So which beer is which?

For some beer is their drink of choice at meals, and for others, it is wine. There are probably as many different types of beers out there as there are pubs to serve them. There are the huge commercial varieties and then there are the smaller boutique and gourmet ales. There are also some that people just make at home. There are pilseners, ales, stouts and other varieties.

Beer is like cheese and many other foods that have been around for millennia, there are many types, flavours and styles. So which is which and where do you get them?

To help those that are already beer lovers expand their pallet and experience, a new beer guide has been delivered to us. The Australian and New Zealand Beer Buyers Guide has arrived. It will make life infinitely easier for the beer drinker, as well as the retailers hoping to develop their beer market.

The book has nine chapters and starts with the basics about how beer is actually made. This lays the foundation for the rest of the Guide, which has been contributed to by some of the most well known beer aficionados in Australia.

The Guide then goes into how to taste beer and then what to look for when buying it as well as the glassware to serve it. Interestingly different serving temperatures are recommended for different beer styles to get the best flavour and texture.

Beers have a best before date and will lose quality quickly after that, so this is highlighted in the Guide. So storage temperature and handling are important as well.

It is a useful Guide and well worth having a look at. If beer is your thing, then this would be worth putting on the Christmas present list as it will help develop your beer knowledge and taste. Much of the information it contains has traditionally only been available in trade publications, so now it is accessible by the public.

The book is produced by the publishers of Beer And Brewer Magazine.

This article has been written by Rachelle Williams – The Green Food Safety Coach