The term “draft beer” has various meanings, including beer served directly from a cask without pressurization and active yeast, beer brewed and served from a keg, and even bottled beer with nitrogen inserts. Historically, draft beer referred to beer transported from a cask directly to the customer.
The term draft beer has taken on several methods of preparation for beer. The term can be confusing because it applies to so many different processes and products. Historically, a draft beer came from a cask or large container, but today it can also refer to beer brewed and served from a keg. In other cases, the term may also refer to a bottled beer, but that claim is generally dismissed by historians.
The word draft is an old English term that generally means “to carry”, as beers were transported from the cask directly to the customer. Since then, the term has evolved and draft has become a way to brew beer and a way to drink it: you could take a draft beer for example. Since then, the term has been applied to several different brewing methods, each with its supporters and detractors. The most historically accurate definition of the term, however, refers to beer served directly from a cask without pressurization and active yeast.
As brewers began placing beer in pressurized containers, the end product became known as draft beer. In the early 20th century, when this method became common, customers did not immediately react positively to the beer because the flavor was lost and the shelf life could be extended. Purists considered real draft beer to be beer from a cask, not a pressurized container. Keg beer was the result of this disagreement, and again, many people rejected Keg beer because the yeast in the beer was inactivated during the serving process, sacrificing flavor. Keg beer uses CO2 to pressurize the beer and give it the carbonation that would occur naturally, if the beer came from a cask.
More recently, the term draft beer – or its alternate spelling, draft beer – has come to refer to a specific style of beer that can be presented in a bottle or can. The taste of these canned or bottled beers is supposed to resemble that of keg beer, and it is labeled as such even if it is not directly from a keg. Some bottled beers also come with nitrogen inserts that cause carbonation when the bottle is opened. This results in a smooth taste and a thick head on the beer, somewhat mimicking the process of keg brewing. Many historians and purists reject such labeling on bottles and cans and consider it misleading.
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