Friday beer: For want of a ‘narfer narf’

The SessionI have at this moment a deep and abiding thirst for something called a narfer narfer narf.

You see, the topic for today’s 88th gathering of The Session is traditional beer mixes. In making the announcement, hosts Boak & Bailey list several options from Richard Boston’s “Beer and Skittles.” The choices appear in a chapter titled “The Public House” and although the book predates Sierra Nevada Brewing by only a few years (1976 versus 1980) it describes a world that seems more like a setting for an HBO series than one you find in these parts.

Consider a few words from the chapter:

1 The quest

All the pub’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Everything about a pub is theatrical: the exits and the entrances, the dialogue, the eating and drinking, the games. … Opening time and closing time even give each session the dramatic structure of beginning, middle and end postulated by Aristotle as necessary to a well-made play.

2 The people

… then there’s the Why-my-wife-left me bore, the Send-them-back-to-Ireland/West Indies bore, the useless information bore. The drinks bore is one of the worst …

Boston discusses choices of drinks within this context. Although it might appear on the surface I could settle in at the bar at a nearby establishment with a considerable number of beer options my chances of ending up with anything similar to a granny (mixing old and mild) or blacksmith (stout and barley wine) Boston might recognize pretty much don’t exist. Even though finding stouts and barley wines is easy. Beer at AnyplaceinAmerica in 2014 has about as much to do with beer in Boston’s England in 1976 as beer and ale had to do with each other in England in 1542.

And a narfer narf, half a pint of mild and half a pint of bitter? Get serious. (A narfer narfer narf is half a pint of the mixture.)

Recognizing this reality, that I would not be writing about actually drinking narfer narfer narf, Tuesday night at Busch Stadium I decided to try a ballpark blend. Before emptying my plastic cup of Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz, which remains about the perfect 90 degree/90% humidity ballpark beer, I mixed the remainder with an equal part of Schlafly Pale Ale. I did not wake up Tuesday morning wondering what flavors I’d find if I cut Schnickelfritz with Pale Ale. I chose these two because they are the ones I drink most often at the ballpark. They are local and they are refreshing. I like that combination. I suppose there was a little more, or at least different, fruity character in the blend. More hops, for sure, than Schnickelfritz alone, earthier. But mostly refreshing, and better so because they were brewed locally by other people who live in St. Louis.

(Understand that I grew up in central Illinois, not St. Louis, rooting for the Chicago Cubs, and therefore against the Cardinals. They now serve Goose Island Honker’s Ale and IPA at Busch, beers I really like that originated in Chicago although they are now brewed elsewhere. But at a baseball game in St. Louis I’m drinking a St. Louis-made beer. Once in a while Boulevard Wheat, which is also brewed by people who pay the same state taxes I do, but not Tuesday, even though the Cardinals were playing the Royals. I am not arguing this allegiance to local is rational, but it is real.)

Finally, an aside. I could have done my blending at the Budweiser Brew House at recently opened Ballpark Village. You can actually watch a game from a deck in the Brewhouse (sort of like the Wrigley Field rooftops). They’ve got maybe all of the A-B Inbev beers sold in the U.S. on tap somewhere within the complex. By chance, taps for Goose Island Matilda and Faust, an A-B throwback beer, are side by side. That was probably a missed blending opportunity, you think?

When Ron Pattinson comes to town

Ron Pattinson, The Home Brewer’s Guide to Vintage Beer

That’s Ron Pattinson, above, having a beer at In de Wildeman in Amsterdam, where he lives but hardly seems to have time to drink these days. He’s returning to North America for another whirlwind tour, beginning Sunday in Toronto.

I’m not sure he appreciates what he is in for once the National Homebrewers Conference begins in Grand Rapids. First official event will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Perrin Brewing Company. But the real fun is likely to come at Club Night and the Beer City Social Club late each night.

I already know about one homebrewed Grodziskie we should get a chance to taste Wednesday at Perrin.

‘Local’ beer, or simply brewed nearby?

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 06.02.14

What does it mean for a beer to be local? Jeff Baker on what’s involved in putting local ingredients in local beers in Vermont. Although I’m a fan of using local grains, hops, fruit, whatever, I continue to think that the people who make beer (and, in a way, even the drinkers) are an essential ingredient in making a beer local.

[Via Burlington Free Press]

Strange Brews: The Genes of Craft Beer. Hope you read to the finish of this New York Times article and this from a yeast geneticist: “Until recently, the brewing industry has been remarkably resistant to using the techniques of genetics and molecular biology to improve their brewing strains.” I’m all for better beer through science. (Quick aside: It’s a lot easier to write for brewers when there’s science to back up statements, particularly when those statements contradict what’s been written before.) But it’s good to be a little be wary of science, or at least scientists (and maybe brewery owners/bean counters) who don’t appreciate the bit of alchemy involved in brewing.

[Via The New York Times]

O’Fallon Brewery, Urban Chestnut aiming to take their beer global. But not exactly global in the same way as another St. Louis brewery. However, O’Fallon is shipping a bit of beer to Italy and company president Jim Gorczyca hopes exports becomes a bigger part of the brewery’s business when its new facility is up and running). And why did an Italian distributor contact O’Fallon? Because he’d heard of O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer.

Following the call, O’Fallon Brewery shipped beer samples to Italy and then signed an agreement to export six-pack glass bottles affixed with an extra label listing the beer’s ingredients in Italian, and the Italian word for beer: birra. Each label was painstakingly affixed by hand.

[Via St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Would You Pay $1,000 Once to Get Free Beer for Life? This is a real question. Just one more reason to visit Minneapolis (and pay for the beer). That is all.

[Via Atlantic Media]

Bottoms up! Brew pub Paulaner celebrates relaunch. It opened just last November and closed in March, redesigned and with a new menu. It would seem if you think the German beer culture is portable that it is best if you understand that culture.

[Via Crain’s New York Business]

Coffee, beer, growth, perspective

Twenty years ago the annual “numbers” issue of The New Brewer (“The Journal of the Brewers Association”) weighed 12 ounces. This year it weighs 22 ounces. Perhaps that is another way to measure the growth of craft beer.

The magazine includes all the big picture numbers already reported — craft beer volume up 18% in 2013 — but the real weight comes with the details, lists of breweries that opened and closed, a few words stories surrounding the numbers, and information about production from almost every Brewers Association member (some don’t get around to it, others prefer not to see the numbers in print). Lots of numbers, lots of fun. Sales at Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery in Michigan grew from 754 barrels in 2012 to 797 in 2013, while production at Blue Pants Brewery in Alabama ramped up from 520 barrels to 1,910.

I wrote the story about brewpubs, which are by definition mostly local and mostly relatively small. Although many package some beer and sell it away from their doors — Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland sold more than 10,000 barrels in 2013 and nearby Double Mountain Brewery almost 9,000, for instance — the average brewpub made 800 barrels. Which means the story had to, at least in passing, address the “how many it too many?” question.

Church Brew Works founder Sean Casey had some interesting thoughts. His Pittsburgh brewpub has been around since 1996, sold 2,800 barrels in 2013, and has seen plenty of other small breweries come and go.

“There are going to be more and more and more boutiques, more like coffee shops, more ubiquitous,” he said. “You’ll see more nano-pubs making it. The public is becoming more accepting of these smaller venues.”

He also had another thought related to coffee.

“A cup of coffee at 8 in the morning still sells for more than a glass of beer that takes a lot more energy, a lot more time, and a lot more ingredients.”

*****

The schedule here calls for a post today about a particular beer. Alas, it’s been a while since I had a Church Brew Works beer, but the memory of its Maibock lingers in my memory, bready with a hint of umami. That will have to count for a tasting note today.

Brewery of the future: Less tied to place?

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 05.26.14

Considering BridgePort at 30. Jeff Alworth “rattles on” — near the end he basically asks for a show of hands from those who might still be reading — but it is worth the time. And it makes a lot more sense if you don’t jump right to the conclusion: “I’ll wrap it up by saying that I think the odd place BridgePort occupies in the beer world will eventually look a lot less odd. It’s a brewery of the future, more corporate and generic, less tied to place.”

If this is true what does it mean for eight or so breweries that will open somewhere in the United States this week?

[Via Beervana]

Understanding the ‘craft beer revolution’ through science. This might be the only link your read from Neuroanthropology this month, so put on your thinking cap. Reading it I reminded me that we need a new Beer Flavor Wheel, because one in current use was designed for brewers to use, and more specifically to identify unwanted flavors and aromas.

[Via Neuroanthropology]

Doing my bit for the Surrey hop-growing industry. Hogs Back brewery recently invited journalists and other interested parties to witness, and participate in, the first planting of the Farnham White Bine hop variety in Farnham soil in about 85 years. Martyn Cornell reports from the field. Ed Wray was also there, as was Roger Protz (he’s pictured in Cornell’s post). Last week Protz included a bit from Ali Capper of the British Hop Association urging British brewers to
use more British hops. She refers to the ongoing story about how the popularity of hop-forward beers has led to higher prices for some hop varieties, and in some cases shortages. I could post 10 links to such stories each week, but will wait until there is something with more information than was available in February. It’s shouldn’t be long before we know how many acres farmers planted this year in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

[Via Zythophile]

10 ways craft beer is outmaneuvering wine. This comes from Charles Gill, a “30-year wine industry veteran who has worked at every level of the industry.” Seems like some apples and oranges here, beyond the obvious differences between beer and wine, like local versus national/global brands. He mentions “the preponderance of local brewers” and community as an advantage for beer. But in Missouri, where I live, has more than 100 wineries, so twice the number of breweries. Overall, there are more than 8,000 wineries in the United States, way more than twice the breweries.

Nonethless interesting. Particularly the notion of “gatekeepers” (in No. 4 as well as No. 10).

[Via Wine Lists USA]

Shandy-monium: The sequel. Summer Shandy now accounts for 50 percent of Leinenkugel’s total business. The company sold the equivalent of 5.5 million cases in 2013 — easily more than twice the amount of Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, the nation’s best selling IPA &#151. And Jake Leinenkugel says maybe half of beer drinkers still don’t know what it is. Seems like the “don’t know” estimate might be low.

Traveler Beer, which is part of Burlington, Vermont-based Alchemy & Science, a unit of Boston Beer, is also betting big on shandy. Founded in 2012, as the House of Shandy, the company’s stated mission is to “combine the European Shandy tradition with American ingenuity.” Alan Newman, its president and founder of Magic Hat Brewing, acknowledges there is still plenty of work to be done in introducing the shandy to the American consumer.

“We recently hired an online survey company to ask Americans ‘What is a shandy?’,” he said. “Eighty-nine percent missed it completely. I think, maybe 7 percent figured it was a beer. So the understanding of the category still has a way to go.”

[Via CNBC]