom. Living yeast will actively keep beer fresh by eliminating unwanted compounds, consuming harmful oxygen, and producing carbon dioxide. Yeast also absorbs and consumes the healthy antioxidant plant constituents that are derived from barley and hops. If the yeast is removed from the beer, much of the healthy constituents may be removed. Yeast also provides B vitamins, which are removed from your body when alcohol is metabolized. Some people may find beer yeast to be unpalatable. If so, step #3 is important.
  3. Determine which beers are dark or, if light in color, which ones are hazy. Dark beers use dark barley malt that enables the healthy hop constituents to remain in solution. Dark beers that have been filtered and have not been bottle conditioned will still provide plentiful quantities of antioxidants, perhaps more so than unfiltered, bottle-conditioned light-colored beers. Filtered, light-colored beers do also provide readily absorbed antioxidants, but may be lacking in certain antioxidants. British stouts and porters use relatively large quantities of dark malt. Haze or an obvious suspension of very small particles in light-colored beers may be an indication that there are plentiful quantities of antioxidant polyphenols in the beer, or that the beer has not been overly processed. However, light, clear beers may be healthful, and very high in quality, but it is important that they be bottle conditioned. Some strains of yeast result in a murky yeast suspension in the beer, while other yeasts result in a thick, compact sediment and an otherwise relatively clear beer. Many healthful nutrients should exist in the yeast sediment and suspended yeast. Some European lagers are aged (lagered) for many months before being bottled. These beers may still contain living yeast, but will be quite clear due to the extended lagering period.
  4. Purchase some beers according to the above steps, and taste them. The beers that are more bitter were probably made with greater quantities of hops. Beers that are not overly bitter but have lots of hop flavor and aroma may have been made with more hops than some bitter beers. More hops means more healthful hop constituents. Beers with hop flavor and aroma should provide a greater variety of delicate hop antioxidants. Dark beers need not be overly bitter or have hop flavor and aroma, as the dark malt helps to keep significant quantities of healthful hop constituents in solution even though less hops may be used. When pouring beer into a glass, try swirling the dregs of the beer in the bottle and pouring the loosened sediment into your glass. This will help to ensure that you consume all of the available healthful nutrients. However, such a practice may not be recommended for certain styles of beer.

Tips

  • Beer is brewed using large quantities of barley and hops. The healthful constituents that are derived from these plant products and transferred into beer can essentially be referred to as polyphenols or phytochemicals. As such, barley contributes about 80 percent of the polyphenols that are found in beer, and hops contribute the remaining 20 percent. Beers that use rice should be much lower in polyphenols.
  • Beer-derived phytochemicals may be heart-healthy and prevent certain types of cancer.
  • Certain hop-derived antioxidant phytochemicals are, depending on the method of measurement, about ten times as powerful as the heart-healthy phytochemical res­ver­a­trol that is found in red wine. Resveratrol is also found in hops, but apparently is not found in beer.

Warnings

  • Alcohol can be very harmful to your health. Do not begin drinking any alcoholic beverages in order to enhance your health. If you already drink alcoholic beverages, be advised that drinking more than one or two glasses of beer per day may negate any potential healthful effects, and cause serious health problems and disease states. Studies have shown that the health benefits from consuming alcoholic beverages may be obtained from consuming no more than two or three alcoholic beverages per week. It is very important that pregnant and nursing women not consume alcoholic beverages, as alcohol is very harmful to the fetus, infants, and children.

Related Articles

References

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  • Bamforth, C.W. (2006) Radical stuff: beer as a source of antioxidants. Brewers Guardian. http://brewersguardian.com/industry/articles/Sep_06.pdf
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  • Rivero D, Perez-Magarino S, Gonzalez-Sanjose ML, Valls-Belles V, Codoner P, Muniz P. Inhibition of induced DNA oxidative damage by beers: correlation with the content of polyphenols and melanoidins. J Agric Food Chem 2005; 53(9): 3637-42. PMID 15853413
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