Tag: essential

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DC Brewery # 3 – Port City

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Our final District of Columbia stop is at Port City which is based in nearby Alexandria, Virginia but was voted best local brewery by the City Paper of DC.

They also reached the 2nd year milestone earlier this month and these are the beers that I would like to put into my ‘fridge and then into a pint glass….

First would be the Tartan Scottish Ale
“Our Tartan Ale is crafted by Head Brewer Jonathan Reeves. It has a deep, copper-color and is produced in the 80-shilling style. It offers a slightly fruity flavor that complements the luscious malty roast caramel flavor and faint hop aroma.”

Followed by…
“Tidings Ale is a strong Belgian style blond ale is brewed with local Maryland wildflower honey and Virginia wheat. These special ingredients store away the flavor and essence of summer, and later warm us during the cold winter months. It is gently spiced with coriander, cardamom, fresh ginger and grains of paradise.”

and then I would finish with their flagship
“Essential Pale Ale is a deep golden color with hop aroma reminiscent of fresh fruit. The pleasing bitter taste from American hops is balanced with English and German malts, and offers a complex full flavored character that is smooth and refreshing.”

Or maybe I would go the other way around.

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The Firkin for October 2010

What’s in name?

Micro, nano, craft

This month’s issue of Beer Advocate magazine declaims the use of the word “craft” in favor of re-taking the word beer.

But why does it matter? Why not just call it beer? Let’s make Anheuser-Busch or MillerCoors (BMC) change the term for their industrial water lagers.

For one, they spill more beer (heck, their customers spill more beer) than the craft brewers make combined. And despite two distinct periods of phenomenal growth, most people in this country haven’t tasted Widmer, Stone or even Sam Adams products. We can’t fool ourselves that the fight is won. It’s akin to two Allstrom’s striding onto the field of battle (pardon the war analogies) and telling the huge army in front of him that they best walk away.

The BMC will continue to lose ground as customers taste beer with flavor. I have no doubt that people will keep switching. In ones and twos, maybe, but the tide has turned. But until the point when more people drink craft beer than industrial, the brand needs to stay differentiated. And don’t kid yourself that “craft” isn’t a brand. It is. It is a permeable border at times. But most of the time, industrial works in it’s yard and “craft” plays in it’s yard.

I can understand the argument if “craft” doesn’t convey the appropriate nuance for the growing yard it occupies. Then a new term should be brainstormed. I had no problem with abandoning the term “micro-brewery” when the movement had awesome beers made at all different levels of brewery size. In fact, size is probably not the best way to classify quality anyway. If it is needed, there can be size categories for breweries if it is helpful to measure the overall health or growth of our cottage industry.

I wish I could come up with a great name but Don Draper I am not. To me “craft” means made with pride. It is the opposite of economies of scale and tanker trucks. And until someone finds a better word in the dictionary, I will stick with “craft”.