Wine Openers

Over the last few years, I written about wines from around the world. We've gone over growing the grapes, making the wine, how to taste, and discussed how store your wine, taste it, and pair food with it. But, we haven't gone over how to get the wine out of the bottle. When you have a screwcap, that's pretty simple, however, most wine still comes with a cork. 

I'm sure most of you have seen the Youtube video of the guy opening a bottle with his shoe. I suppose you could do this, but you'll certainly be shaking up all the sediment along with the wine...not ideal when you easily carry an opener with you.

lever pull

There are so many different types of openers, and there is no way I can cover them all here, but I will touch upon the best known. 

The main components needed to open a bottle of wine are something to cut the foil, and something to extract the cork. Cutting the foil can be done with a knife, or a foil cutter. Extraction of the dork can be accomplished with many different approaches. The original extraction tool was a simple auger or worm, with a handle that was screwed into the cork, then pulled, using muscle power. The process was improved by taking advantage of leverage.

butterfly

 The "butterfly" corkscrew is what I remember my parents using. The worm is screwed into the cork, and as it is, the "arms" move into an upward position. When pushed down, the cork is removed. This style requires an additional foil cutter, but does come with a bottle cap opener.

The lever-pull (also known as a rabbit) is an improvement on the butterfly. This type of corkscrew relies on gear. Once clamped on the neck of the bottle, the gears drive the worm into the cork, and by lifting the handle, the cork is easily extracted. This type also requires a separate foil cutter. The disadvantage is that it is bulky, and can be pretty expensive. 

foil cutter

One of the newer types of "corkscrews" doesn't even have a worm. These cork extractors use compressed air, or even CO2 cartridges. A "needle" is inserted into the cork, and the gas is pumped into the bottle, where the pressure pushed the cork out. Because this type of extractor requires that you push through the cork, they can add sediment to your wine. Also, if you have a tight cork, built up pressure can actually break off the neck of the bottle. While I have never seen this happen, it has been reported.

Ah-so

One of the older types of extractors also doesn't have a worm. Some refer to this type as the "two-prong" or "butler's friend", but I have always known them to be called "ah-so". The two prongs are inserted between the cork and bottle, then twisted and rocked, removing the cork. This type of extractor was designed to remove corks from Port wine bottles that might have a lot of sugar coating the cork, forcing it to stick to the bottle, By inserting the prongs, and twisting, it would scrape off any residual sugar, releasing the cork.

Waiter's Corkscrew

I've tried them all, but I continue to use my trusty Waiter's Corkscrew.  This style takes some practice, but once you master it, you'll find it very easy to use. I prefer the double hinged style,which allows for different levels of leverage. It also has a good serrated foil cutter, and a teflon worm that is not too thick. It easily fits in a pocket, and is comfortable in my hand. There are cheap versions, and expensive versions. I paid about $60 for mine and it has lasted years...definitely worth the investment! When I do come across the occasional broken cork, I can usually get the cork out with this style of corkscrew, or sometimes have to resort to a combination of my waiter's corkscrew and an ah-so.

As mentioned in the beginning, there are many different ways to get the cork out of the bottle. I am a believer in keeping the "romance" of opening the bottle. As a Sommelier, that is part of my job. We are also trained to open the bottle as quietly as possible. You shouldn't hear the cork popping. The cork should come out in one piece, allowing for examination of the cork (type...don't smell the cork, it won't tell you anything. But, do look at it for potential leakage or mold).

However you open your wine, the goal is the same: to release the liquid art inside the bottle.

Beer - What's the difference?

It's been two years since I wrote about beer production, so it's probably about time I circle back around, and satisfy my beer loving friends.

Last weekend, my advanced Sommelier class to a break from wine study, and we spent the day reviewing beer, cider and sake. As we worked our way through over twenty beers, it was evident that there is some confusion as to beer styles, versus beer types. Read on, and hopefully I'll make myself clear.

Lambics

When studying beer, the process is important, and one of the things a brewer must determine is what type of yeast to use. In most beer courses, you will learn that there are two types of beer: Ale and Lager. I'll argue that there is a third: Lambics. What is the difference between these three? First, Lambics are beers that are fermented with wild yeasts. There is no control over the types of yeasts, and the beers might also pick up ambient micro-organisms (brettanomyces and bacteria) which create this unique, sour beer. The typical flavor profile is dry, sharp, and sour. Sugar (faro) and fruit is often added to balance the sourness of the beer. Lambics are probably the original beer.

The two acknowledged types of of beer are Ale and Lager. Ales are fermented using top fermenting yeasts. These yeasts are no doubt, relatives of the yeasts found in the foaming heads of early beers. the yeasts ferment on top of the beer (or wort) at relatively high temperatures (59 to 68 degrees) for a few days to a week. These top fermenting yeasts leave behind complex esters and sugar, due to their inefficiency. These leftovers result in the complex flavors of ales. Ales generally have a more robust taste than lagers, and are best consumed cool (45 degrees)

Lagers really didn't come into being until the 19th century, when Emil Hansen (a brewer at Carlsberg) followed up on work done by Louis Pasteur, and isolated a pure yeast culture that fermented at the bottom of the barrel, and at cooler temperatures (39 to 48 degrees) than ale yeasts. These yeasts also take longer to ferment, producing dryer, cleaner, rounder beer with less complexity than ales. As a result of their cool fermenting yeast strains, Lagers have less yeast derived flavors, allowing for a clearer expression of the hops and grain. The word "Lager" comes from the German word "Lagerung", meaning storage, due to the long storage periods required for these types of beers.

So, depending on how you look at it, we have two or three types of beers, but that doesn't explain the styles. When it comes to styles, there are two many to discuss in a small blog like this. Heck, there are thick books written on the subject, but let me summarize a bit....there are light, pale, hoppy, malty, chocolaty, fruity, wheat, rice, corn, barley...well you get the point. Each one tastes different. In Belgium alone we find Lambics,  Hoegaarden, Red Ale, Gold Ale, Trappist, Abbey, Saison (all ales) as well as Belgian Lagers. Where Belgium is mostly known for ales, Germany is known for Lagers, like Dunkel, Vienna-style, Helles, Dortmunder, Bock and Doppel Bock. Then there are those beers that can be made either way: Altbier and Kölsch. Most British beers are Ales: Bitter, Pale Ale, IPA (India Pale Ale), Barley Wine, as well as heavier beers like Porter and Stout. Americas most popular (at least as far as sales go) are Coors, Budweiser, and Miller - all lagers.

For those of you who have read this far, I've got a couple fast facts about beer, that you can share with your friends.: 1) In the middle ages, beer was the poor mans drink, but essential to their health, as it provided vitamins and minerals, and the alcohol killed bacteria that was prevalent in the water; 2) Beer makes up 85% of all alcohol consumed in the United States; 3) China is the largest producer of wine in the world; 4) Darker beers are usually lower in alcohol and calories than lighter beers, due to the malting process, which toasts the grains, and accounts for the amount of sugars available for fermentation; and lastly 5) Ever wonder why beer is more popular among males versus females? Sour and bitter tastes trigger built-in genetic warning signs in humans that help us spot potentially poisonous foods and liquids. These senses become more acute in pregnant and nursing women, which may explain the stylistic beer preferences of men and women.

Sake

As a Sommelier, we are expected to know about all types of beverages. One that I haven't written about is Sake. I just don't run out to the store in search of sake, but a large part of the world does. This weekend, I will be discussing alternate fermentations, which includes beers, ciders and sake. So, I thought I would share some of the discussion here.

So what is sake? Is it wine, or is it beer? Wine is made from fruit (typically grapes), and beer is made from grain. Well sake is made from rice, and rice is a grain, so shouldn't sake be considered a beer? Also, sake is brewed, whereas wine is not. The challenge is that sake has a much higher alcohol level than beer (on par with wine), and is not carbonated. For our discussion, let's just say that sake is something in between a beer and wine.

Sake is actually a pretty complicated beverage to produce. The Chinese and Japanese cultures have been producing it for over 2000 years. What started as a mushy porridge type product, with low alcohol, has developed into a quite refined product. The word "sake" can refer to any type of alcoholic beverage in Japan, so in Japan, to clarify that we are talking about the rice beverage, it is called "nihonshu".

The main ingredients for making sake are: rice; water; koji mold, and yeast. Additionally, alcohol can also be added. The rice is not your typical dinner rice. First, all rice is brown in color. It is then milled, to get to the white core of the grain. When making sake, the type of rice used affects the final flavor, fragrance and texture of the sake. Also, the rice grains of sake rice (sakamai) contains a higher concentration of starches in the core. Surrounding the starches are fats, proteins, and minerals that are generally detrimental to the sake brewing process, so they are milled down, or polished (seimai). The amount that is polished off determines the degree of seimaibuai, or amount of remaining grain size. This will be labelled on the bottle of sake. The finer the milling, the higher the potential quality. Ginjoshu is rice that has at least 60% of the original grain remaining, and daiginjoshu has least 50% to 35% of original grain remaining.

Since Sake is 80% water, the source and quality of the water is very important. It is used throughout the sake brewing process. The most famous water comes from the city of Kobe, filtering slowly through the nearby Mt Rokko. It is known as Miyamizu (“Shrine Water”).

Koji Mold on rice grains

As with beer making, the starches in the grain must be converted to usable sugars. In the case of sake, the rice is mixed with a mold, called koji mold  (aspergillus oryzae), which produces the necessary enzymes to  break down the starches in glucose and sugar. Yeast is then added to the rice creating moromi (a porridge like substance). The moromi fermentation takes place in large tanks where the yeast reacts with the newly formed sugars to create alcohol.

After sitting for 18 to 32 days, the moromi is pressed, and the fermented liquid is charcoal filtered, pasteurized, blended, and alcohol level adjusted to about 16% (by the addition of water). Undiluted sake is referred to as Genshu.

Some other terms you might see on a bottle of sake are: 

• Nigori – unfiltered sake
• Honjozo – small amount of pure ethyl alcohol added for lighter, drier taste
• Namazake – unpasteurized sake – making a somewhat fresher and livelier sake. Must be kept and stored in refrigeration. There is a variation called Namachozo– a sake that is only pasteurized one time (most is pasteurized twice: once after brewing, and once before it is stored for maturation)
• Taruzake – sake that has been aged in cedar casks (taru)  
• Tokubetsu – “special” – somewhat nebulous – anything that might be special about the rice, brewing method
• Nigorizake – when the moromi is pressed, the white rice solids that did not ferment are separated from the clear nihonshu. Nigorizake is sake in which some of this white stuff (sake kasu) is left in the sake.

When it comes to pairing sake with food, the same "rules" that we use for wine pairing apply. Since sake varies, just as wine does, each Kura (sake brewery) creates it's own style. Also, most Americans are used to warm sake. The finest sake is served chilled, similar to a fine wine.

This short blog about sake doesn't do justice to the complicated processes involved in creating the beverage. My hope is that you will at least consider picking up a bottle, and exploring these interesting beverages. There is a whole new world awaiting your exploration!