Free The Naked Pint by Christina Perozzi Page B

weight.
    Wheat has a lot of protein and can add silkiness on the tongue and a foamier head.
     
    Corn can add to the sugar content, putting a weight in the liquid.
    When you start to review beers, be sure to include descriptions of mouthfeel. It will train your palate to stay active as you taste your way through your Beer Journey. Take the following terms along with you so that you can get specific about mouthfeel:

The Philosophy of Beer: To Draught or Not to Draught?
    D raught or bottle? That is the question, isn’t it? For many people, the answer becomes the deciding factor when choosing a beer. Of course draught beer is obviously better, right? Draught beer must be fresher, and fresher is better, right? It is true draught beer is wonderful. Many people sidle up to the bar to peruse the tap handles, eager to taste a freshly tapped beer. But is draught beer the be-all and end-all of beer service? Some say that certain beers are actually much better out of the bottle. First of all, sometimes an American craft brewery is so small it doesn’t even have a bottling line, or sometimes a brewery only bottles its beer, so in these cases you have no choice between a draught and a bottle.
    Second, some people think that beers out of the bottle are a little more trustworthy. When you drink a craft or artisanal beer right out of the bottle, it’s as if the brewer handed it to you himself. With beer on tap, you add the risk of draught lines. Draught lines need to be properly and constantly cleaned and maintained, or they can contaminate your beer. If draught lines aren’t cleaned on a regular basis, gunk like sugars, proteins, hop resins, yeast, bacteria, and microflora can build up and make even the best beer taste like crap. Most beer bars are pretty vigilant about this, but if you start tasting funky off-flavors (see page 24) from a keg that is not otherwise bad, you may want to start drinking beers from bottles at that particular establishment.
    So what is the answer?
    Because there are many varied answers to this question, we thought we’d go straight to the top. We asked Randy Thiel, former brewmaster at Brewery Ommegang in New York and current director of quality control at New Glarus Brewing Company in Wisconsin. Oh, and he’s also the first American ever to be inducted into the Knighthood of Brewers Mashstaff by the Belgian Brewers Guild in Brussels. (We’re not messing around.) Randy says, “The quality of a conditioned beer should not differ based on the volume of beer. Albeit bottles can be conditioned to higher carbonation levels than kegs or tanks, for example, high carbonation does not dispense well from draught. Carbonation has a big impact on flavor, but that’s not necessarily a quality differentiation as it is a personal preference.”
    Wow, “personal preference”—now there’s an interesting concept. Here’s a little example of how it works. In Los Angeles, we can get the Abbey Ale Maredsous 10 both on draught and in bottle. Maredsous 10 is a Tripel, with 10% ABV. It has big malty sweetness; a doughy richness; and spicy, peppery notes. Now, personally, we like this beer better from the bottle than on tap. Why? The whole carbonation factor. To us, the higher carbonation that’s only possible in the bottle provides a better mouthfeel, lifting up what could be a cloying beer. On tap, that crisp, effervescent snap, that balance we like, is lessened. Now, that’s just our opinion. Perhaps someone else would prefer the different flavor and mouthfeel that comes from Maredsous 10 on tap; maybe she likes a less carbonated Maredsous 10 and thinks it’s better balanced. Who are we to say that she’s wrong?
    So, in the big draught versus bottle debate, you have to take a lot of factors into consideration. You have to think about what style of beer you’re drinking. You have to think about the quality of the draught lines and system, you have to consider the brewer’s intent with the beer, but most important