Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Yuengling Video Tour

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The National Association of Manufacturers has a really cool series of videos on their website showing “Cool Stuff Being Made,” with a new one every week. This week’s video features a 23-minute tour of the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Our tour guide is assistant brewer Jeffrey Tito, who shows the ingredients (including corn grits!), the brewhouse, the mill, the bottling line and a detailed walk through the entire brewery. Yuengling was founded in 1829 and, as such, is the oldest American brewery still in operation. I’ve visited the brewery many times, having grown up not too far from there. It’s located in a small coal mining town in the eastern part of the state.

To watch the video, you do have to register, but it’s simple and free. In addition, there’s an archive or other really cool stuff being manufactured, like clarinets, motorcycles, candy and even parade balloons. The archive also inclues brewery tours of Anheuser-Busch and the Boston Beer Co. If you want to keep up with new videos, there’s an RSS feed for the films and also a feed for video podcasts, which appear to be created a few weeks after the original airing date.

The Chronicle’s Super Bowl Suggestions

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With two days until the Super Bowl, as big a television party event as there is, the San Francisco Chronicle makes a few suggestions on how to choose the right beer for your party foods. Though the author, Christina Kelly, can’t resist throwing wine into the mix, too, because, of course, she’s a wine writer. And that’s exactly who’d you want to write a piece about beer and food pairings, a wine columnist.

So as a result, wine is the very first word written in one of the few articles one might reasonably expect could be, for a change, all about the beer. She admits “tradition” gives the Super Bowl to beer, but still can’t help talking about how inexpensive wines “work surprisingly well” with “[m]ost game day foods.” Which is, I think, hogwash. Most of the spicy foods enjoyed at the average Super Bowl party distort wine’s flavors. As Garrett Oliver explains it, spicy flavors turn “white wines hot and red wines bitter.”

But the Chronicle’s “rule of thumb” for beer is “the hotter and spicier the food, the darker the beer.” Why would you pair spicy foods with roasted malt flavors like coffee and chocolate? A much better choice would be lighter and/or hoppier beers that can stand up to the spices and cut through them. But of course, she’s probably talking about darker more modestly, insofar as almost everything with flavor is darker than American-style light lager.

So here are the snack foods and their suggestions. I’ll ignore the wine suggestions, as, I think, they should be ignored.

Guacamole

Okay, to be fair she didn’t do too badly here, suggesting a pale ale. I agree with that one though would add that an IPA would work well, too. I don’t know why she mentions an Australian beer, when one from Goose Island or the Pale Ale from Alcatrazz Brewing in Indianapolis would make more sense. Also, she suggests you “try a Pilsner beer like Beck’s,” which I wouldn’t wish on a mortal enemy. If you want a pilsner, get a real one, though I think a richer amber lager would work better anyway. The Super Bowl is a peculiarly American event, what’s with all the imported beer suggestions?

Chili

This is priceless. “A no-brainer here — select a frosty Corona or a Negra Modelo and a wedge of lime. It’s refreshing and the lime works great with chili, no matter how spicy.” I think the brain might be useful here after all, especially to help you avoid a beer with a lime in it and particularly Corona, one of the worst beer choices anyone can make. If I read her sentence again, it sounds like she’s also saying you could put a lime wedge in the Nega Modelo, too. I can’t imagine that’s what she means, but it does read that way.

Better still would be a nice brown ale, like BridgePort’s new Beer Town Brown, or an Irish stout. Even a pale ale or IPA would work better than an insipid Corona. You want something rich enough to stand up to the strong flavors in most chili.

Potato Chips

I know I promised to stay away from the wine suggestions, but I simply can’t imagine pairing cheese Doritos with “a medium and fruity Zinfandel.” I do, however, believe she’s correct when she writes “[p]lain chips work with nearly every beer.” Of course, I love potato chips almost as much as my children, so I’m not exactly rational about this one.

Nachos

If spice and jalapenos dwell on your nachos, go for a malty beer — Anchor Liberty Ale has a firm malt background that will cool the tongue. You can’t go wrong with Anchor Porter either.

Hmm. I’m not sure I think of Anchor Liberty Ale as a big “malty” beer. It’s hops are certainly restrained compared to, say, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but it’s still a pale ale. If you think malty is the way to go, a marzen or Oktoberfest beer would probably work better. But floral, citrusy hops that’s found in most pale ales and IPAs would also work quite nicely.

Buffalo Wings

With the kind of spicing in buffalo wings, I’m not convinced that a hoppy beer — as she suggests — is the answer. She also states that “spicier needs the darker bitter to take on the hot sauce,” which to me seems to suggest the author believe that dark equals hoppy. Perhaps I’m mis-reading that, but what else could she mean by “darker bitter?”

Actually, I think a maltier beer such as a brown ale, a porter or even an amber ale would pair up much better. The author also mentions that “a hefeweizen brought those wings to their knees” when it was slathered in a red hot sauce, but I can’t see how wheat beer would stand up to it, much less bring them to their knees. But that, at least, I’d be willing to test.

Pizza

Finally we agree. Anderson Valley Brewing’s Boont Amber is an excellent pizza beer, as are most good pale and amber ales, along with marzens and amber lagers, too. Depending on the toppings, I can see an IPA performing well but generally a more well-balanced beer should do the trick.

Overall, Christina Kelly’s article and suggestions aren’t terrible though I do disagree strongly with some of her choices. More importantly, I still don’t quite understand why the media insists on handing out beer assignments to wine writers. That’s quite frustrating both on a personal and professional level. How much more fun would this article have been if the Chronicle had instead asked a wine writer to choose the wine pairings and also hired a beer writer to choose the beers? Let them go head to head. That would have been a much better way to go, in my opinion. In that way, they could have let the reader decide for themselves knowing an expert in each field had made the choices.

Half Moon Bay’s Restaurant Reviewed

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Inside Bay Area today has a nice review of the restaurant at Half Moon Bay Brewing by the coast in Princeton-by-the-Sea. The food gets an okay review which is improved overall by the location, atmosphere and the view. The reviewer does like the beer at least, as she writes.

Most people looking to fill their bellies are here for the beer. The brewery employs Alec Moss, a brewer with deep roots concocting beers for breweries in San Francisco and San Mateo. All of the beers, which are brewed on site, are good, but my favorites are the robust amber and the citrus-y Princeton-by-the-Sea IPA.

Alec in the brewhouse at Half Moon Bay Brewing taken about a year ago when several Bay Area brewers got together there to sample one another’s Poor Richard’s Ales brewed for Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday anniversary.

And just to annoy the people who believe children and beer don’t mix, here are some photos of my daughter Alice during the same brewery visit, when she was about eighteen months old.

Eager to help out in the brewery.

Proving she’s Daddy’s little girl by trying to steal a taste (no, I didn’t let her).

The Long Tail of Beer Revisited

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Chris Anderson is the author of the Long Tail theory and the companion book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (and editor of Wired). He did a post last year about Anheuser-Busch’s foray into spirits, a division named Long Tail Libations, which got me thinking about his theory as it applied to craft beer.

Anderson has another post this morning further exploring this connection as it applies to the number of niche products the company has added over the last ten years. This leads him to the most niche (is nicheiest a word?) market going today, gluten-free beers. Check out his blog.

CSBA Expands Board

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The California Small Brewers Association recently added two new board members, increasing the number from five to seven.

The CSBA Press Release:

The California Small Brewers Association has elected a new and expanded board of Directors. The new Board was elected in December and took their seats on January 1st.

The CSBA Board was expanded from five to seven members.

“The Board was expanded to allow greater representation of the membership,” said Tom McCormick, Executive Director of the association. “It will also allow for more Board involvement as we embark on a new and expanded mission for the future.”

With a new Board at the helm, the association plans to expand and broaden the realm of services for small brewers in 2007.

“For the first time, the CSBA will be conducting work shops to address critical business issues.” McCormick said. “We will also be implementing a new marketing campaign to promote California craft beer in addition to conducting numerous events and meetings to help foster communication and education among our family of brewers.”

The CSBA is a non-profit trade association that as founded in 1989 to protect the political and legislative rights of the small brewers of California.

The new Board of Directors of the CSBA are:

  1. President: Steve Harrison (Sierra Nevada Brewing)
  2. 1st VP: John Martin (Triple Rock Brewery)
  3. 2nd VP: Steve Wagner (Stone Brewing)
  4. Treasurer: John Dannerbeck (Anchor Brewing)
  5. Secretary: Glynn Phillips (Rubicon Brewing)
  6. Board Member: Geno Acevedo (El Toro Brewing)
  7. Board Member: Lee Doxtader (San Diego Brewing)

Bistro Named Best Bay Area Blues Club

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The Bay Area Blues Society has named Hayward’s Bistro as “Blues Nightclub of the Year.” The Contra Costa Times has a nice article about the awards and the upcoming 2007 West Coast Blues Hall of Fame and Awards Show, which will be held Saturday March 10, at Kimballs Carnival in Jack London Square (522 2nd Street, Oakland, California).

Congratulations to Vic and Cynthia and the whole gang down at the Bistro. Be sure to stop by on February 10 for their 7th annual Double IPA Festival.

Strong Beer Month is Here

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Beginning today, 21st Amendment Brewery and Magnolia Pub & Brewery, both in San Francisco, will team up again to host their fifth annual Strong Beer Month. Each brewpub has created six new and different seasonal beers — and if you haven’t figured it out yet, they’ll all be strong — that will be available at the two locations throughout February.

From the press release:

It’s that time of year again. This is our fifth annual Strong Beer Month and it has become quite a tradition. When Dave Mclean, owner and brewmaster at Magnolia Pub and Brewery and Brewer Shaun set out five years ago to put on an interesting array of strong beers to warm the body and soul through the San Francisco winter doldrums, they never really conceived that the month of February would be so popular. Five years ago we had six strong beers and this year we bring present you with twelve winter warmers between both breweries. Quite a feat when you think of it as we set aside valuable brewery tank space and our normal house brews and serve up a collection of higher octane adult beverages in all shapes and flavors.

These strong beers are big beers, big in body, bold in flavor and full of the heady, warming sensations that can only come from beers above 8% in alcohol. They span a wide range of styles, from Barleywines, Imperial IPA’s, several strong Belgian beers, imperial smoked porter and a Russian imperial stout. They are all over the map from light to dark but they share one defining characteristic: their strength.

Best sipped slowly and savored, not quaffed in a hurry, these twelve beers command respect. No need to rush through them all in a day. They will be available throughout February (or until they run out) in commemorative 13.5 ounce glasses. Drink all twelve strong ales (six at each brewery) and the glass is yours. Commemorative 2007 Strong Beer Month T-shirts are also available. We will also have special library strong beers from years past presented throughout the month and special food dishes paired with the strong beers.

The strong beers at both pubs:

At Magnolia:

Tweezer Tripel
Old Thunderpussy Barleywine
Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout
Promised Land Imperial IPA
Weekapaug Monster
Old Perplexity

At 21st Amendment:

Golden Doom
Double Tripel
Blind Lust
Diesel Imperial Smoked Porter
Double Trouble IPA
Lower de Boom Barleywine

The OLCC vs. Humanity

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Several people tipped me to this. According to the Oregon Brewers Festival website, after 19 years of it being a family event of sorts, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) will no longer allow minors at all at the Oregon Brewers Festival. Minors were allowed in previous years, though last year they were required to wear these ridiculous orange stickers. Not surprisingly, this has sparked a lot of discussion among the Oregon Brew Crew and on Beer Advocate’s forums. What did surprise me was that there were people out there who have so internalized the puritan propaganda of alcohol and children not mixing that they believe this is a good idea. That separating society into two parts, one that’s kid friendly and one that’s adults-only, is somehow a desirable way to orient the world.

Some of the most alarming are:

  • “I’m sorry, but no one under 21 has any business being at an event with “brew festival” in the name.”
  • “If I could afford micros over swill, I could afford a babysitter so that I could enjoy a brewfest without stress of watching my kids. There just has to be a better place to take the kids than something like a brewfest.”
  • “Why would anyone want to have their kids in a place where people are drinking anyway? You never know what might happen and what you might expose your kids to. It’s also a pain in the ass having strollers all over the place or having to mind yourself or edit yourself because a kid is around. Drinking experiences are meant for adults. It’s no ones fault but your own if you choose to breed. Don’t punish the rest of us because you have to have everything cater [sic] to you because your [sic] a parent now.”

Wow, I find these comments pretty frightening and unenlightened. But let’s look at the sentiments themselves.

According to the first person, no family should ever attend a beer festival. It’s simply not possible. I apparently have no business being there with my wife and our two young children. I have to make a choice, it’s either beer or my family. I guess I can’t have both. Heaven forbid we spend a day in the sun by the river with a picnic lunch and enjoy some good beer, too. How dare I wish to share such an experience with my loved ones and show them how beer is an integral part of society, not something separate to be feared, avoided or worst of all, binged on after the arbitrary prohibition of age is removed. The nerve of me for wanting to show my children what responsible drinking looks like so they can model such positive behavior when they get older.

The second comment is even more of a head-scratcher. This person appears to assume that the only reason someone might take their family to a beer festival is they were too poor to afford a babysitter. Is is possible he can’t conceive of someone actually wanting to spend time with their children? If he finds parenting too stressful to involve his kids at a fest, by all means he definitely shouldn’t, but I don’t understand why he feels the need to restrict the rest of us who actually like having our family members around us. Are there better places to take the kids? Personally, anyplace my family can all be together is a great place. Sometimes we do things I want to do, sometimes the kids get to decide. That’s what families do, they take turns and share experiences so everyone’s life is a little richer and more varied. Just because I’m a parent now doesn’t mean I have to spend all my weekends at Chuck-E-Cheese.

But it’s the last one that really deserves attention, because it’s so unbelievably laced with ignorance and selfishness disguised as advocating freedom for adults. So, one by one, then.

Why would anyone want to have their kids in a place where people are drinking anyway? You never know what might happen and what you might expose your kids to.

Why would I not want my family to be where I am? Why would I care if adult things are taking place in the presence of my children? I make my living from alcoholic beverages, should I be ashamed of that and shield my kids from knowing what they are? What could I possibly “expose” my kids to that they can’t see on television. And frankly, what better place for them to be “exposed” to things than at a place where their parents are there to explain, interpret and teach them about life. I don’t understand the mentality that believes children must be locked away and protected from everything the world might throw at them. That’s how you raise a child who can’t deal with anything different, or adapt to new challenges and situations or is just plain afraid all the time.

It’s also a pain in the ass having strollers all over the place or having to mind yourself or edit yourself because a kid is around.

Ahh, poor baby. Now I’m really feeling bad for this person. She has to be inconvenienced by not having wide open spaces to walk around. There might be things in her way, restricting her free movement. She might have to take a couple of steps to one side and walk around a stroller. Wow, what a hard life she has that she’s actually concerned about how that effects her and makes her life so difficult. And why does she feel she has to act or speak differently if children are around? Does she normally swear like a drunken sailor when there are no children about? And now I’ve burdened her by bringing my kid within earshot of her so that she feels like she has to think of another way to talk, and I can just imagine how difficult that must be. Assuming for a moment that I care if she swears around my kids — I don’t — is it such a burden to her delicate sensibility that she has to express herself more genteelly?

Drinking experiences are meant for adults. It’s no ones fault but your own if you choose to breed. Don’t punish the rest of us because you have to have everything cater [sic] to you because your [sic] a parent now.

Wow, it’s my own “fault” I chose to start a family. I hope she’s not still blaming her parents for making a similar decision. Apparently I’m punishing her because I decided to further the human race. I suppose we should all be pleased that this particular person chose not to breed. In a later comment, she actually claims to still “love” the little tykes, just not if they’re in her way or are a buzzkill to her having a good time. Without getting too melodramatic, what does she think would happen to the future of the human race if everyone decided to just get drunk and not have children, which is apparently her ideal society. Because ostensibly wanting a world where both children and adults can co-mingle is a selfish desire.

Where exactly did she get the idea that “drinking experiences are meant (exclusively) for adults?” Travel to almost any nation on the earth and you’ll find in a majority of them that alcohol and entire families coexist quite seamlessly, and with far fewer problems with binge drinking than we experience. But that’s the price our society has to pay. Keep children from seeing responsible drinking and make it the huge forbidden taboo that it is, and you see what happens. Not only does it create adults who can’t see the value in teaching their children how to be adults and engage in so-called adult activities responsibly but you also create people so selfish that to suggest that they might have to curb their behavior in public is akin to them being punished. What a tough life this woman has that she can’t stand to be dictated how to behave because there are children present. Does it mean that she walks through life avoiding children so that she can be herself and not mind what she says or what language she uses? Are there no adults that might not appreciate her endless cacophony of profanity she feels free to use in kid free zones? She must be a joy to be around.

Happily, not everyone is like this woman. Many people do see the OLCC’s draconian laws for what they are. For example.

Though I have but one wee one, I have LOVED the fact that my family — all 3 of us — can partake in my passion the last weekend of July. We always have gone just as the festival opens on Saturday — when the lines are non existent and the college “let’s get smashed” crowd is still comatose from the night before. While there will always be irresponsible morons where ever you go, for the most part it’s a wonderful family experience.

And.

I just don’t buy your argument that if we can afford micros, we can afford a baby sitter. Drinking the good stuff is a passion and a luxury and it’s BECAUSE it’s a family event that I can afford the indulgence.

We hear it over and over and over again, but I can’t stress enough my belief that responsible drinking starts at home and there is NOTHING wrong with including families in events where alcohol is present. Though there may be drunken boobery as far as your eyes can see, the real young ones will only pay attention to what YOU are doing. And if what they see is an adult drinking beer responsibly, then THAT is what they will learn.

I love Oregon and the fact that, for the most part, Portland is a pretty enlightened society, but rulings like this are an embarrassment and a reminder that, great as it is, our lovely city really isn’t THAT much different from the rest of the country.

One aspect this debate also overlooked is that the OLCC does allow minors to be present at wine events. For example, as one brew crew member relates.

The OLCC discriminates against beer drinkers as they allow kids to wine events. There will be 65 wineries at the Oregon Seafood & Wine fest next weekend and kids are welcome. Please don’t hesitate to let them and your governor know how you feel being unfairly treated as a beer slob, instead of as a wine snob!

So it’s not really enforcing Oregon’s minor posting law as the OLCC claims, or else children would not be permitted at any event that is predominately a drinking event as the law states. It’s again about unfairly treating beer as a negative in society while allowing wine to be perceived as a positive. How else to explain it?

Or as legendary beer writer Fred Eckhardt put it:

This is the same jerk who ruled that the Great American Distillery Festival could only allow THREE (that’s right THREE) quarter ounce tastings of the distilled liquors there. THREE. This at a festival where one could then BUY as many full strength mixed drinks as he/she wished for, while appearing sober, but sane sampling? Forget it. These guys have far too much power. IT’S A CLASS ACT IN STUPIDITY. THE OLCC IS regulating these things in a PUNITIVE MANNER. That’s not rational. If this A**hole would check he’d find that no self respecting child on the planet would drink anything as hoppy and dark and roasty as ANY craft beer. Kids don’t like this kind of beer. Like dry wine, it’s an acquired taste and it doesn’t really come until one is almost old enough to graduate from College.

The fact is that very few of the bigger beer festivals, in this country at least, do allow minors so there really aren’t that many opportunities to annoy non-breeders by traveling with our children. So it’s especially troubling to see one of the few that still was relatively kid-friendly change to adults-only. Frankly, I think this sends the wrong message about beer. It should not be restricted and separated from society because it is a part of society. To pretend otherwise is dishonest and does society a great disservice.

If you’ve been to the OBF, as I suspect many who’ve commented have not, you’d know it’s held in a very large space with big circus-sized tents and large open grassy areas overlooking the Willamette River. There’s plenty of room for both adults and families with children. There is plenty of food available and other activities, as well. It could easily be turned into much more of a family event if not for neo-prohibitionist agendas. The irony that this debate is raging around Portland should not be lost on anyone. There are more breweries within Portland’s city limits than anywhere else in America, meaning a good portion of the town’s economic health can be attributed directly to beer. Usually following the money would lead you to a government that actually cares about an industry contributing to its fiscal stability. But the wild card here is prejudice. Prejudice against vice, against the perception that beer is a social evil. And the number one tactic of neo-prohibitionist groups, as well as many other similarly misguided causes, is that old canard of protecting the children. As I’ve said many times here before, don’t you believe it. Family values is a euphemism for imposing a rigid set of values on everyone else. Because the truth is every family has its own set of values. And mine include enjoying a sunny day at a beer festival along with my wife and kids. Will my being there ruin the experience for someone else? If it’s that woman I’m punishing with my wanton procreation, I certainly hope so.