Six Pack o' Beer Facts: Episode 1

Quirky and cool things you might never have known about beer you can take home with you right now.

Before we get stuck into today’s post, there’s going to be a few changes around here. Henceforth the Blind Taste Test blog will be more geared towards resources, facts and all things beer knowledge. For beer, event and other reviews, head on over to my Blind Taste Test: Beer Reviews page. For almost everything else, head to @blindtastetestgf on Instagram. I will be exploring other platforms in future to get more content out there.

The Six Pack o’ Beer Facts will be a fortnightly series of, as the name suggests, easily digestible beer facts you can take anywhere.
 
So, without further ado…

Beer is an endlessly fascinating subject, but sometimes it can get a little boring when things get long winded. Just ask Conan O’Brien who interviewed Jim Koch of The Boston Brewing Co...

But there is no reason why beer knowledge can’t be fun and engaging. To that end, here are six quick fire beer facts you can fit in your backpack or share with friends.

1. Enterobacter and lambic

Lovers of sour might be intrigued - or put off - to know that enterobacter (think E. coli, think gut flora) is imperative in the very early stages of spontaneous fermentation.

Enterobacter is quickly crowded out by Saccharomyces, Brett and other bugs, hence it is totally benign long before the final beer is done fermenting. However, many homebrewers fail in their attempts to brew the style because of enterobacter’s absence.

2. B-complex vitamins and hefe weissbier

E. coli is regarded as anything but healthy, but precisely the opposite is true of German hefe weissbier yeast. It is choc full of B-complex vitamins, including B12. It follows a Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier with dinner might turn out to be healthy after all.

In fact vegans looking to bolster their B-vitamins may need look no further. It is a common misconception that B12 is present in animal flesh inherently. The truth of the matter is B12 is present in soil and dirt in which animals roll about and humans are no longer exposed to.

But you needn’t think about that. Just think of the health benefits and how awesomely hefe weissbier pairs with things like dahl, masala and all manner of other foods thanks to its higher than average acidity.

3. Saison Dupont: The most underground brewery ever?

Saison is another great table beer, but we mighn’t have one of the stalwarts of the style without a bit of quick thinking and a metric shit tonne of hard work! Belgium’s Brasserie Dupont, makers of the classic Saison Dupont, was directly in the firing line of enemy NAZI air strikes during the Second World War. 


In order to save the brewery, then on the cusp of celebrating 100 years in operation (albeit operating under different owners following Louis Dupont’s acquisition of the farmhouse brewery in 1920), the brewery’s tanks were buried deep underground.

The war never quite ended for Brasserie Dupont and other brewers of fine Belgian ale. As Pilsners and pale ales grew in popularity in Belgium other beer styles struggled to remain relevant. Until writer Michael Jackson introduced the world (and indeed Belgians!) to Saison Dupont it only represented 2% of the brewery’s sales, and it was considered for discontinuation.


4. Blue cheese and barleywine - and the aristocracy

The 1% of Britain during the 1800s sure had good taste! At a time when pesky wars with the French meant fine red wines from the continent were hard to come by, what were the aristocrats to do but enjoy barleywine instead.

Indeed stronger beers such as barleywines and imperial stouts were the preserve of the wealthy elite (so too pale ales for a time) until the wars, taxation and cultural shifts saw darker beers fade into relative obscurity during the middle of the 20th Century. But before that time, the aristocrats found the now famous pairing of blue cheese and barleywine to be so damn good they kept it secret from the common folk.

5. Keep it in the fridge!

Necessity is the mother of all invention. Just ask the military or those who worked with brewing during the 1700s and 1800s. The process of refrigeration, essentially moving a heat source from one point to another, was invented at the Spaten brewery of Bavaria by Carl von Linde in 1873.

Prior to the advent of modern refrigeration brewing was at the mercy of the seasons. Refrigeration ushered in the modern era of brewing in which brewers could brew and lager beer all year round.

What followed of course was the commoditisation and globalisation of beer, a highly perishable product, which could then be distributed over long distances by railcar. Anheuser-Busch established the St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company just five years following von Linde’s landmark invention. Small wonder the 39 breweries in Brooklyn servicing the local comunity all but disappeared while beer took marketshare from cheaper, then easier to produce spirits in the South.

6. The Be-Fuggled New World

Once again necessity is the mother of all invention. Prior to the advent of Cascade hops, Cluster hops made up to 80% of Oregon’s hop production (as overseen by the US Department of Agriculture - USDA’s breeding program) before the onset of Downy mildew which blighted crops. The Cascade hop was developed by the USDA and Oregon State University not only for its aromatic properties but also its strong resistance to disease.

The Cascade hop variety (first released in 1972) is a cross-pollenation between the English Fuggle variety, the little known Russian Serebrianker and an unknown native male hop with the allocated number USDA 56013. The Cascade hop, categorised as an aroma rather than a bittering variety, went on to redefine beer as we know it today with its citrus and piny aromatic profile.




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