Green as in breweries, not as in beer

Blog Action DayToday’s post was inspired by Blog Action Day.

During one of the terms I served as a newspaper sportswriter, I would sometimes gather with other newspaper types after work (late at night, in fact, early in the morning) at a bar that was literally around the corner from the Pabst Brewery in Peoria Heights, Ill. (It closed in 1982).

The beer was fresh and we referred to it as green — probably because of the acetaldehyde, but at the time we just called it green.

Otherwise nobody talked about green beer unless it was St. Patrick’s Day.

Now that “green is the new black” (somebody has surely trademarked that phrase by now) when you say “green beer” most people will think organic or environmentally friendly. We consume a fair amount of organic products in our house, not necessarily because we think they they are “better” for us but because they are better for the environment. You learn quickly this is a complicated topic. Not one you came here to read about.

So I’ll keep it short.

– Visit Green Maven and do a search for brewery or beer or both.

– Read Fermenting Revolution. This is not a perfect book (check out Randy Mosher’s review in All About Beer magazine) but Chris O’Brien does provide plenty of detail about all the things breweries are doing right. O’Brien also maintains the Beer Activist Blog.

– Support a brewery like Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland (Oregon). But make it one close to home — that would defeat the purpose. Hopworks fires its brewing kettle with biodiesel fuel. In fact, Hopwerks is taking enough other environmentally friendly steps to merit an in-depth feature (perhaps by newcomer Beer Northwest).

A conversation with founder Christian Ettinger will quickly lapse into a discussion of things like “food miles” that have little to do with abv or IBU. “This is a good faith program,” he said. “You are always erring on the side of ecology.”

Further reading: Blog Action Day.

GABF thought: Others work much harder than I

Looking at the number of posts some people manage from the Great American Beer Festival — sometimes directly from the festival floor — I sure feel like a slacker. Strangely, you’ll find more me in some of these blogs than you did here.

Offered for your consideration:

– Rick Sellers at Pacific Brew News Blog.

– Bill Brand at Inside Bar Area or What’s on Tap (same posts).

– Maggie Dutton at Seattle Weekly. Warning: Her posts will likely fall from the top as others are added. You can visit her blog, The Wine Offensive, for occasional beer insights.

– Teri Fahrendorf at Road Brewer. If you haven’t been reading her trip diary, shame on you. Somebody get this woman a book contract.

– And the live from the floor part: Beer Molly literally holds up her camera/phone, snaps and you’re live on the Internet. If you scroll through My Beer Pix you’ll eventually come across a picture of my badge. That’s like the 94th alternative spelling of Hieronymus in the Dictionary of Names.

– Stephen Beaumont offers his notes from the floor. He’s right about (not) calling trends too early.

And I finish with this clip, available at You Tube and Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project. I even mention Bill Brand (that’s him laughing in the background – Stan on camera makes us all giggle). More proof I was in Denver. (In fact, I was also at Flying Dog two days before, and will write about the Open Source Project later this week. Gimmick or beer?)

That’s not me in the hat. I arrive 18 seconds in.

I love the road home even more

Heading into New Mexico

Just south of Raton pass, heading into New Mexico

Whew, what a Great American Beer Festival.

Remembering the size of the crowd — sold out every session, scalpers galore (although it looked like it wasn’t hard to find a ticket at face value) — will make it easier not to regret missing next year.

It was, however, fun. More about that beginning Tuesday. Tomorrow will be a Blog Action Day.

Raton Pass was even prettier on the drive home, although the day began with rain in Denver that turned to a wet snow 20 miles south. I didn’t start home at dawn, as is my habit, because I wanted to check out the Rough Rider Brewery in Las Vegas, New Mexico that is. And you can’t serve beer until noon in New Mexico.

Problem is, that despite rumors it had opened about six months ago, it still doesn’t appear even close.

What the heck — I probably had enough beer this weekend without one more tray of tasters.

The joy of drinking vs. the work of tasting

Will MeyersSure the 200-plus beers that will win medals today at the Great American Beer Festival are “country class” (and maybe world class), but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll wax romantic after settling in with a pint or two of one of them.

No, nothing’s wrong with the judging process – I agree with Michael Jackson’s assertion that the GABF (and World Beer Cup) approach to evaluating beers is the finest anywhere.

However you need spend only a few minutes talking with judges or a make a few stops on the festival floor to be reminded that for some conversations we must separate drinking beer from tasting beer.

Drinking includes the pleasure of pints in the pub with buddies, while cooking at the grill, or over dinner with friends. You might occasionally take a sip and think, “Whew, that’s something special,” but that’s not required.

Tasting is different. Tasting allows us to experience, and perhaps evaluate, many beers rather quickly. In the case of judging GABF, this year 107 judges had just five sessions to evaluate more than 2,800 beers. Beers entered in popular categories (IPA was the largest, with 120) had to pass through three rounds.

In the case of festival goers, it means tasting just one ounce at a time.

Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk of Flossmoor Station (Illinois) judged for the first time this year. “There were so many beers I thought, ‘What a great beer in a two-ounce sample,'” he said. “It makes you think you (brewers) have to enter something that will stand out for two ounces.”

That’s not the way Van Wyk thinks when he is formulating a recipe. “You’re not looking at guidelines you have to hit,” he said. “You are thinking of what flavors you will like and what the customers who will be drinking your beer will like.”

Van Wyk paused to pour a sample of Zwicklebier for Darron Welch of Pelican Pub & Brewery (Oregon). Welch took a sip and smiled. “This reminds me of Germany,” he told Van Wyk.

The beer stands out at a single ounce (the festival serving size) at a time, but part of that is because it’s easy to think: “This would be great in a half-liter mug.”

Welch spent some time Thursday seeking out saisons (he has one entered, but mostly he’s still tasting others and thinking about ways to make his better). “I didn’t find a bad one,” he said. “But at the judging table I’m going to be less about ‘I really like this’ and more about ‘This isn’t as balanced or . . .”

Welch’s beers captured five medals last year, but he understands they might win none this year.

“It’s fun, it’s agonizing,” he said. “And if you win it’s good marketing. Your customers have an affirmation from the outside that the beer they though was great really is. I’ll go back and somebody will say, ‘I told you so.'”

Of course those customers aren’t just tasting. They’re drinking.

Further reading: New Beer Rule #3.

About the photo: The festival added a new diversion this year: “You Be The judge.” Festival goers may sit down with a GABF judge and evaluate and discuss a beer (“blind” as the judges do, rather than the unveiled pints on the floor). Here Will Meyers from Cambridge Brewing (Massachusetts) shares his knowledge.

Why I drive to the Great American Beer Festival

Snowing on Raton, come morning I’ll be through the hills and gone.
Mother thinks the road is long lonely, little brother thinks the road is straight and fine, will little darlin’ thinks the road is soft and lovely,
I’m thankful that old road is a friend of mine.

– From Snowing on Raton, by Townes Van Zandt

What a rack

I was not snowing yesterday when I drove over Raton Pass, happily because we’ve been on the stretch of Interstate 25 in a snowstorm before and I don’t recommend it.

However, shortly after I reached Colorado this pickup passed me with these really impressive looking antlers in the back. I hauled out my camera and took this picture (just for you) before he sped on his way. The truck had Wyoming plates so the driver apparently had farther to go then Denver (210 miles up the road).

Something I never would have seen had I flown to Denver (less than an hour from wheels up to wheels down from Albuquerque, but nearly five hours by the time you deal with airports – only 90 minutes faster than driving).

When I left the canyon I popped a Kevin Welch CD into the player. His music is perfect for that stretch of the road, foothills and antelope to the left, prairie that stretches to Kansas and beyond to the right.

Oh, I do love living in the West.