Beer reviews: Hoegaarden

To the east of Brussels, in the middle of the wheat growing region of Belgium, lies the town of Hoegaarden. At one time there were more than 30 breweries here, all producing varieties of the local wheat beer. In the 1950s, as lagers were replacing more traditional beers, the last brewery closed – but around ten years later Pierre Celis revived the style. The brewery was a huge success and was acquired by Interbrew in the 1980s.

Based in Brussels, Interbrew is one of the oldest, and largest, beer companies in the world, selling their products in more than 120 countries. They are responsible for such diverse beers as: Becks, Boddingtons, Leffe, Rolling Rock and Stella Artois

Witbier is a Belgian Wheat beer – meaning that it’s a beer brewed using at least 25% of wheat malts. Belgian wheat beers are different from German, or indeed British and American wheat beers, in that they’re fruitier, with a slight lemony touch. This is because of their use of coriander seeds, orange peels and other spices to flavour the beer.

Belgian Whites are sparkling and refreshing. They are among the best thirst quenchers of all beers.

This particular one is tangy, quite lemony, sweet and overall pretty much full of flavour. There are directions on the bottle on how to pour it.

Hoegaarden White appears cloudy because it is non-filtered, and undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. But don’t let the cloudy appearance, or the unusual ingredients, put you off. It has a very pleasant and refreshing taste.

It pours to a pale golden yellow colour with a subtle haze topped by a thick, creamy head which is pure white, long-lasting, and leaves a whispy lace all the way down the glass. It’s very light and not too gassy but it has a nice frothy effervescence.

There are delicately spiced aromas with flowery hints and a pleasant fruitiness with a very definite orangey spiciness from the coriander and curacao. For me though, the dominant smell is of spiced apple pie. The smell of yeast is also quite noticeable but not in a musty way.

It’s a hard flavour to describe; more like a wine than a beer, with it’s rich, fruity sensations. It’s a very full, complete and satisfying taste with a spicy, citrus zest which is both crisp, and refreshing. The coriander and curacao orange peels used as spices are very evident. This is a complex brew which has both sweet AND sour flavours, lots of fruit, and some honey in the background. It all leads to a dry finish with a zingy, slightly bitter aftertaste.

At 5% ABV, the verdict is Excellent! Hoegaarden would be ideally suited to drinking in the warm afternoon sun, with crusty bread and wedges of cheese. The taste may not appeal to everyone, especially those more used to ales and lagers, but to those it does, they’ll love it.

This is a very dry beer and extremely refreshing.

Christmas 2007: Gift ideas for beer lovers

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” – Dave Barry

If you’ve got a beer lover on your Christmas list, you’ve got your work cut out for you! There are so many things that will bring a smile to the face of an avid beer-drinker (aside from a glass or two of their favorite brand), and you can bring them some Christmas joy by finding the perfect gift.

GLASSWARE

Sometimes, it’s not okay to drink directly from the bottle. Whether it’s because company’s coming or because it’s just not the right way to do it, your beer lover could use some stylish glassware – and there are different kinds of glasses for different kinds of beer. Depending on what your beer aficionado’s refrigerator is stocked with, you’ll have plenty of options when it’s time to look for the best glassware.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Wheat beer belongs in a wheat beer glass – it’s tapered at the bottom and is wide at the top

2. English ales, porters, and stouts belong in a pint glass – it’s shaped like a jug or flared at the top

3. Pilsners need to be served in pilsner glasses – they’ve got an even taper with no curves

4. Lambics and fruit beers belong in flute glasses – which are similar to champagne glasses, only larger

5. Belgian ales and German bocks should be served in chalices or goblets – they’re bowl-shaped

Imagine the surprise on your beer-lover’s face when you show that you care and have taken the time to understand their favorite drink!

SUBSCRIPTIONS

There are magazines that cater to beer aficionados (who knew?), and your beer lover may enjoy reading about new brands, taste tests, and stats almost as much as they enjoy a cool one. Consider giving a gift that keeps on giving – a year-long subscription to “All About Beer Magazine,” or “Celebrator Beer News.”

If a magazine subscription isn’t their style, try a Beer of the Month club; members can receive anywhere from four to twelve different bottles monthly, newsletters, and brewery publications galore. Your beer lover will enjoy trying something new each month, thus broadening their horizons and catapulting you to the #1 gift-giver spot.

CLOTHING

A t-shirt touting the logo of their favorite brand is a must for a beer enthusiast. If they can’t narrow it down to just one, get them the “Beeriodic Table” tee ($20.00, ShipYardShopping.com). Other gifts that work just as well are ball caps, jackets, and sweatshirts advertising a favored brand.

SHARING

There are so many things that are bound to please your favorite beer lover during the Christmas season – and the final (and best) gift idea is this: spend some time together sharing a few glasses of their favorite brew. Expressing an interest in what makes their favorite the best beer of all time will show that you really care, and you can have some great conversations and make some long-lasting memories together.

Bottoms up!

Guide to German beers

Beer to Germany is like celebrity is to the rest of the world; it’s a national obsession. There are over 1300 breweries in Germany, which is more than any other country in the world, and the Germans sit third on the current beer consumption per captia world table, losing out only to the ever impressive, and much respected, Czech and Irish drinkers.

German beer has long been regarded as some of the world’s best produced brews. It is little wonder that this is the case, considering the tight restrictions under which they brew it. In 1516 the German brewer’s of the time created the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, or Bavarian Purity Requirement, which limited what could be used in beer production to only water, hops, and barley-malt. Later, with the discovery of yeast, the agreement was altered to allow this ingredient, and for some of the pilsner type beers, some sugar was also subsequently allowed. But besides these few minor amendments, German beer has remained unchanged in its production methods since the 1500’s, making it the world’s most purely produced beer, and keeping it entirely chemical free.

In Germany, you do not traditionally buy beer according to brand or brewery, but instead, according to variety and style. The choice is often dictated to you by where in Germany you are at the time, and what brewery is associated with the pub or bar you are drinking at. The two main varieties of German beer are the ales, including the famed German wheat beers, and the lagers, including the ever popular Pilsners from Bavaria.

In regards to ale, the Berliner Weisse is one of the most fascinating styles of German wheat beer, not only for its distinct sour taste, but also because it is usually drunk with the addition of fruit syrup. This has helped it become an unexpected hit amongst the young and trendy Berlin clubbers, especially amongst the women, and has successfully re-birthed beer as, not only a drink for men in pubs, but for both men and women in pubs, bars, and clubs. Yet there is also plenty of tradition and mystique for the beer enthusiasts in Germany. There is the Kolsch wheat beer, a light bodied pale beer that can only be legally brewed in Cologne. Within the same region of the Rhine River there is also the dark amber wheat beer, Altbie, which has a very distinct hoppy and bitter taste to it. Then there is the very famous, strong tasting, and high alcohol concentrated wheat beer, Weizenbock, which comes with anything up to 8% alcohol in it. The Weisenbock

Beer reviews: Maredsous 10

Most people generally associate Belgium with luxury chocolates or antique lace, but the poor fools are overlooking one of the nation’s best products: beer. In fact, Belgium is the world’s mecca for beer and it has traditionally been a very important part of the Belgian culture. At the turn of the century, there were more than 3,000 breweries in the country – there are sadly, somewhat less than that now – 120, to be precise.

The most recent beer on my Belgian hit-list was Maredsous 10, a strong golden ale in the abbey style which is made at the same brewery that is famous for a different strong golden ale called Duvel.

It all began when Jan-Leonard Moortgat founded the brewery in 1871, and it has always remained under the control of the same family to the present day. After World War I, Albert Moortgat came to Scotland and returned with a bottle of yeast from McEwan’s which would ensure the success of their beer. Today, the same yeast is still used.

Duvel, created in 1923 is the brewery’s flagship ale and accounts for 85% of it’s production.

Maredsous Triple-style ale is the strongest version of Moortgat’s abbey-style beers at 10%ABV.

The abbey-style of beer is different from the Trappist ales in that monks do not make the beer, but rather the abbey or monastery has leased or sold the recipe.

Tripels are a specific sub-style of abbey ale. They are strong, yeasty-malty ales but they are also pale, and have a quite high hop profile which shows up generally in the dry finish. The yeast is usually quite noticeable too, as they don’t have the dark malts which usually mask this.

Maredsous 10 pours to a slightly hazy, honey-golden colour with touches of amber. There’s lots of carbonation which leads to masses of big bubbles rising to a good-sized, rocky, off-white head that dissipates a bit at first, but never completely vanishes. Sheets of lace stick to the glass right to the end.

The aroma is powerful with very ripe fruit – oranges, pineapple and peach being kept in check by an overwhelming lemonness, and phenolic banana tones. Slightly sour but also very sweet, there’s some caramel malt and a background of flowery, perfumy aromas from the hops. it has a faint, medicinal, alcohol feel with some nutty, yeasty aromas as well.

It’s medium body with a viscous, but firm mouthfeel the initial aste is one of bitterness from the hops but it turns a little sweeter with a very dominant fruity flavour. There’s some grainy and dry nutty flavour and a touch of peppery spice. It has quite a strong phenolic kick and it’s slightly medicinal, but not overwhelming. The finish begins with a dry hoppy bitterness before the citrusy, sweet, lemon tone appears. No real aftertaste apart from a warming, alcohol sensation.

At 10% ABV, this is not a tripel to trifle with. It is very similar to Duvel in many respects although it doesn’t quite match up to the high standard of that brew. I found the aromas to be absolutely gorgeous on this but the flavour somehow left me feeling slightly disappointed. Not that it didn’t taste very good, it just didn’t match up to the aroma.

I enjoyed this with a paella and it worked very well indeed. I would suggest pairing this with delicately flavoured foods, or possibly seafood, to get the best out of it.

Best rock song ever…

Best rock-n-roll song ever. . . . . .

Tough category, primarily because there ain’t been much in the way of true rock-n-roll since, well the late 60’s or early 70’s. When I worked in a record store in the late 70’s, we used to while away the hours of boredom (which usually occurred on Tuesday afternoons in February) thinking up lists like this. . .and avoiding the playing of any disco song, period, in the store.

To really answer this question implies a definition of what exactly rock-n-roll is. As alluded to above, disco ain’t it. In the old days, B. D. (Before Disco), you could hear quite the eclectic mix of sounds on the pop radio stations (disco so fragmented the market, that now it is hard to hear that type of mix anymore). The standard I am using is simple: if it could have been played on KISR in the late 70’s format, it is rock-n-roll, other wise, it is not.

So on to the list:

1. and 1a. Layla Derek and the Dominoes (the two part rocker and piano solo) and Clapton (the changed unplugged version). The guitar work, the piano, the sheer pain in Clapton’s voice as he pines over George Harrison’s wife, make the original a standard of the genre. Try to listen for the transition from the guitar to piano; probably you will be lost in the song, but if you miss it, replay the track. It’s worth it. This is a beer song.

2. Free Bird the almost interminably long live version by Lynerd Skynerd, which my son claims is the test of all tests for a drummer’s stamina. Poignant, proud, sad and exultant lyrics with some of the best melody for a strong rock ballad. Shot of Bourbon.

3. Imagine Lennon’s gift to the world, his view of what the world could be and an ideal, which, if we are honest, we should all strive for. Timeless, true and challenging. In his honor, a Scotch and Coke.

4. The French Inhaler by Warren Zevon loss of glamour and life, haunting words: “How you gonna make your way in the world woman when you weren’t cut out for working, and your fingers are slender and frail” at the beginning and “when the lights came up at 2:00 and I caught a clear glimpse of you, your face looked like something death brought with him in a suitcase, you pretty face, devastated. . .” Pass the wine.

5. Paint it Black Mick and the boys with a dark fun song, perhaps the Stones at their best (or Sympathy for the Devil, I alternate). Vodka tonic, please.

6. Alice’s Restaurant Massacre by Arlo Guthre. Ok, I am not sure this fits as rock-n-roll, but it did tick off the establishment so much when it came out, it really just has to be on the list. The story of a draft-avoider in the Vietnam period. Thunderbird or MD 20:20.

7. Smells Like Teen Spirit probably the best thing Nirvana ever did. Seemed to give every kid something, what, I am not sure, but something. And just a great sound. Spiked Shirley Temple.

8. Yesterday, McCartney’s gift to posterity. Sad and very very lyrical. Perhaps the most covered song of all time for a reason. Contemplation requires a Port or Sherry, but, given the lyric, a German beer will work fine too.

9. The End Jim Morrison’s generation shattering anthem of the 60’s. After the Doors, we never really looked at our parents, or anything really, the same way again.

10. All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow. . .sitting in a bar wasting time, talking to Billy while the real world goes by. A fun song, with a quick hook. I picture her drinking a really good Sangira Wine. Think I’ll have one too.

Does it matter if your beer is American brewed? – Part 7

I have lived in three of the most proficient cultures of beer drinking countries in Germany, United States and Australia. Each have their own distinct way of spending their favourite past time of consumption.

Beer has been a part of the human pastime for many decades. It is not only a drink; it is a lifestyle and part of civilization to some countries.

In Germany there are over 1,300 breweries that must follow a strict method of purity for their brewing. There are top and bottom fermenting brews from different regions popular by their locality and flavour. There are over 5,000 brands with the high majority of them being lagers. The culture has a saying, “Don’t drink the water, have more beer.” It is consumed from morning until night as a natural part of the everyday scheduling. Time at the Guesthaus is a must for most of the small towns for information sharing and community allegiance.

In Australia it is also mostly lagers with the oldest brand being the Cascade Brewery of Tasmania. Contrary to popular belief, Fosters is not a favourite brand. In New South Wales there is Toohey, Queensland is XXXX, South Australia is Coopers, Tasmania is Cascade, Victoria is VB and Western Australia is Swan. Never talk badly of a state’s brew just like you don’t talk crossly of their footie team, they go hand in hand. Majority of Aussies live for the night at the pub with a few schooners to share in the games, the day and relax. Consumption of beer is a part of the culture as well as their lifestyle.

In the United States there are over 1,500 breweries and although there are some loyalties to the great American beer, most go for the flavour. Anheuser-Busch is the larger market for the industry, but the people like to mix it up to show they have a bit of different class to themselves. German, Mexican, Australian and other beers are just as popular in the market. Beer is not a huge part of the culture in the United States as in some countries. Beer is a part of their sport and recreation, but most of the consumption is found for socializing.

There are so many styles of beer in the United States most take only into account what they like in flavour or the best value. I don’t believe it would make a difference in the marketability of Anheuser-Busch if sold to Belgium; it makes a great lager comparable to the current product. If the taste and value stays, then the people will continue to drink it.

The importance of beer in British society

The good honest ale. The cornerstone of British society, it has become so much part of the British culture and its history that most people don’t even realise it. It slips along as part of our daily life as if unseen, and it has always been this way. Most people who think of British culture think of the red buses or the black taxis. The Queen is foremost in the mind of the outsider, but the true binder of British society is the humble pint.

Before the industrial revolution took place in Victorian Britain, a landscape of villages made up the sweeping landscape. These villages were community’s build-up around the church and the public houses. It was these places were where people got together to bond as a real community should, though the pub was the place where people could really unwind and laugh with friends. Of course this lifestyle, minus the church influence, is still very much the same today in the small villages in Britain, the pub is still very much the centre of life.

But beer is not something that is limited to the village pub. Right across Britain it is the evening drink, usually after a day at work that really helps people to feel like themselves. Tom Hodgkinson, states in his wonderfully insightful book How to be Idle: “there really is nothing to beat it. It marks the end of the working day, when you put worldly cares to one side and embrace good cheer and company”. It is at these times when the Brit feels at his best.

Britain is also at the forefront of providing diversity in the choices of beer for the British consumer. Micro-breweries first sprang up in Britain in the 1970’s as a reaction against the mass-produced production of the British pint, which endangered traditional ways of brewing the nation’s favourite drink, in favour of greater profits. CAMRA the campaign for real ale has done much to popularise this need to protect Britain’s most overlooked cultural entity. There involvement in maintaining and promoting real ale festivals has help maintain the colour upon the sometimes greying society. However it still battles for the access rights to have at least one traditional cask ale available in every pub across the country, but they need more support from the government if they are to make this a reality.

The influence of the British pint has spread across many parts of the world even helping to shape other cultures in its drinking habits. India has seen the pale ale, Russia and other Baltic societies has embraced the stronger stout beers and the micro-breweries of the UK soon spread to the US, which saw its own incredibly successful revolution in beer production.

It is true that the image of the British drinker has taken a bit of a knock in recent years; especially in parts of Europe were the term “lager lout” can be a common identity. However the fault lies not with the beer be with the people, and it must always be remembered that this is only a minority element. The true beer drinker understands that the object of drinking does not lie in getting drunk, but in its social aspect.

Up and down the breadth of the country today it could be strongly argued that the British beer drinker has more choice and at a quality that has never been better. Pale ales are particularly emerging as a popular choice of the more discerning drinker, with many winning awards with CAMRA. So all the more reason to get out there and sample some.

Information on CAMRA can be found at:

http://www.camra.org.uk/home.a spx?o=home

An interesting read with British beer at its heart:

Tom Hodgkinson, How to be Idle, (London: Penguin 2004).

The importance of beer in British society – Part 1

The importance of beer in British culture is an issue that needs to be evaluated on the basis of geography and history. Although Britain as a nation drinks more than many others, the drinking of beer is only a small part of that consumption now with wine and mixed drinks taking over and beer is of lesser importance than it traditionally may have appeared.

Historically however ale, or locally brewed beers have been a source of local pride and it was this local diversity which fuelled the beer culture in the UK. In the same way that local dialects in the UK can change significantly in the space of ten miles, so beers and ale differ widely. Local breweries or micro-breweries are prevalent and are important to the regions and to the diversity of beers.

At present the UK’s beer market can be broken down into three main categories;

- Lager beers are the newest addition to the UK beer market, and make up by far the largest proportion of sales. Sales of lager beers, the gassy golden beer popular in the US and large parts of Europe have been growing across the UK and it is lager beers that have fuelled the beer culture’ that makes headlines in the press and gives the UK it’s heavy-drinking image. They are served chilled or super-chilled, and most of the lagers sold are mass-produced by large, technically advanced breweries.

- Secondly, regionally based specialties hold a minority foothold in the UK drink’s market, and stout has more of a traditional place in the British pub. Guinness is the best known of these, but Murphy’s and others also hold a distinctive share of the market. In addition, Cider and Scrumpy has a strong following in certain areas of the country, and in the south west cider is particularly popular. Cider has often been classed as a young-person’s drink popular with young tens and with women.

- However it is Ale and non-gassy beer that holds the most traditional place in the hearts of British beer drinkers and it is these that have the greatest diversity. There are literally thousands of different Ales available in the UK, many of these produced locally in pubs and micro-breweries. Some are produced by such small operations that they do not even bottle these, selling them only in casks and most often at village fetes and local events as well as in their local pubs. They tend to be served warmer than lagers, often at room temperature, and the taste is stronger and more varied.

In the UK lager now has a dubious reputation as a young-person’s drink, one which fuels trouble and promotes many of the problems in today’s society. Ale however is viewed as the drink of the more sedate, older more stable customer, and often younger people tend to grow out’ of lagers switching to ales, stouts a bitters’ as they grow older.

When you think of the British beer drinker I’d imagine that it is the real ale drinker which springs to mind, the country pubs and numerous locally diverse beers with flowers descriptive names. To the beer connoisseur the UK still gives you the best chance to experience a wide range of beers and ales and beer tours are becoming increasingly popular.

German Beer Steins Make Great Gifts

How can something that really got going during the bubonic plague make such a great present? Well it’s easy, nobody is required to drink out of these beautiful beers steins, you can just admire them for their fine craftsmanship. Originated in the 14th century, these mugs made drinking anything, let alone alcohol, that much more sanitary. But today’s steins come in a variety of color, materials, and styles. There is sure to be a perfect one for everyone on your gift list. There are the ever famous pewter steins that make bold artistic statements. There’s also stoneware pieces that demonstrate that old world German tradition unlike any others. Finally, there are regimental steins that highlight colorful scenes of war and combat. These are perfect for any veterans, or war memorabilia collectors. Besides, what person doesn’t like enjoying a good beer once in awhile. Life’s too short not too experience a great beer in a stein made in Germany. This may sound crazy to stein collector’s but that okay. My view is that whatever you do with your beer stein should make you happy, and for some people that may well very be using the darn thing. The point is, gifts are meant to be enjoyed not taken back to the store the next day. When you really think about it does a gift certificate anywhere really say I love you? I don’t think so, I believe time and thought should go into picking a gift for anyone. And no matter what style best suits you, there’s beer stein that fits your personality. In fact, there’s just something special about knowing you have one of a kind hand made work of art decorating your house. So the next time you can’t decide what to get, remember German beer steins because whoever you give it to surely will.

Does it matter if your beer is American brewed? – Part 8

What gives Budweiser the uniquely clean and snappy taste that makes it renowned the world over? Perhaps it is the way Anheuser-Busch package it, or the comic commercials on television? Or maybe it is the one hundred and thirty two years of care and dedication that have gone into finding the perfect brewing recipe for one of America’s best selling lagers. Even today the twelve regional Anheuser-Busch breweries send samples of their beer for testing at the headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri to ensure that what they serve to the world’s population is nothing short of the highest quality.

Well two weeks ago the Belgium-based brewery InBev made an offer of $46 billion to buy America’s biggest brewery, resulting in several dozen people taking to the streets of St. Louis in a protest to raise awareness of the proposed takeover. Bud-lovers and shareholders have joined to open two websites: savebudweiser.com and saveab.com. From these sites, concerned individuals can learn more about what has been happening, and even sign up to an online petition, which one site claims to be at 50,000 people. So what will the change of ownership of Anheuser-Busch do to this American icon?

Anheuser-Busch has been a family business since it’s creation in 1852 and even now August. A. Busch is the President and Chief Executive Officer. Many people worry about the economic damage America would suffer when the company selling 48.8% of all beer in America becomes European. Especially at a time like this, when gas and oil prices are rising worryingly high, the loss of such a great American symbol and source of income for the US is one that will hit hard. However InBev said in a video interview released on Friday 13th June that there would be no brewery closures in the U.S. Instead they will try to retain top management from the two companies and board members from both. The last thing they want to do is stop Budweiser from being brewed in the same way.

The company Anheuser-Busch has also received many awards for its contribution to the environment. They recycle over 27 billion aluminium cans per year (20% more than they actually produce), re-use grain used in the brewing process by feeding it to livestock, run several litter prevention schemes across the country and 8% of their total fuel consumption now comes from renewable energy sources.

So from what has been said so far there is a lot of good that can come from the transfer. No jobs will be lost under this new management, which would come as a relief to employees fearing for their work after the recent cuts by Anheuser-Busch. The beers will continue to be brewed in the same fashion, in the same breweries, which means that for us, the consumer, we can still enjoy the same taste. Unfortunately, though, the loss of this icon is a knock to our pride, but it’s good to know that we made something Europe wanted so much they’ve offered $46 billion for it. For me great Budweiser will still be great Budweiser, even with a different label.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters /business/business-inbev.html? _r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.savebudweiser.com/

http://saveab.com/

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