does beer have terroir?
my first article for the growler , back in July 2017: DOES BEER HAVE TERROIR? REBECCA WHYMAN • JULY 13, 2017 iStock photo The concept of terroir and its influence are enthusiastically debated in the wine world. Very few of the beer geeks I asked cared one whit about terroir, and hadn’t even given it a thought before I asked. After some debate, they decided that although it was an interesting philosophical question, terroir didn’t matter to their beer drinking experience or influence their beer purchases. The casual beer drinker isn’t interested in the minutiae of which malts or hops are chosen for the beer, let alone where they’re grown. They just care that the final product tastes good. So there you have it. The beer world doesn’t care about terroir. Enter Harley Smith and Tracy McLean of Longwood Brewing. They care. They care a lot. But before we get to why they care, and why you mi...