Generik's Tap: Beer and Brewing

Brugge Bottles AT LAST!

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:23:25 GMT

I just got word from a buddy of mine that Brugge bottles are officially in the warehouse over at Monarch / World Class. I am not sure if they have been pushed out to retailers yet, but it looks like the long endless wait may finally be over! I am told there are cases of the White, Black and Tripel de Ripple as well as a variety case with 2 of each of those. I am really looking forward to picking up my first variety pack and enjoying some Brugge beers at home.

What's more American then Pabst Blue Ribbon?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:17:27 GMT

I have seen quite a bit of misinformation around the internets about who is the largest American owned brewery now that Anheuser Busch is going to be foreign owned. Mostly what I hear is the wrong assumption that Boston Beer Co is now the largest out there. Unfortunately those people are forgetting that the brewer with the iconic red white and blue can is still entirely American owned, even if they no longer own a brewery of their own. Yes, Pabst Brewing Co is the largest American brewer now. And if that isn't enough, under the Pabst umbrella of brands is a plethora of iconic names that have been around since the 1800's. Many of them may be macro swill in the minds of craft beer fans, yet almost every one I know has fond memories of these brands. The point being, if you want a cheap easy drinking beer and it has to be American, put your snobbery aside and grab for a PBR.

Red, white and blue marketing

Pabst touts ascent to No. 1 American-owned beer maker

By TOM DAYKIN
tdaykin@journalsentinel.com

Posted: July 16, 2008

Pabst Brewing Co. doesn’t operate breweries anymore, but it wants to be the first choice for every red-blooded American beer drinker.

The company, which owns dozens of beer brands and contracts with MillerCoors LLC to create most of its brews, is staking its claim as the largest remaining American-owned beer maker.

Just days after industry giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. announced its sale to InBev, a European brewer, Pabst is conducting an online survey, asking customers about it.

“Did you know that after this sale is completed, Pabst Brewing Company will be the largest remaining American-owned brewery?” the survey asks. “How likely is this information to affect your decision to purchase beer? Would information about Pabst’s American ownership on packaging, like bottles or cans, impact your decision to purchase our products?”

Executives at Pabst, based in suburban Chicago, and spokesmen for St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

But a Pabst statement noted that it will be “the last of the famous iconic U.S. brewers to be fully independent and American-owned.”

“Most of our brands (Pabst, Schlitz, Stroh, Schaefer, Rainier, Olympia, and others) have been around since the 1800s,” the statement said.

It seems clear that Pabst is poised to snatch at the patriotic appeal long used by Anheuser-Busch.

That’s probably a smart strategy, given that some drinkers of Budweiser, the Anheuser-Busch brand that’s been sold with flag-waving ads, aren’t happy about the King of Beers being acquired by a company based in Belgium, said Mike McCarthy, an associate professor of marketing at Miami (Ohio) University.

“I do think Budweiser has cultivated a very, very strong patriotic, all-American beer image for many, many years,” McCarthy said. “I think there is a little bit of a sense that Bud is a quintessential all-American beer.”

However, with Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch brands being owned by a European company, calling those brands all-American beers “will be a little hard to say with a straight face,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said even if just 1% of Budweiser’s customers dropped the beer and switched to Pabst Blue Ribbon, that would bring a huge boost for the brand. Its Americana image was immortalized in the 1973 Johnny Russell song “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer,” and later in the 1992 Mary Chapin Carpenter song, “I Am a Town.”

Budweiser has seen declining sales for several years as beer drinkers turn to Bud Light and other low-calorie brews. But Budweiser in 2007 still posted sales volume of 24.6 million barrels, accounting for 11.3% of the U.S. market, according to trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Pabst Brewing, meanwhile, posted sales of 6.1 million barrels, or 2.8% market share, for all of its brands.

Anheuser-Busch’s 2007 market share was 48.2%, while Miller Brewing Co. and Coors Brewing Co., which have since combined to form MillerCoors, posted a 29.5% market share. MillerCoors is a 50-50 joint venture of London-based SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co., which is based in Denver and Montreal.

Pabst’s possible patriotic appeal could be seen as a bit ironic, given that its beers are made by MillerCoors, which is owned by one company based in Great Britain and another company that is co-based in Canada. Pabst, owned by the California-based Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust, closed its Milwaukee brewery in 1996 and shuttered its last remaining brewery in 2001 after hiring Miller to brew its brands. Pabst moved its offices from San Antonio, Texas, to Woodridge, Ill., in 2006.

Another irony: Anheuser-Busch in 2005 aired a TV spot that featured its employees talking about how they’re proud to serve “the only major American brewery that’s still American-owned,” profits from which stay in the United States.

The spot was a not-so-subtle dig at Coors, which earlier that year had merged with Canada’s Molson Inc., and Miller, which was sold in 2002 to South African Breweries PLC, which then changed its name to SABMiller.

In 2004, Anheuser-Busch put up posters in liquor stores and other retail outlets saying Miller is owned by “South African Breweries.” U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ordered the posters be taken down, saying they were inaccurate because Miller was actually a subsidiary of SABMiller.

A quick trip to Parti-Pak

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:36:28 GMT

Today is my dad's birthday (Happy Birthday dad!!) and he is coming down to visit this weekend to celebrate. So I figured I should go snag some good beer that I have been wanting to introduce him to and ran over to Parti-Pak after work. Definitely not on my way home, but that place is as close to beer heaven as there is in Naptown. Anyway, I figured I would share what I picked up for those that are interested.

The Shiner Bock actually came from Marsh and originally there were 2 bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but one didn't quite make it to the photo shoot. Anyway from left to right we have:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 24oz
Jolly Pumpkin Ora de Calabaza
Grotten Brown Ale
Shiner Bock
Grotten Belgian Ale
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Sierra Nevada ESB (Early Spring Beer) ((Obviously out very early for next year, right? :-P))

One of these days I will take some photos of the beer posters I have hanging and share them. Closest in is a poster from the now defunct Indianapolis Brewing Co. Right above the Shiner sixer is a Ranier poster of 'The Barbeerian'. Hidden by the Grotten Brown is an old Lone Star Schooner in a Longneck poster with huge armadillos dragging Lone Star bottles with stage coaches inside. And way down at the end is the signed Yuengling poster I got on my birthday during our tour of Yuengling.

The very aged bottle of Ballantine's India Pale Ale

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:11:32 GMT

A couple months back my dad came down and brought a surprise for me. A still unopened bottle of Ballantine's India Pale Ale. Now an unopened bottle of beer wouldn't normally be a huge deal except in this case, Ballantine IPA hasn't be brewed in over a decade. And as far as I can tell, the brand dropped the 's from the name sometime around 1956-7, just judging by some old advertisements. So in other words, I was handed a bottle of beer that is a minimum of 50 years old and could in fact be decades older then that.

Now the question is what to do with it? My dad thinks it should be opened and sampled. I think that may not be such a good idea. For one thing, the cap has started rusting and holding this bottle up to light, the contents appear to be almost black. Not a good sign at all. The other drawback in my mind is this bottle loses it's mystique once you open it. Of course the opposite could be true, and the ultimate nectar of the gods could be down in my basement right now. Maybe it was cellared just right for all those years and has aged like a fine wine? As you can see on the back label, the ale 'continues to age and mellow' after bottling. I wonder if they had any idea someone would age it this long?

Broad Ripple Brewpub

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:49:30 GMT

Saturday the family and I went out for a bite to eat at the Broad Ripple Brewpub. This served two functions for me, one being a chance to pick up tickets to the Indiana Microbrewer's Festival and avoid 'convenience charges' from the online vendors, and two, drink some good beer. I started with their pilsner and the Womanizer tried the Replic-ale 80 Schilling Scottish. The boy decided that we had to sit outside, regardless of the fact that it was sweltering and muggy, so the pilsner really hit the spot. Nice and crisp with a pleasant amount of hop bitterness. Really a very refreshing beer and one that I personally think could / should replace the Lawnmower Pale Ale on the standard beer list. The 80 Schilling Scottish was also pretty tasty, although it was probably not the best beer to be sitting outside that day drinking. I followed the pilsner up with the Amarillo Lager which was on cask pull, and was warned that it would be a bit warmer. No matter, this beer was a nice coppery red and had a great citrusy, grapefruit hop flavor. Probably the hoppiest beer I have ever had at the Broad Ripple Brewpub. Highly recommended. A good time indeed and we now have our tickets for the festival this coming weekend.

More news on Budweiser American Ale

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:52:13 GMT

As you may recall I mentioned the coming of a new product coming soon called Budweiser American Ale. Well, I picked this off of the Brew Blog earlier today.

A-B has aggressive roll-out plans for Budweiser American Ale, Beer Marketer's Insights reports. From the story in today's Beer Marketer's Insights Express (subscription required): "It targets 40% on-premise and 70% off-premise distribution by Jan 1, it said in letter to distribs. Bud Ale "will be supported with more than $28 million in media merchandising and sampling," including $18 mil in media. ... Why is AB going after this oppy? 'Double digit growth in craft, particularly ales,' sez AB."

Hmmm.. sounds like Anheuser Busch is going to cram this new ale of theirs down our throats with a media blitz and a ton of store displays. I can't wait for that.

Homebrewing mishaps and what not to do when cleaning a draught line

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:21:01 GMT

A couple months ago I talked about a big brew day where a couple of friends of mine and myself brewed a total of 20 gallons of homebrew. I came away from that event with 5 gallons of hefeweizen fermented from Weihenstephan yeast, and patiently waited while 5 gallons of Czech pilsner fermented and lagered at my friends house in his chest freezer. Lagers require cold fermentation and then even colder temps to lager, and unfortunately I do not have the capacity to put a 5 gallon glass carboy into a refrigerator and let it sit for close to 2 months. My friend's converted chest freezer fits the bill and he graciously allowed my half of the batch to ferment and lager at his house. Anyway, this weekend I picked up the now kegged batch to bring it home and get it ready for the upcoming holiday weekend. But before I could hook it up, the draught line needed to be cleaned and sanitized.

The previous batch running through that line was my Amarillo Red Ale, which was a big hoppy beer that for some reason never truly settled down. It tasted great, but every single beer poured had little flecks of hops from when it was dry-hopped that should have settled out to the bottom. With that in mind I wanted to make real sure I cleaned out the line as well as the tap faucet. So I took the faucet off my tap tower and sure enough there was a bit of hops clumped in there to be cleaned. I then proceeded to run cleaner and sanitizer through the line itself and sanitize the quick disconnects that plug into the keg itself. It was then that the mishap was made. With the faucet assembly still sitting in a bucket of sanitizer I proceeded to hook the beer line to the pressurized keg. Any idea what happens when there isn't a faucet attached to the tap tower? It could best be described as a beer fountain, shooting beer 2 feet out onto the floor. And there is no way to shut it off without trying to quickly remove the beer line from the keg, which isn't difficult, but is awkward in the cramped confines of my kegerator.

So I shot about half a litre or so of fresh Czech pilsner onto the floor. Right after this disaster my 4 year old walks down and as any 4 year old will do, starts asking questions. I of course was not in the mood to contend with cleaning beer up off the floor while explaining the beer-geyser to him and tried to send him away. Then the womanizer came down to play some Wii and makes a comment about how the basement smells like a brewery. Not the way I wanted to start the evening, but it did provide me with a name for the beer. Floor Model Pilsner is now on tap. As some of you may recall, during the actual brewing process of this beer, we wound up losing a fair amount to the garage floor when the tube from the mashtun came off as we were lifting it up to start draining into the brew kettle. I guess this beer just likes it on the floor. Moral of this story, make damn sure you have the faucet on your tap tower and in the closed position BEFORE you hook up the beer line to a pressurized keg!

More beer events then this beer nut can hope to attend

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:45:05 GMT

While perusing some of the other Naptown blogs it was brought to my attention that June is going to be crammed full of beer event goodness. Check out the complete list (so far) here at DIG-B.

Out with the old, in with the new

Thu, 22 May 2008 15:55:49 GMT

My first ever keg of homebrew, the Amarillo Wit, finally blew a couple nights ago. It was a really fantastic beer and I plan to brew it again. Basically imagine a Belgian style wit beer with a mild dosing of Amarillo hops to really give it a kick. A bunch of coriander and bitter orange peel and you got a nose full of citrus with a mix of citrus and mildly bitter hops on the tongue. All together, this was one very quaffable and refreshing beer. It's a shame in my mind that the weather was never really warm enough before the kegs demise to allow for some quality time drinking it on the patio in the sun.

Alas, all is not lost. I actually needed that keg to empty so I could get the next batch in the kegerator. Carbonating right now is a batch of Bavarian Hefeweizen. I kegged it on Tuesday and started the process of force carbonating it. Last night I got to sample it, not fully carbonated just yet, but boy does it drink well. Made with the same strain of yeast that goes into Weihanstephaner, it has a huge estery aroma. Tropical fruit, a little clove, and some banana all greet the nose when you hoist a glass to your lips. If you have ever enjoyed a true German wheat beer, then you have a good understanding of what I am pouring at home right now. The goal was to make sure this batch was ready for Memorial Day weekend, and it is getting in just in time.

Christian Moerlein coming to Naptown

Mon, 12 May 2008 02:39:15 GMT

I was emailed this courtesy of my dad. I think all fans of craft beer can rejoice to learn that apparently soon we will have another fairly local option available on store shelves. I have sampled many of the newly created varieties of Christian Moerlein beers and have been pleased with each and every one of them. This article gives a pretty good history of the brewery in recent years, and I have highlighted the part of local relevance.

Moerlein reviving Cincinnati beer
Queen City used to be center of German beer-making
BY JOHN ECKBERG | JECKBERG@ENQUIRER.COM
If Greg Hardman has his way, Cincinnati will again be the beer center of the nation.
“If I have anything to do with it, yes,” crowed Hardman, president and chief executive of the Christian Moerlein Co. and father to a small but growing family of beers.
Hardman bought the 1853 Cincinnati beer label four years ago and has been steadily growing sales in the region.
This summer he plans to begin the first phase of a national expansion by rolling out his handful of beer brands to Indianapolis, Columbus and Louisville.

His new Lager House Original Golden Helles, a remake of the classic Moerlein lager, will be offered to the beer-drinking public at the Beer Barons Weekend at the Muhlhauser Barn in West Chester next Saturday, May 17.
At the center of the event, and the company’s expansion, are the hearty beers that are throwbacks to another time and place. Many of the flavors were created in the late 1800s in Over-the-Rhine breweries whose buildings are still standing.
“Our beers have a uniquely Cincinnati twist without being Cincinnati-centric” Hardman said. “These beers have stories, and the stories have meaning that will reverberate beyond our region.”
In the 19th century, Cincinnati was one of the nation’s biggest producers and consumers of beer.
Thanks to a growing and mostly German and Irish population of laborers, Over-the-Rhine was at the center of the movement.
In 1840, there were eight breweries in town. Within 20 years there were 36 breweries here – in part because of the population but also because railroads and the Miami and Erie canals made it easy to bring grains to the brewers. Among them were names like John Hauck, Christian Moerlein and Conrad Windisch, beer barons who became men of influence and power.
Beer gardens were created along the canal in the West End and Over-the-Rhine.
On Sundays, Cincinnatians would go to church, and many would find their way to Over-the-Rhine or the West End to sing, drink and revel. Some churches had rathskellers, where beer was served after Mass.
“Then they would make their way to the beer gardens,” Hardman said.
Few brewers became as famous as Moerlein, who was so consumed by the beverage that he built a home next to his massive brewery, which once filled three blocks of upper Over-the-Rhine near Elm and Henry streets.
That brewery is long gone, but his house still stands.
A LIFELONG LOVE OF BEER
Hardman, a 1984 graduate of Ohio University, also has had a lifelong love of beer.
A former salesman and general manager of the Bobcat Beverage Co., a beer distributor in Athens, Hardman came to Cincinnati in 1989 when he married Patrice McLaughlin of Middletown.
He soon went to work for Warsteiner Importers Agency, then based in Denver, Colo., and in 1996 became president of U.S. operations.
For three years, he commuted to Chicago from Cincinnati, leaving during the week and returning home on weekends.
The company realized he was not going to move to Chicago, so it moved its headquarters to West Chester and for a while it worked. But Hardman, 45, of Mason, was still dissatisfied, and by 2004, he was ready to have a beer company of his own.
“I wanted to bring back the Cincinnati brewing traditions,” he said. “I wanted to make an impact by bringing back that heritage with the Moerlein brands.”
So he bought the Moerlein brand and began to sell the beer locally. He knows the summer of 2008 is going to be a critical one for his company.
Though brewed in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., by contract, the Moerlein family of products will soon be sold across the Midwest. The company will begin offering a Discovery Pack – a 12-pack of samples of Moerlein brands.
The repositioning of the Hudepohl brand, also owned by Moerlein, will follow in 2009, and Hardman said he hopes eventually to extend the beer’s reach nationally.
In the craft beer industry, growth usually occurs through word-of-mouth, said Ted Wright, managing partner of Fizz, a viral marketing company based in Atlanta that specializes in the beverage industry.
“Americans are great at finding something they like and saying, ‘It’s pretty good, I’ll pay a premium for that,’” he said. “They tell their friends. Artisans are able to make a living. But beers without a story don’t sell. When you have a story, it becomes interesting to influencers. And you can definitely tell stories about craft beer.”
Word-of-mouth has been good for Moerlein so far, Hardman acknowledged, though he would not disclose revenues.
“We’ve seen a doubling or even tripling of sales in the past two to four years. We expect that trend to continue.”
One driver for the growth is that some beer drinkers in America have started spurning cheaper brands to trade up, Hardman said. So far they have been willing to spend more for a quality handcrafted beer, even as gasoline prices are rising and cutting into disposable income.
“It’s all about affordable luxuries,” he said. “Any beer that sells for under $10 a six-pack is an affordable luxury.”
But that trend may be changing, according to industry analysts.
In the past three years, craft beer consumption has grown by 36 percent, though the category still represents just 4 percent of all beer sold, said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, a brewing trade publication based in Nanuet, NY.
But, for the first time in years, Steinman said, that craft growth has hit a plateau.
“In the most recent four-week period, because of higher gasoline prices, craft beer sales grew by just 2 percent,” Steinman said.
One reason for the slowdown may be that craft beer prices are up by 5.6 percent because of rising prices for raw materials and energy, he said.
“Whatever the reason, something has changed in the growth algorithm in the last month or two,” Steinman said.
YEARS OF RESEARCH AND TESTING
Hardman recognizes he has a lot at stake in his Moerlein family of brands – years of research, painstaking trial and error to develop recipes, and a plan to roll out beer to nearby cities that may not be as keen on a Queen City brand as beer drinkers in Southwest Ohio.
For instance, Moerlein’s Over-the-Rhine ale took two years to perfect and features three malts and an infusion of pricy Cascade and Fuggle hops to recreate ale from the 19th century.
“This is unique pale ale, unlike any on the market,” Hardman said.
But creating craft beers, which have toasty malted flavors, is only the first step toward building a brand.
This Moerlein effort comes complete with new bottle labels, new packaging and a new approach in the Discovery pack.
Labels by Hartwell artist Jim Effler depict Cincinnati streetscapes, a pig fountain for the Fifth & Vine Oktoberfest and Frederick I Barbarossa, a benign and beloved German ruler and Holy Roman emperor who also liked beer.
WEST CHESTER’S ROLE
While Over-the-Rhine was the home of most brewers in the region, including the Hudepohl Brewing Co. and Christian Moerlein, West Chester also played a role in the industry.
Former farmland at the Union Centre Boulevard exit on Interstate 75 was where draft horses were rested for brewers Moerlein, Windisch-Muhlhauser and Hauck Brewing Co.
It’s also where brewers grew barley for the beer.
Robert S. Pohl, president and chief executive emeritus of the original Hudepohl Brewing Co., brought back the original Christian Moerlein beer and maintained its high standards in 1981.
The beer is the first American brew to meet the terms of the Reinheitsgebot (the German beer-purity law), which was created in 1516.
“It was one of the first craft beers to be sold east of the Mississippi River,” Hardman said.
SINGING IN THE STREETS OF OTR
Many questions remain about whether craft beer will grow at the extraordinary pace.
Can a small local brewer – Moerlein is sold only in Dayton, Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky today – compete with other regional brewers?
Hardman is certain it can.
After all, he said, Cincinnatians are only a few generations removed from the glory days of beer drinking. And consumption of craft beer has consistently grown, particularly with younger beer drinkers who seek out quality.
“If all beer categories are slowing and craft is still up 2 percent, well that 2 percent still looks pretty good,” he said.
Will there ever be a day when folks will again gather in beer gardens in Over-the-Rhine to join arms and sing a few songs while sipping a frosty malted beverage?
“Wouldn’t that be nice. Wouldn’t that be a sweet dream,” Hardman asked.
“And you know what? I don’t think we’re that far off. And I believe it’s going to happen in our lifetime.”

For the Homebrewers Out There

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:49:50 GMT

I mentioned awhile back that I was going to make available the recipes I have brewed via this space. Well I did that awhile back, but they were all files that are only opened by ProMash, a homebrew application. I am guessing most homebrewers that read my blog do not have ProMash, so those files really don't do you much good. Well never fear, I have converted them all to plain text format and they are now all available in a user friendly format. So if you are interested in looking at any of the recipes I have brewed thus far, you will find them on the left sidebar under the Sky Drive section in a folder ironically enough titled "Homebrew Recipes in Plain Text Format". Clever, eh?

I have them numbered in the order they were brewed, as well as dated. You can probably tell quickly which ones are the best (in my opinion) as they have been re-brewed. I would highly recommend the Amarillo Red, Amarillo Wit, and the Bavarian Dunkelweizen recipes. The Amarillo Red is for all you hop-heads out there weighing in around 90 IBUs. The Annihilator Amber was really good as well and is actually the same recipe as the Amarillo Red, just using different hops. That one came in around 118 IBUs and required a little extra aging to really start to shine.

Anyway, feel free to use (or not) as you see fit. One word of advice, don't bother with the Spacemonkey Apple Honey Ale.. 14% ABV never tasted so bad.

Beer or Prepared Cocktails?

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:45:03 GMT

It appears that the next battle for our hard earned money in the liquor store will be between beer and prepared cocktails. Reading Brew Bits blog yesterday clued me into the existence of the Brew Blog which is run by Miller Brewing and is more of an industry tracking news blog. Anyway, check out the article here. For me personally, it's a no brainer. I have a kegerator with flowing homebrew and a full sized fridge full of craft and import beer in my basement bar. My bar area is well stocked with a wide array of hard alcohol as well, so if I want a cocktail at home, I am going to use the liquor I already own. Top that off with the fact that Manhattans are my cocktail of choice and I will boast that I make a damned fine Manhattan that is not going to be bested by a beverage in a bottle and I think I will take a pass. I guess if someone manages to make a prepared rum Mojito that tastes like it is freshly made.. I may buy in to one of those on occasion.

Badaboomz

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:04:35 GMT

Monday night I went to Badaboomz downtown to meet with the planning committee for the Hops for Pops beer festival. Badaboomz just happened to be running a special to end all specials to celebrate the 75th anniversary of beer being re-legalized in the uS. So all pints were $1.75 Monday night only. Considering the normal menu price of pints there is $4.25, this was one helluva deal to say the least. I had a Brugge Black, Stone Arrogant Bastard, Warbird T-6 Red Ale and a 5oz goblet of Founder's Devil Dancer and walked out spending only about $10. Amazing.

The best part was finally getting to really meet many of the folks behind Hoosier Beer Geek as well as DIG-B. I had met a few of them in the past but not really in a setting where it was conducive to really 'meet', so this was a really nice evening. I think we all came to a consensus that the Brugge Black seems a bit lacking there compared to what pours at the Brugge Brasserie. It seemed to have a thinner mouthfeel to me and be a bit more sour then I recall. By no means was it bad, just different then what I have had at the brewpub itself. The Devil Dancer was on the handpull tap and was served very close to room temp. I think it could have been a few degrees cooler, but it was still a pretty phenomenal beer to sample. It says a lot when 5oz of Devil Dancer can make the remainder of a pint of Arrogant Bastard taste weak in terms of hops. And no.. I am not kidding.

The Hops for Pops planning seemed to make some good progress in some fronts. For those that don't know what it is, let me take a moment to explain. This is going to be a fairly large beer tasting event sponsored by The Hop Shop with proceeds benefiting Dads Inc. There should be a large selection of craft and import beers to sample. This is going to be occurring on June 14th, which is Father's Day weekend... So any of you father's out there, now is the time to tell your family what you are going to be doing on YOUR weekend.

Why should women not drink beer at the beach?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:36:10 GMT

They may get sand in their Schlitz...

Sorry had to find some way to introduce this topic and a joke told to me by an old guy at a Chicago bar seemed the best lead in. Anyway, my dad emailed an article from the Chicago Tribune that I found pretty interesting and I am just going to throw it up here for all to see.

Schlitz hopes it's not out of beer drinkers

By Mike Hughlett | Tribune staff reporter

11:07 PM CDT, April 4, 2008

"When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of …" what? Can you remember?

If you said "beer," congratulations, you're the target market for an attempt to revive the once-ubiquitous but now nearly dead beer brand right here in Chicago, where Schlitz once reigned supreme. And yes, it is a long, long shot, beer industry experts say.

Next week, at select North Side outlets, Pabst Brewing Co., current owner of the Schlitz brand, will launch the revamped brew with an old 1960s recipe. That would be the recipe used before the old Schlitz company changed its formula in the 1970s, sending the brew on a path to near oblivion.

New Schlitz will come in traditional long-neck bottles too. Nowadays Schlitz comes only in cans, and they don't exactly fly off the shelves. About as many barrels of Schlitz beer are shipped per year as Bud Light, the leading U.S. beer, are shipped in a day.

And odds of a comeback, in beer marketing circles anyway, are slim. Younger drinkers want to identify with newer, hip brands, and a beer that starts to slip in sales usually has trouble climbing back, if at all.

Nevertheless, Woodridge-based Pabst is trying. To spice up sales, the company revitalized the warhorse and reintroduced it in former Schlitz strongholds. The Minneapolis-St. Paul and Tampa Bay markets were first last year, and now comes Chicago, one of its strongest markets in its heyday.

Pabst is a virtual company, contracting out brewing and bottling to others. Its stated goal with Schlitz: Make a nostalgia play of sorts to Baby Boomers—guys in their 50s and even late 40s—who remember Schlitz as a no-nonsense beer of their youth.

"These are the guys who remember how great the brand was and what it means," said Kyle Wortham, Pabst's senior brand manager for Schlitz. "It's guys who were drinking this beer back in the day."

Benj Steinman, editor of industry newsletter Beer Marketer's Insights, was circumspect. In a market clogged with myriad craft beers and rafts of Joe Sixpack standards, is there really a call for 1960s vintage Schlitz?

"I'm guessing there's not a tremendous pent-up demand for it," Steinman said.

Of course, there could be a marketing sleight-of-hand going on here.

Pabst owns a host of once-prominent brands—Old Style, Black Label, Blatz, etc.—that are fading or almost derelict. But a few years ago, Pabst's flagship brand suddenly became a big underground hit, an urban hipster phenomenon.

Why isn't exactly clear. Even Pabst's Wortham acknowledged the boom "was a lot of luck." And Pabst, a firm with a meager ad budget, "got out of the way," he said, largely letting the buzz, not ads, sell the beer.

Harry Schumacher, editor and publisher of Beer Business Daily, said that was the right approach. If the firm heavily promoted Pabst, it could have alienated the very youth market that had adopted seemingly non-commercial Pabst. "As soon as you start marketing it to young people, they'll quit drinking it," he said.

The same principle may apply to Schlitz, Schumacher said. Market it as an older guy's beer and it looks genuinely retro to youth; make it a typical promotion and it looks contrived.

The new Schlitz will be available in 6- and 12-packs at 10 North Side outlets beginning next week, with full expansion through the city in 2009, if things go well. Louis Glunz Beer Inc. will serve as its distributor.

The family-owned Glunz firm first supplied Schlitz to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The Milwaukee brand was a powerhouse here for years, and architectural remnants of Schlitz "tied-houses," or bars tied to a single manufacturer, still can be seen around Chicago.

Chicago's Leo Burnett ad agency crafted one of Schlitz's last great marketing slogans, "When You're Out of Schlitz, You're Out of Beer." But within a decade or so after that jingle ruled the airwaves, Schlitz was out of luck.

The nation's second-biggest beer as late as the mid-1970s, Schlitz was sold to Stroh's in 1982. When Stroh's went out of business in 1998, Pabst snapped up the haggard brand.

A return to glass bottles and the 1960s recipe are more evocative of Schlitz's heyday, Wortham said.

But what about the taste?

Well, Wortham said he hears this from people in the first two test markets: "It tastes like the first beer I stole out of my dad's refrigerator." And that, he said, is definitely a compliment.

I personally hope it works. Since it isn't reasonable to expect the world to abandon the macro lager, then I will at least embrace the smaller retro brands that have faded to obscurity in recent years. All beer styles have their appropriate time and place in my book, and who knows, maybe that old recipe makes a fairly decent lager.

Wines on the Wabash

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:02:42 GMT

I volunteered to work at what I thought was a beer tasting event in Lafayette this past weekend. It turned out to be 90% a wine tasting with a spattering of beer for good measure. I was specifically working the World Class Beverage table. Now before I go into this, I will say up front that this was a really good time and I met and conversed with a lot of nice people. But with that said, World Class Beverage threw myself and the other volunteer completely under the bus here. We were originally told that the event was going to be run from 6pm to 9pm. I got to the hotel at about 5:55 and was expecting to walk into a mob scene of people waiting to get in. Instead I am greeted by 4 women and a table with hundreds of wine glasses. Confusion sets in. I tell them I am volunteering for World Class and am led to a table, behind which is a stack of about 12 or so cases of beer. We look at the brochure and figure out which beers are supposed to be served at my table and run into problem number 1.

One of the beers isn't there at all, and another is an alternate variety then what is on the brochures the attendees will be carrying around. So we were supposed to be serving the following beers:

Ommegang Hennepin, Lindeman's Peche, Brooklyn Monster Barleywine, and Wabash Valley Pale, Porter and Amber. Well the Hennepin was the MIA case, and the Lindeman's Peche was instead a case of Lindeman's Framboise. There was absolutely nobody there from World Class to guide us as to what to do to rectify this. We had a bag of bottle opener keychains and a couple bags of 4 oz sample cups. Next to our table was the Monarch Beverage table, and next to them was Cavalier Distributing. The guy from Cavalier comes in with posters, banners, and a table full of swag to display, not to mention an unbelievably great selection of beer. Monarch on the other hand was giving out samples of Miller Chill by comparison. Most amusing was the fact that the Lindeman's beers have a cap AND a cork. We had no corkscrew and had to borrow one from the table next to us all night long.

Problem number 2 set in when about 8:45 rolled around and the place is still packed to the rafters and they haven't even started the raffle yet. That's when we found out that the event wasn't actually over at 9, but instead 10pm. Not really a big deal except for the fact that we both live in Indianapolis and may have had different feelings about volunteering for an event that was open that late.

Anyway, Chris and I basically shilled Wabash Valley Brewing products to a wine enthusiast crowd. World Class Beverage has a stake in the Wabash Valley products, so it was no surprise that was what was there. But it didn't really contrast well next to a Belgian raspberry lambic and a barleywine, both of which are pretty high caliber beers. In the end it was pretty neat to sell wine folks on the differences between styles of beer. It was just a little annoying to be thrown to the wolves with very little support. I did walk out with about a case of beer as payment. Not too bad, but I would rather have had a case of beer from the Cavalier rep just seeing what he was leaving with.

Project Kegerator - on Stand-By

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:43:50 GMT

I ordered all the parts to assembly the kegerator on March 16th. On the 17th I received an email saying my order was received and should ship within 3 days. Then the weekend came and I still had not received a tracking number. So today I called the company and got the line that they are buried and running behind and they hope to ship by Thursday night. Which means my parts don't actually get on a truck until Friday. Highly annoying to say the least.

On a more pleasing note regarding the kegerator, I did get a major piece completed on it last night. But I need to take some pics to show off what I did and I will post full details of that later today or tomorrow.

Black and Tan - Turtle Style!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:47:22 GMT

Last thing for the night, but this is so cool. Unfortunately it came a day late for St. Patty's Day, but I now own a Black and Tan Turtle. No no.. not a real turtle, not even the teenage mutant kind. This is a device that allows you to perfectly pour a black and tan every time. Well assuming you pour the lower gravity beer on top of course. If you like black and tans, which I assume if you are reading this that you probably do, and you would like to easily make them at home, then you owe it to yourself to get one of these. And now on to the photographic proof of how good it really works!

Seriously, it as easy as pouring the bottom layer, putting the turtle on the glass, and then pouring the top layer on to the turtle. No guess work.. no bending of spoons.. and no more using ice cream scoops for me. Oh, and the turtle is also a bottle opener. What more could you want from a piece of molded sheet metal made in India?

Happy St. Patty's Day

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:08:52 GMT

I posted some pics of the drink du jour of the weekend.. Black and Tans in honor of St. Patty's day.. only with a twist. Most Black and Tans would be made with Bass or Harp ale on the bottom with Guinness floating up top. Well thanks to a recommendation from a local morning radio host posted on Hoosier Beer Geek, I made mine with Bell's Two Hearted Ale and Three Floyd's Alpha King. I will admit that the idea of putting a beer that most would consider basically a hop-bomb on the bottom of a black and tan had never occurred to me. But since both of those beers rank as personal favorites, I wasn't opposed to trying it out.. for the sake of discovery and science of course.

Well all I can say is they make a better black and tan then the traditional recipes. The Guinness cuts the bite of the hops a bit and gives a somewhat silky smooth feel. The Alpha King and Two Hearted work on cutting the somewhat metallic taste of Guinness down and at the same time give the black and tan a more viscous mouthfeel. Don't get me wrong, it's not like drinking motor oil, it just isn't as thin as a Bass and Guinness black and tan. I personally preferred the Alpha King version a little more.. but then I rate Alpha King as one of those beers that if I was stuck on a desert isle and could only have one beer.. it may just be the one.

Here are some pics of my black and tans made using an ice cream scoop to pour the Guinness over. I should have one of those nifty black and tan turtles in my mailbox when I get home tonight.. just in time to do it proper for St. Patty's Day.

The Alefest descends on Indy

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:50:56 GMT

So this past weekend was the first of what will hopefully become an annual event.. Alefest Indy. There is a photo album up now with some photos from the event and the subsequent post party if you will at Badaboomz. Anyway, this turned out to be a great time. Dad and I met up with Action Jackson at MacNiven's a little before the doors opened and had a couple pints and had some food. Then we walked down to the Murat and in turn found out that our admission has been covered in advance. Talk about a nice surprise. Regardless of that, it would have been worth full price to attend.

When we got in, we were greeted at a table filled with the sampling glasses filled with 20 tickets. The idea being that you would use 1 ticket for each beer sample you drank. In theory this works, but as we walked around to various tables, we found that half the servers either were too busy or didn't seem to care if a ticket was collected or not. I know the idea behind the tickets was to limit how many samples everyone drank so they could focus more on the quality of the beer instead of the quantity. And even with the ticket collecting fiasco, I think most people were pretty honest about giving tickets whether asked or not. In the end, nobody seemed to get out of line to far in terms of insobriety.

In terms of beer selection at the event, this was top notch. A good mix of local Indiana craft brew, big name national craft brew, and some exquisite imports were all on display. The Brugge beers were great to sample again, especially when at the next table you could try some Kasteel Rouge or Kasteel Donker and compare American brewed Belgian style against true Belgian beer. I wouldn't want to pick a winner there, btw. I finally got to try Three Floyd's Behemoth Barleywine and it was worth the wait. I have had a bottle in the fridge for over a year but have not been able to convince myself to crack it knowing how much it cost. There were way too many breweries and good beers present to try and list them all or give a full report on each I tried. Suffice it to say this was a fantastic event considering it was the first one held in Indy.

I read over at Hoosier Beer Geek that they were kind of guessing maybe 500 people would show up for this. I think there were quite a few more then that, and over all I heard comments that the attendance was a very pleasant surprise to coordinators. So there is still hope left for the craft beer scene in Indiana! :-D For anyone that missed this, don't make the same mistake next year if they come back around.

I think the only negative that can be said is that near the end, much of the perceived higher end beer was gone and the few that were left became the scenes of flocks of people looking for one more glass before going to the Sam Adam's table. (Sorry Sam.. ) Again, that is probably more due to higher attendance then expected as well as people having tickets left at the end because they didn't have to give one out each time they got a beer. We decided to leave around the point this really ratcheted up and wound up going to Badaboomz. Last time I was there, it was still a BW3.. so if it has been changed long, you have an idea how long it has been since I went out downtown. Badaboomz was pretty awesome. Had a great ham and pineapple pizza and a couple more beers. Unfortunately I don't remember whatsoever what beer I drank there. After getting home, I promptly fell asleep on the couch within an hour. Note.. I fell asleep.. it was not passing out... I don't do that..... anymore.

Hoosier Beer School at The Map Room

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:49:03 GMT

As normal I am late getting a post up about anything that happens. Anyway, the big Hoosier themed beer school at the Map Room has come and gone and was a resounding success. I posted the list of beers that we sampled in a previous post, so take a moment to refresh your memory..

Alright, now that your back we can carry on. I think for the most part nobody really knew what to expect when they heard they were going to be drinking only beer that was coming out of Indiana, especially considering the heavyweight champ, Three Floyd's, was purposefully left uninvited. I was confident that the beer brewed here would stand up to the discerning palates of the Map Room crowd, and judging by the post Beer School response, I was correct. The amusing conclusion made from the tasting was that the favorite beer of the evening for most people was the beer that is almost unavailable. The Tippecanoe Common Ale from Lafayette Brewing Co was judged in high regard by everyone I spoke to, yet it is only available directly from the brewpub or from 2 liquor stores in Lafayette. I jokingly said that this tasting may have been the furthest that beer has made it from the brewery. I say jokingly, but I really kind of wonder if that isn't true. Anyway, it was a hit with the crowd and I look forward to emailing the brewmaster to let them know that their beer was so well received.

All in all we had a nice format, starting with the pleasing but light Upland Wheat and forging all the way up to the Barley Island Black Majic Java Stout, before finally coming back down to the Oaken Barrel Razz Wheat as a palate cleansing finisher. Unfortunately that was maybe the one complaint I heard. The Razz Wheat was only beer I heard anyone say they disliked. I think it may have just been so light compared to the beers that preceded it that the nuance of the fruit flavors were lost on an already overloaded palate. Maybe they just don't like fruit beer, who knows. Either way, a 90% success rate isn't anything to complain about.

Bob Ostrander from the Indiana Brewers Guild made it up for the event and he spoke throughout the evening about some of the different breweries and beers. It was great to have his expertise on the Indiana brewing scene to help out during the presentation of all the beers and it was a pleasure to meet him in person. On top of speaking, Bob also brought a case of various beer from Brugge Brewing and Wabash Valley Brewing that is not readily available yet. The Brugge beers he brought were in fact from the pilot batch and were only in plain brown bottles with hand written bottle caps. The Wabash Valley beers I believe are not available in store yet in Indianapolis. It was great to get to try those out after Beer School had officially ended. If anything it makes it much harder to stand the wait for Brugge Beer to be available in stores.

Anyway, I posted pictures above for all to look through. Don't worry, there isn't nearly as many as my European trip to go through. After the sampling was over I spent quite some time talking to a patron who was getting set to head to Belgium. So amazingly enough after 10 healthy samples of beer, a couple of full glasses before hand and more samples afterward, I was still coherent enough to write down a list of places he needed to visit while in Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp. For those that missed it, well there is still hope. Dad and I have talked about branching out to other states for a themed Beer School. Michigan is making some amazing beer these days, and there isn't enough time for me to delve into what Wisconsin does. On top of that we have also talked about just a random case here and there of Indiana beer, I'm looking at you Brugge, to bring up and add to a Beer School that is already planned.

Beer School

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:21:01 GMT

So this weekend my dad and I are putting together an Indiana themed beer school at the Map Room in Chicago. The idea is to expose people to a good mix of beer brewed in Indiana that does not get distributed into the Chicago market. So with that in mind we specifically set out to ignore Three Floyd's. Considering the first keg that Three Floyd's ever tapped in a bar was at the Map Room, and that their primary market is Chicago, we knew the crowd would be well exposed to their brands. So instead we focused on every other brewery in Indiana that currently bottles their beer and then whittled down to a list of 10 beers with at least one from each of those breweries. The final list goes like this:

1. Upland Wheat (Upland Brewing Co., Bloomington) - “ A classic rendition of Belgian Wit Bier, light on the tongue and easy going, refreshingly tart with a distinct citrus finish.” 4.5% ABV.

2. Millennium Lager (Backroad Brewery, LaPorte) - A classic pilsner just bottled last week.

3. Indiana Amber (Oaken Barrel Brewing Co., Greenwood) - Hoosier style red ale.

4. Tippecanoe Common Ale (Lafayette Brewing Co., Lafayette) – An amber ale featuring pale and crystal malts with Amarillo hops. 5.7% ABV. Awarded Gold Medal 2007 Indiana State Fair.

5. Warbird Pale Ale (Warbird Brewing Co., Ft. Wayne) – American style pale ale with assertive Cascade hops flavor.

6. BarFly India Pale Ale (Barley Island Brewing Co., Noblesville) – The hop character is citrusy, floral and fruity (orange/grapefruit) from the use of Summit hops. 5.6% ABV, 60 IBU. Awarded silver medal 2007 Indiana State Fair.

7. Hop Head Ale (Mishawaka Brewing Co., Mishawaka) – A highly hopped (75-85 IBU’s) ale first brewed in 1995 with increasing hops added each year since.

8. Old Fort Porter (Mad Anthony Brewing Co., Ft. Wayne) – A brown porter style. 5.0% ABV.

9. Black Majic Java Stout (Barley Island Brewing Co., Noblesville) - An oatmeal stout kicked up with Black Majic coffee beans. 4.9% ABV. 2006 silver medal winner GABF.

10. Razz-Wheat (Oaken Barrel Brewing Co., Greenwood) – The dessert beer for the evening, a raspberry wheat beer very popular in Indy’s trendy Broad Ripple area pubs.

We were hoping that Brugge Brewing would have their line-up rolling by now but it sounds like they are still about a month or so away from a full release in bottles. Regardless of that, I have been informed that Bob Ostrander from Indiana Beer will be attending Beer School and has most likely scored some sample bottles from Brugge. And quite possibly this will be the first public unveiling of the beer. He has also informed me that he is hopeful to have a few samples from Wabash Valley and Alcatraz Brewing for the Map Room to try out. This just keeps getting better and better to say the least.

So with all that said, I have 9 cases of Indiana craft beer to cart up to the Map Room tonight, to add to the 1 case my dad bought in Laporte from Back Roads. I need to give a shout out to my good friend Bill who spoke to the right people at Monarch Beverage and World Class Beverage and let them know what we were doing. They went above and beyond and helped get 5 of those cases provided for free with the blessing from the individual breweries. You guys rock!

I should have some pictures up next week of the event. Going to be a good time!

Homebrew

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:49:22 GMT

Well I have been meaning to mention this for a bit.. but I brewed a new batch of beer a couple weekends ago. I took pictures of the process and since I haven't taken them off the camera yet, this posting has been delayed.. Well I am tired of waiting for my laziness to wear off and will just post up. I brewed a wit bier and added in some Amarillo hops to give it a bit of a kick. Most people are probably unaware that there is a global crunch on hops right now. Due to various reasons, both natural and man-made, the supply of hops is in chaos currently and for a homebrewer, it is particularly hard to find what you want. When you do find what you want, the prices are usually enough to make you rethink the decision. Anyway, the local homebrew shop instituted a rule that they would only sell 1 ounce of hops per x amount of grain you buy. Anyway, the point of all this is that I couldn't brew the recipe I really wanted to. I have a recipe that calls for 6.5 oz of hops, 6 of which are Amarillo. To put that into perspective.. the Sam Adam's commercial that states they use 1lb of hops per barrel would imply they use half of what this recipe would call for. Word ;-)

So I settled for the wit bier and a small dose of Amarillo and brewed it up a few Sundays ago. It had been close to 8 months since I last brewed which really kind of surprised me. Anyway, I had a great time getting back into and I think this recipe is going to be pretty phenomenal when it is ready. Besides the hops, there is a liberal dose of crushed corriander and dried bitter orange peel to give it a bit of citrus zest. I had used corriander one other time, and due to ingnorance did not crush the seeds, thus got little flavor from the spice. This time around I did crush the seeds and was shocked at the aroma coming from them. Very lemony which should go great with the Amarillo hops, which has a bit of a grapefruit character.

So earlier this week I racked the beer. All that means is after a week plus sitting in a large glass carboy fermenting away, I have transferred it to a new carboy leaving behind most of the spent yeast and hops that have settled to the bottom. This will help clear the finished beer and prevent off flavors from the spent yeast laying on the bottom. At that time I got the first taste of the half ready beer. And all I can say is I am unable to wait for the finished product. This should be a really good beer.

Pics of the brew day will be added at some point. Stay tuned.