Cheers to Independent U. S. Craft Breweries

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cheers

This sponsored badge was originally avaliable for 12 months from 20 September 2018 until the 20 September 2019. It has since been extended until 2021.

Paid for by the U.S. Brewers Association, check into a beer made by an independent American brewery to get it. 5 check ins gets you to level two, and then you level up every 5 after that, upto level 100.

The badge promotes the Association’s independent craft brewer seal, which was launched in 2017. This is avaliable to brewers who brew less than 6 million barrels a year and have no more than 25% of their brewery owned by a large, none craft company. To date over 4000 brewers display the seal, so there are plenty of beers to choose from for this badge.

Visit the Brewers Association’s site for a full list of breweries that qualify as independent.

#SeekTheSeal

Haze for Days

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With hazy IPAs being very much the flavour of the month, it’s no surprise that untappd have jumped on board with this badge. They are known by a variety of names, such as East Coast IPA’s, New England IPA’s, or even Vermont-style IPA’s. Whatever you call it, these hazy, juicy creations are definitely making a big impact right now. haze

The badge was introduced in November 2018 and Originally had four styles that count towards this one: New England IPAs, New England Imperial/Double IPAs, New England Pale Ales and Milkshake IPAs.

Three other styles have recently been added to this badge: Milkshake Pale Ales, Double/Imperial Milkshake IPAs and Triple New England IPAs. Milkshake beers have their own badge as well, so they count for both!

Going Dutch

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The country badge for the Netherlands. Have 5 Dutch beers to reach level 1.

DutchWhen talking about Dutch beer we have to start with their pale lagers. Specifically, the incredibly successful Heineken and the also rather successful Grolsch (owned by Asahi). Thanks to the world wide popularity of these brands, the Netherlands exports roughly half of the beer it produces, the highest proportion of any country in the world.

Other popular brands include Amstel (now owned by Heineken), Bavaria, and United Dutch Breweries who produce Oranjeboom and a host of strong lagers.

Two of the 14 Trappist monasteries are also in the Netherlands; La Trappe and Zundert.

Fields of Gold

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This is the badge for golden and blonde Ales. Check in 5 to get the badge. Then 5 more for level 2, etc, all the way up to level 100.

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Styles that count towards this badge include Blonde Ales, Golden Ales (American, English, Ukrainian & Other), Belgian Strong Golden Ales, and Belgian Blondes.

Introduced in 2015, the badge was originally known as Blondes Do It Better before being renamed in 2017.

Pride Month

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New for 2019, check into any beer in June to receive the Pride Month badge.

PrideMonth2019

The month-long celebrations are in June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York,. These events helped organise the gay pride movement in the United States and 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the riots. June has previously been declared Pride Month in the US by both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

This badge also is accompanied by a “sticker pack” that can be used in the untappd photo editor.

Swedish Brews

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The country badge for Sweden. Have 5 Swedish beers for level 1. It levels up to 100.

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Like in many country’s, during the 20th century the brewing industry consolidated, leaving Sweden with two main breweries: Carlsburg Sverige (who now own the Pripps and Falcon brands) and Spendrups (the producer of Norrlands Guld).

In Sweden only beer with an ABV of 3.5 or less can be sold in supermarkets, which means many international lager brands have a 3.5% version in Sweden. Stronger beers can only be sold in pubs or in the state owned bottle stores.

Sweden now has an active craft beer scene which includes breweries like Brekeriet, Beerbliotek, Dugges, Omnipollo and Poppels.

Crisp as Day

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The badge for Pilsners. Have 5 to earn this badge.

Pilsners are named after the Czech town of Plzen, which is where the style started. This is where the lager yeast and storage techniques were first combined with pale ale techniques to create the style of golden lager that is today widespread.pilsner

Technically pilsner is a type of lager, however for Untappd’s purposes they are two separate styles. Therefore many beers that could claim to be pilsners are instead categorised as “Lager – Euro” or another variation of lager.

Famous brands that are recognised as pilsners include the original, Pilsner Urquell (now owned by Asahi), and its state-owned rival Budweiser Budvar, as well as Becks (Anheuser-Busch InBev), Groschl (Asahi again) and Tuborg (Carlsburg).

Untappd recognises six styles of pilsner: Czech / Bohemian, German, Italian, New Zealand, Imperial/Double, and Other.

Tovarisch!

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The country badge for Russia. Have 5 to get level 1.

Oddly beer was only classified as alcoholic in 2011. Before then anything under 10% was considered as just food.russia

Russia is associated with Russian Imperial Stouts, however that style originated in England and was designed to be shipped to Russia, rather than being a Russian invention.

The beer market in Russia is dominated by the Baltika brewery. It is second largest brewery in Europe, taking up more land than Vatican City, and is now owned by Carlsburg.

Lager Jack

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Lager Jack is, unsurprisingly, Untappd’s badge for lagers. Have 5 to get level one.

The badge includes IPLs, Dunkels, Helles and Vienna lagers (all of whom have their own badges as well) but doesn’t count any form of Pilsner.lager jack

Lagers essentially took over the beer world in the 19th and 20th centuries, and for good reason. Refreshing, crisp and also cheap and easy to mass produce, almost every country has a brand or two of lager that dominate beer sales.

“Lagering” refers to the cold storage of beer, originally in caves or cellars. However, what defines a lager is actually the type of yeast used. The lager strains of yeast ferment on the bottom while most Ale yeasts are top fermenting.

Lagers have been made since the 1500s in Germany, but they were originally dark in colour, essentially what is now known as a Vienna lager. It wasn’t until the mid 19th century that pale ale techniques were combined with lager yeast to create the popular style we know today. This, combined with refrigeration technology to allow easy lagering, allowed for the style to increase in availability and popularity and rapidly take over the beer industry.

The ten most popular lagers are also the ten most popular beers in the world. Snow beer from China sells roughly 75 million barrels a year and is followed by Tsingtao, Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch InBev), Yanjing, Corona (also Anheuser-Busch InBev), Skol (Anheuser-Busch InBev), Heineken, Coors (Molson Coors) and Brahma (Anheuser-Busch InBev again).