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Underground eXperts United
Presents...
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[ An Introduction To Beer ] [ By Ralph 124C41+ ]
____________________________________________________________________
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An Introduction to Beer
by
Ralph 124C41+ of PowerDrive
released through
underground eXperts united
"-What's the likeness between American beer and making love in
a canoe?
-They're both fucking close to water."
/ Monthy Python
"Beer should be thick as blood and dark as the soul."
/ A wise man
Perhaps you think you know something about beer. Well, you
don't but that is nothing to worry about because in this file I
will tell you everything about good beer. You see, in the US of
A there is as far as I know only one beer that really deserve
to be called beer, that is Anchor Steam Beer that is made in
San Francisco. Yes, I have tried Michelob, Slitz and quite
frankly they are nothing more than dirty water. I've also tried
the American Budweiser (it's more like Budwasser really) and it
was so bad I had to put in some Young's Oatmeal Stout to get it
down. It's amazing how much better the original Czechoslovakian
Budvar is.
HISTORY
Now, let's start at the beginning. Perhaps you think beer is
something that is quite new. Wrong! That is just something the
wine snobs want you to think. In fact beer is probably one of
the oldest beverages known to man. We know for a fact that
beer has been known for over 7000 years. People like the sumers
and Babylonians knew about beer, the pharaohs also knew about
beer. For more than 2000 years ago the centre of beer
production moved from the Eufrat/Tigris-area (in modern Iraq)
to the Nile and northern Europe. In those days the beer was
quite dark, often sweet and spiced with herbs and honey.
In the 15th century a beer revolution started! It began in
Germany, Bavaria to be exact. Then they started flavouring the
beer with hops and developed a new fermentation method, the so
called bottom fermentation. They had discovered that in a low
temperature another type of yeast was encouraged that gave a
different beer. This new beer with strong taste of hops could
be stored and then it got more carbonated and greater aroma. In
Germany it got the name "lager", a name which lives even today.
The method with bottom fermenting became more widely popular
in the 19th century when artificial cooling techniques became
available. The bottom fermented beer was lighter and clearer
than the top fermented which often had yeast sediment.
QUALITY
A beer don't get better with more alcohol. The quality is a
result of the balance between malt and hops, the foam that
comes from long storage, the fresh smell and the colour. The
ingredients are also of vital importance as well as the
procedure of making. A beer should only be made with malt,
hops, yeast and fresh water preferably spring water), nothing
else (unless it's some kind of special beer like oatmeal or
cherry beer). Some breweries cheat and add all sorts of cheaper
ingredients like maize, sugar, ascorbic acid and so on. But
this of course gives a "beer" with a much lower class, in some
countries it's not even allowed to call it beer or to sell it
as such.
THE MAKING OF BEER
As mentioned above the ingredients of beer are malt (from
barley), water, yeast and hops.
In the making of beer you use barley that have a high rate of
starch. A good water for beer should be soft. The old
breweries were built close to springs of brooks that were known
to have soft, clear water. The yeast is also important. Yeast
is a fungus that are everywhere in nature. To be comfortable
and start working it needs warmth and sugar. The two main
types of beer is top fermented and bottom fermented. The choice
of yeast type is important. The yeast not only convert sugar to
alcohol - it also gives the beer it's flavour. Every type of
yeast gives a different type of beer.
Hops is an up to six meter high wine. The female plants have
spikes that looks like cones. They contains cridous (not
acid), aromatic oils and tanning agents. The hops are used in
beer to with it's bitter taste give balance to the sweetness of
the malt. It also gives better tenability and a clearer beer.
Hop cones are dried before they are used to make beer. There
are several different hops and every one gives it's special
aroma and bitterness to the beer.
Now, let's get to the actual making of the beer! Before the
barley can be used it must be malted. This happens in the
maltery. The barley are being wet with water and are then
allowed to lie in a warm place to sprout. It is then roasted
usually with hot air (about 70 centigrades), how hard it is
roasted determines the darkness of the beer. The roasted barley
is called malt. The malt is then crushed and mixed with hot
water (50-80 centigrades) to produce mash which contains malt
sugar. The mash is filtered and you get the sweet wort which
basically is sugar and water. The sweet wort is boiled with
hops to make the final wort with the typical bitter taste. The
wort is then fermented for about two weeks and is turned to
beer. To mature the beer is stored at a low temperature for a
couple of weeks. After that it may be filtered and is then
ready to be enjoyed.
HOW TO DRINK BEER
Of course you can just grab a beer and drink it as it is but
if you want to get maximum enjoyment from it you should be more
careful.
A beer should be served cool, 6-8 centigrades for light beer
and higher the darker it is. When you pour the beer first
directly into the glass and then fill up slowly, a little each
time and let it settle between the times to produce a good
head. Grab the beer, study it. What it the colour? Does it have
yeast sediment? Smell it! Spin the glass gently and put it
under your nose. The smell of a beer can say more about a beer
than the flavour. Take a sip. Let the beer roll on the tongue.
And then swallow in a couple of gulps. First you feel the
sweetness on the top of the tongue, then there is a fireworks
of different flavours. Aromatic, fruity... When you have
swallowed comes the aftertaste. It can be light or "maltey",
rich or not, more or less bitter. A good aftertaste must make
you want to have another go.
AFTERWORDS
I hoped this has served as an introduction to what beer is
all about. This is only to be seen as a very simple first step
for greater understanding of the noble art of beer and I hope
it has inspired you to go on and continue to study the subject.
Cheers!
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under certain conditions. Se the uXu index for details.
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uXu #298 Underground eXperts United 1996 uXu #298
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