What is ABV and IBU?

As you’re looking over the options listed on menu on the tasting room chalkboard, you will encounter the abbreviations of ABV and IBU followed by numbers accompanying each beer selection. 

This information helps explain beer in greater detail and helps you understand what you are about to drink before you drink it. While centuries of brewing and decades of scientific study have gone into the formation of the ABV and IBU scales, we think it’s more fun to drink beer than attempt to understand it.  Here is a brief explanation to give you the basics of each, in layman’s terms, so you can spend less time reading and more time drinking.

The alcohol content of the beer

The alcohol content of beer is the ABV index (short for Alcohol by volume), ABV is the international standard, calculated by the number of ml of alcohol in 100ml of liquid at 20 degrees Celsius, which is the percentage you often see on bottle / can labels. People often use the word beer “heavy” or “light” to refer to this level of alcohol.

Common beers have an alcohol content of 2-12% (in Vietnam, Lager beer ranges about 5%). Do not underestimate the concentration of this% dentist, sometimes only 0.1% difference but when the drink was different already, the higher the alcohol level, the easier it will be drunk.

The bitterness of beer

The bitterness of beer is the IBU (abbreviated from the International Bittering Unit), hops are included in the brewing process to preserve, but miraculously, it creates a characteristic bitter taste of beer, making it This drink has become popular and popular in any country or territory. In most cases, the IBU formula correlates well with the bitter feeling of beer and that explains why this is a favorite indicator of brewers, so that the beer world becomes interesting, each The beer will have a different flavor and bitterness, creating a colorful beer world and an endless source of inspiration for brewers.

Most of the beers that you have ever had will have an IBU in the range of 5 to 120 (the bigger the number is the bitterer beer), the beer lines being sold in the market have IBU in the range of 15 – 80, Lager beer at Vietnam market usually ranges from 30-35. You should note this parameter to refer to the bitterness when trying a new beer.

If you have the opportunity to go to a “beer club” where there are craft beers, you will be overwhelmed with many types of beer with different flavors, alcohol and bitterness; You will feel the taste of each type of beer, you will feel it “delicious” at any point

Nothing is more wonderful after the tired working hours, your colleagues or friends enjoy the cool beer, sit and talk temporarily forget the worries of daily life.