ABV and IBU August 30, 2019

Hey peeps. I've made the shift from writing about cocktails and spirits to writing about beers and their brewers as of late. You might have noticed that I've included a couple of numbers concerning the reviewed beers: ABV and IBU. Here is an example of a label for the Hopinionated IPA brewed by Off The Rail Brewing Co (with the ABV circled in red and the IBU circled in brown.)

For those of you who don't know what these two beer metrics are, I've decided to provide the information for you using the definitions from The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth. So here goes:

ABV: Alcohol by Volume, expressed as a percentage. A measure of the strength of an alcoholic beverage, based on the volume of alcohol relative to the total volume.

Simply put, the higher the ABV, the more alcohol in a beer and more of it to put you on your ass. I have a doozy of a review coming for you in the form of the Dogfish Head World Wide Stout which clocks in at a whopping 15 - 20% ABV!!!! This review will be coming in from the Sunshine State by the main man Melvin. Keep your 👀👀👀 peeled for it.

IBU: International Bittering Unit; the accepted system for describing the hop bitterness of a beer.

Again, simply put (and generally speaking) the higher the number the more bitter the beer will be. Now there are exceptions. The Brew Enthusiast in their post IBU'S:You've heard about IBUs in beer before...but what is an IBU? makes further defines the measurement of the IBU number with the following statement:

Beer is about the balance of ingredients and taste. Just because a beer has a higher IBU doesn't necessarily mean it is perceived (or tastes) to be as bitter as something with a lower IBU. You can drink a strong Amber ale rated to 60 IBU that doesn't taste nearly as bitter as a 55 IBU Pale Ale. The stronger malt flavor of the Amber ale matches the IBU's of the beer and balances them accordingly. The IBU scale simply measures the amount of the chemicals in a beer that make it taste bitter. Make sense?

Now...that being said, IBU's are generally indicative of how bitter a beer will taste. Generally speaking, the more IBU's, the more bitter it will taste.

 As I come across more beer terminology, I'll provide you amazing gals and guys with the 411.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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