British Beer Book

Goodwin Steven

Description

Britain is great.It has a long and distinguished history on the world stage of science, arts, literature, and politics. And Its beer. ales, stouts, and porters have spawned imitators across the globe, with its lagers being fresh, inviting, and worthy competitors to the Pilsners that inspired them.This book covers beer in its general form - the history, styles, ingredients, food matching, tasting sessions, and the culture around it. It then details several British breweries, and the beer they produce. This is interspersed with quotes, trivia, and information about all aspects of beer and brewing.

Sujets

• Beers
• Beer

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 21 janvier 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783334742
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
THE BRITISH BEER BOOK

by
Steven Goodwin



Publisher Information
The British Beer Book published in 2014 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of Steven Goodwin to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2014 Steven Goodwin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.



Dedication
Dedicated to my next beer...
...wherever she may be



Introduction
He was a wise man who invented beer.
Plato



Introduction
Britain is great.
It has a long and distinguished history on the world stage of science, arts, literature, and politics. And beer. Our ales, stouts, and porters have spawned imitators across the globe, and our lagers are fresh, inviting, and worthy competitors to the Pilsners that inspired them.
But despite this, there seems to be an inherent snobbery in the world of food and drink. Those with a self-proclaimed palate of note will describe a hierarchy consisting of whisky, wine, ale, and lager, in an implied pecking order, with each drink believed to have some inherent superiority than those appearing later in the list. The truth is that there are good and bad whiskies. And good and bad wine. And good and bad ale. And good and bad lager.
In this book, we’re concerned only with good beer. Whether it comes under the banner of ale or lager, top-fermented or bottom-fermented, wheat or malt-based... if it’s good, we’ll write about it.
I hope this book introduces you to some secrets about beer and brewing, and lets you discover some good British beers along the way.
Steven Goodwin
London, 2009



About Beer
The First Beer
The first reference to anything beer-related was around 4000 BC. Ninkasi, the Sumerian Goddess of Brewing and Beer, is depicted on stone tablets with a recipe of what is believed to be the earliest form of beer.
In the beginning.. .
...was the word, and the word was beer! The modern word beer has origins in at least four European regions, one for each compass point. As beer was then exported to other continents, the words themselves followed, giving historians a clue as to how beer colonised the world!
Many western European countries use words similar to our own familiar beer ; a word which stems from the Latin bibere , meaning a drink or beverage. This has become bier , bière , birra , and so on.
Eastern countries, in contrast, have a distinct Slavonic origin taking the old word for barley, piwwo , to become Pivo .
In the north, with Scandinavia for example, ‘ale’ is a parallel with similar words like øl and olut .
And finally, cerveza is used in the south were words like cerveja , sirbisi , sör , and cwrw derive themselves from Gaul. Although Gaul itself, now France, changed to bière in the 15 th century.
The Word Lager
This word has a much simpler etymology, and means storage in German. This is because the lagering process for these specific types of beer required them to be stored in cold cellars (usually a cave) for three weeks before being served. Lager is a broad category covering brews such as Pilsner, Dortmunder, and Märzen.
Did you know. .?
There is a phobia for wines (Oenophobia), but no equivalent for beer.
Popular Meanings
Many people use the words beer and lager interchangeably, particularly when used to indicate a social event, such as in the phrase “coming out for a beer, tonight?” Many journalists, and particularly real ale snobs, like to use beer or ale to specifically reference those brews made only by top-fermentation and a way of distancing themselves from lager .
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Benjamin Franklin



Beer Firsts
4000 BC The first reference to beer, so far discovered, is a Sumerian tablet depicting a beer recipe.
3400 BC The first beer tax is introduced, charged on all barley wine, in Memphis, Egypt.
77-79 AD Pliny the Elder writes Naturalis Historia, in which he first mentions the hop plant.
725 Founding of the Benedictine Weihenstephan Abbey in Freising.
736 Documented evidence of hops being cultivated, in Hallertau.
822 An unknown Carolingian Abbot mentions the use of hops for brewing beer.
1004 Oldest probable brewery exists; the Czech-based Zatec brewery.
1040 Oldest confirmed brewery exists, the Weihenstephan brewery. It is still going.
1065 The first wheat beer is produced.
1079 Documented evidence of hops being cultivated for brewing.
1516 The Reinheitsgebot (aka ‘German purity law’) is introduced.
1629 Hop cultivation begins in the US.
1677 Stout first mentioned.
1698 Britain’s oldest brewery, Shepherd Neame, founded.
1721 Porter introduced as a darkened form of stout.
1779 Joseph Bramah invents the beer engine.
1785 Joseph Bramah invents the beer pump.
1810 The first Oktoberfest takes place on October 18th.
1842 The Citizens’ Brewery (Bürger Brauerei ) produces its first pilsner on October 5th.
1850 Beer is first sold in bottles.
1857 Yeast discovered by Louis Pasteur, mentioned in his “Mémoire sur la fermentation alcoolique”
1864 The first British lager brewery, the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery, is founded in Shepton Mallet.
1883 Emil Hansen discovers how to cultivate individual yeast cells.
1892 Crown caps for beer bottles are invented.
1904 The British Beer and Pub Association is formed, as the Brewers Society.
1927 Colonel J. Porter releases Newcastle Brown Ale.
1935 The first beer can is introduced, made from steel.
1958 The Brewers of Europe founded
1963 The first beer can with a pull tab is introduced. Invented the year before by Ermal Cleon Fraze.
1969 The “widget” is patented by Guinness as a means to control the head on canned beer.
1971 CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) founded by Michael Hardman, Graham Lees, Jim Makin, and Bill Mellor.
1973 The term “real ale” created by CAMRA to distinguish ale from lager.
1975 Stay tabs (aka colon tabs) invented by Daniel F. Cudzik.
1980 Founding of the Society of Independent Brewers (originally called The Small Independent Brewers’ Association.)
1993 Repeal of the Reinheitsgebot (aka ‘German purity law’)
1998 Cask Marque formed.
2008 LOBI Founded by Mike Knight



Ale (not Lager)
Colour: Golden, dark and most things in-between.
Malt and hops used: Various, according to beer.
Yeast: Various, but always fermented at the top of the vessel.
Temperature of fermentation: 10 to 25°C.
Drinking temperature: Rarely outside the 10°C to 14°C range.
Second fermentation: In bottle and/or cask.
Carbonation: Usually slight.
Social standing: Considered intelligent.
Did you know..?
Throughout much of history, beer was drunk in preference to water because the brewing process and alcohol content would kill the water’s bacteria and diseases.



Lager (not Ale)
Colour: Usually golden, but some (e.g. Baltic porter) are dark.
Malt and hops used: Various, according to beer.
Yeast: Various, but always fermented at the bottom of the vessel.
Temperature of fermentation: 7 to 15°C.
Drinking temperature: Usually cold, 3-10°C.
Filtration used: Cold, or extra cold, when used.
Second fermentation: None.
Carbonation: Moderate to high.
Social standing: Lager lout.
Did you know..?
The most expensive beer in the world is currently the US$52 a bottle, Tutankhamen, brewed using a recipe discovered in Queen Nefertiti’s Temple of the Sun in Egypt.


A “nonic” beer glass



The Dictionary
The British stereotype is to avoid learning a second language, preferring instead to speak slower and louder. However, ordering a beer around the world has never been easier with this simple guide...

Afrikaans: bier
Albanian: birrë
Arabic: beereh (biræ)
Armenian: garejure
Austrian: bier
Azerbaijani: pivo
Basque: garagardoa
Belorussian: piva
Bengali: beer
Breton: bier
Bulgarian: bira
Burmese: biya
Catalan: cervesa
Chechenian: jij
Chinese (Mandarin): pi jiu
Chinese (Cantonese): bejau
Croatian: pivo
Czech: pivo
Danish: øl
Dutch: bier
English: beer, ale
Esperanto: biero
Estonian: õlu