We not only love our beer, we're proud of it too. We like nothing better than reminding Americans of our beer's higher alcohol content. To be sure, beer commercials -- like the occasional hockey fight -- are part of our culture. But more and more these days, we're supplementing our homegrown brew with "suds" brewed around the world, including such countries as Ireland, England, Belgium, Germany, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Mexico, India and the United States. Right now, Belgian beer is one of the hottest trends, but also across North America.

And, while experimenting with foreign brews, Canada itself has burst onto the world stage as a respected beer-brewing country. In addition to the big, traditional breweries of Labatt http://www.labatts.com/ and Molson http://www.iam.ca/, there's been a proliferation in recent years of microbreweries and brewpubs. In fact, there are now breweries in every province and in the Yukon, and many of them sell their products internationally. Try Kawartha Lakes Brewing Company, http://www.muskokabeer.com/, Tree Brewing Company and http://www.uppercanada.com/ to see the incredible variety of microbrews available, and then, in the name of patriotism, try them one by one.

The ability to buy beer directly over the 'Net isn't widely available in Canada yet. But the online grocer Grocery Gateway delivers beer from Ontario's Brick Breweries with a minimum $45 grocery order. You must be at least 19 to take delivery of alcohol, and drivers can legally ask for identification. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario http://www.lcbo.com/ has beer gifts that you can cypershop for then place your order by phone. Recent selections include a set of 2 Lambic Fruit Beers from Belgium and an Irish beer duo, both beautifully packaged. Try your provincial liquor distributor to see what's available near you.

It's still illegal to buy your favourite brew across provincial borders. And if you buy any alcoholic beverage outside of Canada, the same duty and taxes apply as when you re-enter the country. Visit Liquor.com, they will deliver to Canada, but you'll pay the exchange, duty and taxes, and wait up to 8 days for delivery. Check with your local liquor authority for regulations and age restrictions. If you're not willing to wait and grapple with the law, how about home brew? Make it yourself with equipment available at Click-A-Brew. On the wagon or just want to know more? You can read about Canada's national drink at http://www.canbeer.com/ and http://www.brewers.ca/.

Hop to it

Beer, enjoyed since the time of the Pharaohs, comes in a variety of styles to suit every taste. Most modern beers have 4 main ingredients: water, yeast, hops and malted barley (and sometimes wheat). Made by brewing and fermenting the cereals, they contain about 3 to 6 percent alcohol. Hops -- the cone-like female flowers of the herbaceous, perennial vine of the mulberry family -- impart a bitter flavour to beer and some of the aroma.

Ales and lagers

Traditionally, beers have been divided into 2 types: ales and lagers.

The name "ale," once applied to beers made without hops, is now applied to light-coloured beers, including pale ale and brown ale. A bitter is a highly hopped and quite bitter ale. It's made using the "top" fermentation process, in which yeast cells rise to the top of the brewing tank and are skimmed off when fermentation is complete. Ales commonly use darker malt and have a higher alcohol content and richer flavour than lagers, which are produced by "bottom" fermentation.

The name "lager" is derived from the German word for storage. Many beers called lager are stored for several weeks or months before marketing. They are made using the bottom fermentation process, in which the yeast cells sink to the bottom of the tank and are drawn off when fermentation is complete. Lagers include pilsner (also "pilsner" and "pils"), cream ale, and "bock", which is a heavier, darker beer.

Dark beers get their intense colour from the addition of caramelized malt.

Porter is a strong, dark ale, brewed with the addition of roasted malt to give it flavour and colour.

Stout -- of which Guinness is arguably the most famous -- is darker and maltier than porter, has a more pronounced aroma, and may reach an alcoholic content of 6 to 7 percent. The pairing of oysters with stout has long been considered one of the world's great gastronomic marriages.

Light beer in Canada or Australia means between 1 and 4 percent lower in alcohol content than regular beer; in the United States, it means from 10 to 35 percent lower in calories.

White beer (sometimes called "Lambic") is Belgian-style wheat beer, produced by "bottle conditioning," or triggering refermentation in the bottle with the addition of a little yeast and sugar. It is typically made with malted barley, a high proportion of wheat, and spices.

It's a matter of taste

Canadian wine expert Stephen Beaumont http://www.worldofbeer.com/, author of The Great Canadian Beer Guide, believes that consumers need to educate themselves about beer. "Beer is so different from any other thing you buy, because the process of making beer is very widely open to interpretation. Learn about what is involved in making good beer and learn about what good beer is supposed to taste like."

With wine, for example, you can choose a Chardonnay and it will have a certain type of flavour profile. Not so with beer.

"One of the great benefits of beer is that it's cheaper than wine, so you can taste a variety of different types for the cost of 1 or 2 bottles of wine -- cheap wine," adds Beaumont.

Glossary

Major brewery is a company that produces more than 500,000 barrels per year.

Microbrewery is a company that produces less than 15,000 barrels per year. Beers from microbreweries may also be referred to as handcrafted, specialty, European-style or craft brews.

Brewpub is a restaurant-brewery, which sells most of the beer it makes on the premises.

Quirks

Trivia freaks will love the interactive beer trivia game on Ontario brewery Sleeman's web site http://www.sleeman.com/. For more fun, take a tour of Quebec's Unibroue brewery http://www.unibroue.com/ in either English or French. While you're there, learn about beer's health benefits and check out the mouth-watering recipes made with beer by Chef Ronald Marcotte.