Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
I have been slack in recommending other beer blogs lately. But Draft Magazine was running a vote on best beer blogs so it rekindled the fire to let you all know about other cool beer blogs out there.
First up is The Drunken Polack. I go to his site just to check his updated chart of the beer that he has stored. Blows me away everytime.
I am not talking about the wait staff at your local. Nope, today I want to vent about people who don’t appreciate the beer bounty in front of them.
Now I can spend all day nitpicking the nitpickers who complain about every last little detail. Life is not perfect. Not all beer festivals are great. Not all are run like clockwork. That may be a rant for another day.
What I am talking about is “appreciation”. When you go to a festival or event and a special beer is poured, I implore you to re-trace how that beer got to the glass in front of you.
The organizer had to call the brewery and schedule and then figure out how to get that beer to the location. Then all of that had to ACTUALLY happen. People get up early and lose sleep to deliver beer, set-up kegs and taps. Put up tents and tables. Secure and pay for a location. Find and train volunteers.
I haven’t even scratched the surface of what goes on BEFORE that beer gets handed to you.
What I want all of you beer geeks out there to do is simple. Say thanks to everyone who helps at the next event you attend. And if you know the organizer? Go up to them and say thanks for doing what you do. They are not well paid for this. They are doing it for the love of beer and because they want other people to love beer too.
TODAY: JAPAN V. PARAGUAY
This should be an intriguing match up. Japan is an exciting team to watch and like the US team very difficult to beat this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them reach the semi-finals.
The best known of Japanese beers is Sapporo. Might be time to hear the whoosh when a can opens of their trademark oversize silver cans.
The video is grainy and from far away and probably just too Blair Witch but the topic and speaker are great (and it’s short, so give it a quick listen at least.)
TODAY: SLOVAKIA V. THE NETHERLANDS
Yesterday, I chose a beer from the England. England lost. The day before that, I chose an American beer. The US lost. So sorry to curse you Slovakia.
Some pundits may have predicted Slovakia would advance in the 2nd slot from Group F. But I am betting that most thought that Italy would have been # 1 not Paraguay. This will be a tough match-up for the Slovakians. So let’s root for the Cinderella story for today with Golden Pheasant, “a very special product. [It] is true to the style for the region, a robust, full-flavored beer. It exhibits a great balance between nutty malt flavors, aromatics and delicious noble hop varieties. The finish is clean and refreshing..”
I am still recovering from 2 big events here in Los Angeles. The best part being that both were food and beer related.
On Saturday was Woodshop 5.1. Held at the Blue Palms and stretching from 9:30 in the AM with beer mimosas.
Along with the mimosas was a great and very unique breakfast. Truffle hash browns, Belgian breakfast burritos, fruit with festina peche beer. Excellent way to start the day! And if that wasn’t enough, we got a special dessert from the new Four Cafe in Eagle Rock
Then it was on to the beer. 24 blind taps. Plus bottle sharing going on left and right. People were very generous. Which I now almost take for a given at these events. I got to sample beer from Flossmoor station. Sours from many different places and an awesome coffee beer from Bell’s Brewing.
Palate fatigue limited me to only some of the 24 taps but my winners for the day were the Odonata Saison (making it’s first visit to SoCal) and the super fresh Moylans Hopsickle.
Big kudos to Dave, Chris and Brian for putting in the hard work to do this event.
Moving on to Sunday, it was time for Firestone-Walker and Tony’s Darts Away and the Dionicess VI.
Great beer and great food for a great cause, The Real Medicine Foundation. Food by the staff at Tony’s and Randy Clemens (who has a new cookbook coming out) and beer provided by Jace Milstead and Firestone.
The two selection of fries were my favorites and then there was a little beer at the end with dessert, starts with a “P”.
More details to follow in my weekly posting at FoodGPS on Thursday.
TODAY: England V. Germany
No one would have thought this would have been possible. A titanic clash in the 2nd round. Can Germany regain the flair of game 1? Can England find the scoring that came so easily in qualifying?
Since this will be a battle, I have selected an appropriate beer. Bengal Lancer from Fullers. According to the fantastic Jeff Evans (if you don’t have one of his books, you are not a true beer geek).. “To my mind, Bengal Lancer sensibly marries a high score on the hop register with excellent drinkability. Bundles of Golding, Fuggle and Target hops present a resin-like bite and dry the palate, bringing tropical fruit and lemon jelly flavours to complement sweet, biscuity malt.
A little peppery warmth reminds you that this is not exactly a quaffing beer, but the way the leafy hops and their tangy fruit dominate the very dry finish means that you’re hardly likely to bolt the glass anyway. In short, it’s a solid, satisfying beer with bags of character.
The number of serious, grown-up IPAs available in the UK is increasing every day. Fuller’s latest take on the style is one of the best.”
Allagash is doing some experimental beers that are done coolship Belgian style. None are available as of yet which is a bummer. Here are the first three in the line…
Allagash Coolship Resurgam
This is a Blend of 2 year, 40% 18 months, and 6 month spontaneous beers.
Allagash Coolship Cerise
Coolship Cerise is a blend of 90% 2 year spontaneous with 10% 6 month spontaneous which sat on local Maine Montmorency tart Cherries for 3 months.
Allagash Coolship Red
The same blend as the Cerise, but sat on fresh raspberries for 3 months.
TODAY: USA V. Ghana
My heart is still pumping furiously from the wild win against Algeria in group play. How could I not pick another American beer for the start of the 2nd round of the World Cup?
In honor of the 90th minute goal, how about Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA?
“… our first continually-hopped beer, which is a method of hopping that allows for a pungent, but not crushing hop flavor. Since introducing the world to the continual-hopping method with our 90 Minute IPA, we’ve since released a continually-hopped 60 Minute IPA, 120 Minute IPA and even a 75 Minute IPA (a cask-conditioned blend of 60 & 90 Minute IPAs).
In addition to the continual-hopping 90 Minute IPA recieves during the boil, we also utilize our ‘Me So Hoppy’ device to dry-hop the beer during conditioning.”
Seattle enjoyed a fine Beer Week last month and one of the places that I saw mentioned over and over again was Naked City Brewery and Taphouse.
24 taps and local sustainable food. Where else are you going to get Snipes, Chuckanut and Elysian in one place! Plus their own house brews.