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Beer - A Holistic Approach - Steven Segletes, Vice President (March 1998)
Greetings! Well, at March's meeting of the club, Myke Blakeman did such a great job at describing this month's beer style, English Mild, that there is virtually nothing left to say on the matter. So, I thought, instead, that I'd share with you a review of a wonderful beer book that my son, Eric, gave me last year for my birthday.
The book is entitled "A Taste for Beer," by Stephen Beaumont (Storey Publishing, Pownal Vermont, 1995). Most beer books I own are arranged in one of several ways (see list at end of article): by region, by brewery, by beer style, procedural, historical, or some combination thereof. These arrangements seem to make eminent sense, depending on the author's focus. Thus, I was at a loss to explain why Beaumont's book (whose arrangement can best be described as by weather, food and/or cigar combination, or drinking location) was so damned enjoyable to read. The book was so novel in its approach, that I could scarcely put it down until I was finished. It finally dawned upon me as to why I liked the book's layout: it treats beer not as a science or even as a beverage to be understood by analyzing the constituents of its taste profile. Rather, it treats beer as an integral part of life's experience and effectively portrays the symbiotic relationship that exists between the enjoyment of beer and the other events in our lives. You might say that the author adopts an holistic approach to the drinking of beer.
For example, the author has sub-chapters entitled "Spring," "Summer," "Fall," and "Winter," in which he gives his convincing opinions as to what beer styles (and examples) go best with the different times of the year, and why. You really do get the opinion that the "beer year" mimics the pace of the seasons, inextricably tied to the periodic revolution of our blue/green orb about the fiery sun. In addition to the more common rules of thumb (Summer=Wheat, Spring=Bock, etc.), I could relate as well to the more subtle inferences, for example, when I read that "Bitter... lends itself best to these quiet, rainy afternoons in April and May, when the storms have come and brought with them the thrill of memories" (p. 67).
After the seasonal breakdown, Beaumont proceeds to explain the marriages of food and beer that do and don't go together, covering in the process the full range from appetizers and salads through all types of entrees, spices, vegetarian fare, barbecues, cheeses, desserts, etc. There's even a sub-chapter on "the tomato issue" (p. 99), in which he describes the great difficulty in matching a beer to the acidic zing of the tomato. Now, I must say that I've never had a problem enjoying a beer with pizza, but I couldn't say that the tastes were matched, either. So my wife, Gabriele, and I decided to put his advice to the test. This turned out to be but one example of Beaumont's astute skill of discernment. The suggestion of a Bock (or Vienna Lager) with tomatoes was tried (with a Pilsner serving as the control group) and my wife and I both agreed completely that the Bock truly made for a more palatable pizza dinner than did the fine Pilsner alternative. Of course, I had always liked Bocks in their own right, but had found that they could cloy the palate after drinking several. Yet, with the combination of pizza, the taste of Bock not only didn't cloy, but the taste of the pizza was enhanced, as if by the addition of an extra topping. The sum was truly greater than the parts.
Soon thereafter, we had another example to conduct a beer/food test. Gabriele has always had a good sense for desserts, and she asserted a stout-with-chocolate linkage that, it turns out, Beaumont drew attention to as well. The book is just full of these interesting suggestions for beer combinations. I suppose that not all of these combinations will be to everyone's liking, though I haven't been disappointed yet (even with his suggestion on drinking in the nude). It is also likely that some of his advice is obvious to the beer savvy among us. But for a member of a club which tends to focus on beermaking procedures and on taste profiles ideally divorced from external intrusions, this book served to open up a whole new curiosity in me-- the curiosity about what beer will go best with a given activity. I am forced to conclude that Stephen Beaumont is an extremely fine writer with a flair for creating, with words, vivid images regarding the natural flow of beer and life. His is truly an holistic approach to beer.
Cheers!
