All About Beer
From hip hops to pale ales: A guide to your favorite pints
by Stephanie Kern

Water, barley, hops and yeast—put ‘em together and you’ve got beer. Canadians love it and summer is the season for it, but how much do we really know about our favourite beverage?
Beer is much like wine in that it’s built with complex flavours and can pair well with many foods. The main difference is that great wine depends on high quality grapes while with great beer it’s the brewing process that ensures a high quality product.
Before we get started there is one simple thing to remember about beer: it either falls into the ale or lager family. Read on to learn how to spot one versus the other.

Ale
Ale is top fermented at warm temperatures (15 to 20 degrees Celsius), creating a darker, fruitier, more complex beer. The type of hops used in ale gives it that bitter and sometimes nutty flavour. Some of the best ale can be found in England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany.

Lager
A lager is crisp and fresh on the palate, which is the result of bottom fermentation at cooler temperatures (5 to 9 degrees Celsius). This is the kind of easy drinking beer that you crave after some hard work on a hot day. Most of today’s most recognizable labels, such as Molson Canadian, Heineken or Stella Artois, are lagers.
Now that we know some basics it’s time to learn about some of the popular styles of beer in each family.

India Pale Ale
Don’t let the name fool you, this beer is more of a copper to amber colour than it is pale. It is higher in alcohol and is more “hoppy” than other beers, as it was originally shipped from England to India in the hopes it would make it to its final destination and still taste like beer rather than vinegar.
Food match: grilled lamb burger with extra old cheddar cheese and Black Sheep Ale (England)

Pilsner
One of the oldest styles of beer and originally from a town in the Czech Republic called Pilsen. It has long since become the leader in gold lagers around the world, with its Bohemian Saaz hops creating an easy drinking, crisp and refreshing beer.
Food match: jerk chicken with Staropramen (Czech Republic)

Porter and Stout
These are the dark ales most people associate with winter but match them with a good BBQ menu and you have a winner. Porter came first in England and was named after the porters of the London docks who loved this new style of beer. Later, Arthur Guinness adopted the style into a lower alcohol beer with a smooth roasted flavour that he brought to Ireland and called—you guessed it—Guinness.
Food match: maple glazed BBQ ribs with London Porter (England)

Wheat Beer
Some people think wheat beer isn’t a serious contender but taste one and you’ll see how complex they can be. Two different styles of these ales are Belgian and Bavarian. Belgian wheat beer, also known as white beer or “wit”, is spiced with orange peel and coriander creating a very distinct flavour. Bavarian wheat beer gets its original taste from a yeast family called Bavarian wheat beer yeast. This yeast imparts a spicy clove flavour and a fruit aroma.
Food match: fresh green salad with classic French vinaigrette and Mort Subite (Belgium)

Craft Beer
This is the buzz word in beer right now. It is not as much a style as it is a grassroots movement to bring beer back to basics. These brew masters focus on small batches, high quality raw ingredients and a guarantee of no additives or preservatives. In Ontario alone there are over 25 craft breweries such as Mill Street Brewery, Beau’s All Natural Brewing and Great Lakes brewery.

This Summer:
• Attend Hart House’s second annual Craft Beer Festival on Thursday, July 30, 2009 www.harthouse.ca/craft
• Stop by Volo Café at 587 Yonge Street and enjoy one of their unique beer selections on the patio.
• Invite your friends over for a barbecue and a blind beer tasting—have guests bring beer from their favorite style.

Stephanie Kern is an event planner at Hart House, a trained chef and is certified by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers.