Demystified » Beer » How Is it Made

It is unjust that the hauteur which rightly attends wine should so often be permitted to overshadow beer. The two ought to be companions of honour as the principal types of fermented drink:made in the first case from the grape (or other fruits) and in the second from grain (mostly barley). Both are capable of great delicacy, and it is to the drinker's disadvantage that beer is not always explored in its great and exotic variety.

Of the two drinks, beer is the more complicated to make, since the barley has first to be malted and mashed, the enigmatic hop added as an agent of flavouring and preservation, and the whole brewed before it can be fermented. That brewing is a great art has generally been appreciated in Czechoslovakia, Germany (itself a great wine-producing nation) and in Belgium. It was in danger of being forgotten elsewhere until the renaissance of interest in beer in the late 1970s. This renaissance was evident in several countries, including The Netherlands and Denmark, but was most dramatic in Britain, where the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) brought about drastic changes in the policies of large, powerful brewery companies.

In the United States, imported beers introduced drinkers to less bland tastes, and encouraged a number of American brewers to revive characterful styles from the past. After decades of often damaging neglect, a new appreciation was accorded in several countries to the craftsman brewer. He benefited from the growing awareness throughout the Western world that a heritage is worthy of conservation; from the reawakening of a taste for pure and natural products; and in many instances from the `small is beautiful' philosophy propounded in the celebrated contemporary work of that name by E. F. Schumacher.

Just as wines may be categorized as red, rose and white; dry and sweet; sparkling and still; and then according to region; so beers divide into definite styles. The most important distinction is based on the method of fermentation, during which some species of yeast rise to the top of the brew and others sink to the bottom. Like red wines, beers made by top fermentation are very full in flavour, and their palates are in many cases best expressed at room or cellar temperature; like white wines, beers made by bottom fermentation often have a lighter and more refreshing character, and are usually served chilled, though excessive refrigeration destroys their flavour.

An extract from `The Indispensable Drinks Book' - John Doxat with Michael Jackson, Jancis Robinson, Richard Clark, Leonard Kirschen by MacDonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd.