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Patrick Henry was a very prominent figure in the American Revolution. In his time, English beer was the most famous and very few colonies like New Amsterdam started to rely on the local breweries instead of the English breweries so as to increase revenue. This started the boycott movement against the English breweries and many founding fathers of America started to encourage home brewing. William Penn, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, James Madison and even George Washington were established home brewers and they encouraged the legislation to promote the American Brewing Industry. Among these was Henry.
The Patrick Henry tavern was among the most famous beer taverns in America. The beer manufactured in Henry’s brew house was made from the top fermenting yeasts. The beer manufactured in the home breweries in America used to be strong and Henry’s recipes used to be a sensation among beers. Many Patrick Henry’s beer bottles are being collected in many prominent beer clubs like the Brewery Collections Club of America. America, which used to be a country in which ale was drunk, was transformed into a country that preferred beer and malt after the revolution. This transformation was brought about by the introduction of top fermenting yeasts and bottom fermenting yeasts by the English and Germans respectively.
Patrick Henry beer was always made using top fermenting yeasts and almost all the bottles of the beer that have survived can be found with the tag “A beer with an ale base”. The fox deluxe brewing company reproduced the beer for about a decade until they were closed in 1951. Later on in 1982, the interest of beer again started to spread through America and Grant’s Brewery Pub was opened, which revived the early American breweries. They also manufactured some of the recipes that were available from Patrick Henry’s tavern and from then on, the Brewery industry in America has seen a continuous growth. The brewpub has been replicating these sensational recipes. Famed recipes like Patrick Henry’s Malt Liquor and the famed beer with the Ale Base are also being manufactured and have an all time high popularity.
Author: Nilakanta Krshna
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Pressure cooker
I suspect beer making goes back into prehistory. That’s in part due to the fact that as far back as the sixth millennium B.C., records show a recipe for making it. It’s half a prayer, but the prayer contains complete instructions for producing this potent potable. The location is Ancient Iraq.
Beer itself (or the evidence of it) dates back to around three thousand B.C. in Iran. European sites in about the same era have also been discovered, though it is thought that was for personal consumption, not sale or trade.
Around the seventh century A.D., monasteries were producing and selling it to the public, but it still wasn’t on a large scale. It took the Industrial Revolution to turn beer into a beverage for the masses.
Most people look at beer (and the cousins, ale and stout) as a beverage, however that’s not everything beer can be used for. In fact, it has many other uses.
Cooking with beer isn’t that much of a leap from using it as a beverage, but there are several tasty ways to use it. Beer can chicken is quite good (open beer, place into cavity of a whole chicken and bake) as is beer bread. The yeast and the foam in the beer act as leavening, making quick breads rise properly.
If you have an invasion of slugs in your garden, set out little dishes of beer around it. It;s at least it’s more humane than salt. When they’ve been dealt with, you can pour the remains onto brown areas of your lawn to improve them. On the other hand, if you’re planning on barbecuing, you could simply set them around the perimeter of your patio to attract bees and keep them from pestering you.
Minor stomach upsets (in adults only) may be soothed by the carbonation in beer. Of course, if you have an ulcer or other serious stomach problems, you’ll want to skip that one.
For me, I think one of beer’s best uses is as a hair highlighter and enhancer. After shampooing your hair, pour the beer over it, let it sit for a couple of minutes, then rinse it out. You might be surprised at the results.
Author: Mary Bodel
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How Electric Pressure Cookers Work
This recipe is self-formulated for an IPA based on my own experiences and tastes. If you like a hoppy beer, you’ll love this IPA. Feel free to take it and make minor adjustments of your own depending on your knowledge or expertise.
This recipe is for those with a basic knowledge of extract brewing.
Let’s start out with the list of ingredients:
1 lb. Crystal Malt 60L (can go lighter for lighter color; I’ve even used 10L and it looked great)
.5 lb. American Victory
5.75 lb. Dry Light Extract
2 oz. Northern Brewer Hops (pellets, 8.00% AA)
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (pellets, 5.50% AA)
1 package Wyeast 1272 American Ale II yeast
5 oz. Corn sugar
Now, before we get into the fun stuff, I’m going to remind you to sanitize everything!!! If you’ve already brewed, you understand the importance of it. I like to use a sanitizing solution that can be found at any brew supply store. You can use bleach. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just do it. You’ll thank me later.
OK, with that out of the way, let’s brew. First, we’ll take our grains (crystal malt and American Victory) and crush them. Do not grind, just crush. Using a rolling pin should get the job done. Then, use a grain bag to steep them in 2 gallons of water at about 160-170 degrees for about 20 minutes. A cheesecloth grain bag can also be found at a brew store.
Next, heat up the pot until it boils. Then add the dry light extract and stir until it returns to a boil. After that, add the Northern Brewer hops and boil for almost an hour. About 55 minutes should be good. Then, put the Cascade hops in the brew for about 1 more minute. During this hour, make sure to keep stirring and DO NOT let it boil over.
Now, we need to cool this “wort.” The easiest technique is to use a two sided sink and keep moving the pot from one side to the next, replacing the water in one side with fresh cold water while the pot is in the other. Alternate sides until it is cold. You can stir here to speed up the process, but be extremely careful not to get water or anything else in the pot.
Once this wort has cooled to close to room temperature (around 70 degrees), you can add it to your fermenter. This should be a 5 gallon glass carboy or a plastic, food-grade bucket. Now you can add water to this mix to get to a total of 5 gallons. Once you are satisfied that the whole mix is about room temperature, add the yeast. Once you’ve “pitched” the yeast, seal the lid and shake the fermenter a little bit to oxygenate it. This is the last time you will want any motion, so don’t shake it at all once this is done. You’re fermenter should have an air lock on it, which can be found at a brew supply store and it is inexpensive. Now store this away for about 3-7 days in a dark place.
After about a week, you are ready to bottle. At this point, you’ll take about 50 bottles (give or take a few) and sanitize them. With a second bucket or something along those lines, you will need to take your sugar and boil it with 2 cups of water for about 5 minutes. Pour this into your bottling bucket. Now you can add syphon the uncarbonated beer into the new bucket. The slow syphoning motion should be enough to mix the sugar with the beer. Do not stir or shake. Then, from that bucket you will syphon the beer into bottles. Use a bottle capper and cap them off. Store these away for two weeks, also in a dark place, such as a closet.
After two weeks, refrigerate, then drink! You’ve got your very own delicious IPA. Share with friends and show off your creation.
Author: Joey Martyn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How Electric Pressure Cookers Work
There has to be a starting point to everything. Homebrew is no exception.
Working in the beer trade for over a decade I have seen many price rises occur, usually twice a year regardless of any government levied taxation. Prices have risen by almost 53% over the last decade in the UK. Imported beers are now being produced under license in huge breweries and the cost of running a licensed premises has increased due to many factors including rises in utility bills, commercial rates and the minimum wage.
Undoubtedly it is the end user of the product that pays the bill.
One day after paying what seemed like a fortune for a round of drinks with friends I thought to myself ‘this is wrong – beers made out of dirt…’. By ‘dirt’ I meant basic ingredients though dirt was my actual word of thought.
This was the start, the start of something surprisingly good.
The very next day I went to my local homebrew store. I walked through the door to be faced with an amazing array of plastic barrels, buckets, tins of ‘beer’ and shelves of bags of grains – all varieties of grains, sugars, beer enhancers. The list goes on. In other words I felt as though I really had stepped out of my depth. The hop was busy. There were people asking questions about clarification and filtering of wine, sparging arms and hop utilisation. I felt small and nearly left the shop with my newly gained bundle of homebrew confusion. Then I was cornered…
“How can we help?” I hesitated – to be honest I did not know where to start on the basis I had no idea the processes of making beer. “I’m interested in making my own beer” I muttered “but I haven’t got a clue what I need or where to start.” There was a slight pause and I thought that the woman was cursing my inadequate research into the subject. I was wrong.
“One moment” she said and disappeared into the back of the shop returning promptly with a batch of photocopied leaflets. “I will give you these leaflets on the three main ways of making beers.” These included step by step details on making beer from beer kits, malt extract brewing and all grain brewing.
She advised starting with brewing from commercially available beer kits as this was the most simple way to start yet taught the important methods of cleaning and fermentation. They also had a ready to go homebrew bundle which included all the equipment required and a high quality beer kit. This was becoming simple…
The starter kit included a fermentation bucket, a pressure barrel, a racking cane (syphon), hydrometer, thermometer, airlock, a choice of gas systems, sterilising powder and a choice of beer kit from their premium range capable of making 40 pints of beer.
Next she ran through the full process of brewing with the equipment in great detail, including using the hydrometer and thermometer and the option of bottling. An over detailed essay on water then followed but the little that did not go over my head was very beneficial.
I was sold but concerned about the reusability of the equipment particularly the pressure barrel – how many times can I us it ? She claimed that they prided themselves on the quality of the goods they sell and that despite the barrel being classed as a budget barrel it should last for years (of which it has along side the other barrels I have since bought).
Now, I have developed my hobby into All Grain brewing and still use all the original equipment from the starter kit. I enjoy going out to my local bars and trying the different beers and ales available with the nose of a connoisseur. Many of my friends have now been bitten by the homebrew bug and we spend many an evening sampling each other’s brews.
Conclusion
I really have to champion the homebrew shop. It is daunting to first walk in there with little or no idea but the help you will get is always top notch. Remember – these people are into the hobby themselves 99.9% of the time and they are there to sell.
If you are thinking about brewing beer for yourself then take the plunge. It is not expensive and quite refreshing to think that the beer you are drinking costs only about 20-30 pence per pint. The other day I went into a bar and was charged £3 for a pint of real ale. It hurt that this cost the equivalent of 10 pints of my own brew.
Author: Keith Neill
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Programmable Multi-cooker
Ginger is the root-stock of a plant grown in the East and West Indies, and is scraped before importation. Its odor is due to an essential oil, and its pungent hot taste to a resin.
Young ginger roots are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or just cooked as an ingredient in many dishes.
The juice from old ginger roots is extremely potent and is often used as a spice to flavor dishes such as seafood or mutton and vegetarian recipes. Powdered dry ginger root (ginger powder) is typically used to spice gingerbread, pumpkin pies and other recipes.
Ginger is also made into candy, is used as a flavoring for cookies, crackers and cake, and is the main flavor in ginger ale — a sweet, carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage, as well as the similar, but spicier ginger beer which is popular in the Caribbean.
Fresh ginger should be peeled before cooking. For storage, the ginger should be wrapped tightly in a towel and placed in a plastic bag, and can be kept for about three weeks in a refrigerator and up to three months in a freezer.
Ginger historically was called “Jamaica ginger”; it was classified as a stimulant and carminative, and used frequently for dyspepsia and colic. It was also frequently employed to disguise the taste of medicines. Ginger is on the FDA’s ‘generally recognized as safe’ list, though it does interact with some medications, including warfarin. Ginger may also decrease joint pain from arthritis, though studies on this have been inconsistent, and may have blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease.
A variety of uses are suggested for ginger. Tea brewed from ginger is a folk herbal home remedy for colds. Three to four leaves of Tulsi (known across South Asia as a medicinal plant) taken along with a piece of ginger on an empty stomach is an effective cure for congestion, cough and cold. Ginger ale has been recommended to settle the stomach. This spice dissolved in hot water was commonly used to avoid cramps. Ginger has been found effective in multiple studies for treating nausea caused by seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy.
If a piece of the root is chewed it causes a considerable flow of saliva, and an application of powdered Ginger, made with water into paste, against the skin will produce intense tingling and heat. To which it may be spread on paper and applied to the forehead as a means for relieving a headache. People who suffer from lacking energy or vitality would indigestion a solution obtained by steeping or soaking ginger as a substitute for tea.
For a disorder of digestive function characterized by discomfort or heartburn or nausea the root may be powdered in a bowl to crushed or ground : and a heaped teaspoonful of it should be then steep or soak in boiling milk; to be taken when sufficiently cool, for supper or at breakfast.
The dose of the powder is from ten to twenty grains; of the tincture from a third of a teaspoonful to a teaspoonful, in water hot or cold; of the syrup from one to two teaspoonfuls in water. Either preparation is of service to correct diarrhea, and to relieve weakly chronic bronchitis. Also as admirably to correct or rectify chronic constipation through general intestinal sluggishness.
Ginger produces clusters of white and pink flower buds that bloom into yellow flowers. Because of its aesthetic appeal and the adaptively of the plant to warm climates, ginger is often used as landscaping around subtropical homes. It is a perennial reed-like plant with annual leafy stems, three to four feet high.
Learn the secrets about herbs, home remedies and staying healthy. Learn the skills to help yourself and family naturally and save money by learning to make your own remedies. Feel safe, confident, secure and have the knowledgeable in making your own herbal home remedies. Realize the answer to your ailment might be in your spice cupboard. Grab your free book To Your Health.
Author: Alice Gines
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It seems a little unfair that Belgium, a small country on the north-west European mainland, has been tagged as ‘boring’ by her neighbours. Ok – perhaps compared to nations nearby, it doesn’t have such geological diversity; you won’t find great swathes of forest like in Germany, the hot sandy beaches of Spain or the towering Alpine mountains of France, but who cares about that? Everybody knows the most important thing in life is beer, and when it comes to brewing, Belgium is anything but boring.
Whilst other European countries continue to churn out bland, generic lagers, Belgium has excelled at producing a massive variety of high quality and interesting beers that have made the country synonymous with the amber nectar.
In terms of global popularity, the fairly ordinary, (thought perfectly drinkable) lager – Stella Artois – has dominated pubs around the world and especially in the UK. When first launched it was backed up by the ad campaign which proclaimed it to be “reassuringly expensive”. This lead to it being seen as chic and exotic, but it has since dropped in stature somewhat.
In contrast to Stella Artois, the white beer Hoegaarden, is still held in high regard and is available on tap in many pubs and bars across the UK. It’s cloudy nature and spicy taste (created by adding extracts of coriander and orange peel) is usually served in the huge trademark Hoegaardeen glass, and sometimes comes with a slice of lime – though some beer purists prefer it unadulterated. It’s complex and fruity taste also appeals to the female market, who tend to be less keen on traditional ales and lager. The only downside of Hoegaarden is the cost; due to Hoegaarden being the first white beer widely available in the UK, it cornered the market early and thus tends to be the most expensive beer in the bar, with landlords enjoying a larger than normal markup, for no other reason than that people are willing to pay a premium for something delicious and different.
One of the most well known styles of Belgian beer are the Trappist Ales. Trappist is an order of monks that were (are) noted for their austerity and vow of silence – instead letting their beer do the talking. There are six Trappist breweries in the world and all are in Belgium. They produce brews that are highly regarded in gourmet beer drinking circles such as Orval, Chimay, Rochefort and Achel, which tend to be strong in flavour and in alcohol content.
If you’re thinking about visiting Belgium to taste their beers first hand, the Bruges Beer Festival is a great place to start. There you’ll find forty brewers offering over 100 different firms’ beers, including 5 Trappist Breweries, and you’ll be able to sample the best from Belgium’s beer-y landscape. Hotels in Bruges get booked up quickly during the festival, so get in early if you want to sample Belgium’s finest produce.
So, next time you hear someone say that Belgium is boring, tell them to put down their pint of Stella, and try an Orval, Hoegaarden or Achel, after all, there’s more to Belgium than dull lager.
Author: Adam Singleton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Beer in America has been and is still in the process of going through a transformation. Beer is shedding the lifeless husk of the bland, the unoriginal, and unimpressive for the glorious wings of quality, variety and possibility. Since the beginning of the beer renaissance in the late 1970′s consumers in America have been looking for new and delicious beverages to experience and many of them have turned to craft beer. Craft beer can offer its drinkers variety with the different styles available; it can offer full flavor with the exciting and quality ingredients it is brewed with; and it can offer new ways to present meals with the food it can be paired with.
The thing about people is that everyone has a different taste and, seeing that beer is a very subjective medium, craft beer embraced this difference in taste and offers a variety of beers for the ever changing and exploratory palate as well as beers rooted in tradition and expected flavor. Since prohibition the number of breweries in the United States has blossomed to over 1,400 brewing over 60 different styles of beer. The “Big Three” breweries currently hold roughly 95% of the American beer market and produce the same style of beer (American light lager) with slightly different variations. By the 1970′s Americans had decided they wanted something different and, with the birth of the beer renaissance, the explosion of breweries in the United States allowed a wider variety of beer became readily available to the average consumer. People could enjoy the golden/amber color, the floral aroma, and hoppy bitterness of an India Pale Ale, or the nearly black, sweet smelling, malty, roasted taste of a Porter. The flavor profiles of these beers were something never experienced before by the average American considering that all they had been exposed to prior to this have been the bland, watery, pseudo lager flavors of what the big three had to offer.
The flavorless ubiquity of the big three breweries comes from the corn, rice, and other adjuncts they put in their brews which does absolutely nothing to expand the flavor of their beer. Craft beer by definition is beer that is brewed using traditional methods, without adjuncts such as rice or corn, and with an eye to what’s distinctive and flavorful rather than mass appeal. As opposed to putting ingredients into their beer that mellow out and dull the taste, everything a craft brewer puts into their beer they choose to enhance the flavors and overall experience of their beverage. The flavor profiles of craft beers can range from crisp and light to full bodied and heavy on the tongue; from the dry, spicy, hoppy notes to the rich, sweet, malty taste. As the diverse mouth-feel of the different craft beers is enjoyed there is a symphony being played upon the taste buds with a variety of flavor notes such as vanilla, coffee, fruity, toffee, and nutty.
The taste and flavors offered by craft beer are marvelous by themselves but soar to new heights when paired with food. Craft beers broad range of flavors, aromas, and textures make it a perfect match for nearly any kind of food, from a rich blue-cheese hamburger to the most luxurious of gourmet dinners. A couple specific interactions are the balance provided from hop bitterness to sweeter richer foods and sweet maltiness to spicy more acidic foods. Similar flavors will enhance one another such as the perceived spiciness from hops to the spiciness of hotter foods; while other combinations will complement one another, like roasty nut brown ale to the smooth creaminess of a New York style cheesecake. That being said, not all pairings go as expected and that is why practice makes perfect and the only way to find out what works best for any individual is experimentation, which, in my opinion, can be the best part!
As one can see the world of beer has so much to offer and is certainly more interesting then the bland, yellowish, fizzy liquid most Americans are used to. With the variety, quality, and food pairing possibilities available from craft beers, let us raise a toast to continually expanding our horizons and trying new things! Cheers!
Author: Patrick Rollins
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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When it comes to what beers from Belgium you should be trying you will soon discover there are plenty to choose from. In fact a quick search online and you will soon discover what a diverse selection of beers are being brewed in Belgium today. Today there are many breweries in Belgium and between them they are producing around 500 different standard beers along with numerous ones that are considered to be one offs.
So what types of beers are regularly being produced and drunk in Belgium and around the world today? Below we take a look at just some of the wonderful beers from Belgium that are available and which you may want to consider trying.
Trappist Beer – This is brewed by monks in their monasteries. In order for such beers to be classed as this the whole brewing process must have been carried out or supervised by the monks at the monastery. Today there are now only six monasteries in Belgium that can legally call their beer a Trappist one.
Abbey Beers – These are actually brewed by commercial breweries but are allowed to license the names of abbeys on them. These beers were produced after the Second World War to take advantage of the public’s interest in Trappist beers and often imitate the beers that come from the monasteries.
Amber – This particular type of Belgium beer was developed during the first half of the 20th Century by making modifications ales from Britain. However, as tastes have changed unfortunately the popularity of such beers from Belgium have declined but its popularity still remains high in Antwerp.
Blonde Or Golden Ale – This is not only the most popular of all beers from Belgium but is one of the most well known as well around the world. This is a very light beer in taste and colour and comes with some very strange names. The most popular of them all being Duvel which means Devil. Also there are some versions which come with a slightly spiced flavour to them.
Flanders Red Ale – This beer has a very distinctive colour and flavour to it compared to many of the other beers produced in Belgium today. The main ingredients used in the creation of this beer are roasted malt, several types of top fermenting yeasts along the bacteria found in yoghurt known as lactobacillus culture. To further add to its distinctive taste and colour the beer is matured in oak vats. When drunk the beer has a slightly acidic, sour but fruit taste to it.
Above we have taken a look at just a few of the wonderful beers from Belgium that you can now purchase. Along with these there are plenty of others including Lambic, Oud Bruin, Saison and Scotch Ales that may tickle your taste buds also. If you are having problems finding these locally there are numerous online stores where orders can be placed and the items delivered directly to your home.
Author: Patrick Anthony
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Okay well sure, it’s St. Patrick’s Day today. But for whatever reason, I picked up a bottle of Hop Wallop from Victory Brewing Company during this evening’s drop-by at my local mix a six pack beer purveyor. Traditionally, this particular beer is a yearly Fall season brew but this bottle was still hanging around in the cooler and it’s got a “enjoy by” date of 12/6/08, so what the heck, right? Hop Wallop is customarily classified as an Imperial India Pale Ale craft beer, brewed and bottled at Victory Brewing’s Pennsylvania-based Downingtown brewery.
This imperial IPA poured a cloudy, chill-hazed burnt orange from the 12 ounce brown bottle into my unchilled 16 ounce pint glass. The head of this beer quickly rose to a 3/4 inch, pillowy meringue froth that lasted a good 2-3 minutes before slowly subsiding.
This craft ale’s aroma wafted up, out and about from my glass, ringing true to a strong hoppy character. Very bold in bitter grapefruit and cheering from the sideline presence of fresh pine was predominant.
The initial sip of this Victory Brewing Co offering puckered my mouth and gave off a zesty kick of otherworldly hops bitterness. The primary flavor is bitter grapefruit and it lasts through to the swallow. Carbonation level isn’t a distraction at all and it ends by going down pretty smoothly although there is a sticky lollipop sour aftertaste that lingers well after. There is just a glimmering hint of a spicy flavor to it in the background, almost clove-like, but not much.
Hop Wallop [http://www.victorybeer.com/hop_wallop.html] is strong, very strong in its overbearing hop supremacy. Any malt in this Victory beer? It’s close to impossible to detect that’s for certain but it’s got to be in there somewhere. In looking more closely at the label, I can see that this Pennsylvania craft beer boasts a pretty hefty alcohol by volume rating of 8.5%. I couldn’t tell it however as the alcohol content appears very well cloaked in this Pennsylvania-based microbrew. Either way, in flavor and in alcohol, it’s not a chugging beer, at least not for me. One interesting note is that by about 1/3 left in my glass, this microbrew is especially clear and crystalline almost. It morphed its appearance almost as quickly as the weather does here in Western Pennsylvania.
Overall though, my personal opinion is that Victory Brewing Company Hop Wallop is a very good beer although pretty straight-forward and one dimensional in complexity. This ale is probably the king of beers when it comes down to sheer hop bitter terror. It’s most certainly all about the hops with this craft beer.
I personally enjoyed Hop Wallop, but I would guess that there are likely many folks who wouldn’t if hoppy beers are not their cup of tea. In fact, even if hoppy beers are your favorite, Hop Wallop still might not be the ticket. It depends. This Imperial IPA falls on the extreme end of bitter hop bombs. I’d give Victory Brewing Company’s Hop Wallop an 8.0 out of 10.0 points on my scale. It’s a worthy brew for your bucks and especially worth a sit down with for any hop head out there.
P.S. As an curious beer drinking side note, the label on the Hop Wallop beer bottle features a cartoon slappy pappy miner 49er character who goes by the moniker of Horace “Hop” Wallop, at least according to the entertaining little label story about the origin of Victory Hop Wallop. Maybe the story’s true, maybe it’s not. You decide.
Author: David James
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Only with beer can chicken taste good – a sentiment shared by passionate beer drinkers. Gourmet meals are enjoyed by many; when one thinks of the beverages served in a high class restaurant, wine comes to mind most frequently. A diner may choose a tasty liquer such as Drambuie or whiskey to enjoy with coffee after a fine meal. It brings to mind silk dresses, tuxedos, a night at the opera. Many traditionalists would be surprised to learn that beer is now on the fine dining menu.
Despite its sporty, pub-crawl, keg party reputation, beer has been transformed into a chilled, foamy beverage served among the elite. It is becoming commonplace for hosts and hostesses to wonder what beer to serve with the meal they will serve their guests. On recent observation at a restaurant, I saw the people at the next table peruse a list of beers, not wine.
What type of beer goes with the dishes served at dinner parties and in restaurants? There are many different types of beer: lager, ale, pilsner, brown, bock, porter and stout. How do these beers pair up with food? There are so many types of food to choose from: Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, British, German etc. The easy answer is to choose what you, the diner, believe to be a great taste match. Everyone’s tastes differ and there are enough choices to go around. For those of you who are stuck and don’t know where to begin, the following is a good place to start.
One possibility is to choose a beer that matches the country of origin of the food being served. I recently went out for sushi and decided to have a Japanese beer with my tempura and maki. I have never tasted the beers from Japan before and I enjoy new experiences. I chose Kirin beer, which was a light, delicate beer ideally suited to the delicate tastes of sushi. The Kirin website (www.kirin.com) claims their beer has complimented sushi for almost a century.
In Mexico and south western United States, some people like to drink chilli beer – a lager style beer that is rich, malty and roasty. This rather hot beer is the perfect match for spicy Mexican offerings such as burritos. I like to drink Corona beer with lime as it is the perfect match for natchos and tacos.
British beef and Yorkshire pudding go best with a stout beer like Guinness. Guinness itself is like a meal in a glass. A hearty meal tastes better with a hearty beer. A stout beer can also be paired with other heavier meals such as lasagne, pasta, pizza and game dishes.
Fish dishes demand a delicate beer mate – unless the fish is heavily battered and deep-fried. Fresh fish tastes best with a pilsner or a light lager. Fish and chips, British-style, can accompany a brown ale or a heavier lager.
Chicken tastes good with almost anything and the choice of beer depends on individual tastes. Dramatic-tasting chicken dishes, such as curried or Thai heavily-spiced chicken can be paired with stronger beers like a malty amber or a dry porter. A roasted chicken might go well with a light lager or pilsner.
To end a dinner, diners may want to try dark ale, cream stout, Oatmeal Stout, Double Bock or Scotch Ale. All of these beers are heavy and sweet and would taste great with cheesecake or tortes. Imperial Stout needs a dessert made with chocolate as it is quite bitter and heavy.
If the dessert is light and fruity, perhaps a fruit-flavoured lambic would go well. Lambics are wheat beers produced in Belgium and some of them are flavoured with raspberry, cherry and peach. It is common sense that a fruity beer would pair well with a fruity dessert.
What an amazing, unique experience it would be to invite friends over for a six-course meal using various beers for each course, pairing each dish with an appropriate beer. It would be the dinner party talked about for years to come.
Author: Andrea Nichol
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Home Solar
