Drunken Crayfish

Do you know that?

Belgian Brewery Lupiline is the result of the passion for beer of Jan and Veerle, a beer couple with a dream of their own beers.

The name of the company is a slip of the tongue of the word lupuline, the yellow powder in hop flowers.

Brewery Lupiline produced its first beer on the 8th of September 2007. So far, the Lupiline beers are brewed in the brew installation of Brewery De Graal. Recipes are first developed in the small installation of Brewery Lupiline.

One of the company?s beers is Koriala (7%), a spicy golden-blond beer with a big white head.

The nose is mix of hops, spices and citrus fruit, whereas the taste is soft bitter with a hint of citrus.

Koriala has a long dry hoppy finish.

Enjoy!

World: AB InBev?s Budweiser named world?s most valuable beer brand 2010

European beers have suffered as their American, Mexican and Australian rivals have increased their ?brand value?, Brand Finance said in its latest survey of the world?s 500 most valuable brands.

Budweiser, Corona and Foster?s have moved closer to the top of the brand value list, at the expense of Heineken, Amstel and Stella Artois.

US beer Budweiser now owned by the Belgium-based brewing giant AB InBev secured its position as one of the world?s 20 most valuable brands with a 27% rise in brand value and a four-place climb to 15 in the Global 500.

Bud was named as the most valuable beer brand in the world, while Heineken took second place, followed by Corona.

Budweiser is the second most valuable beverage brand overall, behind Coca-Cola.

The index is compiled by analysts who choose the world?s top 500 brands by analysing a firm?s commercial success and setting this against its popularity.

No stroke, heart and vascular diseases if you drink beer

Whether you prefer ales, lagers, stout, bitter or wheat beers, studies show that one drink a day for women or up to two drinks a day for men will reduce your chances of strokes, heart and vascular disease, Essortment informs.

What?s interesting is that it was proven that those who drank one beer a week compared to those who drank one beer a day experienced no variance in reducing stroke risks. It is said that light to moderate drinkers will decrease their chances of suffering a stroke by 20%.

A researcher at the Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported that those who consume moderate amounts of beer (one to two a day at the most) have a 30-40% lower rate of coronary heart disease compared to those who don?t drink. Beer contains a similar amount of ?polyphenols? (antioxidants) as red wine and 4-5 times as many polyphenols as white wine.

Alcohol has also been attributed of its ability to increase the amount of good cholesterol (HDL) into the bloodstream as well as help to decrease blood clots.

Beer also contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of amino acid called homocysteine that has been linked to heart disease. Those of us who have high levels of homocysteine are usually more prone to an early onset of heart and vascular disease. A new study performed at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Utrecht indicates that those who drink beer had no increase in their homocysteine level but those who drank wine or liquor had an increase of up to 10%. Also noted was the fact that those who drank beer experienced a 30% increase in vitamin B6 in their blood plasma, thereby proving that beer (in moderation) is actually healthier to drink than wine and other liquor.

Pairing Belgian beer and food

There’s a natural affinity between Belgian beers and fine food. When the two meet, any occasion becomes a cause for celebration. Belgian beers complement a variety of foods, providing a balance of flavors and aromas to elevate your experience, ABC posted on January, 14.

Belgians enjoy one of the most vibrant and diverse beer cultures in the world, and beer is incorporated into all aspects of the meal, even dessert. No other country offers such a stunning variety of authentic and colorful beer styles.

Belgian brewing methods vary widely, and some are extremely unique, such as Belgian lambic beers that provide a fascinating combination of earthy aromas and fruity tartness. Six of the world’s seven Trappist breweries reside in Belgium. These strong ales are brewed following a monastic tradition that dates back more than a thousand years.

Today, Belgium has approximately 125 breweries that produce more than 500 different beers. The most popular styles include European pils, white, dubbel, tripel, blonde, brown, amber and Flemish red.

When pairing beer and food, one of the most important things to consider is the balance between the beer and the food it’s matched with. This includes the weight and intensity of the food, and the aroma and taste of the beer. Achieving the right harmony between the aromatics of the beer and food is one of the guiding principles of pairing.

The wide range of Belgian beer styles ensures there’s a beer for every setting and meal. Experimenting with different combinations is the key to great cooking and to a great tasting meal.

Pairing beer and chocolate also offers opportunities to discover complementing and contrasting flavors. Beer, in many ways, make a better pairing with chocolate than wine because of the broad range of aromas and flavors found in different beer styles. In addition, beer’s carbonation helps cut through rich chocolate flavors, also refreshing your palate to get you ready for the next bite.

Belgian Lambic beer

Beers are most commonly divided into two great classes, ales and lagers, depending on the yeast strain used in fermentation. But most ale and lager yeasts are cultured, with many hybrids and sub types and sometimes the classification is a little forced. There is one type, however, that clearly stands apart and that is Belgian Lambic Beer, Beverage Answers posted.

True Lambic beer is made only from wild yeasts, and only those grown in a very specific region in Belgium, the Payottenland southwest of Brussels, Belgium.

Here nature has generously provided a strain of fungus (all yeast is this type of unicellular organism) in the Senne Valley that forms a key component in beers produced here. The special techniques employed have a long and honored tradition, passed down from generation to generation since medieval times.

In a deviation from ordinary brewing practice, when the wort is cooled, it is deliberately exposed to air. Spontaneous fermentation then occurs. Brewing this way is done only between October and May, to prevent the introduction of unwanted bacteria.

The result is a fruity brew, delightfully acidic and tart, almost like cider. Served with a sharp cheese and brown bread, Lambic beer drinkers have the opportunity to enjoy the perfect taste experience.

Those looking for a standard taste will be disappointed, though. Every batch is unique, owing to the use of wild yeasts and the natural fermentation process.

There are several other differences between Lambic beer and conventional brews, from differences in ingredients to fermentation and storage techniques to aging.

To the usual raw materials is added raw wheat, which makes up about a third of the total. During fermenting, yeasts from the walls and storage casks ‘infect’ the beer to carry out fermentation. Unlike the vast majority of beer brewing, casks are wooden, often oak, sometimes having been used to transport wine and often 100 years old.

Fermentation typically takes place over a much longer period. Ales ferment in about a week or two, lagers for perhaps as long as a month or so. Lambic beer brewing may take two to three years to complete.

Homebrewers and connoisseurs are blessed with another byproduct of the process as many Lambic brews age as well as wine. Kept in the proper conditions, some Lambics are actually better after 20 years than when drunk fresh.

The genuine article was once heinously difficult to find, but with the growth of the Internet importation is easier. Good copies that respect the name by using Lambic style or pseudo Lambic are also more common than in decades past. Lambic yeasts can be purchased by home brewers, as well.

But for the best experience a visit to Brussels is in order, where Belgian Beer Lambic is served at the Gueuze Museum housing the still operational Cantillon Brewery.

Chocolate consumption reduces risk of heart disease

Previous research has shown varying effects of chocolate consumption on the risk for heart disease. A team of Canadian researchers has reported that eating more chocolate may be linked to a lower risk for stroke and stroke-related death, Health and Age reported on February, 15.

The Canadian scientists performed a systematic review of studies that looked at the effects of chocolate on stroke risk. In one study, just 1 serving of chocolate per week was associated with a 22 percent reduction in stroke risk. In another study, consuming 50 grams of chocolate on a weekly basis was linked to a 46% reduction in stroke-related death.

Chocolate contains flavanoids, which have been associated with lower heart disease risk. However, different types of chocolate vary in the amount of flavanoids they contain and black chocolate has been recognized as the healthiest type as yet.

“Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer”

Do you know that?
Eerwaarde Pater is a fully malted Belgian strong ale produced by Het Alternatief brewery.

The brew has a 9% alcohol content and is matured in oak.

Eerwaarde Pater is distinguished by port and wood notes and a well-balanced sourness. It is a very complex and unusual beer.

Enjoy!

Japan: Kirin-Suntory merger talks terminated over clash of opinions

Japanese brewers Kirin and Suntory announced on February, 8 that they had terminated their merger negotiations.

Despite months of talks, Japan?s second- and third-largest brewers failed to resolve deep-rooted differences over who would own and manage the future company.

Suntory said it acknowledged discrepancy of understandings of two companies including integration ratio and considered that it would be difficult to realize a desirable new integrated company which Suntory had been seeking for.

Kirin claimed it had been negotiating on the premise that the new entity would be managed as a listed company in order to ensure appropriate management independence and transparency. However, it became apparent that Suntory held a different view on this matter, and Kirin determined that even if negotiations were to continue, they were unlikely to result in the establishment of a company that would fulfil Kirin’s aim of developing as a leading global company and earn the understanding and approval of Kirin’s domestic and overseas customers, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. Kirin therefore resolved to terminate the negotiations.

The merger plan, first unveiled last July, would have created a company with annual revenue of about 3.8 trillion yen ($43 billion) rivaling the world’s leading brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. in terms of sales. But while Kirin, with a market capitalization of over 1.3 trillion yen, outweighs privately held Suntory in terms of size, the Suntory family’s near-90% stake in its company meant it could have ended up with a controlling stake of over one third of the merged firm.

When the deal was first announced, catching industry watchers by surprise, the pair said they hoped to reach accord on merger details by the end of last year. But Japanese media reports suggesting trouble in hammering out a deal seeped out toward the end of last year, and the pair subsequently said the talks could take longer.

Kirin, best known as the maker of such beer brands as Kirin Lager and Kirin Ichiban, was established in 1907. The Tokyo-based company operates beer maker Kirin Brewery, soft-drink maker Kirin Beverage and pharmaceutical company Kyowa Hakko Kirin. It generated sales of 2.3 trillion yen for the business year ended Dec. 31, 2008, and is due to report earnings for 2009 on Feb. 10.

Established in 1899, Suntory produces whisky brands such as Yamazaki but has diversified into soft drinks, food and health-related fields. While domestic consolidation has been difficult, both companies have independently been active in trying to expand in faster-growing overseas markets. At the same time that it was pursuing the tie-up with Kirin, Suntory also agreed last year to acquire privately held European beverage maker Orangina Schweppes Group for about $3.3 billion, the largest purchase by a Japanese company in 2009 of a foreign firm.

Drink beer to keep your bones healthy

A new study suggests that beers containing plenty of hops or pale barley malts could promote better bone health thanks to their dietary silicon content, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture posted on February, 8.

Previous studies have established that beer is an important source of bioavailable silicon but little research has been done to find out which beers to contain the most silicon.

Researchers from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California sought to plug this scientific gap because dietary silicon appears to support bone development and fight off osteoporosis ? a common disease that increases the risk of fractures.

The Californian researchers said beer contains silicon in the soluble form of orthosilicic acid (OSA), which yields 50 per cent bioavailability, making it a major contributor to silicon intake in the Western diet.

Beers full of hops were found to be particularly good sources of silicon. Some were found to contain as much as four times more silicon than is found in malt.

But malt may be ultimately more important overall because hops are used in much smaller quantities than grain in the brewing process.

Looking more closely at malt, the researchers said barley is a better source than wheat. As for the malting process itself, pale colored barley malts were found to contain higher levels of silicon than darker varieties because they face less heat stress.

But generally, the malt process did not cause any major changes in silicon content of barley as most of the silicon in barley is in the husk, which is not affected greatly during malting.

So making an overall comment on the best silicon option, lead author Charles Bamforth said: ?Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon.?

Bamforth and his colleagues also tested 100 commercial beers for silicon content and categorized the data according to beer style and source. The average silicon content of the beers sampled was 6.4 to 56.5 mg/L.

Beer is perfect when skilfully poured

Having the proper glassware to best accentuate the flavors, aromas and appearance of a particular beer is only the first step in serving the ideal Belgian beer. For the full experience, it must be properly poured from the tap, Sir Marc Stroobandt from Stella Artois advises.

The Belgians have mastered the art of the perfect pour, which not only ensures the utmost enjoyment of the beer, but also showcases the pouring process itself.

This art, known as The Belgian Pouring Ritual, is a nine-step, time-honored tradition that contributes to the country’s legendary gold standard of beer service. Each of the nine steps serves a specific purpose, optimizing serving consistency, drinking enjoyment and the romance of the beer itself.

Step One: THE PURIFICATION
The bartender selects the signature glass for the beer being poured. The glass is scrubbed in a cool-water bath, preferably with a mild detergent. It’s then rinsed with cold water to chill the glass.

Step Two: THE SACRIFICE
The tap is opened in one swift motion to let the first burst of foam flow away. It must never enter the glass, thus ensuring every drop of beer is fresh.

Step Three: THE LIQUID ALCHEMY
The glass is held at a 45-degree angle to create the perfect balance of liquid to foam.

Step Four: THE HEAD
The head is created by straightening and lowering the glass. The foam is visually appealing and releases the beer’s aroma.

Step Five: THE REMOVAL
The bartender closes the tap in one quick action and moves the glass away from the faucet to ensure no drops spoil the perfect head.

Step Six: THE BEHEADING
While the beer is flowing over the edge of the glass, the bartender cuts the head gently with a head cutter at a 45-degree angle. This eliminates the larger bubbles that burst easily and accelerate the dissipation of the head.

Step Seven: THE JUDGMENT
The bartender now stands in judgment. The beer’s head should be two fingers thick.

Step Eight: THE CLEANSING
The bartender then rinses the bottom and sides of the glass. This keeps the glass clean and cool and makes it comfortable to hold.

Step Nine: THE BESTOWAL
A perfectly poured pint of Belgian beer is presented with the logos of the coaster and glass facing the customer.

Marc Stroobandt is a Master Beer Sommelier and Belgian Beer Ambassador with The F&B Partnership in the United Kingdom. Recently, Stroobandt began working with Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and Leffe to promote Belgian beers, brewing history and pouring rituals as well as educate consumers on the art of beer and food pairings.

United States: Craft brewers grow in difficult times

Last year was horrible for the brewing giants of the US but craft brewers saw shipments leap almost nine percent, St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted on February, 5.

The nation?s total beer shipments were down 2.2 percent from 2008, the worst single-year decline since the mid-1950s, according to trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Anheuser-Busch was off 2.1 percent nationwide. MillerCoors was down 1.9 percent. Both companies combined represent almost 80 percent of the U.S. market.

At the same time, craft brewers added capacity, tapped new markets, some of them even hired people – notable in an industry that has been making headlines with layoffs.

Two craft brewers, Boston Beer Co. and Yuengling of Pottsville, Pa., managed to do so well in 2009 that they are now too big to be called craft brewers (defined as producing fewer than 2 million barrels a year).

“The trend is toward flavor, innovation and localness, which craft is playing on,” said Benj Steinman, president of Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Craft brewers – made up of regional brewers, micro-brewers and brew-pubs – still occupy a small niche, hundreds of brewers who together add up to about 4.7 percent of the U.S. beer market.

But the stouts, porters and ales that once found the fancy of just beer snobs have discovered a broader audience in recent years. And 2009 might prove to be the breakout year.

Despite the struggles of big beer, the megacompanies are still posting healthy profits, thanks to price increases and cost cuts.

Many of the trends playing out for craft brewers can be seen in the growth of St. Louis Brewing Inc., maker of Schlafly. The brewer saw shipments increase 28 percent last year.

“We’ve never been up that much,” co-owner Dan Kopman said of the 18-year-old company.

Make Valentine?s Day even more special by enjoying Guylian chocolate

Love and chocolate share the same sensational feeling: passion. To make Valentine?s Day a memorable occasion, the renowned Belgian chocolatier Guylian offers a selection of seductive chocolate gifts.

Why not treat your special person to a box of Guylian ‘I love you’ hearts?

You will both fall in love with the individually wrapped, delightfully sculptured Belgian chocolate hearts filled with exquisite roasted hazelnut praliné. For the Sea Shells lovers, there is also a tempting Sea Shell Valentine box.

Enjoy love in combination with the incomparable Belgian chocolate!

Do you know that?
Potteloereke beer offered by Sint Canarus brewery is a bottle-refermented Belgian dark ale. This dark-mahogany brew has an 8% alcohol volume.

Potteloereke beer has a pleasant aroma with notes of ripe fruit and roasted malt. We are sure you will be charmed by its plum/ raisin/ scorched sugar/ burnt toast flavour!

Homebrewery Sint Canarus is the biggest brewery between Deinze and Gent and one of the smallest breweries in the world. Besides Potteloereke, it offers also such beers as Sint Canarus Tripel, Willy Kriegelbier and Maagd van Gottem.

Belgium: AB InBev reaches deal to end breweries blockade

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer maker, and unions have reached a deal to end a two-week blockade of Belgian breweries that was drying up supplies of local brands, Reuters reported on January, 21.

Belgian workers have sealed off the entrances to the company’s large plants in Leuven and Liege and for a week the smaller Hoegaarden factory in protest at AB InBev’s plan to shed 299 of its 2,700 Belgian workers.

Two mediation attempts failed to break the deadlock. Unions have demanded that AB InBev withdraw the plan before entering any discussions. A third attempt on January, 21 finally bore fruit.

“The plan has been withdrawn,” said Kris Croonenborghs of the ABVV union. “I believe the blockades will end by tomorrow.”

The company’s Belgian unit, InBev Belgium, said it had accepted the recommendations of mediators and that dialogue could now start.

The mediators suggested that InBev draw up a plan together with unions and that the company hold a Europe-wide works council.

AB InBev, which also makes Budweiser and Beck’s, has said it could cut some 10 percent of its 8,000 strong workforce in western Europe due to falling beer markets.

Beer as a benefit for both body and soul

Beer has almost no fat and zero cholesterol. It can be less fattening than wine and RTDs, and contains less sugar and more dietary fibre, thanks to its barley content.

Malt is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially B6 and B12, and 500ml of beer meet about 30% of an average person’s daily need for vitamins. The presence of hops can provide beneficial sedative effects and their bitterness can aid digestion.

Moderate beer drinkers are less prone to stress and heart disease than may teetotalers and heavy drinkers.

Alcohol, consumed in moderate amounts, reduces fat deposits in blood vessel walls and also lowers cholesterol levels your blood, which can counteract cardiac diseases and stabilize your blood pressure.

And let’s not forget that beer is about 95% water. Its high water content, and relatively low alcohol content compared to wine and spirits, makes it good, thirst-quenching drink.

Beer’s ideal ionic composition also helps prevent gall and kidney stones. With all that water, it’s also a diuretic which can help keep the urinary tract open and prevent infection.

Beer also has traces of zinc, copper and iron which can help with prostate gland problems. And the hops in beer have been linked to helping prevent blood clots.

So,for the good of your body and your soul, enjoy a couple of Belgian beers whenever you feel like.

Men like women opting for beer survey

Men get more impressed with girls who opt for beer instead of a glass of wine or other more girlie drinks, a new UK survey has found.

But only one in 10 women would order a beer when out on a date, the study commissioned by beer company BitterSweet Partnership found.

According to the men questioned for the survey, a beer glass makes the women appear more sexy, confident, fun and independent. In fact, it is a ?turn-on? if a girl requested a beer on a first date, the survey participants said.

However, women would ditch beer for other options because they think drinking beer makes them appear masculine and unattractive. Just six per cent of women would pick a beer as their drink of choice on a first date, the survey discovered.

The researchers quizzed 2,000 men from across the UK about their thoughts and opinions on women’s drinking habits.

Managing director Kirsty Derry of BitterSweet Partnership said: “We’re looking forward to the day when beer becomes an aspirational choice for women. The industry has for too long ignored women our job is to redress this balance.

BitterSweet Partnership is here, first and foremost to listen to women, to dispel the many myths associated with beer, to develop products designed with the female palate in mind, and to change the buying and drinking experiences for them.”

A brief dip into the brewing history

Despite the sophisticated machinery that is used in brewing beer today, it’s still essentially the same procedures that have been used for hundreds of years.

However, beer making has become very sophisticated because of the advances in knowledge that has resulted from advances in science. Prior to, and even during the 1800′s, there were many who knew how beer could be made, but none knew of the science behind each step. It was not until the 19th century that it was realized that enzymes released during germination of cereal grains would not only break down the barley starch and protein into simple sugars and amino acids, but would also do the same for other carbohydrates, such as potato, corn and wheat. This realization cheapened the cost of making beer since germinated barley is a greater investment than the utilization of potato, corn and wheat.

Besides, it would not be until the 19th century that it would be known that yeasts were the organisms that actually were responsible for the fermentation process.

Although the process of fermentation had been used for thousands of years, it was thought to be a magical rather than a material process. As a result, many rituals and superstitions developed to direct and control fermentation.

By the 17th century, it was known that yeast was present during fermentation, but its role was controversial. There were two opposing views on this subject. One view was that yeast was required for the fermentation process, while the other argued that the process was purely chemical. It was not until Louis Pasteur’s work, in the 1850′s and 1860′s, that this argument was resolved.

Pasteur studied a number of organisms and their fermentative processes. He was able to show that the different fermentation products produced were invariably accompanied by specific microorganisms. This discovery, however, had further significance. Just as the different microorganisms caused different fermentation products from sugar, so did different diseases arise as a result of different microorganisms, and that these microorganisms did not arise spontaneously, as once believed, but that each microorganism was derived from pre-existing cells of the same type. This also led to the concept that by destroying the microorganisms in food products and beverages or by preventing their appearance in sterile products, spoilage could be prevented. This concept led to the heat treatment of food products and beverages that we now know as pasteurization.

In the beginning of beer making, beer was an alcoholic beverage with the flavor of malt and grain. It was flat, slightly sweet and would spoil quickly. It would not be until the 8th century, that brewers in central Europe found that the addition of hops flowers preserved the beer and gave it the slightly bitter taste that made it more palatable. However, hops was not the only bitter additive used. Various cultures used other bitters; tannins from oak and ash trees were used in Scandinavia; cinnamon in southern Europe and in America sweet fennel, licorice or sassafras was used. Nevertheless, by the end of the 15th century, it was hops that became the standard bitter and preservative added to beer.

With the genetic manipulation of yeasts, numerous varietal strains have been bred. This, along with modifications in the brewing process, has led to different types of beers we enjoy today, for instance:

Lagers, made with yeast that settle on the bottom (Saccharomyces carlsbergensis) of the container used. Thus, all the yeast and other material settle on the bottom which results in a clear beer;

Pilsner, a lager beer originally brewed in the Czech city of Pilsen. Water used for this style of beer tends to be harder, with a higher calcium and magnesium content than water used for lager. The color of pilsner is also lighter than that of lager beer;

Ales, made with yeast that floats (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to the top of the brewing vats resulting in a cloudier beer. They tend to have a higher alcohol content than lagers;

Stouts, very dark, almost black ale. The dark color and roasted flavor is derived from the roasted barley, and/or roasted malt. Beer historians consider it to be the descendant of the Porter ale;

Porter, a very dark ale of which the darker color and special flavor come from toasting the malt before brewing. This usually results in a stronger taste and higher alcohol content. Considered by beer historians to have evolved into the Stout ale.

Cheers!

Beer and chocolate make a great pair

Beer goes with elegant Belgian chocolates just perfectly, Sir Marc Stroobandt from Stella Artois is quoted as saying by ABC.

And what better expert could you find to talk about two of Belgium’s favorite exports, chocolate and beer, than the Belgian-born Master Beer Sommelier?

or beer and chocolate the goal is to create either complementing flavors (reinforce each other’s flavors, intensifying and deepening the tasting experience) or contrasting flavors (balance each other’s flavor, so both stand out but neither dominates), Sir Marc explains. Beer and chocolate pairings build on this concept, but focus on the idea that people assume only wine can be served with chocolate and desserts. That’s similar to the misperception about cheese pairings; beer is great with cheese, too, he adds.

Brew masters would argue that beer and chocolate is actually a better pairing than wine and chocolate, because of the broad range of beer styles and flavors, Sir Marc explains. Also, beer’s carbonation helps cut through the richness of chocolates and cleanses the palate, getting you ready for the next bite. From there, the possibilities are endless for what Brew masters and Chocolatiers can come up with.

“The government will fall that raises the price of beer.”