Wine isn't fancy anymore. Beer is. You snobby winos might as well wrap a brown paper bag around your Cakebread bullshit wine. Take your Duckhorn Pinot Noir and shove it where the good lord split ya, you dirt-faced lackey. You want to sophisticate yourself? Grab an Avant-Garde from Lost Abbey and raise your glass. Because if you're drinking wine... well, your ass is trash. BASURA! Slainte!
I'm going to start off by stating the fact that beer is much more tastefully complex than wine. Wine people around the world can take this statement and just accept it because the proof is in the pudding.
Regarding taste, beer has a much more complex flavor profile than wine.
1.) Beer has water, yeast, malt, hops, adjuncts, and in some Belgian beers a variety of spices. Wine on the other hand has only water, grapes or fruit, and yeast.
2.) The hops that are used in brewing can not only create a bitter flavor but can also create an aroma flavor profile. When you combine these flavors with the combination of different malts and yeast it boggles the mind. Wine, unfortunately, doesn’t have the flavor complexity and health benefits that the hops offer.
3.) Carbonation of beer has a drastic effect on the taste. Higher carbonation levels can add a sweetness and bite to the beer such as a Hefeweizen or there are nitrogen carbonated beers such as Guinness which add a very smooth profile. Wines are not carbonated.
4.) Adjuncts and spices that are added to the beer such as rye, belgian candi sugar, orange peel, coriander, ginger, or flaked oats can add a multitude of flavors. Wines also may add oak chips or other additions of spices but not to the level that is at times found in beer.
5.) A beer can have a light or heavy body and also be sweet or dry depending on the attenuation of the yeast.
6.) A beer can be fermented colder with a lager yeast (bottom fermenting) or an ale yeast (top fermenting). There are hundreds and thousands of different yeast types to choose from. Wine, however, is some what limited in the selection of yeast strains.
7.) Beers can be filtered, unfiltered, and be purposely cloudy with yeast in suspension. Yeast will add flavor profiles to the beer as well as providing your daily dose of B-vitamins.
8.) Beer colors can come in whites, yellows, reds, browns, blacks. Wines are typically found in whites and reds.
9.) Alcohol content can vary in beer from 2% all the way up to 55% (world record of 55% by BrewDog named “End of the World” as of July 23, 2010).
Next time pour your beer into a wine glass...
Point being, the next time you take a sip of beer think to yourself how bland and boring it would be if you were instead drinking a glass of wine. Perhaps you should pour your beer into a wine glass and waft before every sip because without a doubt that glass would be better suited for a sophisticated beer than it would be for an overpriced wine.
http://fermentationriot.com/blog/?p=111
