Tasting and tour teaches about beer

Revolver Brewing offers tours and tastings every Saturday. For $10, adults over 21 receive a glass, which they can use to try four types of beer.

Ale, lager, IPA and more

On our honeymoon, my husband and I went on multiple wine tastings at wineries in northern Ohio. It was a most educational vacation. I had just turned 21.

I never would have thought to do a beer tasting. I’m not a big drinker, and I probably shouldn’t admit it, but I don’t like beer. But, I’m very glad friends invited to Revolver Brewing in Granbury, Texas, for a birthday. I tasted five beers, confirming that I still don’t like beer, but also recognizing, that if I must, I’ll take a lager.

Despite the fact that I don’t like beer, I still recommend a tour for people looking to try something new, whether or not they like beer. It’s a great way to learn something new, and a safe way to get outside your comfort zone if you don’t like beer.

Grant Wood, brewmaster and co-founder of Revolver Brewer, established his mastery at Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston.

We were fortunate that Brewmaster and Co-founder Grant Wood led our brewery tour. One of the other guests said that while he’d attended other brewery tours, he’d never had a brewmaster lead the tour.

Grist tanks up top hold the ground malt. It takes about 45 minutes to mill 2,000 pounds of grain needed to brew a batch of beer.

Making beer is simple, yet complex. The basic recipe is water, barley malt, hops, yeast. Boil 60 minutes. Ferment 4-6 days. Age 8-12 days.

Hops seem to be the ingredient that make beer beer and also flavor beer according to what the brewmaster seeks. Hops make the beer bitter. They affect flavor and aroma of the beer depending on where and how they are grown and the variety. Citrus, flora, fruity, spicy, evergreen and other flavors come from the hops. Hops is considered the universal spice of beer.