I regret to inform the wine drinkers of the world that your drink is not the one of sophistication! Beer is the beverage of sophistication, as it has always been. The reasons for this astounding conclusion abound, some of which will be laid out in this article.
First a definition. Sophistication: change from the natural character or simplicity, or the resulting condition; complexity, as in design or organization.
Beer is more complex.
There are more ingredients in a bottle of beer than a glass of wine. This creates a more complex flavor with each drink of beer than of wine. Wine primarily consists of two ingredients, grapes and yeast (for fermentation). Beer, on the other hand, consists of several base ingredients such as barley, hops, yeast, and water. Beyond this the list of ingredients is limited only by the brewer’s imagination.
There is a greater range of color available within the world of beer than that of wine. This is extremely important because humans rely on visual stimuli to rate quality and perceived taste. This is why beer should always be poured into a glass, rather than consumed from a bottle.
Beer color ranges from a pale straw to black, with a myriad of colors in between. In the U.S. we have a scale for these colors, the SRM (Standard Reference Method). Pale straw starts the scale at a 2, with black rounding out the scale with a 40+.
Brewing is an art.
Winemakers have it easy; they are limited by their own profession to creating what has already been created. Creating a fine wine is a standard, not an art. Beer brewers are challenged to create new and interesting beers that will capture the hearts of beer drinkers around the world.
Brewers are able to use any ingredients they so desire; winemakers are limited to certain types of grapes and yeast to yield their product. Brewers are allowed to take risks that winemakers are not afforded. Beers have been brewed with fruit, peppers, wheat, and chocolate. Some beers require the addition of hops or fruit during the fermentation process; the brewer must have perfect timing to pull off such an addition or the entire brew will be destroyed.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dr Dreadful
"winemakers are limited to certain types of grapes and yeast to yield their product."
Well, not entirely true. They make pineapple wine in Hawaii. Pretty horrible stuff though. And technically, some would say, not wine, since wine is made with grapes. Although it can also be made with other fruit, such as elderberry and blackcurrant.
And you missed another point in beer's favour: it's more cosmopolitan, since hops can be grown in a wider variety of climates than grapes. You can find home-produced brews in places as diverse and exotic as Iceland and Cambodia... good luck finding a native wine from either of those places!
2 - Jordan Richardson
While I agree with the basic premise (even though I'm not really sure why such an argument matters), you can find wine in Iceland. It's called Kvöldsól and it's organic, made from crowberries, wild blueberries and rhubarb.
Defining wine is weird, but usually people just label it with the fermented fruit it was made from (ie. apple wine, rhubarb wine) so that eliminates that "problem."
Cambodia, by the way, has native wine as well: Battambang. That wine is made from grapes, too. And TONS of Cambodians drink rice wine, but there's that whole "is it wine or not?" debate again.
Good article, by the way. A nice primer for those who may think that beer is only available in piss and water flavours.
3 - Chris Ballard
I have seen and tasted wines made from other fruits, but these are not the norm. Those winemakes have taken risks that most others are not willing to take. They are not following the standard.
Within the world of beer brewers take risks all the time, that is part of what makes brewing an art.
I would have to argue that "rice wine" is not wine at all, but beer. Rice is a grain and beer is brewed from grain with fruits added for flavor.
4 - Scott Deitche
Excellent article. It's also worthy of note that the cutting edge of beer craftsmanship is centered in America. We are making the best craft and microbrews in the world. Period.
5 - Michael Ferrari
"When attending a sporting event the most frequently consumed alcoholic beverage is beer"
This section of the article has missed the mark. There is nothing sophisticated about slamming down Bud Light in 24oz plastic cups that cost $10 apiece. It is this image of beer drinking that has tarnished beer as a beverage of sophistication and that has allowed enormous beverage conglomerates who aren't even remotely interested in the art, complexity and passion of beer brewing to be so successful. I truly enjoyed the article right up until the 'beverage of the masses' section. I think it is contradictory to the rest of the article.
6 - STM
Actually, good wine is waaaaaaay more sophisticated than beer ... but not nearly as much fun to drink.
"Hey fellas, it's Friday night; let's go to the pub and get on the piss (until 3AM) ... they've got a lovely drop of chardonnay or Shiraz on tap".
Nah. Don't think so.
7 - Dr Dreadful
It's also worthy of note that the cutting edge of beer craftsmanship is centered in America. We are making the best craft and microbrews in the world. Period.
Um. No.
8 - Victor Lana
Ben Franklin said, "Beer is proof that God loves us." Or something close to that. Anyway, good beer is certainly something that can be paired with food just like wine.
Great article, Chris. Prost!
9 - Chris Ballard
Victor,
The full quote is, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." One of my favorite quotes from Ol'Ben.
I couldn't agree more with pairing good beer with food! I know that certain beer/food combinations bring out more flavors, but I've also always been of the mindset, drink what you like.
Thanks for reading!
10 - Gray Hunter
Don't take me wrong here. I am a homebrewer myself and have written a couple of beer reviews for Blogcritics. I'm even working on opening my own brewery in my town. But some of this was a little ridiculous.
Beer, wine, whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, tequila ... it's all art in the hands of the right brewer/distiller. There should be NO discussions of sophistication, no such "class distinctions" in these matters. It's all alcohol derived from just a few ingredients. Alcohol appreciation, in all its forms, is the true mark of sophistication and class.
And I think Franklin actually made that quote about wine. For a number of centuries, I think wine was the drink of choice for the masses. I could be wrong, not positive just yet.
Nice start, though, and have a ball in the world of beer. If you want to find the best on the planet, hit Germany and Belgium.
11 - Stewart
Although I'm a beer fanatic, you underrate the variety of wine. It's understandable though. For some reason all the original types of wine with different species of grapes or with other fruits or spices or other complexity are considered cheap wines. The wine snobs turn up their noses. But there are a huge number and variety of such, and a vintner with spirit can be just as original as a brewer. And, wines can be found that are all colors from near black to near white too. But you certainly make a good point that most craft beers are more complex and more original that most popular or expensive wines.
12 - dave
As a beer lover and brewer and a sucker for wine, I disrespectfully disagree for many of the reasons noted above. More ingredients is not the sign of sophistication but an indication that the purity of the ingredients can't reach the ultimately level of sophistication. And lest you forget that the original Godfather movie was created over bottles of wine, so indeed great things do come around a table filled with wine.
13 - Phil R.
I have a problem with Plato drinking an IPA. Hops were not heavily used until much later and even the name IPA is a recent item.
14 - Chris Ballard
Plato drinking an IPA was a little tongue in cheek and hops were used as early as 822 in Germany. I grant you that hops were not used widely until the 14th & 15th centuries, but the first brewing of an IPA was in 1822, which I wouldn't consider as recent.
15 - Dave
The cutting edge of beer craftsmanship is absolutely centered in America right now. There's no way to refute this, list any English, Belgian or German breweries that are breaking new grounds in brewing and there is at least 10x as many in the states that are doing it better.
Germany and Belgium perfected the art of brewing, there's no question about it. England developed their own unique and excellent styles and exported great beer around the world. There is no finer examples of traditional beer styles than those found in these countries. They built a culture around beer that is mimicked across the world today.
Only in America though do you see such a large number of exceptional craft breweries pushing boundaries, experimenting across styles and reinventing ales and lagers. Also I'd put any number of excellent American craft ales up against foreign competitors and they would win hands down.
The only styles I'd say Europe still has over us are Pilsners and Belgian Abbey Ales but don't worry, we're fast catching up on those as well.
16 - Eric
I agree with Gray Hunter - it's silly and counterproductive to try and create a "which is more sophisticated" race between wine and beer. They can each be wonderful and sophisticated in the right hands, and they can each be utter crap in the wrong hands.
To Gray's posit on what the "drink of the masses" was in the past, I think it was actually neither beer nor wine, but apple cider. Little taught is that the reason Johnny Appleseed went around planting trees wasn't to make food, but to create apples for making cider in an era when drinking water could be deadly.
17 - The Beer Newb
It comes down to who is drinking it for what. I know people who play beer pong and people who have boxed wine drinking races...
Sophistication comes from taking effort to be so. There is a fine french wine versus $2 bottle of crap and there is Natty Ice versus a fine craft beer like Fat Tire.
-The Beer Newb
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18 - cookingongas
Considering that Plato died over 2300 years ago, I'd consider 1822 pretty recent.
I too prefer beer to wine, but I wouldn't say it's more sophisticated. It's how you drink it that counts. Sensibly, in good company, and not on an empty stomach.
Both beer and wine can be drunk to excess, and there's nothing sophisticated about that.
19 - Richard
Great article and some very valid points. In Australia we have only seen a real change in the craft beer movement over the last 10 years - as it continues more and more people are beginning to appreciate beer for what it really is rather than something that should be bland and consumed in large qunatities.
20 - Thomas Ham
"We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. 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 miracle in question was only performed to hasten the operation, under circumstances of present necessity, which required it."
Benjamin Franklin - 1779, Paris France
Although, I'm partial to beer... =)
21 - STM
"the cutting edge of beer craftsmanship is centered in America".
Oh look, I just saw a rabbit fly past my window. And there's an elephant too ...
22 - STM
"As opposed to something that should be bland and consumed in large qunatities."
That's right, it should be something not bland and consumed in vast quantities.
Otherwise, what's the point? Beer is about hanging about with your mates, not pissing around sipping and going: "Oh yes, I can really taste the late autumn-cut, woody tasting Kent hops and citrusy flavour in this one ... a much finer bouquet than the pilsener".
Fair dinkum. It's f.cking beer.
23 - STM
And there are only two kinds of beer: good beer and American beer.
24 - STM
The latter, of course, generally tasting either like cat's p.ss or possum's p.iss.
25 - STM
OK, I've had my fun ... but I'm being serious here too, and have taken umbrage at the ridiculous "cutting edge of brewing" remark by .
To be at the "cutting edge", most of a nation's big breweries would have to be putting out decent mass-produced beers, which clearly isn't the case in the US.
That sounds to me like another example of our cousins over the big ditch believing - again - the myth of their own exceptionalism, except that while in some cases there might be grain of truth to the delusion, in this case it's too ridiculous for words.
The truth is, I suspect, that Americans have been drinking crap beer for so long, a few "craft" brewers come along and everyone thinks it's the best thing sliced bread.
I realise there are some decent craft brewers that have bubbled up in the US in the US over the past decade or so; but it's about beer being good across the board, not just about a good "boutique" beer made by a couple of poor, hard-working beer-fanatic gibberers up-State cranking out a couple of cases a week for the Wankers' Beer Appreciation Society in SoHo or LA.
Sorry guys ... you lost me at "cutting edge".