Unless it asserts itself by, say, fizzing up your nose or aggressively dancing on your tongue, it can be easy to forget about carbonation in beer. Sure, when light filters through a glass and highlights the tiny bubbles as they appear at the bottom it offers a visual moment of enjoyment as they flitter to... View Article
Is beer not good enough? Has no one made pitch-perfect hoppy ale? I mean, what if in the evolution of brewing, we’re still at that part of the chart where we’re all just hunched over, early hominids—perhaps Austr-ale-opithecus—which is why we tend to have poor posture while perched1 on bar stools? The fact is, we’re... View Article
WHEAT (UNMALTED) Contribution: vibrant wheat flavor; improved head/foam retention Styles: traditional in witbiers and lambics Examples: 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze, Cantillon Gueuze, Hitachino Nest White Ale, La Cumbre Cerro Blanco, Moonlight Sour Mash Wheat, Ommegang Witte ROASTED BARLEY (UNMALTED) Contribution: bitter, roasted character; improved head/foam retention; darker color Styles: traditional in dry stouts, and common... View Article
For better or worse, not every beer survives. Most brands die when the brewery itself is terminated. But what about brews that go bust? Here are three beers that didn’t survive: Miller Clear, 1993-1993: Possibly the most bizarre concept for a beer, Miller Clear test marketed in three cities for six months right around the... View Article
At Bear Republic’s production facility in Cloverdale, CA, Brewmaster and COO Richard Norgrove is talking about his first exploratory trip to England and holding an old plastic jar. After explaining how that initial trip came about from a friend’s encouragement, looking back almost twenty years, Richard goes on to say, “I fell in love with... View Article
Beers today are conceived quite differently than when beer itself was still being created. Centuries ago, modern styles were not developed based on brewers’ whimsy but out of necessity.
It’s every beer lover’s dream, to jump in the Time Machine, spin the dials and travel back to discover what iconic brews were really like centuries ago: the IPAs of Victorian England, the porters and stouts of 18th-century London, and, when the church once held sway, the robust ales made by monks.
Trappist monks are properly known as the Order of the Strict Observance, a branch of the Cistercians. The name Trappist comes from their abbey at La Trappe in Normandy, northern France, from where they were driven out at the time of the French revolution in the 18th century. They settled in the Low Countries—today’s Belgium... View Article
Starry, starry night. The light is low in Orval’s brew house, giving its trinity of copper-clad lauter tuns and kettle the glow of a late sunset, while pinpricks of light adorn the ceiling, the first evening stars. A simple wooden cross hangs on the wall. Colored glass panels featuring devotional scenes add to the sense... View Article
