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Monthly Archives

February 2018

Feb 19
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Type of Beer Ingredients

By | Uncategorized

The main ingredients found in beer are water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. There are other ingredients such as flavoring, sugar, and other ingredients that are commonly used. Starches are used as well, as they convert in the mashing process to easily fermentable sugars that will help to increase the alcohol content of beer while adding body and flavor.

Water

Seeing as how beer is mainly composed of water, the source of water and its characteristics have a very important effect on the character of the beer. A lot of beer styles were influenced by the characteristics of water in the region. Although the effect of minerals in brewing water is complex, hard water is more suited to dark styles, while soft ware is more suited to light styles.

Malt

Among malts, barley is the most widely used due to its high amylase content, and a digestive enzyme that facilitates the breakdown of starch into sugars. Depending on what can be cultivated locally, other malts and unmalted grains can be used, such as wheat, rice, oats, and rye.

Malt is obtained by soaking grain in water, allowing it to germinate, then drying the germinated grain in a kiln. By malting the grain, enzymes will eventually convert the starches in the grain into fermentable sugars.

Hops

Since the seventeenth century, hops have been commonly used as a bittering agent in beer. Hops help to contribute a bitterness that will balance the sweetness of the malts. They also contribute aromas which range from citrus to herbal.

Hops also provide an antibiotic effect that favors the activity of brewer’s yeast over the less desirable microorganisms. The bitterness in beer is normally measured on the International Bitterness Units scale.

Yeast

Yeast is a microorganism that’s responsible for fermentation. Specific strains of yeast are chosen depending on the type of beer produced, as the two main strains are ale yeast and lager yeast, with other variations available as well.

Yeast helps to metabolise the sugars that are extracted from the grains, and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide as a result. Before the functions of yeast were understood, all fermentations were done using wild or airborne yeasts.

Clarifying agent

A lot of brewers prefer to add one or more clarifying agents to beer that aren’t required to be published as ingredients. Examples include Isinglas finings, which are obtained from swim bladders of fish and Irish moss, which is a type of red alga.

Since these ingredients can be obtained from animals, those who are concerned with either the use or consumption of animal products should obtain detailed information from the brewer.

Feb 19
0

Wine Tasting Room Etiquette

By | Wine

Many small, boutique wineries are family-run businesses. Chances are quite good that you will meet one of the winery’s family members while visiting a winery. When visiting a wine tasting room consider yourself a guest. The owners and staff are proud of their facility and wines. They want everyone to enjoy their visit. Expectations in tasting rooms are different than at wine festivals or in busy bars. After visiting 125 wineries in the last nine months and talking with numerous wine hosts and visitors, we have created a selection of ideas to keep in mind when visiting a winery and vineyard.

The atmosphere in a winery tasting room is one of a subtle sophistication. While shorts and athletic shoes are acceptable so are semi-dress clothes. Do not arrive at the winery chewing gum. Gum will distort the taste of wine. Heavy perfume and aftershave will also not permit you or others near you to taste the wine effectively. Sense of taste is highly influenced by the sense of smell. Loud outside voices are not appropriate. Conversational tones are perfect and fit in well with talking about the wines you taste and meeting others who have common interests.

Tasting rooms can be crowded on weekends. Weekdays are generally slower and wine hosts have more time to talk about the wines you taste. In either case, if the tasting room is busy, do not elbow your way to the tasting bar. On busy days, some wineries will set up tasting tables or bars outside the tasting room. Give yourself plenty of time at a winery. Relax and enjoy the wine tasting and the ambiance of the tasting room. If the tasting counter is busy, consider stepping back to discuss wine with other like-minded people. This gives others room to step up for a tasting. Many wineries have gift selections to browse while tasting wines. Take your time tasting and browse the displays.

The tasting representative pours the tastings in a particular order based upon the style of wine. If you choose not to drink a particular wine that’s fine. Gently cover your wine glass with your fingers to indicate you do not want to taste a wine. It is so much more subtle than declaring, “I don’t like that wine.” Not all wine drinkers like all wines and wine hosts understand. Visitors do not need to announce to everyone that they dislike a particular wine.

Another major faux pas is to pick up a bottle and pour your own tasting. Allow your wine consultant to pour the wine. Many wineries will offer to sell you a glass of wine if you would like more. If you ask to taste a wine for a second time, it is a common courtesy to buy a bottle of the wine.

What should you do with the wine in your glass you have tasted? If you do not want to drink or taste the rest of the wine in your glass, you can pour it into a spit bucket. It is perfectly acceptable. In addition, it is a good idea to spit your wine into the bucket. Even though tastings are small, they do add up after a number of tastings. If you are unsure about spitting, practice at home. A frequently heard suggestion is to practice in the shower.

Do you think wineries are being stingy when they set out tiny crackers or tiny bites of cheese? Remember this is not your lunch. The purpose of the crackers, dips or cheese is to cleanse the palate and to help one decide how the wine pairs with food. Some wineries have restaurants, so if you want lunch visit the restaurant.

Do you want to enjoy a picnic lunch? Many wineries encourage visitors to bring a picnic lunch. Frequently picnic or patio tables are available. Ask in advance if it is okay to bring a picnic lunch and where to picnic on the grounds. Do not bring wine from another winery or any other kind of alcohol. Laws restrict wineries and many wineries are not permitted to have any other alcoholic beverage on their premises. Besides, if you were going to someone’s home for dinner, it would be tasteless to bring your own entrée. Staff and visitors always appreciate good manners.

If you have the opportunity to visit a vineyard, do not pick the grapes. If you would like to taste a wine grape at harvest time, be sure to ask a staff member. One winery we visited this summer mentioned how they don’t mind visitors walking through the vineyards and taking pictures, but one day a visitor walked out of the vineyard with several bunches of grapes to ask what they were. It did not dawn on him until an owner reminded him that the grapes would have made wine. The visitor tried to give them to the owner who replied, “They aren’t good now. They aren’t ready for making wine.”

The best motto to follow in a winery or vineyard would be the National Parks motto, “Take only pictures and leave only footprints.” When you visit a winery, if you like the wine and want to buy it that is great, but you do not need to purchase a bottle of wine. Do not buy a bottle of wine unless you like it. Participating in a winery tasting room can be delightful for everyone.

Feb 19
0

Types of Beer

By | Beer

The word “beer” is often used as a generic noun used to describe a cold refreshing beverage. For example, “Hiya Mike, let’s go for a beer.” However, beer lovers around the world will heartily agree that there’s nothing generic about beer.

When it comes to types of beer, there are many, many options to choose from. It’s impossible to say which type is best, because they all have very different characteristics. You’d be surprised at how a pilsner can differ from a porter, or how a stout stands out from a cider.

The names given to different styles of beer generally reflect individual characteristics of the product, such as where it originated. Most beers, particularly those sold commercially, are processed using traditional methods.

Different types of beer have unique qualities like appearance, taste, origin and aroma. There are several styles that make up the world’ most common types of beer:

Styles of beer have a lot to do with how they taste, what they look like, how they smell and of course where they are made. Some common choices include these:

* Lager: Some of the most popular types of beer are lagers. These include American styles including basic lager, all-malt lager, light lager, double pilsner, malt liquor and low-alcohol or “light” beers. Popular international choices include Czech, European, Japanese and German lagers.

* Ale: American amber, brown ale, porter, strong, sour and wild ales are also common American beers. Also falling under the category of “Ales” are Chile Beer, Pumpkin Ale, Belgian and French ales, English, German, Irish, Finnish, Scottish and Russian ales.

* Cider: While not an official beer, cider is still enjoyed by many beer drinkers. Favorites include standard cider, New England cider and many specialty ciders.

* Hybrids: combining different beer styles or ingredients create this “experimental” beer. Berbed, smoked, fruit and vegetable beer and spiced beer are all types of hybrids.

* Mead: Mead is not a beer, rather a honey wine that has been adapted from centuries-old recipes. Melomel is a type of mead blended with fruit or vegetables. Braggot is concoction of beer and mead, while Metheglin is mead blended with spices.

Variety is the spice of life. If you’re a beer drinker, you’re likely loyal to a tried and true brand. But remember that variety is the spice of life. There is a world of options available to you, so try something new next time you’re ready to crack open a cold one.

Feb 19
0

Wine Tasting, What You Need to Know

By | Wine

Attending a wine tasting can be very entertaining, however there are a vast majority of wanna wine connoisseur’s out there who don’t like to attend these gatherings as they do not know what they are supposed to do or what way to act when sampling the wine. With wine tasting there is no great mystery, below are just a few things you should keep in mind.

To keep proper etiquette, usually the ladies are served before the gents. With some wine tastings there will be bottled water on offer, this is simply for you to rinse your mouth out before each sample of wine you try so your mouth is clear of all the flavours from the previous wine. Plain crackers are also provided at such wine tastings for this very same purpose. When handling a wine glass attention to should given to where you are holding it, always hold the glass by the stem, this will ensure the wine is not affected by the warmth of your hand and thus the flavour is not altered.

When at a wine tasting try not to smoke as smoking blankets ones sense of taste, also try and steer clear of chewing gum or eating mints as this will distort the taste of the wine as well. Try not to wear a perfume or after shave that is quite strong as this could throw off not only your sense of taste but also your neighbours.

You can tell a lot about a wine just by it appearance. When attending a wine tasting the wine glasses you be crystal clear so you can hold it up to the light and check the body of the wine, also the wine glasses should be set on a white linen table cloth so everything is visible. Do not let the wine category mislead you, for example, white wines are not really white in color, they usually vary in colour from yellow to green and even brown.

Red wines also vary in color from a light red colour to a deep brownish red and often become lighter with age. One easy way to tell the age of a red wine is by doing a rim test. Tilt the wine towards the rim of the glass and look at the colour of the wine.A younger wine have a purple tint to the wine colour and an older wine will have a more brown shade of red.

One of the more common actions you see people who know anything about wine doing is swirling the wine in the glass, this is done to release the flavours and aromas of the wine. Remember, these wine may have been bottled anywhere from 1 year to 20 years and some some rarer cases even longer. Swirling the wine in the glass is synonymous with cooking at home and stirring the food to help blend the various flavors.

The colour of the wine is just one area that should be paid attention to when you attend a wine tasting, you will also need to pay particular attention to the wines aroma. After swirling, sniffing the wine is the next step in the tasting process. You have probably observed this done before and wondered what purpose it served, well your sense of smell is very important in the way we taste different things. When this subject was researched it was determined that over 3/4 of what we can taste is due to are sense of smell and the way we perceive the aromas.

Smelling wine is done in a couple of ways; you can takes a short sniff then a longer 1, or just take a long sniff. After smelling the wine, think about it for a minute and the flavours that are being processed by you nasal receptors. Do not taste the wine straight after smelling the wine, but instead let the aroma hit and think of flavours you are experiencing.

Finally, you will need to know is how to taste the wine properly. Your tongue has many taste buds both front and back. These buds give us a wide variety of flavours from sweet to sour to bitter, some of which are more sensitive than others. There are 2 easy steps in tasting wine, the first is the initial taste which is your first impression of the wine, the second is the aftertaste.

The wine should awaken your sense to the flavours, after taking the first drink, you should swish the wine around your mouth for a few seconds to let all your taste buds discover the full flavor of the wine. Think about what the wine tastes like. Is it light or heavy? Is the smooth or rough? The aftertaste is the sensation that remains in your mouth after swallowing the wine. How long did it last and was it pleasant?

Before attending a wine tasting, it may help you feel more confident to read about the different types of wines. This will give you a better idea of what to look for as far as flavor and taste. Next time you are invited to a wine tasting; do not be afraid to go. You may be missing a great experience!

Feb 19
0

Tracing the Ancient History of Wine

By | Wine

“Good wine”, said Shakespeare “is a good familiar creature if it be well used”.

Wine is one of the most favored and widely consumed drinks in the world, especially in Europe, America, and Australia. Interestingly, the history of wine has several meeting points with the history of the Western world. The origins of wine can be traced back to the Fertile Crescent area (Nile Delta) – a region that lay between the Nile and Persian Gulf. Historians are generally of the opinion that this drink was discovered accidentally during 4000 and 3000 B.C. As human settlements began to grow into larger formats (city/state) people started trading goods and products. The trading practice began to flourish throughout the Mediterranean region. Grapes, fruits, were particularly favored by dynasties such as Romans, Greeks, and Phoenicians and pretty soon, the knowledge of how to make a heady alcoholic drink from this fruit spread fast through the region and finally pervaded Europe too.

The Father Grape
Wine, has now been used for more than 4,500 years. Many believe that Middle East region was where wines were made for the very first time. Of course, throughout the course of history, there are several references to wine including in the Old Testament. The drink was also known to have been enjoyed by early Minoans, Greeks, and Etruscans. Now after hundreds of centuries, wine is still being used for sacramental purposes in Christian churches, celebrations, regular day to day use, and even for medicinal purposes.

Wine takes years to mature after being made from fermenting juice of grapes. There is only on species of grape, ‘Vitis vinifera’, which is used in all wines manufactured across the world. This particular species of grape can be referred to as the father of all grape varieties, because as many as 4,000 varieties have been developed from it so far! Though different from each other, these grapes are also similar in size, color, shape, composition of the juice, time taken for ripening, among other things. But out of these 4,000 varieties, only close to a dozen are used for making wine and the prime among them are: Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat.

Birth of the Spirit
Many facts in the Western world history indicate that our ancestors were definitely familiar with the qualities of different types of grapes. Archeologists have discovered drawings of grape seeds on the walls of ancient caves! According to historians, who have been tracing the history of wine, it is a possibility that grapes may have been fermented with the help of wild yeasts, accidentally leading to the birth of wine.

The birth place of this fermented spirit in all probability is Egypt and Persia. And surprisingly by 3000 B.C. both these regions had developed simple and effective ways to make wine! White wine was perhaps the first one to be prepared by the Egyptians from a grape variety we now know as the “Muscat” grape of Alexandria. The drink was attributed to Orisis (God of death and fertility in Egyptian mythology) and was served during funerary rituals.

Early Years – Egypt & Persia
Since Egypt and Persia are attributed at the birthplaces of the wine, it is not surprising that the Persians also considered wine as a divine gift. Many wine experts believe that some of the finest grape varieties are a direct product of precursor grapes varieties grown by the Persians in ancient days. Furthermore, the Phoenicians are considered the people responsible for spreading the early techniques of winemaking to regions such as Greece, Italy – more specifically Tuscany region.

The Italian Connection
At this time, wine had already become a favored drink in Rome; in fact, wine cultivation became so popular that there was a large surplus of this spirit. So much so that in AD 92 a Roman emperor had to issue a decree that all vineyards outside of Italy be destroyed and uprooted. Though this lead to much loss, but when replanting was allowed again, European countries such as France, Germany, and England benefited from it the most. Since Islam forbade wine drinking, areas under the Muslim empire – from Southern Spain to North India to North Africa – remained unaffected by the winemaking phenomenon. However, Catholic Church has definitely been responsible for the prosperity of winemaking and England also succumbed to the winemaking temptation and now produces new wine varieties such as Sherry, Port, and Madeira.

The French Kiss
The Christian monks in France and Northern Italy maintained record of the winemaking techniques, rituals, practices, and method of grapes cultivation. The records played an instrumental role and more and more regions began to work hard to produce the best type of grape and best tasting wine in their areas. Therefore, by 1800, France and Northern Italy came to be recognized as the most well developed regions for producing wine worldwide.

And now…

Today, regions such as Australia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Napa Valley in America are providing tough competition to the reputed wine producing regions such as France, Italy, and England – not just in quality, taste, richness and variety but also technique and price.

Feb 19
0

All about German Beer

By | Beer

Throughout Germany, beer is very popular with the culture. Germany contains well over 1,000 breweries, which is more than any other location in the world. All beer that is manufactured in Germany must follow the purity law, which lets manufacturers know what ingredients can and can’t be used. Basically, the only ingredients allowed to make beer in Germany are water, hops, and barley malt.

Due to the strict purity requirements, you can easily notice German beers by their overall level of quality. They have a distinct taste, with little to no aftertaste. Some styles of German ale include Koelsch, Weizen, and Altbier. Some types of German lagers include Bock, Pilsener, Dunkel, Helles, and Maerzen. Keep in mind that the taste, aroma, and color can vary, although all can be identified as being true German beers.

The German beer Altbier is a very common dark ale, that is top fermented in the lower regions of Germany. The beer proposes a yellow color, with a taste that is rich in hops. Another ale, Rauchbier, is known to have a smoky flavor with a smoked color. These beers taste great, and happen to be very popular throughout the regions of Germany.

German lagers are also very popular, and happen to be popular in other areas of the world as well. Pilsener is one of the most popular and most familiar of all German beers, providing you with more hops and less malt. Pilsener can be found for sale all over the world, and happens to be very popular throughout North America as well. Several bars serve it as well, as it happens to be one of the most popular dark lagers out there.

Throughout Germany, there are several different companies, produce over 4,000 different brands of beers. Some of the more well known and larger companies of north Germany are Beck, St. Pauli, Warsteiner, and Krombach. In the southern region of Germany, there are more breweries, although most of them are smaller, as they are locally owned and operated. Southern Germany also contains the Benedictine Abbey, which is one of the oldest breweries in the world. This brewery started producing beer in 1040 – very impressive indeed!

Germany is also home to Oktoberfest, which is held every year in Munich. Oktoberfest starts in late September and carries on for two weeks, ending in early October. During Oktoberfest, beer drinkers from all over the world will travel to Germany and celebrate German beers. Each and every year, over 5 million people attend the event, making it one of the biggest beer celebrations in the world.

During Oktoberfest, local breweries in Munich are the only breweries allowed to serve beer in the bigger tents. There are six breweries in total, producing a variety of different beers. By attending this yearly event, you can learn more about German beer, sample the different varieties, and enjoy the rich bold flavors that make German beer so very popular.

Due to the success Oktoberfest gets each and every year, other cities around the world try and mimic this event. Even though they have success, their level of success isn’t near as much as the original Oktoberfest – Germany. German beers are very popular around the world, with Oktoberfest helping to prove that very claim. If you drink beer but have never experienced what beers from Germany have to offer, you really should give them a try. Once you do, you’ll quickly realize why German beers are so very popular – and why the taste simply can’t be duplicated with any other beer.