The evolution and slow divergence of Irish Porter from the London original is a story that’s been repeated across the world. Displace a beer and, like a plant, it will adapt to its new environment.
Before New England’s Valley Malt existed, a farmhouse brewery could never truly be a farmhouse brewery, and a harvest beer could never truly be a harvest beer.
A few hundred years as North Germany’s favorite beer, yet it’s disappeared virtually without a trace. What was it exactly, and why has it been so thoroughly forgotten?
So potent was Adam that upon arriving in Dortmund, the famously hard-drinking Frederick William IV, king of Prussia, downed a giant mug (or mugs) of beer and passed out for a full day.
You might be surprised at some of the multitude of forms Mild Ale has taken. Many were about as dissimilar from the modern version as you can imagine. But let’s get one thing straight first: The name Mild has nothing to do with low gravity or low hopping rates.
Just how fine can you go with your crush? The internet’s general rule of thumb says, “Crush until you’re scared and then crush a little more.” In reality, you don’t have to shoot for the maximum efficiency from your crush. Most mills’ default settings work like a charm.
Often, the grain is used to give a new twist to a classic style. When you get it just right, its spicy tang plays on a nutty, chocolate-like background with just a touch of coffee.
What started as “a tiny shop under a tarp lean-to in downtown Bamberg,” is now the world’s largest organic malt producer, supplying more than 80 different types of malts to clients in 115 countries—and they’re still evolving.
When you boil it all down, beer is little more than four simple ingredients—malt, hops, water and yeast. Join us as we explore these humble components in a two-part series taking it all back to basics.
Whether used as a sweet and earthy backbone in otherwise crisp, hoppy German Pilsners, or as the center of attention in rich bocks and robust Scotch Ales, malt brings more than sugar for alcohol conversion to the world’s best beers.