This month, @walrusmagazine explores the historical rise of Canada as a “brewing capital of the world.” I’ll leave you with the closing paragraph, and would love to hear your thoughts:

Today beer is to Canada what wine is to France, vodka is to Russia, tequila is to Mexico, ouzo is to Greece, and sake is to Japan. Our athletes publicly celebrate their victories with it; Canadian musicians rejoice about it in song; comedians poke fun at our collective thirst for it; and even our prime minister allows himself to be caught on camera enjoying it by the glass. It is not the quantity that we drink, but rather the way we drink it and imagine it that makes beer quintessentially Canadian. It is what Roland Barthes terms a “totem drink.” Just as a primitive totem united all who worshipped it, so it is with our beer: we drink, therefore we are.

Lovely lesson on history, war, religion, and beer….oh and it’s short!

brewnoob:

History Lesson: The Story of Beer

In a handy timeline infographic detailing the cultural history of the beverage.

Nice.

BEER 101: KOLSCH vs GROLSCH

This post is inspired by several knowledgeable beer apprecionados I have spoken to recently about Kolsch beer - and assumed I was saying Grolsch, a brand they were more familiar with. Time to clear things up.

Kolsch is a style of beer, invented in Koln (Cologne) Germany in 874 AD in a CASTLE. Or so legend has it, but anyways you can still travel to this castle and drink lots of Kolsch beer!

The word Kolsch is an adjective in the local dialect, meaning typical of the city’s style (think Cologne-ish). Example: “have you been to the Koln castle? It’s uber Kolsch!” Since it is a beer typified by its region and a long standing cooperative of brewers, there are only 20 recognized Kolsch breweries in the world, all located within Koln. This appellation is similar to the strict standards held and high accolades awarded to Trappist breweries, or Champagne wines.

In the 1800s, Kolsch was standardized among its producers as a golden and hoppy beer. This product served as the Germans’ bitchslap to the Bohemians, who were pumping out the iconic Czech Pilsners that were all the rage during the belle-époque.

Which brings us to the differences in the two styles. Both have a similar straw coloring, but use different grains, water, and hops. The most important style difference, however, is the yeast. Pilsners are lagers, which means they use a bottom fermenting yeast strain and are fermented at cooler temperatures. Kolsch are ales, which means they use a top fermenting yeast strain and are fermented at warmer temperatures. Kolsch are unique from other ales because they are lagered, or aged at a cool temperature post fermentation. Confusing, I know but stay with me here. We can think of Kolsch as a lagered ale.

If you need rapid differentiation assistance next time you are at the bar, you will notice a difference in the glassware used. Kolsch are traditionally served in 6 oz straight and narrow glasses. Pilsner glasses are traditionally tall and fluted, but are commonly served in pint glasses across north America.

SO why all the Pilsner talk? Well, it so happens that Pilsner is the flagship style of Grolsch Brewery. This brewery is located in Grol, Netherlands. Pop question: based on what we know about Koln and Kolsch, what do you think Grolsch means?

Grolsch bottles are easily identified by their swing tops, making them
popular for re use by homebrewers. One last thing you should know is that the brewery was purchased by SABMiller in 2008.

Taste and Try: both styles are excellent to try, and Victory’s Prima Pils is my rec for regional flavor, which can be tried side by side the imported Pilsner Urquell.

If you are in Canada, you must try the delicious Lugtread Ale by Beau’s. My friends in the states should seek out the Kolsch by Captain Lawrence. If you want to compare these to an imported original, I recommend the Gaffel Kolsch.

As a history and #beer lover, this exhibit is one I would love to see. Via @wsj

Brief History of Early Breweries in Corktown

Cortown being a district of Toronto, for those of you not in the know. An update of modern breweries in Corktown and the remaining structures coming soon….

This is a picture of Neaustadt’s spring, the water source for their beer.

On this day in history…

80 years ago today, NYC mayor Jimmy Walker rallied his way down Fiftieth Street. To read more and see more prohibition protesters, check out the New Yorker’s slide show.

Kiss Me, I’m an Irish Stout

For those of us who generally imbibe darker beers during the darker days of winter, the sunset of this seasonal stretch is near. As far as stouts go, St. Patrick’s day is generally this genre’s retirement party. So here’s my shout out to one of my favorite beer styles.

The term “stout” originated as a heavy form of any beer style, during the 1700’s in England you might order a stout lager or a stout porter. However, the stout porter came to be the most popular, soon eclipsing other styles in popularity in the mid 1800’s. By the early 1900s stouts were the most popular beer in Ireland, and started to to be exported abroad. Of course, in order for beer to survive this journey it had to be brewed stronger, with a higher alcohol content. Hence a new sub genre came to be, known as Foreign Stout.

Stouts are the only beer style that I know of which consistently used unmalted cereals in its grain bill. These range from roasted barley, flaked barley, and oatmeal. Besides contributing to distinct flavor profiles, use of these grains contribute to a richer, silkier mouthfeel. 

As of 2005, there were only 19 breweries in Ireland. Guinness, Murphy’s, and Beamish are all owned by international conglomerates and are largely seen as stifling the growth of Ireland’s indiginous beer culture.  So on this St. Patrick’s, why not enjoy a delicious beer not brewed in an enormous factory and shipped hundreds of miles? My two local picks are Lights Out Stout by Barrier Brewing or Potato Stout by Blind Bat Brewery.

As for the whole ‘Kiss me I’m Irish,’ thing - I have no explanation.

I read somewhere that the “witches” of days past were brewing beers in those cauldrons of theirs. The brooms of course served as the safest mode of night-time transport after several hours of holiday imbibing. So, there’s your holiday fun fact of the day. Happy Halloween!

archaeologicalnews:

New study unveils archaeobotanical evidence of #beer brewing in Iron Age #France

Evidence of beer making in Mediterranean France, as far back as the 5th century BC, has been unearthed by Laurent Bouby from the CNRS - Centre de Bio-Archeologie et d’Ecology in Montepellier, France, and colleagues….

(Source: thebrewingconspiracy)

jacketry:

Brewery Tunnels below Iowa City

“Bedouin tea and shisha we expected, and Turkish coffee I’d hoped for, but on a recent trip to the newly liberated Arabic Republic of Egypt (at the bitter end of the Mubarak regime), we made some discoveries that quickly dispelled any pre-conceived expectations held about the history and perceptions of consuming alcohol in a predominantly Muslim country.

1. On history: One of the first societies known for its common beer consumption was ancient Egypt. Obvious. Supposedly brought by Babylonians, beer held the functions of medication, currency, and was drunk by all levels of society, children including children. Some things never change.

2. On contemporary ties: Women were traditionally the primary, but not exclusive, breweresses of Egyptian beer, taught by the god of the underworld, Osiris.
As the tale tells, Osiris was chopped into 14 pieces by his own brother Seth, before he sent him down the Nile. Thank these gods for strong currents, which helped Osiris reappear in beer format recently in Indiana.

3. On story telling: The hieroglyph for beer jug appears on most Egyptian antiquities, which, we became aware, are only beginning to surface in this ancient land.

• Stella, a highly carbonated, clear, hoppy lager most commonly drunk by visitors of Cairo, and as per this ad, brewed for this purpose for over a century:
• Sakara, a tasty blond with a little foam, great finish, consumed largely (by these visitors) on the sunny Gulf of Aqaba.
• AND! a very unexpected personal fave: Luxor, an easy dark wheat-with a little sediment to boot-is suprisingly well made in a country of sand.
• Notes: Though latter two took to our tastbuds best, and the probable German tourist-inspired dunkl weizen by Luxor, which was served in a traditional top heavy weissbier glass, was by far the biggest surprise of them all!