I have always been a fan of "craft" beers for the exceptional taste, but only recently realized there are actual health benefits to drinking it...

I did not realize pasteurization removed all of the "B" vitamins and anti-oxidants until recently. I was so disappointed to find out Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout and Chocolate Stout were pasteurized, I still haven't recovered...  Damn - those are incredible beers

My question is - I would like to have a small list of breweries or beers that are non-pasteurized and/or bottle-conditioned (preferably non-filtered too) that I can resort to when I am unable to make it to one of the local breweries. I purchase growlers and such from my local breweries and nearly all of them do not pasteurize, but I am not always able to make it there and would like to be able to stop at the local liquor store and pickup a six pack of quality non-pasteurized beer.

Any suggestions or recommendations on larger breweries that do not pasteurize would be greatly appreciated. I did find out Sierra Nevada bottle conditions their beer, so that's a start!

Thanks!

you can always brew your own.  there's a brewing forum here on ARFCOM

I wish I had the time...There was a time when I considered it, but I just don't have the time now.

Brewing really isn't that time consuming of a hobby.  Most the time is spend waiting.

On brew days I wake up early on a weekend and brew.  By the time I'm done and cleaned up, the family is waking up.  Couple weeks later I do the same thing when I bottle the beer.  Brewing really takes no time away from my life and family...except a few hours less sleep on a weekend.

Whether you get into homebrewing or not, Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers is a really interesting read. As comes with the territory, there's a decent amount of hearsay and pseudoscience, but a lot of it makes sense and there are some really interesting recipes in there.

True, but they filter out their yeast then add yeast to bottle condition.



Where did you find out that pasteurizing removed B vitamins and anti-oxidants?  What are you actually looking for, beer with active/live yeast in it?



A way to determine this yourself would be to check the bottom of the bottle for a thin layer or dusting of flocculated yeast.  You can also stick to styles that lend themselves to bottle conditioning.  



 

I wasn't aware that beer was pasteurized. I know a majority of it is filtered, but didn't know they ever pasteurized it.

I figured I was behind the times and it was fairly common knowledge that most "off the shelf" beer was pasteurized and that the pasteurization process destroyed vitamins, enzymes, etc...

I am actually surprised how few beers are not pasteurized. I am on my phone now, but I will post some links tonight.

Most kegged beer is not pasteurized.  Just buy kegs!!!!!

Miller Genuine Draft is filtered and not pasteurized.

Take a tour of a major brewery.  

What enzymes aren't denatured in the boil?


Why do you think that heating beer destroys vitamins?


 

I am familiar with the pasteurization process, so I am aware temperature affects nutrients. I did not realize pasteurization of beer required a fairly high temperature. To me, bottle conditioning would be fine, as live yeast is re-applied and nutrients are preserved.So yes...I am looking for beer with active/live yeast in it. The problem is may brewers do not do this...



Why do you think it does not? Very basic information related to heat pasteurization discusses how temperature affects both bacteria and nutrients. It has been proven over and over again that low heat milk pasteurization has a negative effect on nutrients. My understanding is the process for beer pasteurization (heat) involves a higher temperature than milk, which would further decrease the benefit from active yeast.

Honestly, I'm too lazy to chase down links and citations, so if you have some info disputing this, please do tell?

I am new to the brewery forum, so I will leave it to the experts, but if you have some vast knowledge on how the pasteurization does not negatively influence nutrients in beer, please educate me...

The information I have read indicates pasteurization of beer is not ideal if trying to preserve nutrients. I have also contacted more than one large national brewery regarding the issue and the few that responded have have all indicated pasteurization is not ideal if the goal is to preserve nutrients. Then again...how many people are actually using beer to get their nutrients? You might be surprised...

So, I found this link which broadened my horizon a bit on yeast as a source of nutrients.



Based off of that, they heat the yeast to kill it then harvest it and sell it as a nutrient.  I don't think that heating it reduces/eliminated nutrients persay, but rather it is the heating that causes it to die and fall out of solution and hence not be in the finished beer.  With that said, there are many different methods that brewers use to reduce the amount of living yeast in their beer.


I think you should broaden your search to more than just nonpasturized and non-filtered.  Rather, see if you can find a beer that doesn't use any finings at all (isinglass, gelatin, biofine, etc) to maximise your living yeast.  


practically though, I think the easiest way to do this will be to search for bottles with a bit of yeast sediment on the bottom or go after more cloudy beers in general.

Thank you for the information and taking the time to link some information. Searching for bottles with a bit of yeast sediment makes sense - I will give that a try.

For the most part, I think I will just stick with local breweries where I am familiar with their brewing practices and maybe I should revisit the home brewing practice.

If that's what you're after, home fermented hard cider is unbelievably easy.  Less than $20 worth of equipment will get you what you need.

Not sure if cider has the exact same health benefits but I recon it'd be similar.

Shoot, less than 5. How I got started:

1 gallon jug of apple cider (dump a little out to allow for adequate head space)
1 packet of yeast (cider or ale yeast work great but I've used bread yeast too)
1 unlubricated condom placed over the opening with a needle hole in the end (CO₂ will keep it inflated but excess gas can still escape from the hole)

sorry dupe

Its also important to note that the cider you use must not contain any preservatives.  Pasteurized is okay (which may or may not be desirable, due to whether or not you want the wild yeasts intact to attend the party), but preservatives will not allow any of the yeasts to function properly.

Right, make sure the only ingredients are apple juice, water, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C, optional). Most commercial juices don't have anything else in them as they are pasteurized with heat rather than chemicals.

If you can find a local cider house, even better. Make sure they don't pasteurize (or ask for a gallon of raw stuff) and just let it ferment from whatever yeast was living on the apple skins.

The amount you lose is not as significant as you make it out to be!
Below are links to milk but a very similar type of pasteurization process.  Many breweries use Flash Pasteurization vs tunnel.  In our brewery that will take beer from 30F to 161 back to 30F in just over 60 seconds.
Secondly, the amount of water soluble vitamins you get from beer is not enough to really matter, Minerals? some, calories? absolutely. Thirdly, the alcohol negates Vitamin C and B complex,  MANY breweries filter their beer or run it thru a centrifuge...Lastly  I know of no one who would consider the vitamins in beer as part of their diet.
Below are links on the effects of pasteurization on milk:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22054181

http://www.livestrong.com/article/543480-does-pasteurized-juice-have-nutrients/
http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/good-bad.php

Where do you work, if you don't mind sharing?

and get free samples!
 

when I made hard cider I'd spike it with light DME to up the alcohol content