Month: May 2011

The beer that launched 1,600 breweries?

No. 1

Jeff Alworth (at Beervana) asks readers to comment on this hypothesis: “Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a foundational beer in American brewing and was instrumental in setting the course for craft brewing.”

No. 2

George de Piro, brewmaster at C.H. Evans Brewing Co. in New York and parttime blogger, asks this question: “What beer did you once love but now no longer (or seldom) drink?

He even volunteers to go first, naming Catamount Stout, Spaten Franziskaner, and (drumroll, please) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

He writes: ” I haven’t really divorced this beer (SNPA), but I haven’t had a steady relationship with it in many years. It’s a great style made to very high standards, but I am so familiar with it that I usually go for something different when I’m out for a beer.”

No. 3

In the Washington Post Greg Kitsock suggested “plain old pale ale has become almost the Wonder bread of craft beer: a ubiquitous product often dismissed as a ‘gateway’ beer for neophytes.” He doesn’t dismiss them, examining how many breweries “are taking a new look at an old style.” Just to be clear, that style is (American) pale ale.

I suspect the comments you find following Alworth’s and de Piro’s posts are not much different than the conversations that would result were these questions raised (and they probably have been several times) at Rate Beer and Beer Advocate.

From a broad, historic (and business) viewpoint there can be little debate that SNPA is a foundation beer. But if there had never been Sierra Nevada Pale Ale would Pierre Celis not have been inspired to start the Celis Brewery in Austin, Texas, and would Rob Tod not been have further inspired to brew Allagash White. No way to know. It’s complicated. Particularly when you consider writing or talking about the diversity of beer really means writing/talking about the diversity of people who drink beer.*

Or as Cajun music legend D.L. Menard puts it, “No matter where you at, there you are.”

* I could have typed “craft beer” rather than ‘beer” twice in that sentence but I think it works fine with two fewer words.

Session #52 announced: Beer collectibles

Flowers pub light

The SessionBrian Stechschulte has announced the theme for The Session #52 will be Beer Collectibles & Breweriana.

He explains, “So what old or new beer related items do you collect and why? It’s that simple. This is your opportunity to share the treasured objects your wife or husband won’t let you display on the fireplace mantle. You don’t need to be a major collector like this guy to participate. In my mind, just a few items constitute a collection. Maybe you have mementos from a beer epiphany or road trips? You can focus on a whole collection or tell the story behind a single item.”

In an email announcing he’d posted the topic he wrote, “Diehard Session fans will probably be disappointed that it’s not about the actual substance of beer.” Contributors needn’t be. There looks to me to be an opportunity to write about beer itself.

For instance, nearly 17 years after I bought the Flowers light pictured at the top (smaller than you might think at six inches wide) at an open-air market in Dorchester it inspires multiple memories. One of them is the bright aroma of a well-conditioned pint of Eldridge Pope Royal Oak.

I might just write about that June 3.

Session #51 roundup posted, plus #51.5 suggestions

The SessionPut your beer and cheese shopping shoes back on. Jay Brooks has already posted the roundup for The Session #51, which is full of cheese and beer ideas for a special mid-month session.

He’s organized the results in an easy-to-read format that pretty much doubles as a shopping list.

The mid-month session is open to everybody, so even if you didn’t join in Friday feel free May 20.