In addition to some wonderful history, the country of Belgium is "The Beer country". Bordering France, Luxembourg, Germany, and The Netherlands, Belgium is in the heart of Europe. This technologically advanced member of NATO and the EU is truly a beer-lovers haven.
So much so, in fact, that the Belgian Brewer's Guild boasts that a beer lover could easily enjoy a different beer every day and not have to duplicate his selection for over a year. How's that for choices, beer lovers?
In a practice that dates back a long time, some of Belgium's more famous breweries are actually brewed in monasteries. These are called Trappist breweries and are brewed by members of the monastic order. There are five well known Trappist breweries: Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westveltren.
They all produce multiple types of beers with the exception of Orval. They believe that producing a single beer allows them to concentrate on one product and not lose focus by concentrating on multiple beers.
Most breweries produce a "dubble" or "tripple" variety, referring to the strength of the beer which is the result of the fermentation activity. The Trappist beers are bottle conditioned and are often stored in cellars where they can evolve into some wonderful beers with age.
More widely available are the "biere d'abbaye" or "Abby beers" that are no longer brewed at the abbeys but have been contracted out to local brewers. The original formula is used by the brewer, but the beers are more plentiful to more modern brewing capabilities.
Recently, Belgian beers and ales have greatly influenced the brewing in America. A few examples of this are typified by Celis Brewery in Austin, Tx., New Belgium of Ft. Collins, Co., North Coast Brewing in Ft. Bragg, Ca., and Unibroue in Quebec.
If you haven't already tried beers from Belgium, you're in for a rare treat. After all, it's not "The Beer Country" for nothing.
No one really knows exactly how the first beer came into being ...
Suffice it to say that, around 10,000 years ago, somebody let a primordial barley and hop concoction stand long enough for it to ferment. The result not only made anonymous history, it was the genesis of beer's own special influence throughout the ages.
Here are a few examples of note:
It was the accepted practice in Babylonia, as early as 4000 years ago, that for a month after a wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon." I have also heard that the custom included one of the most resourceful bits of propaganda ever created for husbands. As the story went, if the groom drank mead for an entire moon, it would enhance the chances of his wife bearing a male heir. The bride, however, had to abstain from drinking alcohol at all. I'll leave the punchlines to you.
After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called ‘aul,’ or ‘ale,’ a certain self-appointed breed of Vikings would head fearlessly into battle without armor, or even without shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild behavior in battle. They believed that Odin’s favor was all they needed for protection, and if they were to die in combat, it was only because The Allfather decided it was their time to enter the hallowed halls of Valhalla. This was Odin's great ‘Castle of the Chosen Slain,’ where 'inductees' would spend eternity in Viking nirvana, ie- fighting all day, having their wounds miraculously heal at sundown, and then partying all night, with generous quantities of ale at their beck and call.
Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold, and the yeast wouldn't grow. Too hot, and the yeast would die. This practice is where we get the phrase, "rule of thumb."
The first known consumer protection act arose with the German Beer Purity Law of 1516, known as Rheinheitsgebot. This decreed that, in order to be called 'beer,' a beverage could only consist of four ingredients: malt, hops, yeast, and water. This is such a revered regulation that when the European Union-facilitated the introduction of other beers into the German market, it took a court order for many stores to sell them. Most of those beers contained preservatives, and to a respectable German, that meant --- and still does --- that such beverages were not beer.
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So, in olde England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase, "mind your P’s and Q's."
Also in England's olden days, pub frequenters often had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.
In 1740, Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased and called Admiral Vernon “Old Grog,” after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy," a word that has been expanded to include the effects of too much beer and is still in use today.
There are numerous quotations which pay homage to beer. Allow me to list three of the wittiest:
"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then, I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.'"
-- Saturday Night Live's faux-philosopher, Jack Handy
"Put it back in the horse!"
-- W C Fields, disapproving of a sub-standard brew
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-- Benjamin Franklin
Given a good pint, composed of God's natural ingredients and nurtured by man's learned craft, beer has made us very happy, indeed.
Just keep the joy below 0.08% of your blood content.
It is commonly known that beer has been around mankind for a long while. As beer itself changed, expanded, and improved, so did the way in which we actually got the beer to our mouths. Pottery, wood, stoneware, and even sewn up pieces of leather made up the earliest drinking vessels. As time went on, a man witnessed small advancements in the quality of their beer receptacles. Early Europeans that lived during the time of the black plague saw the development of beer steins, which had a closed top on the steins to prevent flies from landing in the beer and making the person ill.
Today, the most important factor to influence modern beer glassmaking was the creation of glass. As consumers actually started to be able to look at what they were consuming from the glass they began to demand a beer with more flavor and an improved hue. Customers didn't want chunks in their drinks anymore so manufacturers began to filter their beers. With this new, improved wave of beer glasses, it appeared beer steins were on the way out.
A variety of glasses were created and produced for the various kinds of beers. The sixteen-ounce pint glass is the most in-demand glass in the United States. It was originally used to fit the top of a Martini shaker, but barkeeps soon discovered that as the beer poured out of the pint glass was the top receptacle because it let part of the carbonation to be released and let the aroma of the brew to be more obvious. The pint glass rapidly became popular with barkeeps who had to rinse each glass by itself because it can be put on top of each other and stored easily on the shelves.
An attempt to get consumers to get their kind of beer by breweries led to some unique and groundbreaking moves on the marketing and advertising front. Handing out glasses to consumers was a way that manufacturers found to promote their beers even though it was illegal. This led to the manufacturers creating glasses that were works of art unto themselves. The first were gaudy and costly; they would often have gold or silver embossed on the sides. Eventually, artists from the breweries began doing detailed carvings on either side of the beer glasses or steins and even developed a method of cooking enamel paint onto the glasses. These enameled glasses are still some of the rarest beer souvenirs, even though they were made more recently than the others. Nowadays avid collectors all over the earth continue to collect these tin signs and memorabilia that are sometimes worth thousands. Have you looked up at the top of Grandpappy's old drawer in a while?
The Alaskan brewing company is the oldest operating brewery in Alaska, with their amber beer being their most popular brand. They produce two other brands as well, pale ale and Alaskan frontier amber. If you enjoy fresh amber beer, Alaskan brewing is what you want.
As you may already know, brewing beer in Alaska is very hard to do. The coastal community of Juneau doesn't have road connections to the lower 48 states, so everything arrives and leaves by water or air, with weather always having the final say.
In 1986, the Alaskan brewing company became the 67th brewery to operate in the United States and the only one to operate in Alaska. Since that time, the Alaskan brewery has received more than 30 major medals and awards, including the best beer in the nation award during the 1988 Great American Beer Festival.
The popularity of their beers has led to a lot of efforts to keep up with the demand from consumers. They also hold the unofficial record for the production on a 10 barrel brewing system, which produces an amazing 42 batches a week.
The Alaskan Brewery offers several different styles of the brew as well, which are listed below:
1. Amber - This is the company's flagship beer, based on a turn of the century recipe that was used to quench the thirst of the miners during the Gold Rush era. It provides a smooth, malty, rich taste that goes well with meals - or friends.
2. Pale - Pale is fresh, crips, and inviting. Alaskan pale is great with crab, pawns, and salads. The floral aroma of the hops is derived from dry hopping the tanks during the entire fermentation process.
3. Stout - The oatmeal style beer stout doesn't have the harshness of other stouts. Great with chocolate and hearty meals, stout is also ideal to enjoy while walking in the snow.
4. ESB - If you like hops, the infusion of hops in this delight will amaze your nose while the refreshing cascade hops will provide a wonderful crispness to both the flavor and the finish. This beer is great with spicy food, wild game, and other wintery food.
5. Smoked porter - Very exclusive, Alaskan smoked porter has a world-class reputation for its excellence. Brewed in the fall, this beer is ideal for storing in the cellar for later enjoyment.
6. Winter ale - This tender brew of spruce trees has been used for brewing in Alaska since the late 1700s.
