Your Comments, Criticisms and Contributions - July 2005
Sir: I read a piece about beer on my internet browser today, wherein you are mentioned as brewing an English bitter beer with a sweet taste. English bitter is not sweet - and therein lies the problem with all of the Canadian attempts at brewing darker beer - there is this underlying taste of added sugar. Compounding that sin is the lack of hop flavour in any of the dark beers I have tasted. When may I expect to drink a "Best Bitter" without having to cross the Atlantic to get it?
- Norm Blondel
I'm not certain where you got your information, but I don't have anything to do with brewing beer of any sort. I am a fifteen year veteran beer writer and World of Beer is my free Internet-only magazine. I'm also most familiar with British best bitter, have visited the U.K. many times and judged at the Great British Beer Festival on three occasions.
As for beers with hop character, although not necessarily in the classic British best bitter style, I note that you are from British Columbia and therefore suggest that you investigate the wares of some of B.C.'s fine craft brewers, including Spinnaker's, Old Yale, R&B, Storm, Crannog, Nelson, Phillips...
Is Tequiza still being made? We can't find it anymore.
- Nancy B. Bridges
According to the Anheuser-Busch website, Tequiza is still being made Check with your local Bud distributor.
What is the criteria necessary for a beer to be labeled "Premium"?
- John Suchanec
Sad to say, just about any beer can call itself "premium." For that matter, an ale can be called a lager and vice versa, there is so little control over beer nomenclature. Most such decisions are made purely by marketers, I suspect, at least where the bigger breweries are concerned.
(John writes back)
Many years ago, while traveling in Philadelphia, I spent several nights at an Irish pub on South Street. One of the bartenders there explained to me that the original criteria for claiming "premium" beer status was the amount of time the beer was aged before marketing. I'm sure he said it was roughly 90 days.
Very few nationally marketed beers make that claim. In fact, they're intent on marketing "freshness". The only nationally marketed beer I knew of then that was truly "premium" was Rolling Rock, and while RR is available in many places east and west, I'd be careful about calling it a national brand.
If you learn any more about this I'd appreciate passing it on.
- John Suchanec
(My further reply)
Your Philly bartender passed along one of the common myths of the beer world. Truth is, premium or not, very few beers need or would benefit from three months of aging. Most ales, for example, can be ready for drinking in as little as two or three weeks, and even the finest pilsners require only four to six weeks of conditioning time.
Getting back to the designation of 'premium,' Anheuser-Busch considers Bud to be a premium brand, while many imports and craft-brewed beers are variously described as 'ultra-premium' or 'super- premium.' The bottom line? The term has no useful significance in the modern beer world.
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