Coming into Autumn

As the temperature outside starts to dip (in the 50s last night), it makes me start to think about the great beers that are a coming. I have posted before saying that I love a huge hop hit after a summer of light drinking brews. 

One beer that I don’t feel the need to drink is the plethora of “pumpkin” beers that flood the market, and yes, I too will rant on why the hell are pumpkin beers showing up in August. I have pumpkin fields less than a mile from my house, there has not been enough time for a brewery to use the pumpkin in the beer.  Finally, I have seen some labels that describe it with pumpkin spices, instead of claiming to use pumpkins.  One that I will recommend is Oliver Ales pumpkin beer (Freddy's Revenge), as he has documented the roasting of the pumpkins online, and the flavor is pretty good (even though I am not a huge pumpkin person myself).

But I do love Oktoberfest style beers, whether they are ales or lagers, they always seem to be easy drinking, balanced beers that work well for anyone.  You can add a second dose of hops to give it something different if you are making a homebrew. 

As for commercial breweries, everyone should have had Sam Adams Oktoberfest by now, if not, they released it this year in July, so go out and grab one. Spaten, Ayinger and Paulander seem to be the default German beers that people drink, and I fully support those decisions. I like to grab a Flying Dog Dogtoberfest, one of the reasons being the awesome name and artwork. Victory does what Victory does and hops up their Festbier.  Great Lakes also makes one of the easiest drinking Oktoberfests, so that is always a recommendations.

Whether you like the dark warming beers that are on the horizon, the spiced up pumpkin beers that are taking over the shelf or the balanced Oktoberfest beers, enjoy what you like with friends and always be responsible.

The Session #66- My Frankenstein Beer

For this version of The Session, Craig over at drinkdrank ponders:

We all have our favorite brews—even if you say you don't; deep,deep down we all do. From IPAs to Pilsners, Steam Beers to Steinbiers, something out there floats your boat. What if we look that to another level? What if you were to design the perfect brew—a Tolkien-esque One Beer to Rule Them All. The perfect beer for you, personally. Would it be hoppy and dark or strong and light? Is it augmented with exotic ingredients or traditionally crafted? Would your One Beer be a historic recreation or something never before dreamt of? The sky is the limit on this one...

I'd suspect that most of you out there probably have a good understanding about the brewing process—but if you don't, no sweat, just wing it. This exercise isn't about making sure you've checked all the right boxes for the BJCP or some homebrew competition. This Session is all about imagining the possibilities—no matter how ridiculous! Feel free to create a recipe, right down to the aplha acid in your hops or conjure up a review just like you'd do for any other beer. However you want to come at this, it's your ultimate beer, your One Beer to Rule Them All!

When I start to think about my favorite beers, what I want from a beer, and what characteristics I love most about beers, my mind just about explodes. Anywhere from Troegs Nugget Nectar, Saison Dupont, Orval, Flying Dog Raging Bitch, Victory Prima Pils, Anchor Steam, Great Divide Yeti... the list goes on and on. There are different characteristics in each beer that I love and respect. So to craft my "prefect brew" would and will be hard, but I can do it.

First off, the number one thing that I love about beer is the aroma. And I am in heaven when it comes to Nugget Nectar. The hops just up from the bottle and smack you in the face. (Sure, some people can put Bell's Hopslam here, but I prefer Nugget Nectar.) Next, when you go to pour the bottle, you need to have a beautiful looking glass, and nothing is more pleasent than the Duvel tulip. While I love the look of crystal clear pilsners (Prima Pils), I would choose the appearance of North Coast Old Rasputin. Jet black means business. No one messes around with that beer.

When it comes to bitterness, I love a enamel erasing hop bomb, but that would not be ideal. I want something that I can enjoy over and over. So the mildly bitter, yet still there, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale would do. It has too much bitterness for BMC drinkers, yet is balanced enough for hopheads.  I would want the malt to give a slightly roasted, yet sweet taste that works well with typical citrus hops. Very similar to a Ithaca Cascazilla mixed with a touch of Yuengling Porter.

When the beer hits your mouth, I want it to be smooth, with a little body to make sure you know it is there. That is how I feel Anchor Steam is. It doesn't make you chew, rather it is a nice smooth brew. I would choose a session strength (lower than 4.5% in my book) to help round out the drinkability. I want to be able to be responsible, while still enjoying multiple in a setting.

Finally, what I want most out of the beer, is for it to be able to create memories, and that is the most important.  I want it to be enjoyed by my friends, family and anyone else who has one.  I want the night to be remembered for the great times and conversation, and for us to remember those times with every sip of the beer.  For that I would call my beer:

Memories Ale.

Finding Good Beer in your Travels

Zeno's in State College

I love going to new and different places. I love finding a neat little beer bar. Sometimes you get lucky and walk into a place that has 8 awesome taps, other times it is all BMC. For me, I have started preparing before I get to my destination to know where I might want to go. But for those times when you show up, what can you do?

1. Think Local. Is there a local brewery or brewpub? Stop in and have a drink. Chat up the staff. Most will know the local beer bars and where their beer is located. 

2. Stay away from chain restaurants. I always try to stay local when eating, and I have yet to find a chain that has a good selection of quality craft brews. The big boys pay for this spot on the taps.

3. It’s all in the Apps.

• Untappd- If you aren’t a part of it, it is a beer social network that allows you to log your beers, where you drank them and view what others are drinking. This becomes useful when you use the “Nearby” feature. You can see what other users are drinking near you, and many times where (the bar)- showing what is on tap at the places.
• RateBeer Places app- RateBeer is a website that allows users to rate and review beer. Its app allows for you to search for a bar/brewery/brewpub using the GPS on your phone. Very convenient, and since it is a beer ratings app they bars have a star rating.
• BeerCloud- BeerCloud is another app that allows for user input on bars and become “fans” of the bar. I don’t think this is as good of a resource as Untappd or Ratebeer Places, but it is another that could be useful.
• Foursquare- This is good for letting you know that people are there, but it not being a beer app, there isn’t much of a filter on whether it is a good or bad beer place.

Overall, I like to preplan for my trips, but when you are there, you never know what info you want or need. Hopefully these tips can help direct you to good beer in the future.

Cheers.

The Session 65- Go it alone

While I was not ready and prepared for The Session #65, I decided to go ahead and post late anyhow.

The Session was hosted by Nate over at Booze, Beats & Bites.  He mused:

How do you feel about going to the pub alone? Do you feelit’s necessary to be around friends to spend time in a pub?

If you have ever talked to me, or read a couple of my older posts from when I lived in Baltimore, you would know that I would have no problem going to the pub alone. Every Thursday, I would head down to McGoverns, but there I knew a bunch of friends lie within.

For a couple of years, I would meet a friend at Max's Taphouse every Wednesday (take the pint night). After he left the city, I continued to go. I met some others who went most weeks, and they became friends.

But mostly, I was there alone. And 90% of the time, I loved it.  It gave me 1-2 hours of peace after work. Time to drink pints of some of the best beer on earth, time to catch up on the sports that were on TV,  and also a bit of time to think about blog posts or how to review different beers.

The acquisition of an iPhone lead to a whole new function. Directly posting from the pub became fun. Looking up facts on the different beers or breweries became habit (it was before untappd became an app).

But most of all, I loved meeting new people. The simple question, "So, what's in your glass?", would lead to either a recommendation or a conversation. Both things I would accept. Social interaction and beer, hand in hand.

Homebrew in the Neighborhood

I have always felt that my brother was as fortunate as he could be when he was in Ann Arbor. He has a group of 4 other guys that would schedule brewdays. Sometimes it would only be one of them brewing, other days it would be all. This same group of families would organize the community picnics and other fun activities as well.

When I bought a house, and finally got settled, I purchased my homebrew kit. After a bunch of my personal batches, and sharing whenever I could with the neighbors, I finally finished up bottling the batch brewed for a neighbor. He was interested in the hobby as a way to save a little cash on beer, and it turned into a great way for him to drink good beer (his wife is a Miller 64 person).

Tonight, we bottled his amber/oktoberfest ale. It was a very simple recipe, putting more emphasis being a bit malty at (6%), than having a strong bitterness to it.  Bottling has been delayed multiple times since we brewed, but not having a huge hop load to it, plus having the airlock on the entire time with a pretty constant temperature, I have no fear that when this beer is fully conditioned, it will be fantastic. 

We enjoy going over to his house to use his pool, and I cannot wait to enjoy this beer in the near future.  Now we just need to get a couple more people involved, get a pig roaster and an inflatable bounce house for the kids, and we will be in business.

Cheers!

The Pale Ale- Session #64

For this issue of The Session #64, The Beer Babe decided it was time to focus on a over-utilized, yet under-appreciated style, the Pale Ale:

What is the one beer style usually makes up the first position in the sample flight, but yet is usually the one that we never get really excited about? The Pale Ale.

While this style serves as the foundation to its big-hoppy-brother the India Pale Ale, lately “Pale Ale” has become a throwaway term. I hear bartenders and servers using it to describe everything from Pilsners to unfiltered wheat beers (I wish I was kidding). 

While I am not taking her advice to sample and do a comparison review of two pale ales, I will chip in my feelings.

First, a brewpub needs to have a pale ale. It is a simple base beer, that can be embraced by almost any drinker. I love to promote my idea of Base Beers. These are beers that set that baseline on whether or not another beer is bad, ok, good, or great. For me, when I walk into a brewpub/brewery/bar and order a pale ale, I like to put it up against Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Is it the best? No, but I don't think there is one person on earth that can say that is it bad.

For our Memorial Day cabin weekend, we always make sure to bring some selection of pale ales. This year, a friend picked up some Sierra Nevada cans (yes, we were in the woods, so cans were very appropriate) to go along with all the other good stuff (including another friend's beer of the month club selections, my Founder's variety case, and multiple homebrews). What is amazing about a quality pale ale is that it can cross the boundaries.  One friend who was at the cabin drinks whatever is basically the cheapest. Another enjoys the Shocktop variety, while two more, would rather an enamel stripping IPA. But the common theme was that everyone was enjoying the pale ale.

Finally, what I think I enjoy the most about the basic pale ale is the drinkability. Many are in the 4-6% abv range. And that is where I like to be. My homebrews are (for the most part) 5.5-6%.  I know that in that range, I can have a few and still be fully coherent.  Most people would be ok. Sure it is no "pure session" beer (under 4%), but for a group of people not leaving the cabin for the day it is perfect.

So if I walk into a place that has their own pale ale, I look for them to make a good one. It might not be the absolutely best beer I ever had, but it should be a beer that many people can enjoy.

The A-B-Cs

A month or so ago, I saw the Sam Adam's commercial on television that talks about their ABCs of Great Beer. While I do like their ABCs:
Appearace
Balance
Complexity

I just got thinking about what would be the ABCs of my perfect beer. First off, I would have to find out what I liked in beer, next I would have to figure out what words I can use to fulfill the A, B and C.

So here is my list:
Attitude
Bitterness
Conversation

Attitude is what the beer say to you. I want a beer that once that sip hits your lips it says HI. It lingers in your thoughts. When you think of it, your mouth waters a little bit. Each beer has an attitude, the great ones develop their own.

Bitterness is not only for super hopped up beers. Sometimes it is the mild bitterness that can make the biggest difference in a beer. Just because it has 120 IBUs does not make it great. What can make it great is the way the bitterness is used to hide some of the alcohol, break up the sweetness, or give it another layer.
Conversation has nothing to do with the pour, color or head retention. What it is about is how well the beer goes with friends. I love sharing conversation over a pint, starting a conversation with a stranger over what is in their glass, or just having a conversation with myself (yeah, I am kind of crazy) in my head about the beer.

These three things give me joy when it comes to drinking good craft beer. If I have a beer with attitude, the right bitterness, and hit helps create a conversation, I will consider it a great beer.

What are your ABCs?