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.
STOUT FULL OF MEMORIES
24 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in 30th Anniversary, american ale, Anchor Brewing, Anniversary Ale, beer, sierra nevada, stout, the lion brewery, Uncategorized
The stage was set to try the Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary ale. A collaboration between SN and Anchor, known as Ken and Fritz Ale. A stout. No denying it.
The 25 ounce bottle complete with with caged cork is a beauty to behold. The black label seemed and was perfect.
What kind of glass to pour this into? With all the wine-like presentation, a snifter might seem in order. But I chose less pretension: a straight up American ale glass.
Pouring this beer produced a cascade of brown foam that took awhile to settle down, where it appeared like chocolate meringue, substantially thick, but surprisingly, little aroma.
Although I do not listen to western classical music much, I put on a CD of the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Szell, of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. This provided musical background.
What was truly remarkable about Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary was the fact that no one flavor dominated in the malts presentation. Only the hops in the finish reminded me that this was a product from Chico, California. But what a loving tribute to Stout as recipe style. I was reminded while tasting this of all kinds of stout. From Irish dry to Imperial to Foreign and everything in between. A magnificent reminder of how great this recipe style truly is.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention the strength of this ale. A 9.5% alcohol by volume number, which I could not detect at all in the beer, just all malt goodness. I was happy I was not splitting this fifth. Besides hiding its strength, 30th Anniversary is incredibly drinkable.
The Beethoven was 34 minutes long, and I must have sat there another 15 minutes trying to fathom the quality I was tasting. “Finishing it off” as it were, I then proceed to bed, where I slept a full seven hours of dreamless sleep. I awoke refreshed with no hangover and totally convinced of the restorative power of malt. Cheers!
Home For The Holidays, Part 5
24 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in beer, bock, christmas, craft pack, holiday beer, Magic Hat Brewing, samuel adams, Shiner Holiday Cheer, sierra nevada, Stegmaier, the lion brewery, Uncategorized, winter English ale
You would have to have lived for awhile to comprehend the enormous changes in the beer universe over the last 30 years. Not so long ago, many people believed that Holiday beer simply meant putting a ribbon around a six-pack of Michelob… just as there are still some people who believe that bock is brewed in the spring, when breweries ‘clean out’ the bottoms of their vats.
On the other side of all this, there is a growing awareness that some fabled brews at Christmas time, which were once very difficult to obtain, have now been folded into the mainstream beer market. Being fairly old, I still remember when obtaining Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, anywhere east of the Mississippi river, was very rare indeed. Now, at least until very recently, 12 pack boxes of SN Celebration could be obtained at the local Kroger, in ample supply. It is hard to believe that not so long ago, even the late fabled beer hunter, Michael Jackson, wondered if there was an actual market for beers that put emphasis on hops. By gobs, that seems like ancient history now, where a whole generation of new beer drinkers arrived at drinking age when hops and flavorful brew has become a given, from Samuel Adams, Magic Hat, Sierra Nevada and Stone, among many others.
At one time, I foolishly believed I could sample all the winter-holiday offerings available. But logistics, state tax laws, put an end to that illusion. Even beers once available in the Midwest have disappeared, often because a brewery’s production schedule simply can not keep up with distribution demands. Then there are (and still are) those special beloved brews that get snapped up as soon as they become available. This year it was Shiner Holiday Cheer that immediately comes to mind, A unique brew that used peaches and pecans… it disappeared in less than a week.
One barely noticed offering this year, from The Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA is the Stegmaier Holiday Warmer, a strong ale take on English Winter Ale. A showcase of malt strength, it is not always fully appreciated by some of the younger beer drinkers, who think that hops and all of its extreme presentations, is the last word on what is beer. The same people who will shell out big time bucks for a sixer of Bell’s Hopslam, because for them, it is the ultimate beer, sometimes have difficulty fathoming malty depths.
But this Christmas, I am pretty well set up, with Lakefront Holiday Spice Lager, Breckenridge Christmas Ale, Stegmaier Hol;iday Warmer, Left Hand’s Fade To Black, Sierra Nevada Celebration in the 24 ounce bottle, etc etc…
As they say in the space program: “I am good to go and ready to launch.”
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Thank you as always, my only prayer,
The Beer Doctor
