Saturday musing: Where’s the local beer?

Can I interest you in a local beer?I’m really not sure why I feel a need to pass along these links, because this practice won’t continue past Monday, when we begin 15 weeks of zig zagging around Europe. But here goes:

– Before you hit the link on this one, a little quiz. I’ll give you the tasting lineups at a couple of spots and you guess where the tastings are being held (same city):

1. [blank] will be tasting not only draught Koenig Ludwig, La Chouffe, and Racer 5 but they will also be sampling Paulaner Oktoberfest as well.

2. He’ll be sampling these beers: Dieu de Ciel Peche Mortel, Mikkeller Black Hole, Nogne #100, Avery The Beast and a few Oktoberfests like Avery Kaiser Oktoberfest.

The answer would be St. Louis. These are some fine beers and I’m glad that beer lovers in St. Louis get a shot at them. But shouldn’t there be at least one beer in there that comes from some place inside of 800 miles away?

Speaking of beer a long way from home: I’m not surprised when I see Bear Republic beers here in New Jersey. They are hefty enough to make a long journey. But I did a double take when I spotted Ballast Point Yellow Tail. This is a beer in the spirit of a kölsch, a little fragile for a coast-to-coast trip.

Looking at the beer selection can be a little strange here at mid-state. You can find Flying Fish, but it certainly isn’t everywhere. Climax counter-pressure filled growlers have an OK presence, which makes me grin. And tracking down the Ramstein wheat beers from High Point is a challenge. Weiss beers have a particular homecourt advantage, and High Point’s are good ones, but based on what I see on shelves everybody prefers German weiss beers.

Also from St. Louis. The Post-Dispatch comes up with ice cream and beer mixes. Not every one works: see Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat and rainbow sherbet. Here’s one you shouldn’t try if you have a heart condition: Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout and coffee ice cream with chocolate espresso chips.

Underground breweries? The New York Times had a feature this week headlined “The Anti-Restaurants” which is sorta about underground restaurants. Is there something similar in beer? Yep. It’s called homebrewing.

I fear this will not end well. Just in case you missed the Wall Street Journal story about higher hop prices attracting hop growing newcomers, the link. OK, it doesn’t have to end badly everywhere. Rick Pedersen has been working on getting hops going in upstate New York for almost 10 years, so he knows that hop farmers can’t expect $30 a pound prices on a long term basis.

But I can’t help but think back to my youth in Central Illinois, where my father taught Ag Econ. I heard too many stories about dentists who decided to trade soybeans and ended up with a lawn full of beans. Sure, that’s different than being a farmer, but speculating is speculating.

Sorry to be such a curmudgeon on the weekend; must be getting anxious to be back on the road. And I didn’t mean to be horning in on Roger Baylor’s territory.

 

5 thoughts on “Saturday musing: Where’s the local beer?”

  1. In all fairness, those are retailers and those are some of the new beers that made their way to St. Louis this week. Also, one of those retailers did sample St. Louis’ own Schlafly Oktoberfest this week and last.

  2. Mike – I hope I didn’t seem too tough on the St. Louis tastings (I love that you list them). I recognize that retailers are going to offer what is new, plus much of local is draft . . .

  3. Nah, I didn’t take it too seriously. It’s just that while drinking local is not only a beautiful thing, but something I really take seriously as well, I think that we as beer drinkers always want to try the unknown. The unfortunate part is that many of us are not as lucky as some to have the resources to travel the world and try some of these beers locally, so we have to do the next best thing and wait until they come to us.

  4. While consumer choice is held up as a “good thing”, I think local brewers should be encouraged by the beer drinking public, not just to brew great beers, but also to give something back to the community in which they brew. Take for example the Primator brewery in Nachod, Czech Republic – they make excellent beers and as they are owned by the town a portion of their profits are channeled into projects to improve life for everyone in the city.

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