It’s Got Foam
29 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Alstrom Brothers, aluminum cans, american lager, beer, Rodenbach, Schlitz, tall boy
One of the joys of my life has been having a friend who participated and survived the D-Day invasion. As a friend of his sons, I had the chance to talk to someone who lived through the turbulent events of the 20th century. A wise man with a wonderful sense of humor, Glen liked to drink a beer now and then, with Miller High Life being his preferred choice.
This was quite awhile ago. I was just starting to build my Beer Doctor street credentials at the time, and he didn’t quite know what to make of it, as he watched me pour glasses of the darkest stouts, the hazy golden bubbly of hefe-weizen, and the exotic burgundy coloured brew called Rodenbach Grand Cru. But I asked him once, why did he like Miller High Life? His answer: It’s Got Foam.
I bring this all up because recently I had a chance to sample Schlitz Beer in the “Tall Boy” 16 oz can, introduced in 1960, now revived, using the original formula that made the beer number one in America in the 1950′s. I don’t need to go into what happened, except to say that Jason Allstrom has an excellent article on the subject over at Beer Advocate, where now, the retro-revival attempts to “Go For The Gusto” it once was acknowledged for.
For those accustomed to hyper flavorful beer, any macro brewery beer is treated with disdain. I think that is a mistake. To understand beer, especially American beer, the historic context is necessary to appreciate why a particular beer became a beloved staple in millions of households. With Schlitz, I think part of the answer is in the mouth-feel. A refreshing carbonation combined with a not overly sweet malt palate, and with “just a kiss of the hops”, a never bitter finish.
In polite craft beer circles. a drinkable beer is called “session beer”. In old fashioned American parlance, it can be called a slammer or pounder. Which I think going for the gusto is all about.
The Constancy Of Change
30 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in beer, bock, Breckenridge Brewing Co., Charles Finkel, holiday beer, Huber Brewing Company, hudepohl amber, Schlitz, the lion brewery, Uncategorized
Now don’t be afraid children if I tell you what it was like in the before. The before meaning that time before anyone used the term craft beer. A time when a bud never meets a stranger and imported Heineken was considered exotic. A time when, as Fritz Maytag pointed out, when beer was reduced to a lowly commodity where all of a brewery’s personality was expunged. Even being faithful to recipe formulas became suspect. Such was the case when marketing geniuses at Schlitz decided that cutting back on ingredients meant they could sell more beer. Not exactly. A fiasco that knocked the beer that made Milwaukee famous from its perch of Number 1 beer in America, which they abdicated to Anheuser-Busch Budweiser, never to be regained.
This has happened on many occasions. Many struggling regional breweries attempted the same thing. Offering new and improved versions of their brands, only to have their loyal drinking customers ask: what in the world is this?
Not a happy time to be sure, when beer became just an alcohol delivery platform where you had to watch out! for the Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull. All culinary connections nearly evaporated. Yes, this was the way it was in most of the beerscape: watery, pale golden and bland. Beer seekers had to go to great lengths to find something more tasty.
It is hard to describe what it was like, to a generation accustomed to seeing Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada, nearly everywhere. There were a few brilliant exceptions. The long gone Joseph Huber Brewing Company made a delicious brew called Augsburger Bock. The six packs came with a bock marker that supplied some information:
“How did the name ‘bock’ originate? During the 1600′s, breweries in Germany had a fierce pride in the beers they brewed, particularly in Munich. Around 1614, news reached Munich that the beer in a northern German town–Einpoeck, today Einbeck–was clearly better. The Munich brewery quickly lured the Einpoeck brewmaster over, and to everyone’s delight, a heavy beer just like the one in Einpoeck was brewed. It became known as “Einpoeckisch” beer. Over the years, the word metamorphosed into “Bock”, but it always meant this very special, full-bodied beer.”
In the early 1980′s this was very rare, also stating: “To this day Augsburger Bock follows an original recipe laid down over 400 years ago. Aged a full 60 days before bottling. And made with only the finest of natural grains–a blend of of four roasted barley malts and imported German hops. Similarly, Augsburger’s rich Bock color is never darkened by caramelized syrups or food colorings. It comes from the sensitive heat treatment of the barley during the malting process. The result? A dark rich, flavorful Bock beer.”
Ending the bock marker with “Please let us know what you think”. Which in those pre-Internet days meant writing to Fred Huber, in Monroe, Wisconsin.
In fact, USP or snail mail was quite important 30 years ago. When Charles Finkel started the import company Merchant Du Vin, you were asked to write them in Seattle, Washington, and find out why that Samuel Smith Taddy Porter was so tasty. A pioneer in the beer revolution, Charles Finkel made a substantial contribution by marketing authentic beer styles, that at that time in the United States, were totally unknown. A good friend of the late Beer Hunter Michael Jackson, they partnered an advocacy for authentic beer that is very much with us today.
As someone who lived through and experienced those changes, I never take for granted all the brewing goodness available now. When I walk a block and a half to my local store I have incredible options when it comes to beer purchase, from Breckenridge to Hudepohl Amber to the Lion Stout from Sri Lanka.
The long haul it has always been on the road to great beer. Insane laws about alcohol strength prevented, and still does in some states, from many beers being sampled. Also equally insane, were laws that stated you couldn’t put a graphic depiction of Santa Claus on a Holiday beer because “it might appeal to children”.
I do say Thank You for the fact that much of this has changed. Beer is regaining the cultural and culinary respect it so richly deserves.
Home For The Holidays Part 3
29 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in adjunct lager, aventinus, B.United International, beer, Colt 45, ice beer, Schlitz, stout, Uncategorized
I guess it was simply a matter of time for this development to occur. Extreme beer recipes have been the rage in certain circles: the imperials, as it were, whether it was India Pale Ale, Helles Lager, Pumpkin Ale, Barley Wine kicked up to notches unknown, etc… But leave it to the independent Scots at Brew Dog Brewery, to take Ice Beer to a brand new level.
Tactical Nuclear Penguin begins life as a 10% Imperial Stout, then gets double cask aged for 16 months, the first eight months in a Isle of Arran whisky barrel, then transferred for the remainder to an Islay cask. After that, it is stored at -20 degrees for 3 weeks. The result? 32% alcohol by volume ale. The world’s strongest beer.
News of this release made me recall the conversation I had with B. United International president, Matthias Neidhart, some 14 years ago, when he described for me how Eisbock was produced. Where the beer is stored in very cold temperatures and the ice formed is removed, and then stored (or lagered) for many many months. A reinheitsgebot description of German invented ice bier. A much more elaborate process than that which is employed to make Icehouse, Labatt Ice, in North America.
Concentrated flavor is what this is all about. A fine example to compare would be Schneider & Sohn’s Aventinus and their Aventinus Eisbock.
But the folks at Brew Dog it seems, have decided to further expand the definition of ice brewing.
At one time, exceptionally aged and strong beer meant Hurlimann Samiclaus or Kulmbacher Eisbock or Scaldis Noel. But this was before Brew Dog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin or Samuel Adams Utopia.
Strength has always come as a bit of a shock to the American beer drinker. After decades of mainly weak, cereal adjunct, mass produced beer. The re-introduction of flavorful brew was indeed a mini-revolution, to that small segment of beer seekers now often referred to as craft brew fans. But I think that ice beers were (and still are) quite significant amongst the larger beer drinking population. Before ice beer, there was only malt liquor, a dubious term used to refer to high gravity corn lager, ( which also went through a bit of transformation, when established brands such as Schlitz and Colt 45, introduced higher gravity versions.)
There is a novel effect to strong beers. This attraction has been partially enhanced by ridiculous state alcohol laws that prohibit their sale. Some of the legends that I am sure, some readers remember having for the first time: Carlsberg Elephant, Sierra Nevada Big Foot, Stone Double Bastard, etc… I am sure some folks have fond memories of those encounters. Like recalling the first time they drank a shot of Jagermeister liquor!
I learned quite awhile ago that strength alone can not be the final arbiter when determining the quality of a beer. If imperial and extreme become the only criteria, they you going to automatically deprive yourself of my flavorful experiences. In other words, Milk Stout, for example is not suppose to knock you out of your chair. In fact many stouts of moderate strength, are there to remind you that beer is food and if hootch is really what you are seeking, they many other avenues.
