| Barley is one of the top five cereal grains in the | | | | strong beers of the past without sacrificing taste. |
| world. Not much of it is used as human food though, | | | | Modified malt and controlled brewing makes it |
| only ten percent. Most of the barley in the world is | | | | possible to fine tune barley wine and come up with a |
| used to feed livestock. Like most grains barley can | | | | consistent flavor. The brewers also carefully select |
| be used for many things. | | | | the yeast used to prevent too much sweetness. |
| Most barley used in cooking is put into soup and it is | | | | Also the use of modern day stainless steel |
| the pearl barley. This type of barley has been | | | | fermenting tanks prevents bacterial contamination. |
| processed to remove the two outer hulls and the | | | | The use of hops keeps the malt flavor balanced and |
| result is uniformly sized ivory grains. The flavor of the | | | | as mentioned before aging isn't a problem with barley |
| pearl barley is mild and nutty. You can put into your | | | | wine, but an advantage. |
| favorite vegetable or minestrone recipe. It cooks in | | | | Barley wine is usually deep amber in color which they |
| 30 to 45 minutes, unless you use the quick barley | | | | get from pale malts used in high quantity and boiled |
| which has been steamed and dried, it will cook in less | | | | for prolonged times. The prolonged boiling not only |
| than 15 minutes. | | | | gives it it's darker color, but it also adds to the |
| A third of the barley used for human consumption is | | | | complexity and depth of its flavor. |
| made into malt liquor or wine. Barley wine is actually | | | | So if you've always thought of barley as a livestock |
| thought of as a type of beer. One of the differences | | | | grain, you know differently now. Maybe now you |
| between beer and barley wine is that the wine can | | | | would like to sample some barley wines. Since most |
| be store and enjoyed years after being made, | | | | breweries make their own version there is a lot of |
| gaining a new flavor with aging, like fine wine. | | | | different ones to choose from. The great thing with |
| Barley wine was known as stock, old or strong ale | | | | barley wine is not only can you taste a difference |
| until 1903. The flavor of barley wine is different with | | | | from brewery to brewery, called horizontal sampling. |
| every different brewer. | | | | You can also do some vertical sampling, which is |
| Modern brewing techniques and style allow brewers | | | | sampling the different vintages of the same brew. |
| to alleviate some of the problems associated with | | | | |
