Beer
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The four major ingredients of beer are water, malt, hops and yeast. The particular combination, amount and variety of each of these ingredients determine the final flavor, alcoholic strength and style of the finished beer.
Although almost all modern beer styles use hops, early European brewers originally added spices such as rosemary, coriander, ginger, anise seed, and juniper berries to their beers to impart more complex flavors. Hops are used primarily used today because the bitterness derived from the hops tend to counter-balance the sweetness derived from the malt, and provide a more balanced flavor. Hops may also be added to beer to impart a floral or spicy aroma and flavor. Another benefit early brewers found was that hops also tended to help preserve their beers longer than unhopped beers.
The earliest written records of hop cultivation come from 8th and 9th century A.D. from the Hallertau district in Germany, now famous for their Hallertau Mittelfruh hop variety. The earliest actual brewing records explicitly noting the addition of hops come from 14th century Germany.
Although there are microorganisms that can spoil beer, such as lactobacillus, there are no known human pathogens than can live in beer. This is commonly thought to be due to the alcohol in the beer, however it is actually due to the pH; typically in the range of 4.0 to 4.4.
Contents
Categories
All beers fall in to two categories; Lagers and Ales. The only stylistic exceptions are "hybrid" beers, such as Cream Ales, Kolsch and California Common Beers (Steam Beers).
Lagers are cold fermented with the Saccharomyces pastorianus variety of yeast, typically between 46 and 56 F. Complete fermentation of lager beers takes from six weeks to nine months. This brewing technique originated in Germany, where the word ‘lagern’ literally means "to store". Common styles of lager beer are Pilsner and Bock. Most beers brewed by the major American breweries are lagers.
Ales are fermented with the ‘S. cerevisiae’ variety of yeast, at temperatures higher than lagers, typically between 55 and 75 F. The higher fermentation temperature of ales tends to produce beers with a more complex, fruity flavor, usually derived from esters produced by the yeast during fermentation. Common varieties of ales include Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Stout and Porter.
Styles
Lambic
Lambic is a sub style of sour ales which was originally produced by brewers around Brussels in the Senne Valley. Lambic comes in two forms, straight (unblended) Lambic and Fruit Lambic. Lambic beers use hops aged for three years to remove any bitterness, and are added primarily for their preservative effect. These beers are allowed to spontaneously fermented by a variety of wild microorganisms. These microorganisms include wild yeasts and bacteria such as pediococcus and lactobacillus. The bacteria produce acids during fermentation that results in a beer that can be extremely dry and astonishingly tart.
Due to the specific flavors that the wild yeasts and microorganisms in this region of the world produce in Lambic beer, production of this style has not spread to other regions like other beers styles of beer have. Versions of Lambics produced with pure cultures tend to lack the depth of flavor that the Belgian brewers are able to produce.
Evolution of Styles
Historically beer styles evolved regionally due to the ingredients that were available to the local brewers. For example, in Scotland hops did not grow well, and were expensive to import. So beers produced by Scottish brewers typically had very low level of bitterness and hop flavor, but well developed malt flavors.
History
The earliest known evidence of beer and brewing comes from Sumeria around 4,000 B.C. The evidence comes from clay tablets inscribed with the Hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian's Goddess of brewing, where the hymn contains a rudimentary recipe for beer.
Well known brands
