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Christgau on Beer

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Here’s a fun little piece of history I stumbled upon yesterday while searching for something wholly unrelated. If you’ve followed music with any seriousness, I probably don’t have to tell you who Robert Christgau is. Christgau has been the rock critic at the Village Voice for over thirty years and has published several books of his music criticism over the years. His column was de rigueur when I lived in New York City (and was a musician) in the late ’70s. According to his new website, he — and over half a dozen others — were fired from the Voice at the end of August when new owners took over management of the paper. Christgau will soon be contributing to Rolling Stone and NPR’s All Things Considered, and has put up most of his writing from over the past 37 years at his website. In addition to his writing about music, Christgau also has written on other topics including, surprisingly, beer. In 1975, he co-wrote a piece, with Carola Dibbell, entitled “The Great Gulp: A Consumer’s Guide to Beer.” It was published in the April 1975 edition of Oui magazine, a men’s magazine that was owned by Playboy until 1981.

It’s a fascinating little time capsule as the pair write about almost fifty domestic beers, many of which are no longer around, along with a a dozen popular imports The piece starts out with a short history of beer and an explanation of the methodology they used to rate the beers. Written two years before Michael Jackson’s ground-breaking first beer book, it’s a surprisingly earnest attempt at writing seriously about beer.

Here, for example, is their review of Anchor Steam Beer:

ANCHOR STEAM BEER (San Francisco, California) This product is the last example of America’s only indigenous brewing process. The main feature of the invention is air-temperature fermentation and its mother was an ice scarcity during San Francisco Gold Rush days. The beer also contains four times the usual amount of hops, the flower that gives beer its bitterness. “Steam” just means carbonation. Our bohemian friends found it winy, but we found it one more instance of San Francisco’s chronic confusion of eccentricity with quality. B

Check it out. It’s interesting to compare how they were writing about the beer versus today. Notice, for example, the way they discuss hops. Hops are not written about lovingly, the way we might but always if the hops are perceivable, it’s considered a negative. A very interesting look back.

 

I say “yes” to writing about beer, they say “oui!”
This is the April 1975 issue, in which Christgau’s
beer article originally appeared.

Black Strap Stout, Black Strap Cookies

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Today is BridgePort Brewing’s 22nd anniversary so I thought it was time to pull out the cookies they sent me that are made using their Black Strap Stout. This is the second year that Cougar Mountain cookies has made the “cocoa-based cookie with chocolate chunks” for their “flavor of the month.”

The stout is inky black with a thick tan head and subtle aromas of ginger, molasses and milk chocolate. The beer slides smoothly on the tongue with flavors of bitter chocolate, molasses and malt and just a touch of sweetness. The cookies are dry, soft and chewy with bursts of chocolate in the chunks. The chocolate notes and molasses in the beer perfectly compliments the cookies and even dipping them in the beer works nicely. The interplay of dry and wet, not surprisingly, leaves you wanting one and then the other almost as a tonic, but it has the effect of making the combination highly addictive.

From the combined press release:

The cocoa-based cookie with chocolate chunks accentuates the flavor profile found in BridgePort’s Black Strap Stout, specifically chocolate, molasses, and coffee. The alcohol bakes out of the cookie, but the flavors found in the beer remain, adding considerable interest to an already tasty cookie.

The combination is not as odd as it might seem. For years, beer lovers have explored the extraordinary flavors that come from combining malty, craft-brewed beers with fine chocolates and decadent desserts. Stout floats are dessert mainstay in brewpubs across the nation.

More from the press release

According to David Saulnier, president of Cougar Mountain Baking Co., the subtleties and complexities of the cookie’s flavor appeal to an adult audience. “Last year when we first introduced the Double Chocolate Stout, we had quadruple the normal number of customer comments, nearly all of those being positive. People were wowed by such an original flavor, and they thought the resulting cookie was great!”

Saulnier, who founded Cougar Mountain Baking Co. in 1988, enjoys collaborating with other Northwest companies who share his philosophy of producing high-quality, handcrafted products. He has been a fan of BridgePort Ales for some time, and the alliance between the two companies seemed a natural fit.

As Oregon’s oldest craft brewery, BridgePort has evolved over the past 22 years from a microbrewery to a regional leader in the craft brewing market, while remaining faithful to its commitment to producing high-quality, innovative craft ales that are true to their heritage. Its Black Strap Stout features a malty, caramel flavor up front with a distinctive dry-roasted bitterness in the finish. A generous dose of Northwest hops mingles with the sweetness of black strap molasses to yield a full-bodied ale that pours with a rich, creamy head.

Cougar Mountain’s Flavor of the Month item has been in existence for 15 years, and the company uses it as a way to experiment with flavors, take advantage of seasonal ingredients, and have fun. Like all of Cougar Mountain’s cookies, Double Chocolate Stout does not contain any hydrogenated oils or trans fats. Cougar Mountain Gourmet Cookies come eight cookies to a box, which is made from 100% recycled paper. Each of the regular varieties is named for Seattle-area neighborhoods, parks or landmarks. The cookies may also be purchased individually at select locations.

 

N.Y. Times Reviews Ambitious Brew

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Friday’s Book Section of the New York Times reviewed two new beer books, including Marueen Ogle’s Ambitious Brew. The gave it a decent review, but perhaps more importantly it’s great to see the Times actually review books about beer. That’s certainly a sign that “the times they are a-changin’.”

Watermelon Funk is Funkadelic

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During last weekend’s bus trip to Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, Vinnie brought out a couple of pitchers from the barrel of his collaboration with 21st Amendment that’s been sitting in wood for a year now. Essentially as an experiment, Shaun O’Sullivan gave some of his Watermelon Wheat to Vinnie Cilurzo who put it in old pinot noir barrels and spiked it with Brettanomyces. According to Vinnie, who’s been tasting it every couple of months, it’s been a roller coaster of ups and downs, flavor-wise. But both he and Shaun believe, after a good year, that it will very shortly be ready to unleash on the world. There are only about 50 or so gallons and it will be available only at 21st Amendment and Russian River, and possibly at the Toronado. (As of Saturday Dave Keene had not yet tasted it to give his approval for carrying the beer.) Also, five gallons were sent to Boston, I think for Beer Advocate’s Belgian Beer Festival that starts on Friday. So there are only three, maybe four, places where you can try this beer, and not much at any single place. So needless to say, as a great fan of sour beers, I was thrilled to get a chance to sample it.

It was a little cloudy with a dull golden color and a thick white head. It had sharp, fruity estery aromas though not too pronounced with some of the signature “horse blanket” aromas coming through. Delightfully sour flavors and chewy, with a strong candied sweet-tart puckered essence. At the end, the mouthfeel became very juice-like — or à la Jolly Rancher — and this was the only place that the fruit was identifiable as watermelon as it washed down the back of the throat. Overall, a very complex, sour beer. There’s an awful lot going on in this beer. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite enjoyed it and hope they’ll do it again soon.

 

The Watermelon Funk, a collaborative concoction.

The Beers of OBF

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While seeing friends in Portland is probably the best reason I love OBF, the beers there rank a close second. Seventy-two beers (73 including the Collaborator that the Oregon Brew Crew does) are poured at the festival and each brewery is allowed only one beer. Here are some interesting facts about the festival from the press kit I received:

  • 72 beers
  • 25 beer styles
  • 13 states represented
  • IPAs are the most popular style (12 IPAs, 7 Imperial IPAs)

Another unique feature of the OBF is that there is no judging. But that doesn’t mean some beers don’t stand out more than others. For example, at least among brewers and the people I talked to, there was no doubt about the buzz beer of the festival.

Buzz Beer: Ned Flanders (Rock Bottom — Portland)

Portland’s Rock Bottom brewer, Van Havig, wanted to create something very different went he set out over a year ago to make this year’s buzz beer of the festival. Ned Flanders Ale is, like its namesake, quite sour and has been aged in five different kinds of wooden barrels including oak wine barrels, a barrel with marionberries, one with Brettanomyces, one with lactobacillic and a Jack Daniels barrel. After aging for one year, the various barrels were then blended back together to create one amazingly complex Belgian-inspired sour ale. I don’t think it was very popular with the general attendees, but for those of us in the minority that love sour beers it was a rare treat, with some of the most extreme, complex flavors I’ve tasted in a beer outside Belgium. At least one prominent blog I read called it the worst beer of the festival and thought the sour flavors meant the beer was defective. They must not have read the program notes or been very familiar with this type of beer, but I wish they wouldn’t have been so quick to judge something they clearly didn’t understand. Sour beers, especially the ones that embrace Brettanomyces and lactobacillic elements, are undoubtedly an acquired taste. The word play should have offered a clue, since it’s a Flanders Red Ale and the Flanders area of Belgium is where this type of beer originated. Some prominent examples of the style include Rodenbach Red, Duchesse De Bourgogne and New Belgium’s La Folie. The number of attendees to the festival with blogs who simply dismissed this beer without doing any follow up or research into it is quite surprising. But it was an excellent beer and I suspect with further aging will even continue to improve. I ran into Van at the BridgePort brunch Saturday morning, and he told me that it’s not even on draft at his brewpub because he hasn’t figured out how to deal with cleaning the draft lines of Brettanomyces. So the festival was really the only way you could taste this fantastic beer.
 

Other Stand-Out Beers:

Every year I tend to ignore the California and other beers that I’ve already tried and concentrate on the unique beers made just for the festival and the other ones that I haven’t had an opportunity to taste. So my list of favorites is necessarily skewed and doesn’t include beers I’ve tried and liked before. My notes were a bit scattered and hard to read, but here goes.

Bell’s Hell Hath No Fury Ale

Larry Bell’s Hell Hath No Fury Ale is a dark Belgian strong ale at 8% abv. Deep mahogany in color with a rich yeasty nose with hints of raisins and herbs. With complex flavors of fruit and spices, and chewy chocolate notes, this is delightfully rich beer. It changes with every sip and there’s a lot going on in this beer. The finish is clean and a little sweet.

Big Time Powderfinger Rye

I have a thing for rye beers. I’ve always liked the character that a little rye adds to beer. To me, it’s what it does to the mouthfeel that I like. In Big Time’s case, an English-style pale ale was given just a hint of spiciness that was not from the hops. It was quite refreshing and although the floral hopping was evident, it was very much in balance.

Flying Fish 10th Anniversary Farmhouse Summer Ale

Saisons are another style that I gravitate toward because the tend to all be so different. No two Saisons are alike, because it’s the individual spice and yeast ingredients that can be used are all over the map. There were two of this style at the festival, the other being the delightful Jack Russell Farmhouse Ale. The Flying Fish example was also very refreshing with restrained spicing with hints of herbs and fruity esters. It wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but it wasn’t bad, either.

Full Sail Vesuvius

John Harris has created another excellet beer with Vesuvius. This one, at 8.5% abv, is a strong Belgian-style golden ale. It boasts a signature yeasty Belgian nose with fruity notes and a bright golden color. Big strong flavors erupt in your mouth — sorry — with rich, complex notes. The finish is tarty dry and lingers pleasantly.

Laurelwood Organic Green Mammoth

Mammoth is certainly the right name for this big Imperial IPA, which weighs in at 8.5% abv. The IBUs are listed at an impressive 100, but once you get above a certain amount it’s very hard to predict the actual number so in reality it’s anybody’s guess. It is a huge hop monster though mostly in balance. I presume this is one of Chad’s beers, since Christian has been gone now for a couple of months. If so, I’d say he’s off to a good start. If it is organic, it certainly doesn’t have that telltale something that is often evident in many organic beers which make it easy to identify that they are in fact organic. And that’s a good thing, too.

Standing Stone Double IPA

A great Imperial IPA, and quite well-balanced. The finish is extremely long and very bitter, though pleasantly so — at least if you love hops.

Walking Man Knuckle Dragger

This strong pale ale — at 6.5% abv — is a nice variation on pale ales. A pale ale on steroids? The Barry Bonds of pale ales? So far I’ve liked everything I’ve had from this small brewery, even the beer they were pouring on Hole 1 at the Brew Am was delightful. Big exagerated flavors but always in balance made this a fun beer to experience. This would be excellent with the right food rather than as a quaffing beer on a hot day.

Widmer Hooligan Pale Ale

This beer I mention primarily because it’s a gluten-free beer, and I’ve been researching these beers for an upcoming story I’m doing. My interest in these beers comes originally from my son, Porter, who is autistic. In reading about Autism Spectrum Disorder, I’ve discovered that a common symptom among the constellation of autistic indicators is stomach problems and often times a gluten-free diet helps immensely. Like much about autism, scientists and doctors aren’t exactly sure why this happens but I’m glad so far Porter doesn’t show signs of having this problem. But there are also millions of Celiac sufferers worldwide, and the number is growing. People with celiac, likewise, must also abstain from gluten, a part of most grains like barley and wheat. When Widmer Brothers discovered an employee had celiac, they set about to make a gluten-free beer, a Hooligan is the result. It’s probably the best-tasting gluten-free beer I’ve had, but to be fair I’ve only sampled two or three others. The flavor is very sweet, undoubtedly from he sorghum and tapioca that was substituted for barley. They also used the new Summit hop and the grapefruit tang from that hop is definitely present. You can tell this beer has been made with slightly different ingredients but all in all if it was this or nothing, I think I could make do.
 

Other Beers Worth Mentioning:

This is a list of a few of the beers that I didn’t focus on because I’ve had them before, but which I thought were excellent.
 

  • Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
  • Deschutes Inversion IPA
  • Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
  • Great Divide Titan IPA
  • Green Flash West Coast IPA
  • Iron Springs Epiphany Ale
  • Jack Russell Farmhouse Ale
  • Lagunitas Sirius
  • Magnolia Proving Ground IPA
  • North Coast Old Rasputin
  • Pelican Pub Kiwanda Cream Ale
  • Pike IPA
  • Russian River Pliny the Elder
  • Silver City Whoop Ass Double IPA
  • Skagit River Scullers
  • 21st Amendment Watermelon Wheat

 

21st Amendment’s Watermelon Wheat was again the most popular beer of the festival. Despite having sent more kegs than any other brewery, the beer ran out at Noon on Sunday. But not everyone liked it, apparently. On the flight home to Oakland, Shaun O’Sullivan was in a seat in the row behind me. When we landed we were talking about the festival and he was telling me about the beer running out at Noon, when another passenger in my row (who had apparently been to the festival) asked Shaun which beer was his. When he told her it was the Watermelon Wheat, she replied matter of factly. “Oh, I didn’t like that one. I liked an IPA from some Stone brewery.” (I think she meant Standing Stone’s Double IPA.) It was all I could do not to laugh. The lack of tact was truly amazing. It was the equivalent of telling a mother to her face that her kid was ugly and she didn’t even seem to realize how insensitive and rude she was. Shaun took it all in stride, but it bugged me. C’est la vie.

Watermelon Wheat in Cans

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I stopped by 21st Amendment yesterday to pick up a six-pack of their Watermelon Wheat in cans for a tasting later tonight. I had some on draft first and then had one out of the can. I couldn’t really detect any difference in flavor apart from the cans having more carbonation. It’s possible that’s because they were only filled a few days before and will settle down some but the cans I watched popped open all had a tendency to foam up out of the can. But that’s the only negative thing I can say, and that’s not much. But out of the can the beer was every bit as flavorful as on draft and I could detect no metallic flavors whatsoever. That evening, my wife and I each had a can with dinner — homemade chicken corn chowder that was a little spicy — and it worked quite well with our meal. My wife commented that since she’d been “trained to drink beer out of a glass” she was having a hard time drinking it straight from the can and she also noted the carbonation. Of course, I swelled with pride since I was the one who taught her that from before we even started dating. So just to see the difference, we poured about half of the beer from our cans into a glass. It produced an excellent pillowy white head and smoothed out nicely once the carbonation dissipated. The color was a clear light golden hue. Light and flavorful, it had that signature subtle but omnipresent watermelon character that defines this unique beer and which has led to its popularity. It’s an excellent thirst-quenching beer, a fruit beer for people who don’t think they like fruit beers. And it has a wonderful ability to cut through spicy food.

If people can get over the hurdle of the bias against beer in cans, they have a sure winner on their hands, I think. But since I share that bias against canned beer myself, I can’t see it happening overnight. I think part of the full drinking experience includes seeing the beer, watching it pour into the glass as the head rises up like a volcano threatening to escape the confines of the glass. Seeing the lace stick to the insides as the carbonation races into the air leaving the head to sink back down like a falling cake is almost magical. So I know I’ve romanticized drinking beer but it’s hard to shake such a potent image, even if I created it myself. But I’m also keenly aware that there are plenty of times when good beer in a can would be a godsend and I’d happily quaff one out of the can on those occasions. Hopefully, enough people will be curious enough about the novelty of it to give it a try. And I think if they do, they’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that beer out of a modern can manages to taste quite delicious and all our prejudice is rooted in remembrance of things past rather than on today’s reality. The technology is pretty amazing, that’s for sure. It’s gotten to the point where the only real criteria is how good is the stuff in the can. And in this case, the beer is quite delicious.

Sasquatch Legacy Project Event in San Francisco

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Last night was the charity event at 21st Amendment Brewery for the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. They served the Sasquatch Legacy Project’s Imperial Red Ale, which was a collaborative effort. The beer was created by the current Foundation Brewing Scholarship recipients (Barney Brennan of Full Sail Brewing, Jenn Gridley of Fish Brewing, and Markus Stinson of Elysian Brewing).

All proceeds from last night’s event supported the Foundation’s scholarship program. The foundation honors the memory of iconoclastic brewer Glen Falconer, who died in a tragic accident in 2002. He brewed at Wild Duck Brewery in Eugene, Oregon. The foundation raises money for scholarships so that worthy brewers can attend the Siebel Institute in Chicago.

Host Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st amendment, Quentin and Yuko Falconer from the foundation, and Vic Kralj, from the Bistro in Hayward.

Shaun O’Sullivan as a literal hophead.

Quentin Falconer, Glen Falconer’s brother, addresses the crowd.

The Imperial Red was quite tasty with rich, roasted malt character and hints of figs and raisins. The flavor gave you an overall impression of thick earthiness and finished clean. At 8.2% abv, it packed a bit of a wallop, but was very drinkable. Hops were muted but the beer was still nicely balanced. The color was a rich mahogany with ruddy red streaks when held up to the light.

Valentine’s Day Rejection: It’s Delicious

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Russian River Brewing’s Valentine’s Day seasonal beer is called Rejection, a name so perfect for the holiday that I thought I’d go there today with my sweetheart (in this case with my daughter Alice) and try a pint.

When I arrived, Vinnie and his assistant brewer, Travis, were in the middle of a bottling day, the third in a row of four scheduled. So after a brief chat, we excused ourselves and with Natalie, Vinnie’s partner in all things, Alice and I went back to the brewpub for a little lunch. While Alice gnawed on her yummy pizza, Natalie and I talked about this and that. I had only visited the brewpub once other than on its opening day almost three years ago. The place still looks great; open, airy and inviting.

Since I specifically came for the Rejection, I ordered a pint of it, which came in a tulip glass. It’s a Belgian-style black ale, and is surprisingly mild given its name and the fact that roasted malt is used. But in fact Vinnie uses de-bittered black malt. This is a special malt that uses an evaporative process that makes it much less astringent than your average black malt.

This is the second year Russian River has brewed Rejection. The name came from Tomme Arthur, brewmaster at Pizza Port Solana Beach in San Diego who had an epiphany a few weeks before Valentine’s Day last year and rang up Vinnie to give him the idea. Vinnie looked around to see what he had around the brewery and rejection was born. This year’s, with slightly more planning time, uses a different yeast but is otherwise the same as the original. It’s 6.1% abv but tastes lighter than that.

Rejection has dark black color with a generous tan head and light nose with malty sweetmess. Clean, malty flavors with mildly sweet notes that are never cloying. There are delightfully subtle undertones of jam and plums. It has a wonderful mouthfeel and a very clean finish. If this is what rejection tastes like, give me more.

Russian River owner/brewer Vinnie Cilurzo with his assistant Travis and Brian Hunt, owner/brewer of nearby Moonlight Brewing who had stopped by for a visit today.

21st Amendment Taps Firkin of Imperial IPA at Barclay’s

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Last Night at Barclays Restaurant & Pub on College Avenue in Berkeley, 21st Amendment brewer and co-owner Shaun O’Sullivan tapped a firkin of his new Double Trouble Imperial IPA. One of several new beers for Strong Beer Month, the Imperial IPA is 10.1% abv and an absolute delight on the firkin. It’s brightly amber colored and begins with strong alpha hop aromas. I detected the obvious Cascade aromas (which Shaun later confirmed, along with Amarillo, Simcoe, Stygian and Goldings and others). The lush flavors have a big hop presence but it’s enchantingly smooth with a great mouthfeel. Overall it’s creamy and delicious and lingers pleasantly on the tongue for many minutes. Highly Recommended.

Shaun O’Sullivan (at left) mugs for the camera with James Costa of Moylan’s Brewing, my local pub in Marin County.