Green Dragon Tavern
A place to sit down with a couple of pints of ale and wax subversive.
Organizer:
- Organized by
-
-
No GMO Beers in the Tavern…!
-
No GMO Beers in the Tavern…!
On today’s podcast, Mike played a call by “Clandestine.” He touched on a point about the state of our food, and how many countries will not let us import our food. A couple of years ago, Mexico refused to allow American Breweries to import beer that was made from GMO grains. American Premium Lagers, like Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Pabst, etc are made with corn and rice being primary ingredients. For the non-beer person, American Premium Lagers are a style or a type of beer, usually light yellow or “blond” in color, well carbonated, and light in body and taste, and, make up about 98% of the American beer market. They are not like what most folks would call “craft beers,” which are made primarily from barley and wheat, and are usually darker in color, more flavorful, and heavier in body. Most European beers are barley beers, or wheat beers. Now, that was an extremely elementary and simplistic run down on beer in general. Of course there are many other factors that go into making different styles, but that’s not my point. So, the BIG breweries, such as the ones mentioned above, and their counterparts who make the same kind of beer, had to set up separate divisions for beers they made to be exported to Mexico. As an aside, It’s odd, when I was deep in the interior of Mexico, I was in a bar and ordered a beer, and the bartender inquired as to whether I wanted a domestic or an import? Being a dumb Gringo, I asked what imports he had…Budweiser, Miller and Coors…duh! But had I gotten one (which I didn’t) it would have been a healthier beer than what I would have gotten at home. But we here in the US get the GMO grain beer, but Mexico gets the non-GMO. The question to me is, since we don’t care what we eat and drink, and Mexico knows that, do they make their beer for export to us out of the cheaper GMO grains? My suggestion is drink locally made beer, if you drink beer at all. Many American Premium Lager drinkers don’t like craft beers. But you can often talk with the brewers and owners of smaller local breweries, and find out exactly what they use to make their products. Most craft brewers are sourcing “clean” grains and hops, and pride themselves on making healthier beers. Germany is rabid about this (in a good way), and since 1516, has enacted and enforced a beer purity law, stating that beer can only contain barley, wheat, water and yeast. Many US craft breweries self-impose that law for their own manufacturing. All beer in the Green Dragon Tavern is non-GMO! Salud!
-
21 Replies
-
I think the Apostles all drank wine.
-
In a crazy twist, many of the craft brewers don’t seem to think it’s a big deal to let their customers in on the fact that some of those intense flavors found in their creations are byproducts of bioengineered yeast strains.
scottjanish.com
Genetically Modified (GM) Yeast Strains: Unlocking Bound Hop Thiols and Engineering Targeted Fermentation Characteristics - Scott Janish
-
Is there anything that’s not GMO? In Belgium the Trappist ales made in 1000 year monasteries that have been making beer so long that the yeast is imbedded in the walls. The beer is fermented in open topped wooden fermenters, and the yeast just permeates. Maybe the most natural beer on the planet.
-
Had the fortune to listen to the brewmaster from Rodenbach give a presentation at CBC in Boston (93’ or 94’) . What the majority of US ‘brewers’ are doing currently shouldn’t be allowed to be called brewing. I lost interest in the early 2000’s watching that craft lose it’s integrity and it’s been all downhill since.
-
-
-
There is only one beer.
-
Wish I could get that where I live. I must inquire!
-
<div>I was getting it quite regularly. I believe the distributor has changed and it’s become a rare find as of late. You may have success in your area. This is truly nectar of the gods. I prefer the helles weissbier. The lager is very good as is the dunkel Weiss. Happy hunting.</div><div>
</div>https://www.andechs.de/klosterbrauerei.html
andechs.de
Klosterbrauerei - Kloster Andechs
Die Klosterbrauerei Andechs ist eine der letzten echten Klosterbrauereien, die von einer lebendigen Ordensgemeinschaft bis heute völlig konzernunabhängig geführt wird. Die Benediktiner der Abtei St. Bonifaz in München und Andechs stehen für eine besondere klösterliche Brautradition. So können die Biere … Continue reading
-
-
I had several German beers, but not this one. I’ll have to ask about this. I really enjoy the Weihehenstephaner heffeweissen.
-
Weihnstephaner is out standing an outstanding beer. They also make butter and cheese. I haven’t seen those items here. My wife and I went to the brewery last year. The food was excellent.
-
World’s OLDEST brewery. I always got the hefeweizen whenever we went to our favorite pub back in the day. https://www.weihenstephaner.com
weihenstephaner.com
The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan is focused on Tradition while being a state-of-the-art enterprise at the same time. It is located in Freising Bavaria on the top of the Weihenstephaner hill.
-
Bavarian beer culture is amazing. The beer halls are incredible. There are so many small local breweries that produce incredible beer.
-
Ahh I would love to visit there someday. The difference between what they drink and what we do in the states is profound.
-
-
-
-
-
-
https://www.oktoberfesthaus.com/blogs/news/the-reinheitsgebot-the-german-beer-purity-law
oktoberfesthaus.com
Understanding the Reinheitsgebot: Germany's Beer Purity Law
Striving for Quality: How Germany's Reinheitsgebot purity law ensures perfect German Bier. Discover the history behind how tradition and taste informed the globally recognized four ingredients brewing standard of the German Purity Law. Also known as the German Beer Purity … Continue reading
-
<div>Great series!</div><div>
</div>https://www.netflix.com/title/81249469
netflix.com
Watch Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood | Netflix Official Site
In 1900 Munich, ambitious brewer Curt Prank uses brutal tactics on his quest to build a beer hall that will dominate the city's lucrative Oktoberfest.
-
-
This is one of several reasons I’ve switched over almost completely to ciders. The apple industry is still way “behind the curve” in GMO development and the craft cider movement has been growing strong here in Michigan where apple growing is a really big deal too. The problem there is that the cider makers have to appeal to the Millenials, GenZ etc and are mixing in tons of stupid flavors into ciders. I try to keep evangelizing that once you start adding all that stuff you might as well just pick up a wine cooler instead. You can generate so many great variations in flavors just by using the right apples. You know, by making it a CRAFTED product
-
Be careful of the pesticides in apples.
-
Another reason to grow my own, though that will be 2-3 years yet before I have enough
-
An Amish farmer told me apples grown on the east side of the country that are organic will show signs of pests. If they are perfect and there are no signs of pests, pesticides have been used. West coast is a different creature, apples there don’t have the pests that they have on the east coast. Just make sure the farm is organic.
-
-
-
-
Interesting.
-
Reading the words of Dana on this snowy afternoon I am reminded of one of the main things I miss about England – the beer. I believe GMO is highly regulated over there, though it’s no doubt creeping in slowly but surely.
In my youth, before age 24 when I first arrived in USA, myself and a few friends used to take day trips south of where we lived into the Kentish countryside to search out decent pubs and good beer. Usually we looked for “free houses”, these pubs are independently owned (not owned or affiliated with any particular brewery), and therefore could sell whatever brews they liked. We took with us a copy of the Real Ale Guidebook for that year where we could find out what was being sold at most of these places.
We were looking for different bitters and ales for the most part – traditional English beers – brews that come in oak casks and usually don’t travel too far from where they were made, of course there were exceptions, hey England is pretty small country after all, and if you were say in Kent or Cornwall you could still get beer from Yorkshire.
Here I expect some maybe thinking “warm beer” – the truth is there is no warm beer, it may not be ice cold like lager or Guinness, but any time this stuff gets above 50 F the shelf life will drop dramatically.
Here are links to some of my favorite beers – I am showing only bottled beer here as it’s unlikely that anyone has it in barrels around here, though I could be wrong:
https://www.theakstons.co.uk/pages/theakstons-old-peculier
https://www.batemansbrewery.co.uk/our-beers/victory-ale/
https://beerconnoisseur.com/beer/fullers-esb
theakstons.co.uk
T&R Theakston Ltd is an independent, family brewing company founded in 1827 located in the Yorkshire Dales market town of Masham, North Yorkshire. Home to legendary ales such as Old Peculier. Learn more.
Log in to reply.