Drinking

May 14 2013

Beer Types – Old Ale / Stock Ale

Old Ale, also known as Stock Ale or Keeping Ale, is a style of English beer, often of high original gravity, featuring complex flavors produced by long aging, often in wood. This style was also traditionally known in England as Strong Ale, although that term is now also used both to refer to a separate style of unaged beer as well as a generic term for Imperial beer styles and other strong beer styles.

Old Ales, contrary to expectation, do not have to be especially strong: they can be no more than 4% alcohol, though the Gale’s and O’Hanlon’s versions are considerably stronger. Neither do they have to be dark: Old Ale can be pale and burst with lush sappy malt, tart fruit and spicy hop notes. Darker versions will have a more profound malt character with powerful hints of roasted grain, dark fruit, polished leather and fresh tobacco. The hallmark of the style remains a lengthy period of maturation, often in bottle rather than bulk vessels. Old Ales typically range from 4% to 6.5%.

Old Ale recalls the type of beer brewed before the Industrial Revolution, stored for months or even years in unlined wooden vessels known as tuns. The beer would pick up some lactic sourness as a result of wild yeasts, lactobacilli and tannins in the wood. The result was a beer dubbed ‘stale’ by drinkers: it was one of the components of the early, blended Porters. The style has re-emerged in recent years, due primarily to the fame of Theakston’s Old Peculier, Gale’s Prize Old Ale and Thomas Hardy’s Ale, the last saved from oblivion by O’Hanlon’s Brewery in Devon.

Other examples are Fuller’s Vintage Ale & pictured here is Great Lakes Nosferatu Stock Ale.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Apr 28 2013

Beer Types – Bock

Bock is a strong lager of German origin. Several substyles exist, including maibock or helles bock, a paler, more hopped version generally made for consumption at spring festivals; doppelbock, a stronger and maltier version; and eisbock, a much stronger version made by partially freezing the beer and removing the water ice that forms. Originally a dark beer, a modern bock can range from light copper to brown in colour. The style is very popular, with many examples brewed internationally.

The style known now as bock was a dark, malty, lightly hopped ale first brewed in the 14th century by German brewers in the Hanseatic town of Einbeck. The style from Einbeck was later adopted by Munich brewers in the 17th century and adapted to the new lager style of brewing. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced “Einbeck” as “ein Bock” (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as “bock”. To this day, as a visual pun, a goat often appears on bock labels. Bock is historically associated with special occasions, often religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter or Lent. Bocks have a long history of being brewed and consumed by Bavarian monks as a source of nutrition during times of fasting.

Traditional bock is a sweet, relatively strong (6.3%–7.2% by volume), lightly hopped (20-27 IBUs) lager. The beer should be clear, and colour can range from light copper to brown, with a bountiful and persistent off-white head. The aroma should be malty and toasty, possibly with hints of alcohol, but no detectable hops or fruitiness. The mouthfeel is smooth, with low to moderate carbonation and no astringency. The taste is rich and toasty, sometimes with a bit of caramel. Again, hop presence is low to undetectable, providing just enough bitterness so that the sweetness is not cloying and the aftertaste is muted.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Apr 14 2013

Beer Types – Ice Beer

Ice beer is a marketing term for pale lager beer brands which have undergone some degree of fractional freezing somewhat similar to the German Eisbock production method. These brands generally have higher alcohol content than typical beer and generally have a low price relative to their alcohol content. The process of “icing” beer involves lowering the temperature of a batch of beer until ice crystals form.Since alcohol has a much lower freezing point (-114 °C; -173.2 °F) than water and doesn’t form crystals, when the ice is filtered off, the alcohol concentration increases. The process is known as “fractional freezing” or “freeze distillation”.

Eisbock was developed in Germany during Oktoberfest celebrations with bock beers, which are strong lagers. A particularly cold year froze the beers and a new taste was noticed by the drinkers. However, in its current form, ice beer was developed from the fruit-juice industry which used to freeze orange juice concentrate in order to reduce shipping costs. The term “ice beer” (in name) was introduced in Canada by Molson. The first ice beer marketed in North America was Canadian Ice (now known as Molson Ice), which was introduced by Molson in April 1993,although the process was patented earlier by Molson’s competitor, Labatt, instigating the so-called “Ice Beer Wars” of the 1990s. By August 1993, both Molson and Labatt had introduced ice beer products in Canada, with Labatt having captured a 10% market share.  These ice beers are brewed and filtered at sub-freezing temperatures, thus producing ice crystals and raising the resulting alcohol content. Labatt’s Maximum Ice, for example, rates 7.1% alcohol by volume. The freezing of beer allowed the removal of protein-polyphenol compounds, creating a smoother, more colloidally stable beer, and avoiding long aging time.

The ice beers are typically known for their high alcohol-to-dollar ratio. In some areas, a substantial number of ice beer products are considered to often be bought by “street drunks”, and are prohibited for sale. Other than Molson Ice, Labatt Ice & Labatt Maximum Ice other breweries also have ice beers like : Moosehead Dry Ice, Busch Ice, Polar Ice etc.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Mar 22 2013

Beer Types – Kellerbier

Kellerbier, also Zwickelbier, is a type of German beer which is often not clarified or pasteurised. Kellerbier can be either top- or bottom-fermented. The term Kellerbier literally translates as “cellar beer”, referring to its cool lagering temperatures, and its recipe likely dates to the Middle Ages. In comparison with most of today’s filtered lagers, Kellerbier contains more of its original brewing yeast, as well as vitamins, held in suspension. As a result, it is distinctly cloudy, and is described by German producers as naturtrüb (naturally cloudy). Kellerbier and Zwickelbier are often served directly from the barrel (for example, in a beer garden) or bottled.

Originally the term Zwickelbier, which is often used to describe a weaker and less full-flavored Kellerbier, was used to refer to the small amount of beer taken by a brewmaster from the barrel with the aid of a special siphon called the Zwickelhahn. Nowadays in Germany Zwickelbier is commercially available in large amounts, usually as a bottom-fermented, but often also as a top-fermented (Kellerweizen).

Breweries that brew kellerbiers include

• Eichbaum-Brauerei
• St. Erhard
• Flensburger Brauerei
• Hacker-Pschorr
• Samuel Adams
• Creemore Spring (as pictured above)

Food Pairings: Spicy foods, fresh cheeses, burgers, oysters.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Mar 1 2013

Beer Types – Extra Special Bitter

An English bitter is the British term for a Pale Ale. ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering. Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity, with maybe some notes diacetyl. And despite “bitter” being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. They key to an ESB is balance.

Bitters vary in colour from gold to dark amber and in strength from 3% to 7% alcohol by volume. In England, many breweries have a number of bitters in their range. The style that has come to be known as Premium or Special Bitter generally includes the stronger ( 4.6%-6.0%) examples. These are mostly served in the traditional way from the cask, but some are also found in bottle form where the extra malt allows them to stand up better than the more delicate ordinary Bitter. In the US, the designation ESB is common for this style, owing to the influence of Fuller’s ESB, the London brew that was among the first to be exported to the States. In the US, some ESBs are made with American hops and a clean yeast, but the alcohol range is the same, as is the range of bitterness, usually between 25 and 35 but occasionally creeping higher.

It is usually served in an English pint glass. Some of the best ESB out there are from Fuller’s, Propeller, Hobgoblin, Southern Tier & Shipyard. Goes well with steaks, fish n chips, spicy foods and cheese.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Jan 26 2013

Beer Types – Cascadian Dark Ale / Black IPA

There has been some controversy or fuss let’s say about the naming of this particular style of beer. The style is known by three different names; Black IPA, India Black Ale (IBA), or Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA). The name is faintly seditious, derived from the Republic of Cascadia, a fantasy country that would be carved out of Oregon, Washington and the province of British Columbia through seccession from the United States and Canada. RateBeer.com defines the style like this : An emerging beer style roughly defined as a beer with IPA-level hopping, relatively high alcohol and a distinct toasty dark malt character. Typically lacks the roastiness and body of a strong stout and is hoppier than a strong porter. Expressive dry-hopping is common. Also called India Dark Ale, India Black Ale, Cascadian Dark Ale, Dark IPA, and sometimes India Brown Ale.

CDAs have a unique flavor profile that you can’t duplicate merely by mixing a stout and an IPA. Brewers prefer such hop varieties as Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe and Amarillo, aromatic American strains with flavors often likened to grapefruit, lemon or orange. Hopping rates are often greater than in normal IPAs, and dry-hopping – adding hops during the fermentation or later – is a common practice. Brewers, however, usually avoid the heavily roasted grains that give stouts their coffeelike and burned-toast flavors. Instead, they rely heavily on de-bitterized malts such as Carafa, in which the husk has been removed from the barley kernels to provide a smoother, less acrid flavor.

Apperance is usually deep brown to black with ruby highlights. Head varies from white to tan/khaki. Mouthfeel is light to medium, hop bitterness and tannins from roast malts combine to create a dry mouthfeel. Flavour is a balance between citrus like and spicy Northwest hop flavor, bitterness, caramel and roast, chocolate, or Carafa type malts. This darker ale goes well with hearty fare such as hamburgers, sausages, stews, smoked fish, lamb, beef and game as well as other numerous foods such as fried seafood and highly spiced cuisine.

Picttured here is the popular & highly rated Netherworld Cascadian Dark Ale from the Flying Monkeys brewery in Barrie, Canada. Also popular are the Howe Sound Gathering Storm, Deschutes Hop In The Dark & Garrison’s Black IPA.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Jan 5 2013

Beer Types – Black Lager

Lagers would likely have been mainly dark until the 1840s; pale lagers were not common until the later part of the 19th century when technological advances made them easier to produce. Dark lagers typically range in colour from amber to dark reddish brown, and may be termed dunkel, schwarzbier, Vienna, tmavé or Baltic porter depending on region or brewing method. Tmavé is Czech for “dark”, so is the term for a dark beer in the Czech republic – beers which are so dark as to be black are termed ?erné pivo, “black beer”.

Dunkel is German for “dark”, so is the term for a dark beer in Germany. With alcohol concentrations of 4.5% to 6% by volume, dunkels are weaker than Doppelbocks, another traditional dark Bavarian beer. Dunkels were the original style of the Bavarian villages and countryside. Schwarzbier, a much darker, almost black beer with a chocolate or liquorice-like flavour, similar to stout, is mainly brewed in Saxony and Thuringia.

Vienna lager was developed by brewer Anton Dreher in Vienna in 1841. Austrian brewers who emigrated to Mexico in the late 19th century took the style with them. Vienna lager is a reddish-brown or copper-colored beer with medium body and slight malt sweetness. The malt aroma and flavor may have a toasted character.

Guiness, Vancouver Island, Samuel Adams, Heineken are just a few breweries that have their own black lagers. Pictures here is the Brewmasters Black Lager from the Okanagan Spring Brewery in British Columbia.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0

Dec 16 2012

Beer Types – Framboise / Raspberry Ale

Framboise or Raspberry ales are a lambic style of ale, “Framboise” being French for Raspberry. Lambic is a very distinctive type of beer brewed traditionally in the Pajottenland region of Belgium and in Brussels itself at the Cantillon Brewery and museum. Lambic is now mainly consumed after refermentation, resulting in derived beers such as Gueuze or Kriek lambic.

Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer’s yeasts, lambic beer is produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, usually with a sour aftertaste.

Today the beer is generally brewed from a grist containing approximately 70% barley malt and 30% unmalted wheat. When the wort has cooled, it is left exposed to the open air so that fermentation may occur spontaneously. After the fermentation process starts, the lambic is siphoned into old port or sherry barrels (of chestnut or oak) from Portugal or Spain (some of the brewers prefer used wine barrels.) The lambic is left to ferment and mature for one to two or even three years. It forms a “velo de flor” of yeast that gives some protection from oxidation, in a similar way to vin jaune and sherry; the barrels are not topped up.

Fruit lambics are usually bottled with secondary fermentation. Although fruit lambics are among the most famous Belgian fruit beers, the use of names such as kriek, framboise or frambozen, cassis, etc. does not necessarily imply that the beer is made from lambic. Many of the non-traditional fruit beers derived from lambic that were commercialized in the last decades are considered to be low quality products by many beer enthusiasts.These products are typically artificially sweetened and based on syrups instead of fresh fruit, resulting in a taste experience that is quite remote from the traditional products. Some of the well known raspberry ales are Lindeman’s Framboise, Amsterdam Framboise, Mort Subite Framboise and the above pictured St. Ambroise Framboise.

By Roshan • Drinking • 0