SC - Lenten fasting...

[Cheriti Watts]

grizly at mindspring.com wrote:
> 
> Master A representin' and talkin' all brewing chemistry!  I love it!  While they certainly were knowingly not controling the alpha and beta amylase, or the protein rests,

Protein rests??? What need to avoid haze when drinking from an opaque
container? (Sorry, I was one of Three Godlaurels to a recently elevated
brewing laurel who's actually been able to produce nearly flat,
middle-weight, unhopped and nearly unaged ale in a speculated 13th-14th
century English style that go against most modern judgement criteria,
and it still tastes good; I had to pick up a fair amount of the
technical jargon...)

> they WERE certainly controlling the techniques that led to the same end:  beer that eats like a meal.  Marzens were used for two reasons: the newer beers for lent, and the balance aged/stored (with hop advent) for Early fall festivals.  The 'weight' of the beer allowed graceful aging.  It does seem interesting, as you point out, that the Bock, doppelbock and Marzens (heavy by any count) were brewed in later winter in general . . . . awfully coincidental with the major religious season if not on purpose.
> 

Actually, there might be a little more. Quick, name the first style of
bock beer you can think of... isn't it Salvator? And in keeping with
that tradition, aren't bock beers traditionally called by names ending
in "-ator"? (Not to mention the goat/ram emblem, as well as the name
"bock", generally associated with such beers.) I think all this may be
part of a general springtime/pascal tradition to produce and drink such
beers at this time of year. I can't address the age of the tradition
offhand, but while it seems to exist post-reformation, it may have
existed prior to reformation.  One thing I can vouch for (and this
example is late, but still perhaps valid) is that March Beer, so named,
seems to be pretty strong stuff as far back as 1615 or earlier.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com