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| Voldemort was misunderstood |
Since its still winter, which I know to be a fact as
there is actually snow on the ground in Northern Virginia, I want to continue
this recent trend of dissecting dark, “wintery” themes in the brewing world.
Contrary to what Jim Koch and the gang at the Boston Beer Company would have
you believe, January is no time to be drinking lighter, more spring-like
creations, unless you live in a world where that sort of thing doesn't matter.
WHAT DOES IT MATTER?! (Sorry, that may have been too soon.)
Many people, most of them unenlightened or newcomers to
the crafty beer scene, get confused when the terms “light” and “dark” get
thrown around when describing beer. Some people say “dark” when they actually
mean “heavy.” Others say “dark” and are actually talking about “calories.” Then
there are those who say “dark” and are only referring to Guinness.
When it comes to beer, quite simply, the words “light”
and “dark” are referring to the color of the beer… period. A beer can be very
dark in color but have a crisp body and mouthfeel, and be relatively low in
calories. Contrarily wise, a beer can be lighter in color, and also be a heavy,
high-gravity monster. The color of the beer (light or dark) is a characteristic
of how the beer is made, but does not drive other characteristics in the beer
as is commonly believed.
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| All barley, three different roasts |
Beer color, like beer weight and flavor, depends on the malted
grains that are used. As you know, all beer, even properly made wheat beers,
contains barley, or at least it should. When barley is processed for brewing,
the barley grains are stripped off the stalks and are malted, or made to
germinate by soaking in water, and then halted from germinating further by
drying with hot air. The drying with hot air (or kilning) is where the color
comes in. The longer you expose the grains to heat, the more roasted they
become, and the darker in color they become. The darker the malted barley
grains are, the darker the final product will be. That is a very simple
description of the process, but for the sake of not going full-on beer nerd, it
will suffice.
A beer’s gravity, or “weight” as it is more commonly
understood by non-brewers, has nothing to do with the color of the malted
grains, but everything to do with the amount of grains used. This is why you
can have a heavy beer that is pale in color and a dark beer that feels very
light and crispy. Calories are a byproduct of the type and amount of grain
used, but again, are not necessarily tied to the color of the roasted grains.
Not to mention that real beer drinkers do not count calories, and any brewer that claims a beer to be low in
calories is trying to sell you swill. Get out and exercise, and stop
counting calories in your beer.
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| False advertising runs rampant in the beer world |
So how did we get here? How did a country that was
founded by brewers become so unenlightened in the terms of beer? I point to the
general malaise of late 19th century and early to mid-20th century beer
drinkers, coupled with the deceitful tactics and mass-propagated advertising
campaigns of BIG BEER as being the culprit. For all of their shortcomings in
the quality and processes of their beer, the big boys have always been quite
skilled in sales. I am not talking about volume of units sold, but rather
selling the consumer on the idea that “it doesn't matter.” Full-scale dis-education
operations have been their policy since the beginning, and their consumers have
been hoodwinked with lower prices and stories of less calories and bikini
models. “Less filling; tastes great!”
Fortunately, we currently live in an age where Budweiser,
Miller and Coors are being exposed, and taken to task by the informed and
enlightened for their inferior products. They still make their swill, and it
still outsells all other American beer annually, but every year, they lose more
and more control. And because of citadels of truth like this illustrious blog,
more and more people are learning that “less filling” doesn't mean anything,
beer is not a venue for cutting calories, taste matters, and dark beer is not
the enemy.
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| Delicious dark beer |
So now that we know that dark beer is not necessarily “heavy,”
or “filling,” or “high in calories,” or “evil,” the question remains, what is
it? Remember back a few paragraphs to the process of malting barley grains. Not
only does increased exposure to heat create darker color in the grain, it also
creates different flavors in the grain. Roasted barley imposes flavors like
smoke, chocolate, toffee and other sweet malty tastes into the finished
product. A good generalization to remember is that light beers get their
flavors from hops and yeast, while dark beers get their flavors from the malted
grain. That doesn't mean that dark beers don’t have hops and yeast in them
(because they absolutely do); it means that the darker grain flavors in dark
beer are so strong and pronounced, they overwhelm the hoppiness and yeast
flavors, unless the brewer has intentionally added more than normal levels of
hops in order to make the dark beer hoppy.
What this means for the drinker is a beer that is more
sweet than it is bitter. Most people I talk to that don’t like hoppy beer
complain that it is too bitter. While I would say that bitter is the least
developed taste sense in most people’s palates, and therefore requires time and
exposure in order to be enjoyed, the obvious solution to an aversion to bitter
beer is to drink sweet beer, ergo, a dark stout or porter with intense sweet
malty flavors.
And stop worrying about calories! Stupid Budweiser.
Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!
