By Deena Sherman –
Maybe you’ve heard the beer ads by Anheuser-Busch which accuses Miller-Coors of using corn syrup in its beers. To understand what is going on here, we need to understand some brewing history.
Beer-brewing always has been a fact of life in the United States. Many European settlers, especially Germans, were homebrewers. For many centuries in Germany, brewing beer was a household chore, no different than making bread. Homebrewing has made a comeback in recent decades and my husband, Dave Mertz, has been brewing for about 16 years, so I asked him about the corn syrup problem. He explained it this way:
“Beer was brewed with the ingredients that were readily available. German immigrants brought their brewing knowledge to America, but the barley native to North America made pretty poor beer. European barley didn’t grow well here. The strain of barley in Europe is called ‘two row,’ for the two vertical rows of kernels in each grain head. The American strain is called six row because it has six rows of kernels. Six row has a lot more protein than two row. In moderate amounts, protein gives beer what brewers call ‘mouthfeel.’ Too much protein in a beer gives it a slimy character, and this is what immigrant brewers had to fix.
“So those immigrant brewers mashed their six-row barley together with a different grain that had very low protein amounts. Two of the low-protein grains that grew well in America were corn and rice. With added corn or rice, the American brewers could make affordable non-slimy beer that tasted all right. Problem solved.
“As beer became mass-produced, brewing companies that mixed corn with their six-row barley found that they could make the same products and save money if, rather than producing dextrose during the ‘mashing’ step in brewing, they bought it in the form of corn syrup, straight from corn processing companies. So that’s why Miller-Coors products use corn syrup. It’s a slightly more cost-effective way to make the products they’ve made all along.”
Basically, Anheuser-Busch has used rice in its products for as long and for the same reason that Miller-Coors has used corn. Neither rice nor corn makes superior beer and neither would be necessary if they were brewing with two-row barley.
So like most advertising hype, one company tries to make another look bad over something that has no real substance. It is all about perception.
My husband and I avoid the whole problem of adding corn or rice, by simply buying German two-row barley when we brew! So if you don’t want to wonder about the ingredients in your beer, just make it yourself. There are groups in our geographical area where you can find guidance for this popular endeavor.
The Aurora Brew Crew meets the first Monday of every month at Raimondo’s Pizza and Pub in North Aurora. Urban Knaves of Grain (www.Knaves.org) meets the third Tuesday of each month at Alter Brewing in Downers Grove. If you attend, you can learn about the art of brewing and never again will you worry about what’s in your beer!