Three Boys Brewery’s Ralph Bungard walks us through some of the ‘culinary’ tradition of brewing a fine beer.

At its most basic, beer is four ingredients: malt, hops, yeast, and water. In Germany, there is a series of regulations known as the Reinheitsgebot which largely limits beer to containing those four basic ingredients – drop any one of those ‘fab four’ or add anything much more and it is not considered beer. Certainly though, those tight regulations are not worldwide. Brewers from other countries legitimately add many ingredients on top of the basic four. There are fine examples from New Zealand microbrewers that contain anything from fruit, vegetables, flavourings and even shellfish, dairy products, and bacteria – to name just a few.

As an aside, there is some heated debate amongst brewers and beer nerds on whether seltzers – the latest trend appearing on brewers’ horizons – should be considered alongside beer. The debate becomes super-heated when talking about whether those brewers that make seltzers have effectively sold their souls to the financial attractions of the mass booze market. Perhaps we will talk about the seltzer debate another time. Let’s get back to beer.

There are some amazing beers coming out from Kiwi brewers that have ingredient additions over the basic four. Look out especially for some of the sour beers like the gose and Berliner styles that often have fruit extracts added. And of course, there is always the Three Boys Brewery classic, Oyster Stout.

However, sticking with the fab four ingredients by no means must result in boring same-same beers. Even using the strictest of ingredients, brewers still have literally hundreds of malt styles, hundreds of hop varieties, hundreds of strains of yeast and an endless continuum of water chemistry and brewing techniques in their toolbox. Without breaking from the strict Reinheitsgebot regulations, the diversity of beers is amazing; consider the spectrum of flavours and appearance of beers through a classic lager, a pilsner, a hefeweizen, a hoppy pale ale, a dunkel, and a stout – all brewed using just four basic ingredients.

The root of beer diversity is not in the number of ingredients but more about the origins of those ingredients and how and when they are used in the process of brewing. In that sense, brewers and chefs have a lot in common. Just like a chef when cooking, a brewer when brewing uses the best examples of basic ingredients. They take into consideration variety, seasonality, and terroir. Just like a chef, the brewer then uses the tools of temperature and timing to create a product of beauty – an outcome almost indistinguishable from its beginnings. That does not mean that every beer is a culinary complex delight – nor should it be. Like in food, in beer there is a place for boldness, subtleness, complexity and, in some cases, absolute simplicity.

Next time you are having a brew, take a moment to reflect on the culinary miracle of beer and the simple beauty of the ingredients that made it happen.

threeboysbrewery.co.nz