Beer Theory

Before we profile our first beer here at pivodrinker we thought we'd explain our philosophy of grading. The term "body" is thrown around in the tasting world without it ever really being defined. In short, it is the feel and taste in the mouth, from entrance to swallow and even after (lingering aftertaste).

Beer has four main elements when it comes to the taste: water; bubbles; barley and hops. The perfect beer for us is one where no single element stands out from the others, iow, it's cohesive. All four elements work together in unison to provide a unique experience that doesn't necessarily highlight any single element.

For example, Sierra Nevada pale ale. This is a good beer, we buy it on the regular, drink it, like it. But, the first thing you notice is the water, it stands out. It is good water but this factor will prevent it from achieving a perfect score.

Stella Artois is popular for good reason, not just marketing. It is a good effort but also cannot get a perfect score. The bubbles are off, they're small, fine, like champagne bubbles. The nature of bubbles in solution depend, we imagine, on the gas itself (in beer it's supposed to be carbon dioxide), the pressure, and then the viscosity of the liquid which would depend on levels of proteins, esters and other molecules. For some reason we notice bubbles when drinking Stella and that should not be so. BTW, the tap version of this beer is superb so it may score highly after all.

A little understood concept of tasting beer is it depends on the mood of the taster as well. I remember once I was dry for several weeks and had a long, hard, sweaty day of work. I was probably slightly dehydrated and should have had water instead of beer. This is precisely the best time to pop a cold one. On that particular day I had a cold Miller Lite and it was glorious, so enjoyable. But remember, tasting different beers is an endeavor in relativity. As good as that Miller was at that particular moment there are obviously better beers out there. As much as I enjoyed it this is not a beer that can get a perfect score. Not gonna happen.

Another test for the quality of a beer is the morning after. If there is half a bottle left (beer belongs in glass, sardines belong in cans), it's warm, it's old, and there's no cigarette butts in it go ahead and give it a try. The difference between quality beers and others will be striking.

We at pivodrinker (pivo means beer in most Slavic languages) appreciate innovation and experimentation but at heart we are purists. The first "food law" in history actually pertains to beer. There is some monastery in Germany that had 3 paintings on the wall: water; barley and hops. These paintings were put on the wall hundreds of years ago, long before Leeuwenhoek came along with his microscope and discovered microorganisms. Now there is a fourth painting of a lab flask to represent yeast. This is the definition of beer and we believe brewmasters should conquer the fundamentals before experimenting. There are all kinds of maveriks in California for example that just don't know what they're doing. They tried selling their wares in Germany and the Germans did not allow them to label it as beer. They can call it magic raspberry adult lemonade sangria delight, but they cannot call it beer.

I went to a microbrewery once and saw PVC pipes between the tanks. This is no good. Believe it or not we will profile a jalapeño beer at some point, we enjoy about one a year, and it is good believe it or not. Again, we are not against experimentation, but, there is definitely a lot of trash out there.

People have average lifespans of around 75 give or take in the first world. Since we have a limited amount of time on this earth to drink beer, we believe the rule of thumb is that the first beer of the day should be a high quality one. Start with the best and eat the cost. After the first good one go ahead on and continue with anything that grabs your fancy or assuages your wallet.

So cheers everybody and look out for our first profile coming soon.

A Vision of Loveliness.