AN UNLUCKY LIGHTNING STRIKE

It happened a few days after the Super Bowl. There were signs and omens that Sunday, when the overwhelming rush of corporate greed flooded the televisions across the land with hype that went beyond hype in its attempt to create a mythology that could justify all the gastronomic over indulgence that went on all day, awaiting the start of the Big Event that occurred sometime around 6:30 pm, EST.
I had a job to do. To watch the national roll out of Budweiser Black Crown in a coveted ad time spot during the game. Some 6% swill thought up by the enterprising folks at A-B Inbev, aimed at that very important 21 to 34 year old demographic. But I was not drinking any kind of beer. In fact, I had not touched beer for days. I had what I thought was a touch of the flu, if only that had turned out to be the case!
The truth was, I had contracted a virus, via an injury in my right toe that lead to a full diabetic attack that caused gangrene, and lead to my toe to fall off a few days later. Emergency surgery ensued, and with the skills of gifted podiatrists, 97% of my foot was saved. Although I was in a state of total delusion for nearly a month, during my two months in hospital, where the kind and patient dedicated workers at the Drake Center went about the slow arduous task of repairing a broken human being who, in the beginning stages, was very close to death.
I did not have time to think about beer, although during this extended stay, nurses, aides, and doctors became aware of my 18 years as a professional beer writer, which eventually lead to a therapist who asked me what was my favourite beer?  Well after sampling many thousands of beers, this is a question that has no answer. Although this was my reply:
“If I appear dead, make sure I am by putting a glass of Aventinus under my nose. The aroma of that magnificent weizen dopplebock could surely revive me.”
What a heavy time period this is for me. Still recovering, I am at least back home, where I await the full repair of my right foot, so I can walk again, minus a toe. As the great Van Morrison once said in Till We Get The Healing Done:  Till You Deal With The Poison Inside, Sometimes You Got To Just Sit Down And Cry.

 

Amen to that brothers and sisters, amen to that.

The Return Of New Albion Ale

To put it in the chef’s language: this is a beer of love moment. Created with thoughtful respect for brewing tradition, by none other than Jim Koch of Samuel Adams, for the pioneering efforts of microbrewer Jack McAuliffe, founder of the short lived New Albion Brewing Company, credited for starting up artisan brewing in the United States, which, in the nearly 40 years since, has blossomed into a full scale industry. But this was not the case in those days, when there were only 44 breweries in the entire country, and small scale brewing equipment did not exist. Obstacles that made Mr. McAuliffe not only craft his beer, but the tools required to produce it.
Much of this is being written about. There are videos of the resurrection of this recipe at the Boston Beer Company, where the retired pioneer brewer shows Jim Koch an original label bottle, that has no government warning on it. Luckily, the original yeast strain has been preserved from that time, which makes me wonder: is this the yeast used in Ballantine Ale?
Tasting this beer is a reminder that the struggle to make flavorful beer is no accident. A small group of individuals were determined to not live out their days drinking beer without character. That determination continues to expand.
As for this revival, the beer itself is remarkable for its simplicity. Using only cascade hops, this pale (as in clear golden colour) ale has a nutty, honey note that is gentle and very drinkable. Quite subtle, compared to the hop bomb creations of this century, but so what? This was good drinking beer without any pretension, in an era when such creations were very difficult to find.
My advice, for whatever it is worth, is to try and see if you enjoy this ale. Putting aside its historical significance, and damn it, just drink this ale. Cheers!

Out From The Old, Into The New

I feel fortunate that when I first secured a job as a beer writer, it was before the Internet and the ridiculous seriousness of the craft beer community, where it seems that people have suddenly discovered that the beer in the bottle or can does not come from the geographic location that the brewery is famous for. Thus Samuel Adams does make beer in Boston, but also in places like here in Cincinnati. The same can be said of so many other craft brewers. Perhaps what might be more helpful, is an acknowledgement of all the regional breweries who have taken on the contracted task of making those recipes into reality.
Another part of this craft equation I find hard to swallow is the idea that if you are a successful brewing operation, expansion means you get drummed out of the exclusive mickey mouse club of craft breweries. Thus, illustrious and historic breweries are deemed not worthy of the rather silly moniker, sometimes for being successful and sometimes for making recipes using those dreaded adjunct grains which were a vital part of making enough beer to quench the thirst of an expanding nation. Ignoring the fact that beer, has always been a drink for all the people, some craft beer enthusiasts work diligently to transform this ancient beverage into a type of economically driven snob winery. The recent release of certain monastery ales from Belgium is a good case in point: standing in line for hours for a chance to purchase some brew that the self appointed authorities at Rate Beer or Beer Advocate claim to be the best beer in the world creates a consumerist-slave dynamic, that has all the redeeming qualities of camping out, in order to purchase the latest Apple gadget. This most certainly, is not what the greatness of beer is all about.
Because I started my study of beer before a lot of this foolery, I was able to meet the beers half way when sampling without all the designations as to what I was experiencing. It was as simple as trying the beers to see if you like them. Not what some certified expert  (I have to laugh) tells you to be true. I am thankful to have lived through a time when micro brewery was the hip phrase of the day, but even that was basically meaningless. But the regional breweries were vital then, just as they are now.

Moving into this new year, the giant brewery portfolio known as A-B InBev has decided it seems, in their quest to capture the lion’s share of the 21-34 market, that anything with a 6% alcohol content should have something to do with the colour black. Therefore a television add for Budweiser Black Crown will appear during the broadcast of the Super Bowl. Much like last year’s Bud Light Platinum which proved that putting a 6% version of Bud Light in a cobalt blue glass bottle was actually pay dirt. So I was not surprised that the recent release of Beck’s Sapphire involved a 2 year development of a black glass bottle to hold the 6% reinheitsgebot creation that makes diligent use of the modern German aromatic saphir hops to produce a rather one dimensional lager that just might appeal to the same folks who enjoy Bud Light Platinum.

Another brewery operation that has been criticized, for not making beer in their home operation of Hawaii, is the Kona Brewing Company, which recently has had a national roll out of their portfolio, producing beer as far east as Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Keeping in line this 6% alcohol by volume theme, I chose to sample their Fire Rock Pale Ale a copper coloured malty recipe with plenty of hops for support. This is a solid ale with a malty palate and a dry finish. In a word: good.

Lastly, I recently received a bottle of Shiner Prickly Pear Lager from a Shiner Family Pack, and discovered an eccentric beer, first released last summer, that is a love it or hate it creation from the Spoetzl Brewery. Like their unique Holiday Cheer (that one brewed with peaches and pecans), Prickly Pear makes use of native Texas Cactus in a very original and unusual way. Fruity to the point of having a grape like note, this recipe seems to validate the late television chef Justin Wilson’s description of beer as “soda pop with foam on top”. Some will like this odd beer, others will not. I like this beer. As the label says: Drink One Down! End Your Drought!

When St. Nikolaus Visits Pittsburg

It was indeed bittersweet, but nevertheless a joy, to have return Pennsylvania Brewing Company’s St. Nikolaus Bock Bier in time for St. Nicholas Feast Day, a traditional starting point for the Christmas holiday season, and as the patron saint of brewers, is a celebration I will never fail to acknowledge. For this is a living, very tasty tribute to a great Holiday tradition, one I first encountered in 1986, when I first tasted Wurzburger Holiday Bier, the great Bavarian Christmas dopplebock created in 1643.
But what makes Penn Brewery’s bock bier’s timely appearance bittersweet, is the rocky road Penn Brewery has traveled to arrive at this joyous moment. Founded in 1986, Penn Brewery was revival of the brewing roots laid down by the Eberhart & Ober (E&O) families.
First having their traditional German origin recipes contract brewed by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and Jones Brewing Company. They then became Pennsylvania’s first tied house since prohibition, when they created their brewery and restaurant  at the old E&O building site. Business matters became shaky, so much so that by 2008, a private equity firm took a majority stake in the enterprise, who promptly closed the restaurant and brewing operations, and contracted out the remaining beers, with less attention to quality control.
Fortunately, (by Saint Nicholas speed if you will) a group of local investors bought the brewery back in 2009, and by 2010, the brewery and restaurant had returned. Which is a very good development for folks who enjoy delicious, high quality beer.
Which brings me to the wassail side of this story. Spiced ale, as most conscious beer seekers know, has become a gigantic portion of the holiday offerings from many breweries. And this covers quite a range of approaches: from over-the-top, big spiced boozy affairs, to multi-layered complexities of medium strength. But how fortunate that this year, I was able to try Penn Brewery’s Nut Roll Ale a subtly spiced nut brown ale that is an absolute pleasure to drink. A doughy, Christmas pretzel of a beer that is spice festive without being overbearing.
Lastly, there is the matter of Penn Brewery’s St. Nikolaus Bock Bier Brewer’s Reserve 2012 The dopplebock version of their Christmas bier. Here their great Christmas bock acquires a depth and smoothness that should be expected from something designated as Brewer’s Reserve. A malty backbone of an iron-like strength gives this lager the kind of depth usually associated with Imperial Stout or Barleywine. But because this is extensively aged bottom fermented bock, their is a smoothness that has to be consumed to be believe. Easily, this is one of the best beers in the United States.
So up on the housetop, click click click… down through the Pittsburgh chimney comes good Saint Nik!

BITTER BREW: A Review

In William Knoedelseder’s Bitter Brew, The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s Kings of Beer, I read a very interesting account of the Busch family dynasty, from its urban pioneer beginnings to the corporate behemoth that eventually succumbed to the unrelenting desires of global capitalism. At times an utterly fascinating account, William Knoedelseder has peppered his text with vignettes worthy of a movie. Here is where you learn that August “Gussie” Busch Jr. had to shoot a red deer once bottle fed by his wife Trudy, when the fully grown deer known as Ike was in the middle of rutting season, and “had his magnificent head mounted on the wall in the gunroom.”
And there is no doubt that this is an American family biographic portrait, with plenty of lust for power, both financial and sexual, along with all those other human foibles, now commonly called issues by the pop-psychology crowd. Desires for parental approval and vindictive revenge and all bound together by an allegiance to guns.
The more examinations of the Busch dynasty written, the more it becomes apparent that this now considered defunct model of a company town was inseparable from upheavals in American society. Here it is said that when Gussie Busch bought the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, he wanted it integrated, so as to not offend his African-American, Budweiser drinking customers. For the so-called Alpha Busch, it was all about making friends and selling more beer and everything else would fall into place.
Perhaps it should not be surprising that the Busch family celebrated Saint Nicholas Day (December 6), a Christmas holiday almost completely forgotten in the United States, but recognized throughout the world as the patron saint of brewers, sailors and children. It was on such a day in 1974, that tragedy struck Gussie’s eleventh child Christina in a fatal auto accident that concluded with a ventilator being shut off on December 17.
Knoedelseder accounts that this was the event that broke the Gussie Busch leadership hold at Anheuser-Busch. Not long after this, August III, Gussie’s son pushed the alpha Busch out. It is interesting that in the nepotism of A-B leadership, each Busch had a unique set of challenges to the company’s survival. For August A. it was the German phobia of World War I and the great cultural destroyer of Prohibition. For Gussie, it was rebounding from the Great Depression and staying on top of a post World War II drinking public. For August III it was the popularity of Miller Lite, which caught them completely off guard. For August IV it was transnational global business, that the party animal heir apparent, was totally unequipped for. This last of the Beer Kings saw Anheuser-Busch become a wholly owned subsidiary of InBev, a capital driven portfolio of brewing companies, who like Gordon Gecko in the movie Wall Street, create nothing but simply own.

                   Some Interesting Sentences

There is a remarkable passage in Bitter Brew, when William Knoedelseder describes the early actions of Adolphus Busch that eventually would lead to a business empire:

“One of the first things he did as president of his own brewery was to acquire, through a close friend and local restaurant owner named Carl Conrad, the recipe for a beer that for years had been produced by monks in a small Bohemian village named Budweis. The crisp pale lager was known in the region as Budweiser.“

Too many modern craft beer enthusiasts are unaware of A-B’s innovative contributions. Take Budweiser, although it is often dismissed as a bland adjunct lager. It nevertheless a beer brewed in a time-honored method. Compare it to the chemical infused soup concocted by Schlitz in the 1970′s, where the term knock off took on an entirely new, unwelcome meaning.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

The 38th edition of Anchor’s “Our Special Ale” has the familiar very dark brown coloured pour with the signature spruce-pine essence in the nose, that I first encountered 21 years ago in the 17th edition. Variations on this Christmas wassail recipe have produced some memorable versions (the 1995 edition immediately comes to mind). But there is talk that Anchor may discontinue the wassail tradition after this year. I first heard of this 2 years ago, when a trade representative from Anchor told me that the brewers felt the parameters of the style had been fully reached. Which is really not such a shock when you consider the history of “Our Special Ale”, where the first few versions contained no spices at all.
This 38th edition of their Christmas ale incorporates all the elements that make “Our Special Ale” the legendary holiday brew that it is. Here you’ll find the medium to fully body, the incredible flavor complexity, with layer after layer of warming, if not downright toasty notes, all presented in a medium strength (5.5%) format.
It is a kind of annual pilgrimage to seek out this classic American wassail. If this truly is the last version, the 38th is a glorious departure.

Although more attention is focused on Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn Winter Ale should not be overlooked. A delicious tribute to the power of Maris Otter malt, this is a new world take on the Scottish wee heavy style, with all the nutritional goodness associated with it. Expertly made for Brooklyn by the Matt Brewing Company in Utica, New York.

This truly great English style, old winter Holiday ale, is Avery Brewing Company’s proofthat spices are unnecessary when five speciality malts are combined with expert hops support, to produce an incredibly rich flavor profile where notes of mocha, hazelnut, caramel, chocolate and toffee, are presented in a full strength (8.3%… yeah, it is!) format. A great American ale. It is said to be cellarable for 3 plus years. But why bother with that? A fresh bottle of Old Jubilation is one for the ages.

When Julebryg Abounds

I was recently asked: What is Holiday beer? My only answer was: Whatever the brewers at a brewery decide. Which is the holiday season truth of it. Time was, a few decades ago, holiday beer or bier was usually considered to be a Christmas bock, or an old (or olde) English winter ale, or a celebratory spiced ale known as Wassail. But then the explosive growth in artisan recipes has led to many different brewing styles to be considered: from black bier, porter, stout, IPA, and all manifestations in-between.
Take for example Leinenkugel’s Snowdrift Vanilla Porter. I shared a six pack with a group of non-craft brew seekers, outside on a chilly November evening, which they drank straight from their bottles, glad that the Leinie’s came with a twist off cap.
Call it my research group, but these folks who drink beer with the only criteria that it be cold, liked the Snowdrift Vanilla Porter, which in that drinking context, seemed richly sweet and boozy, even though it is only a 6% brew. A more formal tasting later (inside and poured into a glass) revealed a Snowdrift that was nuanced, with vanilla and malts combined to create various chocolate notes, but still somewhat sweet, without being overbearing.
Then there is the intense Wassail approach that has become somewhat popular on the American brewing scene. Southern Tier Brewing Company’s 2XMAS Aleis a good example. A dark, amber- brown coloured ale, this is a spicy and boozy production, especially if served at American ice cold temperature. Is there balance here? No, its more of a conglomerate battle of spices and malts, with hops serving as a reconciliation, in the long, somewhat dry finish. Strong and flavorful, with subtlety giving way for intensity.

Which is quite a contrast to Ohio’s beloved Great Lakes Christmas Ale a magical combination of spices with honey, that creates a flavor profile that seems to press the buttons of Holiday consciousness from Christmases past. A strong 7.5% ale where all alcohol mechanics are completely hidden. It is not surprising that this beer is loved by drinkers of spirits of many stripes.

Across the Atlantic, at St. James Gate, Dublin, Ireland, there is Arthur Guinness Generous Ale A traditional Holiday Amber style ale where the interplay of barley and hops are given a winter body context that finishes dry.

For the beer doctor, the return of beloved holiday recipes is always a welcome sight. Such is the case with the very tasty brown ale known as Smuttynose Winter Ale   with its rich malty, chocolatey, nutty approach, which serves as a beautiful reminder that the holiday season should be a joyous occasion indeed.