Beer Nationality

[razyrsharpe]

what makes a beer a certain nationality? ex: irish red vs. american red
what would i look for to tell the difference between these two? would it be the use of hops? i know irish reds are more malty. is it the same with the american version or do we yanks use a lot more hops? the expertise on this forum is the reason i posted this question here...i gots ta know!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

It generally comes down to local ingredients. German hops, malts, and even water profiles cause it to fall into that nationality, etc....

The Irish ones are a bit of a guess for me as, IIRC, most of their ingredient were imported anyways.

 

[the_bird]

Tradition. English ales are english ales in part because of ingredients, but also because those styles of beer developed in that area. Scottish ales as well, those were beers that developed in Scotland.

The origin of the ingredients is usually going to be closely related to where the style developed, as you weren't going to import German hops into England three hundred years ago.

American beers tend to start from another style (like an IPA, originally an English beer) then modify it with domestic ingredients, like Cascade hops. Most "American" beers are intrepretations of styles from other areas.

You'll also see things like Asian-style lagers that have their origin with German lagers, but that were modified to take advantage of local grains (using a lot of rice, for example, since that was more plentiful than barley).

EDIT: I should add that I'm a fan of being as true to the beer's origins as you can when brewing it. When making a German beer, try to source German malts and European noble hops. Don't use an English crystal malt, get something German if possible. I know a lot of brewers and breweries can make excellent examples of beers from around the world working with a base of domestic 2-row, but I'm a fan of holding as true as you reasonably can in these matters.

 

[razyrsharpe]

then what ingredients would mark the difference between an Irish Red and an American Red?

 

[Freezeblade]

then what ingredients would mark the difference between an Irish Red and an American Red?

The gravity (OG of american higher), use of Marris Otter instead of US 2-row, and possibly EKGs or Fuggles as the hop instead of Willamette, cascade, etc. The yeast in an irish red would also be leaning more towards an english style, where the American red might be using a very neutral american yeast.

 

[olllllo]

American styles tend to pump up the gravity or the IBUs.
American brewers are fond of dryhopping styles that normally wouldn't require it.