Dear John, I’ve seen a lot of beers recently that are being served with fruit around the rim. I thought this was only done with Coronas and limes. What gives?
-Josh M., Manayunk, PA
This relatively recent trend of putting citrus fruit in beer is a way of marketing beer to people who may not be as discriminate towards the taste of the actual beer. I’m looking at you, cheap beer drinkers. Beers are regularly brewed with all kinds of fruits ranging from passion fruit (see Voodoo Love Child on page 34) to pumpkin, and can certainly be brewed with citrus flavor too. This technique is mainly designed to attract people who would normally drink cocktails or to hide the taste. There may be other experts who disagree with me. They are wrong.
Dear John, my friend and I were having an argument that I hoped you could solve. He said that Wild Blue was not technically beer, but I said it was because it clearly
says “Lager” on the label. Which of us has the right of it?
-Chelsea F., Philadelphia, PA
Although your friend may be in the right mindset, he is wrong. Wild Blue is a beer, because as defined by US law, beer is a beverage brewed at least partly from malt or a malt substitute and having more than 0.5% alcohol. Although many of us imagine a beer tasting nice and hoppy, it doesn’t have to be.
John, what the hell is triple hops brewing?!
-Keith H., Burlington, NJ
Well, triple hops brewing can refer to any one of three things, depending on your viewpoint.
1. A (not so) clever marketing campaign that seeks to make drinkers that grow more knowledgeable by the day (though not necessarily intentionally) think that their beer has some kind of unique process that makes it extra special.
2. A magical process that makes your beer special and win all kinds of awards.
3. Pure bullshit. You can decide for yourself which definition you want to go with.