hse_66 a écrit :

Je vous remercie pour les infos. Vous avez l'air de s'y connaître. Mais
comment la Pilsner Urquell a changée-t-il depuis les années 1840,
sauriez-vous? (C'est une de mes bières préférées.)


['scuse me, but I'll keep on with english, this being an
english-speaking newsgroup... if you wat to discuss beer in french,
fr.rec.boissons.bieres is the place]

How has Pilsner Urquell changed since the 1840s ?

Hard to tell for sure but I'd suggest a few possible evolutions :

- Lowering of alcohol percentage : it's 4.4% ABV, nowadays, whereas it
probably was more on the lines of 6%+ ABV at the time, given its success
as an export product, when transports were a lot slower and less
reliable in terms of temperature stability than they are now.

- Along the alcohol %, the hop rate is certainly lower nowadays than it
was at the time. And we have no reliable info as to the alpha acid
contents of 19th-Century hops compared to what they are now, which means
that, even with recipes of the era available, it's not possible to tell
how bitter /hoppy the beer really was.

- The yeast strain has certainly evolved as well. The fermentation
process is more controlled than it was at the time... rather : it is
mastered nowadays, whereas at the time it was merely based on empirical
- if sound and worthy of respect - experience. Though in what exactly it
all has changed the taste would be very tricky to tell. (disappearing of
a slight sharpish tang ?)

- The type of vessel used for brewing and maturing the beer also has
animportance. In particular, I've been told that up to the early 90s, PU
was matured in huge wooden vats, which would certainly have left their
mark on the taste of the beer (woody / slight sour edge).

This whole "what did the beer really taste like at the time" question is
one of the big question marks that's been keeping beer historians busy
for decades.
There for example still are controversies raging about what 18th Century
porter really looked and tasted like. Enthusiast groups such as the
Durden Park Beer Circle in London have researched the matter, bringing
in a wonderful input about how to recreate historical beers, but there's
still a lot of question marks left... Captivating stuff !

Cheers !

Laurent


--
Warning : you may encounter French language beyond this point.

.... Il bafouillait énormément, et de chacun des ses postillons naquit un des premiers moutons !!
(F'murrr)

Laurent Mousson, Berne, Switzerland