2014 Beer & Wine Guide Vol. 2

BLACK HILLS PIONEER WINE GUIDE | VARIETY

B

A Great Variety

etween the eclectic names and the varying colors, choosing a craft beer can be a tricky exercise.

There are light beers, dark beers and beers of every shade in between.

There are smoke-flavored and woodaged beers, as well as fruit beer and sour ales.

The most popular craft beers are described below, but feel free to reach out to your local vendors to find out more about their varieties. Brewers are known to experiment with seasonal offerings and local ingredients to set their beer apart from the competition.

INDIA PALE ALE

Brewed in a variety of ways, the color of an American IPA can range from pale golden to amber.

Generally bitter and high in citric content, IPAs offer a balance of brightness and bite. Their average alcohol content is higher than your standard beer.

LIGHT LAGER

Much lighter and very low in malt flavor, light lagers are brewed to satisfy the less adventurous beer drinker.

Brewers infuse high amounts of rice or corn to bring down the color. They are typically lower in alcohol content by volume, offering the perfect drink for casual drinking.

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STOUTS

Stouts offer the exact opposite drinking experience than light lagers. Strong and meant to be enjoyed gradually, stouts are typically dark brown to pitch black and hard to see through when filling a glass.

The roasted barley used to create coffee or chocolate flavorings is the distinct ingredient in most stouts.

SEASONAL VARIETIES

From the fall to the spring, every season calls out creativity in local

Beer Class Tuesday, March 25 6:00-7:00 PM We will be tasting a stout beer.

Call or stop in for details & to make reservations!

brewers. Pumpkins make their way into many craft beers in the fall months, while cherries and wheat are integrated in the summer months.

Spring time is perfect for a honey beer and winter ales are generally made with higher alcohol contents to provide a warming kick.

Wine Class Tuesday, March 11 6:00-7:00 PM or 7:30-8:30 PM We will be tasting a California Wine.

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BLACK HILLS PIONEER BEER & WINE GUIDE | GEOGRAPHY

Where Is It From?

A LOOK AT WHERE DIFFERENT WINES ORIGINATE

W

hile nearly every wine is made from the same basic type of grape that was cultivated thousands of years ago, local variations of that grape — along with different soil, sunlight and climate — mean the same types of wine can taste noticeably different depending on where they come from.

ARGENTINA produces more wine than any other South American country. The vast majority of its production is in the central part of the nation, where Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Chardonnay thrive.

AUSTRALIA shares many “New World� wine traditions with the United States, but its location in the southern hemisphere means harvest happens six months earlier. The most popular grapes grown in Australia are Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Semillon.

AUSTRIA has produced wine since the Celtic times, even before the Romans invaded. GrĂźner Veltliner is most closely associated with it.

CALIFORNIA is the center of the winemaking culture in the United States. The first winery in Napa Valley dates back to 1861, but it didn’t emerge as a global-scale wine producer until the 1990s.

CHILE, with its vineyards protected by the Andes Mountains, has an excellent climate for growing

grapes. Bordeaux wines are most successful.

FRANCE has long been the world capitol of winemaking, a tradition that continues today. No other country has shaped wine culture as much as France, with the world’s most beloved wines all carrying the names of French regions: Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône, Champagne, the Loire and Alsace. It also has some of the strictest laws and most longstanding traditions regarding the production of wine.

GERMANY, with its northern European climate, seems like a far from ideal place to grow wine, but one particular kind thrives here: Riesling. Like France, Germany has strict laws about labeling and grading wines.

ITALY produces more wine than any other country, including France.

Since its local varieties are often less elite, meant for ordinary table meals, it doesn’t get as much attention as France. Wine is grown in 20 different regions covering the entire nation, making it one of the most diverse wine producers, too.

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NEW ZEALAND is a small country, although its wine output is quickly growing. It is best known for Sauvignon Blanc, but it also exports Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

PORTUGAL is most famous for its Mateus label and selection of Port wines, and today it exports a large amount of wine for such a small nation. It also produces Chardonnay and Merlot.

SOUTH AFRICA has an excellent climate for growing wine, and all the popular varieties are grown here. It has a unique hybrid, Pinotage, that was created in the 1920s.

SPAIN has one of the world’s oldest winemaking cultures, but it became more European in style

with the influx of French settlers in the 1700s. Today it has more than 4 million acres of vineyards.