"Wait, that's not true?!" - Beer Myths

Welcome all to The Art of Caesura!

If this is your first dalliance into the wonderful world of The Art of Caesura, then an extra big welcome to you! I'd urge you to check out last week's post to get a better idea of what we usually get up to here...because today's a bit different!

Today, and for the next few weeks we're bringing beer back to the blog! Beer started out as a semi-regular theme over here on The Art of Caesura because I was brewing my own quite regularly. I happily brewed 23 L of various nice beers every 6 weeks for 11 euro! Unfortunately our current house doesn't really lend itself to brewing, so I haven't been talking about it as much over here. 

Well, for the next few weeks that's all going to change. 

A couple of months ago I was back home on the west coast of Canada. It seems like every time I go back, the number of breweries has doubled! Anyway I checked out a bunch of new ones (and all the old standards), and for the next few weeks I'm going to highlight a different West Coast brewery each week. 

But before we dive into that, I thought it would be fun to have a couple general posts about beer to whet your appetites! Today we're busting beer myths!

1) Ice Cold

Myth: Beer should always be served as cold as possible.

Nope! I like what Adam from Real Cask Ales had to say about this: 

"Coldness is enshrined as one of the most important qualities of beer and the race to the bottom of the thermometer has spawned ice towers and frosty mugs and all kinds of frozen hellish gimmicks"

Beer comes out of the tap cold to help with foaming, but cold beer stuns your taste buds so you can't taste much of anything. Lager should be the coldest, then ale, and stout should be consumed room temperature.

On occasion I've even seen people serve beer with ice in it!!! Madness!


2) Very Drafty

Myth: Draught beer is better than bottles or cans.

Depends on the draught really. If they flush the lines and change out old stock then yeah! Go for it! But if you order an unpopular beer from a quiet joint, the lines might be dirty and the keg might be sour. No bueno. 

Plus some beers (all the ones I've brewed) benefit from (or require) bottle conditioning - hanging out in the bottle for a bit for the yeast to give a final kick, and then mellow out. 


3) Bottles and Cans

Myth: Bottles are better than cans.

I am a proponent of this myth, so I guess I'm a snob! But in fact, cans have been proven to better preserve beer (keeping oxygen and light out)! And they're more environmentally friendly! And in a blind tasting people couldn't tell the difference between bottles and cans!


4) Storage

Myth: Storing beer at room temperature is good for the flavour.

Egad no! Beer is like many other perishables - it'll last longer if it's cooler. Here's a bit of a bonus fact for you: most beer isn't meant to be aged because most beer is cheap and packaged cheaply. There are some exceptions which age well at cellar temperatures (15 C) (barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian quadrupels), but most beers should be refrigerated (and then removed from the fridge to warm up before serving, as per myth #1). Oh, and while we're at it, store beer upright so it doesn't react with the lid. 

5) Beer Before Liquor...

Myth: Drinking beer before spirits will give you a worse hangover. 

So, all alcohol (regardless the source) is a diuretic (makes you pee) this can dehydrate you in a hurry if you're not drinking water. It's all about units of alcohol, the order you drink them in making you more hungover is an old wive's tale. 

I hope you enjoyed this jubilant return of beer to the blog. I'll see you next week for another round on The Art of Caesura!


Watching: Godless
Listening: "When You Grow Old Your Heart Dies" - Gunship


Next Week:

Beer and food, YES!!!