SC - SC fizzy drinks

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Charles McCN wrote:
> 
> Come to that, is there evidence that beer was particularly fizzy? If you
> make it in modern bottles with crown seals or champagne corks then it is.
> But as I recall Dom Perignon (the person) invented the methode
> champagnoise in C17 or C18. If fizzy drinks were a big thing, why did it
> take that long to figure out? I have never made and served beer in a
> barrel (poured by hand, as opposed to using modern keg/gas equipment) so
> I don't know how much gas it can keep. Does anyone have any useful
> research on this?

With a few exceptions, there is much evidence to suggest that it was NOT
fizzy, for the reasons you state. Keg-conditioned ale (which is what a
high proportion of period brews would have been, more or less) doesn't
get especially fizzy, because the keg is slightly porous, and then after
you open it, any carbonation that may have been present is quickly lost.
Kegs, after all, not coming in the convenient 12 or 16 ounce size...

Other possible pieces of this jigsaw puzzle that I'll throw into the hat
are the fact that a popular form of well-aged ale is called "barley
wine", which is of high gravity and somewhat fizzy, but then it is
usually sold in small galss bottles, like small champagne bottles,
sometimes "nips" of four or six ounces. I wonder if the appelation
"wine" may be partly due to the fact that it had aged to the point of
being stale or flat.

Another piece is the simple fact that many modern English ales, sold
from draft, are only very slightly carbonated, having only a slight
layer of suds on top, rather than the creamy head preferred by
Americans. The fact that they aren't served as cold as they are in the
States may be a contributing factor, too.

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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