New Belgium’s seasonal Skinny Dip, which debuted least year, is returning this month through September as their summer seasonal. From the press release:
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Making Hay While the Sun Shines
The second of BridgePort’s new seasonal series will be out shortly. From the description, it sounds like it may be a good candidate for Lew Bryson’s “Session Beer Project.” We’ll know more, of course, when the samples start arriving.
BridgePort Brewing Co. is encouraging beer lovers to “Make hay while the sun shines,” an adage meaning to take advantage of any good opportunity that comes along. There’s no better truism for BridgePort’s new summer seasonal, Haymaker Extra Pale Ale: Haymaker is an ideal beer with which to take full benefit of the long summer days. Haymaker will appear on shelves and on draft the first part of May.
A refreshing extra pale ale, Haymaker features a distinct blend of four malts and three varieties of hops that create a slightly complex ale with a light body and a crisp finish. Its alcohol by volume of 5.3% complements the low bitterness — 15 bittering units — and original gravity of 12.8 degrees Plato. Bright golden in color, it can best be described as “sunshine in a glass.”
“We were looking to expand our seasonal lineup, and an extra pale ale was the ideal choice,” explained head brewmaster Karl Ockert. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the resulting color and flavor profile of the beer.”
Like the other two products in the BridgePort seasonal series, Haymaker’s packaging is a divergence from the BridgePort brand family. The beer’s label and six-pack carrier focus on a whimsical red rooster with a fiery crown standing upon a weathervane, set against the backdrop of a round sun bursting forth with rays of light. The rooster is tossing back an outline of a pint, which is filled with the golden sunlight. The blue sky and hay-colored fields evoke the warmth and imagery of summertime.
Haymaker is the second seasonal in a three part series, following BridgePort’s popular Beertown Brown. Haymaker will be available May through August, followed by Ebenezer Ale. The beer will be distributed in eight Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington.
Chronicle Critiques Cantillon
After so many horribly abysmal crimes against beer, I’m very happy to be able say that a San Francisco Chronicle article on Friday, “Cantillon, a brew for wine lovers,” was actually a very good overview of the historic Brussels brewery. It was written by freelancer Derek Schneider, who also writes a food (and wine) blog, An Obsession with Food. He provides a nice introduction to Cantillon’s methods, what makes them unique and even provides some tasting notes.
My only criticism is that the Chronicle sells the piece through its title where they can’t let Cantillon stand on its own two feet. They have to make it a beer that winos will love, too, which I find a little annoying. Cantillon is a beer for beer lovers, too, as well, and can be enjoyed by anyone with a developed palate who likes complex flavors. Always having to compare everything to their revered wine seems to me to distort reality into a world where all grapes are good and barley is bad. I suspect that was the only way Schneider could sell the piece to the Chronicle, if wine was somehow still central in a beer article.
But that criticism aside, it was certainly good to see an otherwise positive beer article in San Francisco. Now if we could only get their management to actually like it, too, now that would be something.
Oskar Blues Expands
Got the following press release today from Oskar Blues and thought I’d pass it along unadulterated.
Oskar Blues Brewery — the nation’s first microcanning craft brewery and makers of Dale’s Pale Ale — is expanding its brewhouse for the fourth time in four years.
This week the brewery is finishing the process of replacing four 60-barrel tanks with four 120-barrel tanks. The new tanks will allow Oskar Blues to double its brewing capacity. (A barrel equals 31 US gallons.)
“More and more are retailers and beer lovers are asking for our beer,” says Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis. “So we’re doing all we can to give them what they want.”
Last year the microcanning craft brewery (and creator of the Canned Beer Apocalypse) enjoyed its fourth straight year of significant growth, increasing its revenues 121% and its beer production by 64%.
In 2006 Oskar Blues produced 8219 barrels of Dale’s Pale Ale, Old Chub Scottish-Style Ale, Gordon and its other canned and draft beers. In 2005 the company produced 5000 barrels. (A barrel of beer equals 31 gallons.)
Since it began hand-canning its beer (two cans at a time on a table-top machine) in November of 2002, Oskar Blues’ production has grown by about 1200%.
Now that’s a tight fit. New tanks being installed at Oskar Blues in Lyons, Colorado.
More from the press release:
The company’s flagship, Dale’s Pale Ale, is the nation’s first hand-canned craft beer. A robust American pale ale (with 6.5% abv and 65 International Bittering Units) its honors include Top American Pale Ale from the New York Times, Top Colorado-Brewed Beer from the Rocky Mountain News, World’s Best Canned Beer from Details magazine, three “Top-Five American Pale/Amber Ale from Ratebeer.com, and gold and silver medals in the Stockholm Beer & Whiskey Festival.
About two dozen US microbreweries now brew and can their own beer. Oskar Blues’ beers are now canned five cans at a time on equipment from Cask Brewing Systems in Alberta, Canada.
Oskar Blues Brewery is located in Lyons, Colorado (pop.1500), a small mountain town 18 miles northwest of Boulder, Colorado. The brewpub and music venue was opened in 1997 by Katechis and his wife, Christi Katechis. Dave Chichura is the head brewer for Oskar Blues Brewery.
One of the new tanks upright in the brewery.
So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut’s Beer Heritage
Sad news indeed was the passing of Kurt Vonnegut yesterday. Besides being one of America’s finest minds and literary talents, he was a favorite author of mine since I first read Breakfast of Champions at around age 14 or 15. Over the next few years I read Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle, Player Piano and Welcome to the Monkey House, along with most of his other early books. Till the end his mind remained as agile as ever, evidenced by his searing appearance on Jon Stewart last year.
Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association, reminded me of a story I’d almost forgotten about Vonnegut’s family and their association with beer. His grandfather, Albert Lieber, was heavily involved in the brewing industry in Indianapolis, Indiana. Albert’s father, Vonnegut’s great-grandfather, was Peter Lieber and he owned P. Lieber & Co (a.k.a. City Brewery) which later joined with two other Indianapolis breweries to form the Indianapolis Brewing Company in 1887. And in 1904 they won the grand prize gold at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Apparently one of Vonnegut’s short story collections also recounts this story, possibly “Palm Sunday.”
There’s a nice history of this at Indiana Beer, so let’s pick up the story with their account.
Kurt Vonnegut’s grandfather was Albert Lieber. The recipe for a dark lager beer that Peter Lieber devised was brewed by Wynkoop Brewing, Denver, in 1996 to celebrate the new library there. It was called Kurt’s Mile-High Malt. A “secret ingredient” of the brew was coffee.
I also recall someone telling me the father of Wynkoop’s founder — and current mayor of Denver — John Hickenlooper was a friend of Vonnegut and that he, too, is mentioned in one the novels, but I can’t for the life of remember if I ever knew which one.
One of the more personal tributes I’ve read was by Denver Post staff columnist and sports writer Woody Paige, a self-avowed fan, and entitled “My muse, more or less.” In it, he tells an undoubtedly more accurate tale of how Kurt’s Mile High Malt came to be.
Vonnegut came to Denver in 1996 to show two dozen of his sketches at a gallery and to introduce a new short story he had written for the label of a beer bottle. As he might say, most of what I’m telling you is true, except the parts I’m making up.
The owner of a LoDo microbrewery had the grand idea of producing specialty beers with famous authors writing stories for the labels. The brewpub owner, a disheveled sort, worked up the courage to ask Vonnegut to contribute, and he agreed, under the condition that the beer’s recipe be the same as his grandfather’s, brewed commercially in Indianapolis before Prohibition.
It turned out that the brewpub owner’s father lived down the hall from Vonnegut, and was his fraternity brother, when they attended Cornell. (Vonnegut later attended Tennessee, which is my school, and you’re thinking I’m making all of this up.)
The secret ingredient in the beer – called “Kurt’s Mile-High Malt” – was coffee. Vonnegut’s story on the label was entitled “Merlin,” about a golden knight with an automatic weapon.
Vonnegut documented his Denver visit in his last biographical novel, “Timequake,” and told of meeting his friend’s son — the brewpub owner.
The barkeep’s name: John Hickenlooper.
“Ting-a-ling,” as Vonnegut would write.
Hickenlooper knew of my idolization of Vonnegut and invited me and my daughter to spend time(quake) with Vonnegut. My daughter sat on a bus bench with him and talked about colleges, and I later had a beer with him.
Does anybody have a copy of the story or the label? I’d love to include it here if anyone does have it. Thanks. We’ve lost one of this country’s literary treasures, IMHO. Let’s all raise a glass to his memory with Vonnegut’s own words.
Still and all, why bother? Here’s my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.
So it goes. (from Slaughterhouse Five, 1959)
UPDATE: Craig Hartinger from Merchant Du Vin sent me this photo of a reproduction poster of the Indianapolis Brewing Co. from around the same time as they won the gold medal in 1904. There’s also one of these hanging in the Celebrator’s offices, too. Thanks, Craig.
The Top 50 Annotated
I’d been thinking about looking at this year’s Top 50 Breweries list and comparing it to last year’s when someone pointed out (thanks Andy) that last year’s #5 (City Brewery, who bought the Latrobe Brewery from InBev) was not anywhere to be found on this year’s list, which seemed a bit strange. So sooner than I had planned, here is this year’s list again annotated with how they changed compared to last year. There are a few oddities, and seven breweries no longer on the list with ten new ones (not including some re-combining of companies).
- Anheuser-Busch; #1 last year, no surprises
- Miller Brewing; ditto for #2
- Coors Brewing; And #3, too
- Pabst Brewing; Feeding on retro hipness, Pabst maintained the #4 spot
- Boston Beer Co.; Moved up 2 spots from #7 last year
- D. G. Yuengling and Son; Stayed put as Boston beer leapfrogged over the oldest American brewer
- Sierra Nevada Brewing; Up 4 spots from #11 last year, cracking the top 10 with style
- Gambrinus; First time on this list, most likely by combining sales of their breweries, Spoetzl Brewery (#15 last year), BridgePort Brewing (#41 last year) and Pete’s Wicked (#44 last year), along with Trumer
- New Belgium Brewing; Up 3 spots from #12 last year to also crack the top 10
- High Falls Brewing; #10 last year, too
- Widmer Brothers Brewing; Shot up 6 spots from #17 last year
- Redhook Ale Brewery; Rode Widmer’s coattails up to remain one behind over a year ago
- Pittsburgh Brewing; Even in bankruptcy managed to stay at the unlucky #13 spot two years running
- Pyramid Breweries; Up 6 spots from #20 last year
- Minhas Craft Brewery; Up 31 spots from #46 last year when it was known as Joseph Huber
- Matt Brewing; Matt flat at #16
- Deschutes Brewery; Up 4 from #21 last year
- Boulevard Brewing; Up 5 from #23 last year
- Alaskan Brewing; Up 3 from #22 last year
- Harpoon Brewery; Up 4 from #24 last year
- Full Sail Brewing; Up 5 from #26
- Anchor Brewing; Up 5 from #27
- Kona Brewing; Not on the list last year
- Magic Hat Brewing; Up 9 spots from #33
- Gordon Biersch Brewing; Up 4 from #29
- Bell’s Brewery; Up 9 from #35
- Summit Brewing; Up 5 from #32
- August Schell Brewing; Up 2 spots from #30
- Shipyard Brewing; Up 5 from #34
- Mendocino Brewing; Up 1 from #31
- Goose Island Beer; Up 6 from #37
- Abita Brewing; Up an impressive from #39 given Hurricane Katrina
- Long Trail Brewing; Up 3 from #36
- Brooklyn Brewery; Up 4 from #38
- New Glarus Brewing; Up 10 from #45
- Rogue Ales; Up 6 from #42
- Stone Brewing; Up 11 from #48
- Stevens Point Brewery; Up 2 from #40
- Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants; Up 4 from #43
- Firestone Walker Brewing; Up 7 from #47
- Great Lakes Brewing; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Straub Brewery; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Lagunitas Brewing; Up 6 from #50
- Flying Dog Brewery; Up 4 from #49
- Sweetwater Brewing; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Odell Brewing; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Mac and Jack’s Brewery; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Big Sky Brewing; Not in the Top 50 last year
- Otter Creek Brewing; Not in the Top 50 last year
The following breweries dropped off the list, meaning they were on the 2005 list but are not on the 2006 list of the Top 50 breweries.
- City Brewing Co., LaCrosse, Wisconsin; #5 last year, this one is, I think the most surprising one missing this year
- Steel Brewing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Makers of high gravity malt liquor, but were purchased by Miller
- Latrobe Brewing Co., Latrobe, Pennsylvania; closed since July, should be reopening soon
- Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; I presume they’re not on the list because their sales were folded into Miller’s, who owns them
- Lion Brewery, Inc. , Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; I know they’ve stopped doing some contract work, so perhaps that’s why they’re no longer in the top 50
- Carolina Beer and Beverage Co., Mooresville, North Carolina; Not sure what happened to them, anyone know?
- Gluek Brewing Co., Cold Springs, Minnesota; Ditto, not sure what happened here either
Is The Tipping Point In Sight?
There was an excellent article in today’s Dallas Morning News entitled “What beer geeks know,” that details a number of the finer points of enjoying better beer, such as the importance of the glassware, how to pour it, the head, temperature, etc. It’s a really nice overview of several concepts that generally only a beer geek would get right or even care that much about, so it’s especially promising to see them spelled out in so useful a manner.
Feargal McKinney of The Old Monk in Dallas. |
I’ll be in Dallas in two weeks, visiting some friends the week after the Craft Brewers Conference. It’s actually not a bad place for beer, but it’s also not on my top ten list. But the fact that an article this good shows up there is a very good sign indeed. You’d never see something like it in my local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, because their management is very hostile to craft beer, preferring California wines to ales and lagers. But by and large, it seems the tide is indeed beginning to turn. The mainstream media is definitely paying greater attention to craft beer again, and if these sales trends continue it will be harder and harder for the segment to be ignored. Then there was also the excellent news yesterday that craft beer was up in grocery store sales an astonishing 17.8% for 2006. As Stan Hieronymus so elegantly put it, it’s like there’s “no news here.” As he points out, we’ve been reporting strong sales growth for craft beer now for six straight years, hardly making it newsworthy anymore. I think at this point we can safely identify it as a trend. Having sat through years of depressing, despondent conferences where all the bad news seemed a shared failure and any glimmer of hope was disproportionately shouted out just to keep everybody positive and give us something to hold on to during those darker times, it’s such a relief to see everyone so giddy as the good news just keeps getting better. So it occurs to me that we may be witnessing Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” at work. It’s been several years since I read it, but Gladwell has a nice summary on his own website, gladwell.com. My own memory about what I took away from the book is that things that were formerly quite small or underground suddenly hit the big time when they reach a certain point in society’s collective conscious. Nobody’s sure exactly where that point is for any specific thing, movement, idea, meme, etc. but once it reaches that peak, it “tips over” and what once moved relatively slowly suddenly moves like wildfire, and I believe Gladwell gives the example of how a virus moves through the body. With craft beer, those of involved with it often forget that our passion is shared by only a tiny fraction of the world’s population. But lately it feels more and more like we’re slowly crawling up to the top of the roller coaster. With every new year of growth, increasing attention, and positive mention in the media you can almost hear that steady click, click, click as the car nears the crest of the ride. Are we there yet? I don’t know, but I’m certainly ready to stop being such a curmudgeon and just enjoy the ride. |
UPDATE: I also stumbled upon this piece, “Understanding beer can make it better,” on a Virginia television station. It’s not as thorough or in-depth as the Dallas article — it is TV after all — but it’s very positive and seeks to educate its audience, which seems yet another good development.
Dos Equis New Ad Campaign Not Very Interesting
Since 2004, Dos Equis and all of the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma brands, which also include Bohemia, Carta Blanca, Sol and Tecate, have been marketed in the U.S. by Heinken USA through an agreement they signed with FEMSA, a multi-billion dollar beverage company in Latin America.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A COMPILATION OF THE ADS
The latest ad campaign Heineken is just launching and the plan is to position Dos Equis as a premium product through a nationwide push using spots called the “Most Interesting Man in the World” and with the tagline, “stay thirsty, my friends,” whatever that means. The advertising agency that created the ads is Euro RSCG, which is apparently the fifth largest global ad agency in the world and headquartered in New York City. If you click on the ad to the left, it will open a new window at AdWeek where you can watch the first commercial. This first one is something of an introduction, setting the tone for four more that will begin airing next week. Here’s how AdWeek describes the commercial.
It opens on a bearded, tuxedo-clad gentleman bench-pressing two comely nurses. A narrator intones oddly intriguing descriptions of the man, e.g., “His blood smells like cologne,” as the character continues to do implausible things, like freeing a bear from a trap.
Ultimately, we see a more mature MIM, with a touch of gray in his hair, seated at a table surrounded by beautiful women. He says, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.” The spot ends with the tagline, “Stay thirsty, my friends.”
There will also be radio spots, print ads in Stuff magazine and the MIM is featured on the Dos Equis website along with a separate website, staythirstymyfriends.com. You can also see all four commercials at that website.
Now the ad is well-produced and are not without some humor, but they don’t seem very different from almost any other beer ad created by a big name ad agency. What did strike me as odd and a little interesting was the following about just how Euro RSCG sees the ad campaign.
From the AdWeek story:
For Euro RSCG, the spot is a conscious attempt to elevate the often-lowbrow imagery associated with beer ads. “The stain of the Swedish bikini teams still lingers. Those kinds of ads are targeted at beer-drinking morons,” said Jeff Kling, ecd at Euro RSCG in New York. “We saw this as an opportunity to talk to people a little differently. It portrays a different kind of drinker.”
Raise your hand if you know what’s wrong with that. The “Most Interesting Man in the World” (MIM) is not low-brow? It can be distinguished from the Swedish Bikini Team? This is not aimed at morons? It displays a different kind of drinker? So let’s look at those statements.
- Not Low-Brow: The MIM is Ricardo Montalban without the Corinthian leather and sporting a beard. He’s classy with a capital “K.” This is every cliche of sophistication and in my opinion lacks any authentic portrayal of it whatsoever. It looks like what a drunken frat boy might consider high-brow.”
- No Lingering Babes: Uh, exactly what do you call the two Asian nurses in tight white uniforms in the beginning or the two babes in low-cut black cocktail dresses at the end? They may not be wearing bikinis, but they’re cut from the same cloth.
- Not Aimed at Morons: Because arm wrestling is the way intelligent people settle their political differences or spend an evening of fun. Worse than that, at the website you can “test your skills” by arm-wrestling a “deceased head of state.” They get bonus points for not realizing that Winston Churchill was not a head of state, but Prime Minister. The Queen is head of state in Great Britain. Another non-moronic game you can play at the website is a “Test of your resilience and fortitude” that involves holding down the spacebar on your keyboard as long as you can or want to. Now that’s sophistication.
- A Different Kind of Drinker: Freeing bears from traps and fishing for Marlin. Frankly I’d be worried about liability for all those different drinkers who had themselves a 12-pack and then actually tried to free a bear. I don’t see how this is in any way a departure from the same inanity that’s graced our TV sets for decades.
The ads aren’t really any worse than any other bad beer ads, but what I find troubling is how the ad agency speaks about them. Is it just me, or do their statements seems completely divorced from reality? Because if they were really setting out to show beer in a different light instead of how it’s been portrayed for a very long time, I think they utterly and completely failed in that regard. I for one, plan to not stay thirsty. Perhaps a nice beer with do the trick.
Top 50 Breweries for 2006
The Brewers Association has just announced the top 50 breweries in the U.S. based on sales for 2006. Here is the new list:
- Anheuser-Busch; St Louis MO
- Miller Brewing; Milwaukee WI
- Coors Brewing; Golden CO
- Pabst Brewing; Woodridge IL
- Boston Beer Co.; Boston MA
- D. G. Yuengling and Son; Pottsville PA
- Sierra Nevada Brewing; Chico CA
- Gambrinus; San Antonio TX
- New Belgium Brewing; Fort Collins CO
- High Falls Brewing; Rochester NY
- Widmer Brothers Brewing; Portland OR
- Redhook Ale Brewery; Woodinville WA
- Pittsburgh Brewing; Pittsburgh PA
- Pyramid Breweries; Seattle WA
- Minhas Craft Brewery; Monroe WI
- Matt Brewing; Utica NY
- Deschutes Brewery; Bend OR
- Boulevard Brewing; Kansas City MO
- Alaskan Brewing; Juneau AK
- The Harpoon Brewery; Boston, MA
- Full Sail Brewing; Hood River OR
- Anchor Brewing; San Francisco CA
- Kona Brewing; Kailua-Kona HI
- Magic Hat Brewing Company; South Burlington VT
- Gordon Biersch Brewing; San Jose CA
- Bell’s Brewery; Galesburg MI
- Summit Brewing; Saint Paul MN
- August Schell Brewing; New Ulm MN
- Shipyard Brewing; Portland ME
- Mendocino Brewing; Ukiah CA
- Goose Island Beer; Chicago IL
- Abita Brewing; New Orleans LA
- Long Trail Brewing; Bridgewater Corners VT
- Brooklyn Brewery; Brooklyn NY
- New Glarus Brewing; New Glarus WI
- Rogue Ales; Newport OR
- Stone Brewing; Escondido CA
- Stevens Point Brewery; Stevens Point WI
- Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants; Louisville CO
- Firestone Walker Brewing; Paso Robles CA
- Great Lakes Brewing; Cleveland OH
- Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Lewes DE
- Straub Brewery; Saint Mary’s PA
- Lagunitas Brewing; Petaluma CA
- Flying Dog Brewery; Denver CO
- Sweetwater Brewing; Atlanta GA
- Odell Brewing; Fort Collins CO
- Mac and Jack’s Brewery; Redmond WA
- Big Sky Brewing; Missoula MT
- Otter Creek Brewing; Middlebury VT
From the press release:
The Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data, reports that in 2006 77.7% of the craft beer produced was made from the top 50 craft brewing companies. Additionally, 34 out of the top 50 brewing companies in the U.S meet the Brewers Association’s definition of a craft brewer.
“Beer made by small, independent and traditional breweries is definitely an American success story,” states Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. “There’s a change in lifestyle going on. People are trading up and that is what is creating such strong demand for craft beer”.
With just under 1400 small breweries the segment eclipsed 6.7 million barrels in 2006. The fastest growing craft beer sector in 2006 was microbreweries (those under 15,000 barrels a year). Sales were up 16%, showing customer support for local breweries. Total craft beer industry sales have grown 31.5% over the last 3 years an early 2007 indicators point toward accelerating sales growth.
“If you Google craft beer you’ll see more press coverage than ever before. This is because beers from craft breweries provide diversity and flavor and that’s what people want,” stated Julia Herz, a spokesperson for the Brewers Association.
Twenty-two states are represented in the top 50 brewing companies list, according to the Brewers Association. California hosts (7) top breweries. Colorado has (5) and Oregon and Wisconsin each host (4) top producers. The remainder of the top 50 operate from New York (3), Pennsylvania (3), Vermont (3), Washington (3), Illinois (2), Massachusetts (2), Minnesota (2), Missouri (2), Alaska (1) , Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Michigan (1), Montana (1), Ohio (1) and Texas (1).
In 2006, while sales of large domestic brewers still lagged behind their 2004 peak, the craft beer segment continued to explode. Scan data from Information Resources Inc. shows craft beer with a 17.8% increase in supermarket sales for 2006—more growth than any other alcohol beverage category in the supermarket sales channel. For more sales statistics, the Brewers Assocation has set up a statistics page on their website.
This is more excellent news for craft beer, as the final number even exceeded easrlier estimates. Let’s raise a glass and offer a toast to craft beer’s continuing success. Cheers to all of those brewers making such wonderful, world-class beer.
Suggestions for Beer Haters
There’s a post today on the Seattlest with the provocative title “Do You Hate Beer?” It begins:
Do you just absolutely hate beer? Have you ever been amazed that people would actually prefer to drink beer with their nice dinner, rather than the typical bottle of expensive red wine? If you are set in your beer-hating ways, try these libations. They may change your mind.
The author then lists five beers: Manny’s Pale Ale, Rochefort Trappistes 10, Lindemans Framboise, Duchesse De Bourgogne and Rogue Chocolate Stout. For each there is an explanation of the beer, what food to pair with it and even where in Seattle you can find it. I may not agree with every suggestion, but it’s a great idea to simply challenge people who believe they don’t care for beer to explore the diversity in beer that they probably aren’t even aware exists.
It might be a worthwhile project for some of us to put together a list of beers in a variety of styles to suggest for the person who doesn’t like beer to try, with this same sort of basic information. I like the idea of being able to give someone a list or give them a link to a ready-made list of suggested beers they might try. Who’s with me?
For trivia’s sake, the Seattlest is part of the Gothamist, a network of fifteen city blogs that do a good job of covering each city using local bloggers. Here on the left coast, in addition to Seattle, there’s also one for San Francisco and Los Angeles.