How “Far” Beer Has Come…

there are/were multiple purity laws. I assume you're talking about the 1516 one here. would you make similar claims about the others (Regensburg, Bamberg, etc) -- where wheat beers were not traditional/popular -- also being "simply a measure put in place to protect wheat supply"?

 

In the year 1516 Duke William IV of Bavaria was engaged in a civil war with his brother over which would sit on the throne. William had to raise an army and supply it as well as pay for it. His new law (actually a proclamation) was designed to achieve these goals and it did. By limiting beer production to using barley malt as the only allowed grain he freed up wheat production to make bread for his troops and increased tax revenue by having his agents collect taxes directly from the maltsters instead of trying to chase down everyone who was making and selling beer.

He also reserved for himself and his heirs the exclusive right to brew wheat beer which continued to be made under his monopoly and his heirs reaped fortunes from that for the next several centuries.

 

sure, but bamberg (for example) was a (separate) bishopric during those years. to this day, they still don't consider themselves bavarian

 

Great thread.

I think many are missing the point by focusing on where we draw the line in terms of ingredients; the line needs to be drawn in terms of quality, and many of these fad beers are objectively terrible beers.

Historically, beer has been made with a wide range of ingredients, but there was always a sweet grain base with various herb/fruit ingredients to offset sweetness with bitterness or sourness. Good beer has complexity and depth, and complexity and depth only exist at the intersections of sweetness, sourness, and bitterness. The art and science of brewing has always been about creating deep, complex flavors by fermenting agricultural products into a beverage whose flavors transcend its component ingredients. The intrigue, the mystique, the fascination, the passion for the craft—none of this would exist if beer all tasted like its ingredients and had no depth of flavor.

Most of the new smoothie/sweet/kids cereal beers don’t fit this traditional model or intent of beer. Many beers that contain peanut butter do not transcend their component ingredients; they taste like peanut butter. Beers made to taste like kids cereal taste like kids cereal. Neither peanut butter nor Cocoa Crispies are offsetting base sweetness with sourness or bitterness, they are simply changing the flavor of the base sweetness. They are fundamental departures from experimental ingredients of the past. They fail to create any depth of flavor at the boundary of sweetness and bitterness, only simplistic base flavors that appeals to our inner 7-year old’s palate while delivering a buzz. Even hazy IPAs are slowly losing their balancing bitterness. These sorts of fads damage the craft of brewing because they devalue the art and science of creating complex flavors from simple ingredients.

There is no doubt that many of these alcoholic snack food beers have a wide appeal to the general populace. But the craft beer world needs to decide if we’re going to maintain quality and respect for the craft and tradition of brewing or allow it to become homogenized for the masses in the name of ever-growing profits. If we continue to tell ourselves that “beer is just business” and accept and excuse terrible fad beers because it’s what some people like, we will lose shelf space for quality beer and eventually the whole golden era of craft beer will fade away.

This is probably all elitist navel gazing drivel, but its how I feel. Cheers.

 

Fools gold is a actually fuel. It’s pretty good if you think peanut butter banana is a combo

 

Ahhh… so they make those teas I buy from Whole Foods on occasion….

 

This was a good thread to spend time today catching up with from the beginning. I think that "going too far" will only drive the innovation. Sure it may be cyclical in nature, but it'll ensure we have a steady supply of what is in demand, as well as options that are less popular. I don't love these heavily fruited smoothie sours and such (though I've had some that are great fun) but I don't find their presence to be an obstacle to the advancement of beer. Basically just saying I hate elitists, drink what you enjoy, and venture out every now and then to drink something new

 

Similary to the situation in Britain where beer was taxed on the malt used.So no other ingredients apart from hops,yeast and water were allowed ( and later on,sugar)
But this had nothing to do with beer quality and eventually the brewers got the law changed.