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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!amdcad!lll-crg!seismo!rochester!ur-helheim!dave
From: dave@ur-helheim.UUCP (David F. Carlson)
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: Re: beer
Message-ID: <425@ur-helheim.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 09:18:45 EST
Article-I.D.: ur-helhe.425
Posted: Mon Jan  6 09:18:45 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 05:00:33 EST
References: <327@cisden.UUCP> <34100001@hpfcmp.UUCP> <11341@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <3718@kestrel.ARPA>
Reply-To: dave@helheim.UUCP (David F. Carlson)
Organization: U. of Rochester, EE Dept.
Lines: 40

In article <3718@kestrel.ARPA> ttp@kestrel.ARPA writes:
>
>Enough discussion of whether or not there'll be a discussion about
>beer! I'd like to hear comments about MacKewan's {sp?} Edinburgh Ale
>What IS ale as opposed to beer? Why doesn't this one taste like any other ale I've
>tasted?  Alternatively, which other ales (or beers) are like this one?
>
>-tom

Ale vs beer is a very old question.  It used to be that brewing with
hops was considered a bad thing.  King Henry V (I believe) decreed
on pain of prison death or worse that all beers brewed in England must
not have any hops.  In less repressive times people found out that the
bittering of the hops produced more enjoyable beers, and there use was
made virtually universal.  Previous to hops, people used to put palatable
things like nettles into beer.  Originally, ales used to have less hops and
thus be more full bodied and less bitter.  Today that line is so confused
as to be non-existent.  Light beer, heavy ales, lagers, pilsners--who
can tell?

MacKewan's Edinburgh is a ale which is, as you say, sweet.  In days of
yore a greater amount of ales used to be sweet.  (British stouts and
ales of this variety reflect this.)  In fact, mead, the "original"
viking drink was made of honey--pretty sweet stuff.  The sweet stouts
and ales are made by including, at some stage of the brewing process,
large quantities of unfermentable sugars--fructose or lactose, etc.
are added, producing a curious taste to the uninitiated.

yours for better beer

dave
btw:  In my tenure on this net, beers and wine are welcome topics.
		So go ahead and post.
-- 
"The Faster I Go the Behinder I Get"
--Lewis Carroll

Dave Carlson

{allegra,seismo,decvax}!rochester!ur-valhalla!dave