Let My People Go !!!

About 4 years ago I was traveling from New Hampshire back to Texas. I was riding in the company truck being driven by one of my nephews. He is now past 21 years old and his first son (Byron Matthew) was actually born yesterday. So congratulations Dick Head. Anyway, he stopped at a 7-11 and purchased several energy drinks and lots of candy. We got back into the truck and he cranked up the volume on the radio and we flew down the road and proceeded to listen to American Idiot about 30 times. Now I actually like Green Day but 2 two days non stop is a little much. He finally took the CD out of the player and when he did a song called Stairway to Heaven was playing. I told him "Now that's good Rock and Roll". He looked at me with his stupid look and said "I have never heard it before" I laughed and asked "Where have you been? This is one of if not the greatest Rock and Roll songs of all time" I realized how stupid the question was since I realized he was raised on "The Compound" He replied " I don't see why" as he slipped a disk back into the player and the strains of " Wake me Up when September Ends" once again filled the cabin of the truck.
In all fairness to Middle Matt, He is a beer drinker and that goes a long way with me.

Those folks who really know me, know that I truly love music. I like most kinds. Well I must admit I really am not fond of Bollywood music. I am sure that it is good for some but not me. Lately, I have been hooked on music by Joe Ely. I am listening to him now as I type this. On my television show I plan to immerse my taste of music on it. Recently I have noticed a lot of television shows using various tracks of music to fill in the back ground of their respective scenes. Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs are two that come to mine but NCIS and CSI Las Vegas do as well. Here in Texas we have our own kind of music. It invigorates our soul.


Ok, so much for that lets get back to Beer. Beer 102 actually. So if you recall in the last lesson we talked about the first half of the ingredients of beer. We shall now talk about the other two components, hops and yeast.

Historians argue as to who first brewed beer. Some say the Phoenicians, others claim the Chinese and then a few say the Ancient Egyptians. Well personally I really do not care but to who ever did I offer my heart felt thanks.

When I was much younger I used to pluck rose petals and eat them. They were all bitter tasting yet they had a fruity tang to them. My mother used to tell me they were poisonous but I did not think they were.

Yesterday while at Wal-Mart I purchased a sixer of Michelob Original Lager. I actually like it. It is good beer. I have an empty bottle in front of me and this is what is written on the bottom part of the label:

"A unique blend of Hallertau, Strissel Spalt and other hop varieties
combined with Two-Row Barley Malt to create our signature Munich-Style
Lager"

So exactly what is a hop? Its a flower. And just like roses that are a lot of different types. Each has unique characteristic and flavor.

Ahil; Ahtanum; Amarillo; Cascade; Centennial; Chinook; Columbus; Cluster; Crystal; Fuggle; Galena; Golding;Hallertau; Hersbrucker; Horizon; Liberty; Mount Hood; Northern Brewer; and Strissel Spalt are all type of hops. This is a small list

We could discuss which hops make certain types of beer such as the quote above but this is Beer 102 or How to make Beer , An idiots guide. So for the time being we shall defer to later lessons.

This leads us to the final ingredient of liquid bread. yeast.

This past Saturday my bride and I did something we have done for a long time during the Easter weekend (Passover for my Hebrew constituents) We watched The Ten Commandments on ABC That movie is somewhat like the movie Airplane. Each time I watch it I see something new. I noticed a scene in which the people in a small hut were waiting for the smoke cloud to pass them over. They were passing bread around to children and telling them that the bread was the bread of haste.

This comes from Deuteronomy 16:3

Thou shalt not eat with it leavened bread: seven days shalt thou eat without leaven, the bread of affliction, because thou camest out of Egypt in fear: that thou mayst remember the day of thy coming out of Egypt, all the days of thy life.

Bread not leavened is called un leavened bread (duh!) So what is leavened? Well in order for bread to "rise" or leaven it must contain a active yeast. Yeasts are microorganisms classified as a form of fungi. There with about 1,500 species known. The yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used in baking and fermenting alcoholic beverages for thousands of years. Yeast is a live organism that is fundamental in the baking of bread. Without it, the bread is flat and has no real form. Of course without yeast you do not have beer either.

Well now we have defined the four essential ingredients of beer. Beer 101 and 102 are now complete. Our next lesson is Beer 201 or as I call it The Brew Begins.


Let My People Go !




The Third