Cigars

Talking about the beers and scotches and being so royal in our own worlds, how can we forget about “cigars”. It has its own importance for the people who are solely into it and don’t want any other stick to touch their lips and also for the people who believe in just being royal. Good Cigars are not easily available. Say it or not but cigars are meant for royal people. Sitting on an imported full grain leather couch and lighting the cigar with a zippo with expensive scotch on the table is something which we really dream of.

History of cigars:

Since 10th century inhabitants of islands of Caribbean Sea have been smoking cigars. That was the time when cigarettes were not even introduced. Also, later in 19th century cigar was very commonly smoked whereas cigarettes were rare. Its little hard to believe because in comparison to cigarettes, cigars are more complicated to make when it comes to the production. But in early 19th century cigar production came as a major industry which gave employment to a lot of people.

Cigar vs Cigarette:

There is a very thin and important difference between cigars and cigarettes. If we have to define cigars in a very simple language it is a roll of tobacco wrapped in a leaf of tobacco and that is the special part of cigars. Whereas, cigarettes are defined as the roll of tobacco wrapped in a paper. Hence, the quality of a cigar gets enhanced by tobacco leaves. Then later comes the multiple brands in the market depending upon the price and their quality.

Studying cigars:

For those who are so much in love with cigars and very particular about their type, it is very important to pick your choice Considering cigar’s length and its diameter.

Understanding cigars in little depth, cigar is divided in 5 parts In sequence

1. Head
2. Cigar Band
3. Binder
4. Wrapper
5. Foot

The length of a cigar is measured in inches but the diameter is measured according to its ring gauge. Ring gauge is a unit of measurement divisible by 64 (ref: CI). Ring gauge system is bit confusing because it measures the diameter of cigar in units of 64. It is an outdated system to calculate the diameter. For easy understanding 64 units to be considered as 1 inch.

Shapes and categories:

Cigars majorly have 2 types of shapes, Parejos and figurados. These are spanish words. Parejos in english means parallel and figurados means figure.

Lighting Your Cigar:

Isn't this amazingly absurd that you even have to read and learn about how to light a cigar. Well, yes! It's not a cigarette afterall. Your way of lighting a cigar may spoil its real taste. We have talked about the parts of cigar above, root of a cigar is the important part when it comes to light one.  It is not easy to light your cigar with a normal match stick because it takes time for cigar’s root to heat up and catch fire. Experts don’t even suggest lighting your cigar with a gas lighter as butane present in gar also acts as a taste spoiler, you won't be able to have a real or actual taste of your aristocracy. So the best way to light up your cigar is with Cedar Strip, No chemicals, no sulfur, no butane. All natural. If you’re in an environment where using a cedar strip is possible, by all means, do so. It’s old fashioned, but really helps you enjoy and appreciate the entire process.

Light up the cedar strip and start your fire, Make the foot of your cigar hot, don't light it actually, If you have lit the foot properly, take three puffs/long draws, see if light is visible on the foot and if it doesn't, blow a little and you are all set to go.

Don't get sad if it doesn't lit properly because sometimes it depends on many parameters which includes moisture in cigar, it’s leaf  and sometimes tobacco as well.

Cutting cigar:

I always had a thought in my mind that why is it required to cut a cigar whereas cigarettes are not being treated so viciously. So it has a very basic reason behind it, and that is just to have a smooth opening for smoking without harming your cigar’s structure. Multiple types of cutters are available in market but to cut it like a pro you always need a stainless steel cutter.

                                                                         Image source - agapepress, cigarsatten

Ale Beer

Weekend for us means chilled bottles of beer with friends. you drink together with them and party like there's no tomorrow. Almost all of us had those days when we just passed out after getting dead drunk and our friends did laugh on us and played hilarious pranks on us.  It is always good to be in such situation for fun but just be sure it doesn't harm your health. We have discussed about multiple beer in other blogs we will now discuss about 'Ale Beer'.

Every beer in this world is made up of same basic ingredients and with a different process. Yeast is majorly required to produce beer, doesn't matter if the yeast is top-fermenting or bottom-fermenting. If we talk about how ale, Lager and other beers are different from each other then a very simple answer to this would be the top-fermenting or bottom-fermenting yeast but fermentation process itself has a lot of science behind it. 

What is ale:

Ale is not a new category of beers, it is thousands of year old, much older than lager at-least. Yeast that is used to make ale is known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  Ale is made up of malt which is sweet. Hence, bittering agent (additional flavor) is being added to the ale to balance the sweetness of the malt and it acts as a preservative. Earlier this agent was a herb known as gruit which helped to preserve beer. We know that ale is made using hot fermentation process, hence it is usually fermented at temperatures between 15 °C to 24 °C. After 24°C yeast starts producing the required amount of esters, which results in beer with a fruity compounds. That means it smells like apple grapes and other such fruits. Ale is to be considered as a strong beer and more robust in taste. 

Time for preparation:

Ale doesn't take much time to be prepared and to be served. Due to warm fermentation process the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not take much time to show its quality. It takes less than 7 days. The warm fermentation process makes ale more tastier and strong. 

Serving Ale:

Well, for most of the guys serving a beer means "tilt your glass you dumb ass" .Ale has always taken a pretentious way to be served, Collar of a beer glass full of froth or foam let you feel the beer and the real taste of beer. Head of beer is a combination of wort protein, yeast and hop residue.

Take a Weizen Glasses, pour little beer to the center of the class directly to get some froth, wait for half of the froth to condense and then tilt your glass to pour the rest of the beer. Do this if you are a real fan of beer and want to make your beer look attractive on your table. 

Ale should always be served at a cellar temperature. Cellar temperature is  50-55 degrees Fahrenheit i.e 10-14 degrees Celsius. 

Diversification of Ale:

You don't end up with just Ale thing. There is more to know about Ale and that is about the varieties of Ale. 

•   Brown ale
•    Burton ale
•    Golden ale
•    Mild ale
•    Pale ale
•    Belgian ales
•    India Pale Ale

We will take heads up on the detailed information on these categories of ale in our upcoming blogs.# ale beer 

 

 

 Related Post -  Lager-vs-beer

                                           Image source - Newzealndbrewer, men's journal, 123rf.com 

Lager VS Beer

We have discussed slightly about lager beer earlier. Here we will be discussing more about lager and will tell you how lager is different from all other beers. # Lager vs beer. 

I know That’s kinda weird, few of you must be thinking that lager is also a beer then how can we compare it with other beers but obviously there must be something which could make it different from other beers in the market. So let’s dig deep down inside lager’s skeleton and find out how is it different from other beers. And we will do it step by step.


                                   

Brief about lager:

The German word "Lager" means storeroom or warehouse .In other words Lager means stored. It is referred to the beers which are stored for a while.


You must have read in the last blog post – ThingsYou Might Want to Know about Beers; that lager is made with bottom fermented yeast. That means it is prepared in such a manner that yeast settles to the bottom and that is also a quality of this specific category of the yeast used to prepare lager beers. Lager beers can be found in pale, golden, amber, or in dark color.

What makes Lager unique?

It is because of the way it is prepared and the bottom settling yeast. Lager beer is conditioned at low temperatures normally at the brewery, this is why Fermentation happens more slowly and the beer becomes more stable, due to this slow fermentation process it is required to store this beer for a bit longer than other beers and the real taste of lager comes with that only.
That specific yeast we just talked about, used to prepare lager beer is named as ‘Saccharomyces pastorianus’. That’s quite tough to pronounce though but read it twice or thrice, twist your tongue little bit and you can win it.
                                                         



Normally the fermentation of lager starts at 45-50 degree Fahrenheit and is taken up to 62 degree Fahrenheit. This is not a freezing temperature but yet known as cold fermentation process. The fermentation process takes more than 2 weeks and then they take out the remaining carbon dioxide to give it a flavor. Well, it doesn’t end here. The beer is then racked for about 3-4 days on little higher temperature than it is used in fermentation process and later they lower down the temperature day by day until it hits 35 degree Fahrenheit. The lagering is the process where you make the beer cleaner and clearer. I must say they do a lot to make you high…

If you want to make it stronger and tastier it is suggested to store the beer for some more time. Many of the beers are stored for years. Storing a beer for longer time won’t harm it. Beer is now ready to be served and to be enjoyed with your loved ones.


                                         


That’s not it... We have different categories of lager beer

1. Pale lager 
2. Amber lager 
3. Bock 
4. Dark lager 
5. Specialty lager 

So now as you have better understanding on Lager vs Beer we will dig into above mentioned categories of lager beer in our upcoming articles.

Well, it was a mouthwatering article and i am going to hit the bar now…!