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Been a bit of an uptick in beer podcasts to listen to, and here is another one…
I have my qualms with some pieces on Good Beer Hunting but laws and beers is a rich topic to cover, so I will be giving Source Material a listen.
P.S. – Listened to episode 1 and boy does history have pockets of wacky stuff hidden away.
I have seen an uptick in citrus wits in the past couple months but Trademark Brewing has zested up a lager for Angelenos which should be perfect as we exit June gloom for months of summer sun.
Jacqui C. Smith and her artwork return to Brewyard Beer cans with Beautiful Skin. Imperial Brown Lager doesn’t ring a style bell with me but part of the proceeds goes to the Glendale YWCA so that is a great thing.
Firestone Walker’s Lager is getting a label makeover and bigger news, Mind Haze is growing. Now there will be a Double…
The lager label seems old school beer design without the font and the use of the word premium. Plus it has the earthy tones of the barrel-aged beers like the Gin Rickey. As for Hazier, I bet they took their time with it like they did the original so I expect a winner.
Every once in a while, I will get jealous of a beer that someone is enjoying. This is one of those beers…
….I am a big fan of Moonlight beers anyway, but a four-grain lager with a combine on the label? Just take my money.
Eagle Rock Brewery is not reaching into a bag of tricks for their newest beer. Instead they are reaching into a bag of chips to create a lager that will work well with however you like your chips.
Another salvo from the health conscious beer camp comes in the form of The Purist from New Belgium. Basically they are verifying the sources of their ingredients starting with Poudre River water down to the farms where they get the hops and barley. Considering how many really good lagers there are out there currently, this seems pegged to those who see the calorie number alone.
Time to feel strong, I think. An Enegren is giving us a Gladiator. A big and burly dopplebock to take our minds off all of the things we are currently fighting. Maybe six crowlers would be better?
Duclaw goes the lighter road with their snowfall beer of yore, adding juniper and then aging their lager on oak chips. This Maryland brewery also has sent a limited amount of beer out to us in SoCal which is a great Christmas treat.
I have already posted about my excitement for this new book about Lager from Mark Dredge and I finally got my package from Powell’s in the mail and dug into it quickly.
And there is a lot to like about the book. Dredge starts with a bang, in Germany with the Reinheitsgebot. But that tone of beer fan then cuts to lager history and that playfulness goes with it to an extent. It is clear there are some aspects of lager that really excite him, like the dive bars of Vietnam where gas tanks hold the beer and other areas where it seems he had to include to complete the story but leaves quickly like China.
This split personality structure stopped me from enjoying the book especially in the latter half which becomes a chapter by chapter tour of various countries and their part in the lager legacy.
I would have liked to have seen a more novella approach. Part 1 being German lagers and the foursome of brewers who started it. Part 2 being the American side of the story. Part 3 Asian influence and then Part 4 could slide into talk of the future. Then Dredge could have really dove in and the anecdotes would have packed more punch.
Overall, there are a lot of golden nuggets of lager knowledge to be found within the pages but the book’s momentum stalls out too many times.