Co-valent bonds

Last year, I had the chance to teach a beer chemistry course with two very smart chemists. They reminded me of the concept of co-valent bonds: a manner is which two atoms associate and acheive stability as a compound by sharing electrons.
I love the notion. It would be a great way to describe alliances, I think. Probably a fabulous way to propose marriage too.
As craft beer prospers and approaches 22% of the dollar market of all beer in this country, it's probably a time to look around at the co-valent bonds that are developing. Here's one that might interest you.
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There was a list of beers in a magazine last summer.  I thought it was an interesting list, so I'm going to share it with you. Here:

There was a lot for the beer-lover to note in the article. For one thing, it included three sour beers. Sours are a style that most American beer drinkers would have rejected out of hand just a few years ago: 'Sour' meant that the beer went bad, turned to vinegar, got infected. Yuck.

Of the 16 beers mentioned, only three were IPA's. Considering that this style was picked out to take over the world not too long ago, this was a refreshing modesty. Two of the recommendations were West Coast, but the star was undoubtedly Delaware's Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, a remarkably elegant and balanced beer in this style.

There were three Saisons-there could have been thirty. This spicy style can be remarkably elegant or youthfully exuberant and there's probably no style that earns the word 'yummy' as often. Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace and Hennepin's Saison are two of the sophisticates, Saison-Brett from Boulevard is an assertive version with a lot more hops. (It's built from Boulevard's scrumptious Tank 7)

And finally, there were wheats. No summer is complete without them, they do the tart of lemonade and iced tea and throw in a big mouthful of bubbles and a gorgeous opalescent color too. The undoubted pick of the litter is Allagash White, but you can't go too far wrong with any of the other three.

So far, so ordinary. There are lots of beer lists around these days and almost 4000 breweries in the US are competing to get listed. And hey, it's not even summer anymore so why do I mention this?

I'm telling you about this list, not because of what was on it but because of where it was printed. This two page, full color spread was in WIRED magazine. 

That's right, the very popular, gossipy, super-authoritative tech magazine . WIRED is known for being out front of trends in the language too, coining terms like "the Long Tail" and "crowdsourcing" as well as its annual Vaporware Awards which recognize "products, video games and other pies that never leave the skye.

So what's the big deal? Here, imagine this. put yourself back to the year 2000, let's say. Imagine you picked up a magazine that had about a million of the most technically-hip readers in the country. Scientific American, or Atlantic Monthly or the New York Times Magazine. Could you imagine a two-page spread devoted to-not just beer-but the beers of the season?

Not likely. So something has happened: beer has changed, and its audience has changed too. 

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