Beer book of the year: Amber, Gold and Black

Amber, Gold and BlackMakin’ a list and checkin’ twice, it’s that time of year. I’m woefully behind so breathed a sigh of relief when I discovered a few books that were supposed to be here when we returned from Europe, so that I might provide an opinion if you should buy them, were not to be seen.

Thus no beer book shopping list, something I generally enjoy compiling, from me this holiday season.

Instead I’m going to give you a list of one, a book — Amber, Gold and Black, The Story of Britain’s Great Beers — that works perfect for the procrastinating shopper because it is available via download. Call it the beer book of the year if you want.

I’ve already written something of a review, so instead consider one paragraph:

“In 1802, a writer called John Fetham wrote three pages on porter brewing in a guidebook called The Picture of London. Feltham’s version of the history of porter, which includes the claim it was invented by a brewer named Harwood, has been repeated hundreds of times over the past two centuries as the allegedy authentic story of porter’s origins. Unfortunately very little of it is backed up by independent evidence, and much of it is demonstrably wrong.”

Are you thinking you’ve repeated this story a time or two yourself and now you are feeling like a first year law student who just got called on in The Paper Chase? Read the book and instead you get to be one of the cool kids watching a classmate squirm.

 

Answer: Troegs Mad Elf

Question: What was my first American-brewed beer in more than three months?

Why not start with an 11% abv beer brewed with honey and cherries? What could be more American? When I saw it at Oak Tree Liquors in South Plainfield, N.J., a store definitely worth the drive, I knew it would be the one. We last had Mad Elf two years ago and quite liked it. A little boozy, but layers of flavor. Walked out of the store with more beer than we needed, but we may be back in a few days because Dave Hoffman of Climax is supposed to be delivering growlers of his legendary doppelbock.

And a second answer: Rosé de Gambrinus.

Question: What was our last beer in Germany (and Europe)?

It was spectacular. We finished with the Cantillon beer because when we were at the brewery in mid-September it was only recently bottled and they suggested we wait as long as we could before opening. Couldn’t do any better than the night before we flew home.

We enjoyed a more proper German sendoff the day before in Nurnberg during a very nice meal at Hütt’n (located a couple of hundred of meters from the Christmas Market and found with the help of Ron Pattinson’s city guide). They’ve got a long list of Franconian beers on the menu.

Daria and I finished (we were sharing) with Fischer Rauch, a little buttery but good with spicy Nurnberger goulash, and Gutmann Weizenbock, a dangerous 7.2% winter specialty. By a bit of chance, Gutmann was also my first weizen of the trip (September in Rothenberg), in this case the weizen hell, a delightful balance between fruit and clove. Had never heard of the brewery, but two impressive beers.

 

What should be my first beer back in America?

This is something I’ll start thinking about in a few days when we get on a plane to fly home. Right now I’m focused on what my next Franconian beer will be.

How am I ever ever going to get caught up on new beers and drink my favorite holiday beers? I’m not, particularly since we’ll still be “limiting” ourselves to drinking regional beers. So I think I’ll start with a simpler question: What should my first local beer be?

I know it will be a seasonal release, and I wouldn’t be surprised it its hoppy. It will be from the mid-Atlantic states, because we’ll be in New Jersey, where there are plenty of stores with excellent bottles choices (though not nearly as many great bars).

Please leave a suggestion as a comment.

 

Franconian winter

Franconian hops field

A hopyard just outside of Markt Ingensdorf (southeast of Bamberg), in the Hersbrucker hop growing region.

 

Session #23 announced: Old and new

The SessionBeer and Firkins has announced the topic for The Session #23 (Jan. 2) and it doesn’t exactly fit into a short headline:

What will you miss about 2008 (feel free to list your tasting notes, if that item is a particular beer) and what do you expect will excite you most in 2009, in the “Beer World”? Again, if that is a beer, what about it is special and worthy of being excited about?)

I’m posting this as we prepare to head off to the somewhat snowy Franconia countryside. Yesterday I finished my last interviews, for the wheat beer book and a magazine story I’m working on. Seven notebooks are full, so no taking of notes today.

But I know I’m sure going to miss the swath of beer drinking land between Bamberg and Prague. Maybe that’s what I’ll write about. I promise not too be long and to include something about actually drinking specific beers. This topic leaves room, you’ll note, for a simple drinking note or two.