Good for What Ales Ya!
Good For What Ales Ya! By: Mary Jane Honegger
The Pacific Northwest became the hub of the microbrew scene in the mid80s when quality breweries and brewpubs began popping up in Portland, also known as “Beervana” in some circles. The term microbrewery originated in the United Kingdom in the 1970s to describe small breweries which focused on experimentation and customer service.
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t didn’t take long for interest in producing unique, handcrafted beers to spread, and by 1987, North Idaho sported a burgeoning microbrew industry of its own with the opening of its first microbrewery. Other pubs and brewpubs soon followed. Americans have been brewing beer since the first Englishmen were forced to step ashore in 1620, when, according to one immigrant’s diary, the Pilgrims found their beer supply dwindling. For the next 300 years, it was common for citizens of all classes to brew their own beer, using whatever brewing agents they had close at hand. By 1920, however, Prohibition put hundreds of small breweries scattered across the U.S. out of business as the manufacture, sale
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and transportation of alcoholic beverages became illegal. Although the restriction was repealed after only 13 years, it did little to restore the small breweries that had been forced out of business. Soon, big business took over the beer industry, eventually creating mass-produced lagers that focused on meeting the bland palate of the general population rather than the quality, specialty beers of the earlier local breweries. The age of microbreweries wasn’t ushered in until 1983, when California voted to allow brewpubs to brew and sell beer on site. Today, there are once again nearly 1,500 regional craft microbreweries—breweries that produce fewer than 15,000 barrels of beer per year and sell mostly in a regional area, scattered across the nation.
The best place to sample a Northwest microbrew, more commonly called a craft beer, is in a welcoming pub or brewpub, where you’ll find the charm of an old-English pub with the friendly atmosphere of a backyard kegger. Each offers a broad selection of great food and a line-up of colorful taps that promise enough adventurous ales and lagers to tempt even the most demanding beer aficionado. “If you are unfamiliar with microbrews, the best way to try them out is to ask for a taster,” according to Coeur d’Alene Brewing Company’s brewmaster, Laurie Kraus. A “taster” includes 2-ounce portions of several brews so you can get a feel for what you like. Most pubs offer a sampler or some sort. He also suggests starting light, with a pale ale and working your way toward the darker, more full-flavored beers, such as porters. When asked to describe the types of microbrews in a nutshell, Laurie said there are only two basic types of beer: “There are ales, and there are lagers. All other beers are subcategories of those two types of beer.” After that, according to Laurie, it is the type of grain used, the amount of hops added and other seasonings, fruits and flavorings that make each beer different. Pale ales, are the lightest colored ales, but are still noticeably darker than the pale lagers that most Americans are used to. Consumers will find pale ales, India Pale Ale, milds (ambers), wheat beer (Hefeweizen), Barley Wine, porters and stouts within the ale family. Within the lagers, consumers will find pilsners, Oktoberfest and bock. Cask ales add yet another flavor category to craft beer. These beers are aged in a cask that has been used for aging wine. The microbreweries