Beer and ball

5 Jan
Local beer1  YUM!

Local beer1 YUM!


Fact: I am of german descent.  Fact: I like beer, especially a microbrews made from a small brewery. And with football hitting the end of season frenzy, lots of people will be getting together, watching football, eating fun nibblers, and drinking beer. Good thing beer is good for you! Who knew?

Beer has been around for a long time. It was a beverage of ancient Africa and Egypt. Some beer that Egyptians made came from unbaked bread. (Some beer today is known as a “sandwich” for that reason). Beer pretty much stayed the same from the ancient times until the Germans started working on it.

What influence did Germany have on beer? Germans had been brewing beer for hundreds of years, but could not do so in the warm months because the beer would spoil. They began to brew only in the cold months and store their brewed beer in caves in the Alps. The climate in the mountain caves were cool, and they discovered in doing so that the beer did not spoil. This was the fermentation process at work, but they did not know that at the time.

It was called the lager method. They did not know why it worked, but it produced a better beer, so onward and upward! An advancement in the beer we love today.  Some unlikely scientists also contributed to beer.  Like who you ask?  Even the genius of Louis Pasteur influenced beer in the mid 19th century. What? Louis Pasteur and beer? You bet!

Louis Pasteur, famous French chemist and biologist, contributed advancements in science with yeast and fermentation. Fermentation is a chemical process involving sugars turning into alcohol. This method was used to preserve beer long before it was applied to milk and other foods. This was his contribution to beer and brewing. We only know the french for their wine. Now we can thank them for our beer too! Anyway, Pasteur also discovered the relationship between heat, fermentation, pasteurization leading to better beer. Thank you to theAfricans, Egyptians, the Germans,  French scientists as well.

I particularly enjoy microbrews and “craft” beers. The brew masters of smaller craft breweries play with the recipes and flavor a bit. For a foodie like myself, beer can be every bit as much fun to match with food

Watermelon beer.  A refreshing summer treat!

Watermelon beer. A refreshing summer treat!

as fine wines. Alterations in recipes and ingredients can provide interesting flavor variances, which is a lot of fun to taste. Beer from small breweries can also be interesting to taste regionally. In addition to local food, it can provide another way to sample local flavors while traveling. There are dozens of variations of beer, maybe even hundreds, so it can really be a celebration of the palate to go beer tasting!

Believe it or not, beer does have health benefits. Any alcohol, when consumed in moderation, will lower “bad” cholesterol , reduce the risk of blood clots, has been associated with lowering the risk of kidney stones and heart disease, and decreases the risk of other diseases. Beer is made with natural ingredients including plant sources, so it is nutritional.  As far as vitamins and minerals go, beer has niacin, folate, calcium, potassium, and even fluoride! So when you flash that dazzling smile,  you can thank your local brewer!

But again, beer, like all alcohol, only has health benefits when consumed in moderation, so be mindful

A delicious classic beer to enjoy,

A delicious classic beer to enjoy,

when drinking. Grab some classic beer,  like Guinness, or go local, like I sometimes do when trying new neighborhood small brewries.   Start enjoying local influences in food, wine, and even beer when traveling.  Or grab some great local brews and support local entrepreneurs.  Bon Voyage!


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