| 06 August 2010
After four rounds of tastings in London, England, the winners of the World Beer Awards 2010 have finally been announced. Among the 500 competing beers from 27 countries, Quebec's Unibroue 17 was named world’s best beer. Unibroue is classified as a dark ale, and took first place in three categories: World's Best Dark Ale, World's Best Strong Dark Ale and The Americas' Best Strong Ale.
Unibroue 17 was actually brewed only once, in late 2007. It's the result of brewmaster Jerry Vietz’s expertise and know-how. “I am extremely proud that this beer was honoured in this prestigious competition, since it’s the first beer I created and brewed at Unibroue from start to finish. I still remember the time spent developing this beer, especially the first day of fermentation when I and three of my brewers added oak chips to the fermenter!” said Vietz.
| 03 August 2010
Beer is as distinctive as wine. To beer lovers, of course, that's not exactly news. But, if you're not already an aficionado, trying to decide what beer to buy among the multitudes lining liquor store shelves is a tad daunting. What is the difference between ale and lager? How about wheat beer, fruit beer or stout? How do beers produced in different countries differ from each other?
If you think of Corona as the quintessential summertime thirst quencher. You're right. Nicely chilled, it's light and refreshing. So is any cheap and cheerful offering by the big, national producers. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. But, narrowing the field might leave you thinking that the heavier and heartier beers might be winter warmers. Not so. This is where we discover that ales and stouts can actually be as refreshing (although admittedly not as light) as those popular types. And have you noticed that not everyone across this great land drinks chilled beer?