The Maillard reaction is the chemical process responsible for the color, aroma, and flavor of roasted malts — and by extension, most of what makes dark beers interesting.
Category:
Beer Brewing
The birth of pilsner in 1842 in the Bohemian city of Plzen (now the Czech Republic) was the most consequential single event in modern brewing history — the creation of the world’s first golden, brilliantly clear lager beer triggered a …
California Common, also known as Steam Beer, is the most distinctly American beer style to survive from the 19th century — a hybrid lager fermented at ale temperatures using a specific lager yeast strain that evolved to work in the …
The Burton Union system is one of the most distinctive and historically significant fermentation technologies ever developed for brewing — a linked series of wooden casks with connected tubes and troughs that allowed yeast to ferment, rise, and be ca
Gruit ales — beers flavored with a mixture of herbs rather than hops — represent the dominant brewing tradition of Northern Europe for approximately a thousand years before hops became standard.
Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933) was the most consequential single event in American brewing history — it didn’t just pause the industry for 13 years, it fundamentally reshaped which beer styles survived, which breweries recovered, and wh
The London Beer Flood of October 17, 1814 is one of the most bizarre industrial accidents in brewing history — a catastrophic failure at the Meux and Company Horse Shoe Brewery on Tottenham Court Road released a wave of fermenting …
Trappist brewing is the most closely regulated designation in the beer world — the term “Authentic Trappist Product” requires that the beer be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, under the supervision of monks, with profits going primari
The Reinheitsgebot — the German Beer Purity Law enacted in Bavaria in 1516 — is the most famous piece of brewing legislation in history and continues to shape how German beers are brewed, marketed, and regulated more than 500 years …
The relationship between porter and stout is one of the most commonly misunderstood in beer history — popular belief treats them as always-distinct styles, but the historical record shows that stout was originally just strong porter.