Month: March 2014

Colorado IPA? Wild? Cakey? Caramelly?

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 03.31.14

– Firkfest 2014 Press Roundup./ I was reminded just how crazy big and different American beer has become last week in Anaheim, California. I walked through swarms of people in mouse ears and other Disney wearables, on their way to Disneyland obviously, as I headed north a couple of miles to the first Firkfest, and thus I might have been disoriented when I arrived. It was educational on two levels — first for the variety of choices, both from breweries I am familiar with and others seemingly brand new; second, you’ll if you visit the links in the roundup, for how many people may write about, and post pictures from, just about any beer event these days. Without restirring the discussion of what the word movement in “craft beer movement” means this level of participation does seem to suggest a “movement” of some sort. And I was introduced to still another blog, Cask LA Ale, which provides regular updates about what’s available on cask in the LA area. A big and different beer world, indeed. [Via OC Beer Blog]

– Drinking In A Place – Just Differently. As the following two links illustrate, I’m always up for reading about about place — particularly when memories are thrown into the mix. But as a point of order, from the get-go discussions about the importance where a beer is enjoyed have always been part of the marching orders here. [Via A Good Beer Blog]

– Rise of our regional style: Colorado Wild IPA. I’m not sure how I feel about the notion that Florida Weisse is a new regional style, but whenever I see the words “regional” and “style” together I feel compelled to pass the link along to Jeff Alworth, which I did on Twitter last week. Tweets went all sorts of directions from there. And eventually there was this . . . [Via Focus on the Beer]

– Beer Styles in Their Native Habitat. At the end the discussion is no longer about “Wild IPA” but a statement that Colorado has “a particular take on the IPA, which is thick and cakey and super caramelly.” Is that true? [Via Beervana]

– Beer Homerism, Beer Lists, and the Tidal Wave of Trendiness. “The subject of this post is a couple of current phenomena that have nagged at the edges of the beer culture for a while now and I’m fairly sure that my views on them are going to offend some people.” It rambles, but there’s something sensible about somebody who writes, “Don’t, for that matter, quote ME about anything I write unless you’ve got a little history with [me].” And I have to include one more sentence, “Those beer lovers who actually know beer and don’t obey the current Buzz are, even now, being forced to step out of the way of the roving trendies or be trampled.” [Via Seattle PI]

Friday beer: Will the real ‘blueberry hop’ please stand up?

If I had a blueberry anosmia1 this would make more sense, but I can identify blueberries in a blind tasting, or blueberry muffins or even blueberry beer. So why, when I smell a beer rich with Mosaic hop aroma don’t I perceive blueberries? Or when I take a deep whiff of Sierra Nevada Harvest Single IPA with what the label calls “Yakima #291″ hops”?

This really doesn’t bother me much. It could be worse. One-third of the population is blind to beta-ionone, a compound with a floral note particularly prominent in Saaz hops. I’m not in that group. It would suck not to be able to fully appreciate Saaz.

But why did the guy pouring in a Santa Barbara area wine tasting room last week say, “Now, Mosaic, there’s a blueberry hop”? It’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard somebody say that. Or how about this description of the Harvest Single IPA at the Sierra Nevada web site? “Blueberry in a beer! The consensus? That’s flavor fit for a bottle.” OK, it doesn’t really bother me that much. There are plenty of reasons that smell is referred to as the “most enigmatic of our senses.”

But it’s interesting you and I might rate blueberry aroma equally intense in one case, say a pie, and differently in another — simply because other aroma compounds are present. Before I head down that rabbit hole, back to the Harvest Single IPA, which has been hard to come by in our parts but we found easily last week in California.

As much as the mysteries of aroma fascinate me, so do the ins and outs of hop genetics. (So this might be the time you want to gently ease your way to another ready.) Mosaic is a daughter of Simcoe and a male plant called 986-2. Simcoe is a bit of a pungent brute, its aroma a calling card for American-style IPAs, sometimes called dank and, depending on your genetic disposition, downright “catty.”

HBC 291 — the name it was patented under, but not the name it will have if it goes into wider production — is a daughter of Glacier and a male called 9902(2). Glacier is much more demure than Simcoe, though not nearly as popular. Farmers planted about 1,260 acres of Simcoe in 2013, compared to less than 100 of Glacier. Its stone fruit character, notably peach, apparently is not as hip. Glacier is a daughter of the endangered French variety Strisselspalt, one of those hops I fear we will miss deeply when she is gone.

Before I lapse into further melancholy, the point here is that two very different mothers produced hops that when introduced into beer2 contribute to a blueberry aroma. Or don’t.

*****

1 Anosmia in a condition in which a person with an otherwise normal sense of smell cannot detect a specific type of odor molecule. It may also describe a complete loss of smell, which may or may not be temporary. The former is rather common, the latter depressing and much more rare.

2 HBC 291 was one of the hops available to evaluate last year when I spoke at Hop Union’s Hop & Brew School. It is important to remember that what you smell from a raw hop doesn’t necessarily translate into the same aroma in a beer. The interaction with yeast changes compounds. Anyway, HBC was the most pleasant of the varieties we smelled, HBC 438 as the most divisive (I was in the “love it” camp), and Mosaic sucked, reeking of diesel fuel (not indicative of the overall crop). My notes for HBC 291 describe it as “really clean, floral/spicy, a herbaceous note reminiscent of Centennial.” Still nothing about blueberry.

Corona Light, IBUs & sophisticated drinkers

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 03.24.14

Corona Takes Aim at Craft Tap Handles. Passed along because I learned in this article that Corona Light has 18 IBUs. “The consumer today — with the increase in micro-breweries, craft beer and digital media — is more sophisticated. Now they understand IBUs. If you mentioned that 10 years ago to a consumer, they might not have known.” Beware of anybody who tells you they understand IBUs. [Via Brewhound]

Remembering Dr. James Kollar (1946 – 2014) — Chesbay founder, craft beer pioneer. The brewery lasted only from 1984 until 1988, but its influence remains today. [Via Yours in Good Fermentables]

A View from the Notch. Chris Lohring at Notch Brewing talks with Max Bahnson about his decision not to renew his membership in the Brewers Association, and also about contract brewing. [Via Pivní Filosof]

Is there too much Oregon beer? Not yet, economist says. “Damon Runberg said he sees the potential for market saturation of the bigger regional breweries, but still lots of room for smaller brewpubs that serve a specific community or neighborhood.” [Via The Oregonian]

Micropubs – revolution or fad? From Martyn Cornell: “So far the micropub movement has avoided any sort of critical backlash – but I fear it won’t be long before another definition of ‘micropub’ appears, based on a TripAdvisor review of the ‘original’ micropub, The Butcher’s Arms in Herne, Kent: ‘Five grumpy old men in a 10ft square space.'” [Via Propel.info]

Are Standing Tasting Bars Better than Seated? The drink is wine and “better” means sales, but maybe people who post beer ratings should include a note about if they are seated or standing when taking notes. [Via SVB on Wine]

Local. Independent. Creative. Looks like trouble to me

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 03.17.14On Beer Writing. Oh, geez, more about beer writing, and I’m quoted extensively. I should be, and am, embarrassed to start with this link, but I will any way. Miles Liebtag has something to say. I’ll even steal part of his conclusion: “Beer writing could do with more room for digression, in my opinion. Straightforwardness is overrated. Craft beer is not straightforward; it’s fraught with a lot of questions that can’t be answered in IBUs or with tasting notes.” [Via Beer Graphs]

– Announcement – The Session #86 – Beer Journalism. Heather Vandenengel picked this topic back in December, not knowing I’d be beating you over the head with it well in advance of April 4. [Via Beer Hobo]

– A Worldwide Network of Craft Brewers. They have a definition: Local. Independent. Creative. And some specific language about the first two. [Via @stringersbeer]

– Screwed Up Beer Week (vol 9) – Playing Nice With Bad Beer – Not This Guy! I overlooked still timely thoughts from Kevin Patterson last week  hard to summarize but basically it’s about where craft, adjuncts and consistency do and do not interesect. [Via Lexington Beer Scene]

– Denver Post on Craft Beer Growth Ambitions. I guess if I can point to a post where I am quoted “beeronomist” Patrick Emerson can point to one where he is cited. He uses his post to repeat (and nothing wrong with that in making a point) this thought: “One of the things that fascinates me about the craft beer industry, however, is this constant tension between being cutting edge and innovative and scaling up. How cutting edge and innovative can you seem when your brand becomes part of the establishment.” [Via Beeronomics]

– Inside the Brewery at Bacchus – The Most Interesting Brewery in NY That You’ve Never Heard Of. Consider this: “Most people don’t care about the specifics of how the beer is made. Beer geeks do, but not the average drinker. Most people just care how it tastes. The fermentation process and yeast strains might not interest them, but once I start explaining the different flavors in the beer, the fruit and stuff, then they’re immediately interested.” So, return to what Miles Liebtag had so say, what should beer writers be writing about? [Via Bear Flavored]

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