The Field On Which We Do Battle

In Germany, purity laws govern how a beer is made and what it is made out of.

In Canada, officious, money-wasting dolts will determine what is beer and what is in it:

Federal officials are proposing changes to national beer standards that would widen the number of ingredients permitted in a pint and could force brewers to list every ingredient on a can or bottle.

Even the Canadian definition of "beer" would change.

The changes would mark a major overhaul of beer standards introduced more than 30 years ago, but they must first go through public consultations quietly launched days ago and which run until mid-September.

Beer aficionados who have closely watched the industry for years say the proposals would help regulations catch up with an explosion in styles and types of beers. Between 1990 and 2017, the number of Canadian breweries jumped to over 800 from 62, while the number of beer brands has grown to over 7,000 from about 400.

Stephen Beaumont, co-author of The World Atlas of Beer, said there are any number of beers on the market today that violate the existing standards, either through ingredients or fermentation methods.

"This is all stuff that is going on and the regulations just haven't been there to catch up to all of it," Beaumont said.

No longer would beer be required to "possess the aroma, taste and character commonly attributed to beer" or be categorized into different styles or types like ale, stout, porter and malt liquor. Instead, officials are proposing to set limits on sugar content and simplify language around the use of additives that would set define what is a beer.

Added to that would be a wider list of herbs and spices among other ingredients that can be used in the brewing process.

Who in the halls of the House of Commons thought this up? Who?

Find this person. Find this person and kick his @$$.

I may trust brewers to be so introspective and particular. I do not trust jackanapes who waste money.


Also:

Two breweries in Ottawa and Gatineau are collaborating on a new beer and circumventing laws limiting alcohol movement across provincial borders. 

"Normally brewers would get together in one place, drink some beer, brew some beer, split the product and go on their merry way," Dave Longbottom, owner of Ottawa's Flora Hall Brewing told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning. "But we can't do that here."

Instead, Flora Hall sent a brewer to Gatineau's Brasserie du Bas-Canada, and vice versa, to brew the same beer at the same time in two different places. Once the beer is canned, it will then be able to be sold in both provinces. 

"That's something we're forced to do as a result of these crazy laws we have," Longbottom said. 

These are the rebels we have been looking for.