Perfect Holiday Beer: Old Ale

Sitting around this evening decorating the HolzBrew family Christmas tree and sipping on some Old Ale (North Coast Old Stock Ale). Sounds like a bad thing, right? Despite the name, Old Ale is a very very good thing. The perfect beer to enjoy this time of year sitting around the fireplace.

While not easy to define, because barleyewines and some winter warmers taste similar, old ale generally refers to darker english ales lowly attenuated so there are a high level of residual sugars. Per the name, these beers are typically fermented longer than the average english style ales. The alcohol levels can be anywhere from 7% to 10%.

During the early to mid 1800's brewing was big business in England. Porters and pale ales were being churned out at a quick pace. Typically fully fermented in just a few weeks. This was a change in business plan from brewers who were hoping to turn their inventory over faster. Naturally, it wasn't that easy. These beers with shorter fermentation tasted different. In order to get around public backlash (due to different tasting beer) brewers kept a smaller volume of beer around for a very long time, hence "old ale", and they would blend this beer with the fresh beer to achieve the flavor profile desired by their patrons.

By the 1850s - 60s, porter started to decline in popularity, so brewers started selling "Old Ale" directly to the pubs. These Old Ales sold to the public began to be brewed to their own unique recipes instead the Old Ale that was used for mixing. These beers were typically fermented for a year or more.

These Old ales had another unique quality, a noticeable acidic flavor. Around the year 1900 the yeast responsible for secondary fermentation (while the beer was being stored in casks, for aging) in old ales was identified in the Carlsberg laboratories in Denmark, and given the name Brettanomyces. Which is commonly found in Belgain ales.

Examples of classic english style old ales are Theakston Old Peculier and Thomas Hardy's Ale. Some of my favorite American takes on this style include North Coast Old Stock Ale, Great Divide Hibernation Ale, and Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale.

Sometimes older is better,

HolzBrew

EgyptiBrew

“The mouth of a perfectly happy man is filled with beer.” ~ Ancient Egyptian Proverb

The Egyptians didn’t create the art of brewing, but it was of great importance in their society. In previous posts (see posts with a common theme “History of Beer” on the right), I discussed brewing in the ancient civilizations of Sumer and Babylon, this post continues chronologically with the Egyptians.

Some 5,000 years ago, beer was the king of fermented beverages (Don’t confuse with the “King of Beers”). In comparison to the Sumerians and Babylonians, the Egyptians left us the best documentation of ancient brewing techniques. Most of what we have learned about Egyptian brewing has come from murals in vaults, pyramids, and sacrificial chambers. These images exhibit the importance the art of beer-making held in Egyptian society.

Perhaps some of the best preserved relics came from the tomb of Meketre. Meketre was chancellor and chief steward during the reign of Mentuhotep II and Mentuhotep III. His tomb contained several wooden replicas, representing the daily activities and life in Ancient Egypt. Because the inner chamber of Meketre's tomb was untouched by grave robbers when it was discovered by Herbert E. Winlock in 1920, the wooden models give us an intimate three-dimensional view of how Egyptians lived. These wooden models represented Egyptians at work. There was a carpentry shop, an abattoir, a granary, a kitchen, river boats, and ... a brewery!

The brewery model from Meketre’s tomb dates from around 2009 to 1998 B.C. A card at the exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where this model is preserved) explains what is going on in the brewery: "The overseer with a baton sits inside the door. In the brewery two women grind flour, which another man works into dough. After a second man treads the dough into mash in a tall vat, it is put into tall crocks to ferment. After fermentation, it is poured off into round jugs with black clay stoppers."


Ties to the Gods

Beer was a regular part of life for every Egyptian both the pharaohs and the working class alike. Beer was the currency of power and social structure, connected to the gods and the state. In Egyptian culture, all power derived from the sun (as you can imagine in an area of the world where the sun seems so utterly pervasive). The god of the sun, Re, was regarded as the source of all life and nourishment. Accordingly, he was considered the creator of beer. Re and his wife Nut, the goddess of the stars, were considered the creators of the Egyptian pharaohs and of all lesser gods. Their favorite daughter was Hathor, a pretty and alluring thing (Re kind of had a love jones for Hathor, which is kind of sick, by our modern attitudes toward incest). When Hathor drank beer, she turned into the goddess of love, lust, joy, singing, dancing, and laughter.

Hathor’s sacred tree was the sycamore, under which lovers would meet to share a crock of beer. Her brew was an aphrodisiac, often flavored with mandrake, a plant whose bark contains an alkaloid that has a narcotic effect.

The god of the dead, Osiris, was hailed as the guardian of beer. Egyptian beer was brewed from both emmer and barley and it was believed these grains had sprung spontaneously from Osiris' mummy, as a gift to mankind and as a symbol of life after death.


Ties to the State

The god-like pharaohs turned brewing into a state run monopoly and strictly licensed brewing rights to entrepreneurs and priests. Many temples opened their own breweries and pubs, all in the service of the gods. The port of Pelusium became a large brewing center, and trading in beer became big business.

Egyptians used beer as a currency to pay slaves, tradesmen, priests, and public officials alike. Every Egyptian was entitled to a particular amount of daily beer. This beer ration was strictly regulated, even amongst the royalty. A queen was entitled to 10 loaves of bread and two crocks of beer a day. This allotment was usually guaranteed to her by her husband, the pharaoh, as part of the marriage contract. A princess was due 10 loaves a day, but she was only entitled to one crock of free beer a day. An officer of the guard fared better, as he was due 20 loaves and two crocks. Even the daily ration of the slaves who provided the muscle for building the pyramids, were entitled two to three loaves of bred and two crocks of brew. The nectar of the gods was even a slave's entitlement.


Beer and Medicine

In addition to offering sustenance to the laborers and pharaohs alike, beer was also used for medicinal purposes. Ancient Egyptian medical documents (dated approximately 1,600 BC) list roughly 700 prescriptions regularly prescribed by doctors, of which about 100 involved beer. The Egyptians used beer as a gum-disease treatment, a dressing for wounds, and even an anal fumigant—a vapor borne pesticide to treat diseases of the anus (nasty, I realize).


Egyptian brewers unfortunately exited history for good due to the fall of the ancient Egypt (The fall of Egypt is a history lesson beyond my expertise), but it is believed that the Greeks learned the art of brewing from the Egyptians, perhaps a future post?

Drink like an Egyptian,

HolzBrew


Note: If you are interested in learning more about the Egyptians and beer read Horst Dornbusch's article titled, "Egyptian Beer for the Living, the Dead ... and the Gods." I pulled info from all over to write this post, but I "borrowed" heavily from Mr. Dornbusch's superb article.

History of Beer, Part Dos

Babylonians

The Sumerians' resourcefulness and prosperity soon became a magnet for other people around them. These strangers probably wanted all of the fantastic beer the Sumerians were brewing. Newcomers, mostly Semitic tribes from the north and west, began to move into Mesopotamia - sometimes they were friendly and sometimes not so much. As a consequence, the Sumerians eventually began to be absorbed by their neighbors and gradually disappeared as a culture. By the beginning of the third millennium BC, Sumer had faded almost completely. In its place arose a new culture, which historians call Babylonian.

Initially, the future of beer in Babylonia seemed promising, because the new rulers of Mesopotamia, like all good conquerors, took what was working for the Sumerians and made it their own. While beer in Sumeria was mostly a matter of religion, beer in Babylonia became mostly a matter of politics. And similar to modern society the Babylonians started to regulate beer.

Unlike the loosely regulated (liberal-minded) Sumerian culture the Babylonians loved their discipline. All things in Babylonian society were heavily regulated and beer was no exception, especially once Hamurabi, the 6th king, took over. Hammurabi’s famous Code classifies beer into 20 different categories, each of which we would now call a beer style. By defining beer categories in the legal code, Hamurabi was the first to regulate the production of beer. The consumption of beer did not escape his regulation either. Hamurabi slapped price controls on the brewers and innkeepers, a historical first!

In Babylonian times beer was cloudy and unfiltered (hefewiezen say what?). Drinking straws were used to avoid getting the bitter brewing residue in the mouth. Beer from Babylon was exported as far away as Egypt. Hammurabi’s Code established a daily beer ration. This ration was based on the social standing of the individual, a normal worker received 2 liters, civil servants 3 liters (who says government jobs don’t pay?), administrators and high priests 5 liters per day. In these ancient times beer was not frequently sold, but used as barter.

That's the Babylonians and beer in a nutshell,

HolzBrew

History of Beer, Part 1

Something that I have always found interesting is that beer is the earliest known alcoholic beverage. Beer’s story has pretty much followed the history of civilization.

There are different accounts of what may have been the very first beer brewed. As always, leading the way in the cutting edge of beer is Dogfish Head (is it really the cutting edge if the beer is thousands of years old?). Check out Chateau Jiahu for a taste of ancient history, brewed from a recipe that may be 9,000 years old.

Professor Solomon Katz, of the University of Pennsylvania, proposes the theory that the earliest farmers were moved to stop their hunting-and-gathering way of life and settle down to a life built around agriculture because of the desire to cultivate barley, not for baking bread, but for making beer!

Sumer

The generally accepted origin of beer is Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be 4,000 years old. A Sumerian tablet was discovered, depicting people drinking a brew through reed straws from a communal bowl. A 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread.

The Gilgamesh Epic describes the progression from primitive man to "cultured man".

"Enkidu, a shaggy, unkempt, almost bestial primitive man, who ate grass and could milk wild animals, wanted to test his strength against Gilgamesh, the demigod-like sovereign. Taking no chances, Gilgamesh sent a (prostitute) to Enkidu to learn of his strengths and weaknesses. Enkidu enjoyed a week with her, during which she taught him of civilization. Enkidu knew not what bread was nor how one ate it. He had also not learned to drink beer. The (prostitute) opened her mouth and spoke to Enkidu: 'Eat the bread now, O Enkidu, as it belongs to life. Drink also beer, as it is the custom of the land.' Enkidu drank seven cups of beer and his heart soared. In this condition he washed himself and became a human being. "

How crazy is that story? A prostitute civilized a man by making him drink beer.

That’s all for now,

HolzBrew

New Beers Eve

Horay! Prohibition finally ended … 75 years ago.

To modern Americans it seems almost unfathomable that for thirteen years (1920 – 1933) you couldn’t legally drink alcohol and it wasn’t readily available. It would have really sucked to be 17 years old (was the drinking age 18 back then?) in 1919 finally looking forward to be able to sit down at a bar and order a cold beer AND bam out of nowhere you have to wait until you’re 30 until you can buy beer. Its no wonder the Great Depression occurred during this period of time.

Honestly, Prohibition put the brewing industry in a bad place. My understanding is that before prohibition in the late 1800’s there was close to 1,200 active breweries or brewpubs in the US. After prohibition and up until the late seventies (and maybe early eighties) there were only about 60 breweries or brew pubs in the US (I understand that just recently we have finally eclipsed that 1,200 mark set in the late 1800’s). This is really where the macro brewing companies like Anheuser-Busch and Coors established their dominance over the American beer drinker’s palate. Despite making great strides in the last decade, it’s still very hard for small craft brewers to convince the American public that their beer is far better than the majority of the stuff put out by the macro chains. The macro chains have massive advertising budgets (literally billions of dollars) whose sole purpose is to convince you Joe or Jane American that their beer is cool and good tasting.

I’ll get off my soapbox for the rest of this post and get back to talking about prohibition. Anyone with a computer can wiki prohibition in the US and get the facts. The one thing that I really thought was interesting was that repealing prohibition was one FDR’s ideas. He thought that repealing prohibition would be a good way to help jumpstart the ailing economy. In fact during the first 48 hours of repeal, $25M was spent on beer. This had the effect of helping not just breweries, but also farmers, glassmakers, and the trucking industry. Additionally, the government realized that this sort of thing could be taxed and would be a great revenue stream for the federal government. Apparently, the first day of beer sales generated $7.5M in tax revenue for the US Treasury. The more and more I hear about FDR makes me think that he was a PHD economist (truthfully he went to Harvard and studied law at Columbia, not too shabby) and someone I’d love to have a beer with.

So tonight when you sit down for dinner hoist a beer (hopefully a craft beer or a home brew) and say thanks to ‘ole FDR.

Other News

M and I bottled our Baltic porter yesterday (Blackheart Porter). At room temperature and noncarbonated the sample that I had was fantastic. I think you guys are really going to like this one. 2 weeks and it will be drinkable.

Your Hero,

HolzBrew