The Quest for the Perfect Beer
What is the perfect beer? This is the question Heitor Dhalia has tried to answer in his documentary “The Quest for the perfect beer”. Heitor hit the road to meet Passionate Brewmasters, Beer Experts, Hop Growers from Brazil, Belgium , Germany capturing their efforts to shape an answer. Spoiler alert, it mostly start with “Mmmmmm” and “Euhhhhhhh”.
I was lucky enough to cross his path when I was in Bavaria evaluating the new hop crop last August. He took me with his film crew on top of a hill overlooking the fields of Hallertau and he started to record a long passionate conversation.
First and foremost, let me just say that as a brewmaster, I’m all about Quality. A perfect beer needs to be top quality. Selection of top ingredients, pristine equipment, care, understanding and control of your process (yeast whispering….). But as you’ll see here after there are many more dimensions that elevate beer to perfection and some of them could even compensate for slight imperfections (just like a lot of hop on a good beer…whaaat?).
The Context. Whether I have an introspective moment, doodling alone at the corner of a bar with a complex barrel aged sour or an Extrovert celebration with friends sharing a never ending session IPA
The Occasion. You can’t beat the rewarding experience of the first crisp fresh lager from the cooler after moving the last box of a friends’ house
The Soul. If you ever homebrewed with a bunch of friends in your garage you should know that this is the best beer ever, whatever because you made it with all your soul. (it’s like everyone’s kids are the most beautiful….they are not. But mine are)
The Memories. Just like some dishes prepared by chefs can send you back in a fraction of a second to a memorable souvenir. Yes some beers can send you back in time. (Most of your senses are very closely connected to the limbic part of your brain, the area of memories and emotions.)
The People behind the beer. Ever tasted a beer with a brewmaster, directly from his bright beer tank ? A beer with a place , a face and a taste!
And then there’s the Why? Why was this beer created? What does it stand for? How does it build into beer culture and heritage? A sense of belief. What makes it meaningful. (In the documentary I’m elaborating a bit about Gose beer and why they are salty and sour,…). I like to say that “it all taste so much better with a good story”.
We often talk about how the right choice of beer to go with food can sublimate the experience. Let me tell you, there are many more things that can turn a beer into the perfect beer. The ultimate pairing of Quality, People, Story, Context, Occasion, Emotions,Memories and Soul. And if on top of that we manage to have the right cheese board, well , my friend, this is the perfect beer experience.
The movie is just released in theaters in Brazil and will be distributed online soon after (for free I believe). You may struggle a bit if you don’t speak Portuguese but there are also many international parts in English. Find more about the documentary here!
Time for the perfect beer of the day! What are you up to now ? Comment below!!
