I broadcast a link to this via Twitter when I saw its on Friday because I think Ron Pattinson’s “Fantasy beer history: Gose” post is a) important and b) quite interesting reading.
I’m a fan of Four Peaks Brewing but he’s right to call out their description/history of Gose as “total rubbish.” It’s not only because I’m working on this book about brewing with wheat, that I find Gose a fascinating story, that we what liked what we had in Leipzig, or even that it just plain bugs me when I reads things that are wrong.
Fact is that education has been an important element in the American craft beer revival, that the breweries have taken charge of education — think about what you read on brewpub menus or craft beer labels — and education means getting the facts right.
There’s no need to make up sexy yarns. The basic, historically correct, stories behind Gose or India pale ale or stout make for great marketing on their own.
– Good to be small? From the New York Times, “In New York, No Crisis for Niche Manufacturers.” The point: “There’s quite a market for niche products in New York City,” said Jonathan Bowles, the director of the Center for an Urban Future, a nonpartisan research group in Manhattan, and an author of several manufacturing studies. “For a lot of the niche manufacturers, including those that are broadly appealing to the high-end market, they may be doing O.K.” Is niche beer doing as well in these economic hard times?
– Scum watch. OK, I don’t have a logical beer angle on this but had to pass this along. Daria’s brother spotted it in Sunday’s Sun-Sentintel while looking for things for us to do near his house in South Florida. The description of a Gun and Knife Show at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale: “Protect yourself from the scum of South Florida with items from this event.”
– Which one would you rather drink? This isn’t new and it isn’t beer, but an interesting post comparing how Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast described and rated, with much different results, what turned out to be the same wine.
I tweeted back about Four Peaks but I am sure to be under your twitter radar. I am a fan of the brewery as well, however I have a beef with its marketing. They introduced Sunbrew (kolsch) as a “tribute” beer, but they fail to acknowledge that it is a tribute to the A-1 brewery. I emailed them about it and they claimed they would promote it more extensively, but I’m not satisfied that they’ve done a proper job of it. On another note: Four Peaks is listed in your top 10 things to do in Phoenix back on the 90s. At this point it’s argueably 1 or 2. I say this not because most of the top 10 are gone (a crying shame) I say so because I am a fan! Will you be re-visiting that list. I think there is a story. In any case, that writing was an eye opener for me. I was blissfully unappreciative of what we had here and I struggle to build on what remains.
Apologies for the rant and formatting as I was on a mobile and couldn’t execute a line break.
From the website:
Sunbru Kölsch Style Ale
A very light golden ale that is malty sweet, almost honey-like in the nose. This ale has a light to medium body and a very delicate flavor. Easy drinking, it has very low bitterness and a soft dry finish. 5.2% alcohol/volume. This style originates from the city of Cologne, Germany where all twenty eight breweries are dedicated to brewing only Kölsch. Coming soon in cans. (ALWAYS ON TAP!!)
No mention of A-1
Sunbru was the first bottled post-prohibition beer in AZ. Brewed by the A-1 Brewery and named via a newspaper contest.
Here is your blog about Phoenix:
http://www.beertravelers.com/indexes/wateringholes/phoenix_pubcrawl.html
It was written in 1999, at a time in my life where I obviously took much too much for granted when it comes to craft beer and the beer culture that is enjoyed by many of you on the east coast and the Pac NW.
To my utter dismay only 3 of the top 10 things to do in Phoenix are no longer.
Gone Dead Gone
1) The Bandersnatch Brewpub was squeezed out of Tempe by ASU and the city going on 5 years now. There are plans to re-open a brew pub by the owner but that seems destined to be in the 2-3 year time frame. The new location will be in Buckeye, some 45 miles from central Phoenix or an hours drive from the original location.
2) Hops Bistro closed not too long after Stan’s review.
3) Uptown Brewery stopped making beer within the last year.
5) Coyote Springs closed before 2000 with beer in the tanks.
6) The Leinenkugel’s Ballyard Brewery is no longer lasting only 5 years.
8) Alcatraz Brewing closed at the end of 2003.
10) The Timberwolf Pub is now an ASU parking lot.
Honorable Mention: Rio Salado- as dry as its riverbed namesake.
Oh Bury Me Not
4) Four Peaks is a thriving Brew Pub with a second location.
7) Seamus McCaffrey’s is still operating and his wife has a place on Camelback called Rosie McCaffrey’s.
9) Gordon Biersch Brewing Co is still in the prime Mill Avenue location, but as we all know this is a national chain of brewpubs.
Yes I know there are some bright points not mentioned. For every Sonora, Roosevelt or Papago we also hurtle towards adding a vanilla chain shopping mall entity such as the Yardhouse.
We are a metro area rivaling LA in size and surpassing Philadelphia in population….
I want my Beer Culture!
Goodness, I apologize on the Twitter front. Even when my online connections are more robust than we are enjoying right now I am terrible about keeping track of replies.
I need to get better at Twitter, but probably a resolution for when we “land” at home in August.
oh no Stan, I like you fine. Your outreach is admirable.