Barbot's teaches beer

Beer: is any of a variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grains or other plant sources. The production of beer and some other alcoholic beverages is often called brewing. Historically, beer was known to the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians, and dates back at least as far as 4,000 BC. Because the ingredients used to make beer differ from place to place, beer characteristics (type, taste, and colour) vary widely.

Draught beer: (also called draft beer or tap beer) is beer that has been served from, or has been conditioned in, a cask.

Recently, the term has been used misleadingly on canned or bottled beers to imply that these taste like those that have come from a cask. Draught beer is usually unpasteurised and therefore suffers no loss of taste due to boiling. It should be consumed after being "tapped", and is generally truer to the flavors of the ingredients as pasteurisation exposes the beer to heat and changes the flavor profile. Draught beer should be kept refrigerated between 2°C (35°F) and 4°C (40°F). Above 6°C (44°F), a beer may become wild, turn sour & cloudy in a day or two. Below 6°C (44°F), a keg of draft beer should last 20-30 days before it loses its fresh brewery taste and aroma.

Draught also denotes the pumping of carbon dioxide into the beer keg. Some types of canned draught beer use widgets to introduce nitrogen gas, simulating the head of a true draught.

INGREDIENTS

Typically, beers are made from water, malted barley, hops, and fermented by yeast. The addition of other flavourings or sources of sugar is not uncommon.

Because beer is composed mainly of water, the source of the water and its characteristics have an important effect on the character of the beer. Many beer styles were influenced or even determined by the characteristics of the water in the region.

Among malts, barley malt is the most often and widely used owing to its high enzyme content (which facilitates the breakdown of the starch into sugars) but other malted and unmalted grains are widely used, including wheat, rice, maize, oats, and rye.

Hops are a relatively recent addition to beer, having been introduced only a few hundred years ago. They contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malt and have a mild antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable organisms. Enzymes in yeast, in a process called fermentation, metabolize the sugars extracted from the grains, producing many compounds including alcohol and carbon dioxide. Dozens of strains of natural or cultured yeasts are used by brewers, roughly sorted into three kinds: ale or top-fermenting, lager or bottom fermenting, and wild yeasts. The scientific name for ale yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an important model organism in molecular and cell biology. Saccharomyces carlsbergensis is the scientific name for lager yeast.

One pint of beer typically contains about two units of alcohol, although alcohol content can vary significantly with style and brewer. In the Australia a system of standard drinks is employed for a rough measure of the amount of alcohol in different drinks. A glass of wine or a shot of spirits are considered a standard drink. A 375 ml bottle of beer can vary from 0.9 standard drinks for light beer to 1.4 for normal beer.

HISTORY

Almost any sugar or starch-containing food can naturally undergo fermentation, and so it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented in cultures throughout the world. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is on a 6000-year old Sumerian tablet which shows people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl. Beer is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and a 3900-year old Sumerian poem honoring the brewing goddess Ninkasi contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. Beer became vital to all the grain-growing civilizations of classical antiquity, especially in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi required that tavern-keepers who diluted or overcharged for beer should be put to death.

Beer was important to early Romans, but during Republican times wine displaced beer as the preferred alcoholic beverage, and beer became considered a beverage fit only for barbarians. Tacitus wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the Germanic peoples of his day.

Most beers until relatively recent times were what we would now call ales.

Lagers were discovered by accident in the sixteenth century when beer was stored in cool caverns for long periods; they have since largely outpaced ales in volume. (See below for the distinction.) The use of hops for bittering and preservation is a mediaeval addition. Hops were cultivated in France as early as the 800s. The oldest surviving written record of the use of hops in beer is in 1067 by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen: "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops." In 15th century England, an unhopped beer would have been known as an ale, while the use of hops would make it a beer. Hopped beer was imported to England (from the Netherlands) as early as 1400 in Winchester and hops were being planted on the island by 1428. The Brewers Company of London went so far as to state "no hops, herbs, or other like thing be put into any ale or liquore wherof ale shall be made — but only liquor (water), malt, and yeast." However, by the 16th century, "ale" had come to refer to any strong beer, and all ale and beer were hopped.

Methods of brewing changed very little from that time. In 1953, New Zealander Morton W Coutts developed the technique of continuous fermentation which was the first major change to brewing since the 16th century. Morton patented his process which revolutionised the industry by reducing a four-month long brewing process to less than 24 hours. His process is still used my many of the world’s major breweries today, including Guinness.

ETYMOLOGY
(the study of the origins of words)

"Ale" is the oldest term used in English. It comes directly from the proto-Indo European root *alu-, through Germanic *aluth.

"Beer", on the other hand, is presumed to come from the latin bibere (to drink).

Old English sources distinguish between "ale" and "beer" but do not define what was meant by "beer" during that period, although there is some speculation that it refers to what would now be called cider (alcoholic form). The Old English form of "beer" disappeared shortly after the Norman Conquest, and the word re-entered English centuries later, in exclusive reference to hopped malt beverages.

In Slavic languages, beer is called "pivo", from the verb "piti" — to drink. So, "pivo" could be translated to English as "the drink".

MYTHOLOGY

The Kalevala, collected in written form in the 19th century but based on oral traditions many centuries old, contains more lines about the origin of brewing than are devoted to the origin of man.

TYPES OF BEER

There are many different types of beers. A very comprehensive description of beer styles can be found at the website of the Beer Judge Certification Program but some of the major types include:

Lagers

Lagers are probably the most common type of beer consumed. They are of Central European origin, taking their name from the German lagern ("to store"). Lagers are bottom-fermented. The yeast culture ferments at the bottom of the fermenting vessel. They were traditionally stored at a low temperature for weeks or months, clearing, acquiring mellowness, and becoming charged with carbon dioxide. Modern methods of producing lager were pioneered by Gabriel Sedlmayr II (who perfected dark brown lagers at the Spaten brewery in Bavaria) and Anton Dreher (who began brewing a lager, probably of amber-red color, in Vienna in 1840-1841). The first golden lager was produced in the Bohemian town of Pilsen in 1842. These days, with improved fermentation control, most lager breweries use only short periods of cold storage (1–3 weeks).

Although many styles of lager exist, most of the lager produced is light in colour, high in carbonation with a mild hop flavour and an alcohol content of 3–6% by volume. Styles of lager include:

Bock: A type of German beer. Bottom fermented, it is named for the famous medieval German brewing town of Einbeck. The beer has a heavier taste than most lagers and is darkened by high-coloured malts. Bock is traditionally brewed in the winter time for drinking during the Spring.; Variants include Maibock (brewed for the month of May), Eisbock (ice bock), Weizenbock (wheat bock), and Doppelbock (double bock). The names of Doppelbock brews commonly end in -ator in honor of the original, Paulaner Salvator.; Many bock beer producers have displayed goats on bottle labels since Bock in German means billy goat. In the local dialect, Einbeck is pronounced similar to "Einbock", which sounds like ein Bock (a goat).

Helles: A Bavarian style beer, a type of lager, and the most popular beer in Munich. It has a light golden color, and is more aromatic and less bitter that most other beers. The most famous brand abroad is Löwenbräu (although Munich locals often consider it as being at the lower end of the spectrum of the seven traditional Munich Helles brands).

The word Helles is short for helles Bier (meaning pale beer)-- in order to distingush it from Dunkles Bier (dark beer), which is another type of beer typical for the region, being darker in colour and sweeter than Helles.

For completeness, these two types of barley-based beer should be contrasted to Weißbier, a wheat beer also very popular in Bavaria, and also available in light and dark variants (helles Weißbier und dunkles Weißbier).

In Asia Tsing Tao has a flavour very similar to Helles.

Dry Beer: Dry is a category of beer originally developed in Japan. The "dry" refers to the amount of unconverted sugar left in the beer after fermentation. In dry beer, nearly all the sugar is converted in to alcohol due to the long fermentation period. Dry beer is supposed to have a crisp, clean finish and less aftertaste.

Märzens: Classic German beers characterized by a medium body and broad range of color. Oktoberfest beers are a subset of the style which range from golden to reddish brown. The flavor of both is dominated by a sweet maltiness, though there is a clean bitterness from hops. Malt character is typically light-toasted rather than strongly caramel. The aroma and flavor from malt is sometimes bread-like.; The North American style of this classic German beer is distinguished by a comparatively greater degree of character from hops, with some bitterness which is not aggressive or harsh.; Commercial examples include Spaten Ur-Märzen and Paulaner Oktoberfest. North American commercial examples include Staghorn Octoberfest, Summit Oktoberfest and Widmer Brothers Oktoberfest.

Based on the industry definition published by the Association of Brewers (http://www.beertown.org/).

Pilsner: Pilsener or pilsner (optional capitalization) is a type of lager beer. It was developed in the city of Pilsen, Czech Republic. It is generally distinguished from other lagers by a more prominent hop character, particularly from noble hops.
Up to the 1840s, Czech beers were top-fermented, dark and cloudy, though Bavarian brewers had begun "lagering" beer in cold caves, which improved its flavour and keeping qualities. The Mestansky Pivovar (Burgess Brewery) recruited the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll (1813-1887) who, using new techniques and the newly available paler malts, created the first batch of modern pilsner on 5th October 1842. The combination of pale colour from the new malts (helped by Pilsen's remarkably soft water), noble hops and Bavarian-style lagering produced a clear, golden beer which caused a sensation. Improving transport and communications meant this beer was available throughout central Europe, and its style was soon widely imitated. The invention of modern refrigeration by Carl von Linde obviated the need for caves to store the beer and thus gave it another boost; nowadays Pilsners are the most popular type of beer in Germany, having largely supplanted the older styles.
Schwarzbier: Schwarzbier, or "black beer" is a German dark lager beer with an opaque, black color and a full, chocolatey flavor. A well-known brand of schwarzbier that has been in production since 1543 is Köstritzer.

Ale

Top-fermented beers, particularly popular in the British Isles. include mild, bitter, pale ale, porter, and stout. Top-fermented beers tend to be more flavoursome, including a variety of grain flavours and fermentation flavours; they have also lower carbonation and are fermented and ideally served at a higher temperature than lager. Stylistic differences among top-fermented beers are decidedly more varied than those found among bottom-fermented beers and many beer styles are difficult to categorize. California Common beer, for example, is produced using a lager yeast at ale temperatures. Wheat beers are often produced using an ale yeast and then lagered, sometimes with a lager yeast. Lambics employ wild yeasts and bacteria, naturally-occurring in the Payottenland region of Belgium. Other examples of ale include stock ale and old ale. Real ale is a term for beers produced using traditional methods, and without pasteurization.

Mild: Mild is generally a dark beer developed in the mid-nineteenth century as a cheaper and sweeter alternative to the dark ales and porters present at the time. For this reason mild was the most popular draught beer of this period. It should not be confused with small beer, an entirely different product. Once commonly found on tap, the length and breadth of Britain, mild has now almost completely disappeared from British pubs, although it has a stronghold in the English Midlands.

Bitter: Bitter is a type of ale, originally derived from pale ale. A stronger version has become a popular bottled beer. The main ingredient is malted barley, with hops only added to improve the keeping properties and give a distinctive smell and taste.

Bitter covers a wide variety of taste, aroma and appearance. These include copper, malty, dry and sweet, while some have the aroma of hops. In Yorkshire the bitter tends to have a creamy head, whilst in the South-East the beer is generally more hoppy and served without a head.

Pale ale: Pale ale is generally a light beer, similar to a light mild ale, only drier and with a distinctive hoppy taste. English pale ales are golden or copper coloured rather than pale; the term pale is used to distinguish them from dark porters.

India Pale Ale is a British pale ale originally made for export to India. This style has an intense flavor from the hops which were used to preserve the beer for the long voyage. India pale ale has a golden to copper color with a medium maltiness and body. The aroma is moderate to very strong. The version with higher alcohol content is known as strong pale ale.

In the USA, the Association of Brewers has defined an American-style pale ale as ranging in color from deep golden to copper, with a bitterness, flavor, and aroma dominated by hops. Pale ales have medium body, and low-to-medium maltiness.

Porter: Porter is a type of ale which has a malting aroma and Hop bitterness. It is generally strong and dark and brewed with soft rather than hard water.

In 18th century London a beverage was made consisting of a third of a pint of ale, beer and twopenny (the strongest beer, costing twopence a quart). Harwood, a brewer, brewed a beer called Entire which blended all three in about 1720. It is possible that this became known as Porter due to its popularity with 18th Century London porters, although this may just be a romantic story.

What is certain is that the price of malt had increased substantially, and that this influenced brewers to roast the malt more and add more hops to increase the flavour. Perhaps this is the real origin of Porter.

Extra-strong porter was called Stout-Porter and eventually became stout.

During the first world war in Britain, shortages of coal led to restrictions on the production of dark malt and hence stout and porter. This allowed Irish brewers such as Guinness to fill the market need and gain market dominance, a position that they continue to enjoy to this day.

Other

Wheat beer: Wheat beer is a beer whose main ingredient is wheat rather than barley, which gives it a lighter flavor and paler color. Wheat beer is customarily top fermented (i.e. Ale). Wheat beers have become very popular in recent years, and are especially popular in warm weather.

The two most important varieties of wheat beer are Belgian witbier and German Weizenbier. Belgian witbier ("white beer"), of which Hoegaarden is probably the best-known example, gets its name from the suspended wheat proteins which give it whitish color. Belgian white beers often have spices such as coriander or orange peel added, giving them a slightly fruity flavor.

German wheat beers are a well-known variant throughout the southern part of the country, the name changing from Weizen in the western (Swabian) regions to Weissbier in Bavaria. Hefeweizen (German for "yeast wheat") is a variety in which the yeast is not filtered out, though Kristallweizen (clear) and Dunkelweizen (dark) varieties are also available. The filtration which takes the yeast out of Kristallweizen also strips the wheat proteins which make Hefeweizen cloudy. Bavarian weizen beers are fermented with a special strain of top-fermenting yeast, which is largely responsible for the distinctive flavour, with its hint of cloves, bubblegum and banana.

A minor variety of wheat beer is represented by Berliner Weiße , which is low in alcohol and quite tart.

Many microbrewers in the US as well as in Canada now make their own varieties of hefeweizen and it is particularly popular in Portland, Oregon which now has more local breweries and local beers than even Cologne, Germany. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Granville Island Brewery makes a hefeweizen known as Robson Street Hefeweizen, named after a famous thoroughfare in downtown Vancouver. Small brewpubs in Victoria, British Columbia have also tried their hands at various hefeweizen and witbiers. In Austria are also some wheat beer breweries.

Pouring wheat beer

At least in Europe, wheat beer is traditionally served in special glasses. These take half a litre (plus additional room for the foam), are tall and slim and taper slightly towards the base.

Pouring the beer into the glass requires skill as a lot of foam is built when pouring and without the right technique, you will invariably end up with a glass filled with a tiny bit of beer at the bottom and lots of foam on the top.

There are two techniques: Always start with wetting the inner surface of the glass with cold water. Then hold the glass at an angle of approximatly 45°, and boldly pour in the beer (from a well-cooled bottle). While pouring, the beer should not fall freely, as it will otherwise turn to foam when hitting the glass. To accomplish this either (a) touch the inner top rim of the glass with the top of the bottle and pour slowly or (b) push the whole bottle with one elegant move upside-down into the glass so that its opening is immersed in beer and swiftly pull it up as the beer fills the glass. Just before the bottle is emptied, put it upright, swivel it and then top up the glass (this last step has two purposes: if you did it right, you might end up with too little foam - and swiveling produces additional foam. Also, it takes up any solid yeast remaining at the bottle's bottom which is important for the full taste of the beer).

Correctly pouring a glass of Weissbier is an art which any self-respecting adult Bavarian is expected to have practised well enough to execute flawlessly. (It is a disgrace to be unable to pour the whole half-litre bottle into the glass or -even worse- let foam spill over requiring one to hastily suck it up.)

Not only does drinking wheat beer directly out of the bottle betray an absolutely unacceptable lack of style (and the beer does not taste very good when drunk that way, either), but it is virtually impossible, as wheat bear rapidly produces a thick head of foam that rushes out of the bottle as soon as it is disturbed.
Barley wine: Barley wine is an English-style of ale characterized by a high original gravity, resulting in a high alcohol content, more typical of a wine than a beer (10% by volume is typical). This requires special yeast with a higher tolerance for alcohol. Barley wines are often full-bodied, highly hopped, with a residual malty sweet character. They can vary in color from a light copper to a deep brown. Barley wines can often improve in bottle for years.; Barley wines trace their roots to England during the Middle Ages. Then it was simply called ale. Or strong ale. The name developed in Great Britain in the early 1900s when Bass Brewing Co. named its strongest ale barley wine because its alcohol content was closer to wine than beer.

Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco was the first brewery in the United States to offer a barley wine. This was in 1975. Anchor, one of the pioneers in America's craft brewing revolution, continues to turn out Old Foghorn barley wine every year.; Varieties
Spruce beer: Spruce beer is a fermented liquor, made from the leaves and small branches of the spruce (Picea), or from the essence of spruce, boiled with sugar or molasses and fermented with yeast. There are two kinds, brown and white, of which the latter is considered the better, as being made from white sugar, instead of molasses. Spruce beer forms an agreeable and wholesome beverage and is also used as a herbal medicine.

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