beer

If "beer" = Coors Light, then I don't drink "beer"!

According to Michael Jackson (no, not the one who sings and keeps llamas) in the old days, wine was the safe thing to drink with your meal and BEER was the drink for special occasions. Today with the revival of the brewing art, beer is once again a special treat, with enough variety and nuance to impress any wine expert.

Why is it, if you go into a good restaurant, or attend even a fancy function, there will be at least a 'red', a 'white', and probably even a 'blush'.....BUT your choice for a beer will consist of a domestic lager, a light lager, an imported skunky-smelling lager, and maybe an imported light lager? Could you imagine the stir if the wines available consisted of a domestic white, an imported white, and a cheap screw-cap white?

Beer can be a lager, ale, wheat, or lambic. Barley or wheat is fermented with yeast and then infused with hops to make beer (an oversimplification if ever there was one). Lagers are cold, bottom-fermenting brews, ales are top-fermenting and warmer, wheats use wheat instead of barley malt, and lambics use wheat fermented in open vats by wind-borne yeasts. From there the world grows exponentially.

There are primarily English-style, Belgian-style, and German-style beers. Another over-simplification, but a helpful one. English beers are quite different but are all essentially ales. Germans tend to work up all sorts of lagers and wheats. And Belgian monasteries still do wickedly powerful and complex ales in addition to lambics and wheats.

English-style ales range from (light to dark) pales, bitters, specials, IPA's (India Pale Ales), nut browns, porters, and stouts. You'll soon learn there is little correlation between color and specific gravity (heaviness), alcohol content, or bitterness. Don't let appearances deceive, just sip.

If you truly want to experience life to its fullest (drink-wise), I strongly recommend trying something different the next time you hit your local beer vendor. I have given some personal recommendations that are not too difficult to find and are not too far out for someone looking to ease into this. If you want to learn more, pick up almost any book by Michael Jackson, and hit the local microbrewery in your vicinity for a fresh, live, small-batch brew. (even a basic lager tastes better when brewed in a small vat as opposed to those industrial silos the "Big Guys" use). And be adventurous! Because even Ben Franklin knew: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." (And he wasn't talking about Coors Light!)

KEN'S PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

Pale Ales:

Sierra Nevada

IPA:

Flying Fish

ESB:

Fuller's ESB

Brown ale:

Brooklyn Brewery Brown

Samuel Smith's Nut Brown

Porter:

Fuller's London Porter

Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter

Stout:

Guiness draft

Belgian:

Corsendonk Abbey Brown

Affligem Trippel

Scotch Ale:

McEwan's

Wheat:

Hacker-Pschorr Weisbier

Oktoberfest:

Hacker-Pschorr



			If "beer" = Coors Light, then I don't drink "beer"! According to Michael Jackson (no, not the one who sings and keeps llamas) in the old days, wine was the safe thing to drink with your meal and BEER was the drink for special occasions. Today with the revival of the brewing art, beer is once again a special treat, with enough variety and nuance to impress any wine expert. Why is it, if you go into a good restaurant, or attend even a fancy function, there will be at least a 'red', a 'white', and probably even a 'blush'.....BUT your choice for a beer will consist of a domestic lager, a light lager, an imported skunky-smelling lager, and maybe an imported light lager? Could you imagine the stir if the wines available consisted of a domestic white, an imported white, and a cheap screw-cap white? Beer can be a lager, ale, wheat, or lambic. Barley or wheat is fermented with yeast and then infused with hops to make beer (an oversimplification if ever there was one). Lagers are cold, bottom-fermenting brews, ales are top-fermenting and warmer, wheats use wheat instead of barley malt, and lambics use wheat fermented in open vats by wind-borne yeasts. From there the world grows exponentially. There are primarily English-style, Belgian-style, and German-style beers. Another over-simplification, but a helpful one. English beers are quite different but are all essentially ales. Germans tend to work up all sorts of lagers and wheats. And Belgian monasteries still do wickedly powerful and complex ales in addition to lambics and wheats. English-style ales range from (light to dark) pales, bitters, specials, IPA's (India Pale Ales), nut browns, porters, and stouts. You'll soon learn there is little correlation between color and specific gravity (heaviness), alcohol content, or bitterness. Don't let appearances deceive, just sip. If you truly want to experience life to its fullest (drink-wise), I strongly recommend trying something different the next time you hit your local beer vendor. I have given some personal recommendations that are not too difficult to find and are not too far out for someone looking to ease into this. If you want to learn more, pick up almost any book by Michael Jackson, and hit the local microbrewery in your vicinity for a fresh, live, small-batch brew. (even a basic lager tastes better when brewed in a small vat as opposed to those industrial silos the "Big Guys" use). And be adventurous! Because even Ben Franklin knew: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." (And he wasn't talking about Coors Light!)
	KEN'S PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS: Pale Ales: Sierra Nevada IPA: Flying Fish ESB: Fuller's ESB Brown ale: Brooklyn Brewery Brown Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Porter: Fuller's London Porter Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter Stout: Guiness draft Belgian: Corsendonk Abbey Brown Affligem Trippel Scotch Ale: McEwan's Wheat: Hacker-Pschorr Weisbier Oktoberfest: Hacker-Pschorr