Scientific Reasons to Respect Light Beer
Scientific Reasons to Respect Light Beer
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Scientific Reasons to Respect Light Beer
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Post #1 - November 5th, 2012, 2:11 pmI saw this story at mentalfloss.com and thought it was pretty interesting . . .It’s common to disparage light beers. As craft beers have elbowed their way into American refrigerators and taps, light beers have become punch lines. What few drinkers know, however, is that quality light beers are incredibly difficult to brew. The thin flavor means there’s little to mask defects in the more than 800 chemical compounds within. As Kyler Serfass, manager of the home-brew supply shop Brooklyn Homebrew, told me, “Light beer is a brewer’s beer. It may be bland, but it’s really tough to do.” Belgian monks and master brewers around the world marvel at how macro-breweries like Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors have perfected the process in hundreds of factories, ensuring that every pour from every brewery tastes exactly the same. Staring at a bottle, it’s staggering to consider the effort that goes into producing each ounce of the straw-colored liquid. But perhaps the most impressive thing about light beer isn’t the time needed or the craftsmanship or even the consistency, but how many lives the beverage has saved.
Scientific Reasons to Respect Light Beer
=R=By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself. --Kambei Shimada
Every human interaction is an opportunity for disappointment --RS
There's a horse loose in a hospital --JM
That don't impress me much --Shania Twain
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Post #2 - November 6th, 2012, 3:44 pmThe scientific precision and skill needed to make all Kraft Singles taste the same is probably pretty impressive too, the product is still terrible though.
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Post #3 - November 6th, 2012, 3:50 pmIt reminds me of the lesson I learned from the Project Management Institute: Quality means consistency with specifications. Grade means the level of desired (cough) attributes.
So McDonalds, for instance, has very high quality, but a lower grade than, say, Edzo's. Bud Light's quality is unsurpassed*, but grade?
* Unsurpassed is one of the finest marketing weasel-words: It means, nobody's been able to prove they're better than we are, but we haven't proven we're better than they are either.What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang
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Post #4 - November 6th, 2012, 4:02 pmNot being a fan of light beer myself, I still found the piece interesting on a number of levels (which is why I posted it). First, the history of the category is astonishing, especially given that it's been mainly fueled by marketing efforts. That 3 of the top selling beers in the U.S. are derivations of a product that all but failed initially is fairly telling about our love of brands.
I also found this passage really surprising:For Brooklyn Homebrew’s Kyler Serfass, it took three months of experimentation to crack the code using an old refrigerator he discovered in the basement of his apartment building. “When I saw that fridge, it was like a light shone down from heaven,” he said. Serfass made only two cases’ worth of his “Budweiser clone,” but the duplication was considered such an achievement that it won him a gold medal at this year’s Homebrew Alley competition, held at the Brooklyn Brewery.
=R=By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself. --Kambei Shimada
Every human interaction is an opportunity for disappointment --RS
There's a horse loose in a hospital --JM
That don't impress me much --Shania Twain
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Post #5 - November 6th, 2012, 4:32 pmFun read Ronnie - thanks!
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Post #6 - November 6th, 2012, 4:38 pmI've been trying to figure out how Miller Lite won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2010 and then a silver medal this year. Maybe this article helps explain it.
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Post #7 - November 6th, 2012, 5:10 pmTomInSkokie wrote:I've been trying to figure out how Miller Lite won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2010 and then a silver medal this year. Maybe this article helps explain it.
Yeah, I've always wondered about this, too but I think it's a matter of how beers are categorized in competitions.
=R=By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself. --Kambei Shimada
Every human interaction is an opportunity for disappointment --RS
There's a horse loose in a hospital --JM
That don't impress me much --Shania Twain
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Post #9 - November 6th, 2012, 7:24 pmronnie_suburban wrote:I saw this story at mentalfloss.com and thought it was pretty interesting . . .It’s common to disparage light beers. As craft beers have elbowed their way into American refrigerators and taps, light beers have become punch lines. What few drinkers know, however, is that quality light beers are incredibly difficult to brew. The thin flavor means there’s little to mask defects in the more than 800 chemical compounds within. As Kyler Serfass, manager of the home-brew supply shop Brooklyn Homebrew, told me, “Light beer is a brewer’s beer. It may be bland, but it’s really tough to do.” Belgian monks and master brewers around the world marvel at how macro-breweries like Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors have perfected the process in hundreds of factories, ensuring that every pour from every brewery tastes exactly the same. Staring at a bottle, it’s staggering to consider the effort that goes into producing each ounce of the straw-colored liquid. But perhaps the most impressive thing about light beer isn’t the time needed or the craftsmanship or even the consistency, but how many lives the beverage has saved.
Scientific Reasons to Respect Light Beer
=R=
Just add water.fine words butter no parsnips
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Post #10 - November 6th, 2012, 10:09 pmLess filling!
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Post #11 - November 6th, 2012, 11:20 pmdeesher wrote:Less filling!
Tastes great!
By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself. --Kambei Shimada
Every human interaction is an opportunity for disappointment --RS
There's a horse loose in a hospital --JM
That don't impress me much --Shania Twain
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Post #12 - November 7th, 2012, 2:14 pmronnie_suburban wrote:deesher wrote:Less filling!
Tastes great!
And it's triple-hopped for a true Pilsner taste!
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Post #13 - November 7th, 2012, 2:34 pmA lot of (respected) brewers I know really enjoy lighter styles and have a great deal of respect for them. Piece has long been known for their very nice Kolsch, Golden Arm and Three Floyds usually has some great low-alcohol beers on tap at their brewery. The Gorch Fock is an awesome and very straight forward/authentic Helles Lager, the best Old Style you never had. I find it strange that self-professed beer lovers (or coffee, or food or whatever...) don't take the time to explore and try to appreciate every style. Or maybe I'm just a drunk.
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Post #14 - November 7th, 2012, 11:50 pmMaybe
I'm a book lover, but I'm quite certain by now that I don't enjoy romance novels.
I'm a film lover, but there are a number of sub-genres that hold little to no interest to me despite repeated exploration efforts.
There are some enjoyable light beers out there, but even the best I've had are still beers I don't appreciate as much as a merely good IPA, or sour, or stout, or...
And while the article Ronnie linked did provide some reasons to respect the technical achievements of the brewers of macro-brewery light beers, I can't say it did anything to make me respect those particular light beers at all
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Post #15 - November 10th, 2012, 2:50 pmjmc wrote:A lot of (respected) brewers I know really enjoy lighter styles and have a great deal of respect for them.
Yeah, it's pretty much well-known in homebrewing circles that making light beers or American adjunct lagers is incredibly difficult, as any off-flavor is immediately noticeable. Almost impossible for a homebrewer. You can't just bury it under hops or yeast or malt. I want to say that Charlie Papazian mentions it in the bible of homebrewing, "Joy of Homebrewing."
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Post #16 - November 15th, 2012, 11:00 amLooks like David Chang is looking to make his own microbrewed light beer... Given the painstaking effort the Milk Bar (albeit Christina Tosi) went through to make a frosting that tasted exactly like frosting from the jar (and it really does! I'll give it that), it doesn't surprise me...but it is interesting
http://eater.com/archives/2012/11/12/mo ... t-spot.php
