the session

This not the official announcement for Session #49, because that will have to include broad definition of “regular” beer. Or not. But when The Session begins its fifth season in March each of the first three original hosts (that would be me, then Alan McLeod and Jay Brooks) will return to action in successive months. I can tell you right now that March 4 I’ll expect contributors to blog about a single “regular” beer.

For now when writing about “regular” beer: a) I’ll settle for Justice Potter Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” standard and b) I’m going to quit putting quotation marks around regular.

Brewery founder Kevin Brand includes pecans when brewing (512) Pecan Porter (d’oh). So maybe you’d rather put the beer in the innovative category — like others you need a Cuisinart to make. Not me. I’d drink this beer, available only in 15.5-gallon kegs, regularly if I lived somewhere I could buy it. Thus, a regular beer.

Pecan Porter was the first seasonal at (512), released in the fall of 2008 not all that long after the brewery opened. Brand knew he wanted to brew a dark, bold beer. Pecans made their way into the recipe because he saw construction workers hanging out under and eating pecans from a tree in the industrial park where (512) is located. Central Texas, of course, is thick with pecans. That’s why a new brewpub in Johnson City, west of Austin, is calling itself Pecan Street Brewing.

At first Brand and Nate Seale, who now does most of the brewing, roasted the pecans in their own ovens. Today Austinuts provides the roasted pecans, which Brand and Seale grind up in a Cuisinart (“My wife keeps asking when she’ll get it back,” Brand said) before tossing the mixture into the mash. Organic two-row, crystal, chocolate and black malts make up the rest of the grist and the wort is hopped with a single addition of Glacier.

The pecans add nutty, toasty flavors to the porter, with the black malt and restrained hops (30 bitterness units) nicely balancing crystal malt sweetness.

“It (pecan) is a deceiving flavor. People associate it with sweet, because usually it’s in something like pralines or pie, but it’s not,” Brand said. Pecan Porter was an immediate hit, both because of its flavors and because it has an extra bit of Texas in it. “Most of the people who support us are in love with Austin and in love with Texas,” he said.

So (512) made the porter — you guessed it — a regular beer.

Mike Lynch of Burgers and Brews has posted the roundup for The Session #46: An Unexpected Discovery. Be sure to read beer.bobarnott.com’s account of discovering Bir & Fud in Rome — a restaurant where your drink choices are Italian craft beer and water. One more suggestion: After dinner at Bir & Fud drift across the way to Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa’.

David Jensen of Beer 47 will host Session #47 (you can’t plan stuff like that, folks) on Jan. 7. The theme is “Cooking with Beer.”

This month Mike Lynch of Burgers and Brews hosts The Session #46 and asks us to write about “An Unexpected Discovery.”

In the summer for 1995, Bozeman, Montana, was more of a beer destination than Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Few had heard of Dogfish Head (located in Rehoboth Beach) or knew the face of Sam Calagione. Spanish Peaks Brewing distributed its beer nationally and Chugwater, the dog on the label, was sort of a star. Ribbons he had won in various competitions covered the walls at the Italian Cafe, the dining room attached to the brewery.

So we found ourselves at a stop light in downtown Bozeman. We didn’t have a GPS, let alone a phone app that would connect us to The Beer Mapping Project. But Daria was pretty sure we were supposed to turn right in a couple of blocks when, coming out of the light, I took a hard right to get into the parking lot we’d just be sitting in front of.

“What are you doing?”

“Look up.”

Above us the sign said Cat’s Paw Casino and advertised “microbrews,” guaranteeing 20 beers on tap at $1 each. Sure enough, they had beers from small breweries in Washington and Oregon, as well as California, and several imports. Each 10-ounce pour cost a buck.

If you were compiling a guide to places to find flavorful beer, as we were at the time, this was quite a discovery. As a beer drinking experience not quite so exciting. It was pretty much a dive bar (still is, apparently), with some pool tables and gambling machines in the adjoining room.

So a great and surprising experience? A few notes from a trip to California in December of 1994.

We were winding out way north on route 9 from Santa Cruz — and we do mean winding. This is not a road to attempt after a barley wine tasting. The late-afternoon fog hanging in the redwoods was delightful, but by the time we were north of Boulder Creek darkness had set in. We spotted a neon sign as we came around another turn, read the word “Bass” as we headed by and before we were around two more turns had doubled back.

We had found the White Cockade, a Scottish pub set in a log cabin. The fireplace crackled as Big Band music played softfly. Couples sat snugly at dimly lit small tables in a room paneled in knotty pine. A cat named Moggy wandered around. Sitting at the small bar, which was bedecked with World War II memorabilia, we were please to see Fuller’s London Price on tap. But our attention was quickly diverted by two other beer we had had on this trip. Double Dragon and Fuller’s ESB on nitrogen dispense. “Who’d have thought,” Daria said, “that we could got into a pub that had London Pride on tap and find two beers we wanted more than that.”

Sitting next to us was a local who watched with some interest as we ordered. he asked what we thought of British ales. He wanted to try them, but already knew California ales were too bitter for his taste. Since we had been to the altar of Cascade hops — Sierra Nevada’s taproom — just the day before, to hear a Californian talk this was as a reality check.

Sometimes the menu included fresh salmon, landed by the landlord from his own fishing boat, but last we heard the White Cockade was closed.

Mike Lynch of Burgers and Brews has announced the topic for The Session #46: “An Unexpected Discovery.” He writes:

I recently drove out to Colorado for a concert, and realized this was a perfect opportunity to stop at as many “beer destinations” as I could. I researched, plotted routes, looked at maps, and generally planned the entire trip around beer. What I was surprised to find was that despite all the amazing stops I planned, one of the best beer experiences of the trip was completely accidental. I found great beer in the last place I thought to look for it.

Has this happened to you? Maybe you stumbled upon a no-name brewpub somewhere and found the perfect pale ale. Maybe, buried in the back of your local beer store, you found a dusty bottle of rare barleywine. Perhaps a friend turned you on to a beer that changed your mind about a brewery or a style. Write about a beer experience that took you by surprise.

Well, there was the time in 1995 when we stopped at the Cat’s Paw Casino in Bozeman, Montana. Maybe I’ll write about that Dec. 3.

Bruce Ticknor at host BeerTaster.ca has posted the wrap up for the 45th gathering of The Session. Not surprisingly, turnout was a little light but the reading was good.

I guess we should have lobbied for a session for The Session session at the Beer Bloggers Conference.

Mike Lynch at Burgers and Brews will host #46 on Dec. 3, and the topic is “An Unexpected Discovery: Finding Great Beer in the Last Place You’d Look.” A few more details when he posts them.