How to Drink Beer: A Guide to Glasses and Gases

Some people think beer is beer. Though tautologically true, those in the know understand there are many styles of beer available other than mass-marketed macrobrews. Even everyday-aficionados don't know about how beer is served, about the gasses and the glasses.

Regularly I will suggest beers to try throughout the Chicago area. Enjoy the manner in which brews are presented.

Fizz Me

Some beer is infused with carbon dioxide or nitrogen as it is tapped, bottled or canned, thus its effervescence.

Excess yeasts in bottle-conditioned beers gobble extra sugars, which produce the carbon dioxide that dissolves into solution. Once opened and poured, the bubbles burble forth in an attempt to equalize the ambient atmospheric pressure.

A beer engine draws draft from a keg by a pump as opposed to being propelled. Warrenville's Two Brother's Brewing www.twobrosbrew.com/always has something flowing from their beer engine.

Certain styles are enhanced with extra body and mouthfeel when nitrogen is infused instead of carbon dioxide. Stouts are perfect candidates for a nitrogen boost.

Cask-conditioned numbers are served semi-still.

Drink Me

Ales are often served at room temperature in pint glasses, their higher alcohol content to be savored. Special treatment should be given to Belgians and other aromatics--a snifter or goblet will capture their essential esters. The Lunar Brewing Company's www.lunarbrewingcompany.com/Armstrong Strong Ale and Cosmonaut Hooch Imperial Stout are extra-good served the right way at the right temperature.

Lagers are fermented cold, so serve them that way. Drink a lager lustily from a thin-walled glass to enjoy its crisp flavors and lighter body and color.

Fruit flavors find their way into beer sometimes. Many drinkers falsely assume scents and tastes ascend from fruit itself as opposed to coming from cagey combinations of hops, malts and yeasts.

Get a glassful of fresh local brew, then pack some out by the six--or by the growler. Bottles kept cold will be good for weeks; brown ones will keep your beer's hops from being skunked by damaging light-spectra. Drink an unopened growler within a few days. And believe me, the last thing anyone wants to do is take it in the can.

Eat Me

Beer is the best alternative recipe ingredient ... ever. Use an ale instead of water or wine to start a soup or a sauce; it's great to deglaze a sauté, too. Lagers make a miracle marinade for brats and create a base for celebrated chili. Stouts, porters and fruit beers are astounding in cheesecakes and other desserts. Springboard in your kitchen substituting beer in recipes found here: http://www.examiner.com/x-579-Food-Examiner . Or try this dessert made from a great Wisconsin beer. Capital Brewery Blonde Doppelbock Cheesecake

http://www.capital-brewery.com/ourbeers/blondedopp.html

Entertain Me

Arrange a session with your favorite local brewmaster for a brewery tour (use the link list on the right side of the page) and taste the same style served different ways. Or get a growler and some bottles and try them side-by-side. Compile tasting notes to capture some of the complexities and nuances.