Learning About Beer
Drinking is hard work, and we’re here to make sure you get all the help you need. Below you’ll find some helpful tips and resources as you embark on this tour with us. We may not be beer experts, but we’ve picked up a few things worth sharing. For now, take a glance, and as time goes on this section may expand with more information.
>> Drink Responsibly
Responsibility means more than just moderation. The beers we’ll be talking about have been chosen because they are meticulously-crafted, flavorful, unique, stand-out brews. These beers are meant to be tasted, not chugged or used for beer pong (there are plenty of tasteless, cheap, light beers for that). Many of the beers featured on this site are (or will be) highly alcoholic. Know what you’re getting into before cracking one open. Most importantly, never drink and drive.
>> What is Beer?
While we know the basic ingredients of beer brewing are water, malted grain, hops, and yeast, experimentation presents a limitless repertoire of possibilities… and like it or not, modern brewers are throwing everything but the kitchen sink into today’s brews. However, there are thousands of variations that can be concocted without even messing with beer’s core recipe, and very simple adjustments to the brewing process can drastically change the outcome of a beer and determine its style. Sounds simple… what’s so complex about four basic ingredients?
WATER – The foundation of every brew, the precise chemical makeup of local water is different in every spot on the globe. The makeup of a particular water may impart flavor and impact body, moreover it may be best suited for a certain style of beer. The hard water of Dublin is ideal for stout, bringing us Guinness; the soft water of Pilsen gave way to the clear, pale lager we call Pilsner (i.e. Pilsner Urquell).
MALTED GRAIN – The base for color, flavor, and body of your brew starts with the malt. Most brewers will use malted barley, but wheat, rice, oats, rye, corn and sorghum may be used as a fermentable source of starch for brewing. The malting process involves placing the grain in water and allowing for the beginning phases of germination- this forms enzymes that help turn the starches into fermentable sugars.
Partially germinated grain is then dried or roasted, typically in a kiln, but some ‘old school’ methods like smoking over open flame are key to producing some smoked styles and rauchbier. Hugely influential to the brewing process: types of barley/grain (for instance 2, 4, or 6 row barley), variation in the germination process, and malt roasting time and method (darker malts produce darker beers). It is also quite common for brewers to add unmalted grain, impacting color, flavor, and body.
HOPS – A most versatile ingredient, hops adds flavor, aroma, and bitter balance to your brew’s sweet malty exterior, all the while acting as a natural preservative. Beer is technically still beer without hops, but virtually every brew is going to have some sort of hops presence; hops are typically responsible for much of the citrusy, piney, herbal, or floral tones in beer aroma and flavor.
Hops are added at varying times throughout the brewing process when boiling the wort (wort is basically the pre-yeast beer solution, boiled to release fermentable sugars). There are dozens of hops varietals, each with a unique aroma, flavor and bitterness profile. Brewers add hops early in the boiling process to impart bitterness, midway through for flavor, and towards the end of the boil for aroma. Some hops are naturally suited for bittering, while not for aroma or flavor (and vice-versa) so brewers will mix and match varietals to craft the ideal overall experience.
YEAST – Without yeast, there is no alcohol; without alcohol there is no beer; without beer, there is no joy. Yeast converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide: sugar from the malted grain, and sometimes sugar added for a secondary fermentation process. Most brewing yeasts are either top-fermenting (for ales) or bottom-fermenting (for lagers); there are also some beers (i.e. lambics) that are spontaneously fermented using wild yeast.
There are many different species of yeast (yes, species – remember, we’re dealing with something that is ALIVE), some used in different areas of the globe or for different styles. Some brewers may have access to exclusive yeast colonies, the most stand-out example of which may come in the form of Trappist breweries that credit their yeast for the unique and sought-after flavors found in their beer.