Does the modern beer movement toward nontraditional brewing ingredients bother you?
This all depends on what you call TRADITIONAL Before hops other things, for instance bog myrtle, were used as a bittering agent in most beers, so to say that if a beer contains that it isn’t traditional would be false – as would be to claim that hops are a “traditional” ingredient. South Americans make a beer from maize, it’s made in the same way as a European style beer, just with a different base sugar source, so do we deny them the right to call that beer. Africans do the same with sorghum, again mashed in the same way as a European beer, just a different base ingredient. There is also the long standing tradition in parts of Belgium etc of mascerating fruit in beers to sweeten them, especially Lambic style beers that are naturally sour due to the base ingredients. HAVING SAID THAT While I enjoy drinking fruit beers, or maybe a stout with chocolate in it etc etc, I do prefer hopped beers (and TorkBit is talking rubbish, as usual – Hops ARE a preservative, and are used purely for that
