Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Eco Keg

I am pretty geeky about craft beer, but I am also geeky about the industry that surrounds it. From specially crafted glasses with nucleation, to mobile canning, I am fascinated by the tech that goes with the beer.

That is why EcoKegs are an interesting development. Coming from Australia, they are plastic kegs that cut down on shipping weight and can also be sent one way and recycled when the last drop of beer has been drained.

I don’t think that they will take over the industry, but I do see this as a great way to import beers to other countries and to maybe cut keg costs (both the initial purchase and replacement of lost kegs).

Sounds like an interesting advance in beer technology.

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Coast to Coast Toast

Who doesn’t like a well done toast. Well, for that matter, even a bad toast creates some comedy. So how about today, going out and toasting somebody new!

The folks behind Vanberg-Dewulf would like us to raise a glass on 11.15.11. Why? Let them explain, “we are throwing what we believe will be the largest celebration of Belgian beer held on one day in the USA in this century. No kidding. Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores – the places that have made beer culture in America so stupendous – are hosting Coast to Coast Toasts to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of our company. Thirty of our beers from independent family run breweries will be the stars of the show (Saison Dupont, Scaldis, Lambrucha, Witkap anyone?).”

What is your favorite beer to toast with? Is it the one that is front of you or do you have a go-to brew?

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Brooklyn Home Brew – the book

I have posted about Brooklyn Brew Shop’s home brew kits that you can either purchase online or get at a Whole Foods and now they have the companion book to go along with it!

Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Better Beer Making Book, by Erica Shea and Stephen Valand.

Here is the blurb from the press release: “Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book takes brewing out of the basement and into the kitchen. Erica Shea and Stephen Valand show that with a little space, a few tools, and the same ingredients breweries use, you too can make delicious craft beer right on your stovetop.”

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Beer Paper

If they can make a shirt out of milk, then why not paper out of beer? And not just any beer, from the spent barley of famed Upland Beer in Indiana.

Here are the details from Twisted Limb paper:
“Cheers! woodcut by Darian Goldin Stahl on front of card. Text on the back of card lets receiver know the special ingredient and beer name. Cards include matching handmade beer paper envelopes.

Colors match your favorite beers–wheat, pilsner, amber, and porter. Set of four cards and envelopes includes one card in each of the four beer colors.

We can print your brewery’s logo on the front of these cards on orders of 50 or more cards. (50 logo cards for $195/100 logo cards for $375)”

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Session # 57


Here is the topic from last minute host Beer’s I Have Known

“One of the things I most enjoy about blogs and personal writing in general is the ability to have a window into another’s life, in a semi-voyeuristic way. So I’d like to know your beery guilty secrets. Did you have a particularly embarrassing first beer (in the same way that some people purchase an atrocious song as their first record) or perhaps there’s still a beer you return to even though you know you shouldn’t? Or maybe you don’t subscribe to the baloney about feeling guilty about beers and drink anything anyway?

You’re also welcome to write about bad drinking experiences you’ve had as a result of your own indulgence or times when you’ve been completely wrong about a beer but not yet confessed to anyone that you’ve changed your mind.

Its fairly wide open, take your pick. Variety is the spice of life as they say (and I hope there’s more than 57 of them…)”

I am going to make a confession that just might lower my craft beer street cred.

I sometimes drink craft beer straight from the bottle.

Yup, I will read an article about proper glassware or how to pour a pint correctly and I feel a tinge of shame because of the bottle sitting next to me. The bottle that I could have easily poured into one of many pint glasses that I have in the cupboard.

I know that the bottle (or the can) is just the conveyance for the beer and to properly enjoy the aroma and to see the beer and listen to it as Fred Eckhardt instructs, I have to pour it into the glass. But after a day of work that includes Los Angeles traffic that is akin to hand to hand combat, I just want to enjoy a beer.

I refuse to drink the industrial water lagers but I empathize with the joy of sitting down with a bottle and just relaxing with a beer. Not caring about putting the beer into the glass, or what the correct type of glass I need, or the proper serving temperature or what food is goes with. Sometimes, I just want a beer and not savor a craft beer. Maybe it is some DNA coding from caveman days.

I have been caught red handed on a few occasions and at first, I would equivocate. Try to explain that the beer was not super aromatic or some other hogwash. Now I just take a long pull and say that I just wanted to have a beer.

This isn’t all the time of course, in fact it is in the minority. And there are some beers that I would never, ever swig straight up. And I will continue to tell people to always drink from the proper glassware with my one guilty caveat being the exception that proves the rule.

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The Firkin for October 2011


I was inspired by the home brew column of Beer Advocate (the magazine) written by Drew Beechum about keeping it simple in beer recipes and I have taken it a step further to the professional side of things.

(I apologize in advance if I sound like Andy Rooney in this post but the topic this month lends itself to that tone of voice.)

So what’s the deal with all these strange ingredients in craft beer? What happened to plain old malt, hops, yeast and water?

Hear me out. I am all for experimentation. Add lemongrass, put it into a wine barrel and use an heirloom hop. Cool. Let me have a glass. I certainly do not want to return to the days of monoculture beer. But recent Bruery beers have pushed past my level of disbelief. (Sorry to pick on you Bruery, if it is any consolation, Humulus Wet is one of the top three beers I have had this year)

I mentioned in an earlier post this month that Dogfish and The Bruery got together and added all level of new Japanese ingredients to their earthquake relief beer. Then the Bruery creates Birra Basta with roasted zucchini used in the mash, and fennel seeds, lemon peel, and Spanish cedar in the fermentor. This is on top of their Salt of the Earth gose(?) that had truffle oil in it.

I know that I don’t have to buy it if I don’t want to. And I know that by posting about it, I am bringing more attention to them. But…

There are three issues that arise for me when yet another oddball beer comes down the pike. And I will repeat, I do not want to discourage “goin’ crazy” but rather taking a deep breath before deciding to “go crazy” because which beer that I enjoy got pushed out of the schedule to make room for fenugreek or hatch peppers? Many craft breweries are running at maximum capacity so to produce these beers means another beer gets a smaller batch or brewed later.

Secondly, it stokes the obsessive collector disease that causes people to temporarily lose their sanity in pursuit of a rare beer. Need I say Founders and a certain stout?

Third, the unwashed heathens who still don’t drink craft beer are not gonna jump in at the deepest end. I appreciate that I am in a consumer minority and that I am reaping the benefit of some of these experimental beers but if we want to get more and more people excited about what we are excited about then we need more beers that allow entrance to our club and not scare them away.

Leave the running and screaming for Halloween movies.

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Eco Cans


I saw these “earth friendly” cans in the Uncommon Goods catalog and it got me to thinking if these “cans” could be used to transport your bottled beer to the beach. That is if you really wanted a certain beer that wasn’t canned yet. Read the description and decide for yourself.

“Quench your thirst for sustainable goods and high design with this reusable, earth-friendly can made from corn-starch based polylactic acid. A convenient tab and twist-off cap with double walled construction securely totes and insulates your daily sips. Replace your water bottle or on-the-go coffee mug with this bright idea that’s ideal for everyday use.

BPA-free. Dishwasher and microwave safe. The double wall construction allows for temperatures from -20 to 110 degrees Celcius.”

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Session # 56


Here is the topic for this month…from Tale of the Ale
Thanks to the big boys
“What I ‘m looking for is this. Most of us that write about beer do so with the small independent brewery in mind. Often it is along the lines of Micro brew = Good and Macro brew, anything brewed by the large multinationals is evil and should be destroyed. Well I don’t agree with that, though there may be some that are a little evil….
Anyway I want people to pick a large brewery or corporation that owns a lot of breweries. There are many to chose from. Give thanks to them for something they have done. Maybe they produce a beer you do actually like. Maybe they do great things for the cause of beer in general even if their beer is bland and tasteless but enjoyed by millions every day.

If you honestly have nothing good to say about a large brewer, then make something up. Some satire might be nice, It will be a Friday after all.

So remember, October 7th is a celebration of our big mega breweries for the work that they do.”

After reading the assignment, a song lyric (probably mis-remembered) popped into my head. “..what are they good for, absolutely nothing”. Then of course, “Say it again”.

Now on this very blog, I told people not to be scared of Goose Island being sold. I have defended the Quality Control of the watered down lager that the mega-corporations shill. And yes, the BMC do donate scads of money to charity.

But to me, the “big boys” are not part of the brewing community that I know. They are a large amorphous blob that could be in any industry. They could be making fire alarms or fig newtons. They long ago gave up crafting beer and now produce an industrial product.

So I might as well, say nice things about Wal-Mart or ConAgra or Bank of America in this session. They are as much “beer” as ABInBev or MillerCoors. Or I could talk about brewing’s actual big companies like Stone or Sierra Nevada.

But the spirit of the topic is to play nice, so I say this to all the Omnicorp’s and MegaBig Companies of the world who cater to the lowest common denominator, “Thanks for not caring. Thanks for creating such a huge market for quality. Thanks for not responding to shifts in consumer taste by making something even remotely good. And to the BMC specifically, keep making your funny little commercials instead of beer.”

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The Great American Beer Festival – The Results Show

I wish that more people would pay attention to the results of the Great American Beer Festival but alas the other 95% as I call them seem more interested in people (who are purported to be stars dancing) or people who can’t sing singing.

The best place to check out a digestible set of results for me has been the Brookston Beer Bulletin. So check out his summary HERE.

Suffice it say that I am glad that California (adopted home is # 1) and that my ancestral home of Oregon was 3rd.