As the season turns, so does the weather, and of course, so do our beer preferences. For some, wintry brewery offerings make the long, cold months tolerable. Brewers design them as a means to capture the season with a warming and more formidable character, or with a bit of panache to pair with the fare and ambiance of this time of year. Read More…
Experimentation is much of the appeal of brewing, and methods of integrating alternative ingredients such as spices or assorted sugars into a recipe are fairly clear cut. Unmalted grains, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated, and are essentially useless handled incorrectly.
Few of life’s simple pleasures are as evocative and savored as chocolate. Everything from strength and health to aphrodisiacal prowess has been attributed to this magical mana. Though much of this is pure legend, perhaps it is the very power of suggestion that has elevated chocolate to such lofty status throughout history, and no one can deny the mood-altering authority that chocolate so lustily induces.
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It’s spitting sleet. The sky is a sheet of lead. The wind, damp and raw, burns the flesh. But amidst the gloom of March, there are signs of the unstoppable change of the seasons. Birdsongs share the air with the heavy perfume of well-rested earth. Trees flush a ghostly green, preparing to burst forth with new life. For brewers, these signs announce that warmer weather is approaching, and it’s time to get the last batches of serious beer in the tanks, luxuriously pouring resources into a beer that will sleep all summer to be tapped as a celebration of the harvest, a reward for work well done and part of the grand cycle of seasons.
For at least a thousand years, the ability to brew beer in excess of local needs and ship it off to distant drinkers has been a valued source of both prestige and cash. Beer is a serious claim to fame in the otherwise unexceptional towns of Burton-on-Trent and Pilsen.
What’s black and white and beer all over? It could only be a dark witbier. It’s a lip-smacking sundae of a drink: soft and creamy, overlain by a gentle cocoa roastiness, topped off with the fruity complexity of a Belgian yeast strain. It is profound and fascinating, but at around 6.5 percent alcohol, it won’t knock you over, important if you’re interested in a second one. If you’re not yet familiar with this style, you’re missing out.
Wed Jul 3rd, 2013
The Young Turks and Old Lions of Breweries
Once a year the whole world of craft brewers, and I do mean the whole world, gathers together for four days of catching up, digesting new ideas, staying up way...
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