A tasting note you couldn’t make up:
“It’s a sweet lager, with a warm citrus flavor reminiscent of an India pale ale, but without an ale’s added gravity.”
And this tells me what?
Taken from a story about Half Acre Beer in Chicago. The headline refers to it as a “local brew” but it is made under contract at Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls, Wis.
Fall is in the air. The mornings are crisper, roll down your window as you pass the Fruit Basket on Fourth Street and you can smell green chiles roasting, RVs are already parked around Balloon Fiesta Park . . . and the Men’s Journal fourth annual guide to “The World’s Best Beers” is out.
All I have to say, well not all, is that the Germans and Czechs will not be pleased.
I rambled on long enough last year about “best” lists so I won’t repeat myself.
Once again you start with 25 really good beers, then get a bonus of 25 “Best Beers for Every Occasion” (with one repeated from the first list). This is meant to be fun page, with the best beer “For an All-Nighter” (North Coast Red Seal) and best “For a One-Nighter” (Ayinger Celebrator). Memo to Men’s Journal: That’s not a horse dangling from the neck of Celebrator, but a goat.
To their credit, many of the beers listed in previous years are here again (nice to know the best can still be the best). Not to their credit: They explain “How we did it,” as if we are to believe this proves that Deschutes Mirror Pond is really the third best Pale Ale, not the 1st, 9th and 103rd.
So that you too will feel compelled to spend $4.95 to buy the magazine and learn “How Carbs Are Killing You” I’m not revealing everything. Just that they picked a top five in five different categories (listed with their first choice):
Best Pale Ale – Firestone Walker Pale Ale. No. 4 Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA is called “America’s best India pale ale.” Them’s fightin’ words.
Best Stout or Porter – Deschutes The Abyss. They must feel a Bell’s [fill in the blank] Stout is a must. Expedition got bumped for the lower abv Kalamazoo to make room for two other Imperials.
Best Belgian – Saison Dupont. That’s really Belgian-style because Ommegang Three Philosophers and Russian River Damnation are both on the list.
Best Wheat – Aventinus Doppel Weizen-Bock. Looks like they are running for office and out to please every voting group. We get a weizenbock, two traditional weiss beers (though one is from Pennsylvania), a Belgian-style white (from Maine) and an American wheat.
Best Lager or Pilsner – Lagunitas Pils, followed by four more American beers. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Overall this list doesn’t contain as many pleasant surprises as last year, but I’m going tear the pages out of the magazine and keep them with me for when I’m in a pub (like to toast Michael Jackson on Sept. 30). Arguing the merits of the list will make for great conversation. Maybe we’ll start by trying to find a European lager worthy of it.
Captain Hops of Beer Haiku Daily has made the call for Session #8 and it’s “Beer and Food.”
No, you don’t have to include a haiku.
And, yes, just yesterday I commented this beer and food thing was gaining traction.
I am looking for posts about pairing beer with food or using beer as an ingredient in food. I hope to see recipes, pictures, tasting notes, stories, menus, reviews or anything else that fits the bill of fare. Whether you write about which beer goes best with chili dogs or give your family’s secret recipe for vegan stout stew or post pictures of those ale braised lamb shanks you had last week, I want to know every mouth watering detail.
He’s got all the details you need to participate (attention all hosts, this is a good template for us to use in the future).
Personally, I’m looking forward to immersing myself in research the next few weeks. Let’s see, what goes with waffles? Duvel, of course.
Is this beer and food thing gaining a little momentum or is it my imagination?
– Otter Creek Brewing will continue to host its weekly local cheese and beer pairings each Friday through October as part of the brewery’s “Local foods meet Local Brews” events.
The free beer and cheese pairings, which include eight different Vermont cheeses, are held every Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the brewery, 793 Exchange St. in Middlebury.
– Full Sail Brewing is beginning a weekly series of Brewmaster’s Dinners at its Hood River pub. The menu will change based on the seasonality of the ingredients and the release of the brewery’s seasonal and reserve programs. They begin on Full Sail’s 20th Anniversary date, Sept. 27. The cost of the dinner including beer is $20 per person. The menu will be served from 4 p.m.-8 p.m.
The opening course for the first dinner: Dungeness Crab Cake with Spicy Remoulade Sauce and Lupulin Fresh Hop Ale.
– Stone Brewing is joining Brooklyn Brewery, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and others in a friendly battle with wine (conducted with knives and forks in hand). The basics:
WHO: Greg Koch, CEO – Stone Brewing Co.
Gavin Kaysen, Executive Chief – El Bizcocho
Barry Wiss, Sommelier – Trinchero Winery
WHAT: Craft Beer vs. Fine Wine Dining Challenge
WHEN: Thursday, September 27th @ 6:00pm
WHERE: El Bizcocho, Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, CA
WHY: To Debate the Merits of Food Pairings with Beer Versus Wine
Guests at the “Beer v. Wine” dinner will sample both a craft beer and fine wine selection specifically chosen for each course. Koch will introduce each beer Wiss will introduce each wine. Guests fill out a small card with their preferences as to which beverage pairs best with the dish. For more additional call 800-770-7329 or visit www.ranchobernardoinn.com.
Yesterday’s beer word of the day was lactobacillus (as in those gross beer lines in Milwaukee).
Today’s is Cicerone.
And the two are related. I was going to wait a few weeks before writing about the Cicerone Certification Program Ray Daniels is launching. But in the wake of the Milwaukee story, and comments that followed about properly cleaned glassware as well as lines now seems like a good time.
First the disclaimer. Ray is a friend of mine. That doesn’t make the program any less or any more worth writing about. I think it will be interesting to discuss it with him after he’s had a chance to introduce the idea at the National Beer Wholesalers Convention in a few weeks and later at the Great American Beer Festival. I will and I will report back.
Returning to the beer word of the day. Until it gets more traction in the beer community most people are going to find it easiest to consider Cicerone a synonym for “beer sommelier.”
That would miss the point, which is addressed right at the freshly minted website.
How is a Cicerone different from a Beer Sommelier?
A Cicerone is a tested and proven expert in beer while beer sommelier is a self-designation that can be adopted by anyone. Because there are no criteria for the title of beer sommelier and because those who use the title have not subjected their knowledge and skills to an independent examination, consumers and employers can’t be sure just what a non-certified beer server knows or how they treat and serve the beer.
And even though certified sommeliers do undergo rigorous testing – astonishingly demanding at the highest levels – and are supposed to be expert in “wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages” there’s just a bunch of stuff in the Cicerone syllabus they’ve never seen.
Back, one more time, to the word itself. Ray has bent the meaning of a word not often associated with beer so that it has – or will have – a beer meaning. That’s a good thing. We’ve struggled here before with the term beer sommelier so let’s go with something entirely different.
This isn’t a matter of beer following wine, but of the beer taking a step forward.