If Wal-Mart orders green beer it better be green

If you care about how green the beer in your glass is then the news that Wal-Mart is partnering with the Carbon Disclosure Project to measure the energy used to create seven products, including beer, seems like a big deal. The story:

What exactly did it take to make that beer you’re drinking? Retail giant Wal-Mart said Monday it will partner with a nonprofit climate group to measure the amount of energy used to create beer — as well as six other product categories sold at its stores.

The goal, said Wal-Mart and its partner the Carbon Disclosure Project, is to then find ways to make products more efficiently and, in the process, reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases tied to global warming.

Does this have much to do with beer of conviction, honest beers, whatever you want to call the beers at the heart of the discussion here?

After all, a brewery has to be pretty good size to sell to Wal-Mart. But technology and innovation trickle down. Plus some of the larger small breweries — notably Sierra Nevada and New Belgium — are already leaders at reducing the environmental impact of brewing beer.

I’ll wait until Oct. 15 to beat you up more on beer and the environment. It’s important, and Wal-Mart getting involved can only help.

Earlier this month Chris O’Brien reported that Climate Change gives the largest breweries low marks when it comes to addressing their impact on global warming. I think the report somehow missed a lot of what Anheuser-Busch is doing, but I also know that any brewery is likely to listen if Wal-Mart suggests there’s more to be done.

Enough to make us feel all warm inside when we think about Wal-Mart? One step at a time.

Loosening the belt for The Session #8

The SessionI think I put on five pounds this week just reading or thinking about food and beer together.

Lucy Saunders’ new book arrived in the mail this week, I received a press release about a beer cookbook out in January and I chatted with a chef who has a different, and I think excellent, idea on how to approach a beer cookbook.

So I couldn’t help thinking that in just two weeks we’ll be loosening our belts for The Session #8, since Beer Haiku Daily has made the theme Beer & Food.

I’m already warming to the task.

Today a bit about Tuesdays at one of my local brewpubs, Chama River Brewing in Albuquerque. Each Tuesday the restaurant offers a three-course dinner, with the selections changing once a month. Customers can order just the meal ($25), the meal with wine ($45), or the meal with beer ($35).

Most often the beers come from Chama’s six-beer regular lineup. I’ve copied the August menu here because it included a seasonal.

1st Course
Chorizo and Wild Mushroom Strudel
Spinach Salad and Port Wine Syrup
Beer Flight: Paired with – Demolition Dubbel
Wine Flight: Paired with – Vivac “V” Reserve Merlot

2nd Course
Seared Sea Scallops
Apple and Belgian Endive, Fingerling Potatoes and Brown Butter
Beer Flight: Paired with – Copper John Pale Ale
Wine Flight: Paired with – Casal Garcia Vinho Verde

3rd Course
Chocolate Banana Wontons
Coconut Dipping Sauce
Beer Flight: Paired with – Sleeping Dog Stout
Wine Flight: Paired with – Rocha White Port

Part of a family of restaurants, with siblings that earn Wine Spectator awards, Chama offers a well chosen and reasonably (but not cheaply) priced wine list.

But I always drink the beer.

Scottish & Newcastle learns why where matters

John Smith's Cask AleLocal drinkers say they can taste the difference (and that’s good) now that Scottish & Newcastle has resumed brewing some of its John Smith’s cask ale in Tadcaster.

A spokesman for the company said: “In order to gain a better understanding of the recent product quality issues experienced by some stockists of cask John Smith’s we have been producing supplementary brews at our Tadcaster brewery.”

The beer is also brewed in Warrington.

The York Press quoted one regular drinker saying, “It was magnificent and so smooth on the palate that I was forced to test several further pints to check it was no fluke. I implore the brewery to bring production back to Tadcaster. If they don’t I’ll stick to my cider.”

How passionate drinkers can be about a beer others label “average” is apparent in comments posted at the end. They are all worth a read, even those from drinkers who don’t think much of the beer. Here’s one:

“For over a hundred years John Smith’s have been telling us the secret of their brewing was the artesian well water beneath Tadcaster, now they’re saying it doesn’t matter. They can’t have it both ways.”

What’s the 16th best brewery in America?

GABF logoThe drafting order is set for The Beer Mapping Project GABF Fantasy League, and I drew the 16th choice. beerinator cut off signups at 30 and the team (is that the right word?) with the last pick of the first round gets the first pick of the second. So in the second I’ll be drafting 15th. And so on until we’ve chosen hundreds of breweries.

Given that the last two years there has been a definite drop off in value after about a half dozen breweries (using the proposed scoring system, which could change) what should my strategy be?

(An aside: Predictions are always easier to make when you have the results in hand – that’s called data mining. You might have taken Anheuser-Busch high after the brewery scored 17 points in 2005 and got only three points in 2006 for your trouble. Flossmoor Station Brewing won three medals in 2005 for just three points, but in 2006 scored 13 points with four.)

I figure that A-B, Miller, Pabst (seriously, worth 14 points each of the last two years – Blatz and Stag win medals), Pelican, Flossmoor, New Glarus and nine more breweries will be long gone before Appellation Beer makes a pick.

What should my strategy be (for the 16th pick, but also the 45th and beyond)? Go with a brewery that has been dependable, always or almost always winning at least one medal (like Goose Island and Brooklyn)? Pick a newcomer with some street cred (Terrapin, Surly)? Somebody close to home (Chama River, Il Vicino, even Pagosa Springs)? Or those devoted to beers of conviction?

I need your help.

(I’m still working on the prize for the reader who provides the best advice. I’m sure it will be terrific.)

drinkwell – but not if it’s beer

Diageo and Zagat have joined forces to launched an online guide — called drinkwell — labeled “the world’s first online resource guide to restaurants that are dedicated to serving the highest quality drinks and drink service.”

The guide currently list 15 cities, and will be nationwide by the end of the year.

The good news is it free. The bad news is there’s dang little beer.

What you do get: “Access to the ratings that Zagat surveyors have given to the hundreds of drinkwell establishments across the country, based on the quality of drinks, service, atmosphere and cost. Partnering with several world-renowned beverage experts including Dale DeGroff, Steve Olson, Paul Pacult, Dave Wondrich and Doug Frost, to develop the drinkwell Academy Staff Training Program for participating establishments, drinkwell-accredited establishments will be identified by a special black and brushed metal plaque.”

I only gave the listings a quick look — but aren’t blogs a shoot-first-and-ask-question later endeavor? — and it looks as if you go to Chicago you won’t find a lovely special black and brushed medal plaque at the Map Room, the Hopleaf or the Village Tap.

But you will find quality beer (pretty good service and atmosphere too).