Terroir & Taste
Beer Terroir - Place and Taste in the Pre-Prohibition Rocky Mountain West - Braden Neihart
Braden Neihart [+]
Independent Scholar
Braden Neihart received his M.A. in history from Colorado State University in 2019. His thesis, "Frontier Beer: A Spatial Analysis of Denver Breweries, 1859-1876," examined how Denver breweries acquired resources and situated themselves in local and national networks in order to compete. He is interested in how beer helps understand racial, cultural, economic, and environmental patterns. His research focuses on beer in Pre-Prohibition Rocky Mountain West.
Description
Comprising 95% plus of beer, water greatly impacts the flavor and quality of beer. Mineral content, purity, contaminants, and other aspects of water quality have major ramifications for the end product. This chapter will survey the tribulations and triumphs of Rocky Mountain breweries: did they bemoan the poor water quality and contamination from ranchers and miners? Did they praise the high quality and purity of their beer due to fresh snowmelt? In what ways did the regional water impact local breweries and how, in turn, did they surmount or manipulate their water.