You will not surprise anyone with baskets, canes, furniture and clothes made of bamboo. People have been using this evergreen plant for their own purposes for several thousand years. But the appearance of bamboo beer has caused considerable interest among alcohol lovers. Now this drink is also sold in Russia, it’s time to get to know it better.
bamboo beer (tanuki) is a low-alcohol drink with a strength of 4-5 degrees of rich emerald color with a light grassy taste, made by fermenting grain wort on brewer’s yeast with the addition of hops, leaves, extract and (or) bamboo juice. It first appeared in China in the Yangtze River valley. Now bamboo beer is also produced in Japan, the USA, Canada, Europe and Russia.
The organoleptic properties
The first thing that attracts attention is a bright green color, unusual for beer, shimmering in the sun. The soft aftertaste of young bamboo and the subtle bitterness of hops convince that this is an unusual ordinary beer. In some varieties, notes of spices are felt. The exotic smell of bamboo interrupts the aroma of other ingredients that make up the composition. The foam is weak and quickly subsides, the density is 10-12%, the calorie content is 40-50 Kcal per 100 grams.
Green beer is eaten with traditional Asian dishes: rolls, sushi, rice, seafood (shrimp) and noodles. I advise Russians to try to combine it with well-done beef or pork meat.
The herbal taste of bamboo beer is not to everyone’s taste. This low-alcohol drink can be recommended to lovers of soft beer varieties without obvious hop bitterness. It also quenches thirst well.
Bartenders came up with the first green beer cocktail – “Fresh”. To prepare it, it is enough to mix 1 part of gin and 4 parts of bamboo beer in a glass, decorate with a sprig of mint on top. Serve the cocktail well chilled and drink through a straw.
Scammers took advantage of bamboo beer. They add green food coloring to regular beer, then sell it as bamboo beer. Recognizing a fake is easy: 1-2 minutes after filling the glass, fake beer changes color, and sediment appears at the bottom. Real green beer does not change its color. The method of preparing a fake is shown in the video.
Benefit
Due to the ability of bamboo to remove toxins from the body, green beer can even be beneficial if consumed in moderation. The Chinese claim that their beer improves the functioning of the heart and nervous system, relieves stress and has an antibacterial effect.
Production technology
Phyllostachys bamboo is ideal for brewing; it is grown on special plantations in China. In autumn, the leaves are plucked, sorted, dried and sorted. Further, an extract is made from them, which is exported to Europe and the USA, where bamboo does not grow. In Canada, they use natural leaves and sap from bamboo grown in the Philippines or in greenhouses.
Chinese masters adhere to traditional brewing technology, changing the composition of the drink. First, they prepare a grain must from barley or rice, then add hops, natural bamboo leaves and juice. After boiling, the wort is filtered, cooled to room temperature and saturated with oxygen. Next, brewer’s yeast (usually bottom-fermented) is added.
After several weeks of fermentation, a drink is obtained that resembles mash. It is poured into barrels, then kept for some time in sealed vats under high pressure of carbon dioxide and a temperature not exceeding +2°C. At the final stage, the beer is filtered and bottled or barreled for sale.
First of all, green beer will be of interest to tourists who are going on a trip to one of the Asian countries. In many local restaurants and cafes, its production has been established. It is there that you should try this original drink, compared on the basis of natural raw materials, and not the extract that is sold with us.
