Stan Hieronymus

No I don’t suddenly covet the beers of BrewDog because they are getting good marks at Rate Beer and are building a cult following in Japan.

However, you might worry that I’ve fallen under the spell of off-beat marketing wizardry given that less than two weeks ago I confessed I want to try the beers of Voodoo Brewery just because I like the brewer’s attitude. And now I’m quoting more brewers I’ve never met and whose beer I’ve never tasted, and this time they are from Scotland.

Thanks to a post from Stonch about Hardcore IPA, the first “Double IPA” in Britain I spent a fair amount of time this morning mucking around the BrewDog website.

The index page alone had me looking up Fraserburgh, Scotland, on the map:

We do not merely aspire to the proclaimed heady heights of conformity through neutrality and blandness.

Quality ingredients are expensive, time consuming hand brewing methods are expensive, all the extra care required because we use no additives or preservatives is expensive.

We don’t care!

Our goal is not to keep costs down, cut corners and then fool consumers into thinking this bland nonsense is actually good beer through an advertisement onslaught.

Our goal is to make truly amazing fresh, natural beers and not to compromise on any level.

We’ve been listening to that message from American small-batch brewers for more than 20 years (although I never tire of hearing it). It’s less often they say things, like: “It’s all about moderation. Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time to time have excess.”

As Stonch points out, the UK is not devoid of creative brewing. For instance, Sean Franklin at Rooster’s Brewery in Yorkshire has been concocting quite nice experimental beers since opening the brewery in 1993. But many of the new wave of micro breweries are really micro, often selling only to one pub.

James Watt and Martin Dickie, on the other hand, opened with a 10-barrel system at BrewDog (Rooster’s has an eight-barrel). And they distribute their beer in bottles.

In case you wondered, Peroxide Punk (in the headline) took that name because it is a fair color and described this way by the brewery:

“A trashy blonde concession for those who mouthed the words (in a deliberate manner) on the Punk IPA label, then spat the beer out. For you crazy rock n roll peeps who thought the extra 2% would make you loose the Harry Plotter entirely. Dry-Hopped . . . to give the beer a real aromatic zesty aroma and a depth of flavour and body which bellies its ABV. Fluorescent in colour, this beer might even make you glow in the dark. Zeitgeist in a bottle.”

I’m a sucker for zeitgeist in a bottle.

If you care about how green the beer in your glass is then the news that Wal-Mart is partnering with the Carbon Disclosure Project to measure the energy used to create seven products, including beer, seems like a big deal. The story:

What exactly did it take to make that beer you’re drinking? Retail giant Wal-Mart said Monday it will partner with a nonprofit climate group to measure the amount of energy used to create beer — as well as six other product categories sold at its stores.

The goal, said Wal-Mart and its partner the Carbon Disclosure Project, is to then find ways to make products more efficiently and, in the process, reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases tied to global warming.

Does this have much to do with beer of conviction, honest beers, whatever you want to call the beers at the heart of the discussion here?

After all, a brewery has to be pretty good size to sell to Wal-Mart. But technology and innovation trickle down. Plus some of the larger small breweries — notably Sierra Nevada and New Belgium — are already leaders at reducing the environmental impact of brewing beer.

I’ll wait until Oct. 15 to beat you up more on beer and the environment. It’s important, and Wal-Mart getting involved can only help.

Earlier this month Chris O’Brien reported that Climate Change gives the largest breweries low marks when it comes to addressing their impact on global warming. I think the report somehow missed a lot of what Anheuser-Busch is doing, but I also know that any brewery is likely to listen if Wal-Mart suggests there’s more to be done.

Enough to make us feel all warm inside when we think about Wal-Mart? One step at a time.

Local drinkers say they can taste the difference (and that’s good) now that Scottish & Newcastle has resumed brewing some of its John Smith’s cask ale in Tadcaster.

A spokesman for the company said: “In order to gain a better understanding of the recent product quality issues experienced by some stockists of cask John Smith’s we have been producing supplementary brews at our Tadcaster brewery.”

The beer is also brewed in Warrington.

The York Press quoted one regular drinker saying, “It was magnificent and so smooth on the palate that I was forced to test several further pints to check it was no fluke. I implore the brewery to bring production back to Tadcaster. If they don’t I’ll stick to my cider.”

How passionate drinkers can be about a beer others label “average” is apparent in comments posted at the end. They are all worth a read, even those from drinkers who don’t think much of the beer. Here’s one:

“For over a hundred years John Smith’s have been telling us the secret of their brewing was the artesian well water beneath Tadcaster, now they’re saying it doesn’t matter. They can’t have it both ways.”

The drafting order is set for The Beer Mapping Project GABF Fantasy League, and I drew the 16th choice. beerinator cut off signups at 30 and the team (is that the right word?) with the last pick of the first round gets the first pick of the second. So in the second I’ll be drafting 15th. And so on until we’ve chosen hundreds of breweries.

Given that the last two years there has been a definite drop off in value after about a half dozen breweries (using the proposed scoring system, which could change) what should my strategy be?

(An aside: Predictions are always easier to make when you have the results in hand – that’s called data mining. You might have taken Anheuser-Busch high after the brewery scored 17 points in 2005 and got only three points in 2006 for your trouble. Flossmoor Station Brewing won three medals in 2005 for just three points, but in 2006 scored 13 points with four.)

I figure that A-B, Miller, Pabst (seriously, worth 14 points each of the last two years – Blatz and Stag win medals), Pelican, Flossmoor, New Glarus and nine more breweries will be long gone before Appellation Beer makes a pick.

What should my strategy be (for the 16th pick, but also the 45th and beyond)? Go with a brewery that has been dependable, always or almost always winning at least one medal (like Goose Island and Brooklyn)? Pick a newcomer with some street cred (Terrapin, Surly)? Somebody close to home (Chama River, Il Vicino, even Pagosa Springs)? Or those devoted to beers of conviction?

I need your help.

(I’m still working on the prize for the reader who provides the best advice. I’m sure it will be terrific.)