The Naked Pint

Table of Contents

 

 

Praise for The Naked Pint

“
The Naked Pint
is a great read for anyone interested in all things beer—from beer style descriptions to cooking with beer to brewing your own beer at home. Like a Beer 101 textbook to amp up your brew IQ, if only textbooks occasionally made you laugh out loud. The authors know their stuff; they understand and convey the notion that beer can be complex without being overly complicated, and they take beer seriously but don’t take themselves too seriously.
The Naked Pint
is very, um, revealing.”

“No one turns people on to beer the way that Christina and Hallie do. Along with their passion and expertise, they bring a wit and levity that exemplify the renegade spirit of craft beer. They possess the skills of a sommelier . . . yet take you on the even more inspired journey into craft beer. Share a pint with these ladies; they will rock your world. They did mine!”

“I have always loved beer without knowing much about it. I learned a lot in this factual, enlightening, and funny guide to one of the oldest and most cherished beverages known to man.”

“Whether you want to brew at home, belly up to the bar with confi dence, or make magical pairings at the dinner table,
The Naked Pint
makes learning about craft beers as fun as drinking them. You’ll be a savvy sipper after reading this educational and engaging book.”

—Leslie Sbrocco, PBS television host and author of
Wine for Women

 

“An incredibly satisfying read! This book gets better-looking on every page. From Pale Ale to Weizen,
The Naked Pint
covers all of beer’s finer points in a fun, witty, and approachable manner. Hallie and Christina’s great taste and cool, refreshing style is the perfect introduction to the often intimidating world of craft beer.”

—Rachael Leigh Cook

A PERIGEE BOOK Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England While the authors have made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the authors assume any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2009 by Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune

eISBN : 978-1-101-14922-5

1. Beer. 2. Brewing. I. Beaune, Hallie. II. Title.
TP570.P38 2009
641.6’230973—dc22 2009027940

The publisher is
not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervi
sion. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in
this book.

Most Perigee books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales
promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts,
can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write: Special Markets, Penguin Group
(USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

WE’D LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO OUR PARENTS,

 

 

WHO ARE SO PROUD THAT THEIR DAUGHTERS BECAME

 

 

BEER EXPERTS INSTEAD OF LAWYERS OR DOCTORS.

Acknowledgments

H
allie and Christina would like to thank all of the chefs, brewers, and industry experts who generously contributed to this book: Greg Koch, Govind Armstrong, Jacob Wildman, Rob Tod, Brian Thompson, Patrick Rue, Jenn Garbee, Ann Kirk, Larry Caldwell, Josh Loeb, Zoe Nathan, Evan Funke, Samir Mohajer, Chris McCombs, Lucy Saunders, Bryan Simpson, Greg Beron, Andrew Steiner, Matt Accarrino, Michael Saxton, and Randy Thiel.

 

 

We would also like to thank the following beer lovers and all-around quality people who helped us along on our own Beer Journey: Mark Jilg, Kevin Kansey, Tomm Carroll, Joe Corona, Mike Smith, Eric Kremer, Ryan Sweeney, Brian Lenzo, Jason Bernstein, Charlie Farrell, Tracey St. Pierre, Grace and Klaus Gabelgaard, Kirill Taranoucht chenko, Emily Wahlund, Jaime Morrell, Nathalie Balandran, Patrick “Pinch” Merrit, Darren “Jazz ’n Tap” Mann, Brian Ransom, Stacey Pic cinati, Mila Becker, Jane and Russell Adams, Kara Slife, the Brewer’s Association, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Thunder, and Enzo. We’d also like to thank everyone at F.O. and the Daily Pint.

A special thank-you to the amazingly smart and talented Erin Tarasi, who was an invaluable asset to us.

Christina would especially like to thank her parents, Bill and Claudia, who have always encouraged her to follow her dreams, even when her dream was to drink a lot of beer. She’d also like to thank her brother, Dan, for always believing in her. She’d like to thank Maury, Kasey, Austin, Karen, the Stefanos, and all her friends around the world for helping with the (ahem) “research” and all the laughs. Mad props to HB.

Hallie would especially like to thank CP; my loving parents, Catherine and Roy, who have given me enormous support in every step of my life; my strong, beautiful sisters, Christine, Holly, and Wendy; sweet little Karter and Kennedy; my loyal and encouraging friends; and Matthew, whose love fills my days with joy.

Last, but absolutely not least, we would like to thank our agent, Michelle Brower, and everyone at Wendy Sherman and Associates, and our editor, Maria Gagliano, and everyone at Perigee and the Penguin Group. We love that you love beer.

Cheers!

Introduction

B
eer loves you.

Do you love beer? Of course you do. It’s why you picked up this book. It’s why you are dying to try that new craft beer bar down the street. It’s why you salivate at the sight of a pint. Most people already have a soft spot in their hearts for beer. Our culture has been embracing this beverage for hundreds of years, weaving it into our celebrations, our sports, our commercials, and our identities. But beer is more than you might think it is. Sure, it’s beer, but it’s also cultural anthropology. Different beer styles tell different stories: Who made it, where it came from, who drank it, what was happening in the world socially or politically when that beer was first created. Every beer has a story, and for the most part, that story has gone untold. Overshadowed by its mega-brewery cousins, craft and artisanal beer has been underappreciated and undiscovered by the majority of Americans. Until now (
cue choir of angels
).

People seem to love craft beer more and more each day but at the same time are perplexed by its mysteries. If you are not a craft beer believer, we would like to strip away any misconceptions you may have about our favorite drink. Get ready to know beer as it was always meant to be: made from quality ingredients and free from all the bullshit. Cast aside the pasteurized lager for the local Pale Ale. If you do, you can count yourself among a quickly growing group of the public that buys craft beer at the specialty store instead of the twelve-pack of the cheap stuff at the gas station. You know, those people with the huge smiles on their faces, the ones who seem to have found fulfillment in beer. Embrace craft beer, and you can join the devotees who support their local beer makers and who revel in the pride of having the local brewery on tap at the local pub.

Our philosophy of beer has for a long time been one of quality not quantity. As soon as we began to taste different craft beers, we shifted our idea of what beer was all about. No longer would we force ourselves to drink “fizzy yellow water” or focus on drinking just one kind of beer. No longer would we order only wine with fine food. Hell no! We found we’d rather have a balanced Belgian Ale at the end of a hard day than several mediocre or crappy brews. Like anything in life, once your eyes and taste buds are opened to the best, it’s nearly impossible to go backward. Your palate wants more. Try as you might, you can’t forget how great that Bavarian Hefeweizen tasted, that special tart and refreshing marriage of bananas and cloves. It’s a question of the quality of the moment, and drinking a fine beer allows us to celebrate, to partake in a brewer’s vision, and to experience what a great beer should be.

W
e go where the funny goes, and luckily, so does beer. From the hilarious names on the labels (our favorite is Tea-Bagged Furious) to the jokes made between friends in a small pub in Belgium, beer seems to pair best with laughter (loud laughter). We don’t like the beer talk to get too serious. Wine has sometimes been accused of this, and we would hate for craft beer to lose its levity. This doesn’t mean craft beer deserves any less respect than any other food or beverage. The inspired creations of brewers are to be revered for sure; a great beer is an art after all. We just don’t want them to end up behind any velvet ropes or bullet-proof glass. We feel that the best way to approach craft beer is by treating it as you would any fine food or drink, tasting and learning and sharing with friends, but never letting go of the wonderfully casual way a group of people can share a bottle of beer. If you find yourself stressing about your beer pairings to the point at which beads of sweat collect over your furrowed brow, you need to pour yourself a nice Tripel and take a breath. And, we hope, when you let out that breath, you’ll laugh at your silliness. How serious about beer can you be when you’re pairing cheese with a beer called Big Woody Barley wine or Sexual Chocolate Russian Imperial Stout? See, I bet you’re laughing right now. Go ahead, let it out. When we look back over our Beer Journey, we find that our best beer memories are set in a background of laughter.

T
here’s a lot of information about beer out in the ether. The difficulty comes in finding what beer knowledge is useful and what knowledge is so esoteric that only a true beer-geek would be interested. We set out to create a new kind of beer book, one that is as accessible and as useful to the novice as it is to the veteran. We want to take you, the reader, on the same journey that led us to our reverent love of beer. This is the same journey on which we’ve successfully converted hundreds of people from beer neophyte to expert. Yes, even those who, to our shock and dismay, initially uttered the dreaded statement “I’m not a beer drinker” have been converted to full-on beer connoisseurs. In this book, we’re not listing beer styles in any strict order of country or provenance but taking an excursion of the palate, focusing on flavor, moving in order from least intense to most intense. This kind of Beer Journey enables you to truly develop your beer appreciation along the way. Beyond beer styles, we also talk about how to welcome beer into your home and incorporate it into your modern dining experience, how to cook with it, and how to take that final step and become a brewer yourself. There’s a lot to learn ... and it’s probably not what you think!