The New Brew: A Story of Beer Culture in America
The way Americans think about beer has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Many people still have a preconceived notion that a beer drinker is some hillbilly throwing a handful of crumpled up dollar bills on the counter of a gas station asking for a 30-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon; a person who doesn’t care about flavor or quality as long as it will get him drunk. Today it is not uncommon to find a person spending ten or fifteen dollars for one bottle of beer and when they drink it, they drink it to appreciate its flavor and always in moderation. We see an emergence of brewers who embrace the “craft beer” revolution and brew for quality and not quantity and with word of mouth as their only advertising tool they soon develop a strong customer base. In the contemporary world, the American palate has become more sophisticated and a new appreciation is seen for new brews.
Beer was always an important part of the American diet, dating back to Colonial America. Beer was usually drank in place of water because many settlers did not trust natural water, even though American fresh water was crystal clear compared to that of Europe. Therefore beer was drank by every man, woman, and child since it had to be boiled which would kill all microorganisms and many did not think to simply boil freshwater. Early settlers, therefore, continued to drink popular English styles of beer, which consisted mainly of Porter and English Bitter, all of them Ales. After the Revolutionary War, many Americans abandoned beer because they saw it as a reminder of their British past. They would soon turn to whiskey for the next fifty years until a wave of German immigrants brought with them a new type of beer from Bavaria called Lager.
American beer use to carry with it a largely negative context. For over a century, American beer was typically referring to a Pale Lager. A lager is a class of beer which uses bottom-fermenting yeast at cooler fermentation temperatures for longer periods of time which produces a clear and clean beer with a crisp taste. The word “lager” is a German term which refers to the practice of letting beer ferment at a low temperature, typically 45 degrees, for around two months. American Pale Lager was, and is, bland in flavor which uses many adjunct ingredients such as rice or corn. These ingredients lessen the body of a beer and give a watery flavor and for nearly a century, there was no other alternative available.
It wasn’t until the 1970s when Americans started to demand quality. This was a simultaneous occurrence with the rising popularity with wine and Americans wanted an alcoholic beverage which ranged in flavor and style which they could discuss among friends and enjoy with a nice meal. This is largely a result of some key industry figures that, together, pushed for an emergence in craft brew. Craft brew refers to beer that is brewed on a much smaller scale, or microbrewed, with all effort and attention being done by a human brewer, not a machine. The brewery still makes a substantial profit because their distribution area is smaller, but is more popular with patrons because it is made locally.
The most significant cause to this trend can be largely credited to the baby boomers. As this large portion of our population gets older, they tend to drink less. However, as they drink less, they usually start to drink more quality oriented. This is rivaled by those who have just reached legal drinking age. Many of Americans who are in their twenties already have a developed and sophisticated palate due to their large exposure to gourmet coffees and other flavorful beverages. Quality aside, we also see the emergence and prosperity of microbreweries. This can be correlated with the increased trend in many Americans purchasing their food from local vendors or growers. It is only natural that we seek our favorite beer from local brewers.
There were a few key individuals who sparked the craft brew revolution and not only changed the way beer is made, but how we think about it. Michael Jackson was the father of beer culture. He was a beer writer who lived in England until his death from Parkinson’s disease in August of 2007 at his home in London. He was an author who traveled the world and tasted thousands of beers and reviewed them. He pioneered the ideas of having proper glassware and food and beer pairing recommendations. Jackson had an immense love of Belgian beers. He would travel the Monasteries of Belgium where Trappist monks would brew strong ales and even published a book referring to his journey through Belgium and the interesting beers he had experienced.
He was affectionately referred to as the Beer Hunter since he would travel worldwide and find hidden treasures in breweries which largely went unnoticed. He would write many books and articles about his experience and even had a show for many years on The Discovery Channel. He first started his career working for his local newspaper back in London. He approached his Editor with the idea of having his own column where he would review beer and give his opinion. His Editor wasn’t very keen on the idea and asked Jackson to verify his own request since he was only 16 years old at the time and the legal drinking age in London was 18. The Editor asked Jackson if he was really asking for the newspaper to finance a law-breaking escapade. Jackson said yes and the Editor approved his request for his own beer column and soon he would be famous throughout the world. Jackson left a legacy behind him and I believe that he would be pleased to see how his efforts changed the brewing world. On Sunday September 30th at 9:00 Eastern time, there was a nationwide toast to the Beer Hunter. I personally raised a glass of Unibroue Seigneuriale.
Jim Koch is another beer pioneer who made his mark on America. Koch is the founder of the Boston Beer Company which produces the well-known series of beers called Samuel Adams. His lineage consisted of many brewers and beer lovers in general. He attended Law School in Boston as well as an MBA program. After a while he left both of those endeavors because he was afraid that this would force him into a life where he would be successful, but he wouldn’t be happy. After three years, he returned to school and earned a law degree as well as his M.B.A. He worked for a consulting firm in Boston where he earned a hefty salary and had the chance to travel the country. He again grew complacent in his career and decided to leave his career and corner office and take the risk to open the Boston Beer Company. Koch was a personal friend of Michael Jackson and fed off Jackson’s love of beer and revolutionized the beer business in America. He produces enough beer to reach all corners of America, but produces it on the same level of a microbrewery. He does this by contracting hundreds of small breweries and some large ones like Miller to brew Sam Adams all around the country. This way, it reaches all customers, but is brewed in smaller batches and doesn’t have to travel that far to be consumed.
Fritz Maytag is the owner of the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco, California. He purchased the brewery in 1965 which rescued the brewery from bankruptcy and was pivotal in kick starting the craft brew revolution in North America. He now owned the smallest and most traditional brewery in America and acted as the example when microbrewing was not yet a term. Today, as it was in the 1960s, Anchor produces all of their beer by hand instead of relying on machines. Fritz was the pioneer in bringing back the Steam style of beer. Steam, also known as California Common, was a beer that used Lager yeast, but fermented at Ale temperatures. It was the first authentic American beer which was thought up by gold seekers during the 1850s. Maytag answered the call for millions of Americans who wanted a beer made by someone who cared about their final product and from a company where you could associate a face to the beer.
These figures have caused a large following among the populous where Americans realized and embraced the idea that there is a complex and vast range of brews. With the sophistication of American palates and the parallel advancement of the wine and beer industry, we see the emergence of the beer snob. Only 30 years ago there was no such thing, but there is now an entire nation of beer drinkers where quality and rarity outperform the nostalgic swill of their parents.
All of these men will tell you, quite easily in fact, why small-scale craft breweries produce the best beer in the world. The most obvious is that by focusing their attention on such a small amount, they can make minor changes to the beer directly, not via some computer screen in a control room at a large Brewhouse. Also, the biggest advantage to microbrewers is that they do not need to cater to the taste of the entire nation. Since every region or community has a certain preference for their diet, brewers can cater to them with a line of beer that shares the same common desires with their customers and they do not have to produce a watered down mild Lager as a basic “catch-all” brew. Not to mention craft beer is seen as one of integrity. Those drinking it know that the brewer carefully thought out which ingredients are going into it and created a finished product that they are proud to attach their name to.
This new and sophisticated culture has already embraced many of the aspects found in the wine world. Many who are familiar with wine are also familiar with the profession of the Sommelier. A Sommelier is to a wine cellar what an Executive Chef is to the kitchen. They typically work at a restaurant and are the ones who create a wine list and keep it fully stocked. They work with distributors and educate the serving staff on the wines which are on special and pair nicely with the special dishes of the evening. Perhaps the largest and most honored responsibility of the Sommelier is to approach the table upon request and make a wine recommendation based on the customer’s budget, preference, and entrée’. There is now a specialist like that for beer.
The Cicerone is a new occupation formed from the demand of today’s beer culture. They usually work at higher end restaurants where there is a large beer selection and appreciation of craft brews. The Cicerone stocks and maintains a beer cellar and will act in the same way as a Sommelier by approaching a table and recommending beer based on the food that it will be paired with and the personal taste of the customer. This has provided an educated expert who has been formally trained and certified by an exam board and works in their off time to promote craft beer and educate those unfamiliar with our nation’s rising beer industry.
Perhaps the largest similarity between the wine world and the beer world is the aspects which provide the largest conversation topics. These include the practice of barrel aging a beer, much as they do wine. It is not uncommon for many brewers today to purchase used Port or Cognac casks and age a beer for roughly one year which will smooth out its flavor and add a little extra shelf life by fortifying the chemical makeup of the beer by slightly exposing it through oxygen by aging it in porous oak. The other factor in beer sophistication is one that simultaneously makes beer a hobby for most people and that is the idea of having proper glassware for certain beer and having a proper serving temperature. Prior to the 1970s beer was usually served in a typical Pub Glass which looked like an upside down cone. There are now goblet shaped glassware as well as some custom and patented glassware from Samuel Adams.
As with wine, many Americans act as their own Cicerone at home and try to learn what beers pair well with whatever dish they are having that night for dinner. This has become such a large trend in American homes that the Brewers Association has published a pairing chart that lists all beer styles and recommends the type of entrée, dessert, and cheese that will pair best with each beer. This directly reflects the way that Americans think about beer and how we have come to embrace craft beer and abandoned the macrobrews and imports.
The old brew of our past was largely influenced by a wave of German immigrants which migrated here during the mid 1800s. They brought with them a revolutionary way of making beer which included lagering. Prior to this, beer was produced the English way which was always Ale with a bitter taste and usually was darker in color and taste considering the popularity of roasted malts. German Americans used mostly pale two-row barley which made a milder beer and was more expensive, but was more palatable and was enjoyed by many people with varying tastes. It wasn’t until the craft brew revolution when we learned of another little country with an advanced brewing heritage.
Belgium, which shares a border with Germany, has been brewing for over one thousand years. There are a large number of secular breweries throughout Belgium, but perhaps the most well-known and world renowned breweries are those run by Trappist Monks. If you were to talk to a Trappist monk they will quickly inform you that they are not brewers, they are monks. They will explain that they only brew beer to be able to afford being monks and perform various philanthropic acts. These monasteries have put out some of the world’s greatest beer, but only one monastery stands out from the rest.
The St. Sixtus Monastery, located in Flanders, Belgium, is home of the Westvleteren Brewery. They are the brewers of the Westvleteren Abt 12. The Westy 12 is an Abbey Quadrupel, a style of beer which is fermented four times which raises its alcohol content to around 12% Abv. This beer is dark brown in color and uses special yeast strains which produce fruity esters and a caramel flavor which both warms the stomach and pairs with nicely with many foods. Year after year the top beer magazines and websites chose the Westvleteren Abt 12 as the best beer in the world. The most unusual fact about the Westvleteren Brewery is the fact that despite the large worldwide demand, they will not increase production to meet that demand and make a larger profit. They decline to follow every business protocol in the world and only brew enough beer to live off of the sales. This sparked the ingenuity and competitiveness of the average American to travel to Belgium or buy from the grey market, since the Monks request that their beer not be resold to anyone.
With the advancement of beer culture in America it is only normal that at a certain point we assume our hands-on tradition as Americans and decide to brew our own. Homebrewing has become increasingly popular throughout America in almost all segments of mainstream society. This allows Americans to create, improve, and enjoy something they are responsible for and can assign their name to. Homebrewing has formed friendships, not to mention an entire industry. When done correctly, homebrew should taste better than anything you can purchase from a store.
Homebrewing allows Americans to create or adopt a recipe, purchase ingredients from a local homebrew store, and use equipment from the comfort of their own kitchens to create a homemade beer which adds to the idea of appreciating a beer when you drink it, since the person who drinks it was present the entire time it was made. Homebrewing, such as with most hobbies, has been organized into professional organizations. The Beer Judge Certification Program, or BJCP, is responsible for training and certifying beer judges who will preside over a homebrew competition. The BJCP is also responsible for dictating the brewing standards in regards to what a beer needs to contain to be considered for a certain beer style.
As with most important parts of American society which has its own industry, beer has reached a plateau as far as innovation and creativity. This has opened up the market and mouths for new beers to meet the demand of new beer drinkers. Perhaps the most ingenious and beneficial is the birth of our nation’s organic beers. These brews are made from purified water, but not distilled as this provides no yeast nutrients and gives a watery mouthfeel. They are brewed with certified organic hops and malt. They are also brewed without chemicals which make sanitation very difficult and forces many of these beers to be bottle conditioned rather than force carbonated.
Following in this tradition of creating beers to accommodate the lifestyle of certain members of society, brewers have now started to experiment with, and brew beer made from a type of grass called Sorghum. The use of Sorghum allows this beer to be drunk by people who have Celiac disease, a condition where the person is allergic to wheat or have a problem metabolizing gluten. Since gluten is a byproduct of malted barley, beer enthusiasts find themselves in a situation when they develop this condition where they cannot enjoy a beer.
It is said that beer and America grew up together. Today beer dominates the American market, outselling wine and liquor more than two to one and craft brew alone holds over twenty percent of the American beer market. Today, there are over 100 different styles of beer in America which give people a different sense of beer itself; because no one can say they don’t like beer anymore. There is a beer to fit everyone from all walks of life and with enough courage to being sampling the vast array of craft beer available, everyone will be able to sit back and pop open twelve ounces of happiness.
References:
1. Oliver, Garret. The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005
2. Standage, Tom. A History of the World in 6 Glasses. New York: Walker & Company, 2006
3. Ogle, Maureen. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. New York: Harcourt, 2007
4. Jackson, Michael. Ultimate Beer. New York: DK publishing, Inc., 1998
5. Jackson, Michael. Great Beer Guide. New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 2000
6. Brown, Peter. Man Walks Into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer. London: MacMillan UK, 2004
7. Daniels, Ray. Why Cicerone?. 2007. www.cicernone.org
8. Jackson, Michael. “Why Beer Is Best.” The Independent. 22 Feb. 1997
9. Jackson, Michael, “It’s Thanksgiving, So Try One.” The Independent. 19 Nov. 1994
10. Glover, Brian. The World Encyclopedia of Beer. London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 1998
11. Jim Koch, interview by Roadtrip Nation 2005, Roadtrip Nation Interview:Jim Koch, www.roadtripnation.com, July 30, 2004.
12. Broadcast. American Eats: Beer. History Channel. December 4, 2007.
13. Kate Novack, “The New Brew,” Time Magazine, June 11, 2007.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1627018,00.html
14. Michael Jackson, interviewed by the Shelton Brothers, Michael Jackson Interview. August 7, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLohwMW7qjU
15. Brewer’s Association. 2006 Craft beer Industry Statistics. Updated April 13 ,2007. http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/statistics.html
Beer was always an important part of the American diet, dating back to Colonial America. Beer was usually drank in place of water because many settlers did not trust natural water, even though American fresh water was crystal clear compared to that of Europe. Therefore beer was drank by every man, woman, and child since it had to be boiled which would kill all microorganisms and many did not think to simply boil freshwater. Early settlers, therefore, continued to drink popular English styles of beer, which consisted mainly of Porter and English Bitter, all of them Ales. After the Revolutionary War, many Americans abandoned beer because they saw it as a reminder of their British past. They would soon turn to whiskey for the next fifty years until a wave of German immigrants brought with them a new type of beer from Bavaria called Lager.
American beer use to carry with it a largely negative context. For over a century, American beer was typically referring to a Pale Lager. A lager is a class of beer which uses bottom-fermenting yeast at cooler fermentation temperatures for longer periods of time which produces a clear and clean beer with a crisp taste. The word “lager” is a German term which refers to the practice of letting beer ferment at a low temperature, typically 45 degrees, for around two months. American Pale Lager was, and is, bland in flavor which uses many adjunct ingredients such as rice or corn. These ingredients lessen the body of a beer and give a watery flavor and for nearly a century, there was no other alternative available.
It wasn’t until the 1970s when Americans started to demand quality. This was a simultaneous occurrence with the rising popularity with wine and Americans wanted an alcoholic beverage which ranged in flavor and style which they could discuss among friends and enjoy with a nice meal. This is largely a result of some key industry figures that, together, pushed for an emergence in craft brew. Craft brew refers to beer that is brewed on a much smaller scale, or microbrewed, with all effort and attention being done by a human brewer, not a machine. The brewery still makes a substantial profit because their distribution area is smaller, but is more popular with patrons because it is made locally.
The most significant cause to this trend can be largely credited to the baby boomers. As this large portion of our population gets older, they tend to drink less. However, as they drink less, they usually start to drink more quality oriented. This is rivaled by those who have just reached legal drinking age. Many of Americans who are in their twenties already have a developed and sophisticated palate due to their large exposure to gourmet coffees and other flavorful beverages. Quality aside, we also see the emergence and prosperity of microbreweries. This can be correlated with the increased trend in many Americans purchasing their food from local vendors or growers. It is only natural that we seek our favorite beer from local brewers.
There were a few key individuals who sparked the craft brew revolution and not only changed the way beer is made, but how we think about it. Michael Jackson was the father of beer culture. He was a beer writer who lived in England until his death from Parkinson’s disease in August of 2007 at his home in London. He was an author who traveled the world and tasted thousands of beers and reviewed them. He pioneered the ideas of having proper glassware and food and beer pairing recommendations. Jackson had an immense love of Belgian beers. He would travel the Monasteries of Belgium where Trappist monks would brew strong ales and even published a book referring to his journey through Belgium and the interesting beers he had experienced.
He was affectionately referred to as the Beer Hunter since he would travel worldwide and find hidden treasures in breweries which largely went unnoticed. He would write many books and articles about his experience and even had a show for many years on The Discovery Channel. He first started his career working for his local newspaper back in London. He approached his Editor with the idea of having his own column where he would review beer and give his opinion. His Editor wasn’t very keen on the idea and asked Jackson to verify his own request since he was only 16 years old at the time and the legal drinking age in London was 18. The Editor asked Jackson if he was really asking for the newspaper to finance a law-breaking escapade. Jackson said yes and the Editor approved his request for his own beer column and soon he would be famous throughout the world. Jackson left a legacy behind him and I believe that he would be pleased to see how his efforts changed the brewing world. On Sunday September 30th at 9:00 Eastern time, there was a nationwide toast to the Beer Hunter. I personally raised a glass of Unibroue Seigneuriale.
Jim Koch is another beer pioneer who made his mark on America. Koch is the founder of the Boston Beer Company which produces the well-known series of beers called Samuel Adams. His lineage consisted of many brewers and beer lovers in general. He attended Law School in Boston as well as an MBA program. After a while he left both of those endeavors because he was afraid that this would force him into a life where he would be successful, but he wouldn’t be happy. After three years, he returned to school and earned a law degree as well as his M.B.A. He worked for a consulting firm in Boston where he earned a hefty salary and had the chance to travel the country. He again grew complacent in his career and decided to leave his career and corner office and take the risk to open the Boston Beer Company. Koch was a personal friend of Michael Jackson and fed off Jackson’s love of beer and revolutionized the beer business in America. He produces enough beer to reach all corners of America, but produces it on the same level of a microbrewery. He does this by contracting hundreds of small breweries and some large ones like Miller to brew Sam Adams all around the country. This way, it reaches all customers, but is brewed in smaller batches and doesn’t have to travel that far to be consumed.
Fritz Maytag is the owner of the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco, California. He purchased the brewery in 1965 which rescued the brewery from bankruptcy and was pivotal in kick starting the craft brew revolution in North America. He now owned the smallest and most traditional brewery in America and acted as the example when microbrewing was not yet a term. Today, as it was in the 1960s, Anchor produces all of their beer by hand instead of relying on machines. Fritz was the pioneer in bringing back the Steam style of beer. Steam, also known as California Common, was a beer that used Lager yeast, but fermented at Ale temperatures. It was the first authentic American beer which was thought up by gold seekers during the 1850s. Maytag answered the call for millions of Americans who wanted a beer made by someone who cared about their final product and from a company where you could associate a face to the beer.
These figures have caused a large following among the populous where Americans realized and embraced the idea that there is a complex and vast range of brews. With the sophistication of American palates and the parallel advancement of the wine and beer industry, we see the emergence of the beer snob. Only 30 years ago there was no such thing, but there is now an entire nation of beer drinkers where quality and rarity outperform the nostalgic swill of their parents.
All of these men will tell you, quite easily in fact, why small-scale craft breweries produce the best beer in the world. The most obvious is that by focusing their attention on such a small amount, they can make minor changes to the beer directly, not via some computer screen in a control room at a large Brewhouse. Also, the biggest advantage to microbrewers is that they do not need to cater to the taste of the entire nation. Since every region or community has a certain preference for their diet, brewers can cater to them with a line of beer that shares the same common desires with their customers and they do not have to produce a watered down mild Lager as a basic “catch-all” brew. Not to mention craft beer is seen as one of integrity. Those drinking it know that the brewer carefully thought out which ingredients are going into it and created a finished product that they are proud to attach their name to.
This new and sophisticated culture has already embraced many of the aspects found in the wine world. Many who are familiar with wine are also familiar with the profession of the Sommelier. A Sommelier is to a wine cellar what an Executive Chef is to the kitchen. They typically work at a restaurant and are the ones who create a wine list and keep it fully stocked. They work with distributors and educate the serving staff on the wines which are on special and pair nicely with the special dishes of the evening. Perhaps the largest and most honored responsibility of the Sommelier is to approach the table upon request and make a wine recommendation based on the customer’s budget, preference, and entrée’. There is now a specialist like that for beer.
The Cicerone is a new occupation formed from the demand of today’s beer culture. They usually work at higher end restaurants where there is a large beer selection and appreciation of craft brews. The Cicerone stocks and maintains a beer cellar and will act in the same way as a Sommelier by approaching a table and recommending beer based on the food that it will be paired with and the personal taste of the customer. This has provided an educated expert who has been formally trained and certified by an exam board and works in their off time to promote craft beer and educate those unfamiliar with our nation’s rising beer industry.
Perhaps the largest similarity between the wine world and the beer world is the aspects which provide the largest conversation topics. These include the practice of barrel aging a beer, much as they do wine. It is not uncommon for many brewers today to purchase used Port or Cognac casks and age a beer for roughly one year which will smooth out its flavor and add a little extra shelf life by fortifying the chemical makeup of the beer by slightly exposing it through oxygen by aging it in porous oak. The other factor in beer sophistication is one that simultaneously makes beer a hobby for most people and that is the idea of having proper glassware for certain beer and having a proper serving temperature. Prior to the 1970s beer was usually served in a typical Pub Glass which looked like an upside down cone. There are now goblet shaped glassware as well as some custom and patented glassware from Samuel Adams.
As with wine, many Americans act as their own Cicerone at home and try to learn what beers pair well with whatever dish they are having that night for dinner. This has become such a large trend in American homes that the Brewers Association has published a pairing chart that lists all beer styles and recommends the type of entrée, dessert, and cheese that will pair best with each beer. This directly reflects the way that Americans think about beer and how we have come to embrace craft beer and abandoned the macrobrews and imports.
The old brew of our past was largely influenced by a wave of German immigrants which migrated here during the mid 1800s. They brought with them a revolutionary way of making beer which included lagering. Prior to this, beer was produced the English way which was always Ale with a bitter taste and usually was darker in color and taste considering the popularity of roasted malts. German Americans used mostly pale two-row barley which made a milder beer and was more expensive, but was more palatable and was enjoyed by many people with varying tastes. It wasn’t until the craft brew revolution when we learned of another little country with an advanced brewing heritage.
Belgium, which shares a border with Germany, has been brewing for over one thousand years. There are a large number of secular breweries throughout Belgium, but perhaps the most well-known and world renowned breweries are those run by Trappist Monks. If you were to talk to a Trappist monk they will quickly inform you that they are not brewers, they are monks. They will explain that they only brew beer to be able to afford being monks and perform various philanthropic acts. These monasteries have put out some of the world’s greatest beer, but only one monastery stands out from the rest.
The St. Sixtus Monastery, located in Flanders, Belgium, is home of the Westvleteren Brewery. They are the brewers of the Westvleteren Abt 12. The Westy 12 is an Abbey Quadrupel, a style of beer which is fermented four times which raises its alcohol content to around 12% Abv. This beer is dark brown in color and uses special yeast strains which produce fruity esters and a caramel flavor which both warms the stomach and pairs with nicely with many foods. Year after year the top beer magazines and websites chose the Westvleteren Abt 12 as the best beer in the world. The most unusual fact about the Westvleteren Brewery is the fact that despite the large worldwide demand, they will not increase production to meet that demand and make a larger profit. They decline to follow every business protocol in the world and only brew enough beer to live off of the sales. This sparked the ingenuity and competitiveness of the average American to travel to Belgium or buy from the grey market, since the Monks request that their beer not be resold to anyone.
With the advancement of beer culture in America it is only normal that at a certain point we assume our hands-on tradition as Americans and decide to brew our own. Homebrewing has become increasingly popular throughout America in almost all segments of mainstream society. This allows Americans to create, improve, and enjoy something they are responsible for and can assign their name to. Homebrewing has formed friendships, not to mention an entire industry. When done correctly, homebrew should taste better than anything you can purchase from a store.
Homebrewing allows Americans to create or adopt a recipe, purchase ingredients from a local homebrew store, and use equipment from the comfort of their own kitchens to create a homemade beer which adds to the idea of appreciating a beer when you drink it, since the person who drinks it was present the entire time it was made. Homebrewing, such as with most hobbies, has been organized into professional organizations. The Beer Judge Certification Program, or BJCP, is responsible for training and certifying beer judges who will preside over a homebrew competition. The BJCP is also responsible for dictating the brewing standards in regards to what a beer needs to contain to be considered for a certain beer style.
As with most important parts of American society which has its own industry, beer has reached a plateau as far as innovation and creativity. This has opened up the market and mouths for new beers to meet the demand of new beer drinkers. Perhaps the most ingenious and beneficial is the birth of our nation’s organic beers. These brews are made from purified water, but not distilled as this provides no yeast nutrients and gives a watery mouthfeel. They are brewed with certified organic hops and malt. They are also brewed without chemicals which make sanitation very difficult and forces many of these beers to be bottle conditioned rather than force carbonated.
Following in this tradition of creating beers to accommodate the lifestyle of certain members of society, brewers have now started to experiment with, and brew beer made from a type of grass called Sorghum. The use of Sorghum allows this beer to be drunk by people who have Celiac disease, a condition where the person is allergic to wheat or have a problem metabolizing gluten. Since gluten is a byproduct of malted barley, beer enthusiasts find themselves in a situation when they develop this condition where they cannot enjoy a beer.
It is said that beer and America grew up together. Today beer dominates the American market, outselling wine and liquor more than two to one and craft brew alone holds over twenty percent of the American beer market. Today, there are over 100 different styles of beer in America which give people a different sense of beer itself; because no one can say they don’t like beer anymore. There is a beer to fit everyone from all walks of life and with enough courage to being sampling the vast array of craft beer available, everyone will be able to sit back and pop open twelve ounces of happiness.
References:
1. Oliver, Garret. The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005
2. Standage, Tom. A History of the World in 6 Glasses. New York: Walker & Company, 2006
3. Ogle, Maureen. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. New York: Harcourt, 2007
4. Jackson, Michael. Ultimate Beer. New York: DK publishing, Inc., 1998
5. Jackson, Michael. Great Beer Guide. New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 2000
6. Brown, Peter. Man Walks Into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer. London: MacMillan UK, 2004
7. Daniels, Ray. Why Cicerone?. 2007. www.cicernone.org
8. Jackson, Michael. “Why Beer Is Best.” The Independent. 22 Feb. 1997
9. Jackson, Michael, “It’s Thanksgiving, So Try One.” The Independent. 19 Nov. 1994
10. Glover, Brian. The World Encyclopedia of Beer. London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 1998
11. Jim Koch, interview by Roadtrip Nation 2005, Roadtrip Nation Interview:Jim Koch, www.roadtripnation.com, July 30, 2004.
12. Broadcast. American Eats: Beer. History Channel. December 4, 2007.
13. Kate Novack, “The New Brew,” Time Magazine, June 11, 2007.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1627018,00.html
14. Michael Jackson, interviewed by the Shelton Brothers, Michael Jackson Interview. August 7, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLohwMW7qjU
15. Brewer’s Association. 2006 Craft beer Industry Statistics. Updated April 13 ,2007. http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/statistics.html
posted by Shawn Niemann | 10:02 AM
2 Comments:
Great job BeerPal! This is "bluesandbarbq" aka Louis Kittrell in Tennessee. Not all hillbillies drink PBR - most would buy Natural Light. Here in the rolling foothills of beautiful east Tennessee, this hillbilly prefers Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA or a good Westmalle Tripel! Good read - and you noted one of my heroes, Fritz Maytag. See you at BeerPal. -
bluesandbarbq
Just thought I would read some of your work. I think that you have a wonderful writer's voice and found it very entertaining and informative. Keep up the great work. Thanks for all the information you gave me when you came in for your haircut!
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