As a Certified Beer Server, you will often serve beer to be enjoyed with food. Ultimately, pairing beer with food comes down to personal preference. There are some guidelines that will help you select beer to be paired with any food.

Parkers Blue Ash Tavern Craft Beer Dinner Pairing by 5chw4r7z on flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The syllabus is pretty slim on this topic. In fact, it says just that we “should understand that beer and food work well together, but do not need to possess knowledge of specific beer and food interactions.”

I haven’t come all this way to the very last section, to learn only that “beer and food work well together.” Let’s look at it just a little bit more in-depth. By the end of this very last section, we’ll be able to offer some thoughts to our customers and maybe even suggest some beer and food pairings.

We’ll also be a little better prepared in case you want to go on to Certified Cicerone®.

Beer and food pairing can give some surprising results

When I was first getting into wine I was really curious to see what all this wine and food pairing hubbub was about. Wine is known for going well with food, and I was skeptical that it would be any different than just drinking wine with a meal.

At Thanksgiving dinner, I sat down with a half glass of white wine and a half glass of red wine. I took a bite of turkey, then I took a little sip of white wine. Then I tried the same thing with red wine.

I was blown away to experience how the flavors of the food and the wine change when taken together!

Some of the foods on my plate were better with the white wine, while others were better with the red wine. Some foods were not as good with wine.

Not only that, but the flavors changed in a different way if I reversed the order. If I took the food before the wine, it was a different experience than if I took the wine before the food.

Although the latter was kind of tricky—don’t dribble all over yourself.

And this is just talking about the two wines before me that evening. I had recently returned from a trip to Burgundy, France, so it was probably a Chardonnay and Pinot noir we were drinking. If it were Sauvignon blanc and Zinfandel, it would have been a totally different experience.

Nonetheless, this experience opened my mind to pairing beer and food for equally interesting results.

Beer and food pairing can be tricky

Beer and food pairing can be equally interesting and equally tricky. It’s not as simple as “beer and pizza!”

We already learned of the numerous beer styles and their varied flavor profiles. With so much variety in flavor you can imagine that certain styles of beer go well with certain kinds of food. Certain styles of beer might go well with some foods, but can be amazing with some other kind of food, or not go well at all with another kind of food.

Lets look at two ways to compose your beer and food pairings:

• Complementing pairings
• Contrasting pairings

It’s curious that with wine I more often hear of pairing wine and food that contrast with each other, whereas with beer I more often hear of pairing beer and food that complement each other.

I’m not talking about contrast in a way that they clash. I’m talking about two opposite flavors or characteristics that are even better when mixed together.

Contrasting beer and food pairings

In wine, I more often hear suggested pairings that contrast. This principle can be carried over to beer.

For example, an acidic wine might go well with a fatty food. The acid in the wine cuts the thick, greasiness of the fats in the food.

This contrasting concept doesn’t go well in every way. For example, a wine with an overall light character wouldn’t go well with a food that has a very powerful flavor because it would be overshadowed.

It comes down to always trying new combinations, paying attention to what flavors and sensations go well together, and trying to figure out why you like it.

Examples of contrasting beer and food pairings:

Complementing beer and food pairings

Another way to pair beer with food is to go for similarities.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the vegetables and polenta dish I ordered at Lost & Found in Oakland, California. So I asked the bartender to pick a beer that would go well with it.

He looked off into the distance and thought about it a while.

“I think the Farmer’s Reserve,” he concluded looking back to me, “because the citrus will go well with the vegetables, they have a little sour taste.”

Honestly, I wasn’t really in the mood for Almanac Beer Co. They have a lot of sour beers that are fun to try, but I don’t usually love their beer. Alas, the bartender had given it his best go, I didn’t want to let him down.

So I went with his professional recommendation, and boy was I glad.

It was so good.

The Farmer’s Reserve Citrus had hints of lemon zest, but not overpowering. It didn’t have really bold sour flavors like many of the beers I’ve tried from Almanac. It went really well with the sautéed vegetables which, if I recall correctly, had something fermented or something else that gave it a citrusy, acidic taste.

The bready flavors of the beer also went well with the creamy, cornmeal polenta that came with the vegetables.

On their own, the beer and the food were each good. Together, they were great!

Examples of complementing beer and food pairings:

For more ideas and concepts, in a concise article, I recommend:

Cury, James Oliver. How To Pair Food And Beer. http://www.epicurious.com. Accessed November 22, 2015.

Experiment with beer and food pairings

So this experience at Lost & Found was really eye opening for me.

I was at the point where I was kinda overwhelmed with complementary pairings.

Stout with steak is just too much. Each of them alone feel really full in the mouth and in the belly. They each have flavors that are really bold and overwhelming. Both of them together is just more than I care to enjoy.

But the bartender picked this pairing because he felt the citrus in the beer would be similar to flavors in the vegetables. And it worked really well!

It was also eye opening because I don’t love sour beers, I am still getting used to them. Most of the sour beers that I’ve tried were so overwhelming it seems like it would overpower any food pairing. But Almanac’s Farmer’s Reserve Citrus is mild and it was a great complement to the dish.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it’s up to your own preference—or your customer’s preference.

You can search online for all kinds of tips from every food blogger on earth. I suggest that you look into some guidelines, then be bold enough try all kinds of new things.

I like what Homebrew Academy says:

There really aren’t any rules when pairing food – you like what you like.

I hope you’re now open to enjoying how beer compliments food, and vice versa.

Also, I hope that you’re going to try all different kinds of beer with different foods to see what you like best, and get some more ideas for suggesting beer and food pairings for your customers.

Why write the flashcards by hand? Buy the full set here: Instant access!

The post 020. Pairing beer with food appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Untitled by jvoves on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

So let’s look at the reading list for part 4.

The first step is to get my study materials together

Today I’m going through the materials to find any recommended books, articles, or anything else. Here are the materials that I’ll need to study for the Certified Beer Server, Part IV. Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes.

You can get whatever you’ll need to pass the exam. Or you can simply use my free flashcards and study notes throughout this site.

Looks like lots of the material is coming from John Palmer’s book, How To Brew. I’ve heard good things about the book. For this section of the syllabus, links go to the online version of the book. You can also get your own copy in Amazon.

Other resources are listed below.

Reading list for Certified Beer Server, Part IV. Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes

Resources about malt:

• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 3 – Malt Extract and Beer Kits; What is Malt?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Briess, Malt & Ingredients Co. “Malting – A Three-Step Process.” http://www.briess.com. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about hops:

• Wikipedia. “Hops.” https://en.wikipedia.org. Accessed October 2015.
• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 5 – Hops; What are they?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 5 – Hops; 5.1 How Are They Used?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about yeast:

• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  “Chapter 6 – Yeast; What is it?” http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. “What Is Yeast?” http://www.wyeastlab.com. Accessed October 2015.
• Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. “Home Brewing Style Guidelines.” http://www.wyeastlab.com. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about water:

• Cicerone® Certification Program. “The Basics of Water.” http://cicerone.org. Accessed October 2015.

Resources about brewing processes:

• Palmer, John J. How To Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time. Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2006. Print.
  Peruse Chapter 1 and maybe a little from other chapters to get a basic understanding of the brewing process. http://www.howtobrew.com. Accessed October 2015.
• American Homebrewers Association. Zymergy: An Introduction To Homebrewing. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org. Accessed October 2015.
  (Enter your email address and download it for free.)
• Papazian, Charlie. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Fourth Edition: Fully Revised and Updated. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2014. Print.
• Lastly, the Cicerone® Certification Program advises:
  Another option: find a friend who homebrews and join them sometime when they are brewing to learn how it is done.

So, holy wow! that’s a lot of material. I’m really surprised that they smashed all that into one section of the Certified Beer Server syllabus, Part IV: Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes. As I start digging into it, I see whether I can fit all of it into one section of notes and flashcards…

We’re almost done! ! !

Gosh, I can almost feel it.

I’ve been doing this for so long. If I didn’t have a podcast about how to start a brewery, and if I wasn’t trying to make an entire website from these study notes, I certainly could have taken this exam a long time ago.

Oh well; now you get the advantage of using my flashcards and study notes for free!

As soon as I finish studying and publishing my notes for all of the sections, I’ll review my flashcards really well and pass the heck out of this exam!

Let’s do this! Part IV: Beer Ingredients and Brewing Processes.

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The post 018. Reading list for Certified Beer Server (part 4) appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Beer styles can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively. Today’s lesson describes the different ways to measure the characteristics of a beer, and understand its style.

Best in Show by capnvynl on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

This isn’t psychology. I mean, who’s to say why people put things into categories.

Cars, trucks, SUVs. Apartments, condos, single-detached homes. Men and women. Dogs and cats. Ales and lagers.

Categories help us understand things and appreciate things. Beer styles are a way to understand the beer in hand.

Reading material for this section was found in the Certified Beer Server syllabus and the following sources.

Discussion of quantitative assessments come mostly from the BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines; Beer, Mead, and Cider Guidelines with Special Ingredient Descriptions.

Discussion of qualitative assessments, especially pertaining to beer character, come mostly from:

• Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide by Michael Jackson
• Tasting Beer; An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher

  

Knowledge requirements: qualitative measurements versus quantitative measurements

I first learned the terms qualitative and quantitative in university science classes. It’s a way to differentiate between a measurement that is subjective from a measurement that is objective.

Qualitative measurement is subjective to the observer. It’s usually described with adjectives. What one person calls brown, another might call beige. Therefore, a quality is descriptive and can be perceived slightly differently from person to person.

On the other hand, quantitative measurement is objective. It helps me to think of the word “quantity,” like a weight or a measurement. It’s quantifiable. Quantitative descriptors usually come in the form of numbers. Therefore, a quantitative measurement is the same for everyone.

We can say qualitatively that a person is tall. We can say quantitatively that she is 5’11”.

So it is in beer styles, they can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively.

NOTE: For all of the beer styles that we’ll be following, please keep in mind that these styles are a general representation of most beers of the given style. That is, most beers in a style will follow these parameters and ranges that we’ll discuss, but there will be some outliers, some beers that fall slightly outside of the strict parameters for a given style.

It’s a spectrum, it’s fluid, it’s artistic, and it’s open to some interpretation by the individual brewers.

The four parameters that define beer style: Color, perceived bitterness, alcohol content, and character

As described earlier, the Certified Beer Server syllabus goes by the BJCP Style Guidelines for beer styles. Allegedly, the BJCP Guidelines don’t change as often as other guidelines.

BJCP Style Guidelines have lots of prose describing each style, sometimes half a page or more. In the next lesson, we’ll get into the descriptions for each specific style. For now, we’re just outlining how the descriptions are measured.

I’m changing the order of these parameters from that shown in the syllabus. I present them in the order we perceive them when approaching a beer.

In fact, I’m going out a little further on that limb; I’m grouping this study not by measurement type, but by the different parameters. It makes more sense to me to look at one parameter at a time, and understand both qualitative and quantitative measurements for that parameter.

Parameters of beer styles fall into these categories:

1. Color
2. Perceived bitterness
3. Alcohol content

Often these parameters will be abbreviated as follows:

• C – color
• PB – perceived bitterness
• ABV – alcohol content (alcohol by volume)

These 3 parameters each can be measured qualitatively or quantitatively.

A fourth parameter, however—character— can be measured only qualitatively. That is, character has no quantitative measurements.

Color

The first thing we will notice when approaching a beer is its visual color.

BJCP uses 12 qualitative color categories and corresponds them to the quantitative “Standard Reference Method” (SRM) scale. For this exam, we need to know just the following 5 color descriptors:

1. Straw
2. Gold
3. Amber
4. Brown
5. Black

Each of the qualitative color descriptors above correlates to a quantitative range on the SRM scale. We don’t need to know SRM values for the Certified Beer Server exam, but I’m including the information in case you want to get nerdy about. I like to get nerdy about it.

SRM is often used as a quantitative measurement of beer color. It’s measured on a scale of 1-40+.

BJCP Style Guidelines describes SRM as “a measure of beer color or density more than hue/tint.”

A friend from the Beer Color Laboratories sent me a Beer Color Reference guide. The transparent card has a gradient of colors that you can compare to any beer and gauge the SRM number. It’s a handy way to hone your visual skills and beer knowledge.

Anyway, he says, “SRM is actually a measure of ‘darkness’ at one wavelength and not a good representation of ‘color’ by any means. You need to gather color data for many beers… to get a representative color for beers at those [SRM] values.”

Beer Color Reference by Beer Color Laboratories is a handy tool for measuring the SRM of beer.

How we perceive the color and the hue/tint of a beer can be affected by a number of factors such as lighting and backdrop. Therefore, it’s very difficult to correlate qualitative measurements of color directly to quantitative measurements.

Just know that beer can be classified by color, and by darkness.

Five color descriptors and an example of each:

Check out the Wikipedia article on Standard Reference Method for a wider range of color representations on the screen.

The SRM ranges shown above are from the BJCP Style Guidelines 2008, but generalized for the 5 descriptors in the Certified Beer Server syllabus.

Perceived bitterness

After observing a beer’s color, let’s see how it tastes.

Actually, I like to describe aroma second, because, after looking at a beer, we’ll smell it before we taste it. But aroma has only a qualitative measurement, so the Certified Beer Server syllabus describes it in the “character” descriptor. Therefore, we’ll describe aroma below when we talk about beer character.

Flavor is also so varied and nuanced that is has mostly qualitative descriptors. We discuss a variety of flavors in the character section.

In the meantime, let’s cut straight to one aspect of flavor that is very popular in beer: bitterness.

Certified Beer Server syllabus qualitatively generalizes perceived bitterness with the following 5 categories of bitterness:

1. Low
2. Moderate
3. Pronounced
4. Assertive
5. Highly assertive

Each of the qualitative descriptors above correlates to a quantitative range on the International Bitterness Units (IBU) scale. The scale for IBU ranges from 0-100+. We don’t need to know IBU values for the Certified Beer Server exam, but I’m including the information in case you want to further advance your knowledge.

Popular Science has a pretty informative explanation of IBUs. It demystifies and debunks a lot of misinformation that I’ve heard going around. Basically, IBUs measures the concentration of bittering compounds in beer.

Not all tongues are the same. Bitterness can be perceived differently from person to person.

Additionally, perceived bitterness doesn’t correlate directly to IBUs. The way we perceive bitterness is affected by the amount of malt in the beer, so if you have 2 beers with the same IBU, the more malty beer won’t seem as bitter.

Just know that beer can be classified by perceived bitterness and by actual bitterness.

Five descriptors of bitterness and their corresponding IBU:

The IBU ranges shown above are from BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines, but generalized for the 5 descriptors in the Certified Beer Server syllabus.

Alcohol content

While still tasting the beer, we can perceive a general feeling for the amount of alcohol in beer. The amount of alcohol can vary from beer to beer.

Qualitatively, we can use the following 5 descriptors of alcohol content:

1. Lower
2. Normal
3. Elevated
4. High
5. Very high

Alcohol content can also be quantitatively measured. There are two measurements, both are expressed in percent:

• Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
• Alcohol By Weight (ABW)

Alcohol By Volume is the more common measurement.

Five descriptors for alcohol content and their corresponding ABV:

The ABV ranges shown above are from the BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines, but generalized for the 5 descriptors in the Certified Beer Server Syllabus.

Beer character

Another assessment of beer is the beer character. This one is qualitative, but has no quantitative measurements. It’s sort of the overall description of a beer.

For this exam, we’ll cover 6 parameters of beer character.

Here they are in the order that you will experience them:

1. Appearance
2. Aroma
3. Flavor
4. Perceived bitterness
5. Mouthfeel
6. Aftertaste

We’ll discuss how these are perceived and how to evaluate these later on in section III. Beer Flavor and Evaluation. For now, we’ll just try and give basic definitions.

Appearance – For appearance, we’re just trying to get an overall visual assessment of the beer before you really get into the smell and taste of it. Color is kind of part of it, but that’s covered more in the qualitative measurements above.

Get an overall impression of the beer from any visual cues you can pick up such as color, hue, clarity, or viscosity.

Aroma – “Whether the drinker sniffs or not,” says Michael Jackson, “much of what we think we taste is actually experienced through our potent and evocative sense of smell.”

We can’t list all of the aromas. Randy Mosher says humans can perceive 10,000 different aromas.

Flavor – Different kinds of flavor include sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (“deliciousness” can also be perceived as meatiness), and fat.

According to Mosher, fat is “the most recently discovered member of the taste family, having been added only with the discovery of its receptor in 2005.” He also admits that “it’s not clear if this receptor plays any role at all in beer tasting, as beer is a fat-free product.”

Beyond that, the variety of flavors that can be perceived in beer is limited only by experience and imagination. Michal Jackson’s Great Beer Guide has a “Lexicon of flavors & aromas” that gives a good variety with explanations of why we perceive these flavors in beer.

For example, the perception of cloves in beer, he explains, “arises from phenols created in fermentation.”

Perceived bitterness – Bitter flavors are nature’s way of protecting us from food poisoning. For most people, bitterness is an acquired taste. In beer, we consider bitterness as a good thing.

Hops provide beer’s bitterness as well as flowery aromas and flavors.

On the other hand, astringent bitterness can signal a bad beer.

Mouthfeel – Mouthfeel can encompass a variety of sensations including temperature, carbonation, viscosity, and cooling or burning sensations.

Common mouthfeel sensations from beer are described as crispness or dryness, palate fullness, richness, oiliness, and more.

Aftertaste – Aftertaste refers to perceptions after you have swallowed the beer.

If you swallow a beer and it’s just gone, it doesn’t have any aftertaste.

On the other hand, flavors, aromas, and mouthfeel can linger or even change long after the beer is swallowed.

I love what Jackson says about tasting beer:

“Enjoyment of beer does not demand some special tasting talent. All it requires is an open mind, an interest in beer, and an eagerness to find aromas and flavors without fear of mockery.”

Summary

This lesson is really important. The information presented in this lesson is the building blocks for the next few lessons. It’s really important to memorize this information. It will make the next few lessons a lot easier to understand and absorb.

In the next section we’re really going to hit beer styles hard. We’ll pull together everything we learned from the last two chapters and get cozy with history, characteristics, and flavor attributes of styles by region.

It’s a big section. Let’s do this!

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

There are a lot of flashcards for this section. Some of it seems redundant, because it’s a lot of intricate details presented in different ways. I did it this way to help us better learn these little details that will be so important for our future ability to understand beer styles.

What’s the difference between qualitative measurements and quantitative measurements?

What 4 parameters define beer style?

1. Color (C)
2. Perceived bitterness (PB)
3. Alcohol content (ABV)
4. Character

What does SRM stand for?

Standard Reference Method is a quantitative measurement for color.

What does IBU stand for?

International Bitterness Units is a quantitative measurement for bitterness.

What does ABV stand for?

Alcohol By Volume is a quantitative measurement for alcohol content. It is expressed in percent.

Which of the 4 parameters that define beer style can be measured only qualitatively, not quantitatively?

Beer character has only qualitative measurements, not quantitative measurements.

5 descriptors of color

1. Straw
2. Gold
3. Amber
4. Brown
5. Black

SRM range for straw color

SRM: 2-4

SRM range for gold color

SRM: 6-7

SRM range for amber color

SRM: 10-18

SRM range for brown color

SRM: 19-30

SRM range for black color

SRM: 35-40

5 color descriptors with corresponding SRM number and a style example for each

5 descriptors of perceived bitterness

1. Low
2. Moderate
3. Pronounced
4. Assertive
5. Highly assertive

IBU range for low perceived bitterness

IBUs: 0-30

IBU range for moderate perceived bitterness

IBUs: 20-40

IBU range for pronounced perceived bitterness

IBUs: 35-75

IBU range for assertive perceived bitterness

IBUs: 50-100

IBU range for highly assertive perceived bitterness

IBUs: 80-120

5 bitterness descriptors with corresponding IBUs and a style example for each.

5 descriptors of alcohol content

1. Lower
2. Normal
3. Elevated
4. High
5. Very high

ABV range for lower alcohol content

ABV: <4.5%

ABV range for normal alcohol content

ABV: 4.5-6.0%

ABV range for elevated alcohol content

ABV: 6.1-7.5%

ABV range for high alcohol content

ABV: 7.6-10.0%

ABV range for very high alcohol content

ABV: >10.0%

5 alcohol content descriptors with corresponding ABV and a style example for each

5 qualitative descriptors for color, perceived bitterness, and alcohol content

6 parameters of beer character

1. Appearance
2. Aroma
3. Flavor
4. Perceived bitterness
5. Mouthfeel
6. Aftertaste

The post 012. Style parameters appeared first on Beer Exam School.

Beer is perhaps more varied than wine. BJCP Style Guidelines lists more than a hundred different styles of beer, many of which have been around for centuries—or longer! And each of those styles have stories as varied as the cultures from which they originated.

I had a really difficult time knowing what to study for this section. The syllabus isn’t very descriptive about what we should know.

Primary reading material for this section was found in Tasting Beer; an insider’s guide to the world’s greatest drink by Randy Mosher. Much of the materials in this lesson is a book report on Tasting Beer, chapter 1, “The Story of Beer.”

Don’t really focus on memorizing key details in this section, but rather think of it as an overall understanding of how beer styles evolved differently in different areas.

Anyway, this section seems mostly about the historical origins of styles. In the next section we’ll learn the different parameters to evaluate style. After that, we’ll get to know approximately half of the beer styles defined by BJCP.

Gosh, I’m really starting to doubt my knowledge of this section. We’ll see how I do when exam time comes.

The historical development of beer styles

The development of beer styles was first driven by available ingredients, equipment and water.

Initial drivers of beer style

Beer “has ten thousand years of history, with gods, goddesses, heroes, and songs to celebrate its glories,” writes Mosher.

The first known documentation of beer was around 3000 BC, from the Sumerians who had “an expansive vocabulary of ingredients, brewing vessels, and beer types.”

From then on, cultures throughout the eastern hemisphere had a wide variety of beers made from their predominant local ingredients.

Scrapings from a Bronze Age burial, for example, show ingredients of barley, honey, cranberries, meadowsweet and bog myrtle.

The Dyonesians had poppy pods, and the Scythians had hemp. The Finns and Hungarians had juniper, while heather was common in the British Isles.

Hops weren’t introduced until around the year 1000 in Bremen, Germany.

Elsewhere around the region, brewers were using “gruit.” The contents of this herbal mixture are mostly unknown. The main ingredient, however, was bog myrtle, an herb with flavor characteristics not unlike hops.

While the church required brewers to buy and use “gruit” in their beer, Bremen was further away, beyond the reach of the church.

Hops have a great flavor that offsets the malty-sweetness of beer. (We’ll learn more about that in part III.) Hops also act as a preservative in beer, keeping beer good for months rather than weeks. So this new hopped beer was able to be exported to other areas. By 1600, all English beer and ale had hops and eventually hoppy beer was the norm in all of northern Europe.

It’s interesting that, according to Mosher: There is a line south of which grapes grow well and becomes the dominant drink. North of this, ancient Romans encountered enthusiastic beer drinkers at the fringes of their empire.

Even after beer gained popularity across northern Europe, “parts south, such as Italy and Spain, had little or no beer culture.”

Brewing dominated in German states, Flanders, the Netherlands and England. Beer styles developed and evolved in these areas, and gave way to all the classic styles that we know today.

Several factors that changed beer styles

While geographic characteristics played a role in the development of beer, styles were later refined and differentiated by technology, regulation, culture, and consumer appeal.

Technology

Public works projects in England in the 1600s opened access to distant markets and ingredients for beer.

Industrial developments of the 1700s and 1800s made great advancements in brewing.

Steam engines were developed for mines around 1700, and many decades later they were adapted to make large-scale brewing possible.

Also in the late 1700s, the thermometer was adopted for brewing, followed not much later by the hydrometer.

In the mid-1800s brewers were starting to use single-cell yeast cultures. By the mid-1900s it was the norm.

Artificial refrigeration was first used in a commercial brewery in Germany in 1873.

Various equipment introduced throughout the 1800s greatly improved roasting of malts.

Louis Pasteur’s “Études sur la Bière” (Studies on Beer), published in 1876, demonstrated the causes of—and prescribed methods for preventing—beer spoilage. The work had widespread affects across the beer world.

Regulation and taxation

Different types of regulation affected beer development in different ways. Perhaps the two most well-know beer regulations are the German beer purity law of 1516 called Reinheitsgebot, and Prohibition in the U.S.

Depending on the source, the Reinheitsgebot was either a food safety law or a famine preventative measure. Perhaps either was an inside racket.

Modern-day northern Germany was rich with varied beer styles. When Bavaria became part of Germany, beer styles were restricted by the Reinheitsgebot. Many local beer styles were lost. A few, like Kölsch, Berliner Weisse, and Düsseldorfer Alt, survived and are still popular today. Others, like Grätzer, Lichtenhainer, and Broyhan, barely survived the passage of time.

Lucky for us all, Belgium never had a beer purity law. Probably Affligem Nöel is the first beer that I really fell in love with. Even to this day, I have an infatuation for that beer, but I digress.

Beer styles in Belgium have never lost the use of ancient spices, herbs, and sugars.

“Coriander, orange peel, cumin, grains of paradise (a pungent, peppery spice), and many kinds of sugars find their way into Belgian beers, often in quite subtle ways,” writes Mosher. “For a beer lover seeking new experiences, Belgium is a wonderland of the highest order.”

As for Prohibition, the U.S. is not the only country to have outlawed beer. There’s not enough space here to talk about it comprehensively.

Prohibition in the U.S. started in 1920 and ended in 1933. Before Prohibition, there were thousands of breweries in the U.S. There was a resurgence of breweries after Prohibition, but consolidation reduced the number to a low of 44 breweries in 1979.

Now we’re back to more than seven thousand breweries—and quite a diversity of beer! But if we had the number of breweries per capita that there was before Prohibition, we would have more than 30,000 breweries in the U.S. today.

Culture and consumer appeal

Pilsner was invented in Plzen, Bavaria and made that little town famous. Limited competition brought about by the Reinheitsgebot helped solidify Pilsner’s widespread popularity.

Various accounts describe the rise in popularity of Porter and Pale Ale. Whatever the case, England’s influence was broad. Many of the practices and preferences in England spread across the world via the British Empire and beyond.

British colonists brought their love of beer to North America. But, according to Mosher, malt didn’t grow well in much of the colonies. Alternatives such as molasses, dried pumpkin, and walnut tree chips were used, but not with much success. By 1800, spirits were consumed 10 times as much as beer in volume. In terms of alcohol, it was about 200 times as much!

The frontier was scarce of infrastructure. It was difficult to transport ingredients or the finished product across long distances over land. So whiskey, rum, and other spirits continued to be much more popular than beer in America.

However, America wasn’t completely devoid of beer. Wherever German or Dutch immigrants were, there was beer, too. American Dreams of beer grandeur come from names that are recognizable to this day: Pabst, Busch, Schlitz.

Summary

Regional beer styles were initially established as a result of local ingredients, equipment, and water.

Beer styles evolved differently by region based on technology, regulation, culture, and consumer appeal.

As commerce became more globalized, beer styles spread across the world.

Some styles have remained pretty much the same for decades.

Other beer styles evolve with advancements in technology and science.

In the next section we’ll get into the parameters that define the different beer styles, to see what sets them apart from each other.

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

3 primary drivers in the development of beer styles

1. Available ingredients
2. Equipment
3. Technology

When was the first known documentation of beer?

The first known documentation of beer was around 3000 B.C. with the Sumerians.

When and where were hops introduced into beer?

Hops were introduced into beer around the year 1000 in Bremen, Germany.

In what part(s) of the world did beer dominate and become the styles we know today?

Beer gained popularity across Northern Europe in Germany, Flanders, Netherlands, and England.

What were 4 primary factors in the refining of beer styles?

1. Technology
2. Regulation
3. Culture
4. Consumer appeal

2 scientific instruments that were adopted in brewing in the 1700s

1. Thermometer
2. Hydrometer

What major advancement in brewing happened in the 1800s?

Single-yeast cultures were first used in beer in the mid-1800s.

By the mid-1900s it was the norm.

When and where was refrigeration first used in commercial brewing?

Refrigeration was first used in commercial brewing in 1873 in Germany.

What was published in 1876?

Louis Pasteur’s “Études sur la Bière” (Studies in Beer) was published in 1876.

It had widespread affects across the beer world because it demonstrated the causes of beer spoilage and how to prevent it.

What is the Reinheitsgebot?

Reinheitsgebot is the German beer purity law of 1516.

It limited the ingredients allowed in beer.

Many beer styles from Northern Germany were lost from the Reinheitsgebot.

What did Prohibition do to the number of breweries in the U.S.?

Before Prohibition, there were thousands of breweries in the U.S.

After Prohibition, there was a low of 44 breweries in 1979.

Where was Pilsner invented?

Pilsner beer style was invented in Plzen, Bavaria (Germany).

Where were Porter and Pale Ale invented?

Porter and Pale Ale beer styles were invented in England.

The post 011. Understanding beer styles appeared first on Beer Exam School.

What do they say about food, presentation is everything? Presentation is also a large part of excellent beer service. Before the customer tastes her beer, before she even smells her beer, she will see her beer in the glass.

Top 5 Beer by Didriks on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

This section is all about glassware: selecting glassware, cleaning glassware, preparing glassware for use. And it’s not only about visual appearance. The style and cleanliness of the glass affect the appearance, smell, and taste of the beer.

The reading material for this section was found in Tasting Beer, Are You Draft Savvy?, the Glastender operation manual, and Draught Beer Quality Manual.

Select appropriate glassware

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Many establishments use shaker pints because they’re inexpensive, they stack well, and they’re easy to clean. But this is not the best type of glass to serve beer.

The shaker pint has been used for beer only since the 1980s. It was designed for making cocktails, not for drinking. Let’s be classier than that.

Different kinds of beer are best served in different styles of glassware. The type of beer being served should determine the style of glass to use. Style of glassware can be expressed in: size, shape, or branding.

Size

In general, stronger beers should be served in smaller glasses. You don’t want to serve super high ABV in a full pint glass.

Very carbonated beers, like many Belgian beers, have a very large, fluffy head. These beers may be poured in a very large glass to allow room for the head.

Shape

First, the shape of the glass affects how it fits in the hand. An outward taper or ridges and bumps help keep the glass from slipping out of the hand. A handle or stem on a large glass serves as a handle and also prevents heat from transferring from the hand to the glass.

The shape of the glass also affects the appearance, smell, and taste of the beer. Certain styles have withstood the test of time.

A glass that tapers inward near the top will hold aromas in the glass. It also compresses the foam, making a denser head.

A glass that tapers outward near at the top will disperse the liquid more widely across the mouth. It forms a wedge for the head to rest upon itself.

Brand

Glasses with branding, such as a logo, should be matched to the beer served.

Some branded glasses are etched with a logo at the bottom. Etched glass provides “nucleation sites” that cause bubbles to be released, which replenishes the head and releases aromas.

Use beer clean glassware

Clean glass is important not only for sanitation, but also presentation of the beer. Glass that has been properly cleaned for the best beer service experience is called “beer clean.”

A dirty glass is not just plain disgusting, it can also affect the beer.

Dirty glass can cause an “off taste” or bad odors.

Glass that hasn’t been properly rinsed can have residues that kill the beer head.

Or the opposite can happen: Dirty glass can cause too many large bubbles, which will result in a large head, but the head will disappear too soon and the beer will get flat.

Glass cleaning procedure

The first step in cleaning glass is to work with clean equipment. Sinks or washing machine should be clean from chemicals, oils, or grease.

Use the proper cleaners and sanitizers, as recommended by your chemical supplier.

Three-sink method:

1. Empty and rinse – Empty the glass into an open drain and rinse it with clean water.
2. Wash – Wash the glass with warm water and sudless soap, using a brush. Wash it thoroughly inside and out. (Sudless soap is usually non-petroleum based.)
3. Rinse in water – Rinse the glass in cold water that flows continuously. To ensure proper rinsing, submerge the glass with heel in first, and remove it with heel out first.
4. Rinse in sanitizer – Rinse the glass in warm water with sanitizer. Submerge the glass with heel in first, and remove it with heel out first.
5. Dry on rack – Dry the glass upside down on a rack or positioned in a way so that air circulates inside. Never towel-dry a glass, this can leave lint, germs or odors. Do not leave a glass to dry on a towel or flat surface, this will slow the drying process.
6. Rinse before use – Immediately before use, rinse the glass with cold water. This removes residue from the sanitizer.

Glass washing machine:

1. Use a dedicated machine – Do not wash food dishes nor utensils in the same machine that you use to wash beer glasses. Food or dairy residue is especially difficult to clean from beer glassware.
2. Check detergent and sanitizer concentrations daily – Follow the chemical supplier’s recommendations.
3. Maintain proper water temperature – Temperature should be between 130-140° F (54-60° C). (High temperature machines operate at 180° F (82° C) without chemicals, but your local health department might have regulations about this.)
4. Maintain proper flow rate – Maintenance is required to achieve proper flow rate through each nozzle and washer arm.
5. Service intervals – Follow manufacturer’s guidelines for service intervals.

Although the processes above are recommended, your local health code might require a different procedure.

Storage – Store clean glasses positioned in a way that allows maximum air circulation. Store glasses away from odors, smoke, grease, or dust. Chilled glasses should be stored in a separate refrigerator with no food products, which can transfer odors. Never store glasses in a freezer.

Checking glass for “beer clean”

If you followed the procedures above, your glass should be beer clean for the best beer-service experience.

There are three ways to test for a beer-clean glass:

• Sheeting test – Submerge the glass in water, heel first, then empty the glass. If it’s clean, the water will sheet off evenly and it will dry crystal clear. If it’s dirty, the water will form droplets or webbing on the dirty surfaces.
• Salt test – Submerge the glass in water, heel first, then empty the glass. Sprinkle salt on the inside of the glass. In a clean glass the salt will cling evenly to the entire inside of the glass. If it’s dirty, the salt will not be evenly distributed and the salt won’t adhere to dirty surfaces that have a greasy film.
• Lacing test – Fill the glass with beer. If it’s clean, foam will adhere in an even, parallel pattern after each sip. If it’s dirty, the foam will be uneven or will not adhere at all.

With the glass full of beer, also look for these signs of a dirty glass:

• Head is formed of large bubbles and dissipates quickly
• Bubbles form on insides of glass
• Lace does not cling to inside of glass after each sip

Preparation to serve

After properly cleaning the glass, the last two considerations are glass temperature and a pre-rinse.

Temperature – Glass should be at proper temperature for serving beer.

Room temperature glass is preferred for most styles of craft beer. Note that highly-carbonated beers may foam in room-temperature glass.

Chilled glass is good for domestic lager beer. Be sure that glasses are completely dry before putting them into the refrigerator. Proper temperature is 38-40° F (3-4° C).

Do not freeze glasses because ice can form inside the glass, which will cause foaming.

Pre-rinse – You can use a mist device to rinse and chill the inside of the glass before using. Let the water out of the glass before filling.

Finally we know everything we need to know about serving beer. We learned about purchasing and accepting beer; legalities, liabilities and health issues; beer storage; then about draft systems; and clean and proper glassware.

So let’s talk specifically about how to serve bottled beer. Then we’ll talk about serving draft beer.

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

3 style considerations for choosing glassware

1. Size
2. Shape
3. Branding

In general, what size glass is for stronger beers?

A smaller glass.

When was the shaker pint first used for beer?

What was it designed for?

It was first used in the 1980s.

It was designed for making cocktails.

What glass features are helpful for holding?

Handle, stem, ridges and bumps.

How does an inward taper at the top of a glass affect the beer?

It holds aromas in the glass.

It compresses foam into a denser head.

How does an outward taper at the top of a glass affect the beer?

It disperses the liquid more widely across the mouth.

It forms a wedge for the head to rest upon itself.

When should a branded glass be used?

When the beer matches the branding.

How could a dirty glass affect the beer?

Off taste.

Bad odor.

Residues that kill the beer head.

Disappearing head.

6 steps to cleaning a glass (3-sink method)

1. Empty and rinse
2. Wash
3. Rinse in water
4. Rinse in sanitizer (heel in, heel out)
5. Dry on rack (upside down)
6. Rinse before use

Procedure for using glass washing machine

1. Use a dedicated machine
2. Check detergent and sanitizer concentrations daily
3. Maintain proper water temperature: 130-140° F (54-60° C)
4. Maintain proper flow rate
5. Service intervals

3 ways to test for beer clean glassware

1. Sheeting test
2. Salt test
3. Lacing test

3 signs of a dirty glass that is full of beer

1. Disappearing head.
2. Bubbles stick to the inside of the glass.
3. Lace does not cling to inside of glass after each sip.

What is the proper glass temperature for serving beer?

Room temperature for most craft beer.

38-40° F (3-4° C) for domestic lagers.

Never freeze glassware.

What is the purpose of pre-rinsing a glass before using?

Rinse the inside of residue.

Chill the inside.

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The post 007. Beer glassware appeared first on Beer Exam School.

A large part of providing beer service is dealing with draft beer systems. This section is an introduction to draft beer systems. We talk about the main parts of a draft system, basic operations, simple troubleshooting, and a little bit about system maintenance.

Stained Bar, Minus 1 Faucet by Callie Reed on flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Some parts about draft systems are covered in more detail later in the syllabus. Other things are not important to us because, remember, compressed gas can be dangerous. So some things are best handled by a trained professional.

The reading material for this section was found in Draught Beer Quality Manual and Are You Draft Savvy? A little of the material came from Glastender operations manual.

Key elements

The draft system allows beer to flow from keg to glass.

There are 4 main elements to the draft beer system:

1. Keg
2. Coupler
3. Foam on beer detector (FOB)
4. Faucet

There are other elements, such as refrigeration, tubing, and inert gas. Each element consists of smaller parts. However, this section is concerned mostly with these 4 elements.

Keg – Kegs allow for storage and transport of beer. They protect the product from light and air, and also allow for rapid dispensing of the product. Kegs are usually made of stainless steel, but some kegs are rubber-coated, aluminum, steel, or plastic.

Sizes vary from approximately 5 gallons (1/6 barrel) to 15.5 gallons (1/2 barrel). The most common size of keg in the US is 1/2 barrel.

The keg has a valve onto which the coupler attaches. Never remove the valve. Kegs are pressurized and can be dangerous if handled improperly. Only trained technicians should service a keg.

Coupler – The coupler attaches to the keg valve and allows inert gas, usually CO2, to enter the keg and beer to come out of the keg. Basically, it lets CO2 in and beer out.

The beer line attaches to the coupler by a threaded “beer nut.” In the U.S., beer nuts are all the same, but beer nuts from other countries may be different. So be careful when attaching the beer line to a keg from another country.

Always check for leaks after you install the beer nut.

Foam on beer detector (FOB) – No, this isn’t the thing on your keychain. In a draft system, when the keg gets low on beer, the FOB automatically stops the flow. This prevents foam from filling the line. So when you change the keg, you don’t need to purge the line and fill it with beer again. This article explains it pretty well.

FOBs are especially common in long-draw beer lines, where purging the entire line could waste a lot of beer—and money!

However, some keg couplers have an FOB as a built-in feature. The coupler FOB has smaller parts that must be removed and cleaned separately from the beer line system.

Faucet – The faucet is the “tap” that dispenses the beer to the glass. Most faucets are suitable for both ales and lagers. In the U.S., most faucets screw onto a shank with a standard thread size, but faucets from other countries may be different. So be careful when attaching a faucet from another country.

The tap marker, commonly called a “tap handle,” screws onto the tap lever and identifies the type of beer being dispensed. Many states require a tap marker.

Align the tap marker so that the type of beer is clearly visible by both customers and employees. Many tap levers have a collar that screws up and tightens against the tap marker, keeping it in place.

Draft system operation

Serving draft beer will be covered in more detail in part I., section G (lesson 009).

For now just know that the draft system should have a standard temperature of 38° F (3° C). Warmer than that and the beer will foam. If it’s cooler than 28° F (-2° C) the beer can freeze, which causes cloudiness and an off taste.

Make sure to refrigerate kegs for 24 hours prior to dispensing, to prevent foaming. It takes a long time to cool a keg of beer. Glastender manual says: A beer keg that is allowed to heat up to 44° F (6° C) will take approximately 18 hours to cool down in a 36° F (2° C) cooler.

Remember from lesson 5, kegs must always be kept cold. So refrigerate kegs immediately after they’re delivered.

Do not try to adjust the gas pressure. Only draft-trained technicians should adjust the gas pressure to kegs.

Basic troubleshooting

More details will be covered in part I., section G (lesson 009), when we learn how to change a keg. And remember, never adjust the gas pressure, leave that for a draft-trained professional.

In the meantime, there are some simple things we can check when beer is pouring badly.

First, be sure that the beer has already been in refrigeration for at least 24 hours. It takes 24 hours to properly cool the beer throughout the entire keg. Improper temperature is the most common cause of problems. Warm beer foams.

Check that the coupler is properly engaged, correctly screwed onto the threads, and there are no leaks.

Look for kinks in the beer line between the coupler and the faucet. Undo any kinks or pinches.

Check that the FOB is properly set for service. Not every draft system has an FOB. A long draw system has a wall-mounted FOB, while some couplers have an FOB.

Draft system maintenance

Organic compounds and minerals from the beer attach to draft lines and affect beer flavor. Plus, it just gets nasty with fruit flies and grossness… yuck!

Many states require regular cleaning of draft lines.

Retailers may or may not clean their own lines. Sometimes the distributor does it or has another specialist do it. Nonetheless, it’s in your best interest to make sure the draft system is cleaned properly.

Every 2 weeks

The draft system should be cleaned every 2 weeks. A maintenance log should be kept to ensure that the draft system is cleaned at regular intervals.

Beer lines and associated parts should be flushed with cold water and cleaned thoroughly with an alkaline solution at the proper temperature and concentration. The cleaning solution should make contact with the lines for more than 15 minutes. Then the lines should be rinsed with cold water.

Take apart and hand-clean the faucets and couplers.

Every 3 months

Some parts need more thorough cleaning on a quarterly basis.

The FOB and couplers should be completely taken apart and manually cleaned.

Draft lines should be cleaned with acid to remove mineral buildup.

Whether we’re going to be serving beer from draft or from a bottle, we have to learn about glassware, how to get it clean enough for our favorite beverage, and which glassware to use for different kinds of beer. We’ll go over all of that and more in the next lesson.

Flashcards for this section

Based on the reading materials mentioned and my notes above, here are my flashcards for this section.

4 main elements of a draft system

1. Keg
2. Coupler
3. Foam on beer detector (FOB)
4. Faucet

Keg

Allows for storage and transport of beer.

Usually made of stainless steel.

Sizes vary from 5 gal (1/6 barrel) to 15.5 gal (1/2 barrel).

Has a valve to attach the coupler.

Coupler

Attaches to the keg valve.

Allows CO2 in and beer out.

Beer line attaches to the coupler.

FOB

Foam on beer detector.

Automatically stops the flow when the keg is low on beer.

Saves beer—and money—by preventing foam from entering the lines, so you don’t have to purge the lines when switching kegs.

Can be wall-mounted, or part of the coupler.

Faucet

The “tap” that dispenses beer.

Screws onto the shank.

Tap marker (“tap handle”) identifies the beer.

Standard temperature of a draft system

38° F (3° C)

How long must a keg be refrigerated before dispensing?

24 hours or else it will foam.

Who may adjust gas pressure to kegs?

Only a draft-trained technician may adjust gas pressure to kegs.

4 basic ways to troubleshoot a draft system

1. Refrigerate the keg for 24 hours.
2. Check that the coupler is engaged.
3. Check for kinks or pinches in the beer line.
4. Check that the FOB is set for service.

How often should a draft system be cleaned?

Every 2 weeks.

Every 3 months for a complete FOB and coupler cleaning.

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The post 006. Draft systems appeared first on Beer Exam School.