Beer Basics!

Hey all,

Thanks for checking out the blog, I'm delighted to see that people are actually reading my ramblings about beer. Be sure to follow, share and contribute ideas for reviews and other posts!

Anyway, it stuck me this morning that it might be a good idea to post a general key or cheat-sheet for beer treatment and tasting. So, here goes.

Treatment of Beer - Beer is delicate and if you want the most out of your malty beverage, treat it nicely.

1) Light is bad! - it destroys the flavor of the beer by destroying the flavor compounds from the hops. For a fun do-it-yourself experiment get a can of Heineken, pour it into the glass, and let it sit in the sun for a few minutes. Then, take a deep whiff -- should smell something like a wet skunk.

2) Always keep beer cold -  warm beer spoils very quickly - there is a lot of debate surrounding why it happens, but it just does - some people believe its oxygen reacting with components of the beer - I believe its a beer wizard that curses people that don't drink their beer fast enough.

3) ALWAYS drink from a glass  (and no, beer bottles do NOT count as glass.) Pouring it into a glass vessel of some sort allows the drinker to smell the beer as it is being consumed which gives the beer a much fuller taste. Also, make sure the glass is clean - oils from skin or soap residue destroy the foam of the beer - beer with no foam is unhappy beer.

Beer Tasting - Just a general guide - I'm sure people who do this for a living have much more complex ways of examining beer, this is the basic way I go about it - I am certainly no expert. I just like beer.

1) Color - how much the malt was modified (roasted in a kiln) is reflected in the color of the beer. Dark beers (porters, stouts) have a highly modified or more heavily roasted malts, while lighter beers (pilsners) have less modified or roasted malts.

2) Foam - called "head" by most beer drinkers. It comes in a range of colors and strengths, some people dig it, while others try their very best to avoid it. (I love it)

3) Aroma - aroma mostly comes from hops added to the beer. (Later I'll do a post dedicated to hops)

4) Taste - Again dependent on the level of modification of the malt, as well as the malt's composition. Some beer is made of just barely, while others contain grains like rye, oatmeal and wheat and others still contain rice and corn. Each has its own distinctive flavor and combinations make for a complex malt profile. How the beer is hopped (wet or dry hopped - I'll leave that one to your imagination) also changes how the beer tastes. Dry hopped beers are usually much more intensely hoppy than wet hopped beers.

That's the basics - I'll expand on more of these topics at a later date. If you have any questions/comments/concerns let me know in the comments below.

I'm certainly no beer expert, most of this came from Dr. Bamforth's course as well as his book:

Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing 

Enjoy!

Why Beer?

UC Davis is not only home to one of the foremost experts on beer, Charles Bamforth, but its location gives the university and the people who live there a great opportunity to experience a vast selection of beer.

I had the great honor of taking his course, Introduction to Beer and Brewing, which taught me I knew nothing about beer other than what I liked. Ten weeks is not enough to learn much about the drink that Dr. Bamforth has dedicated his life and career to developing and promoting, but what I did learn was the level of passion, innovation and artistic thought that goes into every barrel.

Davis is a small university town located 15 miles southwest of Sacramento. Luckily for me and my fellow students there are many breweries within driving distance of our home. In town, there is the family-owned Sudwerk Brewery, just south of us is one of the Anheuser Busch facilities, to the north there is the world famous Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, in San Fransisco is the Anchor Brewing Company and finally in my home county of Sonoma there are many smaller breweries (Lagunitas, Bear Republic, Russian River to name a few).

So, why beer?

For me it's the sense of camaraderie that comes with sharing a good hoppy IPA with friends and how every beer has a unique flavor, a different set of characteristics that defines its personality. I like trying new things, and hopefully this blog will help other people do the same.

Feedback, suggestions and comments are always appreciated and welcome.  


Chris