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Does beer have terroir?

The concept of terroir and its influence areenthusiasticallydebated in the wine world. Very few of the beer geeks I asked cared one whit about terroir, and hadn’t evengiven it a thoughtbefore I asked.
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We hereby bid to claim the concept of location-derived flavour and community ingredients for the brewing world.

The concept of terroir and its influence areenthusiasticallydebated in the wine world. Very few of the beer geeks I asked cared one whit about terroir, and hadn’t evengiven it a thoughtbefore I asked.

After some debate, they decided that although it was an interesting philosophical question, terroir didn’t matter to their beer drinking experience or influence their beer purchases.

The casual beer drinker isn’t interested in the minutiae of which malts or hops are chosen for the beer,let alone where they’re grown.They just care thatthe final product tastes good. So there you have it.The beer world doesn’t care about terroir.

Enter Harley Smithand Tracy McLeanof Longwood Brewing.Theycare.Theycarea lot.

But before we get to whythey care, and why you might also,allow me to drone on aboutwhat“terroir”means.Indulge me please, Ireada LOT on the topic.

Terroiristhe concept that states that where somethinggrowsaffects its make-upinmany ways,most importantlyits flavour.

Terroiraccounts for natural influences like soil and climate, often in very small areas of land, producingdifferent characteristics in crops.If identical crops grown a couple of kilometres apart have measurable differences from each other, those differencesare attributed to terroir, and are believed toaffectflavour.

The concept of terroir grew out of Burgundy, France, evolvingfrom a defining aspect of agricultural production into a marketing concept and economic protection mechanism.

“Terroir is about asserting and justifying differences at local and even micro levels and ultimately of acquiring social, economic and political benefits from such claims,”according toMarionDemossierof the University ofBath.

We can thank terroir for theAppellationd’Origine Contrôlée(AOC)in France and the AmericanViticultural Areas(AVA).In a nutshell,these two systems protect the namesof geographical regions from being used on productsfromoutside those areas.

No calling that bubbly wine “champagne”unless those grapes weregrown in the Champagne region!

Terroir is meant to evoke a sense of place.And some places justproducebetter tasting things, OK?

But do not mistaketerroir for the locavore movement.Although related to farm-to-table, terroir does notnecessarilycelebratelocalproducts.Itisconcerned withwhichgrowing areasproduce the best crop, andtheuse of traditional methods to bring out that unique flavour in the finished product.

The French know you get your wines fromspecificregions, your cheesesfrom othersand your produce from yet others.There is none of the 100-kilometre diet interroir.If the best cropgrows600 km away, then that is the one that should be had.

From a marketing perspective, terroir is a golden concept.Elevateone area’s foodstuffsabovethe restand give people a story to go along with thefinalproduct,and they’relining up to pay large sums for it.

If you can convince the world of your superiority, tourists will flock to youranointed landsand spread the doctrine, multiplying your customer baseand driving up profitsas they go.

If you’re still with me after that long tripthroughterroir, you won’tbe surprised that not much about itmakes meeager to apply it tomy belovedbeer.

Butwait!I want beer toclaimterroir!Not least because then we can convince whoever becomes the agricultural minister that beerhas gravitas –that beeris as important to the economy as wine.Thenthey’ll change the ALR rules to allow Persephone

Brewing to keep their farm brewery, and joy will abound!

Hear ye! Hear ye!I propose that,just like the New World took Old World brewing traditionsand made them our own,we take the Old World conceptof terroir and make it our own.Let’s keep the sense of place,the belief that where something is grown comes out in its flavour,andthe desire to produce the best crop.We’llditch the protectionism, the profiteering and the snobbery.

And this is whereHarley and Tracymake their entrance.

Familiar with terroir from drinking wine, Harley and Tracy associatethe term with Longwood’s beer.

“It seemed to aptly describe what we were doing, which is simply supporting our local farmers to create a community-driven beer,” they told me.Terroiris important to them “because it describes the regional flavour derived from years of working with the farm community to create a uniquely local beer.”

As they point out, nothing tastes as good as that tomato you grew in your backyard/container garden.

“If you want to create a uniquely original flavour there is no substitute for controlling all your ingredients from start to finish.”Yes!This ishowterroirmatters!

One-hundred per centofLongwood’scurrenthop supply comes from within 20 km of the brewery, and50 per centof their barley comes from central 鶹ýӳIsland.They rely on the local community to buy their beers and in turn they support their local growers.Theirs isareciprocal relationship from which we all benefit.It’s the New World version of the farmhouse ale!

Longwood isamong manyBC craftbreweries thatbrew with authenticity,integrityand strong commitment to the communities they serve.The use of locally grown, organic, creative and foraged ingredients is becoming widespread as craft beer comes of age.If that’s what terroir can mean, then damn, I’m glad it’s in my beer!

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