Do you like brown or orange food?

Dispelling a great myth about the colour and flavour of beer.

Don Tse: "Do you prefer light or dark beer?" is the response I often receive when I ask for a list of available beers at a restaurant or pub. A combination of politeness and impatience prevents me from beginning a diatribe as to why this is a meaningless question, and instead I ask for the complete list.

Asking whether a person prefers light or dark beer is like asking whether a person prefers brown or orange food. The colour of a beer or an item of food has no relationship to its flavour, body, texture or aroma. In fact, the colour of a beer is indicative of nothing - other than colour, of course.

Beer derives its colour from three sources: the grains used to brew the beer, other flavour ingredients (fruits or spices, for example) and artificial colour additives. In fact, the dark beers offered by certain brewers are exactly the same as their golden counterparts, with brown food colouring added.

Flavour, on the other hand, while affected by many of the same factors that impact colour, is determined by many, many additional factors. Without downplaying the importance of each of these factors, one of the largest determinants of a beer's flavour that has absolutely no impact on the beer's colour is the yeast used to ferment the beer.

For a little fun, try this experiment. Go down to your favorite beer retailer and purchase a bottle of Brew Brothers Black Pilsner ( a Canadian-brewed German-style Schwarzbier ) and a bottle of Delirium Tremens ( a Belgian golden ale. ) Both are complex flavorful award-winning beers, and good representatives of their respective styles.