Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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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.

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15 Dollars a Bottle

Before we begin to talk about Hanabi and their $90.00 six-pack, read this ARTICLE that started the fire.

Now that you are back, I expect you are feeling emotions from annoyed to pissed off. I certainly felt a spectrum of the negative kind.

It’s not the twee hair and outfit or the dabbling with artisanal fireworks. It is certainly not the malt sourcing or old-timey handmade brewing equipment. It’s not the only brewing four times a year.

It’s the privilege that practically drips off of each quote that galls me. I should know, I am a white male who has certainly gotten more than a fair share of it myself. In this case it is the privilege of NOT having to sell their wares. When you have an obscenely wealthy owner and you make a fraction of what you can sell and then you add another, even more restrictive boutique side project and price it outside the reach of 90+% of the people, you have a mash tun of privilege.

And if you don’t at the very least acknowledge that you are seriously in a dream job then I know that you may have extensive brewing knowledge but that you are missing a piece of the humanity puzzle. If you are not brewing a special batch to sell to help financially assist fellow brewers who aren’t in your rarefied financial air. If you aren’t donating to any other charity then it won’t matter how excellent your beer is, it will be found lacking.

I’m not posting an image of the bottle or even adding a link to their website because I have already devoted too much time to this beer. I almost didn’t add the Vinepair link. Buy local, buy quality but don’t buy from those who are more brag than humble.

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The Next IPA Craze

Yeah, that headline is facetious to a degree but I do not know how I missed the first go-round of the Horchata IPA…

Obviously, the star of this Mumford / Magnify collaboration is the lactose. Americans will suck down sweet no matter what. But the spice profile of Horchata seems to lend itself to more of a stout or a golden milk stout. I do not see how cinnamon and nutmeg would blend with hops. But maybe it is an opposites attract thing.

By the time this posts the beer will probably be sold out and trading online proving me to the contrarian yet again

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The Firkin for January 2021

I was reading an obituary of Portland Brewing on the Beervana Blog when the writer Jeff Alworth made the following (paraphrased by me) point, that Portland Brewing could have brewed the best hazy IPA and the customers would still go to Great Notion for their trend fix.

That made me think what it would take for an “old” brewery to regain hype credibility. Would it require a change in brewer? A new branding initiative? Sole access to a hop that everyone wants?

Being the Bernie like contrarian, I do not know the answer because I don’t buy based solely on hype or perceived market value. That is neither a plus or minus but it does leave me with blind spots when the next cool thing takes off. I am invariably late to the party and slightly jaded about it too.

I do think that there should be some sort of distribution channel for breweries trying to be bold and different from their past. Something that would let a customer know that a beer should be judged anew. Or, for shits and giggles one of these trendy breweries should put out a beer brewed by another brewery and likewise for the other. Let it sit in the market a bit before pulling back the rug on the con.

You might see people running to a heritage brewery right quick.

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Beer! A Love Story

If you have watched everything on Netflix, HBO to the Max, D+, and you need something new to watch, well you are in luck because Beer! is available to stream.

Here is the elevator pitch, “There’s no other film like BEER! A Love Story. This full-length feature documentary weaves together the stories of over 30 international protagonists across multiple countries who speak the universal language of beer, the world’s most consumed fermented beverage.”

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Malt via NAGBW

Already in 2021, I have improved on past performance by listening to another North American Guild of Beer Writers Zoom. This time about malt. Here are some two row bites of info….

  • Instead of thinking solely of a supply chain, think about the Value Chain
  • barley farming has a steep learning curve
  • only around 120 craft maltsters in the US
  • terroir of malt has not really been studied yet
  • malt has not been bred for flavor to hit attributes that a brewer has designed
  • brewers used to be their own malt suppliers
  • look out for different killing methods such as wind dried
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Back in Black

I need recent days, two fan favorite beers returned to distribution. First….

Stone Brewing stuck SS-R in its 12 Days of IPA’s box and then this year decidedly to re-release it all on its own. That was followed by…

…the label re-designed Wookey Jack from the SoCal Firestone.

How many more Black IPA’s do you think will cone back this year?

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Peel the Label – Social Media Defiance

I waited a couple days to ruminate before wading into the “I’m Right, You’re Wrong” Covid wars but felt that I should add my two cents in for a middle perspective.

The topic, you may ask, is posting on social media that you are going to open your brewery/restaurant despite explicit orders not to. Now I truly empathize with, in this case, Pedals & Pints Brewery up in the Thousand Oaks area. They grand opened a few days before California shut down dining back in March. That sucks. They seem to care about their employees and they say they will be stringent in cleaning, though you could clean every surface and one sick person without a mask will undo all the scrubbing.

They have been whipsawed by government at every label and received little to no actual help. Again, that sucks. I have railed against the haphazard, whatever is easiest approach multiple times on this blog that Newsom has decreed.

But, life is about timing and boy did Pedal & Pints not factor that in. You simply cannot say no when patients are being cared for in a hospital gift shop. Yup, that happened. Might still be happening. You simply cannot say no when each day brings new records for positive Covid cases. It sucks but all you are doing is asking the government to shut you down and fine you. And, you are dividing potential customers into the I don’t care about rules camp and the I ain’t gonna visit that hot zone camp.

I sure as heck ain’t gonna go there. It may be outside dining but I bet the air under that tent will have some viral component because people will be sitting there for long periods of time without masks. And the people there will be the Covid deniers / chin diaper mask brigade.

You just have to wait until the vaccine gets out there more and slowly open back up without posting it almost over the socials. It’s the right thing to do even though the government hasn’t done right by you.

Peel the Label is an infrequent series with no photos or links. Just opinion.

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Which Way for Bubbles

Despite the official opinion of the Beer Search Party blog of anti-hard seltzer, I have tasted various options including the White Claw (which should be avoided) and even recently had a nice one from Wild Basin aka Oskar Blues with a melon/herb flavor profile.

If you had told me that seltzer would still be a thing in 2021 with practically every brewery having one on offer, I would have choked a bit on my predictions. I do think (now) that they are probably going to hang around for a few more years before completely fizzling out but it will be only because the market got overheated vs the customer base.

The final nail in the seltzer coffin will come from a new drink of the summer of ‘21 or ‘22 whichever will steal thunder and the bubbles will fade.