MdV: Merchant du Vin beer e-newsletter – Thursday June 30, 2005:  Beer from England and Scotland: May we recommend trying the only British lagers currently available in the United States?

 

Ayinger Brau-Weisse, the world benchmark for Bavarian wheat beer, is now pouring on draft throughout the US:

http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/ay_brau_w_draft_3_15_2005.pdf

 

We are very pleased that Rochefort Trappist Ales are now part of the Merchant du Vin portfolio:

http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/5_breweries/rochefort_beers.html

 

Lots of new press for fine beer: The Men’s Journal picked Ayinger Brau-Weisse, Jahrhundertbier, and Celebrator; Rochefort 10, and Samuel Smith India Ale in the Top 50 Beers in the World - see the article right here: http://mensjournal.com/feature/0507/bestBeer_world.html

 

WB News picked up the Men’s Journal story and ran this piece on television: http://www1.criticalmention.com/vg/belgianexperts/  

 

Also, Sante Magazine featured Ayinger Ur-Weisse; Organic Style magazine suggested Samuel Smith Organic Lager as a great choice; Nightclub and Bar magazine announced the release of Westmalle Tripel in 750 ml.  (See the June issues of these magazines) 

 

Beer festivals, dinners, and events are offering beer lovers all across America a chance to discover the classic styles . . . Full national news & event listing at:

http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/news.html

 

 

 

Beer Chat from the Beer Court Jester: Beer from England and Scotland, and the only British lager in the US.

 

Beer from the United Kingdom has played a major part in the American Good Beer Revolution.  The history, tradition, and flavor of these beers are reasons why many American craft breweries began their recipe book with a pale ale, a porter, and a stout. 

 

While fermented beverages made from barley were first made thousands of years ago in the “fertile crescent” of Mesopotamia (Iraq), it was probably England where hops became the spice of choice to be used in beermaking.  Many different herbs and spices have been added to beer (and sometimes still are) but today, hops are in every beer recipe worldwide.

 

The United Kingdom brewing tradition began with ales, the fruity-tasting, “top”-fermented beers that ferment somewhat rapidly at warmer temperatures, and can be ready to serve relatively quickly – in 10 days or two weeks.  Because of a temperate climate, ales could generally be brewed year-round, even before the days of regular central heat.

 

English brewers have supplied their consumers with variety and quality by means of creative innovation.  When a beer blended by hand at British taps became popular, brewers produced the style as a finished beer – porter.  In the early 19th century, when technology changed and paler-colored malts became available, pale ale was born.  And when pale ale spoiled during slow, sail-powered shipment from England to the soldiers and colonials in India, brewers built a durable pale ale – India Pale Ale – to make the journey safely.  Just in case some readers don’t know the IPA story:

 

In the days when India was colony of England, British brewers would send pale ale to India.  The journey took many weeks by sailing ship - there was no Suez Canal, so ships went around Africa, and sometimes the casks suffered extreme temperature variation within the ships’ holds.  Often the beer was not at its best when it arrived in India. 

No good British beer in India?  This would not do, so brewers resourcefully designed a beer that would travel well: it was already known that both alcohol and hops served as stabilizing agents, so brewers increased hops and alcohol in pale ales to make India Pale Ale, or IPA.  This style made the voyage in much better shape, and was popular immediately among the Britons living in India.  (It also made a fine complement to spicy Indian curries and chutneys.)  IPA quaffers who returned to England sought it there, and the style became part of the UK brewing tradition.  (Quick note: the style is properly known as “India Pale Ale,” never “Indian Pale Ale.”)

 

In Scotland, hops do not grow as well as in England so Scottish brewers had to pay a bit more for them to be shipped from a distance.  Generally, Scottish beers show lower levels of bitterness from less hops and focus on rich depth of malt, sometimes even with sweetness.  Traquair House, in the border country of Peeblesshire, is a tiny Scottish brewery housed in an estate mostly built between about 1100 and 1600 AD.  As with many estates, beer was brewed there in the very early days for in-house and local consumption, but the brewhouse had shut down by the early 19th century. In the mid 1960s, the laird (lord) of Traquair, Peter Maxwell Stuart, decided to begin brewing again at Traquair.  He began to produce an ale that was made in as traditional a manner as possible: small batches of malty, strong ale that were rich and complex with low bitterness.  To this day, Traquair House Ales are fermented in wooden vessels as they would have been hundreds of years ago, the wood adding complexity to the finished beer.

 

In England today, traditional ales are still brewed to the classic recipes – pale ale, porter, brown ale, India pale ale, stout – and no brewer represents the classic styles as well as Samuel Smith, in Tadcaster, Yorkshire.  The brewery was founded in 1758, and still uses water from the original well dug that year.  The beers have been growing in sales and distribution in the US for the 25 years they have been imported, and Old Brewery Pale Ale, Taddy Porter, Nut Brown Ale, Oatmeal Stout, and India Ale still represent the style benchmarks.  Samuel Smith also brews Imperial Stout – a style originally made for shipment to Russian Czars – and Samuel Smith Winter Welcome was the first introduction for many Americans to the hearty “winter warmer” style ale.

 

But a trend in England has led to a fine option to American beer connoisseurs: in recent years, all-malt lagers, a Continental development, have been growing in popularity throughout the UK.  Lagers, fermented via a different yeast strain than that used for ales, have a less fruity component to their flavor and are often served just a bit colder than ales.  Samuel Smith makes two varieties of lager that are available in the US, Samuel Smith’s Pure Brewed Lager and Samuel Smith’s Organic Lager, which is USDA Certified Organic. 

 

Unlike American light lager beers, both of these are made without the use of corn or rice – the only ingredients are barley malt, hops, yeast and water.  They have wonderful body, and a malt structure that can support more hops and more flavor.  For summer, they especially fit the bill for quenching tastiness.

 

 

Merchant du Vin, America’s Premier Specialty Beer Importer Since 1978

www.merchantduvin.com