Archive-name: beer-faq/part1
Posting-Frequency: bi-weekly
Copyright: (c) 1994-1997 John A. Lock
Maintainer: John A. Lock >
URL: http://www.beerinfo.com/rfdb/

rec.food.drink.beer FAQ (C)
***************************

This is the general FAQ for rec.food.drink.beer.

It condenses a vast repository of beer knowledge represented by the
subscribers to r.f.d.b. I depend on the participants of this group to
provide the feedback I need to make this a living document. Please e-mail
comments, additions, corrections, etc. to John Lock >.
If your browser supports forms, you can use the feedback form.

The Charter for rec.food.drink.beer is posted to the newsgroup twice every
month and available on the Web at
<URL:http://weber.u.washington.edu/~cverver/rfdbcharter.html> or from the
archives.

Cheers, Prost, Salud, Skaal, Slainte, Stineeyammous, Gan Bei, etc!

John A. Lock >

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************************************************** ********************
REC.FOOD.DRINK.BEER FAQ

POSTED TO THE NEWSGROUP EVERY 2 WEEKS
************************************************** ********************

Copyright (C) 1994-97 by John A. Lock. All rights reserved. This document
may be freely distributed in its entirety provided this copyright notice
is not removed. It may not be sold for profit nor incorporated in
commmercial products without the author's written permission.

CONTENTS
********

This FAQ is divided into sections which loosely encompass the variety of
Frequently Asked Questions that appear concerning beer. These are preceded
by a quick index section to aid in finding answers to specific questions.

The Quick Index section
A listing of the most frequently asked questions.

Section 1 - Definitions of common terms regarding beer itself
Some popular items are beer definition, styles, and marketing
terms...

Section 2 - Definitions of common terms for the brewing industry
Topics such as alcohol strength, Reinheitsgebot, and CAMRA...

Section 3 - Beer handling and sensory issues
Typical answers cover proper storage, serving temperatures, tasting
methods, off flavors...

Section 4 - Miscellaneous topics
Includes homebrewing and specific brand issues...

Section 5 - Beer resources
Where to find good beer, the r.f.d.b. archives, and pointers to other
Net resources...

Section 6 - Acknowledgements

Section 7 - Maintenance History

FINDING INFORMATION
*******************

You can search for information in a number of different ways:

First, read the whole thing. You may find this entertaining, but it's
certainly not the fastest way to get an answer to a question.

Second, you can use the "Search" or "Find" function of your newsreader,
browser, or editor to locate a specific topic. This can be very useful
since the questions cover fairly broad topics and your specific answer may
be buried inside a broader response. For example, if you wanted to know
about serving temperatures, you wouldn't find that topic specifically
addressed in the questions. However, upon searching for "temp" you would
find several such references.

Third, there is the quick index to the questions which you can use to jump
directly to a specific question/answer, again, using your search function
to find the text. See the Quick Index for an example.

And last, if your viewing the HTML version on The Web, you'll find useful
pointers imbedded throughout the document. Just follow your nose
(figuratively speaking :^)!

************************************************** ********************
QUICK INDEX TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
************************************************** ********************

This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions appearing in r.f.d.b. Each
question is keyed using a simple code. The answer to question Y in FAQ
Section X is labeled X-Y and so on. To find an answer to any question
quickly, use your "search" or "find" function to find X-Y.

For example:
To find the answer to question 2-7 "What is CAMRA?", search for 2-7
and you
will be positioned at the answer. To return to this index, search
backwards
for 0-0.

If you're viewing the HTML version of this document on The Web, just
follow the links from question to answer and back.

0-0. Top of List

FAQ Section 1 - Definitions of common terms regarding beer itself
1-1. What is beer?
1-2. What are ales?
1-3. What are lagers?
1-4. How are they different?
1-5. What are lambics?
1-6. What is "bock" beer?
1-7. What is "porter"?
1-8. What are "dry" beers?
1-9. What are "ice" beers?
1-10. What are "cold-filtered", and "heat pasteurized" beers?
1-11. What is "draught" (draft) beer?
1-12. How is specific gravity related to beer?
1-13. What does "Dubbel" mean on a beer label?

FAQ Section 2 - Definitions of common terms in the brewing industry
2-1. How is alcohol strength measured?
2-2. Why is beer stronger in Canada than the U.S.?
2-3. How are "ale", "malt liquor", and "barleywine" related to
strength?
2-4. What is the Reinheitsgebot?
2-5. What about the new "Draught-flow" (tm) system (AKA the "widget"
or "smoothifier")?
2-6. What is "Real Ale"?
2-7. What is CAMRA?
2-8. What are the categories of brewers/breweries?
2-9. What is a brewpub?

FAQ Section 3 - Beer handling and sensory issues
3-1. How do I judge a beer?
3-2. What is good/bad/skunked/spoiled beer?
3-3. How should I store beer?
3-4. How long does beer keep?
3-5. Is beer considered a vegetarian/kosher/organic product?

FAQ Section 4 - Miscellaneous topics
4-1. What is Zima and/or clear beer?
4-2. What do the different Chimay packages/colors mean?
4-3. What does the "33" mean on the bottles of Rolling Rock?
4-4. Does Coors support Nazi organizations?
4-5. Can I make my own beer....is it legal?
4-6. How do I make it?
4-7. WIMLIACLDAB? BTABFCTW!.....What was that?
4-8. Is Guinness good for you?
4-9. Where are Sam Adams beers made?
4-10. Why does American beer suck?

FAQ Section 5 - Beer resources
5-1. Where can I get more beer info and tasting tips?
5-2. Where can I get good beer?
5-3. I'm going to "some city", what brewpubs/bars are good?
5-4. Can I get beer in the mail?
5-5. Where can I get details on making my own?
5-6. Where can I get recipes?
5-7. What is r.f.d.b. about?
5-8. Where are the archives?
5-9. What is in the archives?
5-10. I don't have ftp, can you e-mail files to me?

FAQ Section 6 - Acknowledgements

FAQ Section 7 - Maintenance History

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: DEFINITIONS OF COMMON TERMS REGARDING BEER ITSELF

------------------------------

Subject: 1-1. What is beer?

Beer is an alcoholic beverage made from malted grains, hops, yeast,
and water. The grain is usually barley or wheat, but sometimes corn
and rice are used as well. Fruit, herbs, and spices may also be used
for special styles. In the distant past, the terms "beer" and "ale"
meant different things. "Ale" was originally made without using hops,
while "beer" did use hops. Since virtually all commercial products
now use hops, the term "beer" now encompasses two broad categories:
ales and lagers.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-2. What are ales?

Ales are brewed with "top-fermenting" yeasts at close to room
temperatures, 50-70F (10-21C). Ales encompass the broadest range of
beer styles including bitters, pale ales, porters, stouts, barley
wines, trappist, lambic, and alt. The British Isles are famous for
their ales and it is a popular style with homebrewers and
micro-breweries.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-3. What are lagers?

Lagers are brewed with "bottom-fermenting" yeasts at much colder
temperatures, 35-50F (2-10C) over long periods of time (months). This
is called "lagering". Lagers include bocks, doppelbocks, Munich- and
Vienna-style, Maerzen/Oktoberfest, and the famous pilsners. Pilsner
beer originated in the town of Pilsen, now in the Czech Republic and
was the first non-cloudy beer. Most popular beers produced by the
large North American breweries were originally of the pilsner style.
These have diverged a great deal from the original style and succeed
now by the force of the mass-marketing prowess of the brewers rather
than any remarkable qualities of the beers themselves.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-4. How are they different?

The differences tend to be based on tradition more than anything
inherent to either style. The major traditional differences are a
result of the varying lengths of fermentation and temperature used
for the two beer types. They can also vary in style and degree of
hopping and in the types of malt used, but these differences are very
arbitrary and exceptions abound.

Ales generally undergo short, warm fermentations and are intended to
be consumed soon after completion. The result of relatively warm
fermentation is that a lot of by-products of yeast metabolism besides
alcohol and CO2 get left in the beer. These usually manifest
themselves as "fruity" or "buttery" flavors which vary in degree and
flavor with the strain of yeast used and the temperature and duration
of fermentation. Accordingly, ales exhibit their most complex flavors
when served at warm temperatures, around 50-60F (10-15C).

The trick with lager yeast is that they can survive, metabolize, and
reproduce at lower temperatures. Lager yeast can assimilate compounds
which ale yeast cannot, fewer by-products are made, and the stuff
that does get made drops out during lagering. The result is a very
clean, sparkling beer. Lagers are best served at slightly cooler
temperatures than ales, 40-50F (5-10C).

Of course there are notable exceptions:

California Common
The best known example is "Steam Beer" which is a trademark of
the Anchor Brewing Co. It employs lager yeast fermented at ale
temperatures which gives it some fruitiness usually associated
with ales.

Koelsch and Alt
Ales that undergo a cold secondary fermentation and storage
period resulting in only a hint of ale-like fruityness. Koelsch
is usually associated with the city of Cologne, Germany while
Alt is indigenous to Duesseldorf.

Cream Ale
Alternately, an ale fermented at lager temps or vice-versa. It
has also been made by blending a conventional ale with a
conventional lager after fermentation. Most examples are only
slightly more interesting than mega-brews; a touch more body, a
touch more fermentation flavor.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-5. What are lambics?

Lambics are a type of ale brewed in parts of Belgium by exposing hot
wort (unfermented beer) to the outside air. Indigenous, wild yeasts
and other microorganisms settle on the exposed surface of the wort as
it cools and begin spontaneous fermentation. They are often sweetened
with fruit flavorings and generally prized the world over.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-6. What is "bock" beer?

Bock is a style of lager beer which originated in Germany. It was
traditionally brewed in the fall, at the end of the growing season,
when barley and hops were at their peak. It was "lagered" all winter
and enjoyed in the spring at the beginning of the new brewing season.
Bocks can be pale (helles) or dark (dunkles) and there are
double(doppel) bocks which are extra strong.

Bocks are usually strong beers made with lots of malt yielding a very
full-bodied, alcoholic beer. A persistent myth has been that bock
beers are made from the dregs at the bottom of a barrel when they are
cleaned in the spring. This probably seemed logical because of the
heavier body and higher strength of bocks. From a brewing standpoint,
this is clearly impossible for two reasons: 1) The "dregs" left after
fermentation are unfermentable, which is exactly why they are left
over. They cannot be fermented again to make more beer. 2) Any
attempt to re-use the "dregs" would probably result in serious
bacterial contamination and a product which does not resemble beer as
we know it.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-7. What is "porter"?

From: The Guinness Drinking Companion by Leslie Dunkling (1992)
Guinness Publishing; ISBN 0-85112-988-9 "In the London Ale-Houses and
taverns of the early 18th Century it was common to call for a pint of
"Three threads", meaning a third of a pint each of ale, beer, and
twopenny (the strongest beer, costing twopence a quart). A brewer
called Harwood had the idea of brewing a beer that united the
flavours of all three. He called this beer "Entire". This was about
1720.

Harwood's Entire was highly hopped, strong, and dark. It was brewed
with soft rather than hard water. Within a few years Entire was also
being referred to as "Porter" (short for porter's ale) because the
porters of the London street markets were especially fond of it.
Porter that was extra strong was known as "Stout Porter", and
eventually "Stout"."

------------------------------

Subject: 1-8. What are "dry" beers?

--

"Dry" beer was developed in Japan. Using more adjuncts (like corn and
rice) and genetically altered yeasts, these beers ferment more
completely and have less residual sweetness, and hence less
aftertaste.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-9. What are "ice" beers?

The making of "ice" beers, in general, involves lowering the
temperature of the finished product until the water in it begins to
freeze and then filtering out the ice crystals that form. Since water
will freeze before alcohol, the result is higher alcohol content. The
ice forms around yeast cells, protein particles, etc. so these get
removed as well; leaving fewer components to provide taste and
character.

This process is not new to brewing, having been developed in Germany
to produce "eisbocks". Apparently they were produced by accident
during the traditional spring celebration with bock beers. Spring,
being the capricious season that it is, probably sent a late cold
snap around one year causing some of the spring bocks to partially
freeze. People drank it anyway and liked the change in flavor.

In its current incarnation, the process is an offshoot of the
concentrated fruit juice industry. It was developed by orange growers
to reduce the costs of storage and shipping by concentrating the
fruit juice through freezing and removal of some water. Labatt
Breweries claims to have pioneered this process for brewing and most
of the large North American brewers quickly followed suit in the
usual marketing frenzy.

The main difference between these "ice" beers and true eisbocks is
taste and character. Any beer brewed using this method will only be
as good as the brew with which you start. In other words, if you
start with a bland, flavor-impaired, adjunct-laden beer and remove
some of the water, you end up with a bland, flavor-impaired,
adjunct-laden beer with more alcohol. OTOH, if you take a rich,
malty, traditionally brewed bock and remove some of the water, you
end up with an eisbock.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-10. What are "cold-filtered", and "heat pasteurized" beers?

Cold-filtering is a way of clarifying beer with a shortened lagering
time. Beer (lager particularly) becomes clearer with extended storage
which allows proteins and other particles to coagulate and settle out
of suspension. The beer can then be drawn off and bottled. One way to
reduce the time required is to chill the beer causing these molecules
to "clump" and be easily filtered out. The up-side is that the time
from brewing to finished product is shortened, thereby boosting
productivity. The down-side is that cold-filtering also removes many
components which contribute flavor and body to beer.

Heat Pasteurized is a redundant phrase since pasteurization means
heating to kill microbes.

Some beers are bottle or cask conditioned, meaning that live yeast
are still in the beer in its container. Most mainstream beers are
either filtered, to remove all yeast and bacteria, or pasteurized to
kill all yeast and bacteria. This makes for a more stable product
with a longer shelf-life.

Pasteurization is more expensive and tends to alter the flavor.
Filtration is cheaper, leaves a clearer beer, and has less effect on
flavor.

The "ice" beer process (see above) enhances filtration schemes
because more stuff can be filtered out more quickly using less
filtration material which shows up directly on the old bottom line.

------------------------------

Subject: 1-11. What is "draught" (draft) beer?

Technically speaking, draught beer is beer served from the cask in
which it has been conditioned. It has been applied, loosely, to any
beer served from a large container. More recently, it has been used
as a promotional term for canned or bottled beer to try to convince
us that the beer inside tastes like it came from a cask. See also
"Real Ale".

John
<URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/>

Archive-name: beer-faq/part3
Posting-Frequency: bi-weekly
Copyright: (c) 1994-1997 John A. Lock
Maintainer: John A. Lock >
URL: http://www.beerinfo.com/rfdb/

------------------------------

Subject: 4-5. Can I make my own beer....is it legal?

U.S. regulations state that an individual can brew up to 100 gals/yr
for personal consumption or up to 200 gals/yr per family without
being subject to taxes. Other countries will certainly have different
regulations. State laws often override the Federal tax law with more
stringent regulations or ban any homebrewing, so check locally. In
any case, you cannot sell your homebrew. Also, be aware that the
presence of homebrew supply stores does not imply that homebrewing is
legal in your state. More often, in a strange quirk of law-making, it
is legal to sell the supplies, but illegal to make beer with them!?

------------------------------

Subject: 4-6. How do I make it?

Making your own can range from quite easy to very complicated
depending on how much of the science you want to absorb. At its most
basic, you can make beer following these steps:

1. Mix together malted barley extract, hops, and water and boil to
produce what is called the wort.

2. The wort is cooled, placed in a fermenter and yeast is added.
Fermentation will take place converting the sugars in the wort to
carbon dioxide (which is vented out) and alcohol.

3. When fermentation is complete, the new beer is mixed with a small
amount of primer (made from malt extract or corn sugar) and
placed in sealed bottles or kegs. The primer will provide just
enough additional fermentation to carbonate the beer.

4. Wait until the beer has properly aged and drink! The aging time
depends on beer style and can range anywhere from 2 weeks to 1
year.

For further details, subscribe to rec.crafts.brewing and lurk for a
while.

------------------------------

Subject: 4-7. WIMLIACLDAB? BTABFCTW! What was that?

This is a very old, very tired beer joke attributed to Monty Python.
I'll spell it out for you:

Q: Why is making love in a canoe like drinking American beer?
A: Because they are both ****ing close to water!

But don't ever repeat this on the Net or the following will occur:

1. You will be scorched to a crunchy black by some excruciatingly
creative individuals.
2. You will receive a number of "corrective" e-mails.
3. Your family/relatives will be visited by "Guido", a large,
ill-tempered man with hairy knuckles.

...in that order!

------------------------------

Subject: 4-8. Is Guinness good for you?

Answers to this, and many other Guinness questions, may be found in
Alan Marshall's "Guinness FAQt and Folklore". This document is
available in the archives or on WWW at
<URL:http://www.ivo.se/guinness/>.

------------------------------

Subject: 4-9. Where is Sam Adams beer made?

As the largest contract brewer in the U.S., Boston Brewing Co. uses
several breweries around the country to make the various Sam Adams
beers. This info is accurate as of JAN-95.

Boston, MA
AKA Jamaica Plain. Former Haffenreffer brewery, a company-owned
facility brewing the Boston Ale and doing R&D work on other
recipes.
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Brewing Co. brews the largest portion (by volume) of
Sam Adams beers, mostly lagers for eastern distribution.
Lehigh Valley, PA
Stroh Brewery Co. brews the ales for eastern distribution.
Portland, OR
Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Co. (owned by G. Heileman). Most Sam
Adams brews for western distribution.
Nagold, Germany
A Gambrinus brewery brews the Boston Lager for the European
market.

The relationship with F.X. Matt of Utica, NY has ended and Sam Adams
beers are no longer made there. There is also a Sam Adams brewpub in
Philadelphia, PA which brews ales from malt extract recipes. Also,
FYI, the Sam Adams Triple Bock was brewed at the Jamaica Plain
facility and then shipped to Bronco Winery in Ceres, CA for aging in
their vats.

------------------------------

Subject: 4-10. Why does American beer suck?

You might as well ask In fact, any country in the world with a
sufficiently large brewer is guilty of brewing beer that is (ahem)
less than it could be. In an effort to boost profit margins and still
be acceptable to the broadest possible market, the mega-brewers have
resorted to using cheaper adjuncts, like corn and rice, instead of
all barley malt. The resulting less-sweet beer doesn't need as much
balancing bitterness, so they cut back on hops to save money and to
make the end-product innocuous to the casual drinker. The change has
been a gradual one, taking place in small increments over many years,
so that most consumers would not notice the difference. These
practices are followed up by huge, multi-media, marketing campaigns
that attempt to sell brand image rather than beer flavor.

American brewers take the biggest hit because they're the best at
this game. In addition, most people outside the U.S. only see the
brews exported by the mega-brewers and judge the entire market by
these examples. But such blatant generalities as the opening question
always fall short of the truth. The truth is that excellent beer is
also being brewed in America and
Germany/England/Canada/Mexico/Japan/Holland, etc. and the way to
enjoy good beer from any country (or avoid bland beer) is to
patronize the brewers that provide it and avoid the ones that don't.

------------------------------

Subject: BEER RESOURCES

------------------------------

Subject: 5-1. Were can I get more beer info and tasting tips?

Look through the rec.food.drink.beer archives (see next section).

Also, check out Usenet group alt.beer with archives at ftp.wariat.org
in /pub/alt.beer.

On the World-Wide Web, point your browser at:

WWW Virtual Library Beer & Brewing Index
<URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/wwwbeer.html>

The Real Beer Page (TM)
<URL:http://www.realbeer.com/>

Dan Brown's Beer Page
<URL:http://www.eff.org/~brown/beer.html>

Spencer Thomas' Beer Page
<URL:http://www.realbeer.com/spencer/>

The Virtual Pub
<URL:http://lager.geo.brown.edu:8080/virtual-pub/>.
Watch for and participate in the beer tastings posted every so
often by Joel Plutchak, publican.

For lambic fans there is the Lambic Digest mailing list. You can
receive it by sending SUBSCRIBE to
>.

Michael Jackson (not the pop star) is an acknowledged authority on
beer world-wide and has written several books:
The New World Guide to Beer
The Beer Companion
Simon & Schuster's Pocket Guide to Beer

Also look for:
The Beer Enthusiast by Gregg Smith
Evaluating Beer from Brewers Publications
The Essentials of Beer Style by Fred Eckhardt
Beer Cuisine by Jay Harlow

Magazines:
All About Beer - 800-977-BEER(2337)
Beer, the magazine - 800-646-2701
Beer Magazine - 613-737-3715 (Canada)
The Malt Advocate - 800-610-MALT
What's Brewing - comes with CAMRA membership (see above) (U.K.)
Get beer-mags.Z from the archives or see the Beer Periodicals
List, <URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/beermags/> for a complete listing.

On video tape:
The Beer Hunter with Michael Jackson
Call 800-262-4800 - $34.95 + t/s/h.
Beer and Ale: A Video Guide
Call 800-546-5034 - $24.95 + t/s/h.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-2. Where can I get good beer?

In most parts of the world, just go to any place that serves beer and
ask for it. In North America, micro-breweries and brewpubs are the
best places to get freshly brewed, finely crafted beer. But they
aren't everywhere, yet.

Many bars and restaurants are beginning to offer high quality beers
on tap and in bottles. Don't fall into the trap of asking for an
"import" when you want a good beer! The market today is such that you
could easily end up with a very disappointing import while missing a
truly wonderful domestic. Always, always, always ask to see a beer
list. Servers are not always educated in beer lore and may
misinterpret what you are looking for in a good beer.

Most liquor stores carry a good selection of bottled beers. Many
major grocery chains are also beginning to carry remarkable
selections.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-3. I'm going to "some city", what brewpubs/bars are good?

A comprehensive list of brewpubs and good bars is available via
anonymous ftp to ftp.stanford.edu in /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/docs.
The file is publist.Z. Caution: I don't think this is being updated.

There are some other regional guides stored in the archives. On WWW,
check out the Real Beer Page's Brew Tour at
<URL:http://www.realbeer.com/rbp/rbp.brewtour.html>. Also see the
Regional Guides section of the WWW Virtual Library's Beer & Brewing
Index.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-4. Can I get beer in the mail?

Yup, monthly subscriptions just like a magazine. These services send
a selection of beers each month until you tell them to stop. For an
up-to-date list look for the Beer-by-Mail FAQ posted the 4th Tuesday
of every month on r.f.d.b or on WWW at
<URL:http://weber.u.washington.edu/~cverver/bbm_faq.html> or you can
ftp it from the archives (see below).

------------------------------

Subject: 5-5. Where can I get details on making my own?

Brewing discussions are held in the rec.crafts.brewing newsgroup. The
FAQ for that group is posted once each month and can be viewed at
<URL:http://www.dna.lth.se/EHP/kurt/rcb.faq>.

On the World-Wide Web, point your browser at:

WWW Virtual Library Beer & Brewing Index
<URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/vlib/>

"The Brewery" Brewers Page
<URL:http://alpha.rollanet.org/>

Spencer Thomas' Beer Page
<URL:http://www.realbeer.com/spencer/>

Eric Wooten's Beer & Homebrewing Page
<URL:http://pekkel.uthscsa.edu/beer.html>

Anonymous ftp from ftp.stanford.edu in /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/docs
the following guides:

beginners.Z
how_to_brew_your_first_beer

Read the Homebrew Digest mailing list. You can receive it by sending
SUBSCRIBE to >.

Good books to read a
The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian
The Complete Handbook of Brewing by Dave Miller
Brewing Quality Beers by Byron Burch

Magazines:
Zymurgy - comes with membership in American Homebrewers
Association (AHA): 303-546-6514
Get beer-mags.Z from the archives or see the Beer Periodical List
<URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/beermags/> for a complete listing.

Video tape:
Home Brew with Charlie Papazian - Call 303-546-6514 - $29.95 +
t/s/h

------------------------------

Subject: 5-6. Where can I get recipes?

Check the same sources listed above plus look in the ftp.stanford.edu
ftp site in /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/recipes.
On the World-Wide Web you'll find over 1,000 recipes indexed by style
in Cats Meow III at
<URL:http://alpha.rollanet.org/cm3/CatsMeow3.html>.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-7. What is r.f.d.b. about?

rec.food.drink.beer was created on 16-MAR-1993 as a Usenet newsgroup
dedicated to serious discussions concerning beer.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-8. Where are the archives?

The rec.food.drink.beer archives are available via anonymous ftp from
ftp.stanford.edu in /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/rfdb.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-9. What is in the archives?

rfd-beer.charter - The charter for r.f.d.b.
rfd-beer.faq - This document, in plain ASCII text
beer-2buds-sb.txt.Z - History of 2 Budweiser's by Steve Beaumont
beer-atlanta.Z - The Atlanta Beer Guide
beer-book-list.Z - Library of Congress list of beer-related books
beer-by-mail.faq.Z - List of Beer-by-Mail companies and services
beer-calories.faq.Z - List of calorie/alcohol content of 200+ beers
beer-capacity.faq.Z - Measures of Capacity FAQ
beer-guinness.faq.Z - Guinness FAQt and Folklore
beer-learning.faq.Z - Alan Marshall's beginners guide
beer-mags.Z - The Beer Periodicals List
beer-no-calif-pubs.faq.Z - Guide to Northern California brewpubs
beer-ontario.faq.Z - A Beer lover's guide to Ontario
beer-records.faq.Z - Beer Records FAQ
bfest93.faq.Z - 1993 Beer Festivals FAQ
bfest94.faq.Z - 1994 Beer Festivals FAQ
camra-books.Z - Listing of books offered by CAMRA
README.camra.Z - CAMRA info
reinheitsgebot.deutsch.Z - German beer purity/tax law
reinheitsgebot.english.Z - English translation of above

The files ending in .Z are stored in a compressed format. If you use
ftp to "get" them, omit the .Z extension and the ftp daemon will
uncompress the file before sending it to you. If you can't do this,
download them using the .Z extension then uncompress them using a
utility on your machine. Check out Yahoo's listing of utilities at
<URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/
Computers/Software/System_Utilities/Compression/> if you need to get
one.

------------------------------

Subject: 5-10. I don't have ftp, can you e-mail files to me?

To get a file, send e-mail to . No subject
is required, but you can use one to identify your request. In the
body of the message, type the following:

connect ftp.stanford.edu
chdir /pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/rfdb
get ????????
quit

Replace ???????? with the name of the file you want. If the file has
a .Z extension (meaning it's been compressed), leave it off and it
will be automatically uncompressed before mailing. A maximum of 10
files can be requested per submission. Just use multiple "get"
statements.

If you want full details on this service e-mailed back to you, just
send "help" in the body of the message instead.

------------------------------

Subject: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Craig Verver and Alan Marshall for their support and
encouragement in taking on this task. In addition, special thanks to our
other FAQ posters who publish in-depth FAQ's on some of the more popular
beer topics.

Other individuals who have contributed information to this FAQ (either
directly or because they posted something of value):

Jon Binkley >
Aaron Birenboim >
Dan Brown >
Stephen Dunn >
Rich Fortnum >
Brendan Halpin >
Marc de Jonge >
Ed Lingel >
Alan Marshall >
Bill McGinnis >
Brendan Molloy >
Ian Nottage >
Alex Oliver >
Joel Plutchak >
Alison Scott >
Richard Stueven >
Craig Verver >

And, of course, thanks to our subscribers who are dedicated to the common
goal of enjoying beer as a beverage to be relished in its myriad forms.

------------------------------

Subject: MAINTENANCE HISTORY

16-MAY-1997
Altered to meet "Minimal Digest Format" and RFC-1153
Re-organized FAQ sections and contents
Combined Web version back into single file for easier searching
Added news.answers mirror resources
Merged into new Beer Info Source architecture

01-DEC-1995
Miscellaneous updates and corrections
Added CAMRA Web site

01-SEP-1995
Debut on The Beer Info Source!

04-JUL-1995
Update Belgian ale terms in 1-13
Updated labeling info in 2-3
Updated CAMRA address in 2-7
Clarified Chimay description in 4-2
Added 4-10 regarding American beer
Updated brewpub sources in 5-3
Updated numerous WWW links

14-FEB-1995
Modified lambics definition and added 1-13 regarding Belgian ales
Modified all clear text URL's to RFC 1738 syntax
Split into 3 parts for posting

31-JAN-1995
Changed archive site references
Change ftp-by-mail procedure
Added IRC beer tasting info

27-DEC-1994
Expanded lambic answer and added pointer to Lambic Digest
Updated various WWW page references
Added copyright notice
Added Sam Adams Q&A

29-NOV-1994
Added Guinness Q&A
Expanded "brewery/microbrewery" size definition
Updated "ale, malt liquor, barleywine" labeling definition
Clarified Koelsch and Alt definitions

01-NOV-1994
Reformatted, converted to HTML, and published on WWW the ASCII
version will still be maintained concurrently
Added Coors politics Q&A
Clarified "cold-filtering" answer
Added "gravity" Q&A

20-SEP-1994
Added Vegetarian/Kosher/Organic Q&A
Changed mail-order beer answer to point to new FAQ
Added Q&A for the perennial Chimay topic
Expanded Internet beer resources
Updated archives listing

09-AUG-1994
Clarified "skunking" description

12-JUL-1994 Added Quick Index
Added city/brewpubs question and answer

28-JUN-1994
Clarified filtering section
Clarified brewpub definition
Changed "Steam Beer" statement
Added storage recommendations

14-JUN-1994
Updated "Reinheitsgebot" section

31-MAY-1994
Added beer magazine info
Updated beer club list
Added porter description

17-MAY-1994
Clarified "Draught-flow" (tm) description
Added additional notes to judging
Changed r.f.d.b. archive name to rfd-beer.faq

03-MAY-1994
Corrected alcohol measurement figures
Expanded mail order beer info
Added video tape resource info
Added FTP by mail info

19-APR-1994
Added beer description and ale/lager comparison
Added "800" number for Microbrew To You

05-APR-1994
Expanded description of "ice" beers
Added description of bock beers
Added pointer to beer book list

21-MAR-1994
Inaugural post

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
<URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/rfdb/>
Copyright (C) 1995-1997
Author: John A. Lock - http://www.mindspring.com/~jlock/home.html

John
<URL:http://www.beerinfo.com/>