A common sport among beer geeks is to bash the big boys for their ubiquitous use of “adjuncts” in their beer – corn, rice and even glucose-fructose syrup. The reason for the derision is, so the story goes, the corporate brewers use these additions for two amoral reasons: they are cheaper than barley, and they create alcohol without flavour because the ferment out almost entirely. For a beer geek, creating a flavourless, odorless, light body beer is rather pointless. However, as I have mentioned before, there are lots of beer drinkers who want their beer light, refreshing and with not too much body or strong flavours. There is a market for everything in this world.

However, that is not the point of this post. It is simply a rambling segue to introduce my latest Beer 101 column on the Sherbrooke Liquor website. This month I look at those “other” grains used in beer – rice, rye, oats and so forth – and examine what effect they have on beer and how they can be used entirely legitimately – even by a card carrying beer geek. I even – he boasts ever so subtly – throw in a bit of science into the mix just to add heft to the whole thing. (See if you can spot the cleverly placed scientific reference…)

Next month the series on grains will close with a look at gluten-free beer. But for now go take a look at the lesson on other grains.