Sherbrooke Beer Guide

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SHERBROOKELIQUOR STORE

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What you are holding in your hand is Alberta’s fi rst guide to the world of beer. It is neither exhaustive nor complete – no guide could be. However, it is an honest attempt to show you the breadth of beer available in Alberta. More importantly, it is a booklet aiming to educate beer consumers about this wonderful beverage.

As a local beer writer and educator, I agreed to write the guide for Sher-brooke Liquor because I believe it is a good vehicle for teaching more Albertans about the wonder that is beer. The guide is less about selling beer than it is about giving the consumer a road map to the varieties and styles of beer available.

The guide's structure is simple. I outline most major beer styles in a short summary, tossing in a useful or quirky fact or two as well. I list a few examples regularly available in Alberta. The list is not intended to suggest the “best” versions of a style; I chose examples that I fi nd in-teresting, creative interpretations, with an emphasis on breweries from Western Canada. See the lists as starting points for your journey through the world of beer.

I hope you fi nd the guide useful, learn a thing or two and maybe fi nd your newest favourite beer.

Cheers!

Jason Fosteronbeer.org

IntroductionS What you are holding in your hand is Alberta’s

fi rst guide to the world of beer. It is neither exhaustive nor complete –

THE AUTHOR

STILL THE ORIGINAL BEER STORE


Tasting Your BeerBefore we talk about specifi c beer styles, we need to fi rst lay down some fundamentals. Here is a quick guide on sampling beer.

Beer’s base is malted barley. Malt offers colour, body and sweetness to beer. It is the biggest ingredient and gives us the anchor fl avour. It can be grainy, caramel-y, toffee-like, chocolaty or even roasty – all of those fl avours come from the malt. You taste most of malt’s infl u-ence at the front of your mouth.

Then there is hops. Hops are intense little fl owers that create beer’s distinct bitterness. That smacking character in an IPA comes from hop additions, but every beer has hops. Hops can also create fl oral, fruity or earthy aromas and fl avours. Bitterness is detected at the back of your throat, while hop fl avour will be picked up around your cheeks and roof.

Yeast also impacts fl avour. Different strains add different qualities – fruitiness, earthiness, spiciness or general funkiness. Yeast is unexpectedly important to a beer’s fl avour and aroma.

Most regular strength beer is best served fresh, and lasts no longer than 8-10 months. However, some beer, especially those that are higher in alcohol, can improve with age for years.

Finally, beer shouldn’t beer served ice cold, al-though the specifi c temperature is dependent on the style – ales warmer, lagers a bit colder.

Beer Basics:

Beer’s base is malted barley. Malt offers colour, body and MALT

Then there is hops. Hops are intense little fl owers that create HOPS

Yeast also impacts fl avour. Different strains add different YEAST

Most regular strength beer is best served fresh, and lasts no longer than 8-10 months. However, some beer, especially those that are

AGE

Finally, beer shouldn’t beer served ice cold, al-TEMPERATURE


Ale vs. lagerOur next task is to understand the most important distinction in beer – ale vs. lager. It is one of the most misunderstood categorizations around. Lagers can be light or dark; ales can be malty or hoppy. You can fi nd the full range of fl avours in both categories. Basically what separates the two are the species of yeast used and the temperature at which the beer is fermented. These are related things.

Ales are fermented at room temperature, with a type of yeast that prefers those temperatures. The result of this process is a beer that seems fruitier and more complex.

Lagers are brewed colder, at around 10 degrees Celsius, and then aged for a few weeks at near zero (a process called “lagering”, hence the name). Naturally lager yeast evolved to appreciate colder tem-peratures; an ale yeast would give up the ghost and drop out at these temperatures. It produces a beer that is crisper and cleaner.

This is one of the most fundamental divisions in the world of beer, so it is good to know why.

Ales are fermented at room temperature, with a type of ALES

Lagers are brewed colder, at around 10 degrees Celsius, LAGERS

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This guide is Published By

Publisher, Sales & Marketing Manager Rob Lightfoot [email protected] Directors & Design Shawna Iwaniuk [email protected] Mike Siek [email protected] Creator:Jason Foster www.onbeer.orgCreative Director:Anna MacLeod [email protected] & Relationships:Tara Smith [email protected]

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What You Need To KnowPale lager is the single most common beer style on the planet. The big corporate brewers make tons of the stuff, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good. A quality pale lager should be light, crisp and offer grainy malt character. The quintessential easy-drinking summer beer. If American-style lagers like Budweiser aren’t your thing, try a Munich Helles or a Dortmunder Export, two German styles that offer a full malt body and some hop character. The key to a quality pale lager is ensuring it is made only with malt – no corn or rice. Hop bitterness should be subdued and a crisp, sharp malt base should defi ne the beer.

7

Interesting Examples

Alley Kat Charlie Flint

Yellowhead Premium Lager

Paulaner Munchner Helles

Creemore Springs Premium Lager

Curious FactIn the late 1700s, the emergence of bright, golden beer turned the beer world upside-down. Advancements in kilning allowed brewers to prevent malted barley from becoming too dark, allowing for a new kind of light-bodied, golden-hued beer. The new development led to the gradual decline of darker beer, and eventually to the domination of corporate lager, at least until the rise of craft beer.



light-bodied, golden-hued beer. The new development led to the gradual decline of darker beer, and eventually to the domination of corporate lager, at least until the rise of craft beer.



Pale lager 4 - 7 ̊C


What You Need To KnowPilsner is the big sister of pale lager. Same colour, same basic process, but just with a lot more hops. Real pilsners are crisp, clean and offer a satisfying hop bite. They start similarly to a premium pale lager, but fi n-ish with a fl oral, sharp bitterness. There are two basic types of pilsner (or pilsener). Bohemian (or Czech) Pilsner accents the unique spicy, fl oral fl avour of Saaz hops. German Pils is lighter, drier and slightly crisper. Many labels pretend to be pilsners, but the fl avour will separate the au-thentic from the imposter.

Sherbrooke Was Doing Beer, Before Beer Was Cool


Czechvar

Paddock Wood Czechmate

Steam Whistle

Curious FactPilsner was born of a citizen’s revolt. In 1838, the citizens of Pilsen, Bohemia despised their town brewer’s product. They overran the brewery, captured the brewmaster and rolled barrels of beer to the town square, where they proceeded to smash and dump every last milliliter, fi nishing by running the brewmaster out of town. They hired Josef Groll to re-create their town beer, and he created the world’s fi rst golden lager, which was quickly dubbed Pilsener in honour of the town. Within a couple decades, the beer came to dominate the beer market in Europe.

Pilsner 4 - 7 ̊C


What You Need To KnowMost people associate lager with light and crisp. However, there is no reason why a lager can’t be dark. The Germans are particularly adept at darker lager. For example, malty with a reddish hue, the sister styles of Vienna and Oktoberfest accent the best in bready, fl avourful lager. If you want even darker, turn to a Munich Dunkel or a Schwarzbier (German for black beer), which look like a brown ale or porter, offer a bit of roasti-ness yet don’t lose that essential la-ger clean crispness.

9www.sherbrookeliquor.com

Amber & dark lager


Brooklyn Lager

Paddock Wood Black Cat Lager

Ayinger Oktoberfest

Curious FactVienna is one of the original amber lagers – Oktoberfest is a stronger, festival version – created in the 1830s by Anton Dreher. Too bad Herr Dreher relied on industrial espionage to create his famous style. Dreher had visited England to learn about their methods and process. What he didn’t tell them was that he had a hollow walking cane that he used to surreptitiously steal samples of their fermenting wort for analysis once he got home. As it works out, that unscrupulous rogue found a way to create a wonderful beer style.

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What You Need To KnowBocks are big, rich, sweet German lagers that showcase the wonderful characteristics of malt. A longstanding German style, they come in three forms – the dark brown traditional bock, a golden Maibock (sometimes called Helles Bock), and a bulked up version, with up to 8% alcohol, called Doppelbock. The key fl avour in bocks is a rich breadiness that should make the beer taste like a big slice of homemade, lightly-toasted whole-wheat bread. This is a rare style, and many breweries only of-fer it as a seasonal.

Bock



Ayinger Celebrator

Paddock Wood Maibock

Les Trois Mousquetaires GrandCru Doppelbock

Curious FactBock is German for “billy-goat”. Folklore says the name is the result of a drinking game by two medieval Dukes: after drinking two gallons of each other’s beer, they were required to thread a needle standing on one foot. The losing Duke blamed a local goat that had snuck into the courtyard and toppled him, prompting the victor to proclaim: “that goat (bock) that felled you was brewed by me”! More historically probable, but less entertaining, is that it is a corruption of the name Einbeck, the town in which Bock was fi rst brewed.

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©iStockphoto.com/pablonis


What You Need To KnowHere is where my ale/lager sermon falls apart. There is a class of beer that exhibit qualities of both styles. These so-called hybrid beer are brewed with a lager yeast but at ale yeast temperature (room temperature), and thus have lager cleanliness with a ale-like fruitiness. Some, like Cream and Blonde Ales, are light and refreshing. Others are a bit darker and more bitter, like Steam Beer and Alt. All of them share this indescribable sense of sharing both ale and lager qualities.


Hybrid beer


Anchor Steam

Les Trois Mousquetaires Sticke Alt

Yukon Gold

Curious FactOne of the most popular hybrid beer is Steam Beer. It is the creation of German emigrants to California in the 1800s who wanted to replicate European lagers, but couldn’t manage temperature control, meaning their fermentations got too warm. Supposedly, it got its name from the over-active fermentation that resulted, which was so aggressive that people could see steam rising from the fermenter. Today, Anchor Brewing holds the trademark for the name “steam beer”, meaning anyone else must call their version “California Common”.

8 - 12 ̊C


What You Need To Know“Pale Ale” might be the most mis-used label in all of beer. However, it does have a specifi c meaning. A pale ale is a hop-accented copper beer that is still balanced and drinkable. There are many interpretations of pale ale. English Pale Ales are softer, fruitier and more rounded. American Pale Ales are sharper and lean more on the hops. Belgian Pale Ales are less hoppy but make up for it by adding that classic Belgian yeast funkiness. Related to pale ales are bitters. Extra Special Bitter (ESB) is essentially the same thing as an English Pale Ale, with Ordinary Bitter and Special Bitter being smaller versions.


Pale ale / bitter


Alley Kat Full Moon Pale Ale

Fuller’s ESB

Wild Rose S.O.B.

Mill Street Tankhouse Ale

Curious FactThe term pale ale is an historical vestige, because it is actually not that pale. They were borne in the 1700s when technology permitted the shift from wood-fi red kilns to coke-fi red, which resulted in a lighter coloured malt. It was a clear break from beer of the day which were brown and murky. Pale Ale quickly rang the death knell for dark beer in Britain and continental Europe.

12 - 14 ̊C

Alley Kat Full Moon Pale Ale


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What You Need To KnowEngland is world famous for its fruity, hoppy ales. Fewer people know about Scottish and Irish beer. Both nations have their own, unique tradi-tions. Both regions emphasize malt and downplay hops. Most everyone knows Irish Red Ales through Kilkenny, but, to be honest, it is not the best example of that creamy, soft style. Good examples accent caramel, tof-fee and a nicely dry fi nish. Over in Scotland, they emphasize rich, malty beer that might offer a bit of smoky, peaty character. In many ways, both countries offer the opposite of what England gen-erally offers.

Scottish / irish ale


Yukon Red Ale

Traquair House Ale

St. Ambroise Scotch Ale

Curious FactScotland and Ireland are not suited for growing hops – too northerly. Which means importing hops from England, which historically was both expensive and meant trading with an antagonist. As a consequence, both regions developed malt-accented beer. Fewer hops, more malt. Scotland, in particular, fi gured out how to transfer its skill in making scotch into beer, creating rich, silky, peaty beer that could easily serve as a base for a high quality scotch.

12 - 14 ̊C


What You Need To KnowIn this age of extra-hopped, wood-aged, spontaneously fermented ex-perimental beer, brown ale may be the forgotten style. With long historic roots to England, brown ale quietly offers a beer that is darker and richer than a light beer without being fi lling or cloying. Brown Ales come in a range of brown shades, but all have a nuttiness, a light toffee and sugar sweetness, a medium body and maybe a touch of milk chocolate. No roast, no big hop presence, no intense fl avours of any kind. In many ways it is a perfect gateway beer into bigger and richer things.


Brown ale


Howe Sound Rail Ale Nut Brown

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Big Rock Traditional Ale

Curious FactBrown ale is the perfect example of how a little goes a long way. The recipe for brown ales are mostly identical to a pale ale or light lager. 90% of the grains are the same, with maybe some small adjustments. The main difference is 5-10% darker malts. Nothing too roasted, just some malt kilned slightly longer to add that chestnut colour and caramel and toffee fl avour.

12 - 14 ̊C


What You Need To KnowThis little-known style actually plays a huge role in the history of beer, as it is the launch pad for stout. Porters are bigger and fuller than brown ales, yet not quite as roasty as stouts. Expect lots of chocolate, nut, dark fruit and caramel fl avours. You might also pick up slight touches of roastiness, but it shouldn’t be too big. They are rich and full, yet dry out enough in the fi nish to prevent being cloying.

Porter



Propeller London Porter

Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Uncommon Brewers Baltic Porter

Fuller’s London Porter

Curious FactPorters were the world’s fi rst mega-beer. Upon their introduction in mid-1700s, they quickly came to dominate the market. Brewers scrambled to fi gure out how to make more and more of the stuff. Porters were particularly popular among the English working classes, including longshoremen, teamsters and porters – which is how it got its name. The arrival of pale lagers killed off porter – it ceased to exist by the early 1900s – but the style has been resurrected by craft brewers around the world in the last 25 years.

10 - 12 ̊C

©iStockphoto.com/Nikada


•Sour Beer (p.27)

•Oak Aged (p.31)

•Gluten Free (p.33)

•Fruit / Spiced beer (p.34)

A visual look at how the families of beer inter-relate. Find your favourites and explore new styles by moving around the quadrants. Sample a beer located near your favourite, or jump the fence by trying something in an opposite quadrant.

Stout

Pale Lager

Bock

Scottish Ale

Scotch Ale

Brown Ale

Belgian Blonde

Dunkelweizen

Bitter

Barley WineRussian Imperial Stout

Old Ale

Belgian Quadrupel

Dark Lager

Pale Ale

India Pale Ale

Hybrid

Porter

Irish AleAmber Lager

Belgian Dubbel

Munich Helles

Imperial India Pale Ale

DortmunderHefenweizen / Wheat

Witbier

Saison

Pilsner

P.11P.24

P.23

P.23

P.14

P.9

P.23

P.29

P.29

Belgian Tripel P.29

P.7

P.15

P.9

P.14

P.14

P.17

P.10

P.20

P.20

P.8

P.12

P.7

P.29

P.32

P.12

P.26

P.26

P.32

P.7

Crisp

full


What You Need To KnowThe inky blackness of stout can turn some people off. But many, once they try it, realize its full fl avour is unmatched by any other style. Darkly roasted malted and unmalted barley impart the stout’s defi ning coffee-like roast. Some are smoother, others sharper. Oats, coffee and even choco-late are perfect additions to a stout recipe. And then there is the alpha dog of stouts – Russian Imperial Stout – stout brewed at twice the strength. It may be the biggest, most complex beer style there is.

Stout



St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Yukon Midnight SunEspresso Stout

Half Pints Stir Stick Stout

Courage Russian Imperial Stout

Curious FactStout is borne of a mistake, or at least that is how the legend goes. Irish brewer Arthur Guinness made porter for a living. One day his brewer kilned the malt too long (at that time brewers kilned their own barley). The resulting beer was black as night and too roasty for a porter. Guinness, being a cheap man, refused to dump the batch, instead releasing it as “Extra Stout Porter”. The beer became a big hit and before long was known simply as Stout.

10 - 12 ̊C


What You Need To KnowDespite its name, wheat beer is not made exclusively with wheat; barley remains a dominant ingredient. However, the addition of between 10% and 50% wheat will impart a softer body, some sharp graininess, a thick-er head and the beer will likely be more hazy. If all you do is add wheat, it brings out an earthy graininess that makes the beer more refreshing. If you also add special strains of yeast you can produce either German-style Weizens (which come in light and dark) which accent clove, banana, vanilla or bubblegum, or Belgian Witbier which is zesty, citrusy, dry and refreshing.

Wheat Beer 6 - 10 ̊C



Wild Rose Velvet Fog

Unibroue Blanche de Chambly

Weihenstephaner

Schneider Aventinus

Curious FactThe traditional way to pour a bottle of German Weizen is to –before pouring– gently roll the bottle back and forth on its side to rouse the layer of sediment at the bottom (which is mostly dormant yeast). The yeast is an essential part of the fl avour profi le in a Weizen, but not with a Witbier, so don’t get confused. Oh yeah, and the whole lemon wedge thing – do so if you wish but Germans don’t serve it that way.

Unibroue Blanche de Chambly

Deliberately Different Beer

Rock Creek Cider5.5% | Cider

Grasshopper Wheat Ale5% | German-Style Filtered Wheat Ale

SAAZ Republic Pilz4.9% | Czech-Style Pilsner

IPA5.5% | Dry-hopped India Pale Ale

Warthog Ale4.5% | Mild Brown Ale

McNally’s Extra7% | Irish-Style Red Ale

Traditional Ale5% | English-Style Brown Ale

Scottish Style Heavy Ale7% | Strong Ale

Black Amber Ale5% | Porter

©iStockphoto.com/marilyna


What You Need To KnowThese are two rare styles that are growing rapidly in popularity. They of-fer a unique combination of citrus fruitiness and peppery spiciness. Their fi nish is quite dry, making them quite refreshing. Saisons tend to be light, slightly tart and summery and can sometimes offer a bit of a hop bite. Meanwhile, Biere de Garde are maltier, often darker, and have a subtle musty, cellar character. Both offer unique fl avour combinations, which may explain their growing popularity.


Saison & Biere de Garde


Ommegang Hennepin

Saison Dupont

St. Sylvestre 3 Monts

Curious FactThese beer are also known as “farmhouse ales” because historically farmers in northern France and Wallonia (the French-speaking part of Belgium) would make them in the spring and store them in cool cellars for drinking during hot summer months. Often the beer was allowed to ferment using wild yeasts found in the air, which gave these beer their unique fl avour profi les. Today, of course, special yeast strains are used that are descendants of those wild yeasts.

12 - 14 ̊C

©iStockphoto.com/YinYang


What You Need To KnowFirst, let’s be clear: Alexander Keith’s is NOT an IPA. India Pale Ales are copper-coloured and very hoppy. While there is a range of intensity, all IPAs accent their hop. In American versions citrusy, piney hop fl avour and bitterness defi ne the beer and the malt plays second fi ddle. English interpretations are more balanced, which means a bit more fruitiness and dialing back a touch on the bitter-ness. Imperial IPAs, often called Double IPAs double everything. More alcohol, a much bigger bitterness and a substantial base beer to carry it all. Double IPAs are about sipping on a glass full of intensity.



Red Racer IPA

Green Flash West Coast IPA

Thornbridge Jaipur

Dieu Du Ciel Corne Du Diable

Curious FactYes, IPAs are a creation of the British Empire to help keep the Indian colony in its place. The beer was designed in the 1700s to survive the three month sea voyage from England, around Africa’s Cap of Good Hope to India. Alcohol and hops are both preservatives, so bulking up on both was a good idea. However, IPA outlived the British Empire because it was a much better idea. More hops, more alcohol. Anyone opposed?

12 - 16 ̊CIndia Pale Ale


What You Need To KnowSour ales break the beer rules, in more ways than one, to produce tart - at times puckering - beer with a velvety feel. Lambic is a family of blended sour beer that are spontaneously fermented and aged in oak-barrels for up to three years. Multiple years are blended to create Gueuze, which presents the tartness straight up, while the addition of fruit, including sour cherry (Kriek), raspberry (Framboise) or black currant (Cassis) balances the sour with complementary fruit sweetness. Flanders Sour ales come in two forms – Red and Brown (often called Oud Bruin). They are also aged in oak for up to three years, but are not spontaneously fermented. Both have a clean, balanced tartness while Flanders Reds are complex and red-wine like in their presentation, and Oud Bruins are maltier.



Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

Duchess de Bourgogne

3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze

Curious FactLambic are the only beer style that can legitimately claim a “terroir” like wine. True lambic can only be made in the Senne river valley in Belgium, as the beer is created by the wild yeasts and bacteria native to that valley. Brewers can make lambic-style beer elsewhere with a blend of yeasts and bacteria, but it is not quite the same as the real thing.


beer is created by the wild yeasts and bacteria native to that valley. Brewers can


Sour ale 12 - 14 ̊C


What You Need To KnowThe Belgians brew beer differently than anyone else. Distinguishing Belgian ales are special yeast strains that produce strongly spicy, pep-pery, clove-like esters. Lighter versions will balance the spiciness with some fruitiness and grainy malt, while darker versions will present with some cara-mel, dried fruit and malt sweetness. In theory, Belgian Strongs are divided by alcoholic strength – Blond Ale, Dubbel, Tripel, Quadrupel – but in reality there are myriad interpretations that combine colour, alcohol strength, yeast fl avour in-tensity that defy easy categorization. All are complex, slow-sipping beer built for refl ection and contemplation.

Belgian Strong Ales



Chimay White (Tripel)

Unibroue Maudite

St. Bernardus ABT 12

Curious FactBelgian strong ales are often called Abbey or Trappist Ales. Actually, to be considered a Trappist beer, the product must have been brewed entirely in a Trappist Order monastery with monks involved in the process and be strictly non-profi . Only 8 breweries/monasteries can use the Trappist moniker and label, six in Belgium (Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westveleteren), one in Netherlands (Koningshoeven) and (as of May 2012) one in Austria (Stift Engelszell). All other breweries making Belgian strong ales must call their beer Abbey Ale.

Trappist moniker and label, six in Belgium (Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westveleteren), one in Netherlands (Koningshoeven) and (as of May 2012) one in Austria (Stift Engelszell). All other breweries making Belgian strong ales must call their beer Abbey Ale.

12 - 14 ̊C

©iStockphoto.com/ jpa1999


What You Need To KnowWhat is old is new again. Hundreds of years ago beer was stored in oak barrels, mostly because that is all they had. Scotch, wine, bour-bon and other spirits still use wood aging to shape their fl avour profi le. For beer, stainless steel won out, until re-cent experiments with oak. Beer is aged in an oak barrel for a few weeks to a few months, creating an earthy, woody, sweet character that can often display notes of what was previously in the bar-rel (bourbon, wine, scotch, etc.). Barrel-aging can have a signifi cant effect on a beer’s presentation.


Modern oak–aged beers


Ola Dubh 12

Paddock Wood Barrel Full of Monkeys Imperial Stout

Innis & Gunn Rum Cask

Curious FactThe secret behind oak-aging’s effect is a combination of the wood fl avour and the micro-organisms that live in wood. It creates an earthy, musty, vanilla character that both enriches and shifts a beer. Innis and Gunn, one of the fi rst modern oak-aged beers, was borne of an experiment at a scotch distillery to create a beer-aged scotch. The staff enjoyed the beer in the cask so much they started stealing volumes of it – so much that when it came time to add the scotch, no beer was left. That beer eventually became Innis and Gunn.

14 - 16 ̊C


What You Need To KnowWhat do you call a beer that is made at 10% alcohol or more, can be aged for years, and is best served in a brandy snifter? Barley wine, of course. Put simply, barley wines and their relative, old ale, are big alco-hol beer. But there is much, much more to it than that. Barley wines are rich, complex, malty, multi-layered creations that take much skill and fi nesse to produce. These ales should offer strong malt fl avours, substan-tial body and a soft alcohol warming. Some interpretations may also be noticeably bitter. While the boundary is fuzzy, old ales (sometimes called Winter Warmer) tend to be a bit sweeter and often darker.



Fuller’s Vintage Ale

Alley Kat Olde Deuteronomy

Yukon Lead Dog

Half Pints Burly Wine

Curious FactBarley wines and old ales can be aged for many years, often improving over time. If you want to cellar your barley wine, keep it upright in a cool, dark space with minimal temperature fl uctuations. How long can you keep it? Just like wine, it depends on the quality of the beer what went into the bottle, but many people have stored barley wines for 25 years or more.

Alley Kat Olde Deuteronomy

Barley wine & old ale 14 - 16 ̊C

©iStockphoto.com/DMP1


What You Need To KnowGluten Free isn’t a style, but it is quickly becoming a huge market seg-ment servicing gluten intolerant drinkers. Gluten-free beer is made from non-barley ingredients, such as rice, buckwheat, millet, sorghum and corn. For many years, Gluten Free beer was rather unappealing; it can be hard to replace the unique fl avour of malted barley. However, in the past couple of years a number of breweries have stepped up to the plate and have started producing gluten-free beer that even a beer geek might appreciate. This has been aided by a recently developed process that can remove most of the gluten from the beer, allowing gluten-free beer to be produced from barley.

33

Gluten–free beer 6 - 12 ̊C


Brasseurs Sans Gluten Pale Ale

Nickel Brook Gluten Free

Mongozo Pilsner

Curious FactThe challenge in gluten-free beer is fi nding a way to give the beer some body and malty sweetness. Most non-gluten grains will ferment out completely. The challenge is keeping enough complex sugars in the wort to ensure the beer doesn’t get too thin. Not an easy task, but clearly one that breweries are slowly fi guring out. Good thing for the celiacs and gluten-intolerant among us.

Brasseurs Sans Gluten Pale Ale

©iStockphoto.com/marilyna


What You Need To KnowAny beer style can have fruit or spices added to it to shift its fl avour, so the range of beer possible here is endless: from basic blueberry or raspberry wheat ales, to pumpkin beer, to chili lager to garlic beer. Then there is chocolate, coffee, vanilla, ginger, pine, heather and so on. If it is edible, chances are someone has put it in beer. The fl avour of a fruit/spiced beer will be shaped by the base beer (wheat ale, brown ale, amber lager, stout, etc.) and the specifi c characteristics of the fruit/spice being used.


Fruit and spiced beer 8 - 12 ̊C


Cannery Blackberry Porter

Mill Street Lemon Tea Beer

Hog’s Head Death By Pumpkin

Amber’s AustralianMountain Pepper Berry Lager

Curious FactWhile hops are ubiquitous today, at one time they were a relatively minor ingredient in beer. Before the 1400s, brewers used a wide array of herbs and spices to bitter their beer, including henbane, wild rosemary, heather, ginger, spruce, juniper, woodruff, and bog myrtle among many others. Choice of ingredients was determined by what grew locally and by trial and error. So, in a way, spiced beer is a return to those traditional days of anything-goes additions.


Alberta’s Apricot Ale

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Sherbrooke Beer Guide

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Transcript of Sherbrooke Beer Guide