Expert: Ed Westemeier - 4/6/2006

Question
Hello,  I work in a beer vendor store in Mb, Canada.  Now, I tell you this because I am only familiar with Canadian beer, and beer destributions.  So if you could find a way to have your answer to my question be related to Canadian brweing and destributing and etc..  that would be great.

I work with, seen, and drank a big variety of beer, from local brewers to the commercial beer (.i.e. Labatts, and Molson).

Now my question is; How do they make beer?  Like how does the whole process work?  What defines the different tastes, level of clearness (i.e. dark, pale, light etc..), smoothness etc..  What does "aged to perfection" basically mean?  "Cold Filtered"? etc etc.  From selling to drinking to even the smell of beer  intrigues  me very much and it would be great to get a knowledged answer from a knowledged beer individual like yourself.  Well, if you can deliver and meaty answer and maybe some links to sites on how its made etc.. that would be awesome!

THANKS,

Sean (Beer destribution engineer)  lol

Answer
You'd have to read several books to get the full answer, but I can give you the quick and dirty version.
Beer is made, traditionally, from malted barley, hops, water and yeast.
In the malting process, which is basically just sprouting it and then drying it with hot air, the degree of heat and length of time determine how dark the grain becomes. That, in turn, gives brewers the freedom to mix different proportions to get different colors of beer. Of course, that also contributes to flavor, as does the selection of which hops to use and which yeasts to use.
"Aged to perfection" and most similar phrases are just marketing slogans.
Most beer is filtered, and it's all cold filtered. Nobody does filtration at a warm temperature, so again that's just marketing hype.
For a good basic reference, see "The Beer Enthusiast's Guide" by Gregg Smith, or Michael Jackson's "Beer Companion" among many other good books.