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my humble and correct opinion
I heard this story on NPR a couple weeks back and wondered, what if they took me to the beer aisle and strapped this…
…on me.
Would I ignore pricing? What colors would attract my eye. Just something to think about the next time you are perusing the craft beer choices.
I am not usually to inclined to the power of positive thinking when the government is involved. They have the habit of nosing into business that they should stay away from and shying away from protecting people from bigger interests with bigger pockets.
But this press release might be a cause for some hope in the craft beer world….
“The Brewers Association (BA) shared the news today that the Senate Small Brewers Caucus has been established. The formation of the Caucus was led by Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who support the role of America’s small and independent brewers as an engine of economic growth in the country.
In a Dear Colleague letter, Senators Baucus and Crapo noted, “In recent years, the more than 1,700 craft brewers all across America have met growing consumer demand for their products by brewing flavorful and innovative beers which they encourage Americans to enjoy in a responsible manner. These small and independent brewers…generate more than $3 billion in wages and benefits, and pay more than $2.3 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes.”
Mirroring the House Small Brewers Caucus, formed in 2007, the Senate Small Brewers Caucus provides a forum for members of the Senate and their staffs to discuss the issues important to small brewers while exploring what lawmakers can do to strengthen the growth and role of these small businesses in local economies across the country.
The caucus will also provide opportunities for Senators and staff to learn about the science and art of brewing beer, and the unique cultural and economic contributions made by small brewers to their communities.
Currently, the 1,700+ small American breweries account for about five percent of all the beer enjoyed in the United States and 50 percent of brewery jobs—-totaling some 100,000 good-paying part- and full-time positions across the country.
“Montana’s small brewers don’t just make great beer out of the best Montana grains—-they also support good-paying Montana jobs,” said Senator Baucus. “I’m so proud to create the bipartisan Senate Small Brewers Caucus—-because as the state with the second highest number of craft brewers per capita in the country, Montana small brewers need a voice in Congress who’ll keep looking out for them.” Montana boasts a strong brewing community, which generates and pays taxes on approximately $20 million of revenue, according to the Montana Brewers Association.
“As a major producer of barley, wheat and hops, Idaho has a growing role in the craft brewing business,” Senator Crapo said. “While advocating for the excise tax relief bill, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with many of Idaho’s small craft brewers and heard firsthand from local entrepreneurs about the opportunities for economic growth and job creation that the industry can provide. This caucus will provide Senators with a better understanding of all aspects of small brewing and the positive impact it has on their communities.” Senator Crapo, along with Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), introduced this session’s Senate bill S. 534, which would recalibrate excise taxes on America’s small brewers. Joining Senators Kerry and Crapo were 17 of their Senate colleagues who signed on as original co-sponsors.
“Small craft brewers are growing, creating jobs and contributing in small and big ways to the recovery of the American economy,” said Charlie Papazian, president, Brewers Association. “The bipartisan establishment of the Senate Small Brewers Caucus reflects the collaborative, grassroots community spirit in which the nation’s small brewers contribute to their local communities.”
After reading about New Zealand in the current issue of All About Beer, I was intrigued by the new hops talked about and thought that a little hop education was in order. But since I am not a grower or brewer, I decided to let the descriptions from THE source do the talking. New Zealand Hops Limited
Pacific Gem
A high alpha hop with a pleasant aroma and a useful bitterness level of 13% alpha acid. Pacific Gem can produce a cask oak flavour with distinct blackberry aroma, along with a woody character. Used as a bittering hop by internationally famous European brewers.
Green Bullet
This hop variety has a unique raisin-type character, a slight floral note and has been likened to giving a Styrian style flavour to the beer. It consistently averages more than 12% alpha acid and its aroma qualities match its excellent bittering power.
Super Alpha
A very reliable variety always giving better than 10% alpha acid. Super Alpha has a very encouraging humulene-caryophyllene ratio, similar to European aroma hops. A unique cross of the best English and German hops, Super Alpha produces a crisp clean flavour and also has some nice resin character.
Southern Cross
A spicy and lemony character typifies this high alpha variety with some slight piney and woody hints. Southern Cross has an excellent essential oil profile and low Cohumulone, whilst still producing alpha acid of 12%. It produces a very “European” flavour in beers.
Pacific Jade
The most recent release of the New Zealand Hop Research Programme Pacific Jade is a high alpha hop, averaging 12-14%, with low Cohumulone and an excellent oil profile. Brewing trials have shown that this hop gives the beer a clean crisp taste, with a nice balanced palate.
Both Pacific Jade and Green Bullet intrigue me. But which hop would you like to see more of?
I have a big back-log of beer and beer related videos that I have yet to watch. But I finally got snuck this one in recently and thought I should pass it on, because it’s Fred.
Brewing TV – Episode 20: Fred Eckhardt from Brewing TV on Vimeo.
On January 3rd, 2011, SaveOnBrew.Com, LLC officially launched SaveOnBrew.Com (www.SaveOnBrew.com), a site that quickly shows the lowest advertised beer prices across the entire country. It’s simple to use. Go to the site, put in your zip code, and within seconds you’ll find hundreds of discounted beer sales at grocery, liquor, drug and convenience stores.
My way of buying beer is a bit antiquated and haphazard. I rotate amongst stores in my area. Most of the time, I am searching for a specific brew. But sometimes, I am just scanning the shelves for an old favorite or something new.
Now I can do some price checking before I even leave the house, with the Save On Beer website (and soon to follow mobile apps).
All you have to do is type in your zip code. OK, that is not all. You will have to set some filters like distance and more importantly narrow down the choices to craft beer. But the site has two good things going for it from the get-go that allay my fears that this is a industrial water lager for cheap site.
1.“We know people can be picky about their beer,” said Greg Thibodeaux, web-marketer and one of the three principals. “So if finding the lowest price on Bush, Keystone, or Pabst isn’t your thing, filter your results to find your favorite IPA, dark ale, or exotic craft beer on sale in your neighborhood.”
2.“One of the biggest challenges the team faced was finding a way to keep the beer prices both current and accurate. “We’ve had to be really creative about gathering data,” said Mark Davidson, site writer and data wrangler. “If people can’t find what they’re looking for, they’re not going to come back. That means seven days a week, we’re scouring close to fifty thousand vendors across the nation for discounts on beer. That effort generates between one hundred- and three hundred thousand live sales on beer at any given time.”
Until more good craft beer stores sign up, you will be mainly looking at Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and Widmer as choices. But this site will certainly help you save some cash if those bigger craft names are what you are looking for at the moment. Plus, if big chains see a spike in good beer traffic because of people changing their beer shopping patterns, they might stock more.
The only downside that I see is that most of the beers that I purchase (excluding BevMo) are not the type that will ever be on sale. There will be no price war on the Bruery’s Cuir or Stone’s Belgo Anise RIS.
I will be checking the site over the coming months to see if craftier beers start showing up and to see if my favorite beer stops start popping up too.
As host of Session #52, I’ve decided not to focus on the substance of beer, but the material that plays a supporting role. Bottles, coasters, cans, labels, ads, tap handles, church keys, hats, t-shirts, tip trays, glassware and signs have been collected by fanatics ever since beer has been sold. These objects constitute the world of breweriana, a term that surfaced in 1972 to define any item displaying a brewery or brand name. The majority of highly prized objects are from the pre-prohibition era, but ephemera from every period in brewing history, including craft beer, finds a home with each beer drinking generation.
So what old or new beer related items do you collect and why? It’s that simple. This is your opportunity to share the treasured objects your wife or husband won’t let you display on the fireplace mantle. You don’t need to be a major collector like this guy to participate. In my mind, just a few items constitute a collection. Maybe you have mementos from a beer epiphany or road trips? You can focus on a whole collection or tell the story behind a single item.
I saw this topic and thought to myself that the craft beer ephemera that I hold onto is pretty pedestrian.
I have a big bowl holding a bunch of bottlecaps for a possible future project. Maybe a table like the ones at Saraveza in Portland, where the caps are displayed in colorful patterns under glass. I just need to keep collecting caps to bring that project to life. Also I need to learn how to be handy as well.
I have some empty bottles around. A Laurelwood Deranger Red. A traditional Gose bottle, some of the Stone Brewing collaboration bottles. But since I hate to dust and my wife can see it, hear it and smell dust particles, I keep the bottles to the minimum to avoid having to spend time dusting instead of drinking.
What I spend the most time on are my books of brewery coasters and beer labels. Each page organized by location. So there are multiple California pages, Oregon pages and the like. It will eventually be quite the pictorial chronicle of my journey through beer.
So that is it. No man cave with neon signs. No signed bottles. No framed photographs of me with beer luminaries on the walls. Just a full fridge and memories.
You read that right. From blog to brewery. And you can help make the dream a reality….
…by clicking HERE to see their presentation on Kickstarter.
And after you have done that, tell your friends, write about it, tweet it, get this video under the nose of anyone who loves craft beer and can pony up even just $5.00.
I read this thought provoking post on NPR and it got me thinking about the craft beer world in both good and bad ways.
Back before the revolution of good beer, to try the best beer in the world required a European vacation. Now to try the best would require months and months of time, all the frequent flyer miles you have and an extra liver.
There is just TOO MUCH worthy beer out there. But that is a good thing. I like that there is an embarrasment of riches. Unlike the movies, where you might look at what’s playing and go, “Is that it?”, with beer you can rest assured find something good practically anywhere in the US and the world. And this will eventually entice all the industrial water lager drinkers to come over to the flavor side. So it is a seeming win-win. (Which is also a movie that I need to see).
But here is the downside on both a personal and consumer level. It is hard to grapple with the fact that I won’t have a majority of the beers that I wish I could. All these one-offs in Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine. Anniversary beers from Alabama that never make it to bottles. Heck, even a lot of the brews that I post about will never make it to my ‘fridge.
But I am coming to the point in my beer drinking life where I am OK with that and I am starting to want more people to come to that realization to.
There is no need to go chasing after “beer whales”. Enjoy the fruit in your backyard and if a special beer shows up, try it. I’m not advocating an unadventurous spirit. But don’t pass up 10 good beers that you have had for the “special one” that might be good. Because the relentless hunt will only lead to dis-satisfaction.
You know it’s a good list if Craig from City Beer Store in SF had a hand in it.
The lamestream media is covering beer! Take that Tea Party!
