Part of what makes craft brewing so distinct is the ability to play with flavors and styles. But beer basics are still the foundation, and knowing a bit will help you choose your brews, even when a knowledgable draught-curator can't be found.
John Adkisson is a founding member of the Tucson Homebrew Club, a licensed beer judge and co-founder of Iron John's Brewing Co., 245 S. Plumer Ave. His basic beer how-to breaks gives those of us sitting comfortably on the sipping side of things an idea of where our suds begin:
"There are four basic components of beer; malt, yeast, hops, and water. There are also four basic steps in beer making; the mash, the sparge, the boil, and the ferment. Malt is the germinated barley seed which naturally contains a mix of starches and enzymes. When mixed in hot water (the mash), the starches are converted to sugars by the enzymes. This malt sugar water is collected by rinsing with more hot water (the sparge) and sent to the kettle to be boiled with hops for bitterness, flavor and aroma. After cooling, the beer yeast is introduced for the fermentation to take place, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide gas, turning the mix into that lovely beverage we know as beer."
