Learning to Talk a Better Beer
It has been a while since our last post solely about beer – June 24, 2014, to be exact – so I thought it was time for another. That post was entitled “Becoming a Beer Snob”. I am not quite at that level, but I can now more comfortably choose a beer that I can be pretty certain that I will like.
Knowing how to choose a beer you will like is more important now than ever. With the craft beer movement and a plethora of restaurants offering extensive beer menus, it is incredibly helpful to have an understanding of which types of beer you enjoy. The person I credit with giving me my still-expanding beer knowledge is the author of that last beer post, Tom Gardner. Tom knows about beer. Our conversations began with my telling him how some beer, to me, has a “baked-beany” taste. I totally understand if you just read that and are thinking “What???” I cannot really explain it except that – some beer’s taste makes me think of baked beans. I like baked beans, just not as a beer. For a while, I would be telling Tom how I had tried such-and-such beer and how it did or did not taste of baked beans. Through his (patient) listening, he hit on the solution. I do not like malty beer.
This sounds like a small thing but, as I mentioned earlier, it is huge when confronted by a double-sided list of beer names and descriptions. I know I need to gravitate towards the names that have “IPA” in them – even better if their descriptions talk more about the hops used in the brewing process and leave out any mention of malt. Even better than this is if the IBU is listed – the “International Bitterness Units” scale. I like a higher level of bitterness, so I look for a higher IBU. Of course, there are all sorts of things that go into creating the flavor of a beer, so I really only can use these as guidelines. A true beer snob would be able to interpret a lot more from knowing about all the different categories of beer and which are inherently malty or bitter. For example, also from talking to Tom, I know that anything called a “barley wine” is way too malty for me, even if the name does not give that away.
If you would like to explore your own beer palate, there is no need to go far. There are four breweries right here in Mercer County:
River Horse in Ewing, New Jersey
Triumph Brewing in Princeton, New Jersey
Troon Brewing in Hopewell, New Jersey
The Referend Bier Blendery in Hopewell Township, New Jersey
Mercer County also presents the Craft Beer and Food Truck Festival at Mercer County Park, West Windsor. Check Mercer County’s Facebook page or news page next summer for dates.
Outside of Mercer County, there are many, many breweries located all around New Jersey. Take a look at these sites to set up your own Beer Tour:
Brew Trail
New Jersey Beers
New Jersey Craft Beer
Bringing it all back to the library, we have a variety of titles (in both regular book and electronic format) to help learn more about beer, its history, and even how to brew it. I particularly liked The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks: From Novice to Expert in Twelve Tasting Classes by Joshua M. Bernstein. Bernstein explains the different types of beer and tells you which are the best examples to taste. Also look at North Jersey Beer: A Brewing History from Princeton to Sparta by Chris Morris, available as an eBook from hoopla.
Lastly, here are a few of my favorite beers from around the state:
Spellbound IPA (located in Mt. Holly, NJ)
Angry Erik Arctic Moon (located in Lafayette, NJ)
Kane Head High IPA (located in Ocean, NJ)
Knowing how to choose a beer you will like is more important now than ever. With the craft beer movement and a plethora of restaurants offering extensive beer menus, it is incredibly helpful to have an understanding of which types of beer you enjoy. The person I credit with giving me my still-expanding beer knowledge is the author of that last beer post, Tom Gardner. Tom knows about beer. Our conversations began with my telling him how some beer, to me, has a “baked-beany” taste. I totally understand if you just read that and are thinking “What???” I cannot really explain it except that – some beer’s taste makes me think of baked beans. I like baked beans, just not as a beer. For a while, I would be telling Tom how I had tried such-and-such beer and how it did or did not taste of baked beans. Through his (patient) listening, he hit on the solution. I do not like malty beer.
This sounds like a small thing but, as I mentioned earlier, it is huge when confronted by a double-sided list of beer names and descriptions. I know I need to gravitate towards the names that have “IPA” in them – even better if their descriptions talk more about the hops used in the brewing process and leave out any mention of malt. Even better than this is if the IBU is listed – the “International Bitterness Units” scale. I like a higher level of bitterness, so I look for a higher IBU. Of course, there are all sorts of things that go into creating the flavor of a beer, so I really only can use these as guidelines. A true beer snob would be able to interpret a lot more from knowing about all the different categories of beer and which are inherently malty or bitter. For example, also from talking to Tom, I know that anything called a “barley wine” is way too malty for me, even if the name does not give that away.
If you would like to explore your own beer palate, there is no need to go far. There are four breweries right here in Mercer County:
River Horse in Ewing, New Jersey
Triumph Brewing in Princeton, New Jersey
Troon Brewing in Hopewell, New Jersey
The Referend Bier Blendery in Hopewell Township, New Jersey
Mercer County also presents the Craft Beer and Food Truck Festival at Mercer County Park, West Windsor. Check Mercer County’s Facebook page or news page next summer for dates.
Outside of Mercer County, there are many, many breweries located all around New Jersey. Take a look at these sites to set up your own Beer Tour:
Brew Trail
New Jersey Beers
New Jersey Craft Beer
Bringing it all back to the library, we have a variety of titles (in both regular book and electronic format) to help learn more about beer, its history, and even how to brew it. I particularly liked The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks: From Novice to Expert in Twelve Tasting Classes by Joshua M. Bernstein. Bernstein explains the different types of beer and tells you which are the best examples to taste. Also look at North Jersey Beer: A Brewing History from Princeton to Sparta by Chris Morris, available as an eBook from hoopla.Lastly, here are a few of my favorite beers from around the state:
Spellbound IPA (located in Mt. Holly, NJ)
Angry Erik Arctic Moon (located in Lafayette, NJ)
Kane Head High IPA (located in Ocean, NJ)
- Andrea M., Hopewell Branch
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