INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

As you settle in to watch the big game, pop a cold one and take a
moment to toast the return of microbrewed beers.  From the end of World
War II through the presidency of Ronald Reagan,  American beer lovers
were routinely offered three choices when they  asked a waitperson in a
bar or restaurant what beers the  establishment carried. "Budweiser,
Miller...and Budweiser" was the  standard monotonal reply. Not so
today. The final decade of the  Second Millenium has become a
remarkably energetic era of suds  resurgence in major cities and
whistlestop hamlets of the U.S. in an  age in which new eateries are
being designed and erected around small  brewing operations.  Beermania
has become so prevalent that even the finest restaurants in  top-
drawer communities are offering their patrons printed rosters of
microbrew beers, complete with tasting notes, in addition to the wine
list. What wine was to adventurous consumers of the 1970s and the
1980s, microbrew beer is to those same people here in the late 1990's.
In the shadow of the new millenium, microbrew beer, or, as it is
commonly defined, high quality, locally crafted beer made in less  than
annual volumes of 15,000 barrels, stands poised to write  exciting new
chapters in the history book of brewing. That historical  account first
recorded by the Sumerians in cuneiform goes back to the  initial
stirrings of civilization circa 3000 B.C.  Since America is first and
foremost a beer-drinking nation, the  re-emergance of this libation,
which is made from water, yeast and  fermented and cooked grain mash,
is not that surprising. We are a  nation with a fabled legacy of
brewing right from colonial times. The  microbrews that we are
relishing today are keen reflections of the  17th and 18th centuries
when corner brewpubs populated the streets of  New York, Boston,
Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago.  The main difference with the
contemporary brews is the astoundingly  long menu of styles that are
available. Pale ales from California,  stouts from Vermont, porters
from Oregon, wheat beers from  Massachusetts, nut brown ales from Iowa,
viennas from New York.  Microbreweries are mushrooming at a rate that
mirrors the interest  and leanings of the drinking public. Working
people, young and old,  want more character, more depth of flavor to
their beer than the  mass- produced, chugalug golden lagers can
deliver.  Consumers want more intensity for their hard-earned cash.
Because  they are made in small batches, which automatically means more
of a  hands-on approach to brewing, beers from locally owned and
operated  microwbreweries and contract brewers (brewers who make beers
which  are frequently labeled under a different name) provide the
complexity  and the range of flavors and aromas that today's consumers
are  demanding. Microbrews and contract beers by their very nature are
far  more idiosyncratic and individualistic than any high-volume golden
lager could be.  Cheers! -- F. Paul Pacult  Recipe by: Bay's English
Muffins Website  Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by SuzyWert@aol.com on Feb
13, 1998

A Message from our Provider:

“Need a new life? God accepts trade-ins”