Brewing is an ancient art that can be traced back to the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, mankind’s oldest civilization. When humans were first beginning their transition from hunters to an agricultural sedentary lifestyle approximately 10,000 years ago, the Sumerians started brewing. The first Europeans to make beer were the Germanic tribes of the Bronze Age, around 2,000-700 B.C. Much has changed since then but the basics of the brewing craft have remained the same.
Local brewers are keeping this ancient art alive. Their beer is the product of refinement over millenia of experimentation, tradition, and knowledge transmitted from generation to generation. Their beer has the true taste of the ages.
What is a craft brewery? A brewery must be independent, traditional, and small to be called craft. Small means a production of less than two million barrels of beer per year. Independent means that no more than 25 percent is controlled or owned by another company.
Brewing beer is an art form and it is the local brewers that help maintain this art. The real art of making beer is mastered by the local handmade breweries that make smaller batches of beer in a more traditional way.
These locally owned breweries deliver better social value than the global companies. From an economic point of view the local breweries have impact on the local communities contributing with wages, taxes, and expenditures to the economic well being of the communities. Local brewery ownership is a mean of community building.
From a social and cultural point of view the local breweries keep alive a tradition and an ancient craft. Local breweries are our neighbors. Some of them are also brewpubs, places where beer lovers can enjoy the beverage in their own neighborhood. A brewpub is not only locally owned but actually make the beers that it
sells.
The ownership of breweries by faraway global corporations is alienating. People would rather seek out the intimate experience provided by brewpubs. The majority of the patrons of those brewpubs appreciate the social interaction combined with the alcohol consumption.
Going local is a trendy concept and it applies to beer as well. You can help support your local breweries by buying local crafted beer at your local store or visiting one of their establishments.
Now that the summertime heat is finally here we have some great tips to help you cool off with a cold one! If you’re looking for a refreshing beer to drink during those long, lazy summer afternoons that won’t sit heavily on your stomach, listen up. Below are some of the best tasting summertime brews that will leave you reaching for seconds, and thirds. Drink up and enjoy!
Victory Summer Love
A number of the entries here will be fruity and spicy, which are the hallmarks of summertime beers, but this one’s the exception that proves the rule. Brewed with Belgian and German wheat ales in mind, this pale golden brew offers a fresh, crisp, bready taste that won’t sit heavily on your stomach. Designed for those scorching hot summer days when only something a little on the dry side will do.
Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/find?brew=TWILIGHT%20ALE
The perfect end to a perfect day, Oregon Brewery’s entry on the list features clean, toasty malts and mildly spicy hops. Just wth body enough to be a substantial brew, but light enough that it won’t weigh heavily on you after a day spent cooking out and feasting with friends and family.
Leinenkugels Summer Shandy
An intriguing entry because it’s blended with lemonade and brewed with honey. That might make a hard core beer lover raise a skeptical eyebrow, but the light, sweet flavor is both crisp and refreshing. Exactly what you’re looking for if your main focus is having fun in the sun.
Anchor Summer
A full bodied beer that’s not so full bodied that it sits like the anchor it’s named after in your stomach. Robust enough to be served with dinner, light enough to enjoy on the beach. The perfect blend for those endless summer days and nights.
Smashed Blueberry
This entry by the Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland, ME is both marvelous and potent. Featuring a complex tapestry of roasted barley, chocolate malt, blueberry and coffee, more than a few of these and you’ll be a bit wobbly on your feet. The blueberries take a backseat to the rest of the flavors, making this a drink that will appeal to even those who aren’t fond of fruity beers. Fantastic.
Wells Banana Bread Beer
http://www.nearof.com/?p=387
Our last entry comes from the Wells & Young Brewing Company, and while you might not think of bananas and bread as going together, one whiff when you open the bottle will leave you salivating. There’s something that just screams home and childhood memories about the scent, and its flavor is oddly both dry and sweet. A great end of the day beer, and almost a desert in and of itself.
You can find many of these brews at www.divinewines.ca or www.sherbrookeliquor.ca!
Why not come and join us and get a cooling taste of these and other great beers for all seasons at the Edmonton International BeerFest 2015?
Since the advent of major breweries, there has always been tension between mainstream beers and those which are produced by local brewers. While major brewers have the benefit of providing consistent prices and brews, there is a distinct lack of choice in beer selection resulting from this homogenization. In fact, one of the leading sites for collecting information about the Canadian beer industry estimates that as little as four percent of all beer produced in Canada is brewed by independent craft beer breweries.
This is troublesome for a nation that is famed for its love of drinking and producing beers of every kind. The problem, by and large, is that many of the larger companies buy out the small breweries. The effect of these actions is that there are many fewer choices in the beer that is being consumed throughout the country. While each province has shown itself capable of producing distinct flavors to reflect their geography and culture, the craft beers are being diluted by the heavy influence of the major brewing industry.
However, this is still some hope left to keep a variety of choices available in Canadian craft beers due to initiatives such as the Ontario Microbrewery Strategy. This initiative provides government support to microbreweries that are trying to explore different marketing strategies, while simultaneously allowing them to hire more workers so that they can keep their breweries running smoothly. As a result, they will be able to keep providing liquor sellers with a wide selection of beers that are not simply copies of one another.
Having the choice to drink and enjoy a distinct flavor of beer is a necessity to anyone who enjoys drinking, and this choice can be maintained by supporting local breweries, buying craft beers, and embracing microbreweries all throughout the provinces and country as a whole.
