Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Kiwi Hops

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?

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Save on Beer


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.

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Session # 52

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.

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Thank Heaven for Beer – The Brewery

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.

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The Firkin for May 2011

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.

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Beer-Con

This just flew into my beer radar. And I thought I would pass the pertinent info on about it. Has a good panel and you can’t beat San Diego for a beer location. Would be interested if anybody is planning on going and why?

“San Diego’s first craft beer conference that caters to industry players and fans alike will take place on August 27th 2011, promising exclusive access to the top names in the industry, and their expert presentations plus panel discussions on all things relevant to the American craft beer movement. Between informative discussions, giveaways, and an extensive beer garden officially dubbed “Tap Haven,” if you’re an aspiring craft beer guru, you won’t want to miss Beer-Con.

Beer-Con’s impressive line-up of participants includes industry pros like Anat Baron, Director of Beer Wars, Patrick Rue, Founder of The Bruery, Greg Koch, CEO and Co-Founder of Stone Brewing Co, and Bill Sysak, Beverage Supervisor at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, to name a few. Presentations are scheduled such as Beer Tasting 101 to Transitioning your Bar/Opening a Brewery, Beer and Social Media, and many more. Check out the official Beer-Con site for a full list of speakers and sponsors. Or visit Beer-Con.com.

Beer-Con is slated to sell out quickly, so be sure to reserve your space today! You can reach us by simply leaving a comment on the Beer-Con website. Beer-Con is a huge step in forwarding the craft beer movement, and we’re excited to meet you at the Handlery Hotel in San Diego on August 27th.”