Beer Belly : A myth

No we are not talking about the blog but about the logic behind beer bellies.

Most of the people reading this blog would be of the opinion that drinking beer leads to belly which one can flaunt around.

But its not the beer that leads to the belly.

A "beer belly" is caused by eating too much food. No beer or other alcohol beverage is necessary to cause that.

There is an entire list of myths associated with Beer.

Beer Myth 1: Beat the Beer Belly with Light Beer

OK, light beers have maybe 90-100 calories, regular beers generally have less than 200 calories. A beer lover would say the difference is comparable to the difference between McDonalds and a 5 star restaurant. A dietitian would tell you the difference is negligible.

Beer Myth 2: The darker the beer, the more alcohol it contains

Not even close. Haywards Black is black, and has 4.2% alcohol. The color of a beer comes from the toasted malts, which has no effect on alcohol content. Ingredients like rice syrup, honey, and corn syrup add alcohol to beer, but do not influence the color.

Beer Myth 3: The Peroni they serve in Italy is better

It seems widely accepted that beer in "the old country" is better than what they export to the rest of the world. The brewing process is cheap, so why would a brewery risk their reputation by brewing a different beer for export? It doesn't make sense, and it's not true.

Beer Myth 4: Beer shouldn't be Bitter

The bitterness of a beer comes from the hops. Hops are in all beers to balance the sweet malts and to act as a preservative. Some beers have a lot of hops, like India Pale Ales (IPAs) and some beers have less hops, like Wheat Beers. Hops can give a beer complexity and add all sorts of flavors and aromas, like pine, citrus, and earthiness. Hops are why people say beer is an acquired taste, but they also make beer delicious.

Beer Myth 5: The best beers are in green bottles.

As it turns out, brown bottles protect the beer from the light much better than green bottles or clear bottles. This myth comes from when there was a shortage of brown glass in Europe after WWII. The European beers were bottled in green instead, so green bottles came to represent imports. This certainly isn't the case anymore.


Beer Myth 6: Women don't like beer

Thats crazy! My female friends love beer almost as much as I do. Women have brewed more beer than men in the History of Beer.

So chuck these myths and go ahead and 'Pint Your Love'