I'm taking a brief time out from slacking-off from blogging to point out a nice summary of the world's favorite beverage from Roger Protz in The Guardian. Having seen what the New York Academy of Sciences recently did with this topic, I'm thinking of trying to put together a future Cafe Scientifique on "The Science of Beer". Hopefully, any speaker I get will be able to span the same range of opinions as Protz regarding U.S. beer, ranging from open disdain
Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s destroyed a brewing industry with a rich heritage of British and German-style beers. Only a handful of giants, led by Anheuser-Busch with Budweiser, saturated the vast market afterwards with thin and insipid interpretations of lager. The label on a bottle of Bud, for example, announces it is brewed from the finest rice, barley malt and hops. Rice is tasteless and sums up the beer. Other giant breweries use large amounts of cheap corn.
to outright adulation
... And Goose Island IPA from Chicago, on sale in Britain, may just be the best beer in the world.
Speaking of beer....
