| 16 June 2009
| Article Index |
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| Like Fine Wine |
| 5 Things You Should Know About Beer |
| Tasting Notes |
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Beer, the oft-maligned blue-collar drink, offers an amazing variety of styles and remarkably complex and often subtle flavours. Brewing is at least as old as winemaking, its history going back as far as the ancient Sumerians, some 5,000 years ago. It was the natural beverage of choice in those parts of the world where grains, rather than grapes, were most readily available. In Europe, countries bordering the Mediterranean had no trouble making vino and remained wine drinkers, while more northern regions naturally turned to this fizzy concoction.
At its best, beer challenges the senses in much the same way wine does. Until quite recently in Canada, as in the US, most ales were of the standard, mass-produced kind, showing little variety or complexity. This has all changed for the better (see “Renaissance,” in Tidings’ July/August 2008 issue). We now import some of the best beers in the world and, more importantly, a new generation of imaginative brewers has sprung up all over this continent. Indeed, North Americans are creating the boldest and most innovative brews on the planet. It has been said that we live in a golden age of wine. That is every bit as true for the brewers’ art. It’s time to wake up and smell the hops.
Beer in the early Middle Ages was rather crudely made and easily spoiled. Murky brews were sometimes made more palatable by adding spices. It is only with the advent of hops that real quality and flavour became possible. The flowers of a prolific vine-like plant, hops were first used as a preservative in beer some time around 800 to 900 AD.
Nowadays, hops play an important and often definitive role in creating style and flavour. The vine grows in a wide variety of locations and, as internationally-known Canadian beer expert Stephen Beaumont has noted in his excellent book, Premium Beer Drinker’s Guide (Firefly Books 2000), there is a real parallel here with grapevines. “Each hop genus,” he says, “is as individual and distinct as any wine grape variety. And like grapes, hops are affected by the soil, climate and circumstances in which they were grown.” The water, malt and yeast used in the brew clearly play important parts as well, but the type of hop and how it’s used lend unique qualities to each beer.