As two of the oldest fermented beverages in human history, beer and wine share a deep-rooted story shaped by regional climates and socio-economic status.
Both were enjoyed by early civilizations like Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. The origin and growth of these products were also somewhat determined by climate. A famous "beer and wine line" historically divided Europe: wine thrived in the warmer regions down south (modern-day Italy, Spain, and France), while beer dominated the cooler regions up north (what we now know as England, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Belgium). As trade expanded across different kingdoms, a social divide emerged: beer became the drink of the common people, while the aristocracy and religious elites favored wine.
Despite these cultural divisions, the two beverages were rarely mixed, even though they are biologically linked. For instance, did you know that the waxy/dusty film outside of grape skins is actually saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewers’ yeast) in its native environment? The first notable (and properly registered) historical crossovers happened in Belgium with Lambic. In the 19th century, table grape juice was occasionally used as a sugar source for fermenting beer. Decades later in the 1970s, Cantillon experimented by adding table grapes to Lambic, eventually transitioning to wine grapes to create the first iterations of their iconic Vigneronne.
However, the art of blending wine and beer truly exploded during the global craft beer boom of the 2000s. Two pioneering Italian breweries, Birrificio Montegioco and Birrificio Barley, independently created what would become a brand-new style: the Italian Grape Ale. The trend quickly caught fire globally, evolving further in the US where brewers began heavily incorporating grape must into American Wild Ales. Today, the Grape Ale is officially recognized in the BJCP Style Guidelines as its own distinct style.
Discover what happens when these two ancient worlds collide in this month’s Ale Odyssey, featuring Beachwood Blendery's 'Come In Grape, Your Time Is Up: Muscat', an exceptional example of a modern wine and American wild ale hybrid.
