Much has happened since neglecting my favorite web site, due to crazy local events. I refuse to bore you with those details, so let me get to the subject at hand: Beer!
I am sure by now almost everybody has tasted their fall marzen, or what is commonly called Oktoberfest. I usually sample as many of these as possible, but this year I slacked off a bit, but still had time to try the Kostritzer version from the black bier people in Germany. A change of pace from the caramel malt laden versions around, like Samuel Adams Octoberfest.
But the caramel malt profile has become synonymous with autumn beers in the United States. As the weather turns cooler the body has a need for more malts, which makes super hop productions seem out of season for the moment.
Since it is autumn and we are rapidly moving towards Halloween, I do want to mention one of my favorite seasonal productions, that being Saranac Pumpkin Ale.
Many compare this beer to pumpkin pie, although I do not eat pumpkin pie as a rule. No, what I like about this pumpkin ale is the recipe. I prefer it over Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road, which Matt Brewing does the contract brewing for.
About a month ago I attended a distributor trade show where Rochester, New York brewer Dundee had samples of their Oktoberfest. A very good take on the style, that is not as widely distributed as it should.
I also got to sample Sierra-Nevada’s Chico Estate. A complete “in-house” brew, using hops grown by the brewery. It was quite good, but time limitations prevented the kind of serious, sit down contemplation this smooth ale demanded.
At the very same show (hell, it might as well been called a party) the Schlitz Gusto folks were in full promotional mode. Schlitz Gusto is the trade book name for the revived early 1960’s formula of Schlitz, before the marketing geniuses came up with the idea of tweaking the recipe, to supposedly produce more, while using less ingredients. That lead to the ultimate disaster where Schlitz, the number one beer in America since World War II, lost its market dominance to Budweiser, and never gained it back. As a kid, I heard beer drinking adults refer to Schlitz as “Shits” when the reformulated suds turned people away in droves.
But corporate amnesia was in full play this evening. Like Microsoft wanting you to buy 7 and forget all about something once known as Vista, the Schlitz Gusto had not only tied in to their daddy or granddaddy’s beer, with its Schlitz classic logo, they even had buttons promoting it as the beer of choice for the 1969 Woodstock music festival.
I also had to marvel at the riffs being used by the sales representative. Not only was he promoting Schlitz with quite a bit of gusto, he also had on hand their strong (8.5%) malt liquor, which he made a distinction that it was not malt liquor (which is in fact, a rather ambiguous term) but a high gravity lager.
Which was also in full play at this trade show, the distinction between craft, regional retro and corporate has becomes pretty much of a blur. I know the so-called craft brewers want to seperate themselves from the rest of the brewing industry, but is that actually possible, or is it by now, just another marketing ploy? I mean after trying Samuel Adams Coastal Wheat, how is it different than other big brewer’s wheat productions? From Coors’ Blue Moon to Bud Light Golden Wheat?
As I stated in a previous post, the recipe is the final deciding factor. Consolidation of brewing interests can reek havoc on a beloved brew. Take what A-B Inbev as done to the venerable Bass Ale. Corporate concerns have forgotten all about the character of this famous ale, that once upon a time, in Burton-On-Trent England, was brewed with gypsum mineral rich water that provided a somewhat chalky but delicious finish. None of that is present in the concoction now sold as Bass.
Luckily, some recipes have not been changed, or in rare cases, actually improved. Two of the early winter arrivals are outstanding: Avery’s Old Jubilation Ale and Flying Dog’s K-9. Both of these examples show that if you are going to fork out some serious money for a six pack of beer, it had better be worth it. In the case of these two, I would say it is.
As always my only prayer is thank you.

Fifteen years ago when the craft brew world was starting to go into orbit, few at the time would have imagined that the orbit is permanent, or L5 as they say. Recently sampling  Great Lakes Grassroots Ale, I was struck by the fact a brewery located in Cleveland, Ohio could produce an herbal farmhouse style of ale, found in Belgian and French farms, and somewhat rare, even in their countries of origin. Mind you, it is not my favorite beer, but the Belgian yeast strain, combined with the herbs, keep this in authentic context. On the bottle’s label, it is referred to as a mild ale, which when you see that it is 6.2% abv, they are using the term mild in the Belgian sense of the word. In British vocabulary this ale would be deemed strong.
But there is certainly something to be said about sitting in the backyard, on one of the warmest days so far this year, amidst abundant foliage and sunlight, and pouring this beautiful golden ale into what could be rightfully called a performance ale glass,  which exhibits this beer in all its saison glory.

Brewers in the United States are very interested in all different styles of beer. Take Andygator from The Abita Brewing Company in Louisiana. A big southern take on the traditional German Mai bock. Packaged into a 22oz bottle (a bomber as the beer crowd calls it) this 8% golden boy, is most definitely a bottle for two. If you open this while alone, well its time to get happy and responisble ( by not performing any tasks that require responsibility). Time to sit back and enjoy the malty golden nectar.
Which brings me to a point I would like to make. As The Beer Doctor, I was schooled in tasting by Beer Hound James D. Robertson, who taught me as a taster, its my job to meet any beer’s recipe halfway. In other words, if I am sampling a beer brewed with corn grits, say Straub or Pabst for example, I am not going to compare it with an all malt recipe. To say that beers made with adjunct grains are inferior is to deny the history of brewing (especially in the United States) that brought them about. Whether it is macrobrews or craft brewed, these marketing terms are incredibly overrated, because in truth, it is the recipe that counts, and how it is put into production. Of course branding has something to say, when it comes to satisfying the ticklish consumer palate. That is why Heineken Lager is sold in green bottles. Why Corona is sold as some fantasy beach vacation, rather than the dull migrant cooler that it actually is. Stella Artois is another marketing coup, taking a rather common table lager from Belgium, and making it “Reassuringly Expensive” as it was touted in England up until a couple of years ago.
The price of beer is often used as a way to determine the quality of the beer. After many years in the trenches, so to speak, I can assure the dear reader that this is not so. But people believe what they want to believe, so I am not at all surprised  when I observe someone forking out serious dough, for a six pack of something I would consider not worth buying at half the prize. Such is essential human freedom, and bless us all for deciding what each of us  wants to drink.
The recipe is the thing that will catch the conscience of The Beer Doctor. Whether it is new world or old world or downright acrchaic (such as brew lagered for months in stone caves). If it tastes good or interesting, it is going to be counted. Cheers!

This is a story about baseball and beer. Okay, it is not about any ballpark, since I don’t have the scratch to throw away on that. This is about a few carefree (mindless?) hours watching a televised baseball game, from an air conditioned beer cave basement, complete with a forty year old refrigerator that I swear, will continue its chilling function, as long as there is electricity.
Now if the game being televised is the Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Field, advance planning requires that I travel to place where I can obtain Heileman’s Old Style, the unofficial but nevertheless, the beer of the Chicago Cubs. But since planning is not always in place, and I seek a beer within very short walking distance, InBev’s Labatt Blue is usually the alternative. But on the night of the all-star game, they were completly sold out. The store’s owner put forth another solution:
“How about some Budweiser? For the Beer Doctor I have 18 bottles for eight dollars.”
$8 ? I thought, even with states taxes that is less than $8.60 !
Sold I said and buy it I did. This proved to be a huge mistake.
I have not tasted a Budweiser in 9 years. The last six pack was their millennium edition, during a Monday night NFL game. It was pretty bloody awful.
This time, with a “born on” date of May 30, these bottles were well within their 110 day window for freshness. The first thing I noticed was the colour. It was more golden than it was 9 years previous. The nose too seemed a bit more malty. As to the taste…
A bland refreshing coldness is the gist of it. Even the one time cloying sweet presence of rice seems to have vanished.
Suddenly I remembered someone had left a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon in the fridge. I thought, it is time to do a taste test, reviving the clash of the titans that occurred back in 1893.
Anyone who wants to know more about this history should take a look at Maureen Ogle’s Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer.
There has been a fascination with pilsner style beers ever since they were introduced. Part of this was due to an expansion of the working class, who saw for the first time, to order a golden coloured carbonated drink that aesthetically competed with upper crust champagne. So vitally important that the beer be not only golden but clear. This is what lead Anheuser-Busch to use beechwood strips during fermentation, to collect those unsightly particles that would still be floating around. Their discovery of using rice as an adjunct grain proved to be a goldmine to this very day. They also started bottling Budweiser to make sure you got the Genuine article. Soon there after, they began shipping the beer cold, using refrigerated railroad cars.
Leaving the land of rice for corn, Pabst Blue Ribbon pours with substantial foam. There is some flavor and it has more of a finish. As in 1893, Pabst beats Bud. In fact that is where the self-congratulatory Blue Ribbon comes from.
Perceptions can be very fickle. I remember a time when yuppies, or at least people who thought of themselves that way, frowned upon Budweiser as “the working man’s beer”. For them, the beer you preferred was Miller High Life in returnable long neck bottles. Pabst, voted America’s best in 1893 (according to Pabst) was now relegated to the bottom of the hillbilly ladder. But times changed, and Bud, with the help of Hollywood, soon became hip again. Pabst enjoyed a resurgence as the rockabilly beer of choice.
All of this macro-brewed investigation has left me nearly exhausted. The night of the all-star game, which went late into extra innings, all I had were these bottles of Bud, so bland that they became undrinkable, no matter how cold or what glass was used. Even drinking it straight from the long neck just didn’t cut it. Cold water was a welcome alternative.
This brings up something I want to state, because, as the Beer Doctor it needs to be said. Four of the worst beers in the world. They are: Budweiser, Warsteinner, Stela Artois, and Corona. Which makes me appreciate the efforts by those U.S. brewers who take the flavor of  their beers seriously.
I can not name them all, but some of The Best Brerwers In The United States, would surely include The Boston Beer Company, The Anchor Brewing Co., Penn Brewing, and F.X. Matt. The recent controversy over InBev’s purchase of Anheuser-Busch, brought charges that foreign ownership would prompt them to change Budweiser’s recipe. Considering the marketing driven swill that nearly everyone embraces, I think they’ll keep it cold and fresh and lousy, the way it is suppose to be.
I was recently asked, what is the great national lager. I would have to say Samuel Adams Boston Lager. What a surprise to the Bud light crowd, a beer with actual flavor.
Peace and thank you.

This is all starting to sound like a suspense novel. Now Washington is involved. InBev has hired a posse of lobbyists. Trent Lott is on board. So is Senator John Breaux of Louisiana. The Glover Park Group, a media firm known to be connected with Senator Clinton, has been tapped for consultation. Carlos Brito is taking no chances, well aware that Anheuser-Busch spent over $3 million in lobbying in 2007. This year their PAC and employees have already given over $1 million in political contributions. The foxes are scrambling to see who gets the big hen house, with all those prized eggs.
Senator Kit Bond had another take. He told Carlos Brito: “This Bud is not for you.”  The Missouri Senator has concerns he says, for the line workers, the farmers, the suppliers, and the St. Louis community in general. It does not matter who InBev hires, he is against the deal and that’s that.
But is it? What about the Oracle? What Oracle? Why the Oracle of Omaha of course. I’m talking about Big Daddy Warren G. Buffett, owner of 35.3 million shares of A-B stock, or 4.9% of the company. According to the Dutch newspaper De Standard, the Oracle is on board with the acquisition. If this is the case, having the Oracle’s blessing may very well mean the purchase will become a reality. 35.3 million shares at $65 a share. Go ahead, don’t be afraid of the math.
Yikes! All this monumental fuss over a very pedestrian beer. It is enough to drive you to drinking… water.

The news announced: “an all cash takeover at $47 billion”, now that sum is reported to be $47.5 billion. I am speaking of course of the buyout of Anheuser-Busch (ticker symbol: BUD) by the Belgian based brewing conglomerate known as InBev.  According to Theresa Howard of USA Today, it just might be that InBev needs to bed A-B, more than vice versa. It is being reported that the hydra-headed brewing concern has squeezed all of the profit margins from their existing portfolio. Sales in Latin America, their biggest market, are now flat. The old adage, get bigger or get out, seems to apply here. InBev’s CEO, Carlos Brito reveals their desire by promising to keep A-B’s headquarters in Saint Louis, along with continuing operations in their 12 regional breweries.
But then, there is the whole matter of marketing, especially sports marketing. InBev known in big business circles for its cost cutting, will certainly change Budweiser’s advertising, what beverage industry analyst, Tom Pirko calls “Anheuser’s carpet-bombing approach”.
Anheuser-Busch, known for making The King Of Beers, is most certainly the king of advertising, spending $475 million in the United States, with $20 million going for TV spots on the Super Bowl. Contrast that with InBev, whose brands include Bass, Beck’s, Stella Artois, spent $58 million in the United States.
Many analysts believe that InBev will cut advertising expenditures and fight competition by cutting prices (so that’s why that 24 ounce Labatt’s costs one dollar!).
Of course there is much controversy in all of this. Objections to the purchase, on patriotic grounds seem disingenuous at best. Since 1852, Anheuser-Busch has been an American-owned and operated business. In addition to great tasting beer, the company has provided thousands of domestic jobs as well as millions of dollars in charitable donations to nonprofit organizations and disaster relief, and has a long history of environmental awareness. Anheuser-Busch is a huge supporter of our military and their families both here and abroad… so intones savebudweiser.com, a web site created to cancel the purchase. Throwing in the military line seems to imply that to be bought by the Belgium based company is somewhat an act of surrender. But what is truly suspect on savebudweiser.com, is when it declares, We don’t want another American icon turned over to a foreign company; we want the motto to remain… The Great American Lager. Funny they just happened to use the latest marketing motto to express their nationalistic fervor. Instead how about “A Bud Never Meets A Stranger” or “When You Say Budweiser, You Said It All” or “For All You Do, This Bud’s For You!”
Putting aside the emotional jingoism, consolidation has been going on in the beer industry for a long time. From a Pitt News editorial on May 24, 2006: Last Friday, Rolling Rock said goodbye to its home in Latrobe. The recipe and label of the green-bottled brew were purchased for $82 million by Anheuser-Busch. Which says nothing of Bud’s relationship with Japan’s Kirin Brewery. Throw in the marketing arrangements with Tsing Tao in China, and what we have here is an American based company with very global concerns.
And then, there are always those people who simply can not stand Buweiser, who couldn’t care less. I find their posts on beer sites: The man who drank 3 Buds at a wedding reception, which produced his first hangover in twenty years. The people who love the Bell’s Brewery, and that’s that. (Well, maybe not, Carlos Brito may one day make Larry Bell an offer he simply can not refuse.)
“Anheuser-Bush is just about as American as can be” said one construction manager, “I just don’t like them being gone and owned by a foreign company.”  I am sure the people of Latrobe, Pennsylvania felt likewise, when the 250 jobs and $300 thosand property taxes evaporated when Anheuser-Busch bought the brand and pulled up stakes… from the glass lined tanks of Newark, New Jersey?
Money does not talk, it screams. The possibility of $70 dollars a share (ticker symbol: BUD) may be impossible to resist.