Talk:Beer

Archives
Talk:Beer/Archive1
Talk:Beer/Archive 2
Talk:Beer/Archive 3

Categories

I added a category for 'Beer places' with redirect to 'drinking establishments'. A Google search of 'beer places' brings up quite a few related items.--THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^TALK 20:52, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Categorising by yeast

Is it really right to call top-fermenting yeasts ale and direct it to the ale-article? Isn't for example Porter and Stout types of top fermenting beers? Or are they types of ales? (I'm asking because I'm working on the swedish beerarticle and in svwp we have both ale-, lager- and lambic-articles and the articles top-fermentation, bottom-fermentation and spontaneous fermentation...) Thanx! SvSuz (talk) 22:07, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Good question. After reading the ale article on Wikipedia, I had always believed ale to mean a beer made with top-fermenting yeast, but now that you mention it, the statement isn't sourced, neither Oxford or Webster mention yeast when defining "ale". Oxford - "a type of beer with a bitter flavor and higher alcoholic content : amber-colored beers, ales, and stouts." Webster - "an alcoholic beverage brewed especially by rapid fermentation from an infusion of malt with the addition of hops."

Concerning porters and stouts, these beers can be made with either top-fermenting or bottom-fermenting yeast, according to their Wikipedia articles. Jecowa (talk) 03:37, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

In my years as a certified beer judge, I have perused multiple resources for beer style characteristics and all the authoritative sources I have seen describe all stouts and all but a few porters (mostly derived from fairly recent Eastern- and Central-European tradition) as top-fermented. For one resource please see the Beer Judge Certification Program's site http://www.bjcp.org/index.php and click on Style Guidelines for the updated 2008 descriptions. Scalasaig (talk) 21:32, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

I beg to differ. There are plenty of examples from around the world of bottom-fermented Porters and Stouts. Van Vollenhoven's Stout was bottom-fermented by Heineken for 60 years. Dragon Stout in Jamaica, Carbine Stout from Australia and Castle Milk Stout from South Africa are all bottom-fermented. In Denmark almost all Porters and Stouts from established breweries - Calrsberg, Tuborg, etc - are bottom-fermented. And before you say that these are Baltic Porters, try looking on some of the labels - many have both Porter and Stout (or Stowt) on them. I don't want to sound nasty, but there seems to have been very little research from primary sources involved in compiling the bjcp guidelines. Which is why they are of so little use in describing European beer styles and their history. I wouldn't use the bjcp definitions as a reference for anything because they are so deeply flawed.Patto1ro (talk) 09:13, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Patto1ro. The BJCP guidelines, useful though they may be to American homebrewers, tend to be misleading with regard to European kinds of beer. In central Europe, there is a porter heritage that not many American and British beer lovers are aware of. To the porters Patto1ro mentioned, I would add Hoefpner Porter. Dunkelweizen (talk) 20:31, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Language & spelling

A recent edit 'corrected' the spelling of liter/litre. It was already correct...or not, depending on the dictionary used. What is the standard language/dialect here? I've noticed throughout the site that some articles use 'color' while others use 'colour'. An argument could be made for American English as Wikipedia started in the U.S. by Americans, but I'm fine either way. I don't want to get into edit wars with our friends across the pond (any pond)...is there any consensus on this? --averagejoe (talk) 17:16, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Both Commonwealth English and American English spellings are accepted on Wikipedia. There are some guidelines on this. An article can use either American English or Commonwealth English spelling, but not both. So the words "liter" and "centre" should not be in the same article; one must be switched to comply under one of the English spelling rules. To determine which variant of English spelling should be applied in an article, it should be considered which region of the world the subject of the article is more related to. an article on European Union institutions should use Commonwealth English, while an article on the American Civil War should use American English. In the event that the subject is not related to any country much more than another, then the spelling rules used in an article should be those that were first used when the article was created. Going back to the earliest page of the beer article's page history, it appears that the original edit no longer exists in the page history. Hmm, that's very interesting. Does anyone know why all edits to this page before December 13 2001 are missing? Jecowa (talk) 04:46, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

This article has been in Commonwealth English for as far back as we can go. Sometimes people add a word using American English, or will change the spelling of a few words to American English, but this is usually changed back to Commonwealth English. Older histories on some articles have been lost. However, out of interest I think that Jimbo started the beer article. I know he started the Real ale article. SilkTork *^{What's YOUR point?} 10:54, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Strongest Beer in the World

The strongest Beer in the world was draughed at the Vetter 33 (German for Cousin 33) by Brewmaster Rudolf J. Kasper von Vetters in Heidelburg, Germany. It had a 33.19% alcohol content by weight and alcohol content by volume of 37.91%. It is registered in the 1994 Guinness Book Of World Records. This can be verified by reading the 1994 book or by checking the vetter home page http://www.brauhaus-vetter.de/html/unser_bier.html under the tab "unser bier"

64.191.223.5 (talk) 00:10, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Vetter 33 is actually 10.5% abv. The 33 comes from the Plato scale. East European brewers still use the Plato scale - a good approximation is that 1° Plato is worth 4 "brewers points" (the thousandths' part of the SG measurement), so 12° Plato corresponds to an original gravity of 1.048 (12 x 4 = 48) which equals about 4.8% abv. The brewery is still playing on its reputation (and misunderstanding of the degrees Plato) as the world's strongest beer, but we have the truth here. SilkTork *^{What's YOUR point?} 15:21, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Image Request

I think someone should upload a photo of beer in a bottle, instead of only glasses, kegs, and steins. Bottles are quite common in, at very least, North America. Agree? Disagree? --Tkgd2007 (talk) 04:19, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

♠ Go for it dude! --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^TALK 23:25, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

beer and civilization

the Urine of Yeast, a mild poison that allows the human mind to put out the lights of the nagging nasty judgemental voice that sits just behind the back of the fun centers of the brain...allowing the fun centers to take over the body for a short amount of time until all the lights are put out. Without beer and other alcoholic drink, civilization as we know it would have likely never come to be, as a stable drinking supply free of deadly bacteria to sustain a large population. The caanite god El, whose name became a generic hebrew word for all gods may indicate an origin relating to beer as the name spelled Aleph Lamed is pronounced exactly as a dry heave. My theory is that on the night of the first drunken orgy, mankind blessed the gods for giving them the ability to see heaven and somewhere towards the end started vomitting uncontrollably and realized they were not worthy. Jiohdi (talk) 16:55, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Beer drinking etiquette

Maybe something should be said about customs/etiquette... such as drinking light beers before dark, etc.? Bigpeteb (talk) 06:02, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Beer fan sites vs. encyclopedia

We have discussed this before (several times) and there is simply no justification for using commercial fan sites that themselves describe their "style guide" as: "Note: This is not the bible for beer styles, but should be viewed as a work-in-progress and a fun reference that's open to change and interpretation." Yes, "fun reference" is certainly something we should be quoting here... if this was "Scott's Book of Funny and Unusual Facts". I just thought someone needed the reminder. Mikebe (talk) 21:37, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Please see WP:EL. — goethean ॐ 22:02, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

From WP:EL: "Such pages could contain further research that is accurate". Case closed. Have a nice day. Mikebe (talk) 16:56, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Charming as always. — goethean ॐ 15:29, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Violating WP rules as always.Mikebe (talk) 16:07, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Dating system

After some substantial research of the article history the B.C./A.D. fans are correct, much to my chagrin. The first usage of any of B.C., A.D., BCE, or CE is here. My apologies for reverting, would help if other people used a meaningful edit summary when changing such things.--Doug.^{(talk • contribs)} 21:59, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Expired beer?

does beer expire, i know that theres a best before of 110 days, but if i drank beer from say, 2002, would i feel any effects?--82.9.21.247 (talk) 19:28, 18 April 2008 (UTC)