The History and Geography of Beerland

Introduction

Beerland is a country dedicated to the production and consumption of a beverage created from malted barley, hops, yeast, water, and sometimes some other ingredients are thrown in for good measure. This beverage is fermented by the yeast to give it truly god-like properties. All citizens of Beerland are employed either directly or indirectly by the brewing industry. The only product produced by Beerland is beer (and the occasional cider in the fall) hence its only export is beer. Any other products required by the Beerlandic (usually pronounced Beerlambic by its citizens) people must be imported. The economy however is strong, as the rest of the world slurps up the world class beers produced here by the megalitres.

Beerland was formed shortly after WWII in 1947. What was known as Canada and the United States of America had been completely destroyed by German bombers in the war and needed to be rebuilt. Since the direct cause of the war ending in 1945 was the peace brought on by a nation subdued by mass quantities of alcohol during the German Oktoberfest, the surviving two members of the Canadian government got together over a couple pints of hefeweizen and decided that the best way to promote peace in the world was to keep Oktoberfest going 365 days a year; globally. They set out to rebuild a country based on this philosophy.

Barleyville

The first town to spring up was Barleyville. These days the population is around 60 people which goes up or down a few each year. Barleyville is located where former south-central Saskatchewan town of Palmer lay. This is a farming community, with the majority of the grain produced being Barley. Some other grains are produced as well, such as wheat to produce different types of beer. Farmers deliver their harvested grains to the elevator in town by truck, and the grain is shipped out by rail.

There are many other towns scattered across the prairies which resemble Barleyville. All put together, the largest amount of brewing quality grains are produced in this region of the world.

Hoptown

Down below the 49th parallel, formerly eastern Ontario has become a land flourishing with the exquisite aromas of the hop plant. Many varieties of hops are produced for different flavour profiles in different beers. A typical village in this area of the country is Hoptown, and like the name suggests is populated by a bunch of hop farmers who homebrew as a hobby. Hops are cultivated from the tall vines by hand. The workers use tall stilts to pick the aromatic cone flowers and fill huge sacks which are transported by truck to storage warehouses. Here they are packaged in sealed containers purged with nitrogen to prevent oxidation. The hops are transported out of town by rail.

Malt Lake City

Malt Lake City is a small city on the shores of former Lake Winnipeg, now known as Malt Lake. The primary industry here is the malting business. Large malting plants accept raw grain by rail, soak the grain in water for a few days so it sprouts, and finally dry it out. Some of the malted grains are kilned further to impart roasted flavours and darker colours to future brews. The malted grains are shipped out by rail to breweries and home brew supply shops across the country.

Aletreal

This french speaking town is the nations centre for production of beers. Breweries are served the raw ingredients by rail and turn it into the national beverage. Temperature controlled reefers leave the area, loaded with bottles and kegs of brew to be delivered to the rest of the country.

Vanlager

Situated on the west coast of the country at a large river inlet, is the city of Vanlager. This area has a large population and the main industry is export of beer and import of other goods. Many bars and beer stores make themselves available to the drinking public. Brew pubs and homebrew shops are also flourishing businesses. Large rail and shipping facilities are here for goods transport. The citizens of Vanlager discovered very early in the city's development that individual motorized transit was impractical. Therefore the city is served by an extensive light rail network. Bicycles are also a common vehicle used to get to the bar for breakfast in the morning and home later at night.

Xyeast Corporation

In the early days, all yeast used by the master brewers of Aletreal and the rest of the homebrewing public were required to cultivate their own yeast. While this served the needs well, as desire for different styles of beer grew, so did the business of biological yeast laboratories. One of the largest lab is called Xyeast corporation and is located high in the mountains of the north western region. This region was chosen due to the low count of airborne contaminants in the cold mountain air. The workers in the lab live in small cabins scattered on the mountain sides. The only real connection to the outside world is the rail system which passenger coaches transfer people in and out of the area, temperature controlled box cars export the yeast samples, and a variety of other rail stock import everything else needed by the residents.

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