It’s short notice, but I’m filling in as the guest speaker at tonight’s Beer Social at the Tap and Mallet. The topic: blended beers.

We’re not talking household appliances with a “frappe” setting here.  Much like wine, scotch or cognac, mixing of beer of varying character  is vital to some styles (such as Belgium’s lambic). Porter, it is said, descends directly from “three-threads,” which three types of English ale blended together(although author and beer historian Martyn Cornell offers compelling evidence to dispute this).

Beer blending has a classic place in the English pub as well. Mild-and-bitter is a classic example, as is half-and-half. Today, people are discovering that sweet Belgian fruit labmbics meld well with witbier or Irish stout.

The possibilities are immense, and demonstrate once again thesubtlety, complexity, and sophistication of the world’s greatest beverage. If you’re in Rochester around 7pm, bring yourself, your thirst, and $12 down to the Tap and Mallet and blend right in.

-Mark