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BREWPUBS: WHAT THEY BREW

Commercial brewing is at least 5,000 years old, dating back to the earliest days of Egypt and Sumeria. The Code of Hammurabi in Babylon, in addition to prescribing an eye for an eye as a punishment for wrong-doing, also set down strict quality standards for beer sold in taverns and food shops.

The techniques of brewing have been refined over the millennia, but the basic process has changed relatively little. Sprouted and dried grain ("malted" grain) is ground and mixed with hot water to extract the sugars and flavor elements from the grain "mash." This liquid extract, called "wort," is then boiled ("brewed") with the addition of such flavoring agents (such as hops) as the brewer may choose to add. The wort is then cooled, yeast is added, and it is allowed to ferment.

Yeast is a one-celled micro-organism that feeds on sugar and converts it to alcohol and carbon dioxide. When the fermentation is complete the resulting product is beer. The beer is then aged for a period of time varying from one week to three months.

What Goes Into Beer?

1. Malt - Grain that has been allowed to start sprouting, which converts the starch in the kernel into fermentable sugars. The grain is then quickly dried to stop root growth. Roasting the dried malt in a manner similar to coffee roasting creates different colored malts. Barley, and to a lesser extent wheat malt, are the only two malted grain types used in modern beer.

2. Water - The purity and trace minerals in brewing water influence the final taste of the beer.

3. Hops - Dried pine cone-shaped flowers from the hop vine. Bitter oils in the hop blossom contribute the "bite" in the taste of beer and balance against the sweetness of the malt sugars.

4. Yeast - A single-celled plant that feeds on the malt sugars during fermentation and converts them to alcohol and carbon dioxide.

In some European countries, such as Germany and Norway, brewers are mandated by law to use only these ingredients. The Bavarian Pure Beer Code of 1516, for example, is the oldest pure food law in the world that is still in force.

In most countries, including the United States, corners are frequently cut to speed up production and reduce costs. Cheaper unmalted grains, such as corn and rice, and straight sugars such as dextrose and sucrose ("adjuncts") are substituted for a percentage of the malted barley. Hop blossoms are replaced with processed hop extracts. An assortment of additives and preservatives are utilized to give the resulting beer a prolonged shelf life or other desired characteristics.

Brewers in microbrewers, including brewpubs, generally reject these shortcuts and compromises. Most microbreweries in the United States and Canada brew only "all-malt" beers that are free of additives. The cost differential between an all-malt beer and an "adjunct" beer is minor and is not a significant consideration at the brewpub production level. Our brewpub will follow the strict quality standards of the Bavarian Beer Purity Code.

Nutritionists classify beer as a food. The ingredients that go into beer are important. A well-made good quality beer contains carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins, particularly from the B Complex group. A brewing manual from the 1600s once described beer as "liquid bread." Real beer is indeed that.

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