Beer, it is the third most popular drink consumed after water and tea in the world. And why not, it’s delicious. When beer is produced it’s called brewing. There are 4 main ingredients to brewing beer, water (main body), hops (a flavoring agent), malt or grain (source of starch and fermentation material), and yeast (responsible for fermentation and the production of alcohol). Of course other ingredients are added such as honey, fruits or herbs to help change the flavor of beer.
Some speculate that beer was first brewed 10,000 years ago. I bet that might be some bad beer today.
There are many varieties of beer but 5 types are the most popular:
Pale Ale: Uses top-fermenting yeast and is the world’s most popular style of beer. This style brings the hops forward
Stout and Porter: Made using roasted malt and barley, and slow fermenting yeast. This style of beer is very dark and full bodied
Wheat: Uses large amounts of wheat and are sometimes not filtered leaving a cloudy look to the product
Lager: A cool fermentation, this process creates a very mild and clean brew
Pilsner: A type of Pale and Lager, it’s the lightest style of beer and most light beers (Miller Lite, Coors Light) are made using this variety
Now beer can be very complex with unique yeasts, brewing temperatures, alcohol percentages, ingredients, and many other processes that go into producing this magical elixir. But beer can be very simple as well. As simple as what do you like in a beer.
Do you like your beer hoppy, light, dark, fruity, ice cold, or whatever?
Why not find out Thursday October 25th. Eden Prairie Liquor is hosting a “Fall Harvest Beer Tasting Event” where there will be over 35 different beers to sample and tickets are only $10 a piece. You can judge for yourself what style of beer tastes best to you. Tickets are available at all 3 Eden Prairie Liquor stores. But I wouldn’t delay to long because entry is limited to the first 200 individuals to purchase a ticket. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that brats will be served and are included as part of the ticket price.
I know that we beer drinkers are a generous group so we are asking that each participant bring a non perishable food item that will be donated to Eden Prairie PROP (People Reaching Out to People) a volunteer driven agency. For a list of current needs, visit propfood.org.
Cheers!
Mitch Dean, Assistant Liquor Store Operations Manager
