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NEW ENGLAND ABUNDANCE . MASSACHUSETTS
SPIRITS
NEA HOME |
Beer is one of the most popular drinks around the world. Brewed as far back as 4000 BC by the Sumerians, beer is also one of the oldest alcoholic drinks still in production. One of the reasons beer is so popular is that is easy to make and require few ingredients. In fact, there are only four ingredients in beer: water, barley, yeast, and hops. All beers are made with the same ingredients; the only variation between them is in the amount used of each ingredient, plus variations in brewing. For example, ale must be fermented for 21 days, while lagers require 35.
While the ingredients used are simple, the standards are high. For example, the water used to make beer must be purified, and the barley malt used is screened for imperfections in the growth and quality. The first step in making beer consists in filtering the barley through a pipe, which adds water to the grains in order to help them release more sugars. The grains are then mashed in a giant metal pot that breaks down the starches and ferments the mix.
After this, the mix is recirculated through a filter and more water is added. This step, called "sparging," is essential to make sure all sugars are being extracted from the grains. The mix, which is not yet beer, is then boiled for 90 minutes in a special giant kettle with a double bottom, which allows steam to circulate. Hops are added at this point to provide the bitter taste characteristic of beer, and then the mix is drained to separate the liquid from the solids. Once the liquid has cooled, yeast is added and the preparation is stored to allow it to ferment. Flavors are added at the end.
Making beer is a delicate process, as the liquid changes containers many times, and breweries need to guarantee that the mix does not get contaminated at any point. Beer can be brewed at home with a very simple set of materials available at home brewing stores. The basic difference is that home-brewed beer does not taste the same batch after batch, because it is almost impossible to get the ingredients to match the exact same measurements every time.
BEER AND TEQUILA IN MASSACHUSETTS
BEER
TEQUILA
Tequila was first produced in the 16th century near the location of the city of Tequila, which was not officially established until 1656. The Aztec people had previously made a fermented beverage from the agave plant, which they called octli (later, and more popularly called pulque), long before the Spanish arrived in 1521. When the Spanish conquistadors ran out of their own brandy, they began to distill this agave drink to produce North America's first indigenous distilled spirit.
Some 80 years later, around 1600, Don Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco. By 1608, the colonial governor of Nueva Galicia had begun to tax his products.
The tequila that is popular today was first mass-produced in the early 1800s in Guadalajara, Mexico. Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from 1884-1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States. Don Cenobio's grandson Don Francisco Javier gained international attention for insisting that "there cannot be tequila where there are no agaves!" His efforts led to the practice that real tequila can only come from the State of Jalisco.
Since 2002, sales of high priced tequilas, called "ultra-premium" and "super-premium" by marketeers, have increased 28 percent. That is an average growth rate of 8.6 percent per year, as reported by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Sales exceeded expectations by reaching well over 10 million cases as shown in the 2007 report by IWSR based on Adams Liquor Handbook. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, increasing worldwide popularity of tequila drove corporate interest in the drink. Notable developments as a result included:
* The purchase of Herradura by Brown-Forman for $776 million in September 2006.
* A new NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) for tequila (NOM-006-SCFI-2005) was issued in 2006, and among other
changes, introduced a category of tequila called "extra añejo" or "ultra-aged" which must be aged a minimum
of 3 years.
* The purchase of the Sauza and El Tesoro brands by massive holding company Fortune Brands.[7]
Although some tequilas have remained as family owned brands, most well-known tequila brands are owned by large multinational corporations. However, there are over 100 distilleries making over six hundred brands of tequila in Mexico and over 2,000 brand names have been registered. Due to this, each bottle of tequila contains a serial number depicting which distillery the tequila was brewed and bottled in. Because there are only so many distilleries, multiple brands of tequila come from the same place. The Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico originally did not permit flavored tequila to carry the tequila name.[8] In 2004, the Council decided to allow flavored tequila to be called tequila, with the exception of pure agave tequila, which still could not be flavored.[8]
A one-liter bottle of limited-edition premium tequila was sold for $225,000 in July 2006 in Tequila, Jalisco, by the company Tequila Ley .925. The bottle which contains the tequila is a two-kilo display of platinum and gold. The manufacturer has received the Certificate from Guinness World Records for the most expensive bottle of spirit ever sold.[9]
In 2008, Mexican scientists discovered a method to transform 80-proof (40% alcohol) tequila into diamonds. This process involves heating the tequila to over 800 degrees C (1,400 degrees F) to vaporize the tequila. The tequila particles are cooled, and settle upon steel or silicon trays in an even, pure layer. The results are hoped to have numerous commercial and industrial applications, but are far too small (100–400 nm diameter) for use in jewelry.
You will find here lists of Beer and Tequila related items on you left.
