musing

Here’s a bit of forward thinking from an administrator in the county where I pay property taxes:

“If we are doing (DWI) roadblocks, we have to help people get home safely, too.”

And Diane Irwin, administrator of the Sandoval County DWI and Prevention Programs, is putting my tax dollars (and others’) where her mouth is.

Turtle Mountain Brewing in Rio Rancho has already been providing buses to New Mexico Scorpions hockey games, also in Rio Rancho.

The county’s DWI program will begin offering free rides home throughout Sandoval County to brewery patrons who might have consumed too much alcohol at the game or at the brewery, Irwin told the Albuquerque Journal (subscription required).

The county will test the program through Jan. 5. Rides will be available from 10 p.m. to midnight, when the brewery closes.

“We are working together to make sure people get home safely from the (Scorpions) events,” Irwin said. The DWI program has five volunteers, including Sandoval County commissioner David Bency, who will be driving people home.

If all goes well, program officials will meet with other bars and breweries in Rio Rancho and see how they can collaborate, she said.

It won’t mean fewer roadblocks, which at times can seem like a nuisance, but it makes me feel more positive about the DWI program.

(The photo at the top was taken several years ago – it has since been updated, mostly to reflect the rising cost of a DWI. It’s located only a few blocks east of Turtle Mountain.)

Yes, we’re just two days beyond Monday musing, but seems to be a lot going on that might not otherwise be worth a full length post.

– Too late for this year, but Greg Clow at Beer, Beats & Bites suggests beer bloggers get involved in the Menu for Hope charity event.

He’s offering to run the point on this:

So, if you’ve got a blog about beer and think this is a good idea, please leave a comment, and send word to other bloggers to check out this post and do the same.

I’m in and I hope you’ll consider contributing too. Drop him a line so we get a running start for 2008.

Meanwhile, think about participating this year by buying a lottery ticket (just $10 a chance). You can go for what Greg is giving away, the package Maggie Dutton of The Wine Offensive has assembled (beer from Elysian included) or something from scores of other food bloggers. You’ll find the list at Menu for Hope.

– Last year Stephen Beaumont wrote: “When some day we look back upon the history of craft brewing around the world, particularly in North America, I believe that 2006 will be known as the year of the beer blog.” Well, 2006 was nothing compared to what has happened in 2007, including two blogs from Beaumont.

What’s been particularly nice is the perspective we gain because of daily international posts. For instance, yesterday Martyn Cornell offered a nice snapshot of what’s going on in UK beer writing by handicapping the “Beer Writer of the Year League.”

– Rick Sellers draws attention to The Bane of Better Beer, which would be breweries without brewmasters. The Turnkey Brewpub concept has gained traction in California for none of the reasons that Jack McAuliffe started New Albion Brewing.

None.

If you don’t want to drink this beer then I will:

“It poured a rich, deep copper colour, slightly hazy. It reminded me of American IPAs – you could almost see the weighty alcohol content. The nose was an absolute delight – an initial sharp citrus tang, followed by a deeper range of tropical fruit – I was reminded of mango and papaya. Later, after it had breathed for a while, it went a bit sherberty. On the tongue it simply exploded with rich, ripe fruit, a little bit of pepper, and a wonderfully clean bitter finish that left my tongue buzzing.”

After months of drinking dreadful beer along the way, Pete Brown finally got to open the India Pale Ale hauled from Burton-on-Trent to India.

He’s writing a book about this journey — which better be available in the U.S., dammit — but promises details in his blog first.

Meanwhile, consider this:

I’ve found large elements of the IPA story to be myth, but this central fact – it wasn’t just the brewer but also the journey that created this beer – holds up.

I guess this means a beer terroir could include the open sea.

Having spent much of three days in airports, airplanes and a moving car (a new project I’ll write about here sooner than later) I’m in serious catch-up mode this morning, but early on noticed a post at Miller’s Brew Blog indicating the sales balance between spirits and beer may be beginning to swing back beer’s way.

Makes perfect sense to me since I used my airplane time to breeze through “The Business of Spirits,” which “describes how clever marketing, innovative production methods, and a booming market for luxury goods turned small, family-run business into huge global corporations.”

This could be one of those magazine cover curse things &#151 once a trend turns up on the cover of a prominent magazine (or this case a whole book is devoted to it) that means it has crested. After all, demand for spirits has always been cyclical.

Of course if that is the case then we should start worrying about “craft” beer given the attention that growth in the category is getting. (Today’s Wall Street Journal has a story about Bell’s Brewery and its distribution dispute in Chicago – subscription required.)

An interesting book, although one I’d suggest grabbing out your local library than adding to your own collection. And for fun, one quote:

Soon, says Dave Pickerell, Maker’s Mark master distiller, your drink may become spicy. “The American palate is migrating to the more sweet and will move on to savory,” he says. “The next coming down the pipe is spices.” People usually start with sweeter flavors but as their palates get more experience and mature, they begin gravitating to more bitter and complex tasting spirits. (The same process usually happens with people who eat a lot of chocolate. They started out eating sweeter milk chocolate, and as their palates get more refined, they begin gravitating to increasingly darker and and often more expensive chocolate.)

Back to play catchup.

This is just a great idea from Ølfabrikken, or maybe from Shelton Brothers, which imports the Danish beer.

I want to see similar information on the label of every beer in the store.

What else do you need to know?

OK, if 100 gram IPA is any good (yes) and if it is worth $8.99 (in New Mexico; well that’s $4 more than Stone Ruination). And maybe they need a fourth scale – either ranging from “beginner” to “experienced” (my idea of bitter might be different than some) or “bland” to “intense.” In either case all the blocks would be filled in for 100 gram.

But wouldn’t you love to see a similar chart &#151 like brewing competitors would every come up with a standard &#151 on the back of very bottle?

The label also provides a little information about the brewery, and the fact its beers are unpasteurized, unfiltered and naturally carbonated.

And about the beer itself: “Our 100 Gram IPA is an Imperial IPA, hopped continuously throughout the entire boil. Hops additions are made every three minutes, and are increased by 100 grams with each addition. The result is a flavorful bitter ale, with intense floral aromas from the huge quantities of hops added near the end of the boil.”

While I love the informative label and that beer drinkers in Denmark can enjoy locally brewed Double IPAs I’m still trying to figure out why it is necessary to ship the hops back to the United States.