Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Enough is Enough

In between folksy aphorisms, puns and calls to re-post even though they doubt anyone will, Facebook can offer up some actual thinking points. The needle in the haystack as it were….

Now how does this fit into beer? Well, there is no doubt that beer fans chase down, stand in line for, mule and trade beers in a quest to, if we are being generous, tick the trendy and famous beers but less optimistically one-up others.

Lately, I have fallen into Full Fridge-itis. Beer cans tucked into nooks and crannies leaving me with enough beer to last well through the rest of this month. I have enough beer but still find myself scrolling through what each bottle shoppe is posting and drooling over new releases.

And I think this not enoughness leads us to undervalue what we have right in front of us. I am not advocating a sudden buying freeze but rather, to stop and think about what enough is.

Thus ends the beer philosophy for today.

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Bone-chutes

Looks like two Bend, Oregon breweries are partnering…

Most SoCal beer fans will have seen and most likely had a few Deschutes beers but Boneyard does not have a footprint down here so will be lesser known. Think of it as the heritage brewer / older sibling getting together with the rough edged / younger sibling. You can read more HERE. But I expect that more neighboring breweries may combine forces. Some will work and some will divorce later depending on how well they can balance the union.

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3241

Since I am not on the Twitter or the Reddit, I miss some of the posts from Worst Beer Blog.

Bearing in mind this packaging is a one-off for publicity, the math becomes very fun…

You would have to drink 8.9 cans a day for a year to exhaust the insanely large box. A box, mind you, that wouldn’t fit into many brewery cold boxes. Because geometry. After a week, I would guess you would not want to hear the name Keisari ever again. And after a month you probably would drink anything other than this beer. But the math that is the most important is how un-fresh that last beer would be.

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The Firkin for February 2021

Maybe I am the only one feeling this way but I get the feeling that beer world has been pretty quiet lately. Granted, I avoid beer Twitter and have a really pared down beer social media but either beer life is moving back toward normalcy with Biden in office or that we are passing through the eye of a larger economic storm.

I am really hoping it is the latter because the smaller confines of buying a 4-pack and running away from human contact has lost its luster, if it ever had it. This coming from a big introvert who has loved working from home.

Whether we get back to February 2020 in two months or six, I do believe that how we all experience beer will be weird for even longer. Some people are going to avoid gatherings for a long time. New brewery taprooms, especially in California will be designed with patios in mind. Creative packaging solutions will arise to offset 16oz can shortages.

I really hate the phrase new normal because it implies a certain stasis when life is always changing. But, it is a handy phrase in times like this.

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To the Moon

There are not a lot of strawberry beets out there and I can’t imagine that there are many strawberry IPA’s out there that are actually IPA but come April you will have Moon Boots IPA.

This is a partnership between 21st Amendment Brewing with the Pink Boots Society.

With this spring release, the brewery will be sponsoring 4 Pink Boots scholarships:

(1) Women in Leadership Certificate scholarship with eCornell University at $3,800
(3) Level Two Cicerone Course + Exam scholarships for Pink Boots members at $400 per recipient.

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You “Can” Recycle

One side effect of buying pretty much nothing but 4-packs is that you create quite the colorful collection of snap-tight plastic can holders. Maybe you have been recycling them but another way to help the green new deal is to return them to a brewery. Boomtown recently messaged how they would take them and I have seen that Common Space has a collection box too. Call or message first for other breweries but let’s all pitch in.

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Which is It?

I know a fair bit about beer styles and I understand that labels will stretch definitions for marketing reasons but I am a bit confuzzled by this Sierra Nevada label that says both Pale Bock and Malt Liquor.

There is probably a flavor overlap and I am quite interested to try the beer but it seems to be sending a mixed message to me.

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DINO

The only (semi) reliable comic strip nowadays is Pearls Before Swine especially when beer comes into the bubbles and the art. But this recent strip had me thinking about Fans of Craft Beer In Name Only. You know the ones. You will see them in release lines, they trade a lot, they post pictures of what look like slurpees but are the latest fruited beer concoction and they are very sure of themselves. Mostly “beer-splaining” white dudes.

What I want to encourage is exploration, learning, changing your mind, listening (and reading). Don’t be a DINO, they went extinct.

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CA Craft Beer Week Kick-Off

CA Craft Beer Week started on Friday with a load of virtual speakers plus cheese! Here are my takeaways from the evening….

Philly Beer Week inspired SF Beer Week which is now (at least this year), CA Craft Beer Week

Greg Koch thought that Stone Brewing had started too late. He also boldly declared that craft beer has “won” which he is both right and wrong about and ended his portion of the night talking about how there is so much happening now in craft beer.

Next up was David Walker who spoke about craft brewers as tinkerers and how California really brought hops back into the conversation. He said we all will still be chasing the perfect beer and that we need to keep curiosity as a tool in our brewing tool box.

Next was a three-way discussion of hops from North Park Brewing, Silva Brewing and Cellarmaker. What caught my attention were a few comments about how yeast had been somewhat forgotten about in early IPA’s and now has garnered probably too much credit especially when you take into consideration that some customers order IPA’s based on the featured hop.

I also like the idea of a blind tasting that has three Hazies and three West Coast IPA’s. It is something new that the Hop Grenade bar has done that should be replicated to see which style I should favored.

The last session that I watched was the beer and cheese pairing. Learned a golden rule to have a sip of beer first, then the cheese. Also that contrast is usually best with this type of pairing but if you have a really bold beer that a striking cheese can work.

Happy Valentine’s Day and enjoy the beer week.

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One Less Trappist

It appears that Achel will have to switch their labeling from Trappist to Abbey in the near future as the monastic community has dwindled down to (from what I have read) just two monks.

It was probably understood when the Trappist rules were laid down that this rule could be the Achilles heel of the Trappist designation. Not only is religion taking a dip in attendance but the monks average age has been on an upward trajectory as well.

Westmalle has been brewing the beer for awhile but even they are at only 27 monks.

It will be interesting to see if any changes to the three rules are made or if they make tiers and promote the tiers equally. I would be for more truth in advertising such as monk brewed, monk supervised or profits go to monks but they are not involved, just the recipe is trademarked.

I think tradition is grand but having the beer still around is grander.