How green is your beer? We’re not talking about that St. Patrick’s Day brew you swilled back in March at
Put simply, an altbier has the smoothness of a classic lager with the flavors of an ale. A more rigorous definition must take history into account. Ale brewing in Germany predates the now-predominant lager production. As the lager process spread from Bohemia, some brewers retained the top-fermenting ale process but adopted the cold maturation associated with lager—hence the name “old beer” (alt means old in German). Altbier is associated with Düsseldorf, Munster and Hanover. This style of ale is light- to medium-bodied, less fruity, less yeasty, and has lower acidity than a traditional English ale. In the United States, some amber ales are actually in the alt style.
Continental ale styles in all of their myriad manifestations can be some of the most inspiring and inspired beers in
The term “pilsner” is attached to many pale lagers worldwide, some of which are worthy imitators of the Bohemian original
You’ll know when you see the deliberately blurry illustration of a Mountie on the cover and the publisher’s classification of
Classic American Pilsner 5 gallons, OG 1.055 ½ # carapils 2.5 # yellow corn grits 5 # American 2-row malt
The interest in craft beer has never been greater, and along with that has come a keen curiosity and awareness
Just as the grassroots brewpub concept began almost 30 years ago, the past few yearshave seen the microdistilling movement starting
Experimentation is much of the appeal of brewing, and methods of integrating alternative ingredients such as spices or assorted sugars
Pale ales tend to be fuller-bodied with a more assertive character on the palate than the standard bitter in a English brewer’s portfolio. In England, they are generally bottled, as opposed to being sold on draft. Despite the name, pale ales are not pale but, in fact, more of an amber hue. The original designation was in reference to this style of beer being paler than the brown and black beers that were more popular at the time of the style’s inception. In the United States, pale ale styles have become one of the benchmarks by which craft brewers are judged. The U.S. version of pale ale is crisper and generally much more hoppy. Indeed, this style is well suited to assertive domestic Pacific Northwestern hop varieties that give the United States examples inimitable character. A good U.S. example should be available on tap in any bar worth frequenting for its beer selection.
