Dit is not a guide to which beer is best to serve on New Year's Eve. To find out which beer you can best combine with oliebollen, you can contact your colleague Arvid Bergstrom It is best to consult: he has literally written the book about it.
maturation process
However, I want to talk about the aging process in beer. Beer, like wine, is a product that improves taste in the bottle. This works best with heavier, darker beers. A lager that has been sitting for a few years is usually not very tasty anymore: it gets a somewhat thin, cardboard taste; the hop bitters disappear and the freshness and fruitiness disappears. Not dangerous to drink and fine for an emergency, but not really tasty anymore.
However, with darker and heavier beers, something special happens: a process called madeirization or portification. The residual amount of oxygen, which cannot be excluded in any production process, enters into a number of complicated chemical connections with the esters, fatty acids and residues of the beer present in the beer. Maillard reaction during the brewing process. With the heavier beers, this means that the taste becomes smoother, more velvety with more clarity and depth. The scent becomes more intense and tends, indeed, a bit more to port of Madeira (hence the name).
beer experience
In terms of beer experience, it is extremely interesting to taste various vintages of a beer side by side. This way you can follow the taste evolution of the beer over the years. You can do this by setting up your own beer cellar. A dark environment with a constant (not too high) temperature is ideal. If you do not have access to a suitable space, you can taste beer at various places in the country from sommeliers who have created special storage areas, such as the Burgundian Beer Cellar and our beer cellar in the Steven's Church of beertasting.nu.
Please note: it is not (as with wine) that older is necessarily better. Some beers can last up to 10 years, but at some point the body gets a bit too stretched and thin and the subtleties of the hops and esters disappear. It is therefore a challenge to determine the optimum ripening time for each beer. A not very unpleasant task, I dare to say, one of my personal goals for 2018.
2018 is the year of the Old beer! But also hopefully for a lot of new beers that will probably become the most beautiful vintages ever. I wish everyone a lot of enjoyable moments in 2018! Hoppy New Beer!
[bs-quote quote=”Ivo is an international beer sommelier, entertainer and catering expert. Has an immense passion for beer, catering and hospitality. Ivo will write a monthly column for Horeca Groningen.” style=”style-5″ align=”center” author_name=”Ivo Thijssen” author_job=”Biersommelier” author_avatar=”https://staging.horecagroningen.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Ivo-Thijssen- profile.jpg” author_link=”https://bierproef.nu/”][/bs-quote]