Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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The PLCB Card

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In my recent screed over Tennessee’s decision to make carding for off-premise beer purchases mandatory, I mentioned that I still have my Pennsylvania drinking card, or PLCB card. A couple of people called me on it and so while I knew I had it somewhere, laying my hands on it I knew might prove more difficult. Surprisingly enough, I found it in the very first place I looked. So for Shaun and Jim, and anyone else curious to see what these things used to look like, here is my 27-year old PLCB card.

Front: Well, the first thing you’re bound to notice is that unflattering photo of me when I was 20, and that helmet hair. Sheesh, that’s embarrassing. Notice that it’s called an “IDENTIFICATION CARD” and follows that up with the peculiar “(For Proof of Age Only)” which is, as I said, the only thing the card was good for, proving you were old enough to drink in Pennsylvania.

Back: The legalese about the card representing that I had presented “documentary evidence” — my birth certificate — when I submitted the form at the State Store.

 

Real Hop-sicles

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A friend and colleague sent me this story from his local area around Washington, D.C. (thanks Gregg). Rustico Restaurant & Bar, a great beer restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, began serving “beer-sicles” last week. They make frozen beer pops shaped like the Popsicles you remember for $4 or a larger cone size for $6. They’re made from 99% beer using all-natural ingredients, executive chef Frank Morales claims, and he created the new pops with the help of the restaurant’s Beer Director, Greg Engert. Don’t you just love the idea that a restaurant has a beer director?

Executive Chef Frank Morales with his new beer-sicles.
photo © Associated Press

 So far, four flavors have been offered. Fudgesicle (made with Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout), Raspbeer-y (made with the very sweet St. Louis Framboise), Plum (made with Chapeau Mirabelle) and Banana (made with Chapeau Banana). Since their debut last week, they’re a big hit with customers, and men especially, Morales noted. Apparently they worked on the right combination of ingredients for weeks before being satisfied, so I guess that 1% ingredient is quite an important one. So what otherwise seems like a simple idea — freeze beer in a Popsicle mold — may actually hinge on a particular secret ingredient. Of course, I’m open to experimentation.

Unfortunately, according to the AP story, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control believes that “the beer-sicles might violate state regulations” which state that “the law requires beer to be served in its original container, or served immediately to a customer once it is poured from its original container.” Apparently the Virginia ABC is investigating, but their initial reaction appears to be that it violates state alcohol law.

This is apparently because the purpose of that law is so the ABC can keep tabs on where the alcohol goes along it’s journey from manufaturer to consumer. According to Philip Disharoon, the special agent in charge of the Alexandria division, he’s worried that he “would have no way of knowing where the beer product came from.” The idea that they may have to stop making these just because the Virginia ABC can’t track the path of the beer from bottle to mold to freezer to customer, all in a single location, strikes me as bureaucratic nonsense. I imagine that may have been more of a concern during bootlegging days, but I have a hard time believing it’s much of an issue any longer.

Virginia’s alcohol laws do include an exemption for beer used for “culinary purposes” (3VAC5-70-40), which would appear to make it legal for Rustico to continue selling beersicles. Since it appears that they’re already using beer in many of the dishes served at the restaurant, perhaps they’re already covered. The regulation does give the ABC broad authority to “refuse to issue or [t] suspend or revoke such a permit for any reason” which seems rather unfair, to say the least. But that’s the nature of many alcohol laws, in which fairness is rarely a priority. Also, alcohol used for cooking must be kept completely separate from beer that’s for sale to patrons, which also seems quite ridiculous.

But the more you examine each state’s own arcane alcohol regulations, you realize that over time they’ve become bloated bureaucratic gibberish that few people can understand, even among the state employees charged with interpreting them. I know firsthand that in some states ABC employees will give different interpretations to the same regulation, leaving brewery and restaurant/bar owners completely baffled as to what the law actually says or how to comply with it. And even relying on one state employee’s interpretation can land you in hot water if another’s interpretation is different. That certainly seems fair, doesn’t it? At the very least, you’d think they could either get their stories straight or at least respect their colleagues interpretation that someone relied on in good faith. But sadly that’s not the way government works, especially when it comes to the hot button issue of alcohol.

But the idea of beer-flavored Popsicles seems a natural. Perhaps the folks that own the trademark on the name Popsicle, which is Unilever (although in 1993 they changed their name to the more appetizing Good Humor-Breyers® Ice Cream Company) could make beer-flavored Popsicles for adults that we can all buy at the grocery store. Can you just imagine the hue and cry from neo-prohibitionists when beer pops show up in the frozen food section? It would almost be worth it just to see them come unglued. Plus, I just love the idea of a green, 100 ibu, real honest-to-goodness Hopsickle.

UPDATE 7.22: Two new news sources also include video of the beersicles so you can see what they look like and see a bit more about how they’re made. The first is from WLBZ in Bangor, Maine and the second is from CBS 3 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

UPDATE 7.22 – #2: Courtesy of Reason magazine, Senior Editor Radley Balko went to Rustico this afternoon hoping to try a beer-flavored Popsicle but was told “they’re no longer serving them. At least until the state alcohol control tyrants give them the okay.” Apparently they’re trying to figure out how to cook the beer and/or add more ingredients so it will fall under “culinary purposes” as I detailed above. Sounds to me like the Virginia ABC has lost touch with reality. If freezing beer in a mold, with a stick, and serving it as a dessert doesn’t qualify as a culinary use, then I have to conclude it’s not about the law anymore, but about control. That’s the word everybody forgets in “ABC,” but it stands for “Alcoholic Beverage Control.” State agencies take that part of their job perhaps most seriously of all in their zeal to do their job. These agencies really should work with alcohol manufacturers and retailers because for the most part all they want to do is comply with the law. But many times, because of the nature of bureaucracy, an adversarial relationship is created over time and the agencies spend more of their resources on enforcement and punishment, forgetting that they’re charged with keeping alcohol in society in a safe manner, not controlling it to the point of killing it.

 

New IPA From Landmark

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LANDMARK BEER COMPANY RELEASES ITS THIRD BEER, LANDMARK INDIA PALE ALE

Syracuse, NY — Landmark Beer Company is proud to announce that it’s much anticipated India Pale Ale is now available. This beer is a full flavored American style India Pale Ale. We use Centennial, Columbus and Cascade hops to give it a bold hop aroma, flavor and bitterness throughout.

Beer Facts:

Release Date: May 2007
Hop Variety: Columbus, Centennial, Cascade
Stats: 6.8% alcohol by volume, 68 bittering units
Availability: year round in bottle and draft form.

Canned Beer Dinner

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Last month, Monk’s Cafe and Beer Emporium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hosted a unique beer dinner with beer cook Lucy Saunders at the helm to support her new book, Grilling with Beer. All of the beers paired with each course was a craft beer in a can. A growing trend among small brewers, there are better than two dozen now putting their beer in a can. The Philadelphia Inquirer attended and reviewed the dinner, titling their article “Can do — craft-beer makers kicking glass, going metal.” Lucy sent me some of her photos from the dinner.

Lucy also was kind enough to provide her write-up of the event:

Craft brewers certainly can be proud of canned beer – at least, that’s the take-home message from a celebration of all-American grilled food and canned brews at Monk’s Café, Philadelphia, PA, in May.

To help Lucy Saunders launch her newest book, Grilling with Beer, Chef Adam Glickman and his culinary team prepared a banquet of BBQ ribs and fixings. Hosts Fergus Carey and Tom Peters called on top craft brewers offering their wares in cans to share the bounty.

Answering the call from San Francisco, California, brewer Shaun O’Sullivan of the 21st Amendment traveled cross-continent to celebrate his birthday at Monk’s, bringing both the stellar Watermelon Wheat Ale and the IPA in cans. Chuck Williamson drove all the way from Garrattsville, across NY state to deliver cold cases of Heinnieweisse to the door. (Cans do travel well, provided they are kept cold.)

Stacks of cans grew like Great Pyramids of Giza on tabletops, as we sampled skewers of apricot-wheat ale chicken, Malt Monster Shrimp with 21st Amendment’s Watermelon Wheat and the Butternuts Heinnieweisse. Brooklyn Lager paired with Chef Glickman’s grilled asparagus salad, and Dale’s Pale Ale partnered with the Porter Ginger Salmon Skewers. Sly Fox’s tasty canned offerings accompanied the beerbistro’s tender Apple Ale Ribs (braised in Éphémère Pomme before finishing on the new grill in Monk’s kitchen).

And at the end, we pulled the pop-tops off of cans of Old Chub Scottish ale, malty and rich enough to handle the Adult S’mores, stuffed with melted bittersweet Belgian chocolate and marshmallows made with St. Bernardus.

It was a cook-out to celebrate craft beer tasting just as the brewers intended, served from cool and classic aluminum cans, so convenient for any BBQ with beer. That’s why I think of cans as mini-kegs, perfect for keeping flavors fresh.

Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st Amendment, Fergie Carey, co-owner of Monk’s, Lucy Saunders, the beer cook, and Tom Peters, also co-owner of Monk’s.

For more photos by Lucy Saunders from the beer dinner, visit the photo gallery.

Canned Monk’s

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This sounds like a fun one. Monk’s Belgian Beer Emporium and Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be hosting a beer dinner with an “All-American Cookout” theme. Lucy Saunders worked with Monk’s chef Adam Glickman to create the menu, inspired by recipes from her wonderful book, “Grilling with Beer.” (Did I mention I contributed a chapter to her book?)

All of the beers served will be micro-canned beers, including Sly Fox (PA), Brooklyn (NY), Capital (WI), Butternuts (NY), Oskar Blues (CO), 21st Amendment (San Francisco), and New England (CT). Shaun O’Sullivan will also be on hand, so hopefully I can wheedle a report and photos of of him when he returns.

The dinner will take place next Tuesday, May 15, and the cost is $65 per person. Call Jodi at 215.545.7005 to make reservations.
 

Good Beer Deserves the Right Glass

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The Syracuse Post-Standard ran a nice article entitled “Good beer deserves the right glass” by staff writer Don Cazentre, who’s also a homebrewer. He provides a good rudimentary introduction to the importance of drinking beer not just from a glass, but from the proper glass. It’s another good example of better beer coverage by the media.

Sam Adams to Be Made in the Glass-Lined Tanks of Old Latrobe

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The big story yesterday, reported by practically everybody, is that the Boston Beer Co. — makers of Samuel Adams beers — have signed a contract with City Brewing of Wisconsin to brew Sam Adams beer at the newly acquired Latrobe Brewery. It appears the relationship between Boston Beer Co. and City Brewing on this project will be some form of partnership, with Jim Koch’s company kicking in between three and seven million dollars to upgrade the Pennsylvania facility. In addition, “the parties are discussing the potential of Boston Beer having an ownership interest in the brewing facility.”

The parties expect the brewery to be up and running again in the second quarter, which means anytime over the next three months, and possibly as soon as next month. Happily, around 250 brewery employees should finally be back at work after InBev’s sale of the Rolling Rock brand — but not the Latrobe brewery — to Anheuser-Busch for $82 million closed the plant last July. Anheuser-Busch declined to buy the brewery and moved production to its facility in Newark, New Jersey, where it’s been brewing Rolling Rock for almost a year. Curiously, Boston Beer was one of the leading contenders in last year’s rumor mills surrounding who might buy the threatened Latrobe brewery and save it from closure. Federal, state and local officials and politicians worked tirelessly with InBev to find a buyer and rumored potential suitors also included Pittsburgh Brewing, Sierra Nevada and Yuengling before City Brewing bought it for an undisclosed amount.

Boston Beer’s co-packing contract with Miller is set to expire in October of next year, so this is seen by financial analysts as putting to rest any long-term concerns about meeting rising product demand. Sales volume increased 17% last year. Boston Beer President and CEO Martin Roper indicated that the Latrobe deal gives Sam Adams “increased flexibility” and they chose Latrobe brewery in part because of its heritage. As a result, yesterday afternoon shares of Boston Beer rose 66 cents to $33.74.

Samuel Adams has also been pursuing a property in Freetown, Massachusetts to build a brewery from scratch. According to company spokeswoman Michelle Sullivan. “’We’ve signed a purchase and sale on the site,’ Sullivan said, adding the company has also hired consultants to look into building plans.” Boston Beer also owns the Hudepohl-Schoenling in Cincinnati, Ohio and a smaller pilot brewery in Jamaica Plain, a little southwest of their headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

Alstroms Profiled in “The Pour”

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A Bulletin reader in Hawaii sent me this link (thanks, Doug). Eric Asimov’s New York Times’ column The Pour, is one of the few columns in a big, mainstream paper to write about beer in a respectful tone, without the condescension so prevalent in much of the media’s mis-handling of better beer. I’ve always enjoyed his pieces, and am pleased so prominent a paper as the Times seems to “get it” more often than the rest. Today’s column, entitled “Overcoming a Frat Party Reputation,” features a nice profile of Todd and Jason Alström, the founders of Beer Advocate and their new monthly magazine (for which I have written a few feature articles). Asimov discusses those of us associated with craft beer and better imported beer and our desire for such beers to be treated with greater respect. The Alströms have certainly been at the vanguard of our grassroots movement for ten years now, and much progress has been made here of late. It’s great to see beer celebrated in this way. Congratulations, guys.
 

Beer Advocate founders Jason and Todd Alström, profiled today in the New York Times.
(photo by Jodi Hilton for The New York Times)

Savoring Beer

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I generally eschew going out on the major holidays, primarily because America — and especially the business sector — has turned them into reasons to get drunk and sell crap that none of us need. Much is written about the commercialization of Christmas but, really, is there a single holiday that Hallmark isn’t trying to sell you on the idea that you should buy your loved ones a card to celebrate it? And perhaps most sad of all is how many holidays that used to be a chance to spend time with family, to commemorate something worthwhile or to celebrate a shared history with your community have been turned into another drunkfest. The most egregious of these are New Year’s Eve, Cinco de Mayo, the 4th of July, Halloween (the #1 keg sales weekend for most beer retailers) and, of course, St. Patrick’s Day. Since I essentially drink most days and as a paid professional, I refer to these holidays simply as “amateur drinking days” because it seems like people just go nuts and drink as much as humanly possible. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the holiday’s original purpose, but is used simply as an excuse to drink to excess. And it’s hard, for me at least, to be around such people. They give drinking a bad name, not to mention providing neo-prohibitionist’s fuel for their bonfires of intolerance.

So I was glad to see I’m not entirely alone on this one. An editorial in Pittsburgh’s The Times Leader by Michael O’Hare today discusses what’s happened to our holidays using the recent St. Patrick’s Day as a catalyst. In his editorial, he gives voice to the frustrations of his older Irish-American friend, Seamus, who tells him he didn’t go out on the holiday because he’s no “pop culture Irishman.” Asked to explain, Seamus relates the following.

“Well, you know, the Irish have a reputation for drink. But the Irish were like the Brits, the Welsh, the Scots and any number of nationals and races who at one time shared their time with neighbors in pubs. And, but for the local drunks, they didn’t pound down their beer and whiskey; they savored it, along with the conversation. It was the celebration, not the drink, that was the center of the gathering,” he said.

Exactly. Beer should be savored with good friends and good conversation. I couldn’t agree more.

Newsweek Discovers Vintage Beer

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Alright, it didn’t make the magazine, but it is a “web exclusive” on the Newsweek website. It is an article by Andrew Romano entitled Beer By the Year (thanks to Joe in Florida for sending me the link). The article is about vintage beers and the 25 of them Gramercy Tavern in New York City has added to their menu. It’s great to see Newsweek do a piece on aged beers, though the article suffers from the usual snide disbelief that beer could be worth spending money on and be something beyond a drink for the masses, or as Romano envisions it, an “equal-opportunity inebriator.”

Then there’s this dissmissive description:

This is beer we’re talking about. You know, the stuff shirtless football fans drink from a helmet. Sure, boosters might do well to take a page from wine’s playbook: according to the latest figures from the National Institutes of Health, alcohol consumption from beer (per capita) is down 6 percent since 1992, while “classier” vino is up 17 percent.

A little later in the article Romano grudgingly admits that some beers may benefit from aging but then claims that that’s true only “in theory.” He makes this claim because the final product may not necessarily turn out to be good after all. Why? One explanation is that the aging must be done properly: at the right temperature, in a dark place, etc. Here’s his other reasons.

Brewers, unlike vintners, release their beverages when they’re ready to drink, and aging is an inexact science. Given time, some bottles soar; others sour. With vintage beer, you always run the risk of liking the final draft less than the first.

This makes it sound as if he’s inferring that wine doesn’t have such issues, that aging wine is an exact science. But the exact same risks he brings up are true for wine, as well. First of all, plenty of wines are released too early but just as many are ready to drink, too. And then to age a wine properly, all the same steps involving light, temperature and so on must also be followed for the wine to have benefitted from the aging process.

Many — if not most — of the beers meant to be aged are not released when they’re green, but have in fact been aged for a period of time before being released to the public for further aging. I spoke to Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and he confirmed that he does age many of his beers either in the tank, barrel or bottle before releasing them to the public, some for a few weeks and some for many months. He wants the flavors to be right and the taste to have mellowed or changed in a positive way before they’re out of his hands.

I don’t quite understand why the author feels the need to qualify aging beer as having unique risks. “Given time,” not every bottle of wine will age well either, so why is he making it sound like aging is a different process for wine and beer?

Happily, Romano doesn’t stick with that tone and for the most part is convinced that vintage beers are worth their higher price tag. Romano and his dinner companion try six vintage beers and like all of them, and love a couple, especially the 1992 Thomas Hardy.

According to the article, Gramercy Tavern “gave beer-by-the-year its big-league, fine-dining debut with a select 25-bottle list of vintage suds from Europe, Japan and North America. The response, says assistant beverage director Kevin Garry, has been ‘amazing’—and it could mean more mainstream acceptance to come. ‘Based on how our guests have reacted, I can totally see vintage beer catching on at other places,’” says Garry, who pairs his bottles with cheeses and desserts. ‘I’d love to see it become the next cool thing in the fine-dining world.’”

As the article ends, Romano can’t resist bad-mouthing beer one more time in his last sentence, which concludes, “[w]e stumble home shortly thereafter.” Let’s see, two men share six bottles of beer. That’s three apiece. And not all were big 750 ml bottles. Thomas Hardy bottles are 11.2 ounces. Yes, some of the beers were strong, but overall not compared to the average wines. Would a wine writer having consumed an equal amount of wine ever claim to have “stumbled” home afterwards? Not in a million years.