Wednesday’s holiday ad is for Schlitz from 1951 and shows an apartment building with a myriad of different Christmas celebrations, but all of them, of course, involving Schlitz.
Sierra Nevada’s Hoptimum
One of the first beers of the New Year will be a new Imperial IPA from Sierra Nevada Brewing, whose Hoptimum will be officially released January 1, 2011. If you’re fortunate enough to be in Chico, it was released there locally on Monday, but the rest of us will have to wait until 2011.
The Hoptimum was created during on of Sierra Nevada’s “Beer Camps,” a new program where people — usually beer distributors, retailers and others — spend two days at the brewery’s pilot brewhouse learning about the brewery and making their own small batch of beer. I was fortunate enough to attend Beer Camp last week, but more about that later.
After the success of the single batch, beer camp Hoptimum, Sierra Nevada tweaked the formula for a commercial release, which they describe as follows:
Hops, hops, and more hops are the stars of this big, whole-cone Imperial IPA. Resinous “new-school” and exclusive hop varieties carry the bold and aromatic nose. The flavor follows the aroma with layers of aggressive hoppiness, featuring notes of grapefruit rind, rose, lilac, cedar, and tropical fruit — all culminating in a dry and lasting finish.
And the label is one of the coolest I’ve seen from any brewery, featuring a true “hop head” in fancy clothes. According to the label, it’s a “Whole-Cone Imperial IPA” for “the Ultimate Whole-Cone Hop Experience.” That’s a nod to Sierra Nevada’s philosophy of using whole-cone hops rather than pellets.
And here’s how the original “beer camp” beer — made for last year’s SF Beer Week — was described:
A group of hop-heads and publicans challenged our Beer Camp brewers to push the extremes of whole-cone hop brewing. The result is this: a 100 IBU, whole-cone hurricane of flavor. Simply put- Hoptimum: the biggest whole-cone IPA we have ever produced. Aggressively hopped, dry-hopped and torpedoed with our exclusive new hop varieties for ultra-intense flavors and aromas.
And here are few of the particulars for the commercial version:
- Alcohol-by-Volume: 10.4%
- Bitterness Units: 100 IBUs
- Bittering Hops: German Magnum
- Aroma Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
- Dry Hops: Simcoe & New Proprietary Variety
- Topedo Hops: Citra & Chinook
- Malts: Two-row Pale, Golden Promise, Munich & Wheat
By pure happenstance, I was in Sierra Nevada’s sensory lab last Friday when random sample bottles of Hoptimum came in for analysis, in this case tasting, before being released locally on Monday, and the rest of the world on January 1.
I had the beer camp version last year, but too long ago for any meaningful comparison. The commercial version, though, is quite wonderful. Despite being a big, hoppy beer, it’s well-balanced and almost mild for an Imperial IPA. I mean that only in the sense that the hops, while enveloping and intense, are not over-powering, harsh or astringent and meld nicely with the malt character. The beer has great conditioning. It doesn’t taste like a 10.4% beer, either. It’s not hot, but warming. You could drink a lot of it. I plan to. It comes in 24 oz. bottles making it an ideal beer to share with a friend or loved one. If this is how 2011 will begin, perhaps it will be a great year. I’d certainly toast to that. But forget the champagne, give me a Hoptimum.
Beer In Ads #269: Hey Mabel, Black Label Christmas Tree
Tuesday’s holiday ad is for Carling Black Label from 1955 during their Hey Mabel period of time. The tree is just Mabel hanging “black labels” on it. Now that’s a tree.
The Anchor Christmas Party 2010
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I attended the Anchor Christmas Party that’s held each year at the brewery. It’s one of the few events I can drag her out to, and it’s always a good time, seeing lots of local friends in the beer community. They put out an amazing spread and, of course, the beer is exquisite. Not much more to say about it, but I thought I’d share a few photos from the event.
Mrs. Brookston Beer Bulletin and me at the annual Anchor Christmas Party.
Zambo (21st Amendment), Rich Rosen (Pi Bar, Chenery Park), Jen Garris (Pi Bar), Sarah, Lloyd Knight (21A), Dave Suurballe (everywhere), James Renfrew (formerly with Potrero Hill Brewing) and Shaun O’Sullivan (21A).
Shaun O’Sullivan and Sarah.
Shaun O’Sullivan, Dave McLean (Magnolia), James Renfrew, Rich Rosen and Dave Suurballe
Me and Fritz Maytag.
Next Session Gets Things Cooking
Our 47th Session will be hosted by David Jensen of Beer 47. His topic is “Cooking With Beer,” or as he describes it:
We all know beer is great for drinking but what about using it as an ingredient in cooking? Wine is used as an ingredient for numerous dishes and recipes yet beer seems to be under utilized in cooking. However, with the rise in popularity of craft beer and advocacy from the likes of The Homebrew Chef, I think this trend is slowly changing. For the month of January, Beer 47 will be hosting The Session #47 and encouraging beer bloggers from all over the internet to discuss Cooking with Beer.
Despite my claim that beer is under-utilized there are definitely some uses of beer in cuisine such as beer-can-chicken, beer bread, beer brats, and beer battered deep-fried foods. What else have you made or tasted made with beer?
Since the topic of Cooking with Beer is broad, I invite you to share any experience that you have had with beer as an ingredient in food or for cooking. I only ask that you be sure to include other dishes besides (or in addition to) dessert, the reason being that we have already discussed Beer Desserts for The Session #30. You don’t need to exclude dessert, just please do not limit your discussion to dessert only. If you need some more inspiration for this topic, here are some more ideas:
- Find a recipe that includes beer as an ingredient, share the recipe, cook it, and tell us the results.
- Talk about a meal prepared by somebody else (by a friend or at a restaurant) that used beer as an ingredient.
- What is the best dish you’ve had made with beer? The worst?What are some of the challenges in cooking with beer whether it be a savory or a sweet dish?
- What does beer add to a dish?
So get cooking and whip something up for the next Session on Friday, January 7.
Beer In Ads #268: Pabst, What’ll You Have
Monday’s holiday ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon from 1951 and feature some pretty ugly dolls singing Pabst’s slogan of the day, “What’ll You Have.” The Christmas tree has a “Charlie Brown” look to it, as well.
A Bacon Creche
Brian Hunt, from Moonlight Brewing, knows well my unbridled love of beacon and sent me a link to Heavenly Grease — A Pork Nativity Scene. It’s meant in good fun, as evidenced by this description. “Away in an oven just kraut for his bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his meat head.” But if you read the comments on Slashfood, not everyone thought it was kosher, which I found almost funny in and of itself. Still, I’m hungry now.
“Mary and Joseph are made of sausages and cloaked in turkey cold cuts, while the Three Weiner Wise Guys sport tin-foil crowns. Christ himself is a mini chipolata.”
Beer In Art #107: Old Man With A Glass Of Beer
This week’s work of art is an original oil painting done sometime between the 1920s and 40s. Known only as “Beer Company Oil Painting.” The painting is 28″ x 23″ and can be yours, from Inkwell, for only $2,250.
It’s a pretty cool painting, but it’s a shame we don’t know more about it, especially what brewery may have commissioned it. I picked it today because the old man is wearing distinctive red and green Christmas colors and has a vaguely Santa look to him, what with the white hair and the pipe. But that hat has to go, it makes Santa look like a cab driver.
Guinness Ad #47: Christmas — That’s Guinness Time
Our 47th Guinness poster wasn’t strictly done by John Gilroy, but it does feature his smiling, anthropomorphized glasses looking up at a clock somehow meant to signify Christmas time. The only text is “Christmas — That’s Guinness Time.”
Beer In Ads #267: Schlitz, Move Up To Quality
Friday’s holiday ad is a pair of Schlitz winter ads from 1958. They’re almost identical, except that one show a feminine hand while the other a masculine one. The backgrounds re also slightly different, though both show a snowy winter wonderland.
The Female Version:
The Male Version:
