The Five Best Beers For Barbecue

The Five Best Beers For Barbecue

It’s time to dust off the grill and break out the tongs again, barbecue season is here! In celebration, here’s a hand selected list of some of the finest brews ever to be paired with outdoor cooking. Drink up, read on, and enjoy.

Full Sail Session Black

A dark beer that’s surprisingly light. Toasty malts combine with a hint of chocolate to give this brew a full bodied taste without sitting too heavily on your stomach. The flavors are strong enough though to ensure that it stands up well next to a big juicy steak fresh from the grill.

Sprecher Black

A bit bolder and fuller than the black mentioned above, this beer is stout enough to stand up to anything you can throw at it. Don’t serve this with mild foods like grilled chicken and fish, or the beer may run away with your taste buds, but if you’re serving up sharp, bold flavors on the barbecue, then this is an excellent addition to the menu.

Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen

If you’re doing seafood on the grill, then you want something lighter than the beers above. In that case, this is our recommendation. It’s a wheat ale, light in color and filled with zesty lemon tones that will pair perfectly with your seafood entrees.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Crisp, clean and refreshing, this tasty pilsner has just the right amount of zip to go with most anything, but really stands out among lighter fare, in particular chicken dishes and halumi (our vegetarian friends just love barbecues halumi cheese.)

Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Hard Cider

If you like your barbecue Southern Style, then you need a drink that can pair well with that. If that’s where your tastes run, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better match than this hard cider by Angry Orchard. Sweet, tart with a ginger bite that will leave your taste buds begging for more.

Ommegang Abbey Ale

Sometimes, lamb can be a hard meat to pair properly with a beer, but in this case, it’s about as close to a perfect match as you can get. Ruby in hue and Belgian inspired, this beer is great by itself, but it’s even better with some freshly seared lamb flavoured with rosemary.

Try these, and many other great barbecue beers at the Edmonton International Beer Fest next April. now!

Why Good Water is So Important to Beer Brewers

Why Good Water is So Important to Beer Brewers

Beer is affected largely by the quality ingredients that make it up. The importance of water in the quality of a beer cannot be overestated as it constitutes about 95% of the total ingredients. Looking around the world at the established brewing regions, you can see a pattern of good fresh water availability. Great water makes for some great beer. An indepth understanding of the impact water has on flavor is essential and very important to the brewer, here is a quick overview.

There are only four key ingredients necessary for brewing, with so few total ingredients it is easy to see why the water needs to be perfect and is infact the most important amongst them. Water is an integral part of the recipe. The water incorporated into the beer must have a very good taste in order for the beer produced to also have a good taste. /p>

You may have heard the term “Hard Water” before and not been 100% sure of what it means. Basically it refers to the amount of minerals in the water that cannot be removed by boiling or through water softening. This is why defining the taste of water is best broken down chemically.

Calcium

This is a principal mineral and it determines the hardness of water. It helps to promote the flavor and clarity in the finished beer. It is also instrumental because of its enzyme activities on the components of beer and acidifying effect on the wort.

Sulphates

If there is too much sulphur in the water then it will have an unpleasant smell. Sulphur also contributes to the permanent hardness of water. It also emphasizes the hop bitterness and makes the bitterness seem drier and crisper. If there is too much sulphur it can cause sickness.

Magnesium

Magnesium is also essential in brewing liquor as it works with the yeast acting as a co-factor for producing certain enzymes required in the process of fermentation.

Obviously there is much more complexity involved but you can definitely see how important the water source is for beer brewing. As these minerals in the water mix in, they change the chemical process that creates the beer. So if you are considering making a home brew of beer, be sure to consider your water as your most important ingredient! Good luck!

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