As I was surveying the posts on the Beer Advocate website, I came across a link to an event here in Southern California for a night of 100 beers. My first thought was, Dear God! They are going to need taxis and or ambulances for everyone attending (even with 2oz pours). But then I realized that not even the Homer Simpson could drink that much of Duff Light so I re-checked the advertisement and was shocked and or frightened to not see anything about skipping past beers at all.
There is no way I could appreciate the nuances of a beer after 15 samples. After 30, if I wasn’t on the floor sick, I would have a hard time knowing what style it was. If that makes me a lightweight, so be it but I can’t possibly imagine someone having and enjoying all 100 beers.
That is why when I hold tastings, like the upcoming Holiday Beer afternoon, you only get 5 or 6 healthy samples. That’s it. I make it worth the drive (as if free isn’t enough incentive) but I do not overpour. To me, the best tastings are short and sweet. (Unless you are having sour beers)
Another Halloween scare
“Candles aren’t just for gals, you know. Guys will love the fresh brewery fragrance that smells just like a cold one. Full scent concentration used throughout, so the candle smells just as good each time you burn it.”
$16.98.
Scarier than Freddy, Jason and the Saw guy combined…
Community + Beer =
…even better beer! One of my favorite beer websites is Thank Heaven for Beer. They have great reviews every Saturday that personally help me evaluate beers better. But they also go the extra mile to create a community of like minded beer lovers, click HERE to read part 1 of their shout outs to great beer websites.
LA Beer Week review on FoodGPS
Check out my latest correct opinions on the festival at Descanso Gardens, on the fabulous food site – FoodGPS.
Hops and Glory
Just received this book from Amazon Canada…..
I will have a review when I have finished it. Sounds like a great history of the IPA.
LA Beer Week – Suggestions
As you may have noticed, I really enjoyed LA Beer Week. Great events all over the southland with something for everyone.
But here are my humble suggestions for next years celebration of all things craft beer.
1. Signs – I think that each venue that is hosting an event should have a big LA Beer Week sign with a listing of what is happening at that particular venue and it should be put up a couple weeks before the start. There should also be a large banner for the kick-off that could be used for the big festival at the end of the week. It would be much better than a hastily made sign with arrows on it. It also gives a more professional gloss to each event and might bring in some foot traffic as well.
2. more beer premiere’s – As I was scanning the beer blogosphere, some events seemed to be commented on a bit. But what really got the beer geeks tails wagging was the release of Black Xantus. I would ask a couple brewers if they have any seasonal or special release beers that they could “hold” until LA Beer Week. I also think it would be worth exploring having a collaborative LA Beer Week beer. Maybe something called SigAlert or something catchier. Would be a great way to get some publicity. You might even get it into the LA Times Food section the week before.
3. Beer maps – It would be great to have a PDF on the website that showed all the participating bars and breweries. It could even be on a coaster. Also the final event could have used a “you are here” type of map as well.
4. Media Beer and dinner pairing – Again, all about publicizing what is going on here. It doesn’t have to be fancy but you could invite people as far ranging as humble bloggers like myself (hint-hint) to Jonathan Gold at the Weekly, the Good Food people at KCRW.
All nitpicky things. But I think it might increase participation and reduce questions and maybe problems.
Fresh Hop article
It has been posted already but I wanted to make sure this nice little article got some more air time because it is a great example of how craft beer is much more in touch with its ingredients and suppliers.
Click HERE to read it.
Beer and Haute Cuisine
I was reading the NY Times when I ran across the restaurant review for….
DBGB Kitchen and Bar
★★
Food looks good, exotic and pricey but what caught my eye was the wine recommendation. Scroll down to see for yourself.
299 Bowery (Houston Street),
East Village; (212) 933-5300.
ATMOSPHERE An open, vaguely industrial space combines the elegance of polished concrete, large mirrors and soft leather booths with the simple beauty of stacked boxes of restaurant supplies.
SOUND LEVEL Given all the stone and wire and glass, lower than you’d think.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Appetizers: blood sausage; crispy tripe; veal tongues; iceberg salad; matzo-ball soup; more sausages. Main courses: Arctic char; lamb duo; more sausages.
WINE LIST Totally acceptable selection, but much better to experiment among the 23 beers on tap and large selection of bottled beers that have traveled here from Britain, from Brooklyn, from Germany, from France.
Looks like beer is being mentioned as a better pairing.
My Perfect Bottle Shop
PART 1 – The Layout
As you can see, a few round tables in front. A standing bar in the middle. Two refridgerated cases. One for seasonals and new releases and one for main inventory stock. There would also be a sales island and an un-cooled section for barleywines and aging beers.
PART 2 – The beer
I would start with (3) taps with a goal of (5). One tap dedicated to a very local beer. In my case, Eagle Rock Brewery. Then there would be a couple of California beers, a foreign beer and a tap from somewhere else in the country that would rotate from Oregon to Florida to Washington state. The seasonal storage would change with the weather (dunkels and alts would be in that case now) and as new releases become available they would start their retail life there and if they sell well, I would add them to the main inventory in the back of the room. I would also sell 3 and 6 packs of mixed 12oz bottles to encourage tasting. I would focus on getting small breweries into the store. Places like Skyscraper and Upright. I would also like to place special orders as well if I could get enough good distribution contacts.
PART 3 – Events
There would be themed tastings every other month much like the quarterly tastings I currently do at my apartment. Canned beer, Christmas beer, beer and desserts and so on.
Also I would have a review program tied into my website. When you buy a pint, you get a review sheet. I make a copy of your review when you are finished and when you have reached 10 reviews, you get to choose a beer from the store for you and the room to try. The reviews will get posted on the store website. I would also like to be the host for charity events in the months where there is not tasting event scheduled.
So that is my dream. One day it will happen and I hope to see you all there.