Britians boldy brew beer bound for abroad: the India Pale Ale (IPA)

The development of Pale Ale proved very, very popular in England, and as the British Empire expanded, expatriates wanted a taste of home. 

Beer's Holy Grail from a Pint-sized Country

   

Two of my neighborhood pubs have had Belgian beer events recently, so lately I've had Belgium beer on the brain, both figuratively and literally.

Belgium has a variety of unique beer styles, but the beers most often associated with Belgium are the Trappist Abbey ales.

Barleywine - is it wine or is it beer?

A cold, dark winter evening is the perfect time to hunker down with a glass of barleywine, a dark, strong, malty ale originating in England.

It's dark, complex, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes fruity, and always very alcoholic.  

And no, it is definitely not wine.

Brown Ale for Thanksgiving

I'm back to blogging after taking some time off to prepare for the Craft Beer Institute's Cicerone certification exam - just in time to talk about beer to serve with Thanksgiving dinner.

I know what you're thinking: Thanksgiving is a special celebration so you should pull out the wine, right? 

Don't think that you have to, because there is historical precedent for serving beer instead. Do you think that the Pilgrims ran down to the corner store for a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau? No, they did not. They drank the beer that they had brewed. 

Honor the Pilgrims by serving beer!

There are plenty of great beer choices for Thanksgiving dinner, but I'm going to suggest something that isn't terribly sexy, esoteric, or beer-geeky: Brown Ale.

Oktoberfest!

Munich, Germany's Oktoberfest is the world's most famous and imitated beer festival, and it's name has become synonymous with the style of beer served there: Märzen (Mayrt-zen).

Before refrigeration, it was difficult to brew beer during Bavaria's hot summer and the quality of the beer suffered. In 1553, Bavarian law decreed that beer could only be brewed between September 29th and April 23rd. Beer was brewed in March (Märzen in German) to be stored in cellars and caves for drinking during the summer.

Be a Weizen-heimer!

 

Map of Germany by David Liuzzo

Hefeweizen (HEH-feh-vite-zen) is just one of several types of German weissbier. Weissbier is a German beer brewed with malted wheat in additon to malted barley.

Weizen is German for wheat, and refers to the Bavarian (Southern Germany) style of Weissbier.

Hefe is German for yeast, and refers to the beer being unfiltered and cloudy.

Hefeweizen (which we now know means yeast wheat) is by far the most popular form of wheat beer.

Bock Basics

Bock is German for male goat, a prancing symbol of spring fertility, and Bock beer is a malty German beer style, usually dark, which is brewed in the winter to be drunk in the spring.

It is now springtime. I think you know what to do.

Ale turns pale.

Pale ale is the hallmark of the craft beer movement. 

It's a beer complex enough to be interesting, but light bodied enough to be easily drinkable. It's also very quick to brew, which is why every new brewery that comes along makes a pale ale. New breweries need to get a product on the market quickly to generate some cash flow, and lagers need time to mature.

What are the unique qualities of American and English Pale ales?

A toast to Brie & Camembert!

What would be a good drink to wash down soft cow's milk cheeses like Brie and Camembert? 

Hey Bud, I'd like a pilsner.

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Your average beer drinker probably thinks of lager & pilsner as interchangeable terms, both meaning a light colored, light bodied beer, but lagers come in a variety of strengths and colors, from light and bitter pilsners to dark and roasty schwarzbiers.

There are several styles of lager, but the most interesting one is Pilsner.

Just like people, there are only two kinds of beer...

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There's no shortage of unusual beer names and obscure beer styles, but knowing some of the major style differences can help you to pick an unfamiliar beer from a list while having a pretty good idea of how its going to taste, and by trying something new, you might find a beer that you really, really like. 

So where can the casual beer drinker begin? Here are some basics.