Month: February 2008

Monday morning musing: Is sober overrated?

Three Sheets to the WindI’ve been waiting for “jolly” Lauren Clark’s wonderful column in the current Ale Street News to pop up online, so I could point you to it: The Pink Elephant in the Room.

She begins: “Ever notice that beer writers never talk about getting drunk?”

And concludes (among other things): “And so we’ve been policed, and have policed ourselves, into a sometimes comically polite way of talking about beer.”

For further reading I suggest, Pete Brown’s “Three Sheets to the Wind” (soon to be released in paperback in the U.S., so you don’t have an excuse not to). You’ll find plenty amusing examples of the sort of honest writing Lauren explains most beer writers avoid. And more from Lauren at drinkboston.com.

Finally, to understand the “jolly” reference at the top you have to read her column. That’s the point of the link, dammit.

– Thank goodness we don’t still have a duty on hops. Thanks to Todd Bates, a new Mexico organic farmer exploring hop growing, for this link. The debate from 1890 was over a tariff on imported hops designed to protect domestic hop growers. But the letter provides considerable insight into why New York did not remain a prominent hop producing area.

– A wine industry consortium is developing a protocol to provide a free, easy-to-use, wine industry specific, greenhouse gas (GHG) protocol and calculator that will measure the carbon footprints of winery and vineyard operations of all sizes. Shouldn’t breweries be doing something similar? (And now we take you to Chris O’Brien.)

– NBC 10 has a feature on Beer Babes — women who drink beer, not trinkets who decorate magazine articles. Since Pursuit of Ale (you might want to turn down your speakers, because this link takes you to a MySpace page) started a year and a half ago 300 different women have taken part in the beer club. Just another reason that Philadelphia is “America’s best-beer drinking” city – right all you Philly Beer Week folks? I will admit the calendar just keeps getting more amazing.

– Who has the best beer culture? The headline sure got my attention. Somehow I was expecting more than a discussion about Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Panil Barriquée: The best and worst of beers

When Stephen Beaumont commented yesterday that “the Italians are currently at a crossroads between innovation and expertise” I don’t think he was talking about quality control. It’s something to consider, though, given that most of these breweries haven’t been around 10 years, so they are focused on figuring out flavors rather than packaging.

Panil BarriquéeI stand by New Beer Rule #4: The god of beer is not consistency. But there’s variation and there’s variation, and Panil Barriquée proved that to me in 2007. It was one the very best beers I had all year, and one of the worst.

The first Barriquée of the year was simply disappointing. I picked up a bottle last April for Sunday dinner. It takes something of an occasion to spring for a $17 bottle of beer, but it has been that good in the past. This 2006 bottle poured nearly flat, and I since learned that almost all bottles from the vintage were under-carbonated. Some more (or would that be less?) than others. The flavors were there, but the beer tasted like they hadn’t been introduced to each other.

The difference was apparent in August when I had a 2007 bottle (with Batch #8 right on the label). The aromas and flavors seemed to jump out of the glass. Maybe it was the contrast to the 2006, but the energy in this beer was stunning.

It’s one of the beers I was sent for All About Beer magazine’s Beer Talk. Part of what I wrote: “Lushly textured with tightly woven flavors – oak, cherries, vanilla and brown sugar – balanced by rich vinegar notes. As it warms soft malt character moves to the background, giving way to a tasty sourness.”

That doesn’t happen if there isn’t life in the bottle.

In November I saw the 2006 vintage again. It was at a homebrew club meeting and the topic of the month was “sour ales.” A member rounded up a bunch of beers and we sampled them, after a show of hands indicating less than half those in the room had sampled intentionally sour beers. Most weren’t ready for Cantillon Iris, but that’s a separate story.

I wasn’t even going to try the Barriquée, but was curious because it turned out it came from a store that doesn’t necessarily care for beer that well. I wondered what six months of warm storage might have done for it or to it. Nope. Now it was flat and unpleasantly sour. Like the vinegar we used to make from beer. Certainly not what the brewer intended.

I looked around the room. A lot of puckering, and plenty of confusion about the difference between “good sour” and “bad sour.” I certainly wish we’d had a bottle of Batch #08 to show them what it should have tasted like.

Italian beers: The Fourth Wave?

Italian beerThe Italians are coming. The Italians are coming.

If all he hype is correct then Birrificio is going to become part of any good beer geek’s vocabulary. Cancel that trip to Wallonia; I’m headed to Piedmont.

Goodness. These things happen quickly. Just a little over two years ago during the Great American Beer Festival the Brewers Association put together a panel of American brewers talking about their Belgian-inspired ales.

“Belgian-style ales are hot,” Ray Daniels said, making the introductions. “I’ve begun to refer to them as the Third Wave.” He explained German and British styles were the first two waves.

Is it time for a fourth already? It would certainly be different than the first three. Germany, the UK and Belgium all have historic beer traditions, dusty brewing logs to study, they invented beer styles. Italy? Italy was lumped in with “The Mediterranean” in Michael Jackson’s first World Guide to Beer. Compared to Iberia, which merited its own facing pages.

I mention this today, when I was so looking forward to writing about Light/Lite beer, because Don Russell has two must reads on the subject. Start with his column, Italy – the next great brewmaster?, and then head on to his blog and an extended interview with Lorenzo Dabove.

Additionally, in the previous issue of Ale Street News, editor Tony Forder detailed extensive travels in Northern Italy, importer B. United International has put together an entire Italian Release campaign, and on May 8 Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver will give a presentationa at National Geographic Headquarters in the District of Columbia titled “The Italian Beer Renaissance.”

The press release sums things up: “Long thought of as a wine producing rather than a brewing country, Italy has in the past few years seen the birth of several fine microbreweries. The result is an array of products that go beyond the traditional European beer styles, making for a brave new world of brews that echoes the inventiveness of Belgian brewers, but with an unmistakably Italian flair.”

Go beyond the traditional European beer styles. Indeed. These guys make Sam Calagione look like Anton Dreher. Chestnuts are big in Italy, as are flowers and just about any spice you could think of. Commercially available beers include a blueberry barley wine, a tobacco porter and pre-Prohibition American pilsener dry-hopped with recyled “We Want Beer” posters. (The first two are true.)

We’re not getting many of these beers in New Mexico. Guess we’ll have to visit my cousin in Italy (October, it’s on our schedule). Meanwhile, Joe Sixpack has the floor:

“Is Italy the next great beer nation? It has a long way to go, but its astoundingly unique selection of artisan ales certainly deserves some attention from U.S. beer lovers.”

Hey, people are still spending money for beer

“Craft” beer sales were way up in 2007. No matter how you want to define “craft” beer we already knew the numbers were going to be good, but the news is still a joy. Details in a moment.

What about 2008? What about the rising cost of ingredients forcing brewers to raise prices just at a time consumers are feeling the impact of a slowing economy?

Well, this news from January:

– Today, Dan Wadel of of Information Resource Inc. told members of the Brewers Association that “craft” beer case sales were up 12% and dollar sales were up 15.8%. That’s not quite the growth rate of 2007, but darn close.

– That’s the best January since IRI began tracking “craft” beer sales in 2001.

– “Brew” Blog reported similar numbers from Nielsen, that the national average weighted case price for craft beers increased by 4.9%.

– “Brew” Blog also quoted from Beer Marketer’s Insights Express:

New Coors prexy Peter Swinburn noted “vibrancy” of US beer biz and that Coors whole portfolio “is sort of singing” these days. Asked if Coors saw any trading down in US, Peter told INSIGHTS “in our portfolio, we don’t see any evidence.” (Miller prexy Tom Long told Mich/Ill distribs last week he saw no trading-down either.) While Keystone Light is growing rapidly, so are other brands in portfolio. “No evidence” that Blue Moon is coming off kind of growth path it has enjoyed.

Yep, we must talk about Blue Moon White again. Dollar sales were up 55% in 2007. It’s sales are within a stone’s throw of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Samuel Adams Boston Lager, which are the one-two (in that order) “craft” beer brands.

Wadel mostly discussed 2007 in a presentation he gives BA members twice a year. As a little background, IRI uses scanner data to track sales of consumer package goods in a variety of channels, so does not record every beer sold. Nielsen track slightly differently sales, and neither define “craft” beer like the Brewers Association.

The BA soon will release “craft” beer numbers for 2007, which will be based on actual production reported by the members it classifies as “craft” producers. There will be differences, but in past years they have not been large.

So a couple of more things from Wadel:

– “Craft” beer dollar sales were up 16.7% in 2007, following a 17.9% increase in 2006.
– In the last two weeks of 2007 (Christmas/New Year’s holiday sales) “craft” sales were up 15.8%, versus just a 3.1% increase for imports.

And one which merits considering the advice of Satchel Paige (“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”):

– Domestic super premium sales, which shrunk in 2006, were up 17.4% in 2007. Domestic premium beers include those from Leinenkugel, Michelob, Killians, Henry Weinhard and, of course, the aforementioned Blue Moon. They sell in the same price range as “craft” beers.

The biggest reason super premiums were up is 2007 newcomer Miller Chill, which had $40.8 million sales in the channels IRI tracks. By comparison Blue Moon White sold $47.8 million and Boston Lager $49.9 million.

The Avery attitude

Adam AveryWhen Avery Brewing founder Adam Avery passes through Albuquerque he usually stops at Chama River Brewing, not only because it’s handy to Interstate 25 but because he likes the beers, particularly the hop-accented ones. Try to look surprised.

Last April I met him there for dinner about a week before the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin. He was headed down early to do a little rock climbing in Texas, then to visit outlets that sell Avery beer. His car was totally packed with beer. The trunk was jammed, mixed cases were piled to the ceiling in the back and he front seat was full. (Yes, I wish I’d had a camera.)

You’d have thought there was a desert between here and there.

The conference concluded with a banquet during which each table was supplied with a variety of beers for the meal (each paired with a different course). When there was a break in the action Avery sprang to his feet and dashed past the table we were at (next to his). He returned a few minutes later with arms full of Avery beer, leaving a few bottles at our table “just in case.”

Think about that when you read this from the Avery Monthly Mash (an email newsletter):

Twice a month the entire Avery team gathers on a Friday afternoon to taste beers that were brewed in prior weeks. All employees taste each beer and offer suggestions on improvements and taste (we are on a quest to make perfect beer). Once we have tasted all of our beers, a full-on world of beer tasting ensues, with each person clamoring to put in their two-cents on the perceived qualities of each beer. Anyone who has ventured into the Avery Tasting Room on an early Friday afternoon has undoubtedly seen these tasting sessions in their final throws.

This small oddity of initiation into the Avery crew is actually a sign of our unspoken mantra: the beer comes first. Each extra dollar we earn is first allotted to capital improvements that will assist us in making better beer. If a technique promises to improve the quality of our beer it will be implemented even if it means more work for the brewer and more money to make the beer. In short, the Friday initiation is the first step in the Avery way of ensuring that everyone in the company, especially our newest hires, understands our overriding philosophy about crafting and selling beer.

We would like to extend an invitation to you, our loyal fans, to take part in an initiation session of your own. Come and join us on Wednesday, March 5th for the opportunity to take part in a Hop Education tasting alongside a few of the brewers and staff members of Avery Brewing Company.

Details are on the Avery website events page.

The photo of Adam was taken during the now infamous “Extreme Beer” trip to Belgium that Sam Calagione led two years ago. Thanks to Tomme Arthur for sharing.