I’ve been wanting to put up a beer worshiping related entry for a while now, so I may as well stick it here. 
Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in our society, and exists pretty much in some form in almost every society worldwide. It is a drink which can be as complicated as a fine wine, or as simple as a crappy Molson beer. Now, while I brew my own beer at home, I do enjoy buying from time to time the local brands of beer that I see available (infrequently) around town. As most of my friends are aware, I simply despise most of the main brands of beer. (Boycott Molson, btw). So, lately, I have been trying out this new fashion in beer making, organic beer. Specifically various beers made by Nelson Brewing, a certified organic brewery. While, I have always been a fan of techniques which are more “natural” than normal beers. For example, I find lambic brews are especially tasty because they don’t use a specific yeast, but rather let the brew spontaneously ferment. Belle Vue Kriek is an especially tasty example of a lambic brew. I was not sure what to expect from the organic brews that I have tried. I’m hoping to try to pick up some organic barley and hops and try to make my own organic brew (not lambic though, because I don’t think the yeast in Alberta would lead to a tasty brew.)
I have to say though, so far every organic brew I have had is amazing. I find the flavours of the standard ales, lagers and such are far much more intense than the non-organic brews. This may be simply because they use more barley and less rice than Molsons or Labatts, however, it is still worth the extra money I paid for them. Scientific note: my sample set thus far has been limited, so this may simply be the exception to the rule.
In the process of trying to find more organic brews to enjoy, I ran across this really interesting list of ones which (as far as I can tell) are not easily available in Alberta. I have had a few of them in the states, and I can attest that they are as tasty as they claim. So, I’m hoping to have another chance to try them out when I go down south again. I would love to hear about other good local (ie. in Canada) organic breweries that would be worth trying out.
Outside of lambics and organics, I found out recently that “extreme beers” are also fascination for me as well. When I lived in Montreal, I used to enjoy drinking Unibroue’s various high-proof beers. As well, I enjoyed a bunch of very very hoppy variations on the standard IPA. Upon moving to Alberta, I ran across an American brand “Flying Dog” which made similar high-proof, or high-hops beers. In my homebrewing adventures, I had also accidentally made a few unusual beers as well (Most of my friends will likely remember my 4 bottles of maple syrup endeavour from Waterloo.) However, until recently, I simply regarded these beers as an unusual but tasty form of beer. Well, apparently, they are an entire genre of beer in the states. My biggest issue with these types of beer is while I really enjoy hoppy beer, my stomach doesn’t appreciate it as much anymore. So naturally, I tend to avoid them. However, the high-proof Unibroue special beers are more sweet than hoppy so they are totally worth trying out. While I was in Seattle recently, I enjoyed many different beers (including a really tasty Apricot Beer). However, as is common with beers in the states, I found most of them to be just too hoppy for my stomach. 
Now, as many of my friends are probably also aware, I enjoy wine as much as the next gentleman. However, I feel that both wine is given too much prestige as a “cultured” or “classy” drink and beer is severely underestimated in its complexity and possibility to be a “cultured” drink. As seen above, there is a huge variety of beers each with its own style and flavour. However, most times I end up going out to a fancy dinner or such, all that is there is crappy Heineken, Strongbow or worse (Coors Light anyone?). So in general if I want to drink to enjoy the flavour I end up with the wine, and while I enjoy a good wine and cheese as much as the next person, I also wish that the various institutions I have worked for would also consider offering a similar gathering, except with beer, and I’m not the only person to say so. A fancy beer and *insert appropriate food here* would be just as enjoyable and can be just as classy as a wine and cheese. Just as ordering a red wine or a white wine at a bar should not be viewed as the snooty thing to do.
At the very least it would be nice if they supported local microbreweries or such.
One can dream I guess.
1h
Image via Wikipedia
