Different tastes

After a bit of a Thanksgiving break, I am very much back in the swing of things. Hoping to both bottle and brew this weekend. I would be bottling the ginger if the ginger taste is sufficiently strong - otherwise secondary with more ginger, and I would be brewing the porter - with coffee and cardamom (that's the plan).

In the meantime, I have been reflecting a bit on different tastes folks around me have. The most common beer in the US (and in Asia too, but it is different) is a light lager. One can certainly argue the merits of different styles, or the effectiveness of long-term marketing campaigns on the taste of the populace, but it is very interesting to me to listen to people's impressions of beer.

Many do seem to want it to be a light, cold, crisp relatively unobtrusive companion to a meal. Some people consider an amber to be adventurous, and stout to be too heavy. I wonder how much has to do with associations. Perhaps because a beer is opaque in color, it is is considered filling. Something lighter is seemingly less filling.

The funny thing is that different colored beers do not necessarily differ in the weights of ingredients of which they are comprised. Certainly lagers by virtue of longer (and cold) storage might have fewer suspended solids, but a pale ale and a porter, brewed with similar technique are both ales and should be similarly filling.

I wonder if it has to do with the flavors of different malts added. That is where the color originates after all.

Well, I will have a chance soon enough to compare brews side by side. Saison, Ginger (Pale) Ale, and Porter.