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.