The 50 Greatest Beers of the World E-Book

Tim Hampson

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Serie: The 50
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 217

Beschreibung

On just about every continent, from Boston's strong ale to Norwegian stout, there are people brewing great beer. From English ales to Czech lager, Belgian sour to American pale ale, German Berliner Weisse to Australian Adelaide sparkling ale, the number of brewed beers is big and increasing daily.  Award-winning author Tim Hampson explores beers from four continents, marvelling at how from such simple notes – malt, hops, water and yeast – a symphony of tastes and colours can be created. He discovers dark beers, light beers, sour beers, imperial stouts, beers flavoured with honey, herbs and spices, and beers that have been matured in wooden barrels that once stored some of the world's best whiskies.  The world of beer is undergoing a revolution. This wide-ranging selection will give any beer fan a tour of the world through their favourite drink. 

Leseprobe

GREATEST

BEERS

OF THE WORLD

Also available

The 50 Greatest Road Trips

The 50 Greatest Westerns

The 50 Greatest Train Journeys of the World

The 50 Greatest Rugby Union Players of All Time

The 50 Most Influential Britons of the Last 100 Years

The 50 Greatest Walks of the World

Geoff Hurst’s Greats: England’s 1966 Hero Selects His Finest Ever Footballers

David Gower’s Greatest Half-Century

GREATEST

BEERS

OF THE WORLD

TIM HAMPSON

Published in the UK in 2016 by

Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre,

39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP

email: [email protected]

www.iconbooks.com

Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia

by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House,

74–77 Great Russell Street,

London WC1B 3DA or their agents

Distributed in the UK, Europe and Asia

by Grantham Book Services, Trent Road,

Grantham NG31 7XQ

Distributed in Australia and New Zealand

by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd,

PO Box 8500, 83 Alexander Street,

Crows Nest, NSW 2065

Distributed in South Africa by

Jonathan Ball, Office B4, The District,

41 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock 7925

Distributed in India by Penguin Books India,

7th Floor, Infinity Tower – C, DLF Cyber City,

Gurgaon 122002, Haryana

Distributed in Canada by Publishers Group Canada,

76 Stafford Street, Unit 300, Toronto, Ontario M6J 2S1

Distributed in the USA by Publishers Group West,

1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

ISBN: 978-178578-109-4

Text copyright © 2016 Tim Hampson

The author has asserted his moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Images – see individual pictures

Typeset and designed by Simmons Pugh

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Hampson has travelled the world in search of the perfect beer, a quest he hopes will continue for many more years. His previous books include World Beer, The Beer Book, the Haynes Beer Manual, London’s Best Pubs, 101 Beer Days Out and Great Beers. He is the Chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers, and in 2015 he was knighted by the Belgian Brewers’ Guild for services to beer culture. Tim lives in Oxford together with his family, three dogs and a parrot.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Brewing Process

Beer Styles

Some Members of the Beer Family

A History of Beer in Half Pints

Some of the Best-Known Beers in the World

World’s Top 10 Selling Beers

The Modern Brewing Industry

THE 50 GREATEST BEERS IN THE WORLD

50. Tipopils

49. Angry Boy Brown Ale

48. Faro

47. Geuze Mariage Parfait

46. Centennial IPA

45. Berliner Weisse

44. White

43. Pale Ale (Amarillo)

42. Tribute

41. Gamma Ray

40. Mackeson Stout

39. Punk IPA

38. Fuller’s Vintage

37. Jaipur

36. Broadside

35. Taras Boulba

34. Petrus Oud Bruin

33. Grand Cru

32. Saison Dupont

31. Friday’s Pale Ale

30. Kölsch

29. Velvet Merkin

28. Sparkling Ale

27. Black Butte

26. Bourbon County

25. Imperial Stout

24. The Poet

23. London Lager

22. Duchesse de Bourgogne

21. Dale’s Pale Ale

20. TAP5 Meine Hopfenweisse

19. Steam Beer

18. Bud B: Strong

17. Utopias

16. Urbock

15. Beer Geek Breakfast

14. La Folie

13. 60 Minute IPA

12. Pilsner Urquell

11. Cru Bruocsella

10. Xyauyù

9. DeuS Brut

8. Imperial Extra Double Stout

7. Sorachi Ace

6. Pliny the Elder

5. Arrogant Bastard Ale

4. Milk Stout

3. Gonzo Imperial Porter

2. Pale Ale

1. Twelve Days

INTRODUCTION

The 50 greatest beers in the world? The question is absurd. But within the embrace of the absurdity lies a gem of an idea.

We’ve been drinking beers for more than 10,000 years. And for most of that time people just drank beer that was probably made at home or in a communal brewery. The evolution of beer styles and beer names is a relatively recent activity.

In recent times, for those of us who drink beer, it has often unerringly helped shape who we are. Many remember the first beer they drank as an underage youth. Others have fond recollections of sitting with a parent in a pub and drinking their first legal (or illegal) beer. For many, their university years are marked and remembered by the beers they drank. And years later, like some Proustian remembrance of days past, the memories will come back of the beers, the company and conversations. There are the great moments of time marked by the tastes and aromas of the beers people drank.

But 50 great beers? Some might argue such a list should be solely compiled from Britain’s rich tapestry of beers. But this narrow, jingoistic view of the beer world would exclude all the other countries where great beers are made and drunk. Beer culture is not limited to the United Kingdom and there are a number of internationally recognised beer brands and many countries have their own thriving brewing industry.

So will people from other countries find their favourite beers here? An Australian might expect to see VB, an Italian might look for Peroni Nastro Azzurro, some Belgians Jupiler or Stella Artois. Americans may ask where is the Budweiser or even the Miller Lite? A Brazilian might expect to find their beloved Brahma, perhaps someone from China will look for Snow. These beers are all well loved and well known, and they are sold by the bucketful. But volume doesn’t make greatness and familiarity doesn’t guarantee inclusion in this book.

Choosing the beers for this book has been no easy task. Britain alone has more than 1,500 breweries, the USA has 3,500, wine-loving Italy more than 700. On just about every continent from the Arctic down to the Antarctic, there are people brewing great beer. The number of beers being brewed is big and daily increasing.

So how to make it into my eclectic list of 50 great beers?

I’ve travelled the world drinking beers and sat with many brewers discussing and analysing their creations, marvelling at how from such simple notes – malt, hops, water and yeast – a symphony of tastes and colours can be created. If there is a link between any of the beers in this book, it is that they in some way have made a contribution to evolving beer culture or are an exemplar of a particular beer style, or they are one of those beers that should be sought out by any beer fan just because they are so good to drink.

I imagine the first thing many people will do when they pick up this book will be to look at the contents list. They may be elated on finding a favourite beer. Many will be disappointed. But not being listed in this book doesn’t make their favourite beer bad.

But a beer’s inclusion or exclusion could spark a conversation as to which are the greatest beers in the world. Beer brings people together; it is a liquid social lubricant that encourages us to talk and put the world to rights. And that is perhaps one definition of what makes a great beer everyone could agree about: the company of friends and conversation – it’s what life is all about.

THE BREWING PROCESS

Brewing is a simple, natural process, normally just using water, cereal, hops and yeast. Fermentable sugars are extracted from a cereal using warm water, a process known as mashing. The liquid is then brought to boiling point and hops are added for flavour, bitterness and to ward off bacteria. It is then cooled, more hops might be added, yeast is added and the fermentation process begins – converting the sugar into carbon dioxide and the alcohol we call beer.

1. MALTING

Before the grain gets to the brewery, it has to be malted. The process unlocks the complex sugars found in molecules of starch. To begin the process of releasing the sugars the maltster soaks the grains (steeps) and then gently heats them to begin the process of germination, creating simpler sugars. Inside the grain, as the seed starts to grow, the starch is broken down into simpler compounds. After a few days, the germination is stopped and the malt is dried and kilned. The more intense the kilning, the darker is the malt. The once hard grains are now soft enough to chew on and their sweetness can be tasted.

2. MILLING

In the brewery or at the maltsters, whole malted barley and other grains are ground in a mill. The cracked grain is known as grist and it is easier for it to release its sugars at the next stage when it is wetted, in warm water. The choice of grains made by the brewer is known as the grain bill and it is important because it will affect the amount of alcohol in the beer, its colour and its taste. Lighter coloured malts help make lagers pale. Dark roasted grains give stouts their blackness.

3. MASHING

The grist is mixed with hot water in a vessel known as a tun to produce a sweet-smelling mash. The porridge-like mash is then left to stand – the process is similar to mashing a tea with warm water in a teapot. The heat of the water draws the sugars out of the malt. This is known as a single infusion mashing. Some brewers take off some of the liquid and run it off into another vessel, heat it to a higher temperature and put it back into the tun, once, twice or even three times. This is known as decoction mashing. The higher temperatures draw out even sweeter, more complex sugars from the malt.

4. BOILING

At the end of the mashing, the sugar-rich, sweet wort is strained through the bottom of the spent grains, or everything passes into a large sieve called a lauter tun. As the sweet wort runs off, the grain is rinsed (sparged) with more hot water to release the final sugars from the malt. The wort now passes into a brew kettle, or copper. The temperature is brought up to boiling point and the liquid is boiled for about an hour. Hops are added at different times for aroma and bitterness, and to stop unwanted bacterial activity. Boiling also sterilises the liquid. Some brewers add other herbs and spices at this stage.

5. FERMENTATION

The hopped wort is next strained to remove the hop residue. Then it’s rapidly cooled by passing through a heat exchanger. The wort is now put into a fermenting vessel. If it is too warm the yeast will die; too cold and the yeast will take a long time to do its work. The yeast is put into the wort (pitched) and now the real magic of brewing begins: as part of its lifecycle yeast produces carbon dioxide and alcohol from the sugar and millions more yeast cells.

6. CONDITIONING

Once fermentation is finished, a process that can take four or five days, the liquid is known as green beer. It is removed, leaving most of the yeast behind, and put (racked) into another vessel. It is given time to condition and mature; during this time a secondary fermentation will take place. All the time the flavours of the beer are maturing and evolving. The beer is then put into a cask, keg, bottle or can, though keller beers will be served straight from the conditioning tank straight into a bar. Some beers are clarified, others are served unfiltered. Some are pasteurised and others are not. But one thing is certain – they’re all beers.

BEER STYLES

Beer is just beer, isn’t it? Well, not quite. From light American lagers to easy-drinking English pale ales, through to big, bold beers aged in whisky wood, the world of beer is wide and varied. There are dark ales, golden-hued lagers, fruity beers, hoppy beers, cloudy beers, herb beers, spicy beers and there are wild yeast-inspired creations. And they are all beers. Beer is anything but bland. According to the American Brewers Association, there are more than 80 different beer styles, many with extensive subdivisions, and the number is continuing to grow.

The beer family falls into three broad genres, which are usually defined by the yeast used: ale, lager or wild.

ALES

Traditionally, ales are beers that have a warmer fermentation than a lager. Most ales are produced using a yeast strain called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As part of its lifecycle the yeast cell feeds off the sugar in the sweet wort, producing ethanol alcohol and carbon dioxide. Many years ago, members of the ale family were typically fermented at 15–25°C, but today, with a better understanding of brewing technology, the temperature beer is brewed at is no longer style-defining. Ale yeasts are often described as top fermenting, but top cropping would probably be a better description: the yeast ferments at all levels throughout the liquid, but once its work is done it collects at the top of the fermenting vessel (traditionally these vessels would have been open at the top). Family members include bitters, porters, stouts, alts and kölschs. Typically, one should expect fruity flavours.

LAGER

Lager is the world’s most popular beer style, though it could be argued it’s a production process rather than a style. Lager beers are a far wider range of beers than some might expect. The category doesn’t just include yellow beers served at ice-cold temperatures. The word lager means to store at a cold temperature, though there is no accepted definition of what temperature or how long for. Lager beers are traditionally fermented at cooler temperatures than other beers, often 5–9°C, and then matured or stored at close to freezing, 0°C, but today many brewers are using warmer fermentation temperatures for lagers.

Lagers are made using the yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, which is often called Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. Lagers are often described as bottom-fermenting beers, but bottom cropping would be a better description. Once settled, the brewer can easily drain the beer away from the fermentation vessel, leaving a bed of yeast, and if needed some of this can be ‘cropped’ for use in the next fermentation.

Beers within the lager family include pilsners, Dortmunders, Märzen and bocks. Lagers tend to have dry, crisp, biscuit flavours.

WILD YEASTS

Within the family of beers there is a third broad style, beers that are fermented after exposure to the air, which allows wild yeasts and bacteria to infect them. Some call this a natural fermentation, when no selection of yeast has taken place. The resulting flavour is dependent on the actual microorganisms, but it is normally quite tart and tongue tingling. The lambic beers of Belgium are probably the best-known examples of spontaneous fermentation. Some breweries actually use a commercially available wild yeast, like Brettanomyces bruxellensis, to create more complex beers often with dry, vinous and some cidery flavours and a tart sourness.

SOME MEMBERS OF THE BEER FAMILY

ALES

Alt

Alt is a German word meaning ‘old’ or ‘traditional’. It is a style of beer traditionally made in Düsseldorf and a few other cities in northern Germany; some bars can still be found where it is served straight from a cask. It is a dark copper beer, brewed using top fermentation.

Amber/Vienna

Viennas have a rich malt aroma and a palate balanced by light fruit and aromatic hops. A bittersweet finish with malt to the fore, but with good lingering hop notes.

Barley wine

An old English style of beer. Barley wines tend to be strong and warming – often between 10 per cent alcohol by volume ABV and 12 per cent, though less strong versions are available. Expect boiled sweet and intense dark fruit flavours.

Belgian brown

A traditional beer from the Flanders region of Belgium. The light-to-medium-bodied deep copper-brown ale typically has a slight to strong lactic sourness and is often known as an oud bruin. Framboises variants have raspberries and kriek variants have cherries added for a second fermentation.

Belgian-style dubbel

Expect rich sweet maltiness on the nose that might bring forth chocolate, toasted brioche or caramel notes; the nose also often features dried fruit such as raisins as well as a hint of pepperiness from the hop.

Belgian-style strong (including quadrupels)

Expect dark chocolate, coffee, raisins, peppery hop and warming alcohol notes on the nose; palate also features chocolate, coffee, dark fruits, expressions of malt complexity and a long characterful finish.

Bière de garde and saison

Traditional farmhouse beers from the Flanders region of France and Belgium. They can be bottle conditioned and are often sold in bottles sealed with champagne-style wired corks. The style of beer is characterised by a lightly toasted malt aroma, and some malt sweetness. The hop flavour contribution is likely to be minimal, but not necessarily so. Some sour Brettanomyces characters can be present. Clove flavours may be detected.

Bitter

Bitter and pale ale can be synonymous. It is a style that has been mass produced in England for more than 100 years. Bitters are generally deep bronze or copper in colour due to the use of slightly darker malts, such as crystal malts. Part of their appeal was that they could be served quickly on draught, after a few days of conditioning in the pub.

Brown ale

English brown ales are not common these days. The colour can range from copper to brown. They have a medium body and range from dry to sweet maltiness with very little hop flavour or aroma. The origin of the beer could go back to the era before hops were used by English brewers. They are likely to be darker than a bitter or pale ale, though of course Newcastle Brown Ale is the exception to this rule.

Brown ale (America)

Malt aroma features chocolate and caramel malts, rather than fermentation character. Hop aroma and bitterness medium to strong, with some versions accenting citrusy North-west American hops; 4.5–6% per cent ABV.

Cask-conditioned ale

Cask-conditioned ale or real ales are unpasteurised living beers that undergo their secondary fermentation in the container from which the beer is served. A common style in the UK, cask ales are predominately sold on draught in pubs.

Golden ale

A new style of beer developed in Britain in the 1980s to tempt drinkers away from light-coloured lagers to cask beer. Lighter in colour than a pale ale, lager malts will often be used. Flavoursome hops, from America, New Zealand or Australia, are often used in abundance. Golden ales are often full of spicy, citrus flavours. Such beers are often served at temperatures lower than 10°C.

Imperial stout

A big, bold giant of a beer, its colour goes from dark copper to black. High in alcohol, they are likely to be rich and malty and can be very sweet. Strong enough to keep for years, the complexity of the beer changes from year to year. Drinking one is never predictable, but it is rarely disappointing.

India pale ale (IPA) – US style

Originally an English pale ale, the style has been reinvigorated and reinvented by the American craft beer movement. American interpretations are often identified by being highly bittered through the massive use of citrus-flavoured hops, which is balanced with rich, juicy malt. Often the signature brew for many brewers, it is now widely brewed by craft brewers worldwide.

Black IPA

Dark in colour. Manages to combine the rich tropical fruit/ripe peach skin/grapefruit notes of a new-wave IPA with a hint of dark malts, though not too much roastiness. Palate is light and shade with big hop character (grapefruit/lychee perhaps) contrasted with a tarry (but not roast) dark maltiness. Big lasting finish.

Kölsch

Light, almost straw-coloured, this golden ale once was only brewed in Cologne, Germany. It is an ale that is served at lager temperatures and is a speciality of many brewpubs in the city. Served fresh, they should be full of light malt and floral fruit flavours, apple or pear characteristics might even be detected.

Mild

Mild was once the most popular style of beer in Britain. It was developed in the 18th and 19th centuries as a less bitter (milder) style of beer than porter and stout and was the drink of choice for generations of factory and agricultural workers wanting a refreshing drink after a day’s work. Often sweet to taste, mild is usually dark brown in colour, due to the use of well-roasted malts or roasted barley, and is lightly hopped.

Milk stout/sweet stout

In the late 19th century, a taste arose for sweeter stouts. The perfection around 1907 of stouts made with an addition of unfermentable lactose sugar, which was originally derived from milk, eventually resulted in one of the most popular British beer styles of the mid-20th century.

Oatmeal stout

Warm fermented with the addition of oatmeal to the grist. Moderate bitterness and a smooth profile. Generally 3.8–4.5 per cent ABV.

Old ale

Old ale is another style with roots back in beer’s distant past. Old ale can mature for months or even years in wooden vessels, where it could pick up some lactic sourness from wild Brettanomyces yeasts in the wood. Often known as winter warmers, they can also be matured for long periods in a bottle. It can have flavours of roasted grain, dark soft fruits or even fresh tobacco.

Pale ale

Pale ale was known as ‘the beer of the railway age’. Pale ales were developed in Burton upon Trent during the 18th and 19th centuries and were transported around the country first by canals and then by the new railway system. Brewers from London, Liverpool and Manchester built breweries in Burton to make use of the gypsum-rich water in their own versions of pale ale. One brewer even shipped water to Manchester to brew from. Widely exported, beers sent to India became known as India Pale Ale.

Pale ale (American style)

American pale ales range from deep golden to copper in colour. The style is characterised by floral and citrus American-variety hops like Cascade, though hops from other countries can be used, to produce high hop bitterness, flavour and aroma. American strong pale ales are moderate in their body and maltiness.

Porter and stout

Porter was developed in London and was the first beer to be widely sold commercially in the early 18th century. As maltsters and brewers grew to understand how to control the roasting of barley to higher temperatures, this brown-coloured beer became darker black and often full of roasted coffee flavours. Lots of hops are usually added for bitterness. The stronger versions of porter were called stout porter or stout for short.

Rauchbier – smoked beer

A speciality of Bamberg in Germany, the smokiness of the beers derives from the use of malt smoked over beechwood. Alaskan Brewing makes a version with alder-smoked malt. Complex beers, phenolic, banana and clove flavours are often to the fore. The style pairs well with fatty meats and pickled fish.

Saison

A traditional Belgian farmhouse beer, brewed in winter for consumption in the summer months. Long storage would often give the beer some sour notes. The style all but died out, but was revived by the US craft beer movement. Today brewers often use the style as a way of showing the contribution herbs, spices and fruits can make to a beer.

Trappist beers

Trappist beers are not a style of beer, though they are all likely to be top-fermenting, bottle-conditioned ales. However, a beer can be described as Trappist if it has been brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision. The best known Trappist beers are produced by the abbeys of Chimay, Rochefort, Orval, Westvleteren, Westmalle and Achel in Belgium and Schaapskooi in the Netherlands.

Wheat beers (Belgian style)

The Belgian and Dutch versions of wheat beers, which are known as witte or biere blanches, are usually made with the addition of herbs and spices such as ground coriander seeds and orange curaçao or orange peel. The hop presence is normally low and many believe the origins of the beer go back to mediaeval times when a herb and spice mixture (gruit) was used to flavour beers not hops.

Wheat beers (German style)

Weiss (white) or Weizen (wheat) beers are made with 40% wheat mixed with barley malt. The style is very common in Germany, especially Bavaria, but it is now a favourite of many brewers worldwide. Refreshing, crisp and usually turbid, a variation on the ale yeast produces sometimes highly pronounced banana, clove and bubblegum flavours. Unfiltered versions are called hefeweiss or hefeweizen. Filtered versions are called kristal.

Wheat variant: Berliner weisse

The lightest of the German wheat beers, they are very pale in colour and typically low in alcohol, about 3 per cent ABV. The style was at its most popular in the 19th century when more than 700 breweries produced it. Now demand for it has fallen to the extent that it has all but died out in Berlin. Sour to the taste, it is often served with flavoured syrups or woodruff.

LAGERS

American-style lager

Light in body and very light to straw in colour, American lagers are very clean and crisp, heavily carbonated and usually served very cold. The flavour components should be subtle but complex, with no one ingredient dominating. Malt sweetness is light to mild. Corn, rice or other grain or sugar adjuncts are often used. Hop bitterness, flavour and aroma are negligible to very light.

Bock and its variants

Traditional German bocks are strong, malty, medium-to-full-bodied, bottom-fermented beers. The complex flavours of malt and fruit usually dominate the taste. Doppelbock are even stronger and the triple steps up the excitement. An eisbock is one that has been made by freezing the beer in a barrel and taking out the ice to leave a stronger beer. Variants on bocks are found throughout the world, particularly in Belgium.

Bohemian or Czech pilsner

The father of a beer style that has swept the world. The flavour of spicy and herbal hops should sing in harmony with the sweetness of the Moravian pilsner malt. They can be golden or even pale amber. Some versions of this beer are lagered for three months, but many exemplars of the style are lagered for a much shorter time. The beer should be served with a full, dense white head.

Dortmunder