What is BEER ?   Beer is an alcoholic beverage made from malted grains, hops, yeast, and water. The grain is usually barley or wheat, but sometimes corn and rice are used as well. Fruit, herbs and spices may also be used for special styles. In the distant past, the terms "beer" and "ale" meant different things. "Ale" was originally made without using hops, while "beer" did use hops. Since virtually all commercial products now use hops, the term "beer" now encompasses two broad categories: ales and lagers.

What are ALES ?   Ales are brewed with "top-fermenting" yeasts at close to room temperatures, 10-21C. Ales encompass the broadest range of beer styles including bitters, pale ales, porters, stouts, barley wines, trappist, lambic, and alt. The British Isles are famous for their ales and it is a popular style with homebrewers.

What are LAGERS ?  Lagers are brewed with "bottom-fermenting" yeasts at much colder temperatures, 2-10C over long periods of time (months). This is called "lagering". Lagers include bocks, doppelbocks, Munich- and Vienna-style, Märzen/Oktoberfest and the famous pilsners. Pilsner beer originated in the town of Pilsen, now in the Czech Republic and was the first non-cloudy beer.

What is BOCK Beer ?  Bock is a style of lager beer which originated in Germany. It was traditionally brewed in the fall, at the end of the growing season, when barley and hops were at their peak. It was "largered" all winter and enjoyed in the spring at the beginning of the new brewing season. Bocks can be pale (helles) or dark (dunkles) and there are double(doppel) bocks which are extra strong.  Bocks are usually strong beers made with lots of malt yielding a very full-bodied, alcoholic beer. A persistent myth has been that bock beers are made from the dregs at the bottom of a barrel when they are cleaned in the spring. This probably seemed logical because of the heavier body and higher strength of bocks. From a brewing standpoint, this is clearly impossible for two reasons: 1) The "dregs" left after fermentation are unfermentable, which is exactly why they are left over. They cannot be fermented again to make more beer. 2) Any attempt to re-use the "dregs" would probably result in serious bacterial contamination and a product which does not resemble beer as we know it.

What are DRY Beers ?  "Dry" beer was developed in Japan. Using more adjuncts (like corn and rice) and genetically altered yeasts, these beers ferment more completely and have less residual sweetness and hence less aftertaste.

What are ICE Beers ?  The making of "ice" beers, in general, involves lowering the temperature of the finished product until the water in it begins to freeze and then filtering out the ice crystals that form. Since water will freeze before alcohol, the result is higher alcohol content. The ice forms around yeast cells, protein particles, etc. so these get removed as well; leaving fewer components to provide taste and character.  This process is not new to brewing, having been developed in Germany to produce "eisbocks". Apparently they were produced by accident during the traditional spring celebration with bock beers. Spring, being the capricious season that it is, probably sent a late cold snap around one year causing some of the spring bocks to partially freeze. People drank it anyway and liked the change in flavour.

What is DRAUGHT Beer ?  Technically speaking, draught beer is beer served from the cask in which it has been conditioned. It has been applied, loosely, to any beer served from a large container. More recently, it has been used as a promotional term for canned or bottled beer to try to convince us that the beer inside tastes like it came from a cask.

How is Specific Gravity related to Beer ?   Specific gravity is a measure of the density of a liquid. Distilled water has a specific gravity of 1.000 at 15C and is used as a baseline. The specific gravity of beer measured before fermentation is called its Original Gravity or OG.  This gives an idea of how much sugar is dissolved in the wort (unfermented beer) on which the yeast can work. The range of values goes from approximately 1.020 to 1.160 meaning the wort can be from 1.02 to 1.16 times as dense as water. When measured after fermentation it is called the Final Gravity (FG). The difference between these two values is a good gauge of the amount of alcohol produced during fermentation.   The OG will always be higher than the FG for two reasons. First, the yeast will have processed much of the sugar that was present, thus, reducing the gravity. And, second, the alcohol produced by fermentation is less dense than water, further reducing the gravity. The OG has a significant effect on the taste of the final product and not just from an alcoholic standpoint. A high OG usually results in beer with more body and sweetness than a lower OG. This is because some of the sugars measured in the OG are not fermentable by the yeast and will remain after fermentation.

How do I judge a Beer ?  Much has been written about wine tasting and that technique and vocabulary apply quite nicely to beer, as well. Of course, beer is a more complex beverage and its evaluation covers some additional ground, but the concepts are the same. The biggest change most drinkers must undergo is warming up their beer. Ice cold beer numbs the taste buds and doesn't allow the beer to develop its full flavour potential. In general, pale beer is best served at cooler temperatures than dark beer and lagers cooler than ales. Start with 5-10C for the cooler beers and 10-15C for the warmer ones. Beer should be evaluated using four senses: sight, smell, taste, feel. Always drink beer from a clear glass to fully appreciate it. Look at it and note the colour and clarity. Hold it up to a light if necessary. Take a good sniff from the glass to get the aroma or bouquet. Taste it, swishing it around in your mouth and notice its body and flavours. After swallowing, notice any aftertaste or finish.  You should be noticing things like: Was it golden, amber, black?  Clear or cloudy?   Did it smell sweet, malty, flowery, alcoholic?   Did it taste bitter, sweet, tart, smooth, roasty?  Did it feel "thick" or "thin" as you swished it around?  Did it leave a buttery taste, nutty, fruity?  With additional experience and some reading you will begin to develop not only a sense of what you enjoy, but what marks a truly good beer from a bland or mediocre one.Also, it is usually a good idea to try a beer more than once. Get it from different sources, try it when your in a different mood or setting, wait for a full moon, whatever. Many factors will affect your overall perception, so be flexible. Be aware, as well, that tasting many beers at once is not a good idea. The taste buds begin to tire and send confusing impressions.

How should I Store Beer ?  In general, beer should be stored in a cool place. In warmer climates this often means refrigeration and you get used to letting your beer warm a little before you drink it. Cooler climates often use cellars to store beer which works quite well. As long as temperatures are kept between 2C and 15C you're probably OK. Keep in mind that storing at the warmer end of this scale will increase any aging effects since any yeast remaining in the beer will be more active.

How long does Beer keep ?  To quote Michael Jackson: "If you see a beer, do it a favour, and drink it. Beer was not meant to age." Generally, that is true. However, some beers that are strong and/or highly hopped must age to reach their full flavour potential.  How a beer is conditioned and handled has a great affect on its shelf-life. Beer conditioned in the bottle or cask still contains live, active yeast and should be drunk as soon as possible. Most larger scale, commercial beers have been filtered or pasteurised to remove/kill the yeast and stabilise the product for the longer storage times encountered in the retail world. In any case, stored beer should never be exposed to heat or strong light.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts.So, in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. That is where we get the phrase "Mind your P's and Q's!"

Beer was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It's clear from the Mayflower's log that the crew didn't want to waste beer looking for a better site. The log goes on to state that the passengers "were hasten ashore and made to drink water that the seamen might have the more beer".

After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle, often without armour or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.

In 1740, Admiral Vernon, of the British fleet, decided to water down the navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased with the Admiral "old grog" Vernon (nicknamed after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore) . After a time,the term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy,"a word still in use today.

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups.When they needed a refill, they used the whistle, to get some service."Wet your whistle", is the phrase inspired by this practice.