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Mini Kegerators

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When discussing mini kegerators, it is important to make the distinction between which type you are talking about. There is the kegerator that is made from a mini refrigerator, and then there is the mini kegerator gadget. The mini kegerator that is made from a mini fridge is a compact, but still largely immobile device that is usually home made, using half sized or even smaller fridges. The mini kegerator that is a gadget is a new appliance on the market. It is quite portable, and a good way to enjoy draft beer while on the go – that is what we are talking about here.

Mini Kegerators"Gadget" Mini kegerators are a new retail item that helps you to enjoy cold beer without the expense of owning a full-on kegerator. Mini kegerators are becoming a more and more affordable way to ensure that you have draft beer on the go. Most brands come with a variety of options, such as DC power, cleaning kits, and temperature control. Mini kegerators that dispense 5 liter mini kegs are made by Krups, Heineken, Avanti, EdgeStar, Vinotemp, and other companies as well, so there are a variety of models to choose from.

These gadgets are currently priced right around $200 – $300. For all practical purposes, the less expensive units do just as good a job as the more expensive ones. For example, the Avanti Mini-Pub Kegerator retails for about $230, and the Vinotemp Mini Keg Beer Dispenser retails for about $100 more – $330. The Avanti has the benefit of being more compact, and the Vinotemp has a better temperature regulator. So, unless you have really exacting temperature requirements for your beer, you might as well get the more inexpensive brand – it is more likely to fit in the trunk or boat, or whatever you are traveling in. General compact-ability is a feature of most mini kegerator gadgets – at least, compared to the mini fridge kegerator or a full-blown kegerator. For this reason, these compact mini kegerators have enjoyed popularity among the draft beer fan crowd.

One of the great advantages of the mini kegerator is that they come with AC and DC power supplies. This allows you to run the mini kegerator off of your car, RV, or boat battery, even solar systems can power these mini kegerators. This makes it easy to take a small amount of beer (standard mini kegs hold 5 liters) out for a picnic, boating, or car camping trip. Mini kegerators can also be easily installed into your RV or boat as a semi-permanent appliance.

New advances in refrigeration technology may see a whole revolution in the way we cool all manner of things, including beer. Researchers at Penn. State have made headway in electromagnetic cooling devices. These devices operate without the use of a compressor or of Freon, and, if commercially viable, will produce machines that are much more compact than the bulky fridges we are used to. On top of this, Ben and Jerry’s, the famous ice cream men, have developed a way to cool their dessert via sound waves. By using a machine that employs pressurized helium gas and ethyl alcohol as a cooling medium, they keep their ice creams at a delightfully cold level.

The increased popularity and availability of kegerators is likely to create an industry that is capable of harnessing these new technologies and putting them to good use. It seems clear that, with this latest invention of the mini kegerator, the kegerator industry is willing and capable of incorporating new, inventive ideas into its arsenal of products. In short, we are sure to see more and more interesting forms of kegerators in the coming years.

The new options that these mini kegerators provide give fans of draft beer an excellent opportunity to enjoy draft beer in a variety of settings. While in the past, draft beer fans have gone to great lengths to install kegerator systems in their R.V.s, now it as simple as shopping around for a convenient new appliance. Some day, we may see mini kegerators replacing coffee makers in the office (certain offices, anyways), or at least be seen side-by-side with them. As it is, we will see them on the beach, the mountain retreat campsite, at sea, and at the omnipresent tailgate party. Draft beer to-go has become a reality at last.

Keg Theft: Kegs Disappearing From Bars and Breweries

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Not an activity we at Kegerators.com encourage, stainless steel kegs are disappearing from behind bars and breweries to be sold for scrap metal or possibly for home brewing.

The trend comes as the stainless scrap price has more than doubled in the last five years, making an empty 18-pound keg worth more than $13, according to price data for steel scrap sold in Chicago.

Hawaii actually passed legislation making beer-keg theft a crime. They may not have needed the law since existing theft laws probably would have covered it. But just for good measure, they passed it anyway.

Pacific Business News reported back in May:

Hawaii beer wholesalers reported the theft of more than 350 beer kegs last year, up sharply from the 30 stolen in 2006. Nationwide, approximately 300,000 of the stainless steel containers are stolen annually.

"This is a huge problem," Tim Lyons, legislative liaison for Anheuser-Busch Cos., testified in favor of the law. "It has just escalated beyond any reasonable proportion."

"Metal keg theft is a growing problem because they can be redeemed for fast cash at scrap dealerships," added Lance Hastings, Western regional director for state government affairs for Miller Brewing Co.

Kegerator Video Contest

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Enter to Win
Kegerator Video Contest

Well… It’s that time again. Time to give away a really expensive appliance in return for a few laughs. If you have not already heard, we are running a video contest asking the question, "What would you do for a kegerator?"

This is your chance to get crazy stupid-creative and impress the judges with your mad director skills. The lucky winner will receive a free kegerator and forever enrich their lives with kegerator companionship.

The skinny on the contest is as follows:

1. Make a funny, shocking, cool, stupid or impressive video showing us "What you would do for a free kegerator".

2. Submit your video to YouTube or Google Video.

3. Fill out the form here and you could win a free kegerator.*

Good Luck and go crazy!!

Deadline to submit a video: August 31th

Imported Beers Taste Better In a Can?

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One of the great joys of the golden age of microbrews in which we live is the availability of beers from around the world. In most major cities in the U.S., you can find nearly any kind of beer. Many brands are imported from Germany, France, the U.K., Belgium, Japan, even Africa. If you can’t find it imported, the chances are that you can find an American made version of it. I will list some of my favorite imports here.

It is hard to stomach, but let me be the first to say: Newcastle in a can is better. I have always disdained canned beers ever since I started home brewing. Glass preserves the flavor, I used to say. Well it turns out that the clear glass bottles that Newcastle comes in don’t preserve the flavor as much as the opaque aluminum can. This is entirely understandable: sunlight is well known as a degrader of hop character in beer. This is why most ales of Newcastle’s quality are served in brown bottles. When Newcastle is drunk form the can, however, I must say that the taste improves. I can sense the light hop character I never before had in the beer, and it just seems fresher. Well, at least now I know: it isn’t always the container, but more what they put in it!

Of Guinness, it is always heard: much better in Ireland. There are many potential reasons for this, and I do believe it to be true, but if you live in the states, what can you do? It makes sense that Guinness at the brewery is made the same, whether in Ireland or the United States. It is my belief that from every moment after the keg of Guinness leaves the brewery here in the states, or is hauled off of the boat, it is at risk. This is partly because the beer is extremely sensitive to temperature changes. If it is not kept cool throughout transportation, it will undergo changes. If the tap system at the bar has hoses that are the wrong length, the carbonation will change. And the most obvious difference is that seemingly 99% of barkeeps in this country do not know how to properly pour a pint of Guinness! All the rest might as well be left up to chance, but it is high time that uninformed barkeeps in this country learned how to do it right. For those of you who have not been to Ireland, this is how you do it: First, pour roughly 2/3 of the pint full, at a slight angle of the cup. You then let this settle. It usually takes about 45 seconds for the initial pour to settle. Then you top it off and hand it to the patron. If you want to get fancy, you can make a leaf or such design in the foam on top, like they do with lattes. This method of pouring is the proper way, and allows the perfect degree of carbonation and proper head. If you are hazy on any of this, you should plan on going to Ireland to see how it’s really done. I recommend flying into Cork.

From Scotland, we have a true treat: in the ancient tradition of Heather Ale, Fraoch! This is a hop-less, or Gruit-style ale that is a little expensive, but well worth it! This craft ale is made in Scotland by Williams Brewing Company, and represents an elusive tradition of brewing that goes back 2,000+ years. The beer itself is a malty and rich amber with unusual bouquet. The beer is infused with both Heather and Sweet Gale, and imparts a lively inebriation to the imbiber. If you are a beer fan, you must drink this ale before you die! If you are a home brewer, try making some just to keep a 2,000 year old brewing tradition alive. The Fraoch website has some great reading materials on the history of heather ale viewable at: http://www.fraoch.com/history.htm

As delightful as it has been, I must now be off to dream further dreams of ales imported from the land of Morpheus. Until next time, drink it in good health!

Beers of the World

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Beer has circled the globe more than a few times. One of the great treats a beer fan can enjoy is sampling the great variety of flavors that the beers of the world provide. In the U.S., beer fans have had the great pleasure of being served the beers of the world right here in our own country. Thanks to the rising popularity of fine ales, many of the beers traditional to Belgium, Germany, and the Nederlands are even being made by micro-breweries in the states. In the world of beer, there are still many as of yet unexplored brews from unexpected corners of the world. Here I will discuss a sampling of unique beers from 5 different countries: Africa (Palm beer), Brazil (Manioc), Tibet (Chang), and Scotland (Heather ale), all of which are described in Stephen Harrod Buhner’s book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers.

Beer tends to be defined, in common parlance, as an alcoholic beverage made with hops, barley, yeast, and water. When talking about beers of the world, we must be ready to broaden our definition of the word beer to encompass that which is at hand. Grains of different types are used, from wheat to millet, rice, and even corn. In some place in the world, barley and hops are not available or simply do not grow there – and so, people make do with what they have.

For example, as we learn from Buhner in his book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers, in Brazil, one native beer is known as Masato, or Manioc Beer. This beer has been made for approximately the last 4,000 years from a root called Manioc, which is also used to make tapioca. The Manioc root grows quickly, and attains a weight of up to 30 pounds within just a few months. It is used for food as well as to make the Masato. Traditionally, the root is chopped, boiled, and the starch to sugar conversion is catalyzed with human saliva. The women of the tribe chew the root pieces and then put them back in the boiling pot. Wild yeast is allowed into the wort to start the fermentation process. The Manioc plant is deeply ingrained into the cultures of the people who make it still, with it’s own mythology. You can read more about Manioc in Buhner’s book.

Another beer of the world made with unconventional ingredients (at least to the western world’s beer fan) is Palm beer. According to Buhner, palm beer is made with the unrefined sap from a variety of palm trees: date palms, coconut trees, moriche, sago, and palmyra being the most common. For many indigenous peoples throughout Africa, South America, and even India, Palm beer is an important part of life that transcends the physical world. Thus, it is often shared with the ancestors and used to help communicate with their spirits.

Getting back to more familiar ingredients, we shall look at Tibet. There, a brew called Chang is made mostly from Barley. Millet and buckwheat are used in some cases when barley is unavailable. What really makes this brew different from others, as we learn from Buhner, is the use of ginger-root-based yeast cakes for both the starch to sugar conversion and to start fermentation. Yeast cakes are made by crushing dried ginger root and mixing it with rice or barley flour. The mixture is then moistened and formed into cakes that are added to the boiled barley, rice, or millet that are being used to make the drink.

Heather Ale is an interesting beer of the western tradition that encompasses the herb heather as an admixture. The making of heather ale goes back to the culture of the indigenous Pictish tribes of the British Isles. In addition to numerous literary and folkloric assertations about the history of heather ale and mead, Buhner sites, in his book, an archeological dig on the Scottish Isle of Rhum. This dig discovered a pottery shard dating 2,000 years B.C. with “traces of a fermented beverage containing heather.” Heather ale has recently become commercially available in the U.S. as Fraolich ale, brewed in ???.

These five beers are just the tip of the iceberg. There are innumerable beers in the world, some still hidden away in remote corners, making the world of beer a very interesting place. New varieties of herbal beer are popping up among beer fans on the U.S. as well as inventive new micro-brews containing herbal admixtures, re-creations of ancient recipes, and brand new ideas in brewing. Keep your eyes open for the next invigorating (and inebriating) discoveries among the beers of the world.

Holy Beer; Brewed for God: Spiritualism Surrounding Sacred Beers

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Grains used in fermentation the world ‘round have always been associated with being holy. In many cultures, the freedom from the rational mind that comes by drinking is seen as a way to become more open to spiritualism and the spiritual world. In the western world, during medieval times, it was thought that ale must be blessed by the priest in order that the miracle of fermentation could begin. Even today, there are monasteries whose main focus is brewing holy beer to sell and benefit the church. But, as always, for some, the beer brings them closer to their god, and for others, it brings them closer to their own demons.

Sacred grains such as barley, millet, rice, and even corn, have been well-respected for their ability to give the gift of inebriation to humans throughout history. Indigenous cultures have developed many different traditions surrounding the act of fermentation. One Viking tradition was to yell and scream at the wort in order to make the spirit within it angry, and therefore more potent. Other cultures sing around the beer to ensure the connection between the spirit of the plant(s) involved and the people. Some monasteries use a “blessed spoon” to stir the wort and excite fermentation, and other cultures have used rune carved oak staves which are dipped in the wort.

Everyone loosens up a little after having a drink. In many cultures, this loosening up has spiritual connotations. As noted in Stephen Buhner’s book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers, the fermented sap of the palm is considered to help people’s spirits to detach from the material world.

Most beer fans have heard of the beer brewing monks, but they are, in actuality, an uncommon variety. While being famous for brewing, the Trappist monks actually have only seven brewing monasteries out of 171. It is estimated that by the year 1,000 as many as 500 monasteries were brewing in the western world. The reasons behind the church sanctioned brews were many – according to trappistbeer.net, the beer was made to provide healthy drinks for the monks, and attract new followers.

Around this time, it was common practice for brewers to seek out a priest to bless their brew with the power of god. In exchange for this service, the priest was allowed to drink the beer for free at the local pub. Eventually, this became a blessing from which a tax was collected by the church. Finally, the priests wound up giving their blessing “from afar”, and the church still collected the tax. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before brewers started thinking ill of this “hands-off” blessing technique, and this process halted during the 18th century, along with other church reforms.

With the coming of the industrial revolution, and the French revolution, many of the monasteries stopped selling their beer to the public. It became difficult for the low-tech monks that were left to make any kind of profit using their old world craft brewing techniques. Many monasteries still made beer for their own population, and kept the recipes alive through the difficult time that followed.

After two world wars, three, really, counting the cold war, and numerous competitive knock-offs falsely claiming to be monastic brews, the holy beer still kept flowing. Today, there are seven beers recognized by the International Trappist organization: Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Tilburg (La Trappe). These are the officially recognized Trappist ales available today.

Holy men and women, monks, nuns, alchemists, and shamans still pursue the holy beer through ancient rituals and subtle manipulations the world over. Some seek out new plants to learn new brews from, and some recreate ancient recipes from their own culture or from that of others. Given the trials and tribulations the Trappists managed to brew through, I am sure that Holy beer will always be a part of human existence.

Gluten-Free Beer

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For many potential beer fans, gluten intolerance has stopped them from ever quaffing brews made with barley. Those times are now over. Gluten-free beers are popping up all over the country, giving those with Celiac Disease (intestinal damage due to gluten intolerance) a new opportunity to drink with impunity. Not to mention that traditionally, beers from around the world have been made with alternative ingredients, some glutinous and some not. Thee is even a gluten-free beer festival held in Chesterfield, England. Here we will discuss some alternatives to using barley malt in beer, and some substitutes that are possible.

Over two million people in the United States have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. This represents a large market of potential beer drinkers who otherwise have few alternatives. Many health conscious people are also found in this category of non-gluten imbibers. Gluten is a protein found in such grains as barley, wheat, rye, spelt, and oats. As far as beer brewing is concerned, barley is a huge concern if one is interested in making a gluten free beer. Oats and rye can be a problem as well, depending on what flavor of beer you are planning to make.

Some common substitutes for barley are millet, sorghum, rice, corn, and soybean. The good news is that substitutions are possible. The bad news is that many of them do not taste very much like the stuff made with barley.

Many beers in Japan are now being made with soy or pea protein along with hops and sugar to produce a product known as “third beer”. This technology is fairly recent, but sales are booming in Japan. With a few more years of experimentation, these bold new brewing techniques may be perfected to provide a great new gluten free beer like product.

Traditionally speaking, in Tibet, Nepal, and the surrounding areas, beer made with millet or rice has been a staple drink for many years. This drink, called Chang or Chung can be made at home and features the use of ginger and rice flour yeast cakes to promote starch to sugar conversion as well as fermentation. For more information about making your own Chang, read Stephen Harrod Buhner’s book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers.

One beer manufacturer that is ahead of the game as far as gluten free beers go is Green’s. Their gluten-free beers are made using Sorghum, Millet, Buckwheat and Brown Rice, and contain no allergens. Their beers boast a high nutritional value as well, with 2x-3x the Zinc and Selenium content of Barley, an increased Calcium content, and rich in B vitamins. Their beers include the Quest (trippel bock), Mission (amber), and Pathfinder (dark) ales, lending a huge variety to a specialty market.

Credit to the first craft beer made with sorghum is claimed by Bard’s Tale Beer with their flagship brew called “Dragon’s Gold”. This beer has made a fine impression and weighs in at 3.8%- 4.7%%, with a hoppy, floral aroma, and, of course, no glutens. The Bard’s Tale brewing company has made a commitment to producing gluten free beer for all, and is an example that other brewers will hopefully follow.

The market for gluten free beer has grown considerably in Japan, while regular beer sales are slumping. With new varieties of gluten and malt free beer emerging in the U.S., this could possibly turn into a burgeoning market.

Cask Ales

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As interest in ancient beers and brewing techniques is piqued, the world is seeing a proliferation of the technique of serving beer as a cask-conditioned ale. Cask-conditioned ale is also referred to as “Real Ale” in some circles, although there is a subtle difference between the drinks the two terms describe. Cask Ale is a very old and traditional technique for carbonation and serving of beer. Cask Ale is currently enjoying a revival due to the qualities it imbues on the beer that it produces.

A quick summary of Cask Ale conditioning: it is a process that affects the final stage of beer production. Cask ale is un-pasteurized, un-filtered, and carbonated with the natural action of the yeast that is used in the fermentation of the ale, and without the aid of artificial carbonation or nitrogenation. Some cask ales are served with the natural yeast included, and in others the yeast has been filtered out. If the yeast has been filtered, it cannot be called a “real ale”. The concept of “Real Ale” is promoted by an association called the CAMpaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), based in the United Kingdom. According to the CAMRA’s definition, Real Ale is: "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide". One method that brewers and barkeeps have discovered to keep cask ale fresh-looking and clear is to add “finings” to the cask. Home brewers will be familiar with the term “Irish moss” – this is a “fining”, an addition to the beer which causes free-floating sediment to fall to the bottom of the beer. Sometimes, cask ale is served at room temperature, but it is mostly available at cellar temperature (50 or 55 degrees) in most pubs.

Barkeeps doctoring the beer you say? One historical note about Cask Ale is that it is easy for barkeeps to do just that. In older times, barkeeps would add additional hops, finings, or even illicit herbs to doctor the beer. Some unscrupulous bar owners would take ale that was going bad and water down good ale with it and put it on sale, and others would add wormwood to the concoction to make the ale seem stronger.

Many fans of Cask Ale site their beers more subtle fizz as a main selling point. The lesser degree of carbonation, they claim, allows the more subtle flavors of their beer to be enjoyed. Guinness, the famous stout, imitates this more subtle cask ale carbonation, although by the means of different technology.

The degree of carbonation in Cask Ale is actually controlled via a device called a “soft spile”. Once the cask reaches the brew pub, the barkeep hammers this soft spile into the corked hole in the keg known as the shive. By judging the flow of foam through the soft spile, the barkeep eventually takes out the soft spile and replaces it with a hard spile, which allows no more seepage. Once this process is complete, the Cask is ready to be served, via a gravity feed.

Cask ale is becoming more and more popular in the United States, where it is still uncommon to find. The New York Times reported that one beer distributor, Union Beer Distributors, has had their accounts more than triple for cask ale sales in 2007. UBD is the leading cask ale distributor for the New York metropolitan area, and a strong indicator that cask ale is a fast growing trend, at least in New York City. Let us keep in mind that New York City sets trends internationally. Keep your eye out for cask ales at your local brew pub, you may be pleasantly surprised by this taste of the past.

Beer Book Review

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With the rise in popularity of craft, micro, and home brewing, a slew of books have come out in recent years on these subjects. Some focus on cultural aspects of beer, some on nutritional aspects, and some focus on recipes. I will go over a few of the more popular titles on the shelf today, and relate them to my personal experience.

There is a book by brew scholar and professor of brewing technology at U.C. Davis Charles W. Bamforth called Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing, in 2003. This book goes into scientific detail about all aspects of the brewing process, with a mind to a layperson’s understanding of the topics. This is an excellent book for those interested in the details of the process of making beer. This is a good place for a starting home brewer or beer fan to learn more about what they are drinking. Professor Bamforth also gives lectures from time to time, so keep an eye out for his name in your neck of the woods. This book may be a bit simplistic for the home brewer or beer fan that is already intimately familiar with most aspects of beer production. Still, if scientific terms speak to you, it is a worthwhile read.

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher contains a cultural overview of beer, an amusing embellished timeline of the history of beer, and many recipes. Just to give you an idea of the breadth of beer covered in this book: Corinthian Steinbier, An English Bragot, c. 1500, Juniper Rye Bock, Black Pepper Porter, and Mister Boing Boing Cherry Barley Wine are all represented, for better or worse. The book also contains recipes for beverages other than beer, such as Finnish Sahti, Mead, hop-less Gruits, and wine. Randy’s writing is one of the most palatable ingredients in Radical Brewing – witty and full of humor. I recommend this book to any brewer. Even if you prefer traditional brews, this book is sure to open your eyes, and due to the amount of recipes, a keeper as a reference manual.

The book Wild Fermentation by Sally Ellix Katz is a wild foray into a subject which, for brewers, seems very dangerous. Most brewers do not want to mess with wild yeasts, due to the ease and commercial availability of good quality ale yeasts. But this book covers much more than just beer. It covers a wide variety of foods made with the assistance of fermentation, such as vegetable ferments, dairy ferments, and even ventures into the realm of vinegar making. The book does have chapters on beer and wine as well. This book is a little much for me to handle. The chapters are compelling and informative, but it is all just too much for me to handle at once – it is like learning 5 different trades in one workshop. I recommend this book to those who are capable at multi-tasking.

My favorite book about beer, by far, is Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner. This book is a gem containing a well-referenced codex of ancient beers from around the world. The poetry and humanitarianism with which Buhner delivers into our hands the wisdom, folklore, and recipes of the ancient brewers is both astonishing and informative. Buhner makes one particularly thrilling correlation between a beer trend that is 700 years old and political maneuvering of the protestant movement in Europe – but I won’t reveal it here because I’m not that kind of person. Buhner also writes from a fairly neutral viewpoint, taking in with deep understanding the cultures about who’s brew he is writing about. This book has been dearly loved in my home brewery, where ever it has been, and my first handed-down copy had so much wort spilled on it that I had to buy a new copy recently. This book goes over the cultural aspects of beer primarily, and also contains some bizarre recipes from the ancients – some of which taste quite good! If you are a home brewer or a fan of beer history, you must get this book.

The Brew Scholar

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Brew Scholar Diploma

Brewing today is more of a science than ever. With advances in the specialty fields of micro-biotics and plant biology, this science is now receiving praise – and the degree programs – from the highest level of academia. The golden age of microbrews we are living in is giving more and more respect around the board to brewmasters, and has created a whole new field of academia – the brew scholar.

With more and more inventive and daring microbrews being created every year, we are seeing the ancient art of brewing given more and more attention. With a better understanding of what happens on the cellular level during each process of brewing – malting, mashing, fermenting, and kegging – efficient short-cuts and better ways of cleaning and sanitizing are becoming apparent. The advent of science of genetic engineering may provide even more efficient ways of fermenting beer as well. Already on the market is the product known as turbo yeast, which ferments quickly and more efficiently than most regular yeast strains. Alcohol fermented by the use of turbo yeast is used primarily as a fuel source or for distillates.

The use of Ethanol as a fuel source is growing rapidly. In Brazil, ethanol production is high, and new “flex” cars are being manufactured, which can run on either Ethanol, Gasoline, or a mixture of the two. U.S. president George W. Bush even visited there in March 7th of 2007, where he signed agreements with Brazilian president about importing alternative alcohol based technology from Brazil to the United States. The rise in value of Ethanol as an easy fuel to turn to has only increased opportunities for the Brew Scholar. After all, alcohol is most easily manufactured through the art and science of fermentation.

Speaking of which, there is a book by brew scholar and professor of brewing technology at U.C. Davis Charles W. Bamforth called Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing. This book goes into scientific detail about all aspects of the brewing process, with a mind to a layperson’s understanding of the topics. This is an excellent book for those interested in the details of the process of making beer. This is a good place for a starting home brewer or beer fan to learn more about what they are drinking. Professor Bamforth also gives lectures from time to time, so keep an eye out for his name in your neck of the woods.

One interesting development in the birth of the brew scholar is that many respectable Universities are now offering degrees in brew science. The U.K.’s University at Nottingham has offered since 2006 a master’s course which is open to graduates as well as current brewery employees. Class topics include yeast efficiency, brewery design, and more.

At U.C. Davis, in northern-central California, malting and brewing are taught as part of the bachelor of science degree in Food Science or the master’s degree of science within the Food Science Graduate Group. This is where Professor Bamforth teaches. There are three tiers to the Davis brewing program. First is Introduction to Beer and Brewing, which gets the student familiar with the importance of beer as an international industry, and a basic understanding of how industrial breweries operate. Next is the theoretical class Malting & Brewing Science, which familiarizes the student with all aspects of industrial beer production from growing grains to the point of sale. Thirdly is Practical Malting & Brewing, where the student learns “hands-on” in the brewery and at the lab about analyzing beer and the links of that analysis with production methods.

With the golden age of microbrews going strong, it will be a wonder to see what these new brew scholars can do with beer. We are sure to see more interesting varieties and more efficient beer production thanks to these new degrees. Blue-collar workers finally have something to thank academia for!