| Brief Guide to Beer |
| Beer |
|
Beer is the traditional drink of northern climes. The Romans used to make beer, but then they got clever at making wine, and beer became the drink of the non-Romans to their north - the hairy, trouser-wearing Celts, and the Barbarians. Strangely, a lot of beer-drinkers today are not uncomfortable with that image.
In fact, beer has been made by just about all cultures. All that is needed is a starchy grain. Even just old loaves of bread will do: this, apparently, is how Mesopotamians (in what is now Iraq) brewed their beer about 6000 years ago. The Chinese, Japanese and Koreans made beers from rice (Japanese sake is, strictly speaking, a rice beer, although it is often referred to as a 'rice wine'). |
| How is beer made? |
|
The basic beer-making process is relatively straightforward. The reason why there are so many different types of beer is that each part of this process can be manipulated and tweaked to produce a different outcome.
The main ingredient of beer is water. So the quality of water used by a brewery counts. Next comes barley. Grains of barley are moistened, allowed to germinate and then roasted (a process called 'malting') to stop the germination process in its tracks. This permits the starch in the barley to turn to sugar (maltose), which, when fermented by yeast, will produce alcohol. Wheat is sometimes used in combination with barley to produce 'wheat beer' or 'white beer'. The malted grain is milled (scrunched up) and mixed with water in a mash tun. Further ingredients and flavourings may now be added to this mix (now called the 'wort'), such as unmalted grain, extra sugar, and flavourings such as hops and even coriander and orange peel. Hops (the dried flowers of the hop vine) give beer a distinctive bitter flavour, and also have a mild antiseptic property, which controls bacteria. The wort is then boiled, then cooled, and yeast is added. The beer is then allowed to ferment, before being filtered ('fining'). Lastly it is transferred to casks or bottles. A process of ageing (or 'conditioning') allows secondary fermentation, which permits carbon dioxide to develop naturally, if fizz is desired. This entire process can, of course, be performed at home. If you fancy setting up your own personal microbrewery, for more information - plus other information about beer and breweries - visit http://www.brewer.co.uk |
| Top-fermented and bottom-fermented: does it matter? |
|
Yeast is the single most important ingredient to influence the resulting style of beer. Use bottom-fermenting yeast, and you end up with a lager-style beer. Use top-fermenting yeast and you end up with an ale. Lagers and ales are the two main categories of beers.
Basically, with top-fermenting yeast, the yeast rises to the top of the fermentation tank and forms a crust, sealing in the flavour. The resulting ales have correspondingly rich and varied characters. They include hop-rich bitters, dark stouts, and the high-octane Trappist beers of Belgium. Just about all beer was top-fermented until the early 19th century, when a clearer, more polished kind of beer became popular. Developed in Germany and Austria, it was called lagerbier, because an important part of the process was to store it (German: lagern) for a period of time. Lager was originally brown or amber, but golden lager was produced in the Czech town of Pilsen (Plzen) in 1842, setting a trend for Pils. This style of clear, light, bottom-fermented beer is now the most popular kind of beer in the world, and is given a bad name by the gassy and insipid brews of many of the biggest brands. However, fine or 'premium' lager is still made, especially in Germany and the Czech Republic. |
| Who drinks it? |
|
The British consume 100 litres of beer per head each year. This puts them in only sixth place in the world-beer-drinking leagues, but still ahead of the Belgians, the Australians and the Americans. The champions are the Czechs, with 155 litres per head per year.
In Britain, 60% of the beer consumed today is lager, 40% is real ale. This represents a modern shift in tastes: in the 1970s the split was 25% lager, 75% ale. |
| What is real ale? |
|
Any beer that is made in the traditional way, to high standards and with care and respect can be called 'real ale'. This also means that it should undergo secondary fermentation in its container (cask or bottle), and not contain added carbon dioxide. When, during the 1970s, the mega-brewing companies in Britain were scooping up small breweries and flooding the market with their dull, homogenised beer, there seemed a real danger that good, characterful, traditionally-made beers would be driven to extinction. But a vigorous campaign to save real ale has had a major success in raising public awareness, and encouraging drinkers to take an interest in - and to create a market for - the traditional, independent brewers and the new microbreweries.
For more about real ale and the campaign to protect it, visit http://www.camra.org.uk |
| How strong is it? |
| The alcoholic strength of beer varies hugely, from 2% alcohol by volume (ABV) to a maximum of about 14%. British lager and bitter is usually about 3-5% ABV. Belgian beers - even the lagers - are generally somewhat stronger, between 5% and 9% ABV (with a few stratospheric brands of 12% and upwards that must be treated with great circumspection). |
| Where can you find good beer? |
|
Of course, it depends what kind of beer you like. For some people beer, is just a liquid to pour down the throat. For others, it is something to savour and think about, to explore and research. If you are inclined towards the latter view, there are plenty of opportunities for R&D, starting with your local supermarket, or off-licence. Look for brands that appear to be taking some trouble, and are serious about their product. Avoid foreign beers brewed under licence in the UK - they are rarely as good as the original. Go to a pub that puts some thought into selecting its beers; talk to the publican. Have a look at the specialist beer websites (you can buy hundreds of interesting beers on line). Go to a beer festival.
For information about beers (of the world) and buying beer online, visit http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk For a list of beer festivals in the UK, visit http://www.camra.org.uk and http://www.beerfestival.co.uk |
| Is beer a healthy drink? |
|
The patron saint of brewers in Belgium is St Arnold, who lived during the 11thcentury. When Flanders was being ravaged by plague, he plunged his crucifix into beer that was being brewed and declared that all should drink nothing but that. And - lo and behold! - a miracle cure! A more prosaic explanation would suggest that beer was safer than water (and hence did not transit pague), because the production process involves boiling. For such reasons, beer was the most widely-consumed drink until the arrival of safe piped water in the 19th century - which explains the huge quantities of beers and breweries in the past. (In 1850 there were more than 750 breweries in the UK; today there are some 450, but only 70 or so sizeable ones.)
To protect beer from adulteration, the Germans introduced the Reinheitsgebot (purity law) as long ago as 1516, forbidding any other additive besides barley, hops and water. Although other ingredients are permitted by law today, purity is still the guiding principle of fine German brewing today, as indeed it is of all good brewers. So beer can be seen as a healthy drink. It contains vitamins (especially Vitamin B), useful minerals (magnesium, potassium, calcium), carbohydrates (all that starch/sugar/maltose), and protein. Alcohol in moderate quantities is thought to reduce the risk of heart disease; and some people use beer's well-known soporific qualities to help them sleep. Beer is relatively low in calories, about 180 kcal per pint for ordinary-strength lager, 200 kcal per pint for stout. The recommended total calorie intake for adults is somewhere between 2000 and 2500 kcal per day. Weight-gain associated with beer will clearly be related to a broader scenario of eating, drinking and lifestyle. But basically, those who drink a large quantity of the stuff also should take a large quantity of exercise - and, let's face it, those two images don't always coincide. Alas, once established, the 'beer belly' is an obstinate attribute, because this is the place where fat has found it easiest to accumulate, and consequently the place from which it is most difficult to dislodge. Men are advised to drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week (over the week, and not all on Saturday night) to stay healthy; women 14 units. A pint of standard lager is about 2.3 units; a pint of strong lager (8% ABV) is 4.5 units or more. (Drink-driving regulations, by the way, are based on alcohol in the blood, which does not translate easily into units; in the UK the limit is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. Most people would be over the limit with two units). Because it contains alcohol, all beer comes with a health warning: alcohol may pleasurable in moderation for some, but for others it is a demonic and lethal addiction. If you are worried about this, visit http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk |
| Should you cook with it? |
| Certainly. Beer can be used in cooking rather like wine. The Belgians are the masters of beer cuisine, the classic dish being the succulent beef stew called carbonades flamandes (called vlaamse stoverij in Dutch-speaking areas). So many culinary variations are possible with the huge range of Belgian beers that some restaurants are devoted entirely to beer cuisine. The British, for their part, make fine beef stews flavoured with beer, especially the slightly sweet brown ales. |
| More information |
|
http://www.brewer.co.uk http://www.beermad.org.uk |
| Comments, copyright and linking |
|
Comments on this brief guide would be welcome. Also, please let us know if you do put in a link to this guide from your website and we will try to reciprocate with a link from us to your site.
Copyright: these pages are protected by copyright and reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited. Copyright belongs to Giant Games Limited, owner of the briefguides.co.uk and onlineshopping.co.uk websites. © 1997-2006 Giant Games Limited, but you are welcome to have a link to this webpage. |