Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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BridgePort Re-Opening Date Announced

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BridgePort Brewing of Portland, Oregon announced today that the re-opening of their brewpub on NW Marshall Street, which has been closed for a massive renovation since December of 2004, will take place in two weeks, on February 23.

From the press release:

The gala event will take place February 23 from 6 p.m. to Midnight at 1313 NW Marshall St. A $10 cover charge includes food, live music, and one drink scrip. Ticket information is available online at www.bridgeportbrew.com or by calling 503-241-7179.

Brooklyn Brewery Profiled in Time Magazine

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The February 13, 2006 edition of Time Magazine features a one-page article profiling Steve Hindy and Tom Potter’s Brooklyn Brewery, along with their book Beer School, which was published last September. I’ve known Steve Hindy for a few years and he’s a forthcoming, passionate brewery owner who’s very active in a variety of trade organizations. Steve is, for example, on the Board of Directors of the Brewers Association. And his brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, certainly makes some wonderful beers. So it’s great to see some rare positive press for a craft brewer in the mainstream media. Steve was a journalist before he got in the beer biz, so I’m looking forward to reading his book, Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery, which is about his and co-founder Tom Potter’s trials and tribulations with the brewery.

New Study Confirms Beer Drinkers Age Slower

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A new study conducted at a teaching hospital in the town of Plzen (Pilsen), west Bohemia (in the Czech Republic) “revealed that the moderate consumption of beer slows aging and reduces the likelihood of heart attacks and arteriosclerosis.” Close to one hundred middle-aged men were studied over the course of three months. They were given specific amounts of free beer and then the health effects monitored throughout the three-month period. At the end of the experiment, “the men’s levels of dangerous blood lipids were lower,” says Jaroslav Racek, head of the research team.

As reported in the Prague Daily Monitor, the doctors’ findings were released today:

The amount of beneficial cholesterol in the men’s blood was increased, the beer improved their organism’s antioxidant protection and reduced the amount of free radicals that can damage cells and are believed to accelerate the progression of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related diseases.

I’m feeling healthier already just reading the news today.

NBWA Launches Beer Recipe Contest

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The National Beer Wholesaler’s Association (NBWA), a trade group consisting of beer distributors, today announced a contest for the best food recipe using beer as one of the ingredients. They’ve set up a website, EatBeer.com, for consumers to enter their favorite recipe using beer. Hopeful entrants have until July 31 of this year to submit a recipe. Ten finalists will be selected by a panel of “qualified food experts” (whatever that means) and the final ten will be flown to New York City for a cook-off to choose a grand prize winner. According to the website, “the grand prize winner will receive a seven day trip for two to the Golden Crown Paradise Resort and Spa in Cancun Mexico, airfare and transfers included, plus $500 in spending money. The second place prize winner will receive $1,000 in cash.”

Why do they insist on using such juvenile images to promote beer?

From the press release:

“This cooking contest reinforces several of our key messages with consumers,” said NBWA’s Vice President of Public Affairs Michelle Semones. “It highlights the immense variety of beer found in stores around the country – something that would not be possible without distributors to help get these smaller products to market. It also reminds consumers that beer has a natural place at the dinner table – whether livening up a recipe or as the perfect accompaniment to one.”

Beer is the only required ingredient in the recipes, which may be for any type of dish: appetizers, soups, entrees or baked goods. The more creative use of beer as an ingredient the better.

Get cooking people. I’ll be waiting to hear what Lucy Saunders, the Beer Cook, thinks about this contest.

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.

Beer Institute vs. Advertising Complaints

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The folks at the Beer Institute, themselves now essentially advertisers of beer, have created the Code Compliance Review Board (CCRB) to review complaints by consumers about beer ads, whether the ad itself or the appropriateness of its placement, that have not been satisfactorily resolved by the offending brewery.

From the press release:

Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute, announced today the implementation of an independent review board to assess complaints filed with the Beer Institute about the content or placement of beer advertisements. The board will address situations where the proponent of a complaint is not satisfied with the response received directly from the brewer that sponsored an ad. The decisions of the board will be based on the Beer Institute’s Advertising and Marketing Code.

The press release blathers on about self-regulation which, in my opinion, has never, ever worked. No business in the history of mankind has ever intentionally disciplined itself or found itself guilty of any wrongdoing beyond that which required a slap on the wrist. To me, the real question here is what kind of complaints cannot be resolved by the brewery? Who’s being stubborn? I’m not being rhetorical, I really want to know. Are the unresolvable complaints coming from neo-prohibitionists who won’t be satisfied until alcohol is illegal again? (Their motto: if if it didn”t work before, try it again.) Or are the breweries the unreasonable party here, putting up billboards across the street from schools or creating mascots like Joe Camel that appeal primarily to children? I’m sure both of these strategies have been employed, and not just by breweries but by companies selling tobacco, liquor, etc.

So I’m not quite sure what the angle here is, though I’m sure one will emerge. The press release is vaguely silent about what the CCRB will actually do to resolve compaints or what authority it has, especially if the complaint is regarding a non-member brewery. Are they just trying to assuage hardcore complainers with an axe to grind or do they really want to change how beer is advertised and reduce the number of complaints before they occur. Is that even possible? Or desirable? I honestly don’t know. It will certainly be interesting to see what develops.

Beer Birthday: John Hickenlooper

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John is the only mayor of any city that I know personally. He started the Wynkoop brewpub in the LoDo (lower downtown) section of Denver when there was literally nothing but old, abandoned warehouses and one jazz club. He ended up revitalizing the entire neighborhood so that today it’s one of the most vibrant sections of the city and John is the mayor. And apparently he’s doing a great job as mayor. He was picked last year by Time magazine as one of the five mayors in the country.

Before his mayoral days, at GABF with Joanne and Jessica (both formerly of the Brewers Association). Joanne Carilli is now with White Labs and Jessica left the BA last year to pursue teaching.

Celebrator 18th Anniversary Party on the 19th

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One of the magazines I write for, the Celebrator Beer News, is having their 18th Anniversary Party on Sunday, February 19 from 4-8 p.m. Tickets are $35 per person and that covers your beer, food and entertainment. There will be 15 breweries pouring over 50 different beers for sampling, cajun food such as pulled pork and jamalaya cooked on-site and at least three bands, including a cajun band. This years theme, in case you haven’t guessed is Mardi Gras and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Louisiana breweries through Abita Brewing and the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. The party will be held at Trumer Braurerei in Berkeley at 1404 Fourth Street, off of Gilman. I have tickets if anybody needs one or even easier, you can buy tickets online through PayPal. You can either follow the link on the left column of this blog or go to the Celebrator website. Hope to see you there.

Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, California. [ Google Maps ]

Michelob Ultra Amber: Are You Kidding Me?

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I didn’t start this blog to rail against Anheuser-Busch. Really I didn’t. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Until recently, I hadn’t been paying as close attention to the daily derring do of the brewing world as I used to. I had taken a little over a year off from watching the industry that closely in order to care for my autistic son Porter and his little sister Alice. When I became a stay-at-home father I gave up my job as GM of the Celebrator Beer News and I decided not to watch the world of brewing quite as closely. But this January I decided to jump back in and see what I could do writing more seriously from home and it feels a bit as if I’ve just woken from a long nap. I’m still a little groggy and when I look around I feel disoriented. And every other day it seems it seems like Anheuser-Busch is doing something to make me wish I hadn’t woken up.

Today’s head scratcher is a dark light beer, Michelob Ultra Amber. Now I realize that to A-B a dark beer is really just a beer with a little color, an amber beer. Something on the order of 6-9 lovibonds, I suspect. Budweiser is 2 although Michelob Dark is around 18. Your average Guinness is 40, which is the upper end of the scale. So calling this dark is more than a little bit of a stretch.

But I have to be fair here about who should really take the blame for it being characterized as a dark beer. And a close look at the official press release reveals that they never refer to the new beer as a dark beer. In fact, the word is used only twice in reference to the use of “dark-roasted specialty malts” and in mentioning “using darker roasted malts to increase the flavor.” So much as I’d like to, I can’t fault A-B on this one. The blame falls squarely on the mass media who decided a catchy headline like “dark light beer” is better than accuracy. The AP story seems to have been the first to use this dark-light fallacy in their headline. This in turn was echoed all over the media that uses AP wire stories. So chalk up yet another example of the short shrift beer gets in the mainstream press. The author, one Jim Salter, appears to write about everything from business to sports. So he can’t expected to know anything about what he’s writing. The facts just don’t matter in today’s entertainment journalism.

This is a very frustrating situation for most beer writers I know. Any of us would happily fact check a beer article for almost any journalist just to insure the public is not told another ridiculous falsehood which will take a lot of work to undo. People tend to believe their daily paper and discount what they read in the free brewspaper they pick up at their local bar even though it’s generally the opposite. Most news outlets, if they cover beer at all, assign it to a wine or food writer who generally could care less about beer itself and any attendant accuracy. There are exceptions, of course. But sadly, not too many.

However, I can’t let Anheuser-Busch off the hook completely. They are still rolling out another pointless beer. An amber colored light beer is, after all, another light beer. And heaven knows we don’t need any of those. But as long as they’re the only beer category showing growth, I don’t think they’ll be disappearing any time soon.

Here’s to Beer: An Initial Review

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HtB
Here’s to Beer, the new website from Anheuser-Busch and the Beer Institute that’s supposed to be a celebration of beer à la the got milk? campaign that speaks for the entire beer industry was unveiled this morning. And it can be summed up in three words: style over substance. It uses macromedia’s shockwave and flash technology exclusively to deliver what little content is there. That means that if there were anything useful there you couldn’t copy the text to a word processor or other application. Luckily that’s not a problem.

After entering your address to “insure” you’re over 21, the sound of a beer filling a glass begins followed by the sound of the television commercial scheduled to air during this afternoon’s Super Bowl. You can also see the video to the commercial in a small window on the website. It’s very slick and shows (supposedly) real people enjoying beer all over the world and toasting the audience by saying “cheers” in their native tongue. But what does that really mean? In the end it doesn’t really say anything particular about the beer. Those same people could be drinking anything — wine, liquor, soda pop, even Clamato — and still be having a good time. Nothing in the ad explains “why” beer is integral to their enjoyment. It’s hard to believe that’s the best these overpriced propagandists could come up with.

The website’s content is even more comical, at least to someone who’s been involved with better beer most of his life. The site is divided into five main groups: The Brew House, The Beer Archives, The Bistro, The Theater and The Tavern. Only the most basic of information is available about beer’s origins, how beer is made, how to cook or pair foor with beer. And it’s done with such laughable simplemindedness that it feels a little insulting. There’s a big emphasis on “fun” like mini-movies, beer quotes, screensavers and wallpaper. There’s really nothing whatsoever here that hasn’t been said before, and said much better, frankly. I can’t conceive of how a beer novice, even one with a high level of interest, would learn much of anything useful here. There is far more information available from the average craft brewer’s website, in even rudimentary books or by going to any decent beer festival. If you want to turn someone on to better beer, this is not the place to send them.

But to be fair, I never thought it would be. Even though this is Anheuser-Busch’s baby, their name is conspiculously absent from the proceedings. Their name does not appear once on the website. But that’s how propaganda works. To the average consumer who doesn’t follow the beer industry (a safe bet at 99.9% of the population) Here’s to Beer is the work of the Beer Institute alone which in my mind forever stains that organization. They’ve become the face of the Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz. Don’t look behind the curtain. Let’s click our glasses together three times. I want to go home.

NOTE: This post is a follow-up to Here’s to Beer — Here’s to to Making it Appear Relevant and Appealing