beers of conviction

Trader Joe’s beer wins international award

Eric ToftWe’ll get to the Trader’s Joe beer in a moment, but first other news from Nuremberg, where the European Beer Star Awards were handed out today.

American breweries won 25 medals, second only to Germany. Boston Beer (Samuel Adams) grabbed four, including one gold, while Oregon breweries Deschutes and Caldera won three each. Deschutes took gold for Bachelor ESB and Abyss, while Caldera had the top IPA, besting Firestone-Walker’s Union Jack (which has been winning everything recently, including this competition in 2008). Sixteen different American breweries won medals.

Personally, I was delighted to see Surtaler Leicht from Private Landbrauerei Schönram in Bavaria win gold as a European Light Lager. It captured the silver last year and I waxed romantic about it for Session #25. Schönramer Pils — I highly recommend the unfiltered version at the restaurant on the brewery grounds — also won gold.

As I’ve mentioned before Schönram brewmaster Eric Toft (pictured here) is a native of Wyoming.

OK, back to Trader Joe’s. Mission Street Honey Blond — brewed by Firestone-Walker — won the bronze in the Specialty Honey category, finishing behind Samuel Adams Honey Porter and Dogfish Head Midas Touch. At $5.99 a better deal than Two Buck (really Three Buck) Chuck, I think.

 

And the best brewery in the country is . . .

PASTE magazine, cool enough to have struck a free music download deal with Oskar Blues, made “The 25 Best American Breweries of the Decade (2000-2009)” its list of the day Saturday.

And Sunday they gave us “The 10 Best Fashion Designers of the Decade (2000-2009).”

I won’t spoil it and tell you who top designer might be. But, what the heck, Josh Jackson taps Dogfish Head Craft Brewery as his top brewery. I’ll pass on repeating why I’m not keen on these lists but if you want to look here are all 25.

 

The business of beer

Perhaps it’s because stories about how beer is made and the people who make it are so interesting but if mosey on over to Rate Beer or Beer Advocate you’ll find plenty of enthusiasts discussing the business of beer. Quite often pricing, to the understandable chagrin of brewers since some participants don’t bother with facts.

In that spirit a couple of links this morning.

First, from Neal Stewart, ex of Flying Dog Ales and before that central to the revival of the Pabst brand: 10 Key Ingredients for Craft Beer Success.

Second, from Harry Schumacher of Beer Business Daily: Beer Veterans Speak On Big and Small Brands. (The second link courtesy of Jack Curtin.)

One quick quote, from JB Shireman, formerly in sales at New Belgium brewing and now a bar owner in Fort Collins, Colorado: “Bud Light Golden Wheat has been on fire. The other day there were six totally different types of customers in the bar, and all were drinking Golden Wheat. I don’t know if mega-brand strategy is a good or a bad thing, but if they’re trading Bud Light drinkers up to Golden Wheat, at least they’re drinking higher priced beers. It’s across the board: The young guys who were drinking Bud Light on tap are drinking it, the ladies who normally drink margaritas are trying it, two guys playing darts, even bikers are drinking it, but they’re the type of bikers who trailer their bikes to Sturgis and wear Rolexes.”

There’s an image for a Tuesday morning.

 

Session #33: Some days you frame the beer

The SessionThis is my contribution to Session #33, and the theme is “framing beer.” Check out I’ll Have A Beer for an explanation and to see what other bloggers are writing.

It’s been a long, busy day and I’ve finally made it to a beer, Great Divide Hibernation, a beer I wrote about for Session #10. Just as good as it was two years ago. (A point of order: I’m drinking the 2009 vintage.)

Still lots of chocolate and spice early, with roasty character (both nuts and hints of coffee beans) on the nose and in the mouth. Caramel and dark fruits, also, their sweetness nicely balanced by an earthy/husky mouthfeel.

At this point in the day — which is already yesterday in the Eastern Time Zone — I have only one thought.

Some days you frame the beer. Some days the beer frames you.

 

Book review: Christmas Beer

Christmas BeerDon Russell’s Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest, and Most Unusual Holiday Brews came out last year while we were in Europe. Thus I write from experience when I suggest this is not a book you want to start reading in January, when these beers have disappeared from the shelves.

A few facts: The book is a packed 208 pages, with extra details with his choice of “The World’s 50 Best Christmas Beers.” Of course he’s wrong about some of them, but makes up for it with vitals on 98 more. Then there are recipes, serving tips, places to drink, all the expected extras.

Research was serious work, as Russell explains at the outset. He writes, “So every year I pick a day in early December to skip work and go beer hunting. One year I flew to Norway for its holiday beer, juleøl. In other years, I’ve trooped off to the West Coast. Most years, though, I stay on the East Coast for a beer-hunting expedition that can last twelve hours and take me though five states, plus the District of Columbia.”

Why you’d buy the book:

– The front matter. The book begins with a series of short stories, most two to four pages. In our house we haul out a couple of dozen Christmas books each Thanksgiving. The tales inside are surrounded by illustrations, so can can read a book out loud (more popular when Sierra couldn’t yet read) in only a few minutes. Same with the stories at the front of Christmas Beer. Read a story, have a beer. Repeat tomorrow night.

– The list of beers. I’ll forgo my usual rant against “best” lists. In this part of the book you see a beer on one page, the story of the beer on the facing page. Always a better story than the marketing people include in their press releases. And, of course, the attraction of these special beers is they tell their own story. So if you plan to spend the proper amount of time with the book, a short story and a beer each evening, and you take into account the front matter, then the 50 “best” beers, and sampling all the other beers listed . . . we’re already behind on Christmas of 2009.

– I makes a great gift. It would be on my wish list if I didn’t already have it.

Why you wouldn’t buy the book: Your name is Scrooge.