Here’s an interesting read about the tourism of breweries, From Beer to Eternity, focusing on the history of American brewing and the places that one can still visit.
Beer City USA Poll 2010
Charlie Papazian is doing another poll this year during American Craft Beer Week to determine BeerCity USA. Last year’s winner was a tie between Portland, Oregon and Asheville, North Carolina. So far, after just one day, Asheville is out in front with Portland a close second. Everybody else, including the San Francisco Bay Area, is woefully behind. We are all the tortoise to Portland/Asheville’s hare. The poll closes just before midnight on May 23.
Let’s go Bay Area people, get out there and vote. Let’s see if we can win this year. Let’s declare the San Francisco Bay Area to be Beer City USA!
Alcoholismo
It appears the U.S. doesn’t have a lock on goofy, over-the-top anti-alcohol propaganda. Mexico has some pretty bad propaganda, too. This comes courtesy of I-Mockery, a humor website, and its founder, Roger Barr, who describes the Mexican Crazy Mexican Monografias: Alcoholismo propaganda:
When it comes to public service announcements, America is really quite tame compared to the rest of the world. While we have the ultra-corny NBC celebrity spots which always end with “The more you know…”, other countries aren’t nearly as sheepish when it comes to displaying the harsh realities of life. This became even clearer to me when I stumbled upon an incredible collection of Mexican monografias posters in the basement of a Philadelphia art gallery last year. Some of them were extremely graphic, and others were pretty friggin’ hilarious… needless to say I purchased one of each.
Barr then goes on, in often hilarious fashion, to translate and comment on each of the images, such as this example below.
Hmmm, I’m getting a few mixed signals here. From what I can tell, if you become an alcoholic, one of several things can happen to you: a) you can crash your car into a telephone pole, b) you’ll appear in your very own television commercial, or c) you’ll somehow fall into a huge glass of liquor which a giant will then pick up to drink and you’ll die in his stomach. See what I mean? Those Mexicans aren’t gonna shy away from the truth about alcoholism. Harsh reality, people.
And this very surreal piece of art:
“Some bottles of alcohol contain miniature humans who don’t have any genitals, and oh yeah, Death likes to hangout inside bottles too. Kind of like a genie, but the only kind of wish he’ll grant is your wish for the sweet release of death.”
Barr has broken down every one of the nearly two dozen graphic works cautioning people about the dangers of alcohol. And before I get another rash of comments, I’m not making fun of those dangers, just this ridiculous attempt to warn people about them using these illustrations. But take a look for yourself at the Alcoholismo, it’s pretty funny stuff.
The Beer Genie Out Of The Bottle
The British Beer & Pub Association (or BBPA), a UK trade association for pubs, launched a new website recently called the Beer Genie. It’s aimed at bringing the “magic of beer” to consumers. The site is “themed around beer’s power of sociability” and certainly seems to have a lot of decent information. It’s also got quite a number of sections, including Beer & BBQ’s, World Cup Beers, the History of Beer, beer & Women, Beer Facts, Knowledge and Links, Beer & Christmas, Beer & Entertaining, Beer & Weddings and a Gallery. It certainly seems like a better effort than Here’s To Beer, A-B’s failed attempt to do something similar a few years ago. At least this has the support of more than one big brewery.
Smokin’ Aces Drink Bell’s Oberon
We were watching Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball last night — quick review: mildly entertaining action adventure with cartoon violence and not much of a plot. Most of the best bits were in the trailer.
Anyway, a good portion of the film takes place in a bar. One of the beers served is Bell’s Oberon. There’s a prominent tap handle of it on the bar, where one scene takes place. When the frame part of the scene at one point, the Bell’s logo along with the Oberon label can be seen in the foreground on the left-hand side of the frame. And at several more points, either the Bell’s or Oberon graphics can be seen. I don’t know if Larry Bell paid for product placement or if someone who made the film was a big fan. Either way, that was fun to see.
The Beer Circus Is Coming To Town
If you missed last year’s Lagunitas Beer Circus, you missed one of the most amazing spectacles involving beer I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending. It was so good, they’ve moved it to May for the better weather and because it deserves its own time slot.
Tickets are now on sale for the 2nd annual Lagunitas Beer Circus, which will be held Sunday, May 16 from 1:00-6:00 p.m. Tickets are $35, which includes admission and 10 beer tokens, and be purchased by calling 707.769.4495.
Here’s a description of the circus from one of two Facebook pages for the event.
This year’s going to be c-r-a-z-y. In lieu of a bigtop they’re gonna take over the entire Lagunitas parking lot and Beer Sanctuary. More space means more Circus.
Already confirmed are awesomeness like a midway with carnival games; different stages with bands like the kings of klown-fi, Gooferman; aerialists, contortionists, and sideshow freaks like Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy and The Bearded Lady; oilpunks of the Golden Mean Giant Snail Car and burlesque teasers Boiler Bar Revue & Theater; with tons more to be announced.
Oh yeah, and the beer in Beer Circus? Well, this is a Beer Festival and Lagunitas always does ‘em right. So with your ticket you’ll get a healthy number of pours. Not only from their standard lineup and one-of-a-kind brews found only in their TapRoom, there’ll be taps from 10 local breweries: Ace Cider, Dempsey’s Brewing, Russian River, Moylan’s, Marin Brewing Company, Moonlight Brewing, Sonoma Springs Brewery, Napa Smith, Third Street Aleworks, and Iron Springs Brewerys (hopefully with their Ambrewlance).
I had such a great time at this last year, it’s definitely one not to be missed. See you there!
Pearls Before Sierra Nevada
A couple people sent me this this morning, though the first was Mike from Nashville (thanks, Mike). The comic strip Pearls Before Swine had a shout out today for Sierra Nevada samples. I doubt that’s going to work out for them, but you have to admire the chutzpah to try.
Moonlight Goes Wild
Brian Hunt, from Moonlight Brewing, sent me the photo below showing the two used French champagne foeders (oak barrels) he bought for the brewery. Each one will hold 34 barrels (1,054 gallons). He’ll be making spontaneously fermented beers with them, but don’t expect to see any beer for at least 18 months, because they’ll be aging for at least that length of time, possibly longer. This is going to fun. I can’t wait to try whatever he makes with these. What will they be called? Perhaps Sonambic (Sonoma + lambic), which as I understand it is a term Brian coined, and Vinnie also uses at Russian River, and both breweries are in Sonoma County.
Brian Hunt and his assistant brewer, Jeff Barkley, in front of Moonlight Brewery’s new foeders.
California Hop Growers Protest Telegram From 1917
The document of the day at the National Archives in Washington, DC is an interesting piece of history for beer lovers. It’s a night telegram, or lettergram, sent by the California Hop Growers Association, in protest of a proposed wartime ban on brewing beer. It was received on April 28, 1917 by John E. Raker, who at the time was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s 2nd congressional district. The telegram is also part of a larger program at the Archives entitled “Teaching With Documents: The Volstead Act and Related Prohibition Documents.”
Click here to see a larger version of the telegram.
GQ Picks 50 Beers To Try
Finally, mainstream magazines are learning. A number of them, usually men’s magazines, publish an annual list of their picks for good beers, whether global or just American, and varying in the number on the list. But they go wrong by trying to call their lists the “top,” “best” or some similar hyperbole. With such a subjective sensation as taste, getting people to ever agree on a list is a fool’s errand, and ends up pissing people off whose favorite wasn’t included or wasn’t high enough on the list. Personally, I love lists but have found they can be dangerous enterprises.
GQ published one today they’re calling I’d Tap That! 50 Beers to Try Right Now. And despite the awkward “I’d tap that” beginning (why do mainstream beer stories always start with a bad pun?) I think they’re taking the right approach. Just presenting 50 beers they think are worth trying to an audience who may not be familiar with many of them is, I think, the way to go. There’s no rankings, no suggestion that these are the beers, or that they’re better than all the rest. They’re just suggestions. And there are some pretty good ones, too. Of course, there are some I wouldn’t have put on the list, but that’s the nature of these lists.
GQ’s 50 Beers to Try Right Now
- Allagash White
- Anchor Christmas Ale
- Anchor Steam
- BrewDog Smokehead
- Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
- Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
- Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse
- Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold
- Hitachino Lacto Sweet Stout
- Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout
- Leelanau Whaleback White
- Lion Stout
- Ommegang Hennepin
- Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale
- Oskar Blues Old Chubb
- Picobrouwerij Alvinne Melchior
- Pretty Things Jack D’Or
- Rodenbach Grand Cru
- Rogue Dead Guy Ale
- Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
- Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale
- Sixpoint Sweet Action
- Smuttynose Barleywine
- Stone Imperial Russian Stout
- Stone Old Guardian
- Trumer Pils
- Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
- AleSmith Speedway Stout
- Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
- The Bruery Saison Rue
- Cantillon Iris
- De Struise Pannepot
- Dieu du Ciel Route des Epices
- Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
- Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
- Marin Brewing Company IPA
- Orval
- Port Brewing Shark Attack Red
- Russian River Pliny the Elder
- Saison Dupont
- Schneider Aventinus
- Westvleteren Abt 12
- Harviestoun Old Engine Oil
- Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
- Double Mountain Black Irish Stout
- Samuel Adams Utopias
- Founders KBS
- Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier
- Russian River Beatification
- Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Ale
Then there are five more “bonus beers” under the sub-heading “In Defense of Bodega Beer,” which presumably means the downscale contrast to the upscale first fifty.
- Budweiser
- Tecate
- Magic Hat #9
- Red Stripe
- Yuengling Traditional Lager