Bière de Garde While France is rightly renowned for its robust wine culture, it also has a rich but lesser known history of brewing beer. Bière de garde, loosely translated to mean beer for keeping, is recognized as France’s contribution to specialty brewing, originating in farmhouse breweries that once populated French Flanders, an area now...

Hop Farming & Craft Beer  Before the massive growth of the craft beer industry in North America, hops were primarily used for their antibacterial properties to help preserve beer. Until quite recently, hops were perceived as a generic and readily available ingredient, leaving many hop growers susceptible to supply gluts and massive price fluctuations.  For...

West Coast IPA Hazy IPAs have had a profound impact on the modern craft beer world, dominating the beer scene for last decade. The Alchemist’s 2011 release of Heady Topper, a world-renowned tropical and juicy brew, is generally credited with starting the east coast beer trend. Over the last 10 years, brewers have constantly pushed...

What is an English IPA? In North America, the term IPA has become synonymous with American IPAs and for many people it conjures images of juicy, hazy, New England brews. So, what is an English IPA? As opposed to the more neutral malt base used in American-style IPAs, English IPAs have more biscuit, toffee-like or...

What is A Golden Ale? As beer fads come and go over time, beer styles and classification evolve in line with emerging trends. With that in mind, are there any fundamental differences between a traditional Belgian golden strong ale, blonde ale and golden ale?  Let’s start with the easy part… A Belgian golden strong ale...

What is Table Beer? Table beer is difficult to define as it’s an elusive term that does not align with a specific beer style, rather it represents a concept – an everyday, low-alcohol by volume (ABV) beer that’s both accessible and communal.  While table beer does not adhere to any strict guidelines, they are generally...

Märzen Beer What is a Märzen? A Märzen (or March beer) is a German amber lager that is dark copper to reddish brown in colour. It’s crisp and smooth with toasted bread aromas and subtle hints of spice. The rich and toasty malt sweetness is balanced with a noble hop bitterness and a clean, dry finish....

Italian Pilsners  Pilsen & The Birth of Pilsners  The Pilsner style was born in Pilsen, a city in what is now Czech Republic, in 1848. Pilsner Urquell is credited as being the first pilsner ever produced, pilsner meaning “from Pilsen” in Czech. The Czech pilsner is pale gold in colour with low-to-medium noble hop presence....

Oak Barrels & Aging Beer Wood has played an instrumental role in the brewing industry for hundreds of years. For centuries, wooden barrels have been used to transport beer, as well as providing a vessel for serving and fermenting, and recently there has been a resurgence in barrel-aging beer.  History of Wooden Barrels  The Gauls,...

What is a Roggenbier? Roggenbier, directly translated from German to mean ‘rye beer’ is an ale made with large portions of malted rye rather than barley or wheat. In modern versions, rye often represents the majority of the beer’s grain bill, but it may make up as little as one quarter to one third of...