The beer essentials

If you don’t know much about this beverage, here are some interesting facts.

All beer can be classified as either a lager or an ale. The differences begin during the brewing process. Whether the beer is an ale or lager is defined by the type of yeast used in the brew and the temperature at which fermentation takes place.

Ales are brewed with top-fermenting yeast which allows for rapid fermentation at warmer temperatures. Lagers are brewed with bottom-fermenting yeast which ferments more slowly and at colder temperatures.

Lager means to store or put aside. This beer is made with bottom yeast, so-called because it flocculates to the bottom of the vat.

Traditionally bottom yeast will ferment at cold temperatures less than 10 deg C. Now fermentation takes place at 12 to 18 deg C. This cold or deep fermentation allows the malt and hops to assert their fine flavours.

Lager tends to be paler, drier and less alcoholic than ales.

Pilsener or pils beer originated in Bohemia where brewers first found beer that was over-wintered or lagered improved if stored in cool caves and kept on ice.

German lagers, including beers such as bock and marzen, are made according to the Bavarian Purity Laws of 1516 to ensure the beer is all-malt (no sugar) and hopped with bitter and aromatic varieties (noble hops).

Some German-style beers are described as “helles,” meaning pale or blonde. Pale beers grew in popularity following the adoption of the glass for drinking in the 19th Century.

Ales are brewed with top-fermenting yeasts at temperatures from 15 to 25 deg C. Ales are matured for shorter periods and at warmer temperatures.

Ales include a wide range of beer styles from porters and stouts to pale ales and wheat beer.

Generally, ales are higher in alcohol, more robust and complex than lagers.

Beer was the first alcoholic beverage known to civilisation, however, who drank the first beer is unknown. Historians theorise that humankind’s fondness for beer and other alcoholic beverages was a factor in our evolution away from a society of nomadic hunters and gathers into an agrarian society that would settle down to grow crops (and apparently drink). The first product humans made from grain and water before learning to make bread was beer.

Nearly every culture developed their own version of beer using different grains. Africans used millet, maize and cassava. The Chinese used wheat.

The Japanese used rice. The Egyptians used barley. However, hops, the main ingredient in modern beer beverages, was not used in brewing until 1000 AD.

The modern era of brewing beer could not begin until the invention of commercial refrigeration, methods of automatic bottling, and pasteurisation.

To pour the perfect beer, get a proper beer glass — one that’s a good full shape and curves in a little at the top to trap the beer’s aromas. Take one of these, make sure it is scrupulously clean, and chill it in the fridge for an hour or so.

Beer is never better than when it is delivered from the brewer. It does not improve with age; in fact, over time it will lose some of the crispness of it’s flavour. So, for the perfect beer, choose a bottle that hasn’t been hanging around the house too long.

The temperature varies with personal taste and with the style of beer. For most lager-style beers, something around typical household refrigerator temperatures (2 to 3 deg C) is fine.

Slosh some beer into the bottom of the glass to form a head. Then gently pour the beer directly onto the foam to break any large bubbles and pack the head. Leave for a short period to “age” the foam, then tilt the glass and fill carefully. Straighten the glass as it fills and keep pouring until the collar or head just froths over the rim of the glass.

Tip: The bitterness of the hops tends to be most concentrated in the foam of the head, so if you like a good hit of hops to jolt the tastebuds, give yourself a more generous head and sip the beer through it.

Bring the glass to your lips and inhale gently to take in the aroma of the beer. This will awaken your tastebuds to the flavours that are to follow. Then sip, letting the cool beer flow over the tongue so you savour the full complexity of the flavour.