Sam C. says it best....

Every so often I like to share my opinion on here (OK, maybe frequently). Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the craft beer community and its growth, and inevitable growing pains. A disturbing trend I've seen in recent years, is a sort of "turning up" of the nose at brewery's and beers once considered the best, or at least very respectable. Example, recently, I acquired a bottle of Westvlateren 12. A beer, that for years, was widely considered "the best in the world". For years, you could only get this beer, literally at the gates of the abbey where it was brewed, by appointment only. Well, last fall, this beer was made available, for one time only in the US. Since then, this beer, while still VERY highly rated, it started to take its jab's from the beer community, and the ratings have since fallen a bit. I was on a thread the other day, and mentioned how excited I was to try this beer. I got more then a few responses back ranging from "it wasn't that bad" "I didn't like it" to "don't get your hopes up, this is the most over rated beer in the world". OK, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that just because this beer is highly rated, you have to like. I am just saying, that for the longest time, you would never see anyone say this. It was almost "uncool" to say something bad about it, you weren't taken seriously. Now, its almost the exact opposite. You seem "cooler" if you don't like it. I don't get it? This is why I tend to stay away from Beer Advocate discussion threads, and most beer review sites.

My beloved Oberon

This is an attitude I've been seeing more and more of as of late. A highly regarded beer, or brewery see's a little (or a lot) of success, and all of a sudden the perception is that they are no longer as good as they once were, they "sold out", they changed their recipe or their quality is now  not as good as it once was. Despite the fact, that the only real thing that has changed, is the fact that beer geeks and snobs are not the only ones drinking that beer anymore. It reminds me of a piece I read (and wrote about) on my beloved summer favorite Oberon. The writer said, how he use to love the beer, how it use to be exciting, and new. Now that he goes into a bar, and see's everyone drinking it, and oh god forbid with a slice of orange in the glass, the beer is no longer "exciting and new", and he now feels its "hardly craft" anymore, and over rated. So, when he was the only one in the bar drinking it, it was awesome, now that he's not, its no longer good (or just no longer cool).

Beer geeks seem to be a bit schizophrenic about their growth. They love getting on their soap box to preach the virtues and qualities of craft beer, yet, when a craft brewery gains the success the geeks long for and talk about, they abandon that brewery for one that is newer and cooler, and leave those boring main stream popular beers to be consumed (and enjoyed) by the uninformed masses.

Recently, [edit....OK, I guess a while back...]on Beer Advocate, there was a thread about "over rated breweries" (should I say, in the weekly thread about over rated breweries....). Well, it seems Sam Calagione (founder and owner of Dogfish Head, and one of my personal favorite beer people) read this, and it struck a cord with him, because he responded to it, and he summed it up better then I think I can. This was his response.....

It’s pretty depressing to frequently visit this site and see the most negative threads among the most

Sam C at Whole Foods in Chandler

popular. This didn't happen much ten years ago when craft beer had something like a 3 percent market share. Flash forward to today, and true indie craft beer now has a still-tiny but growing market share of just over 5 percent. Yet so many folks that post here still spend their time knocking down breweries that dare to grow. It’s like that old joke: “Nobody eats at that restaurant anymore, it’s too crowded.” Except the “restaurants” that people shit on here aren't exactly juggernauts. In fact, aside from Boston Beer, none of them have anything even close to half of one percent market share  The more that retailers, distributors, and large industrial brewers consolidate the more fragile the current growth momentum of the craft segment becomes. The more often the Beer Advocate community becomes a soap box for outing breweries for daring to grow beyond its insider ranks the more it will be marginalized in the movement to support, promote, and protect independent ,American craft breweries. 

It’s interesting how many posts that refer to Dogfish being over-rated include a caveat like “except for Palo…except for Immort…etc.” We all have different palettes which is why it’s a great thing that there are so many different beers. At Dogfish we’ve been focused on making “weird” beers since we opened and have taken our lumps for being stylistically indifferent since day one. I bet a lot of folks agree that beers like Punkin Ale (since 1995) , Immort Ale (wood aged smoked beer) since 1995, Chicory Stout (coffee stout) since 1995 , Raison D’être (Belgian brown) since 1996, , Indian Brown Ale (dark IPA) since 1997, and 90 Minute (DIPA) since 2000 don’t seem very weird anymore. That’s in large part because so many people who have been part of this community over the years championed them and helped us put them on the map.These beers, and all of our more recent releases like Palo Santo, Burton Baton, Bitches Brew continue to grow every year. We could have taken the easy way out and just sold the bejeezus out of 60 Minute to grow but we like to experiment and create and follow our own muse. Obviously there is an audience that appreciates this as we continue to grow. We put no more “hype” or “expert marketing” behind our best selling beers than we do our occasionals. We only advertise in a few beer magazines and my wife Mariah oversees all of our twitter/Facebook/dogfish.com stuff. We have mostly grown by just sharing our beer with people who are into it (at our pub, great beer bars, beer dinners, and fests) and let them decide for themselves if they like it. If they do we hope they tell their friends about. We hope a bunch of you that are going to EBF will stop by our booth and try some of the very unique new beers we are proudly bringing to market like Tweason’ale (a champagne-esque, gluten-free beer fermented with buckwheat honey and strawberries) and Noble Rot (a sort of saison brewed with Botrytis-infected Viognier Grape must). One of these beers is on the sweeter side and one is more sour. Knowing each of your palettes is unique you will probably prefer one over the other. That doesn't mean the one you didn't prefer sucked. And the breweries you don’t prefer but are growing don’t suck either. Respect Beer. The below was my favorite post thus far. 

This thread is hilarious. Seriously, Bells, Founders, FFF, Surly, RR, DFH, Bruery, Avery, Cigar City, Mikkeller are all overrated?  Since I’m from Ohio, I’ll pile on and add Great Lakes, Hoppin Frog, and Brew Kettle to the list. Your welcome. 

Hopefully soon we will have every craft brewery in the US on the list.

This is why Sam continues to be one of my favorite characters in the beer community. Thank you Sam! I think I might go get some Dogfish Head to enjoy by the pool today (I just wish they were as good as they use to be, it would make it SO much better!)

Remember, beer is fun, lets keep it that way!

Until next time

Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

Drinking in Context...don't be so serious...

You hear me talk a lot in recent posts about “drinking in context”. Meaning, drinking the “right” beer for the current setting or situation. I think a lot of times, beer people tend to take beer a little too serious, or have lost the ability to see the fun in it. They get so caught up with weather they are drinking a “good” beer, or not, they lose sight of whether or not they are drinking the right beer for the current situation. Let me explain…



...but this looks SO much better!



This looks "OK"?



Let’s get away from beer for a minute. Let’s take a standard, run of the mill middle shelf Margarita. Take that margarita, and drink it in an Applebee’s, or Chili’s, in say, Gilbert Arizona, or Detroit Michigan. It would taste OK, like a middle shelf margarita from a corporate chain restaurant. Now, take that very same margarita, the EXACT same one, and now, drinking it on a beach, in Key West, or St Thomas, or Cabo San Lucas. Tell me that very same margarita isn’t going to taste better on a beach than it does in the Motor City. That my friends, is drinking in context.

This seems "right"..

Same with beer. A few posts ago, I made reference to this, while at the “beach bar” at Guedo’s Taco Shop, drinking a Corona, or Negro Modulo actually adds to your experience. While on its own, either of those beers really doesn’t taste like much, and would be considered “bad” beers by beer folks, it seems almost silly to drink anything else while at a place like this.




....this, not so much!

One of my favorite beers in the world in Dogfish Head’s Palo Santo. This is an ass kicker of a beer. It’s almost black, thick and viscous, and packs a 12% ABV. It’s a strong, heavy beer, and I love it. That being sad, I am not about to get one while I am sitting pool side on a hot summer day. I’m going to grab a Red Stripe, or Corona, Landshark, or something like that. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t any good craft beer that goes well pool side, on a hot summer day. Bells Oberon is a great beer for just such an occasion, as is our local Four Peaks Sunbru, or even Sam Adams Summer Ale.



Great new Mexican place???

It’s not to say that you can’t have one of these heavy strong beers while sitting on the beach if you want(again, there are no rules, no right or wrong), I’m just simply pointing out, there is a time and a place. Beer that in a normal situation, wouldn’t taste good, or have no taste at all, given the right situation, can actually ad to the fun and authenticity of your experience. Like the old expression, “when in Rome”. It’s so true. Reminds me of a trip back to Maine I took some years ago. After landing, my friends asked where I wanted to go for dinner. I asked what was around, and they responded "well, this great new Mexican place just opened up" My response was "I just came from Arizona, to Maine, and you ask if I want to get Mexican food? That would be like me taking you to Red Lobster if you visited Arizona". You don't go to Belgium, and get an Irish Stout, or to Germany and get an American Light Lager! When you are traveling, or out to someplace you've never been before, don’t go for something familiar, try something local or new (to you at least). You may end up not liking it, or even hating it, but you will have experienced a bit of local culture, or something new, and grown just a little because of it.

Beer tasting, while structured, should still be fun

Also remember, beer should be fun, beer IS fun, and we need to remember that. Don't let it get to serious, I know it sounds odd, but it happens. I have seen friends that are “beer people” like myself, but they have seemed to lose their focus on why they started enjoying craft beer to begin with. I’ve been to tastings, where people have gotten into “discussions”, almost arguments as to whether the color of a beer was amber, or ruby, or weather this was a "true IPA" and not say, and a hybrid American Pale Ale. Instead of simply stating their opinion, listen to what others thought, and moving on, they felt the need to defend their opinion, as if someone was accusing them of being wrong, or Oh god forbid, not knowing as much about beer as the other person (a true insult in the beer community!). I mean, what difference does it make? I can think the color of the beer is amber, and you could think it’s purple. I can think it tastes like an IPA, you can think it tastes like a milk shake, so what? When it comes down to it, it’s all subjective anyway to anyone but true professionals anyway. No one is right, no one is wrong. What is a good beer? A good beer is one you like; a bad beer is one you don’t. It doesn’t make a difference who brewed it, how long you stood in line for to get it, or how big a batch it was made in. A good beer comes down to one thing, taste. Does it taste good, does it taste bad; does this beer “fit” the situation in which I am drinking it? Next time you are out, at a bar, or restaurant you’ve never been too, again, don’t order something you’ve had, ask the bar tender what is local, or seasonal. Trust me, it can only add to your experience. Even if you don’t like the beer, don’t look at it as buying a bad beer, think of it as learning what beer not to buy in the future.

 

So, try something new, try something local, you may just find a new favorite. If you do find a new favorite, I would love to hear about, so please, drop a line!

 

Bottoms up my friends

 

The Beer Czar

 





 



Fruit Beers, Are they all bad???

OK, lately I’ve been thinking I need to break out of my comfort zone, and stretch my interests and outlooks a bit. In all aspects of my life, not just beer. This however, being a beer blog, I figure I will keep the content to mostly beer related topics.

That being said, there is one area of the beer world I don’t really enjoy, at least I haven’t yet, and that is fruit beer. Now, this may have to do with the sort of philosophical aspect of adding fruit to beer. I am somewhat of a purest with a lot of things. I drink my coffee black, I don’t add sauce to a lot of things etc. I like to taste what I am eating, if I have to pile a ton of crap on top of something, or in something to enjoy it, well, that to me means I don’t like it in the first place, so why bother. Of course, something’s just go better when paired up with something. I mean, I’m not going to sit down and eat a bowl of just pasta. Also, sometimes adding additional flavors or something to whatever it is you are enjoying, makes it all that much more enjoyable. I don’t think anyone would argue vanilla ice cream doesn’t taste good, but add chocolate sauce, or hot fudge, you see what I am getting at.


So, I use to think, if you have to add fruit to beer to make it taste good, then the beer doesn’t taste good to being with, and you should try to make the beer better, without hiding behind some fruit. However, now, I think this is short sighted and frankly a stupid way of thinking. If you can take a great beer, and by adding flavor, whatever that flavor may be, and make it even better, or at least equally enjoyable, I see no harm in that, and fact, only expands our opportunities to enjoy as much out of beer as we can. After I thought about it, I recall having some AMAZING pumpkin flavored beer. Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter and BJ’s Pumpkin Ale come to mind.

So, with a new attitude, and renewed outlook on life (at least small aspects of), I decided to break out of paradigm, and jump into something up until now, had limited and not very good opinions of. So, I grabbed a verity of fruit beers from my local Total Wine, and my wife and I sat down one evening, opened our minds, and prepared to enjoy a verity of fruit beers I had selected. Here are my thoughts on the 6 beers we tried; in the order we tried them.

Orange Blossom Ale, Indian Wells Brewing Company, Inyokern, California (abv ?)

It started off pretty good. Poured it out, looked a sort of golden, hazy, orange color, as one would expect from an orange flavored beer. The smell made me nervous. Kind of smelled like someone poured Sunkist orange soda and cheap beer all over the kitchen floor, and left it there on the hottest day of the year. The taste actually wasn’t as bad as I was expecting from the smell. The problem was, there was very little flavor at all. Like someone took the aforementioned Sunkist soda, watered it down 50/50 with tap water, then mixed it with the aforementioned cheap beer at about a 70/30 ratio. Very watery taste, not good, not good at all, OK, NEXT!

Watermelon Ale, from The Phoenix Ale Brewery, Phoenix, AZ (4.8% Abv)

I checked this one out on beer advocate, and was surprised it rated so high. There are limited reviews, by all scored it in the high 3’s, even 4’s (out of 5). I scored it a 2.65. I liked the idea of this beer, I just think the follow through was lacking. Not many flavors at all, some watermelon flavor, but light, which is fine, but there aren’t a lot of other flavors to back it up. Sort of like a light lager, with some watermelon flavor. Pretty unexciting, this tasting is not off to a good start!

Festina Peche, Dogfish Head, Milton De (abv 4.5%)

OK, we’re getting better. This isn’t what you would expect from a typical fruit beer. It’s not “fruity” or overly sweet. In fact, this is more sour, but in a good way. The peach flavor is there, tart and easy to detect, but not pronounced. This is a refreshing beer. I actually liked this one a quite a bit. OK, so maybe these fruit beers aren’t so bad!

Summer Shandy, Leinenkugel Brewing Company Chippewa Falls, WI (abv 4.2%)

If you want to know what this beer tastes like, all you have to do is this. Wash your dishes with some dollar store lemon scented dish soap. When you are down, take the dirty dish water, and mix it say, 60/40 with any cheap beer, doesn’t matter what kind, Bud Light, Molson, Colt 45, something like that. That will give you a pretty good idea of what this abomination tastes like. Now, let me say this, I like Leinenkugels, quite a bit in fact. I have had some great beer by them (Big Eddy RIS is awesome!), but man, what the hell were they thinking? This just might be the second worst beer I have ever tasted (Bud Light Chaldea still holds that dubious distinction). OK, so my faith in Fruit beers has been shaken back to reality.

Wild Raspberry Ale, Great Divide Brewing, Denver Co, ( abv 5.6%)

OK, this one wasn’t too bad. Then again, I could have been drinking 3 day old milk and enjoyed it after that last beer. However, this one was decent, not what I would consider great, but I enjoyed it. It poured a sort of ruby/purple color, which interested me. Smelled like raspberry jam mixed with beer. The taste was good, I was little disappointed it didn’t have a stronger flavor. Both the raspberry and beer flavors were muted, someone lacking. It was an enjoyable beer, but again, not something I would say was great. Very middle of the road.

Wild Blueberry Ale, Sea Dog, Bangor Maine (abv 4.6%)

OK, maybe I am partial to all things Maine (it’s my home state), maybe it’s because blueberries are one of my favorite fruits, or maybe it’s because this one was just good. I enjoyed it. Of all the beers we tried, this one had the most “beer” flavor. This one actually tasted like it was actually brewed WITH blueberries. The rest of them (with the exception of the Festina Peache) tasted like beer that had fruit flavor added as an afterthought. The blueberry was very noticeable, in both the aroma, and the taste. It had a real ripe, fresh quality to it as well. Very enjoyable!



OK, so, what did I learn from this exercise in “life course deviation”?

1.) Its fun and exciting to try new things. I mean, I’m not ready to head to a nude beach, or attend an Art Film Festival, but you know what I mean.

2.) Not all fruit beer is bad!

3.) If the label said “Summer Shandy”, just drink some watery lemon dish soap, and save yourself a hangover.



I can say, with the exception of Summer Shandy, and Orange Blossom, I would drink all these beers again. I may not seek them out, or pay for them, but when handed a Watermelon Ale, or Blueberry Ale, I will gladly accept it with graciousness, and appreciation, and drink it. Its summer, and what better time to enjoy a beer with a little fruit! So, I would suggest, take a little time out of your busy summer schedule, and schedule an evening or two to enjoy one or two fruity beers. You may find one you like!

If you have a fruit beer you like, and you think I might enjoy, by all means, let me know, and I will give it a try. If I can’t get it in Arizona, and you really want me to try one, let me know, I’ll drop you my address, and you can send it to me, and I will happily send you a fine Arizona beer in return for your efforts.



Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar

Growing popularity of "Ancient" Beers...

The Washington Post had this interesting read on the growing popularity of "ancient" or historic beers in the beer community. I've had the pleasure of sampling a few of these beers offered from Dogfish Head. Midas Touch is one of my wife's all time favorites. Theobrama is, I feel, the best of their ancient ale's line. Sah'tea is also a solid offering from Sam and the bunch of Dogfish Head.

Sam C hosting a tasting I attended at
Whole Foods in Chandler, Az

                   (click the link to read the story, it will open a new window)

"Beers how they use to be Brewed"

When you take chances like this, and go way out where most other "sane" folks wouldn't dream, then you are going to have flops, and some of these, some people may feel are just that. However, if for every flop, you get a solid gem of a beer, then my hats off to brewers like Sam Calagione for having the passion and drive to give us all something a little more exciting (and historic) to fill our beer glass.

Bottoms up my friends.

Dogfish Head in the news....

Ran accross this peice this morning about Dogfish Head. One of my favorite breweries. That make a couple of my all time favorites, mainly Palo Santo! I may need to write about them a little more soon! Enjoy...(click the link to open the story)

Dogfish Head in the news....