 |
|
| Contact Us | Classifieds | Search: |
Purchase online
BOL Online
|
Kissin' cousins
Beer and whiskey share more than similar flavors
Staff Writer, The Prague Post May 5, 2005 Though beer is most often compared to wine, a more suitable comparison -- and occasional companion -- is whiskey. "They're both made from malted barley," explains Neil Urquhart, an export executive at Gordon & MacPhail, a Scotch whisky distiller. "The process is very similar up to the point of fermentation, but whisky has no hops added." In fact, the primary ingredients and initial production of beer and whiskey (or "whisky," as Scotch takes no e) are nearly identical, especially in the best examples of both genres. While mass-produced beers in America and elsewhere supplement their barley with corn, rice and other cheap grains, the world's best beers are made only with barley. And though some good whiskies are made from corn, in the case of great single-malt Scotch, it is 100 percent of the same malted barley that you might find in a Staropramen. As with brewing, distillation starts with the creation of malted barley -- selecting barley grains, steeping the grains in warm water and allowing them to sprout briefly before drying. In both whiskey and beer, the malted barley, or malt, is then cooked in water to release the sugars (maltose) from the grain. Yeast converts the sugars to alcohol. Generally, Scotch distillers use varieties of saccharomyces cerevesia, the common ale yeast, though they also use other specialized yeasts. In the distillery this results in a primitive, hopless beer called a "wash," which then enters the distillation process. Though the grain is the same, one principal difference is that the malted barley used to make Scotch is dried over burning peat, which imparts a characteristically smoky flavor. Instead of peat-firing, brewery malt is roasted and manipulated in various ways to create different flavors and colors, creating the range that stretches from Pilsner Urquell to Guinness. Not counting the different levels of alcohol, good beer and good whiskey generally have similar flavors. Crossing the boundaries, Alsace's Brasserie Fischer uses Scotch malt to make Adelscott, a beer with the distinct taste of peat and smoke. Similarly, both drinks are often overlooked when it comes to selecting what to serve with dinner. "Some whiskies can be very good with food," Urquhart says. "If you maybe picked something which is salty, fresh and peppery, a whisky could go very well -- smoked salmon, for example." Furthermore, Urquhart notes that some fans dilute Scotch with water to something approximating wine strength, perhaps 10 percent alcohol, to make a suitable beverage for dinner. Like many beers, such a drink can match very well with dark chocolate, a difficult pairing for most wines. And when preparing la cuisine a la biere, the high-class cousin of cooking with beer, the ultimate digestif is also made from malt. As British beer writer Michael Jackson writes in his Beer Companion: "After a beer dinner, any spirit served should be a whisky, preferably a malt Scotch." It is the height of zymurgic epicurianism, as anyone who's ever had the pleasure of a glass of whiskey with a beer chaser can tell you.
Evan Rail can be reached at
erail@praguepost.com
|
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.