Beer Trivia!: The term “toddlers” originated in England. There were impurities in the drinking water that made the drinking water unsafe. A common alternative drink was beer (it was cheep, plentiful and the water used to make it was treated during the initial boiling during brewing). Toddlers, just weaning off of mothers milk were unaccustomed to the effects of beer. This coupled with the fact that they were just learning how to walk really made them toddle. less

Beer Trivia!: The term “toddlers” originated in England. There were impurities in the drinking water that made the drinking water unsafe. A common alternative drink was beer (it was cheep, plentiful and the water used to make it was treated during the initial boiling during brewing). Toddlers, just weaning off of mothers milk were unaccustomed to the effects of beer. This coupled with the fact that they were just learning how to walk really made them toddle. less

Beer Trivia!: The term “toddlers” originated in England. There were impurities in the drinking water that made the drinking water unsafe. A common alternative drink was beer (it was cheep, plentiful and the water used to make it was treated during the initial boiling during brewing). Toddlers, just weaning off of mothers milk were unaccustomed to the effects of beer. This coupled with the fact that they were just learning how to walk really made them toddle. less

Although most of the beers people drink come out of bottles or out of the tap, this doesn’t mean that beer is necessarily done developing in taste when the brewer puts it in a bottle or a storage container at the pub. The vast majority of beer is at its peak flavor when bottled or kegged, and should be drank within 4 months of the date it was bottled or kegged. However, some beers improve with age (up to a point) when “conditioned”. Any beer that has more yeast added to it in the bottle (“bottle conditioned” or “secondarily fermented”) or which is put into a wood cask (“cask conditioned”) is being conditioned. Conditioning adds added taste and complexity to beer, often completely changing the taste. They are usually mellower and fuller-bodied than their non-conditioned siblings. These beers tend to be on the expensive side, but they are the equivalent of a 18-year old scotch relative to something half that age. It’s worth trying one of these beers to see exactly how good beer can become. less

The final thing I want to mention is pairing beer with food. Now, I suppose I could go on ad nauseum like a wine snob about exactly what beer goes with what food, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’ll keep this very simple because I’m a simple man (simple-minded, some might say). If you want a beer that goes well with a rich hearty meal like a stew or a heavy, red meat dish, go for a darker beer if that is what you like. However, if you are eating something vegetarian, healthy seafood dishes, chicken, pasta, or something else that is on the lighter side of things from a richness standpoint, go for a lighter tasting beer that won’t overwhelm the taste of the food you are eating. Burgers, sausages, fried or butter-drenched seafood, and more middle-of-the-road far might call for something intermediate in terms of the heaviness of the beer. I should also mention that, as with wine, beer tastes different when eating it with food. Some people prefer the taste of beer with food over beer drank by itself, others don’t. Sometimes it depends greatly on the food with which it is eaten as well. Spicy foods especially change the taste of beer, in my opinion. less

The final thing I want to mention is pairing beer with food. Now, I suppose I could go on ad nauseum like a wine snob about exactly what beer goes with what food, but I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’ll keep this very simple because I’m a simple man (simple-minded, some might say). If you want a beer that goes well with a rich hearty meal like a stew or a heavy, red meat dish, go for a darker beer if that is what you like. However, if you are eating something vegetarian, healthy seafood dishes, chicken, pasta, or something else that is on the lighter side of things from a richness standpoint, go for a lighter tasting beer that won’t overwhelm the taste of the food you are eating. Burgers, sausages, fried or butter-drenched seafood, and more middle-of-the-road far might call for something intermediate in terms of the heaviness of the beer. I should also mention that, as with wine, beer tastes different when eating it with food. Some people prefer the taste of beer with food over beer drank by itself, others don’t. Sometimes it depends greatly on the food with which it is eaten as well. Spicy foods especially change the taste of beer, in my opinion. less