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.
For a long time, beers brewed in North America were so boring and homogeneous that the only way the drinker could tell one brand from another was by their different advertising campaigns. In the past two decades, however, the brewing industry has undergone a major face lift with the introduction of artisanal craft beers. This trend, visible in Tampa brewing, has been somewhat inspired by what has been taking place in the United Kingdom, where traditional cask ale is the national beverage.
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.
Fermentation in the cask gives the beer a natural bubbling quality. However, since it cannot be pasteurized on account of the necessity to keep the yeast alive, cask conditioned ale is vulnerable to attack by beer pathogens like bacteria or fungi. It is also highly temperature-sensitive and needs to be maintained at cellar temperature, between 54 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit.
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.
Since producing and keeping cask ale requires a certain amount of commitment, keg beer was easier for everybody, apart from the customer. Cask ale was in danger of being phased out altogether. The British beer was not pleased, and this gave birth to what is now the largest and most successful consumer organization in Europe, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1972.
Forty years after the founding of CAMRA, beer is rapidly becoming the saving grace of the endangered British pub. The market in cask beer has grown from strength to strength, with new breweries springing up in London practically every month. Like many other wonderful imports from the British, the wave of fine brewing has flowed across the Atlantic to spawn a growing craft ale industry in America.
Tampa brewing has a lot to offer in terms of craft beer. In fact, one of the country's oldest brewing companies has maintained a presence here for more than twenty years. Any day of the week, the avid Tampa beer drinker can find a brewery tour, tasting room or other beery event to keep them entertained.
For a long time, beers brewed in North America were so boring and homogeneous that the only way the drinker could tell one brand from another was by their different advertising campaigns. In the past two decades, however, the brewing industry has undergone a major face lift with the introduction of artisanal craft beers. This trend, visible in Tampa brewing, has been somewhat inspired by what has been taking place in the United Kingdom, where traditional cask ale is the national beverage.
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.
Fermentation in the cask gives the beer a natural bubbling quality. However, since it cannot be pasteurized on account of the necessity to keep the yeast alive, cask conditioned ale is vulnerable to attack by beer pathogens like bacteria or fungi. It is also highly temperature-sensitive and needs to be maintained at cellar temperature, between 54 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit.
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.
Since producing and keeping cask ale requires a certain amount of commitment, keg beer was easier for everybody, apart from the customer. Cask ale was in danger of being phased out altogether. The British beer was not pleased, and this gave birth to what is now the largest and most successful consumer organization in Europe, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1972.
Forty years after the founding of CAMRA, beer is rapidly becoming the saving grace of the endangered British pub. The market in cask beer has grown from strength to strength, with new breweries springing up in London practically every month. Like many other wonderful imports from the British, the wave of fine brewing has flowed across the Atlantic to spawn a growing craft ale industry in America.
Tampa brewing has a lot to offer in terms of craft beer. In fact, one of the country's oldest brewing companies has maintained a presence here for more than twenty years. Any day of the week, the avid Tampa beer drinker can find a brewery tour, tasting room or other beery event to keep them entertained.
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