Variety Is The Spice

There are several great lies about beer. One of those is that it makes you funnier. It doesn’t, it only makes other people more likely to laugh at your jokes, and they need to be drinking too. Another, and a more serious one, is that all beer tastes the same. This line is so untrue that there should be disclaimers issued on national TV every time someone says it. One can only wonder how many people are sitting in bars, drinking just to get drunk, who have only ever tasted a couple of beers and don’t really like them.

When you brew your own beer, you come to appreciate just how much variety there is in the process of making certain beers and in the taste of the end result. Many home brewers never make two batches that taste exactly alike. One small change to the brewing process can lead to vastly different results. It might not be a change you enjoy, but it will certainly be different.

There are so many different kinds of beer that the idea of them all tasting the same is flawed right from the get-go. You have light, crisp lagers and heavy, dark ales. You have thick stouts and sharp white beers, and these are just a few of the options out there. That is before we even get to the stage of adding flavors, experimenting with strengths and other variations that can produce incredible results. All beers taste the same? No. No, they don’t.

Tags: home brewers, Hospitality Recreation, Types of beer, Beer in Belgium, Draught beer, dark ales, end result, different kinds

Home Brew vs Factory Brew – Whose Side Are You On?

There is an understandable assumption made by many people that the beers available in supermarkets and liquor stores were all brewed by factory workers employed by some faceless corporation. It’s natural to associate a big seller with a big producer. However, a lot of people would be surprised to see just how many of the beers sold commercially were actually produced in a setting not totally dissimilar to your own home brewing station. Some of the more diverse beers, especially, were produced by independent brewers.

Many of the Belgian beers available commercially – the bottled ones which are often flavored with ingredients such as raspberry – are actually made by Trappist monks. Yes, those guys who live their entire lives barely speaking a word are actually making beers that will make hundreds of other people very talkative. The cloistered nature of their living and working conditions means that they can keep their brewing secrets very secret indeed, and as a result their brews are among the most unique and interesting on the market.

This does not mean that your own brewing will necessarily be so unique. You can go conventional if you want. If you enjoy the taste of a commercial lager, it is not impossible to achieve it with home brewing. You just need to follow the right instructions and be prepared to experiment in getting it absolutely right. But if you’re that keen on getting the taste of a commercial lager then it might be better and more economical to just buy it. You can lose a lot of money chasing a specific taste.

Tags: home brewing, belgian beers, Beer in England, trappist monks, Beer in Belgium, Home Breewing Tips