musing

A ‘Beer Wars’ sneak preview: A reporter in Boston got a look at a 10-minute chunk of “Beer Wars.” He writes, “What I saw was Michael Moore 101: Little craft breweries like Dogfish Head and MoonShot = Good. Anheuser-Busch, a.k.a. ‘the soulless machine,’ the ‘monopoly,’ the ‘corporate behemoth with their insatiable appetite for growth’ = Bad. Baron takes a page right from the ‘Roger and Me’ playbook, making much of Anheuser CEO August Busch’s refusal to grant her an interview. (Thanks to Andy Crouch for pointing to this from the Boston Globe.)

Oregon craft beer sales fall: December and January shipments for all Oregon craft brewers fell by 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively. But in January and February, shipments for all beer in Oregon actually rose by 10 and 20 percent, respectively. “It would appear trading down from higher-priced, locally-made beer has already begun in earnest,” said Brian Butenschoen, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild.

Befuggled: Don’t you love that word? Say it two or three times. You’re smiling, right? Reminds me of the word “bumfuzzled,” which I first heard a small-town high school football coach use long before Bill Clinton got it more attention.

Back to beer. Martyn Cornell reports on an article by Kim Cook titled “Who produced Fuggle’s Hops.” Another bit of oft-repeated beer history is called to question. A good excuse to read about a classic English hop, and see how Martyn uses the word “rotundity.” Befuggled. Rotundity. Befuggled. Rotundity. When you can’t repeat those words quickly you know you’ve had one bitter too many.

I’ll be buying this book: St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis 1809-2009 is due out in the fall. This hardbound, full color book will feature over 330 pages detailing the history of beer and its importance to the St. Louis region.

Speaking of books I’ve reviewed several of the books in the BeerBooks.com Classic Reprint Series and own still more of them. I think you should be reading them too, something I remembered when I noticed they are all 30 percent to 36 percent off. A quick disclaimer: I’m affiliate, meaning if you click on the ad on the right or some other links here and buy a book then I get store credit (because I don’t own enough beer books). Just so you know I set up the “speaking of books” link without affiliate coding. I’m telling you about this because it’s a good deal for you, not because I want you to earn me a little store credit.

Been driving through unpleasant prairie winds too much of the day, but now that we’ve docked I feel I should pass along this bit of news before it is no longer — SPOILER ALERT! — April The First.

Flying Dog today unveiled a new “Canis Minor Series” that will feature four low-alcohol craft beers:

• Hot Dog Habanero Ginger Ale – 0.9% ABV, 2 IBU
• Unicorn Dog Sparkling Barley Wine-style Ale – 1.9% ABV, 4 IBU
• Raging Bitch Birch Beer – 1.3% ABV, 6 IBU
• Herberos Belgian-style Root Beer Lager- 1.59% ABV, 7 IBU

They wouldn’t kid about something like this, would they?

I hope this isn’t a mistake. The debate about whether “extreme beers” are good, bad or something between has been rehashed enough here and elsewhere. And when Pete Brown asked for reader input and suggested he might use those comments in a story he caught a certain amount of grief in the beer blogosphere.

But I can use your help. I’m working on a business story about “extreme beers” and their value (or lack thereof) to breweries. I’ll talk to brewers and brewery representatives about that. What I’d like to know is if the term “extreme beer” means something specific to real live beer drinkers. I’ve never heard a customer at a bar say, “I’d like an extreme beer, please.”

Certainly the term has become part of our beer vocabulary — check out Daniel Bradford’s post about the Extreme Beer Festival.

I decided to ask you because the discussion last week about beer prices turned out to be so interesting. I’d particularly like to hear from casual readers who haven’t necessarily joined the “extreme” discussion here or elsewhere. Leave a comment, or if you are feeling shy please use email.

The question, just to be clear, is what does the term “extreme beer” tell you about what’s in your glass?

I think this and this are related. Bravado is seldom becoming.

If you prefer to know more before you click the second is a brilliant post from Ron Pattinson about brewing innovation. (For the record, I don’t think innovation necessarily trumps tradition.)

Meanwhile . . . please, please don’t feel the need to go vote for the Best Beer City.

It seems that beer is no casual acquaintance of people who read this blog. So were I to conduct a poll — say how much money you send on beer — the results likely wouldn’t necessarily reflect the buying habits of the “average” beer drinker or even the casual “craft beer” drinker.

So it’s interesting to “eavesdrop” on comments posted about beer at a non-beer site.

Yesterday the Chicago Tribune published a story about two new microbreweries in the city. What seemed to get the most attention is that 6 packs of Half Acre beers cost $9. We’re not talking a knee jerk reaction about how that’s ridiculous, but a discussion. Check out the comments.