Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Grape vs. Grain
- 1 Beer and Wine: Some Social Commentary
- 2 A Brief History of Wine
- 3 A Brief History of Beer
- 4 How Wine Is Made
- 5 How Beer Is Made
- 6 The Quality of Wine
- 7 The Quality of Beer
- 8 Types of Wine
- 9 Types of Beer
- 10 The Healthfulness of Wine and Beer
- 11 Conclusions about Beer and Wine – and the Future
- Further Reading
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Grape vs. Grain
- 1 Beer and Wine: Some Social Commentary
- 2 A Brief History of Wine
- 3 A Brief History of Beer
- 4 How Wine Is Made
- 5 How Beer Is Made
- 6 The Quality of Wine
- 7 The Quality of Beer
- 8 Types of Wine
- 9 Types of Beer
- 10 The Healthfulness of Wine and Beer
- 11 Conclusions about Beer and Wine – and the Future
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
I flew to Heathrow from India, via Frankfurt. the four-hour holdover in the German airport had not remotely bothered me. I hate tight connections, and, besides, I was able to indulge in some sausages and weissbier while peaceably reading my newspaper, a faint buzz of conversation surrounding me.
Later the same day, I found myself for the first time in several years in central London. Strolling toward Hyde Park Corner in the dusk of early evening, it occurred to me that the traffic heading toward the West End was much heavier than I recalled from when I was a more regular visitor and living just a short train ride away. As I walked, there was suddenly the most stupendous whooping, and I turned to see two girls, probably late teens, hanging (in every sense of the word) out of the windows of a stretch limo and gyrating maniacally.
I thought little of it – surely an aberration – and continued my stroll, eventually pitching up at The Crown on Brewer Street, close to Piccadilly Circus. It was a hostelry I knew of old, and, in truth, little within had changed, with the exception of the display on the bar. There was row upon row of taps for dispensing kegged beer, but just a solitary handle for pumping traditional English ale from the cask. I had a pint of the latter, a worthy drop of Charles Wells Bombardier.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Grape vs. GrainA Historical, Technological, and Social Comparison of Wine and Beer, pp. ix - xiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008