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?

The Moment- Session #63

This month's issue of the The Session is brought to you by the number 63 Pete Brown's Beer Blog:

So in that spirit, my choice of topic is this: simply, the Beer Moment.

What is it?

Well, what is it to you?  What does that phrase evoke for you?

That's the most important thing here.  Switch off and float downstream, what comes to mind?  Don't analyse it - what are the feelings, the emotions?

My beer moment comes way before that first pint is drawn. Before the bottle or can is opened. It comes with a phone call, text or email checking to see if a friend wants to grab a beer.  That is the one of the best moments available.

I travel from my house to my hometown way too often in my eyes (sometimes every other week). It is a short trip, around 2 hours. While we usually have a list of things that we want to do while home, one of the things we try to make time for is a drink with friends. Sometimes it is to grab a quick lunch, other times it is to get to the brewpub 30 minutes before last call (their last call is at midnight). But either way, it usually starts with that call, text or email.

That moment continues to expand. No matter what the subject of the conversation is (usually beer, baseball, work or our houses), the genuine feeling of camaraderie is what makes us have a pint poured over and over (thank goodness for Session beers).

So I guess that would have to be my moment.

The Session #62- Why Blog

This month's issue of The Session is being held by Brewpublic, and the question is, What Drives Beer Bloggers?

Your mission as a craft beverage blogger reading this post, should you choose to accept it, is to compose a post on the topic of “What Drives Beer Bloggers.” There are no rigid guidelines about how to write about this topic but we’d certainly love to hear about the history behind your blog, your purpose in creating it, its evolution, and/or what your goals in keeping it going.

Way back on March 5, 2009, I started this thing, and posted "What this is". It was my first post, explaining that I was going to basically do beer reviews:

I am going to post about the beer I try. I am not a beer geek, or a beer snob. I know what I like, and hope others can like some of the same beers. Most of the time, I am a IPA, or another super hopped up beer type of person, but I do enjoy most styles (other than the american light beers).If you do read this, please post your own favorite beer.Gracias.  

Let me take a second and deconstruct that first statement to what I feel I have become.

• "I am going to post about the beer I try."- Sure I post a lot of reviews, but I also try to mix it up a bit with some newsy type items, homebrewing, or just random thoughts. I try not to have controversial topics, but I do think I have an open mind when it comes to those items.
• "I am not a beer geek, or a beer snob."- I think I have become a beer geek, and have one thing about me that could make me a snob (I ask for a glass to pour my bottled beer in, although I will occasionally drink it without one). I am a beer knowledge junkie and want to soak up as much as possible.
• "I know what I like, and hope others can like some of the same beers."- I have found that I did not know what I liked, but was willing to try multiple styles and my tastes are starting to develop. I am not an expert taster, or judge, but I can pick out certain flavors. Three years ago, I was just starting to branch out and try crazier beers, now I get excited to drink them.
• "Most of the time, I am a IPA, or another super hopped up beer type of person"- I still love IPAs, but I also love sours, saisons, belgian dubbels, porters, pale ales, wheats, etc.  I don't have a dominant style that I drink (well, compared to only drinking IPAs).
• "but I do enjoy most styles (other than the american light beers)"- I can appreciate almost any style. There are some that I don't like as much as others (darn you Scotch ales), but I can put them into perspective, and I just don't order them often. I still hate American light beers.
• "If you do read this, please post your own favorite beer"- I do want to know what others are drinking and enjoying. That was a huge part of me joining Twitter and becoming more involved with social media. I like to know what else is out there.

Basically that is what this blog is to me.  It is a place where I can post my beer reviews, share my thoughts and let everyone know what I like.  It also helps me continue my drive of beer geekery, and of course, the Beer Bracket. I have gone from a strict hophead to a lover of all fine crafted ales.  I hope you can start your own journey, or continue this journey with me .