And the Beers have it...

I wouldn't call myself a beer aficionado, but I do have discerning taste. The Bud Light real men of genius commercials are great, but the beer itself? With all due respect to Anheuser-Busch: No thank you. So I found the following interesting article on from the Guardian on the popularity of beer, on a link from a really cool blog


I'm going to grab myself a Sam Adams. Here's the article just in case the link doesn't work. Enjoy!

Cheers!
It's official: beer is the most popular beverage on the planet. As a photography exhibition opens in celebration, Roger Protz takes us on a guided tour of pale ales and pilsners - and nominates the best beer in the world
Roger Protz
Wednesday March 28, 2007

Guardian

Beer is the drink of the moment. Indeed, the photography exhibition The World of Beer: An International Language follows a survey by international marketing analysts AC Nielsen that found that beer is the world's favourite beverage, followed by soft drinks, then wine. Sales are surging, especially in countries such as China and Russia, where supplies were restricted for decades.

China

By the end of the decade, China is expected to overtake the US as the world's biggest producer of beer. Consumption grew by 88% between 1995 and 2000. Since the liberalisation of the economy, global brewers have descended on this vast market and either built new plants or taken stakes in existing ones. Anheuser-Busch, America's biggest brewer, has a 30% stake in China's oldest and best-known producer, Tsingtao ("ching-tow"). Germans built the brewery in 1903 and also planted hops in the area; China today is the third biggest hop- producing country in the world.

It is thought there are some 850 breweries in China and more in the pipeline as the likes of Carlsberg, Foster's, Guinness, Heineken and Scottish & Newcastle muscle in. These global brewers are concentrating on urban areas, where 70% of the population is under 35: young people consider beer to be a sign of western sophistication. With the exception of Guinness, global brewers concentrate on pale lagers with little bitterness and with rice added as a cheap adjunct to barley malt. Tsingtao is widely exported, as is Swan Lager from Shanghai.

Czech Republic

Bohemia, a region of the modern Czech Republic, has two claims to beery fame. The Czechs drink more beer per head than even the neighbouring Germans (293 pints or 166 litres a year compared with 253 pints/144 litres in Germany: the Brits are eighth in the bibulous Premier League), and the first golden lager beer was created in the region. In 1842, the new Burghers' or Citizens' Brewery in Pilsen produced beer made by the cold maturation system - known as lager, from the German for store place - developed in Bavaria.

Bavarian lagers were dark while the beer from Pilsen was an enticing pale gold and took the world by storm. Soon brewers throughout the world were reproducing the new style dubbed Pilsner, Pilsener or just Pils for short. In a bid to maintain its claim to the origins of the style, the Burghers' Brewery changed its name to Pilsner Urquell, which means Original Source Pilsner. It has a toasted malt and pungent hop character.

The quality of Czech beer was legendary but it was rarely drunk by westerners during the cold war. The communists maintained some 70 breweries but global brewers rushed to pick up cheap, privatised companies as soon as they could. SABMiller owns Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Kozel, while InBev has bought Prague Breweries, whose best-known brand is Staropramen (Old Spring). The superb Budweiser Budvar is another widely exported Czech beer. It has a rich toasted malt, vanilla and spritzy hop character and is still state-owned: the government wants to keep it out of the clutches of its American namesake.

The United States

The country is currently enjoying a revolution in craft brewing with more than 1,300 "micro" breweries. Their sales grew by 16% last year and they now enjoy a market share of more than 10%. Many of these "micros" are extremely big by British standards: Sierra Nevada in Chico, California, for example, produces 800,000 barrels a year. Its Pale Ale and India Pale Ale are sold in Britain.

Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s destroyed a brewing industry with a rich heritage of British and German-style beers. Only a handful of giants, led by Anheuser-Busch with Budweiser, saturated the vast market afterwards with thin and insipid interpretations of lager. The label on a bottle of Bud, for example, announces it is brewed from the finest rice, barley malt and hops. Rice is tasteless and sums up the beer. Other giant breweries use large amounts of cheap corn.

In 1965, a beer aficionado named Fritz Maytag bought the ailing Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco and fired the first shots in the second American revolution. The success of his beers encouraged others to open small commercial plants. Some were enthusiastic followers of the Campaign for Real Ale in Britain; others of German descent have fashioned lagers of such quality they should bring a blush to Budweiser's cheeks. Today the likes of Brooklyn Brewery in New York City, Pike and Redhook in Seattle, Rogue in Newport, Oregon, and Samuel Adams in Boston are a power in the land. And Goose Island IPA from Chicago, on sale in Britain, may just be the best beer in the world.

India

While some Indian states ban alcohol, the country's indigenous breweries range from the far north in the Simla hills to Bangalore and Hyderabad in the south. The main brewing groups are Mohan Meakin and United Breweries. Mohan Meakin was India's first commercial brewery, established in the 1820s by an Englishman, Edward Dyer. Its main brands today are Lion and Golden Eagle lagers. United Breweries, another major producer, is best known for Kingfisher, brewed under licence in England and the mainstay of many Indian restaurants. Cobra Lager is nominally based in Bangalore but the brand was founded in England in 1989 by a Cambridge graduate, Karan Bilimoria, and is brewed in Bedford by Charles Wells. All Indian lagers tend to be malty and sweet with little hop character.

India's main claim to bibulous fame is the style known as India Pale Ale, the beer that refreshed the Raj. It was first brewed in London at the end of the 18th century but was seized on by big brewers such as Bass in Burton-on-Trent who were looking for new markets. The style was heavy in alcohol and hops to help withstand a three-month sea journey to Bombay and Calcutta. By the end of the 19th century, IPA was replaced in India by German brewers with their lager technology.

South America

A great brewing continent. Bavaria of Colombia, along with Modelo and Moctezuma in Mexico and Polar in Venezuela are among the world's biggest producers, while Ambev of Brazil has merged with Interbrew of Belgium to form the undisputed world's number one, InBev.

The Spanish built breweries in the lands they conquered, though the modern influence is German and lager-style beers abound. But long before the Europeans arrived, Aztecs and Mayans made beers - some rudimentary, some surprisingly sophisticated - using corn. A black beer called Xingu, made commercially in Brazil and exported to the US, is based on an ancient style made in the Upper Amazon.

In Mexico another European influence can be seen in such beers as Dos Equis and Negra Modelo, dark lagers based on a style known as "Austrian red". They reflect the period when Mexico was part of the Austrian empire and are brewed with dark malts that give them a fine chocolate, roast and spicy character.

Most South American lagers tend to be undistinguished refreshers but Bohemia from Mexico, Brahma from Rio de Janeiro and Tipo Pilsen from Venezuela are excellent examples of the Pilsener style, with good malt, vanilla and hop notes.

· Roger Protz edits the Good Beer Guide. His most recent book is 300 Beers To Try Before You Die (Camra Books). The World of Beer: a Universal Language runs from tomorrow until April 29 at the Proud Galleries, London. Entry free.
proud.co.uk