November 2007 – Page 2 – Appellation Beer

Fantasy Beer Dinner #1: Neal Stewart

November 2, 2012November 27, 2007

Neal Stewart And we’re off. For more about what this is part of look here.

Neal Stewart is director of marketing at Flying Dog Brewery. BeerDinners.com was/is his idea. His personal web site is the Turkey Sandwich Report.

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

Babe Ruth – I can’t think of anyone who dominated a sport like Babe Ruth and I assume that he dominated the Dinner Table the same way. It seems like Babe appreciated a lot of the finer things in life and I’m pretty sure that included beer and food.

Mick Jagger – When it comes to the Beatles vs. The Stones, I have always been a Stones guy. And it stand to figure that a front man from one of the world’s biggest bands for the last 40 years would have some good stories to tell.

Andre The Giant – I’ve heard a lot of stories about Andre The Giant but the one that I always remember is that he would order one of everything on the menu just to freak people out. I would invite him just to see how much he could put away.

John McEnroe – I grew up playing tennis and McEnroe was always one of my favorites. John would be good at interviewing my other guests and have some good stories himself. Plus, he strikes me as a beer guy.

1st Course
Toasted Ravioli with Marinara paired with Schlafly Hefeweizen
Schalfly was one of the first craft beers I was introduced to and I’ve always liked their beer and respected the way they have built their business in the shadows of A-B. I’m going with Toasted Ravioli because it is one of my favorite foods and it’s hard to find anywhere except for St. Louis (where I am from).

2nd Course
Mixed Greens with Strawberries, Gorgonzola Cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette paired with New Glarus Raspberry Tart
I was given a bottle of Raspberry Tart as a gift a few weeks ago and loved it. This beer would really accentuate all of the salad’s flavors.

3rd Course
Beer Cheese Soup paired with Double Dog Pale Ale
I’m a sucker for Beer Cheese Soup and even though it is normally served with a Pale Ale, I would step up the hops on the beer selection to compliment the sharp cheddar flavors from the soup. And not to be a “homer” but I just really like Double Dog.

4th Course
Grilled Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa paired with Avery Hog Heaven
Eric always makes fun of me because whenever we’re out to dinner I order Pork Chops. This might be because eight years ago I was the official spokesperson for A1 Steak sauce on a mobile marketing tour. For 20 straight weeks I traveled around the country preaching the virtues of marinating steak in A1. Needless to say, I had unlimited access to steak and quite possibly could have burned out on the red meat. I love our Horn Dog, but I also really like Avery’s version of this style and I think a sweet Barley Wine with the spicy/sweet Pineapple Salsa would be really good.

5th Course
Gonzo Imperial Porter Float
We feature this on BeerDinners.com and I’ve made this at home a few times. The thick and creamy Gonzo goes perfectly with Vanilla Ice Cream. If you can top it with chocolate covered cherry, it’s even better.

Fantasy Beer Dinner: Who would you invite?

November 2, 2012November 27, 2007

If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be?

What four beers would you serve?

Yes, I want your answers.

First, to jump start everybody’s brain I asked a few folks known to drink beer these questions. The resulting answers were way too cool to jam into a single post, so instead I’m making it a series — which might be a little strange in a blogging format. We’ll see.

Monday morning musing: Is mainstream beer back?

November 26, 2007

Coors Banquet A few beer related thoughts to help you shake free of any turkey-infused haze remaining after a long weekend:

– The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examines if a surprising surge in sales of Coors Banquet means full-calorie, mainstream, premium-priced beers can end their 21st century slide (Budweiser sales, for instance, fell 21% from 2002 to 2006).

There’s also the chance that Coors’ modest gains aren’t a barometer of anything. “I guess it shows you that a brand can get so small that it can finally find its base,” said Eric Shepherd, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights.

– As the story about the effects of higher prices for beer ingredients continues to gain momentum (here and here) the Cascade hop has turned out to be a poster child for the sudden change.

As recently as July the industry was still working through years of oversupply and you could buy a pound of Cascade for $3. Now we’re hearing about prices 1000% higher. That’s the spot market and not what the average brewer will pay in 2008, but it make you realize . . .

Once again, Stone Brewing is a step ahead. The brewer of Arrogant Bastard Ale and other hop-infused beers has been Cascade free since opening in 1996. OK, that doesn’t mean its hops cost any less, but it makes a good story.

– Bill Brand begins a story about “extreme beers” with a discussion of price, in this case asking ” Would you pay $30 for a bottle of beer?”

John Alderete is betting that some of us will. Having persuaded a group of investors to back him, he is now fermenting an experimental trio of beers in wine barrels at Devil’s Canyon Brewing in Belmont, pending licensing for his own Mayfield Brewing Co. in Palo Alto.

Mr. Alderete may make terrific beer, and $30 for a 750ml bottle might turn out to be a great price, but one reason that high prices for a few special releases seem reasonable is that the breweries selling them have established a history of excellence.

If we start paying $30 for beer just because of the price tag looks impressive then Alan has a right to complain.

Eyewitness Beer: Michael Jackson’s last book

November 23, 2007

In the introduction of Beer (Eyewitness Companions) we are reminded why there will never be another beer writer like Michael Jackson:

“When one thirsts for a glass of wine or a pint of beer, the brain gradually registers the order as a half-heard whisper. The volume is slowly turned up, creating a gentle, purring, reverberation throughout the nervous system. It seems a pleasurable massage at first, then becoming tenacious. You are in the hands of a higher authority that brooks no argument. It is desire, and the streetcar cannot leave its lines. Your destination is a rendezvous with a drink.”

Are you still here? Or are you on your way to a bookstore, as thirsty for the rest of this book as you would be for a beer?

Because I contributed to Beer Companions it doesn’t seem appropriate to offer a “review,” but I can tell you a little about it. Shortly before the book shipped Amazon linked used copies of “Great Beer Guide” to this one. Both were published by Dorling Kindersley, which might have created some of the confusion, but they are quite different books.

Probably because the “Great Beer Guide” was itself a repackaged version of “Ultimate Beer” and because Beer Companions was published shortly after Michael’s death some beer discussion boards contributors hypothesized that this would be another one with “re-purposed” content. That is not the case.

Michael explained in the acknowledgments that rather than researching and writing the whole book himself he recruited correspondents to provide up-to-date information from the world’s great brewing nations. He acted as editor-in-chief as well as writing the front matter. Some parts — such as the introduction to beer’s ingredients, how it’s brewed, and how to enjoy it — will be familiar to those who own his other books. But much it totally new.

This book is part of another “Eyewitness” series from DK. You’ve likely seen the Eyewitness Travel books (we must own a dozen). The Companions series focuses instead on subjects such as beer, wine, cheese, olive oil and golf.

Going into the project Michael noted, “The readers as inherited from the Eyewitness Guides will tend to be well-travelled, interested in food-and-wine, well educated, earning a reasonable income, open-minded.”

He greets them with with an introduction and treatise on styles that are essential reading.

He doesn’t pull punches, writing early on that “neither European brewers nor most drinkers on either side of the Atlantic have yet grasped that tomorrow’s most exciting styles of beers will be American in conception.”

Michael once said: “I think I was the first person ever to use the phrase, ‘beer style.’ The next thing was to try to define what they were, which lots of people have done since, but I think I was the first person.”

That was, of course, in his 1977 “World Guide to Beer.” Now we get his perspective from 2007, a last chance to see the world through his eyes. One certainly worth treasuring.

******
Although the headline above describes this as his last book, I hope that turns out to be false. I’d happily read a well chosen collection of his essays and columns from the many publications he wrote for. I suspect you would as well.