he Muse of Brews
Beer & Brains
Are you one of those folks who have been warming a barstool in your local brewpub, gloating about how smart you are because you drink good beer? Do you shake your head at people who think your pale ale or Munich Helles is “dark beer?” Or that three Coors Lights are somehow less filling than two good pale ales? Do you snicker incredulously at the person who will order a bottle of Miller in a 60-tap beer bar? Do you then remark, just loudly enough, “probably gets a hotdog when he goes to a steakhouse, too,” or… something like that? Do you find yourself constantly explaining to people things that you hold to be self-evident--that there are actually dozens of styles and types of beer, a nearly endless variety, and that life is too short to drink only one of them? Do you feel you have a superior intellect to all those light/low carb/cheap/bland beer drinkers? Well, there may actually be something to it, after all!
I first got that feeling many years ago while drinking a microbrew in a hotel bar in St. Louis. I looked down the bar at a guy in a ragged t-shirt with a tattoo on his bicep that read “WOW” (never mind that it said “MOM” when HE looked at it!), who was drinking a fizzy yellow beer, and I knew instinctively that I was smarter than he was.
It took me a few years to get up the courage to prove it, but I’ve been a card-carrying member of Mensa, the high-IQ society, for almost four years now. At every regional Mensa gathering I’ve been to, there is always good beer. In Pittsburgh it was Yuengling Porter, in Cincinnati it was home-brewed Kölsch, in Akron it was Chief’s Rye from the BrewKettle, and in Cleveland last year, it was a keg from Buckeye Brewing Co.
I know, you already believe you are smarter, but there’s more. Great Lakes Brewing News editor, Mark Garland, says he finds an unusually high percentage of craft beer lovers among writers at science fiction conventions--indeed, among writers (and editors) of all kinds. And that the tasting rooms of breweries located in university towns tend to draw a remarkable number of faculty (even if the brewery is NOT on the way home). And let’s not overlook the fact that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to buy craft beer over “industrial swill” (technical term).
I went to a week-long seminar for environmental consultants, all of whom were degreed in science or engineering, and 5 of the 20 participants were home brewers. (That’s 25% for you fizzy yellow beer drinkers.) Do your own survey. This may involve getting to know interesting people while enjoying a lot of good craft beer, however, so be prepared. A typical homebrew club will often count doctors, attorneys, teachers, all kinds of engineers, entrepreneurs and writers (what is it with the writers, anyway?) among their ranks.
Now, the big question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Are we smarter because we drink good beer, or do we drink good beer because we are smarter? For the answer, we turn to science. There are some studies that claim moderate drinking actually improves brain function! The French National Institute of Health says that older women who drank two or more glasses of beer or wine per day were 2.5 times more likely to score in the top 10% on neuropsychological tests (that’s mind & body for you fizzy yellow beer drinkers) than non-drinkers. Sorry, guys, this study was only about women. A study in the Netherlands, however, did find better cognitive function in men who drank regularly and moderately. Let me define moderately, here. No more than one liter (about 2 pints) per day. Four or more per day is considered heavy drinking and the trends reverse.
There are also studies that suggest moderate drinking, especially through middle age, can decrease substantially the risk for senile dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Those who drank between one and three drinks per day fared the best in the Netherlands study; they had a 42 percent lower risk of developing dementia than non-drinkers. This was a 6-year study of over 5,000 people.
The studies don’t specify the kind of alcohol, so that kind of blows part of my theory up, but… those of us who drink good beer know the health benefits, and we are more likely to be moderate drinkers because we drink for taste: Quality, not quantity. Smart, eh?
Craft or home-brewed beers often have more hop content. Hops act as a mild sedative, stimulate appetite, and are considered beneficial to the urinary tract; they also contain plant estrogen, and have been shown to somehow slow calcium bone loss in another recent study. Craft beers also contain more barley malt. They contribute carbohydrates, protein, minerals, trace elements, organic acids, and vitamins. Remember, extra malty beer is what monks survived on during the Lenten fast!
Two pints of beer can give you about 50% of your daily requirement of magnesium, 40% of phosphorus, 20% of potassium, 35% of vitamin B6, 20% of B2, and 65% of Niacin, not to mention vitamin D and antioxidants.
The polyphenols in beer, higher in darker beers (and red wine), are responsible for the anti-cancer effects and reducing the risk of heart disease. In fact, when you boil the wort from a dark beer with hops you get a boatload of super-antioxidants, which fizzy yellow beer and, really, any other kind of alcoholic beverage can’t match. These antioxidants protect your brain and your liver while the alcohol keeps your heart (and your brain) healthy. Pure genius!
Now, to answer my own question, I think we drink good beer because we are smart. We know it’s good for us, and it will help us live longer, healthier, happier lives. So, keep drinking. In moderation, of course! And you can keep gloating!