It's been a while since I've posted here and for that I apologize. As 2010 comes to a close, I will make a commitment to post once a week, save for vacation.
I want to take a minute to talk about Christmas beers. There are two ways to look at this: 1. Beers brewed to be enjoyed at Christmas, and 2. Beers to give as Christmas gifts.
If you're reading this there's a pretty good chance you like good beer. Maybe you prefer a hop heavy beer that's kind of like a double-barreled shotgun blast of pine cones in your mouth. Maybe you prefer a more deftly balanced brown ale. Perhaps it's the crisp and clean lagers that strike your beer fancy. Regardless of what you like, you'll never look a gift beer in the spout. Even if somebody buys you something horrible, like Bud Dry, you know full well you can simply re-gift that swill to some idiot who will love it.
Of course the best way to go is to buy local. If you're buying for somebody who lives out of town, the typical stuff from your local brew pub is going to be exotic. Another nifty trick is to collect beer as you travel. Putting a sampler sixer of beers from various places together over the course of a few months is also really cool. Even if every beer in the package is garbage, there's something to be said for trying a bunch of different beers.
Now, the best way to handle the multiple location pack is to focus on one style. In the US, virtually every brewer views their pale ale as the flagship beer. With a few exceptions, pale ales are where craft breweries start.
Now if you know your beer buddy isn't into hops you can go with porters and stouts. I consider myself a hop head but I love a nice smoky porter.
Christmas drinking is best kept local. As my friend we'll call Bob will tell you, cold and blustery nights are perfect for a good winter warmer. Winter warmers are bull-bodied ales that ease back on the hops and balance the malt with spices. Some are more subtle than others. 21st Ammendment Brewery out of San Francisco makes a Winter Ale called Fireside Chat. This beer first struck me as very good, but after a while I found the spices a little overwhelming.
Locally I have access to threw very good Warmers. Great Lakes Brewing Company has a legendary seasonal with the clever name, Christmas Ale. This is a subtle beer that is easy to drink. It's not too heavy, hoppy or spicy but it is a fast moving beer. GLBC has a hard time keeping up with demand and reportedly doesn't fulfill keg orders to bars that don't keep a GLBC tap running all year.
Columbus Brewing Company has a simply named Winter Warmer that has a little more body. There's almost a hint of bitter chocolate in the beer which might be the Maris Otter Malts. Rumor has it they have a very distinctive flavor.
I also like Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale which is similar to Christmas Ale but with a bit of nutmeg. It's not overpowering and the body seems just a bit fuller than the other two Ohio offerings mentioned here. All three beers are excellent, for the style.
Another one worth mentioning is Shiner's Holiday Cheer. Now this is a little weird, but somehow it gets pulled off in the end. Shiner takes a dunkelweizen adds pecans and peaches to the brewing process. Since the peaches aren't added to the mix after the fact, their influence is subtle. It's almost an aromatic note, but there's some peach aftertaste as well.
I shouldn't like it, but I do, granted I have never had more than one in any given sitting so it's possible that this particular holiday offering gets tiresome midway through the second round.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Word Association
Easter
Bunny
Hops
mmmm...beer
Again I need to apologize for not being a very good beer blogger. In my defense, I’ve been really busy with my regular 9-5 (which is really more like 8-6) and I’ve picked up a freelance writing gig that actually requires my skills as a beer consuming expert. So there.
Anyway, I’ve not shirked my responsibilities as a beer drinker and I’m happy to report that I have three excellent beers to tell you about. Two of them are probably going to be hard to come by unless you have a keen beer buyer who is aware of Southern Tier Brewing Company. I know I tend to give STBC a lot of credit but trust me, it is well deserved.
Southern Tier seems to have drawn some inspiration from Dogfish Head and spends a lot of time crafting assertive recipes for its Imperial Series. One of them is called Iniquity. This is an Imperial Pale Ale that happens to be black in color. Thus the name Iniquity. This beer doesn’t play by the rules. Pale Ales by definition aren’t supposed to be exceptionally dark but craft brewers do not play by rules.
Of course Southern Tier didn’t just tinker with naming conventions and slap an IPA badge on a stout. This beer has a lot of the characteristics you’d expect from a double IPA. It’s not as viscous as a stout and certainly not as sweet. The beer has the citrus notes you’d expect from what has become the classic representation of an Imperial IPA hopped with the normal areas of Pacific Northwest hops. By nature, an imperial beer is double the strength of its standard counterparts but in spite of its bombastic appearance, Iniquity is surprisingly drinkable, which is a word I hate to use because all beers are drinkable, but you really expect this beer to be one that you enjoy in small quantities. It’s not hard to go through a couple of pints of this one.
Southern Tier’s other offering of note, one that has been making its rounds for a while now, is called Unearthly. It’s another Imperial Pale Ale but this one is traditionally hued with rich amber tones. It’s aggressively hopped, more so than Iniquity, and even brings more ABV to the party weighing in at 11% to Iniquity’s 9%. This beer smells like a pined forest after a rain storm and tastes like it too. In a good way, provided you enjoy hops. If you have to compare it to other beers, think Stone Ruination or possibly Dogfishead 120 Minute IPA, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s just a facsimile. Unearthly might draw inspiration from other beers but it’s definitely impressive enough to stand on its own.
The third beer I enjoyed this past weekend might be distributed just a bit more readily than Southern Tier’s offerings. Lagunitas Brewing Company dabbled in a little chemistry and perfected a couple of hop extracts that they packed into an crystal clear amber ale that might prove to be one of the most unique offerings on the market this year.
Hop extracts are commonly used by bigger brewing companies to cut costs and minimize the possibility of their watery fizz bombs being cloudy. Normally craft brewers don’t lose a lot of sleep over such things because craft beer lovers know that trading flavor for clarity is a cardinal sin.
Well, Lagunitas managed to do both. What took me by surprise was how this light this beer is compared to the vivaciousness of the hops. Popping open the bottle was like setting off a hops bomb and pouring the beer brought back memories of First Blood where Rambo dives into the pine trees. Looking at the beer I was worried that it was going to taste like somebody brewed up hop tea, which is something I’ve tried and can honestly say I did not like. Hops aren’t so good when they’re unescorted. You need that malt to balance it.
Apparently Hop Stoopid was engineered to deliver more in the aroma department than you actually get when you drink the beer. Oh, it’s still hoppy, but not so much so that you feel overwhelmed. The beer was balanced really nicely and I enjoyed every sip. I was actually sad that I only bought one 22 ounce bottle, but I had a sampler of Flying Dog on hand to ease my misery.
Hop Stoopid wasn’t my favorite beer of all time. I still prefer a nice, filthy ale complete with suspended yeast and grain solids that settle to the bottom of the bottle leaving behind a gooey film. It sounds gross, but great beer is not for the squeamish. Still, I see more Hop Stoopid coming to a campsite near you. I have a feeling that it could be my favorite beer after a long hike on a hot day.
Bunny
Hops
mmmm...beer
Again I need to apologize for not being a very good beer blogger. In my defense, I’ve been really busy with my regular 9-5 (which is really more like 8-6) and I’ve picked up a freelance writing gig that actually requires my skills as a beer consuming expert. So there.
Anyway, I’ve not shirked my responsibilities as a beer drinker and I’m happy to report that I have three excellent beers to tell you about. Two of them are probably going to be hard to come by unless you have a keen beer buyer who is aware of Southern Tier Brewing Company. I know I tend to give STBC a lot of credit but trust me, it is well deserved.
Southern Tier seems to have drawn some inspiration from Dogfish Head and spends a lot of time crafting assertive recipes for its Imperial Series. One of them is called Iniquity. This is an Imperial Pale Ale that happens to be black in color. Thus the name Iniquity. This beer doesn’t play by the rules. Pale Ales by definition aren’t supposed to be exceptionally dark but craft brewers do not play by rules.
Of course Southern Tier didn’t just tinker with naming conventions and slap an IPA badge on a stout. This beer has a lot of the characteristics you’d expect from a double IPA. It’s not as viscous as a stout and certainly not as sweet. The beer has the citrus notes you’d expect from what has become the classic representation of an Imperial IPA hopped with the normal areas of Pacific Northwest hops. By nature, an imperial beer is double the strength of its standard counterparts but in spite of its bombastic appearance, Iniquity is surprisingly drinkable, which is a word I hate to use because all beers are drinkable, but you really expect this beer to be one that you enjoy in small quantities. It’s not hard to go through a couple of pints of this one.
Southern Tier’s other offering of note, one that has been making its rounds for a while now, is called Unearthly. It’s another Imperial Pale Ale but this one is traditionally hued with rich amber tones. It’s aggressively hopped, more so than Iniquity, and even brings more ABV to the party weighing in at 11% to Iniquity’s 9%. This beer smells like a pined forest after a rain storm and tastes like it too. In a good way, provided you enjoy hops. If you have to compare it to other beers, think Stone Ruination or possibly Dogfishead 120 Minute IPA, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s just a facsimile. Unearthly might draw inspiration from other beers but it’s definitely impressive enough to stand on its own.
The third beer I enjoyed this past weekend might be distributed just a bit more readily than Southern Tier’s offerings. Lagunitas Brewing Company dabbled in a little chemistry and perfected a couple of hop extracts that they packed into an crystal clear amber ale that might prove to be one of the most unique offerings on the market this year.
Hop extracts are commonly used by bigger brewing companies to cut costs and minimize the possibility of their watery fizz bombs being cloudy. Normally craft brewers don’t lose a lot of sleep over such things because craft beer lovers know that trading flavor for clarity is a cardinal sin.
Well, Lagunitas managed to do both. What took me by surprise was how this light this beer is compared to the vivaciousness of the hops. Popping open the bottle was like setting off a hops bomb and pouring the beer brought back memories of First Blood where Rambo dives into the pine trees. Looking at the beer I was worried that it was going to taste like somebody brewed up hop tea, which is something I’ve tried and can honestly say I did not like. Hops aren’t so good when they’re unescorted. You need that malt to balance it.
Apparently Hop Stoopid was engineered to deliver more in the aroma department than you actually get when you drink the beer. Oh, it’s still hoppy, but not so much so that you feel overwhelmed. The beer was balanced really nicely and I enjoyed every sip. I was actually sad that I only bought one 22 ounce bottle, but I had a sampler of Flying Dog on hand to ease my misery.
Hop Stoopid wasn’t my favorite beer of all time. I still prefer a nice, filthy ale complete with suspended yeast and grain solids that settle to the bottom of the bottle leaving behind a gooey film. It sounds gross, but great beer is not for the squeamish. Still, I see more Hop Stoopid coming to a campsite near you. I have a feeling that it could be my favorite beer after a long hike on a hot day.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Ho, Ho, Ho
Everybody seems to offer some sort of Christmas ale. I mean everybody. Coors markets a seasonal under the Blue Moon umbrella, our wonderful friends at AB spew out something with a catchy name under one of their divisions and even European brewers get in on the act by marketing a number of dark ales with a Christmas theme. Some are actually really good while others are just rebadged stock beer sent to the US to trick consumers. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, just not as special as you might think.
When you’re buying beer as a gift there’s really no wrong way to go. Buy me a case of Bud Light and I’ll graciously accept it. Gifts are always appreciated. At the very least I can keep it handy for gatherings where not everybody shares my taste in beer or, if I receive the gift early enough, I can re-gift it to somebody who will really enjoy it. There’s nothing wrong with re-gifting, by the way, which is why I love to make a gift of booze. I often buy alcohol knowing that the person who receives it might very well give it to somebody else. That’s fine. It’s as good as giving away money. Of course we don't give away money because it looks like we didn't put any thought into the gift even though we don't put much thought into gift cards but alcohol isn't like that. Everybody likes to get alcohol as a gift.
So you don’t have to be intimidated by the selection of Christmas beers. It’s really hard to go wrong. That being said, there are some fantastic beers to keep an eye out for.
Great Lakes Brewing Company offers a great Christmas Ale. It’s one of the best on the market. Like most Christmas ales it has higher alcohol content, and it’s a little less bitter than the other beers they offer. Great Lakes does a good job of not over spicing this beer which is sometimes a problem with Christmas ales. The hops lend a nice scent of pine and impart a touch of citrus that pull the rest of this big-bodied beer together.
Sadly, Great Lakes is offered in a limited area so a lot of people never get to try this one.
Leave it to Rogue to satisfy national demand with a great beer. Santa’s Private Reserve is a bold red ale that has a nice malty body that has a profile like roasted chestnuts and a nice piney finish from the hops. When Christmas ales go wrong, and some do, they either go too heavy or too light on the hops. Rogue strikes a perfect balance here.
Southern Tier Brewing Company is also hard to find but if you can track their beers down you should try their imperial Christmas offering; Krampus. Lately Southern Tier has been drawing inspiration from obscure mythological resources and Krampus represents the dark half of Christmas lore. This beer, is a strong imperial Helles lager that packs a lot of flavor. It’s big and aggressively hopped.
If I’m being honest I think Southern Tier is reaching for marketing angles with the history/mythology gimmick but that doesn’t detract from the fact that they make outstanding beer and Krampus is no exception. If you can get a hold of a bottle you should open it and have a sip or two. Or the whole damned bottle. But be warned: this is an imperial beer which means it’s got a high alcohol content. That could be a good thing if you have to weather the holiday season with extended family.
I’ll be enjoying these beers in the days leading up to Christmas, when I buy beer as a gift I try to find things that are really unique. Unfortunately I can’t write about one that I was really excited to find until after Christmas because one of the four or five people who read this blog is getting it and that would spoil the surprise.
One that nobody is getting is a beer I was dying to try all summer long. Then it was released and bought up before I could try it. It’s a special beer from Dogfish Head called Theobroma. This is a beer based on a recipe that the crazy brewmasters at Dogfish Head believe was served to kings and sacrificed to the gods by ancient Mayans. The beer features ancho chilies and Central American cacao along with honey, annatto and traditional brewing ingredients.
I expected a dark and nutty beer that lacked subtlety. I thought it would be good because Dogfish Head doesn’t make beer that isn’t but I was looking for something really primal. What I got was a beer that is as nuanced and refined as it gets. Theobroma delivers a wine-like experience complete with the 10% alcohol content. Unlike other high ABV beers this is light and clean in flavor. It’s tart and smooth with delicately sweetness and just a tiny bite from the chilies. You can’t compare Theobroma to other beers because Theobroma really doesn’t fit into any modern beer category. It’s a beer in the broad sense of the term, but you can’t find anything like it. It’s not even fair to compare it to the other experimental brews that Dogfish Head has had the sheer audacity to put on the market. You’d be better off comparing Theobroma to a sparkling wine like a tart Cava or a citrusy Proseco.
I loved this beer from the first sip but it took me a couple of days to take it all in. I’ve been waiting for this beer for half 10 months and had an image in my head of what it would be like. That image was shattered from the first pour.
Theobroma is still tough to find. It was a limited release in 750 ml bottles. Several beer/wine people I talked to were perturbed that they couldn’t acquire more than a case at the time of the initial release and it might be a year or two before Dogfish Head beefs up the output to accommodate the surprising demand. It’s worth looking around, however. There are some stores, such as Whole Foods, that often move merchandise like wine and beer from one store where it might not be selling to one where it is. I think that’s how I got my hands on two bottles.
Yes, I still have a bottle on hand but it’s mine. I love giving beer as a gift but I have my limits. I might not open that one remaining bottle until I know I can get another. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it as a gift. Especially if you know somebody who likes it.
When you’re buying beer as a gift there’s really no wrong way to go. Buy me a case of Bud Light and I’ll graciously accept it. Gifts are always appreciated. At the very least I can keep it handy for gatherings where not everybody shares my taste in beer or, if I receive the gift early enough, I can re-gift it to somebody who will really enjoy it. There’s nothing wrong with re-gifting, by the way, which is why I love to make a gift of booze. I often buy alcohol knowing that the person who receives it might very well give it to somebody else. That’s fine. It’s as good as giving away money. Of course we don't give away money because it looks like we didn't put any thought into the gift even though we don't put much thought into gift cards but alcohol isn't like that. Everybody likes to get alcohol as a gift.
So you don’t have to be intimidated by the selection of Christmas beers. It’s really hard to go wrong. That being said, there are some fantastic beers to keep an eye out for.
Great Lakes Brewing Company offers a great Christmas Ale. It’s one of the best on the market. Like most Christmas ales it has higher alcohol content, and it’s a little less bitter than the other beers they offer. Great Lakes does a good job of not over spicing this beer which is sometimes a problem with Christmas ales. The hops lend a nice scent of pine and impart a touch of citrus that pull the rest of this big-bodied beer together.
Sadly, Great Lakes is offered in a limited area so a lot of people never get to try this one.
Leave it to Rogue to satisfy national demand with a great beer. Santa’s Private Reserve is a bold red ale that has a nice malty body that has a profile like roasted chestnuts and a nice piney finish from the hops. When Christmas ales go wrong, and some do, they either go too heavy or too light on the hops. Rogue strikes a perfect balance here.
Southern Tier Brewing Company is also hard to find but if you can track their beers down you should try their imperial Christmas offering; Krampus. Lately Southern Tier has been drawing inspiration from obscure mythological resources and Krampus represents the dark half of Christmas lore. This beer, is a strong imperial Helles lager that packs a lot of flavor. It’s big and aggressively hopped.
If I’m being honest I think Southern Tier is reaching for marketing angles with the history/mythology gimmick but that doesn’t detract from the fact that they make outstanding beer and Krampus is no exception. If you can get a hold of a bottle you should open it and have a sip or two. Or the whole damned bottle. But be warned: this is an imperial beer which means it’s got a high alcohol content. That could be a good thing if you have to weather the holiday season with extended family.
I’ll be enjoying these beers in the days leading up to Christmas, when I buy beer as a gift I try to find things that are really unique. Unfortunately I can’t write about one that I was really excited to find until after Christmas because one of the four or five people who read this blog is getting it and that would spoil the surprise.
One that nobody is getting is a beer I was dying to try all summer long. Then it was released and bought up before I could try it. It’s a special beer from Dogfish Head called Theobroma. This is a beer based on a recipe that the crazy brewmasters at Dogfish Head believe was served to kings and sacrificed to the gods by ancient Mayans. The beer features ancho chilies and Central American cacao along with honey, annatto and traditional brewing ingredients.
I expected a dark and nutty beer that lacked subtlety. I thought it would be good because Dogfish Head doesn’t make beer that isn’t but I was looking for something really primal. What I got was a beer that is as nuanced and refined as it gets. Theobroma delivers a wine-like experience complete with the 10% alcohol content. Unlike other high ABV beers this is light and clean in flavor. It’s tart and smooth with delicately sweetness and just a tiny bite from the chilies. You can’t compare Theobroma to other beers because Theobroma really doesn’t fit into any modern beer category. It’s a beer in the broad sense of the term, but you can’t find anything like it. It’s not even fair to compare it to the other experimental brews that Dogfish Head has had the sheer audacity to put on the market. You’d be better off comparing Theobroma to a sparkling wine like a tart Cava or a citrusy Proseco.
I loved this beer from the first sip but it took me a couple of days to take it all in. I’ve been waiting for this beer for half 10 months and had an image in my head of what it would be like. That image was shattered from the first pour.
Theobroma is still tough to find. It was a limited release in 750 ml bottles. Several beer/wine people I talked to were perturbed that they couldn’t acquire more than a case at the time of the initial release and it might be a year or two before Dogfish Head beefs up the output to accommodate the surprising demand. It’s worth looking around, however. There are some stores, such as Whole Foods, that often move merchandise like wine and beer from one store where it might not be selling to one where it is. I think that’s how I got my hands on two bottles.
Yes, I still have a bottle on hand but it’s mine. I love giving beer as a gift but I have my limits. I might not open that one remaining bottle until I know I can get another. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it as a gift. Especially if you know somebody who likes it.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
American Idiot
I hate to admit that I actually tried Budweiser’s American Ale. I did it at the behest of a gentleman who works for one of my favorite brewing companies here in Ohio. He insisted that I need to understand just how bad that beer is. Apparently the consensus among craft brewers is that this beer won’t steal business away from them at all. If anything it might embolden a handful of Budweiser fans to try a real craft beer.
Having sampled American Ale, I find that hard to believe. I’ve often said that there’s no such thing as bad beer. I’ve been wrong. Somehow the brilliant minds at the AB corporate office managed to make a beer that’s truly awful. This beer won't coax regular Bud-drinkers into the craft beer arena. It's just not true enough to the form.
The good news is that it’s cheap. I bought a 24 ounce bottle for just $1.49. The bad news is that I poured half of it out and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin. Hopefully the marketing guys at Sierra Nevada don’t read this: a 24 ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale retails for twice what American Ale goes for and it’s worth five times as much.
Mind you, SNPA is not the best pale ale on the market. It’s very good, but there are a number of beers I like better. I’d take both of Great Lakes Brewing Company’s offerings (Burning River and Commodore Perry IPA) over SNPA any day of the week and twice on Sundays, but SNPA is a really good beer and it’s widely available. I really like all of Sierra Nevada’s beers but I’m not biased toward them at all. I make the comparison because I know that’s the beer the buffoons and Budweiser had in mind when they formulated American Ale. So when I tell you I’d take one 12 ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale over a case of Budweiser American Ales, I’m not saying it because I’m beholden to the label. I have great respect for the company and what they've done, but I don't owe them anything...they just make a consistently good selection of craft beers that I can get my hands on easily.
American Ale is malty, but it’s not hopped very well. It tastes a bit like molasses and has a very flat finish. I’ve seen people publish tasting notes on this beer but I don’t know why. It’s not very inspired. It’s a little sweet and feels sticky. It was so un-enjoyable that I still wonder if I picked up a bad bottle. It just seemed like it wasn’t finished fermenting.
I knew this beer was going to be bad. I knew that AB would chicken out on the hops. When you compare what craft brewers put into their beers with the amount of hops commercial brewers use the difference is staggering. I’m sure bean counters and executive brewers thought that the recipe was off when they first looked at the hops bill and eventually the suits prevailed. The guys who were first contracted to come up with an American Ale probably walked off of the project.
Of course hops is only part of the problem. The beer lacks body as well. I don’t know if they used an abundance of corn and rice in this recipe and darkened the color with food dyes but it doesn’t seem like roasted barley was part of the process. I’ve got to believe that Budweiser’s take on American Ale came in with half the gravity of your typical craft-brewed pale ale.
The thing is I really made an effort to put my bias aside. I’ve made it clear that I have a beef with Budweiser but I left my grudges at the door when I tried this. It didn’t have to be lousy because I wasn’t going to drink it anyway. Even if, by some miracle, this beer tasted better than similar ales I still wouldn’t buy it. I support craft brewers because they are creative. I love trying new beers and craft brewers love to come up with more aggressive recipes. You’ve got to support that industry. It’s just a coincidence that the big commercial brewers can’t seem to concoct a good craft-like beer. I don’t have to hate them…they just make it so damned easy.
Coincidentally I sampled another mundane seasonal offering from AB. It was some sort of pumpkin spice beer that was on tap at a local bar. I tried a blind sample. I saw they had some sort of a pumpkin ale I’d not yet heard of so I tried it. It was watery and bland so I asked the bartender who made it and he confirmed my suspicions. AB tried to pull the same thing with a winter cask ale last year as well. If that beer actually saw the inside of a cask I’ll eat my shoes. I think they took Amber Bock and threw a pinch of nutmeg in it to make it seem Christmas-y. Maybe, just maybe, they threw some wood chips in the tanks that may or may not have been part of a cask at one time. I doubt they went that far.
So venture into this brave new world at your own risk. I’m quite certain that most of the people I know who read this blog won’t find American Ale the least bit drinkable but I’m sure you’ll try it just to see if it’s really that bad. Trust me, it is. I was surprised by how awful it was. Don’t spend money on it. See if your local bar will pour you a sample from the keg and minimize the misery. Then you can wash it down with something worthwhile. Of course, I fear that any bar that has this crap on tap probably won’t stock something redeeming. You might want to sneak a bottle of your own in. Don’t do it without protection. You won’t want this beer lingering on your palette any longer than it has to.
Having sampled American Ale, I find that hard to believe. I’ve often said that there’s no such thing as bad beer. I’ve been wrong. Somehow the brilliant minds at the AB corporate office managed to make a beer that’s truly awful. This beer won't coax regular Bud-drinkers into the craft beer arena. It's just not true enough to the form.
The good news is that it’s cheap. I bought a 24 ounce bottle for just $1.49. The bad news is that I poured half of it out and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin. Hopefully the marketing guys at Sierra Nevada don’t read this: a 24 ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale retails for twice what American Ale goes for and it’s worth five times as much.
Mind you, SNPA is not the best pale ale on the market. It’s very good, but there are a number of beers I like better. I’d take both of Great Lakes Brewing Company’s offerings (Burning River and Commodore Perry IPA) over SNPA any day of the week and twice on Sundays, but SNPA is a really good beer and it’s widely available. I really like all of Sierra Nevada’s beers but I’m not biased toward them at all. I make the comparison because I know that’s the beer the buffoons and Budweiser had in mind when they formulated American Ale. So when I tell you I’d take one 12 ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale over a case of Budweiser American Ales, I’m not saying it because I’m beholden to the label. I have great respect for the company and what they've done, but I don't owe them anything...they just make a consistently good selection of craft beers that I can get my hands on easily.
American Ale is malty, but it’s not hopped very well. It tastes a bit like molasses and has a very flat finish. I’ve seen people publish tasting notes on this beer but I don’t know why. It’s not very inspired. It’s a little sweet and feels sticky. It was so un-enjoyable that I still wonder if I picked up a bad bottle. It just seemed like it wasn’t finished fermenting.
I knew this beer was going to be bad. I knew that AB would chicken out on the hops. When you compare what craft brewers put into their beers with the amount of hops commercial brewers use the difference is staggering. I’m sure bean counters and executive brewers thought that the recipe was off when they first looked at the hops bill and eventually the suits prevailed. The guys who were first contracted to come up with an American Ale probably walked off of the project.
Of course hops is only part of the problem. The beer lacks body as well. I don’t know if they used an abundance of corn and rice in this recipe and darkened the color with food dyes but it doesn’t seem like roasted barley was part of the process. I’ve got to believe that Budweiser’s take on American Ale came in with half the gravity of your typical craft-brewed pale ale.
The thing is I really made an effort to put my bias aside. I’ve made it clear that I have a beef with Budweiser but I left my grudges at the door when I tried this. It didn’t have to be lousy because I wasn’t going to drink it anyway. Even if, by some miracle, this beer tasted better than similar ales I still wouldn’t buy it. I support craft brewers because they are creative. I love trying new beers and craft brewers love to come up with more aggressive recipes. You’ve got to support that industry. It’s just a coincidence that the big commercial brewers can’t seem to concoct a good craft-like beer. I don’t have to hate them…they just make it so damned easy.
Coincidentally I sampled another mundane seasonal offering from AB. It was some sort of pumpkin spice beer that was on tap at a local bar. I tried a blind sample. I saw they had some sort of a pumpkin ale I’d not yet heard of so I tried it. It was watery and bland so I asked the bartender who made it and he confirmed my suspicions. AB tried to pull the same thing with a winter cask ale last year as well. If that beer actually saw the inside of a cask I’ll eat my shoes. I think they took Amber Bock and threw a pinch of nutmeg in it to make it seem Christmas-y. Maybe, just maybe, they threw some wood chips in the tanks that may or may not have been part of a cask at one time. I doubt they went that far.
So venture into this brave new world at your own risk. I’m quite certain that most of the people I know who read this blog won’t find American Ale the least bit drinkable but I’m sure you’ll try it just to see if it’s really that bad. Trust me, it is. I was surprised by how awful it was. Don’t spend money on it. See if your local bar will pour you a sample from the keg and minimize the misery. Then you can wash it down with something worthwhile. Of course, I fear that any bar that has this crap on tap probably won’t stock something redeeming. You might want to sneak a bottle of your own in. Don’t do it without protection. You won’t want this beer lingering on your palette any longer than it has to.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Pumpkin Beers and Dead Guy Ales
Too much time has passed since my last review and that's unfortunate because I missed out on telling you about all the great Oktoberfest Beers. I'm a bad reviewer. Somebody should dock my pay.
Still, there's a lot of great beer to be had heading into Thanksgiving. You can still get your hands on a number of great pumpkin ales. A lot of people shy away from pumpkin beers because they're afraid that the taste is going to be too strong and sometimes you will run into a beer that's too thoroughly laced with cloves, nutmeg and pumpkin puree. That doesn't mean all pumpkin beers fall into this trap. In fact, most brewers have mastered this seasonal offering to the point where beer fans mark their calendars so they don't miss the release dates.
Dogfish Head makes one of the best and it's still available in most places. Punkin Ale is a smooth malty beer with brown sugar and pumpkin flavors. It's a basic pumpkin brew that doesn't overdo the spices normally associated with these beers. Punkin Ale is basically a nice strong brown ale that has a sweet nutty flavor imparted by pumpkins used in the brewing process. This beer goes perfectly with Thanksgiving dinner.
Southern Tier Brewing Company offers a bold imperial pumpkin ale known as Pumking. It's a big beer that comes in at 9% abv. That's a lot of heat for a beer but you wouldn't know it drinking this one. It's smooth and a little sweet. This beer is a little more assertively spiced than it's Dogfish Head counterpart but it's balanced nicely in this complex copper-hued ale. Pumking has a nice malty sweetness to it and it tastes a bit like pumpkin bread. An imperial ale might be a bit heavy to imbibe with Thanksgiving dinner but this beer would be a great substitution for that extra slice of pumpkin pie. It's a really interesting beer to drink because the flavors are so complex. Every time I drink it I find myself trying to identify certain notes. It's an enjoyable project that I'll look forward to completing over the next several years.
It's been 15 years since Rogue first offered the ubiquitous Dead Guy Ale, a maibock first brewed to honor the Day of the Dead celebration. Now, as if Dead Guy wasn't enough, Rogue has beefed up the recipe and offers Double Dead Guy Ale. This is a strong ale that brings a lot of flavor to the party. Roasted malts and and Cascade hops combine to blend flavors of caramel with notes of citrus. The beer finishes smoothly with hints of dark chocolate.
If you haven't had Dead Guy Ale yet Rogue would probably like to know what rock you crawled from under so they can find a distributor, but you don't have to feel obliged to work your way up. Rogue is an excellent brewer and Double Dead Guy is much more than just an extra strength version of their most popular beer. No prerequisites are required.
There you have it, several great beers to consider. I'm sorry for the delay between posts. I'll be back soon to outline Christmas Ales and some interesting beers for holiday gift giving.
Still, there's a lot of great beer to be had heading into Thanksgiving. You can still get your hands on a number of great pumpkin ales. A lot of people shy away from pumpkin beers because they're afraid that the taste is going to be too strong and sometimes you will run into a beer that's too thoroughly laced with cloves, nutmeg and pumpkin puree. That doesn't mean all pumpkin beers fall into this trap. In fact, most brewers have mastered this seasonal offering to the point where beer fans mark their calendars so they don't miss the release dates.
Dogfish Head makes one of the best and it's still available in most places. Punkin Ale is a smooth malty beer with brown sugar and pumpkin flavors. It's a basic pumpkin brew that doesn't overdo the spices normally associated with these beers. Punkin Ale is basically a nice strong brown ale that has a sweet nutty flavor imparted by pumpkins used in the brewing process. This beer goes perfectly with Thanksgiving dinner.
Southern Tier Brewing Company offers a bold imperial pumpkin ale known as Pumking. It's a big beer that comes in at 9% abv. That's a lot of heat for a beer but you wouldn't know it drinking this one. It's smooth and a little sweet. This beer is a little more assertively spiced than it's Dogfish Head counterpart but it's balanced nicely in this complex copper-hued ale. Pumking has a nice malty sweetness to it and it tastes a bit like pumpkin bread. An imperial ale might be a bit heavy to imbibe with Thanksgiving dinner but this beer would be a great substitution for that extra slice of pumpkin pie. It's a really interesting beer to drink because the flavors are so complex. Every time I drink it I find myself trying to identify certain notes. It's an enjoyable project that I'll look forward to completing over the next several years.
It's been 15 years since Rogue first offered the ubiquitous Dead Guy Ale, a maibock first brewed to honor the Day of the Dead celebration. Now, as if Dead Guy wasn't enough, Rogue has beefed up the recipe and offers Double Dead Guy Ale. This is a strong ale that brings a lot of flavor to the party. Roasted malts and and Cascade hops combine to blend flavors of caramel with notes of citrus. The beer finishes smoothly with hints of dark chocolate.
If you haven't had Dead Guy Ale yet Rogue would probably like to know what rock you crawled from under so they can find a distributor, but you don't have to feel obliged to work your way up. Rogue is an excellent brewer and Double Dead Guy is much more than just an extra strength version of their most popular beer. No prerequisites are required.
There you have it, several great beers to consider. I'm sorry for the delay between posts. I'll be back soon to outline Christmas Ales and some interesting beers for holiday gift giving.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Hit the Road, Bud
Budweiser has been promoting its latest entry into the American Beer Market: Budweiser American Ale. From what I can tell through my research this is going to be a knock off of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the granddaddy of the craft brewing craze.
It makes me sick.
Brewers like Sierra Nevada and the Boston Beer Company took big risks when they invested heavily in their craft beers and expanded their markets. Today there are certainly better beers to be had than Sam Adams and SNPA but you have to honor the courage and influence those beers have had. Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi started off as home brewers who launched a micro brewery in 1979 and Jim Koch worked hard to establish his Samuel Adams brand derived from his grandfather’s recipe. Both beers are explosions of malt and hops that are so assertive most beer drinkers are taken aback. It’s just too much beer for some people, which is why craft brewers, in spite of their tremendous creativity, hold such a tiny share of the market. Their following is loyal, but the market segment is small.
Anheuser Busch is not hurting for money. They’ve dominated the global beer market for decades. There are simply more people who enjoy their bastardized pilsner than there are people who enjoy a complex ale. That’s fine. I’m not going to rage against popular opinion. But over the years AB has taken cheap shots at craft brewers, the art of making a good ale and now, since they can’t convince craft beer fans to come back to Bud, they’ve opted to invade the craft beer market with their own entry.
I haven’t tried this beer. I thought about it because I try to review beers on this site but I can’t. Anheuser Busch has done nothing to advance the art of brewing. They don’t encourage home brewing like the craft brewers do. Jim Koch so admires home brewing he invites people to submit their best recipes to the Boston Beer Company to have it bottled and distributed nationally. Other craft brewers, like Rogue, offer home brew kits online so you can replicate your favorites in your own home. That’s what craft brewing is all about. It’s about loving beer, and the people who brew it. It’s about respecting other craft brewers.
Anheuser Busch would gleefully destroy the craft brew market. And that’s what American Ale is all about. Maybe a few Budweiser fans will try it and like it but the real target are all those beer snobs who spend $10-15 a six pack on craft beers.
American Ale. As if they invented the concept. It’s long been understood the quintessential American ale is the more complex version of pale ale crafted by our best and brightest microbrewers. Nobody in that market has the audacity to claim it as an original style but along comes Anheuser Busch and its marketing team. Now they claim they’ve created a new style. Yeah, after taking 8 years to reverse engineer Sierra Nevada’s flagship beer.
I’m positive I would find this beer lacking. AB always has some corporate hack doing something to render a style impotent and this won’t be an exception. I won’t review this beer, however, because I don’t want to spend one thin dime on this product. It’s shameless. It’s just rude. Budweiser stands for everything that is wrong with beer and I refuse to take part in their attempt to undo everything good about it. I love craft brews and I won’t stand by and watch the likes of AB invade their niche.
Where was Budweiser back in 1980 when all of this started? Now that there a lot of great independent brewers make a decent living selling great beer you want to come sniffing around? No thanks, Bud. Take your bottles full of corporate swill somewhere else. You’re not welcome here. Not now, not ever.
It makes me sick.
Brewers like Sierra Nevada and the Boston Beer Company took big risks when they invested heavily in their craft beers and expanded their markets. Today there are certainly better beers to be had than Sam Adams and SNPA but you have to honor the courage and influence those beers have had. Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi started off as home brewers who launched a micro brewery in 1979 and Jim Koch worked hard to establish his Samuel Adams brand derived from his grandfather’s recipe. Both beers are explosions of malt and hops that are so assertive most beer drinkers are taken aback. It’s just too much beer for some people, which is why craft brewers, in spite of their tremendous creativity, hold such a tiny share of the market. Their following is loyal, but the market segment is small.
Anheuser Busch is not hurting for money. They’ve dominated the global beer market for decades. There are simply more people who enjoy their bastardized pilsner than there are people who enjoy a complex ale. That’s fine. I’m not going to rage against popular opinion. But over the years AB has taken cheap shots at craft brewers, the art of making a good ale and now, since they can’t convince craft beer fans to come back to Bud, they’ve opted to invade the craft beer market with their own entry.
I haven’t tried this beer. I thought about it because I try to review beers on this site but I can’t. Anheuser Busch has done nothing to advance the art of brewing. They don’t encourage home brewing like the craft brewers do. Jim Koch so admires home brewing he invites people to submit their best recipes to the Boston Beer Company to have it bottled and distributed nationally. Other craft brewers, like Rogue, offer home brew kits online so you can replicate your favorites in your own home. That’s what craft brewing is all about. It’s about loving beer, and the people who brew it. It’s about respecting other craft brewers.
Anheuser Busch would gleefully destroy the craft brew market. And that’s what American Ale is all about. Maybe a few Budweiser fans will try it and like it but the real target are all those beer snobs who spend $10-15 a six pack on craft beers.
American Ale. As if they invented the concept. It’s long been understood the quintessential American ale is the more complex version of pale ale crafted by our best and brightest microbrewers. Nobody in that market has the audacity to claim it as an original style but along comes Anheuser Busch and its marketing team. Now they claim they’ve created a new style. Yeah, after taking 8 years to reverse engineer Sierra Nevada’s flagship beer.
I’m positive I would find this beer lacking. AB always has some corporate hack doing something to render a style impotent and this won’t be an exception. I won’t review this beer, however, because I don’t want to spend one thin dime on this product. It’s shameless. It’s just rude. Budweiser stands for everything that is wrong with beer and I refuse to take part in their attempt to undo everything good about it. I love craft brews and I won’t stand by and watch the likes of AB invade their niche.
Where was Budweiser back in 1980 when all of this started? Now that there a lot of great independent brewers make a decent living selling great beer you want to come sniffing around? No thanks, Bud. Take your bottles full of corporate swill somewhere else. You’re not welcome here. Not now, not ever.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Cans can
I believe that bottles are superior to cans and I'm not alone. However there are great arguments to be made in favor of cans. Cans allow ZERO exposure to light, they are lighter, consume less space and recycle more easily. Some even claim that cans offer a better seal. All these arguments make sense and being a green weenie I can back cans on the environmental argument alone.
It's hard to find good beer in cans. There are some decent European imports that are available in four packs featuring pint sized cans. Most of these cans contain a nitrogen widget that replicates a pub pour. If I'm being honest I'm not a big fan of nitrogen. I don't mind hand pulled beers but for some reason the nitrogen seems to mute some of the flavor profiles. Unless I'm drinking a cask conditioned stout, I like some carbonation. Maybe that's just me.
Domestically speaking, crap comes in cans. Bud, Coors, Miller, Iron City, Schlitz, Pabst. Bleh. No thanks. I don't know if it's the crappy beer or the can but often when I drink out of cans, which is a rare occasion, I get the sense of something metallic in the beer. It's almost as if the acid in the hops picks up a tinny flavor from the can. Now this might be because there isn't enough body in the beer to protect the hops or maybe the beer is in the can too long. Perhaps all the rice and corn used by the mega "brewers" is to blame. I'm not an expert on the subject I just know that this is what I taste. I'm happy to blame the beer, but I don't find mega brews nearly as objectionable when they come from a bottle or a keg. As objectionable. Budweiser still makes me want to punch somebody.
Not too long ago, I tried some beer from a can that was pretty damned good. In fact it was excellent beer. It was from a little brewing company in the Twin Cities knows as Surly.
Surly Brewing Company offers a number of really nice beers. I was particularly pleased with Furious which is an aggressively hopped ale featuring Golden Promise malt, a popular malt found in a number of premium Scotch Whiskeys. The beer is what you would get if a Scottish Ale hooked up with an IPA and had a bastard love child. It's sweet, it's bitter and doesn't always play well with the other kids. Go ahead and laugh but don't try to follow a Furious with something lighter like a wheat beer. You won't taste it.
Surly also makes a refreshing session beer called Bender. This is truly a blend of several styles with influences coming from brown ales, porters and traditional pale ales. It's got a lot going on and you'll want more. Fortunately it's not too high in alcohol at 5% ABV so you can indulge.
When I was up in the area I managed to sample a limited release of Bitter Brewer. This is an English Bitter that is dry hopped for 14 days. The dry hopping gives it more edge than you'd expect out of a traditional English Bitter which really drives home the point of Surly. These people don't follow rules. They brew beer they like and let you have some. If you don't like it, they don't really care.
All of the Surly beers are offered in cans and the can doesn't seem to diminish the quality of the beer. Part of that is because these beers don't stay on the shelf for long and part of it is because Surly doesn't hold back on the flavor. A four pack of 16 ounce cans is going to set you back about what you'd pay for a 12 pack of domestic swill but you get what you pay for. I'm sure the guys at surly would be happy to piss in a few cans and cut you a deal. It might taste better than Bud too.
Does this mean everybody should use cans? I don't know. Surly's beers aren't being shipped across the country the way Sierra Nevada's beers are. Surly doesn't even have a regional market like Great Lakes, so maybe cans aren't out of the woods yet...but if you happen to get up to the twins, go ahead and snap one of these guys open. You won't be disappointed.
It's hard to find good beer in cans. There are some decent European imports that are available in four packs featuring pint sized cans. Most of these cans contain a nitrogen widget that replicates a pub pour. If I'm being honest I'm not a big fan of nitrogen. I don't mind hand pulled beers but for some reason the nitrogen seems to mute some of the flavor profiles. Unless I'm drinking a cask conditioned stout, I like some carbonation. Maybe that's just me.
Domestically speaking, crap comes in cans. Bud, Coors, Miller, Iron City, Schlitz, Pabst. Bleh. No thanks. I don't know if it's the crappy beer or the can but often when I drink out of cans, which is a rare occasion, I get the sense of something metallic in the beer. It's almost as if the acid in the hops picks up a tinny flavor from the can. Now this might be because there isn't enough body in the beer to protect the hops or maybe the beer is in the can too long. Perhaps all the rice and corn used by the mega "brewers" is to blame. I'm not an expert on the subject I just know that this is what I taste. I'm happy to blame the beer, but I don't find mega brews nearly as objectionable when they come from a bottle or a keg. As objectionable. Budweiser still makes me want to punch somebody.
Not too long ago, I tried some beer from a can that was pretty damned good. In fact it was excellent beer. It was from a little brewing company in the Twin Cities knows as Surly.
Surly Brewing Company offers a number of really nice beers. I was particularly pleased with Furious which is an aggressively hopped ale featuring Golden Promise malt, a popular malt found in a number of premium Scotch Whiskeys. The beer is what you would get if a Scottish Ale hooked up with an IPA and had a bastard love child. It's sweet, it's bitter and doesn't always play well with the other kids. Go ahead and laugh but don't try to follow a Furious with something lighter like a wheat beer. You won't taste it.
Surly also makes a refreshing session beer called Bender. This is truly a blend of several styles with influences coming from brown ales, porters and traditional pale ales. It's got a lot going on and you'll want more. Fortunately it's not too high in alcohol at 5% ABV so you can indulge.
When I was up in the area I managed to sample a limited release of Bitter Brewer. This is an English Bitter that is dry hopped for 14 days. The dry hopping gives it more edge than you'd expect out of a traditional English Bitter which really drives home the point of Surly. These people don't follow rules. They brew beer they like and let you have some. If you don't like it, they don't really care.
All of the Surly beers are offered in cans and the can doesn't seem to diminish the quality of the beer. Part of that is because these beers don't stay on the shelf for long and part of it is because Surly doesn't hold back on the flavor. A four pack of 16 ounce cans is going to set you back about what you'd pay for a 12 pack of domestic swill but you get what you pay for. I'm sure the guys at surly would be happy to piss in a few cans and cut you a deal. It might taste better than Bud too.
Does this mean everybody should use cans? I don't know. Surly's beers aren't being shipped across the country the way Sierra Nevada's beers are. Surly doesn't even have a regional market like Great Lakes, so maybe cans aren't out of the woods yet...but if you happen to get up to the twins, go ahead and snap one of these guys open. You won't be disappointed.
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