There is clear evidence that brewing of ale dates back 7,000 years in ancient Egypt, China, Mesopotamia and Sumeria. In Neolithic Europe, most of the beer production was done in the home. By 700 AD, European monks got a piece of the action. Today, beer is produced on an industrial scale, with more than 130 billion liters being sold to contribute approximately 300 billion to the global economy. The Tampa brewing industry has joined the beer fraternity, making its own contribution to the local economy. The St Petersburg/Tampa area has a lively trade in brewpubs, breweries, shops, festivals and other special events.
It wasn't that long ago that American beers were uniformly bland, distinguishable only by their advertising campaigns. The past ten or twenty years has seen a phenomenal explosion in the craft ale industry. This has been partly inspired by the British, who have a long-standing tradition of producing cask ale.
Britain distinguishes two fundamentally different approaches to brewing. One is cask-conditioning and the other is brewery-conditioned or keg beer. Cask ale is a living product, with the yeast continuing to ferment sugars derived from the main ingredient, malted barley, into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This gives the beer a natural, gentle fizziness. Cask ale is served from either firkins, which hold nine gallons of liquid, or kildekins, which hold 18 gallons.
Keg beer, on the other hand, is pasteurized. This kills the yeast, so the effervescence the drinker craves has to be artificially induced by the introduction of carbon dioxide under pressure. But, the lack of pasteurization makes the product somewhat vulnerable to bacterial or fungal contamination. It also loses its conditioning at temperatures above 54 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that in order to be financially viable, turnover needs to be high enough to empty a cask within a few days.
By the mid 1970s, a large and growing segment of the market was brewery conditioned. It was cheap and easy to produce and required less cellar-keeping skill than its cask counterpart. It was a natural progression for classically-produced, well-kept beers to become phased out in favor of their fizzy, essentially dead, keg cousins.
Beer drinkers rebelled and by 1972, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was formed by four intrepid and angry young men gathered around, of all places, a table in a pub. The campaign now boasts nearly 150,000 members and is widely regarded as the largest and most influential consumer organizations in Europe.
Twenty or thirty years ago, even in Real Ale Britain, beer selection was limited to a few, high-quality but very similar looking and tasting brews. These were the coppery colored bitters with a taste spectrum from 'malty' to 'hoppy'. Thanks in part to the efforts of CAMRA to stimulate the market, these past decades have seen a dramatic increase in the range of colors and tastes and types of beers for the connoisseur to sample. Like so many other great British trends, America has followed suit and has launched a new craft style of brew.
The St Petersburg/Tampa Bay has fortunately not been spared the wave of influence and Tampa brewing is truly on the nation's brewing map. The area boasts a lively population of breweries, restaurants, brew pubs, festivals, brewery tours and tastings. There is plenty to keep both the new and experienced beer drinker very happy.
It wasn't that long ago that American beers were uniformly bland, distinguishable only by their advertising campaigns. The past ten or twenty years has seen a phenomenal explosion in the craft ale industry. This has been partly inspired by the British, who have a long-standing tradition of producing cask ale.
Britain distinguishes two fundamentally different approaches to brewing. One is cask-conditioning and the other is brewery-conditioned or keg beer. Cask ale is a living product, with the yeast continuing to ferment sugars derived from the main ingredient, malted barley, into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This gives the beer a natural, gentle fizziness. Cask ale is served from either firkins, which hold nine gallons of liquid, or kildekins, which hold 18 gallons.
Keg beer, on the other hand, is pasteurized. This kills the yeast, so the effervescence the drinker craves has to be artificially induced by the introduction of carbon dioxide under pressure. But, the lack of pasteurization makes the product somewhat vulnerable to bacterial or fungal contamination. It also loses its conditioning at temperatures above 54 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that in order to be financially viable, turnover needs to be high enough to empty a cask within a few days.
By the mid 1970s, a large and growing segment of the market was brewery conditioned. It was cheap and easy to produce and required less cellar-keeping skill than its cask counterpart. It was a natural progression for classically-produced, well-kept beers to become phased out in favor of their fizzy, essentially dead, keg cousins.
Beer drinkers rebelled and by 1972, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was formed by four intrepid and angry young men gathered around, of all places, a table in a pub. The campaign now boasts nearly 150,000 members and is widely regarded as the largest and most influential consumer organizations in Europe.
Twenty or thirty years ago, even in Real Ale Britain, beer selection was limited to a few, high-quality but very similar looking and tasting brews. These were the coppery colored bitters with a taste spectrum from 'malty' to 'hoppy'. Thanks in part to the efforts of CAMRA to stimulate the market, these past decades have seen a dramatic increase in the range of colors and tastes and types of beers for the connoisseur to sample. Like so many other great British trends, America has followed suit and has launched a new craft style of brew.
The St Petersburg/Tampa Bay has fortunately not been spared the wave of influence and Tampa brewing is truly on the nation's brewing map. The area boasts a lively population of breweries, restaurants, brew pubs, festivals, brewery tours and tastings. There is plenty to keep both the new and experienced beer drinker very happy.
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