Massafra
bottling line
renovated
Primus
in the
picture
From cloudy to clear
PAGE 8HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 13
This photo is one of the 226
entries that the Bralima Brewery in
Zaïre received for the photo
contest based on the theme
"Primus fait mousser la photo"
(Primus makes a sparkling photo).
It was the second time that
Bralima, in co-operation with
Kodak, had organised such a
contest for both professional and
amateur photographers. The jury
was enthusiastic about the quality
of the photos. The entries covered a
wide range of subjects. But they all
had one thing in common: the
Primus brand was always clearly in
the picture.
How did beer taste in the olden exactly certain about. But, accord-
days? It's something we cannot be ingtothe American professor Solo
mon Katz, beer must have tasted
good even several thousand years
ago. So good, in fact, that nomadic
tribes were willing to abandon their
wandering lifestyle for the sake of
enjoying a good brew: they settled
down so that they could grow grain
- beer's most important raw
material.
The taste may have been good,
but the beer was certainly not clear.
And the beer brewed inthe Middle
Ages was no exception. In those
days drinking beer was a good deal
healthier than drinking water from
the ditch. Since no filtering method
was known, the nutritious el
ements remained in the beer.
Medieval people certainly relished
their beer. Consumption in litres
per head was well above what it is
today. But whether we would have
found that medieval beer quite so
palatable is yet another matter. It
was a dark, cloudy concoction with
a low alcohol content and probably
a rather acidy taste. And, to make
things worse, the beer's taste
tended to fluctuate greatly in those
days.
Seeking for clarity
Over the centuries the appear
ance and taste of beer has changed
a lot. At a very early stage attempts
were made to improve its quality.
Improving the clarity was one of
the chief aims. Somehow those
early consumers were quick to
realise that beer ought to be clear.
Why did our forefathers think it
so important that their beer should
be clear? According to Dr. Adriaan
Jansen of the University of
Amsterdam, author of a thesis on
"Beer in the Low Countries", our
ancestors took their inspiration
from the clarity of wine and cider.
In former times those drinks
were easier to clarify than beer and
Beer: how to make a meal of it
Our request in the cookery column "Beer: how to make a meal of it" (see Heineken Barbecue
International Magazine,February 1988) has already brought in several responses. Will
Reinsma, of the Heineken head office in Amsterdam, sent us the following recipe for
beer soup as a starter.
Beer soup
Cheese with beer
Odd-Erik Thorshaug, editor of the personnel
magazine ofFrydenlund Ringnes Bryggerier
A/S, the brewery which brewed Heineken
under licence in Norway, read our request and
sent in some recipes, including the following
one for a hot cheese snack made with beer.
Mr. H.M.A.M. de Vette, who works for
Heineken in Zoeterwoude, sent us a booklet of
beer recipes by Ann Wanstall. Thinking ahead
to the summer months we opted for "Creole"
T-bone steaks in a very special marinade, ideal
for grilling on the barbecue.
The other ingredients you'll need for a success
ful meal are: an evening with a pleasant tem
perature, a soft breeze, a glowing bed of
charcoal and, above all, a big appetite!
they were mainly drunk by higher
classes. As a rule, therefore, wine
and cider were considerably more
expensive. So the taste of beer was
influenced by the clarity of other,
more costly alcoholic beverages.
Meanwhile, filtering techniques
have been improved to such an
extent that it's a simple matter to
make any beer sparkling and
bright. But, even only a century
ago, that was still not the case.
Traditional ales still remained
rather cloudy until the time when
brewers started producing a new
brew, a beer which was viewed as
'modem' in those days. And that
beer has since taken the world by
storm. Nowadays we call it lager,
in former days it was known as
'Bavarian beer'.
Sense of drive
That 'Bavarian beer' started to
become more widespread on the
European continent in the middle
of last century. And people got to
like it. Though it was a great deal
dearer than traditional beer, it also
tasted better. Gerard Adriaan
Heineken, the founding father of
our business, was also aware of this
fact. In 1869 at an international
exhibition in Amsterdam he
noticed his brew was less popular
than the imported Bavarian beer.
And he commented in a letter: "At
the exhibition our beer is finding
little sale, which is quite natural, as
Dutch beer is not very much to the
people's taste".
The Bavarian beer tasted
different, that was obvious. But one
aspect of that different taste was
formed by its clarity. The slightly
cloudy Dutch beers gradually fell
out of favour amongst consumers.
One of the first Dutch brewers to
recognise this shift in the public's
taste preference was Gerard
Adriaan Heineken. With a sense of
drive he started in that same year of
1869 on the production of bottom-
fermented (Bavarian) lager beer.
And, in doing so, laid the founda
tions forourbusiness as we know it
today.
Our Dreher brewery in
Massafra, in the south of Italy,
has been very busy over the
past few months working on
the bottling line for returnable
bottles. At the beginning of
March the bottling line was
ready for production.
Dreher's engineers have
modernised the line by re
placing the rinsing machine,
filling units, pasteuriser and
labelling machine. At the end
of this year the palletiser and
depalletiser will be renewed.
A completely new bottling line
is scheduled for completion
next year.
Beer soup, cheese and barbecue
Ingredients: for 1 litre (serves 4): 2 stale slices
of brown or whole-wheat bread, toasted or
fried; 40 g butter; a generous pinch of grated
lemon (or orange) peel; ]h tsp. cinnamon pow
der; 30 g flour; lh litre lager beer; xh litre milk; 1 to
2 egg yolks; soup aroma; pepper; salt.
Method: Melt the butter, then add the lemon
peel, cinnamon and flour. Stir well and cook
until the flour colours slightly. Keep stirring as
you pour the milk and beer into the pan. Then
bring briefly to the boil. Add the aroma, pepper
and salt to the soup according to taste. Pour the
soup over the bread in the soup tureen before
serving.
Method: Grate some Gouda or Swiss cheese,
adding paprika powder or cayenne pepper to
taste. Whisk the yolk of an egg and add pilsner
lager to it until you have a thick sauce. Put the
cheese and the sauce on a toasted and buttered
slice of bread and then place it under the grill
until the top turns a golden brown. Serve with
small sticks of celery and radishes.
Ingredients: 2 big T-bone steaks, Vh cups of
lager beer, 1 /3 of a cup of olive oil or sunflower
oil, two tablespoonsful of honey, one table-
spoonful of salt, 3/4 tsp. black pepper and four
cloves.
Method: Mix the beer, oil, salt, black pepper
and cloves together in a shallow dish. Leave the
steaks in the marinade for 12 hours, turning
them regularly.