"Beer is Proof God Loves Us"

Over 200 years of Chinese telephone has left many a historian crediting so-called famous words to some famous people.  If you are like me, you love pulling this gem from Benjamin Franklin out at your local watering hole to describe your love of beer and the approval of your love of beer by the Almighty.  If you are like me you will be disappointed to find out that Ben never said those words.  The quote in its entirety from a letter to the French economist Andre Morellet:

"Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy."

The usage of the quote here is the title of a book by Charles Bamforth with a subtitle of "Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing."  Bamforth is a professor of beer.  I am not kidding.  He actually teaches classes related to beer brewing at UC Davis.  For years he worked for Bass and Anheuser Busch as a brewer.  The book is semi-autobiographical and also talks about the science of brewing.

I was excited when I first found this book because I was expecting a mutual desire for beer.  He loves beer, but not in the way you might think.  Bamforth contends that big brewers such as Busch and Miller are the excellence in beer brewing.  To be consistent in the quality of the beer outweighs the actual beer itself.  That's not to say Busch and Miller beers are bad, but they are distinctly mass produced.  Bamforth finds fault in the nuances of beer whereas I find it endearing.

Bamforth compares the American craft beer movement to his days visiting English pubs and relishing in the variety offered in England prior to the destruction of the beer industry at the hands of Margaret Thatcher.  He praises the likes of Charlie Papazian, father of the home brew movement, and especially lauds Ken Grossman and his creation of Sierra Nevada.  Ken Grossman for his obsession with quality control and environmental soundness and Charlie Papazian for the love of beer.  But he continues to relish in American lagers and the continuity of the big brew beers.

The book is a little disappointing.  Bamforth sets out to find the soul of beer and brewing and in the end admits that he would prefer to drink whiskey over beer.  His prowess at brewing beer and determining proper taste is simply a means to an end that he's built his career on.  There are only two takeaways from this book that I will remember forever: 1.) Cascade hops create the grapefruit scent in the IPAs; 2.) Foam in a beer is created from the pour of the beer and nothing else.  It is a byproduct only of consumption and does not occur naturally in beer; therefore why do we obsess over it?

Instead of trying to read someone else's search for the soul of beer, let's continue our journey together.