Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies and soft drinks. Traditionally warm beverages include coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Caffeinated drinks that contain the stimulant caffeine have a long history.
Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England, parts of South Wales, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. There is growing interest in artisanal perry production in the fruit-growing regions of the northwest United States.
Apple cider is the name used in the United States and Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples. Though typically referred to simply as "cider" in North America, it is not to be confused with the alcoholic beverage known as cider in other places, which is called "hard cider" in the US. Outside of the United States and Canada, it is commonly referred to as cloudy apple juice to distinguish it from clearer, filtered apple juice and hard cider.
H P Bulmer Limited, trading as Bulmers, is a cider-making company founded in 1887 in Hereford, England.
Traditional ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar.
Woodchuck Hard Cider is a brand of hard cider produced by the Vermont Hard Cider Company, LLC, in Middlebury, Vermont. In 2011 it was the top-selling hard cider in the United States, capturing approximately 47% of the hard cider market in the country.
Magners Irish Cider is a brand of cider produced in County Tipperary in Ireland by the C&C Group. The product range includes the cider varieties: Original, Light, Berry, Pear and Rosé. The cider was originally produced as Bulmers Irish Cider and continues to be sold under that name in the Republic of Ireland, it is sold as Magners in all other markets.
WKD, pronounced as Wicked, is a brand of alcopop produced by Beverage Brands. It is sold and heavily marketed in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the slogan ‘Have you got a WKD side?’, and also in many countries in mainland Europe. AC Nielsen ranked it as the number-one UK ready to drink (RTD) alcopop in 2006. In December 2014 to comply with alcohol tax laws and to minimise future tax increases, "Alcoholic Mix WKD" replaced the old "Original WKD", and the old Original Mix is now no longer available in both the UK and Ireland. The small change to the alcohol element of the WKD was not intended to change the taste of the product and still contains triple distilled vodka. In addition, it contains an alternative alcohol base to minimise tax. The actual recipe remains unchanged. The WKD bottling facility in Ayrshire, Scotland closed in November 2022 due to rising costs.
Purposeful production of alcoholic drinks is common and often reflects cultural and religious peculiarities as much as geographical and sociological conditions.
Brothers Cider is a brand of fruit cider originating in Somerset in South West England. Originally available at music festivals, it is now sold in pubs, bars, and stores across the United Kingdom and internationally in countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and China.
Courage Brewery was an English brewery, founded by John Courage in 1787 in London, England.
Aston Manor Limited, trading as Aston Manor Cider, is a former brewery and current cider maker and bottling company in Aston, Birmingham, England. Having started out as a beer brewery, the company now produces exclusively cider and perry. In 2008 it was the third largest cider company in the UK by market share, and the fourth largest in the world. In August 2018 Aston Manor cider was acquired by French co-operative Agrial.
Two Dogs was a ready-to-drink beverage that was first introduced in Australia in 1993 and went on to become available throughout the world. It was a lemon flavoured alcoholic beverage that is widely considered to have been the "world’s first brewed alcoholic lemonade", paving the way for similar products such as Hooper's Hooch and Mike's Hard Lemonade.
An alcoholic beverage is a beverage containing alcohol (ethanol). Alcoholic drinks are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and spirits—and typically their alcohol content is between 3% and 50%.
Cider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, as well as the largest cider-producing companies. Ciders from the South West of England are generally higher in alcoholic content. Cider is also popular in many Commonwealth countries, such as India, South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and New England. As well as the UK and its former colonies, cider is popular in Portugal, France, Friuli, and northern Spain. Germany also has its own types of cider with Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse producing a particularly tart version known as Apfelwein. In the U.S. and Canada, varieties of alcoholic cider are often called hard cider to distinguish it from non-alcoholic apple cider or "sweet cider", also made from apples. In Canada, cider cannot contain less than 2.5% or over 13% absolute alcohol by volume.
Beer is often made from barley malt, water, hops and yeast and so is often suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Some beer brewers add finings to clarify the beer when racking into a barrel. Finings can include plant-derived products, like Irish moss, or animal-derived products, like isinglass and gelatin.
Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the United States through Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners. It acts as distributors for a range of spirits in New Zealand, but does not own any distilleries outright, although holding a 50% share of Four Pillars Gin in Victoria.
Cider in the United Kingdom is widely available at pubs, off licences, and shops. It has been made in regions of the country where cider apples were grown since Roman times; in those regions it is intertwined with local culture, particularly in the West Country.
