Entourage’s Adrian Grenier watches as his partner Justin Hawkins works the church key on a Churchkey.

It’s been well-documented in this space that I have a problem with hipsters. There’s something about those people and their “fixie” bikes and their trucker hats and their ironic facial hair and their koi fish tattoo sleeves and they’re lumberjack shirts and their love of Pabst Blue Ribbon that makes me want to expose them for the posers they are.  I feel the hipster look is a costume someone slips on when they’re simply not cool enough to be themselves.  Being a hipster a false affectation, something to hide behind.

Then I met former Entourage star Adrian Grenier, and my thoughts about hipsters were forever changed.  A little.

I was at the New York press launch for Churchkey, a craft Pilsner that comes in a flat top steel can and requires a “church key” can opener to get to the beer (hence the name).  My editor at the Today Show Online had forwarded me the invitation, confident I wouldn’t want to slog it into the city to drink a fizzy yellow beer from a silly can with a former cable star. But I surprised her and said I was interested, because my brother Don had primed the pump.

Don had just written a piece here about Churchkey, and thought it was a nicely crafted Pilsner, so I knew the beer was worth tasting.  Plus, we had a lot of hipster-bashing fun in the comments of Don’s post – I even called Grenier a hipster’s hipster.  The chance to ask Grenier face-to-face about the whole “hipster beer” thing was enough for me to take a half day at work and grind my way down to a hipster bar in Chinatown, where the event was being held.

When I walked through the door, Grenier was behind the bar, looking at his phone.  I walked up, and he offered me a beer.  He was a mellow, gracious dude, and lacked anything approaching an “I’m a star, aren’t you lucky to meet me?” attitude.  He was very disarming.

Grenier and Churchkey co-founder Justin Hawkins got up and gave a brief presentation about the beer.  Through the whole thing, Grenier was so damn EARNEST about everything.  He talked about how the flat steel top adds another tactile layer to the pleasure of having a beer, how he’s begun to seek out the local craft beer scene wherever he travels, how steel has environmental benefits over aluminum, how his angel investors from the tech industry bought into Churchkey because they longed to be involved with a real-world product that they could touch, on and on and on.  It was all said with a sincerity and an excitement that was less of a sales pitch and more of a manifesto as to why the Churchkey Can Company is a worthwhile endeavor for Grenier.  He might be a hipster’s hipster, but he seems very genuine about what drives him.

After the talk, I approached Grenier because I had to ask him about the “hipster beer” thing – it was why I went.  So I brought up all the hipster-bashing Churchkey has been taking on the Internet (mentioning that we did our share here as well), and his answer surprised me.  He embraced it.  He told me that he was a total hipster, and is drawn to things that are authentic, old-fashioned and environmentally friendly. He said that today’s hipsters are simply a new version the hippies of years gone by, only they smell better.

As he said this, my hipster-hate briefly melted away because he was so genuine about being a hipster – it was heartfelt.  He wasn’t trying to be the coolest guy in the room, he was just living his life in a way that fit his worldview, which just happens to wear the label of “hipster.”  Grenier is a real hipster, the kind that others who long to be hipsters try to emulate.

I was right when I called him a hipster’s hipster on Don’s post, but now I think my heart was in the wrong place.  It’s okay to be a hipster, but not a poser hipster.  Unfortunately, just like the hippies 40+ years ago, there are probably a handful of genuine hipsters out there and legions of posers who are hiding behind the ethos as they try to figure out who they are.  Which I guess is okay, too.  As you can see, Grenier humanized hipsters for me, and once that happens, it’s hard to hate on anybody.

I’m not going to run out and buy a bunch of fitted vintage shirts, but if that’s your thing, go wild.  Just try and stay away from those trying-too-hard-to-be-hip Buddy Holly glasses, because I’m afraid I’d want to slap them off of your face.  I might be more accepting of hipsters now, but please don’t push your luck.

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Here’s something you don’t see every day, and probably with good reason.  This older gentleman seems very fond of chainsaw, using for the somewhat (in chainsaw terms) delicate task of removing the cap off a bottle of beer.  Well at least he’ll never be frustrated by those silly Churchkey Can Co. cans Don wrote about last week!

I’d hate to be his dog scratching an itch out by the shed.  “Hold on, Mr. Wiggles…I’ll get that for you…VROOOMMMMM…VROOOMMM…grrrrrrrreeeeeeEEEEEEEE….THHHWWWaaaarrgggg!!!!!!!”

This is the latest creation from New Holland Artisan Spirits, and I’d like to emphasize the “Artisan”.  Jim already described the bourbon in his post, and I would just add that it is nicely sweet and has a huge caramel and vanilla flavor, with a hint of the wood from the barrel.  There is also a flavor of the Dragon’s Milk in there too, which is hard to describe, but there is just something “beery” about this bourbon that truly makes it the best of both worlds.

So here is some of the back story on this spirit.  First it is Bourbon, not just whiskey.  The bourbon used for aging was purchased in lots from a distillery in Kentucky (I presume), and is aged 5 years.  By re-aging it in the Dragon’s milk barrels, and by removing the bourbon from the state of Kentucky it cannot be called Kentucky Bourbon, or Straight Bourbon.  But it nonetheless is bourbon, and will be called such. New Holland’s Mad Distiller, Rich Blair was not at liberty to tell me which distillery produced the bourbon, yet.  They need to work out the details of how credit will be given before he goes releasing that information to a bunch of hack bloggers like me and Jim.

He did say however, that it was a “big” distillery that I had no doubt had many of their products before.  I’m thinking either Beam or Buffalo Trace, and if I was forced to make a guess I would say Buffalo Trace.  We’ll see if I am correct on my assumption.

This bourbon was bottled at 80 proof, and I think it is perfect.  They tried it at several different proofs and decided that all the flavor characteristics they were looking for shone best at 80 proof.  I have to agree, and what was most startling to me was the fact that this bourbon finished so well at this proof.  It almost reminded me of the finish on some scotches which can be quite warm and satisfying, this bourbon is the same.  When I drank it I shared it with about 5 other people and to a person they all thought the proof was over 90, so this bourbon finishes well.

It was also unanimous when I shared this bourbon, it was one of the best bourbons anyone there had ever had.  Some were very experienced bourbon drinkers, and others were noobs, but all loved it.  When New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon comes out, make sure you pick it up.  Price wise it is reasonable  and will run between $30 and $35 for a 350ml bottle.  It will be distributed in the midwest and northeast, so enjoy you lucky folk.  You will love this stuff!

-Don

Homebrewing for special occasions is more common than I thought.  I realized this as I started doing research (which should be a four letter word) for this week’s Today Show article, which is all about guys who homebrewed for their own weddings (you can find it here).

I stayed on the topic of brewing for nuptials for Today, interviewing B&WB regulars John King and Evan Burck, but I ran across folks brewing for all sorts of special occasions.  People have brewed for other people’s’ weddings, for graduation parties, for birthdays, for themed parties, etc. You name it, someone has brewed for it.

I started to imagine what it’d be like if I had to brew for a special occasion. First off, I should say that this is mostly fantasy, as I’m an inexperienced brewer and my stuff doesn’t turn out very well.  But still, there’s something very romantic about the idea of brewing up a special batch of beer (or beers) for an important gathering. 

Maybe I’d see it as a challenge to brew a beer that would satisfy a picky audience, or maybe it’d be a chance to show others what a homebrewer can do, getting them interested in the hobby. Whatever it is, I bet it’d be exciting and stressful at the same time.

That got me to thinking about you guys and girls, wondering what your most high-pressure brews have been.  A special event? A homebrew competition? A prison release party? Hopefully not your own, as pruno isn’t widely appreciated outside of captivity.

Anyway, let us know below what’s been your most important brew up to this point and how it turned out!

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If you live under a rock, then I have some news for you: American Craft Beer Week started on Monday!  It’s week full of special craft beer events across the nation, unless you live in New Jersey, perhaps the lamest craft beer state in America.  Sure, we get some pretty awesome beers here, but the Brewers Association’s very nifty event locator shows a total of four (four!) beer events this week in America’s most population-dense state. That’s more than a dozen less than Idaho, and three less than Oklahoma, where they shoot to kill if they see you drinking a beer – true story!

Of course there are dazzling craft beer orgies happening across the river in New York City, but it’s such a pain in the ass squeezing through a tunnel or paying $12 to use a bridge, and then $$$$ to park, and then realizing you can’t really drink ANYTHING because you have to drive back home, etc., etc., etc.  It’s really not worth it.  Instead, the Big Apple just sucks the life out of the suburbs – no good museums, few great restaurants and nothing truly cool happening during Craft Beer Week.

Alright, pity party over! If you’re a person who loves tasty craft beer (and you know you are) check out this event locator on the Brewers Association website and see what’s happening in your neck of the woods.  There’s a good chance that it’s better than what’s happening in New Jersey, which is probably what you already thought.  About everything.  Except spray tanning.  We got spray tanning cornered!

Happy American Craft Beer Week!

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Last week I enjoyed one of Jamil’s creations, Evil Cousin Ale.  This is a Double or Imperial IPA and it boasts 100 IBUs and quite a bit of resinous hop flavor and aroma.

This beer poured a hazy golden color with a very piney nose.  It was a very sticky and thick hops brew, but not at all unpleasant.

This is not a floral beer like some IPAs can be, but an aggressive, in your face kind of DIPA that pulls no punches and asks for no forgiveness.

This is the type of beer when I think of a beer that would satisfy a self described Hop Head.  If you like your hops thick, bitter, and resinous this is the brew for you.  Nothing floral or even very citrusy, this beer tastes like you are eating pine needles, but in a good way.

I matched this beer with an Arturo Fuente Cigar, and was in heaven.  The hard pine flavor really accentuated the tobacco leaves and vice versa.

So dreams can become reality for home brewers.  If you win competitions and get active in the brewing community you can make good things happen like Jamil did.  And I for one am glad he is making his dreams a reality.  It is a true win-win.

-Don

If I were to ask you what beer has the strongest brand equity in America, you’d probably grimace a bit and reply with a dejected “Budweiser.”

And I say, “nope.”

“Coors Light, then,” you might say. “They have those stupid frozen train ads during football, where they blast through neighborhoods, probably running down pets and small children and the elderly as they go.”

“Not them, either.” I’d say.  They’re not even in the top ten.

“Really? Then Miller.”

“Guess again”

“Screw you, Jim, just tell me already”

Well alright then.

According to the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend Rankings, the beer with the strongest brand equity is Yuengling Traditional.  That’s right – a traditional lager brewed right here in ‘Murica.

Now, I always thought brand equity was determined through a mixture of black magic, bullshit and several martinis, but according to Harris, it’s actually “an academically vetted brand equity model with elements like familiarity, quality, and purchase consideration.” Actually, that kind of sound like my black magic/BS/martini mixture, it’s just phrased better.

Letterman style, the top ten strongest beer brand list for 2012 looks like this:

10. Corona Extra
> Dollar sales: $995,750,100
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +8.81%
> Case sales: 33,653,220
> Avg. price per case: $29.59

9. Heineken
> Dollar sales: $592,768,800
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +4.86%
> Case sales: 19,681,860
> Avg. price per case: $30.12

8. Beck’s
> Dollar sales: $73,672,420
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +2.67%
> Case sales: 2,656,154
> Avg. price per case: $27.74

7. Modelo Especial

> Dollar sales: $355,914,800
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +22.63%
> Case sales: 13,948,820
> Avg. price per case: $25.52

6. Samuel Adams Lager
> Dollar sales: $240,251,900
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +6.02%
> Case sales: 7,710,278
> Avg. price per case: $31.16

5. Guinness Stout
> Dollar sales: $93,183,030
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +16.46%
> Case sales: 2,617,600
> Avg. price per case: $35.60

4. Newcastle Brown Ale
> Dollar sales: $84,891,020
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +6.48%
> Case sales: 2,673,008
> Avg. price per case: $31.76

3. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
> Dollar sales: $146,656,300
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +15.71%
> Case sales: 4,513,378
> Avg. price per case: $32.36

2. Blue Moon
> Dollar sales: $225,747,800
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +26.46%
> Case sales: 7,370,705
> Avg. price per case: $30.63

1. Yuengling Traditional Lager
> Dollar sales: $206,266,200
> Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +36.55%
> Case sales: 9,465,673
> Avg. price per case: $21.79

This is a list that offers hope, even if it’s not reflected in market position.  This is a measure of perception combined with “purchase consideration” not “purchases made.”  You might “consider” a buying a BMW, but ultimately wind up “purchasing” a Subaru based on cost of goods, a factor that’s not listed as part of the Harris equation.  Still, a case of beer costs less than a car, and Yuengling actually has the cheapest cost per case in the top ten, which means cost probably won’t be a barrier to entry.

Overall, it looks like America is falling in love with better beer, even if there are better examples of better beer out there.  Baby steps, I guess.

What do you think of the list?  I wonder how long it’ll be before we start seeing Yuengling commercials during sporting events – they’re clearly out to take over the world.

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My post this week for the Today Show Online is about how I went a little nuts when I saw that out of 39 entries, Coors Light won gold at the World Beer Cup for “American-Style Lager or Light Lager.”  I know the big boys have been winning this category for years, but it still struck me as odd that the Brewers Association, an organization dedicated to promoting and protecting small brewers, would honor the mega-brewers with gold medals.

I reached out to Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewers Association and hero to homebrewers everywhere, to ask a few fired up questions about the implications awarding medals to Big Beer has for craft brewers.  I was a little disappointed that not once did he say “relax and have a homebrew.”  Charlie’s unedited responses are below: 

Do you consider the WBC to be the most prestigious award in all of beerdom? If so, why?

The World Beer Cup is supported by 38 international beer organizations and publications from 15 countries and the European Beer Consumer’s Union. It is the largest international commercial beer competition in the world; this year with 799 breweries from 54 countries and 45 U.S. states entering 3,921 beers in 95 beer style categories. Judges from 27 countries conducted blind tasting evaluations of the beers to determine the winners. Drawn from the ranks of professional brewers and brewing industry experts, these 211 judges came mostly from international breweries, with some 67 percent from outside the U.S. In addition to the judging panel, over 250 volunteers helped sort beer entries and steward the competition.

The World Beer Cup is The Olympics of Beer

Countless sporting competitions all over the world lead up to the Olympics. These are stepping stones that promote a feeling of accomplishment, but no other sporting event embodies the same pinnacle of achievement as the Olympics. In turn each style of sport is featured and celebrated.  Likewise, football’s World Cup creates a similar spotlight for those athletes in that particular sport. All football (soccer) is celebrated.

At the Brewers Association we believe that similar recognition, culture building and feeling of accomplishment can come from beer competition, recognizing beer as the most popular international beverage in the world.  This is our goal for beer drinkers, brewers, beer and the World Beer Cup. Brewing has a history more extensive than the Olympics or World Cup.  Brewing and the enjoyment of beer have been celebrated in world culture for thousands of years.

The World Beer Cup is an international competition for all brewers and their beers worldwide.  Because it embraces both big and small the competition provides a level playing field or should I say a “level table of beer” for all to participate.

The World Beer Cup is about celebrating beer as a beverage and providing more value to the beer drinker.

Winning in a competition is more than a statement of achievement. It enhances the image of beer everywhere.  Winning may also add value to a brand, but more importantly, competitions increase beer drinkers’ interest in responsibly celebrating their enjoyment of beer. It is the world’s most popular and celebrated beverage.

Each year’s award winners become representative of the quality of all brewers who brew the diversity of styles that make our beer world so interesting and so fulfilling.  In a very meaningful way every brewer who enters “wins” by their participation in helping fulfill the mission of educating the beer drinker and helping preserve their beer culture.  The act of simply entering a beer is a clear statement, “I brewed this beer.  I am proud of my company and co workers who have helped achieve the quality upon which we stake our claim.”

The World Beer Cup not only highlights individual beers, it more importantly brings attention to beer’s diversity. This helps every brewer, regardless of whether they win an award. Competing breweries may focus on the value of gold, silver or bronze, but the most important outcome of the World Beer Cup is Increased Value for the Beer Drinker.

I can’t really answer your question with a simple yes or no because that isn’t the point of the World Beer Cup… that is to say the fundamental reason for the World Beer Cup is not for providing promotion for individual brewing companies.  Of course winning breweries may or may not choose to promote their win, but the big picture and purpose is to elevate the image of beer and provide values for the responsible enjoyment of beer worldwide.  It celebrates the tastes, flavors, diversity and character of beer.

I suppose if you have data that supports your premise that beer geeks have an “us against them” attitude, that would be an interesting fact.  What’s a beer geek?  Most people I encounter LOVE beer, they enjoy beer, they celebrate their enjoyment responsibly, they love to talk about beer (what beer drinker doesn’t?).  I would have guessed that most beer enthusiast these days are not of the “us against them” attitude.  I don’t think that the “David against Goliath” is what is driving the popularity of craft brewers’ beers.  If “us against them” were true, then craft brewing and craft beer would be more of a passing fad – The popularity of beer from small brewers is about something that is more fundamental.  Could it be about independence? Flavor? Diversity? Choice? Support of local, main street businesses? Community? Friendships?  Qualities of the beer? – I think so.

What was the best moment from this weekend’s awards?

I can only speak for myself.   Congratulating and shaking hands about 1,000 times with the winners during the awards presentation isn’t exactly without a high incidence of hand crunchers (most brewers are pretty excited and surprised to be on the stage). Those are the best moments for me; feeling their excitement and their pride for what they have achieved and what their win represents for all brewers who make great beer. I’d like to note that I did remind everyone who was an entering brewer that even if they did not win an award in the World Beer Cup, that their beer fans at home will still LOVE their beer – and that makes winners out of everyone.

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Well the BII which I have no idea what that stands for, but it is a little like our Brewers Association here in the States and their mission is to raise standards in licensed retail.  They had an award banquet and BrewDog was supposed to win the coveted “Bar Operator of the Year Award.” And by all accounts they deserved it.  Is a matter of fact their name was already engraved on the trophy for the award, which by the way was refused by the winner they called because it had BrewDog’s name on it.  Yeah…that’s a cluster.

Seems these awards were cosponsored by business partner Diageo.  Diageo is a multinational conglomerate that is everything spirits related.  A representative from Diageo told the BII awards people that if BrewDog won any awards that night, they would pull all their corporate sponsorship from BII forever.  Evidently that was enough of a threat for the BII folks to attempt to change the award “on the fly” and give it to the runner up.  Problem was…oh yeah, the trophy thing.

Diageo has since come out and apologized, and said they didn’t mean it, and that isn’t how they do business and they were just misrepresented. Blah Blah Blah.

Here is my take on the thing.  Diageo is a huge corporation, and the left hand doesn’t always know what the right is doing.  BrewDog was supposed to win this award, obviously.  (My hypothesis starts here) The rep that was in the audience from Diageo was disgusted with BrewDog’s “marketing” tactics.  They make fun of the royals, they deride their competitors, and do all this in a very mocking and public way.  We all know this.  Ahem…Dead Squirrel Beer.  So this rep took matters into their own hands and made the threat to the BII folks, who were like “duh, what do we do now”….  They stupidly changed the award.  And BrewDog was denied the award they had won based on the judges votes.

It is all explained here.  http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/diageo-v-brewdog

The BrewDog version of things goes on to say that this is corporate spirits afraid of craft beer and that they have set up this David and Goliath scenario.  Methinks however that they don’t take responsibility for how their own actions came into play here.  They won the award, fact.  They were denied said award, fact.  Threats were made by Diageo rep, fact.  However why was that threat made in the first place?  Maybe if they weren’t such buttheads about their marketing of their stunt beers, they wouldn’t be seen as bad ambassadors of the award in the first place.

My Grandfather used to say that they burned their ass and now they are upset because they have to sit on a blister.  My thought:  It is a relatively sad set of circumstances that brought us to this point, but blame rests with all parties, Diageo, BII, and BrewDog.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

-Don

If science has taught us anything, it’s that everything is better when it’s wrapped in bacon.  I won’t support this assertion with examples, because we all know it’s true.

The folks over at New Holland Artisan Spirits have been fooling around with whiskey for a while now, and the results have been very good.  But now they’ve done even better, because they’ve wrapped their latest effort in the beer equivalent of bacon – New Holland Dragons Milk. 

Dragons Milk is one of my favorite beers; a hugely rich and boozy dark ale that goes from my tongue right to the pleasure center of my brain.  It’s aged in bourbon barrels, and while the barrel flavor is getting into the beer, the beer flavor is also getting into the barrel.  New Holland had the clever idea to take advantage of this, and have used the Dragons Milk barrels to once again age whiskey.

The result is called…umm…nothing yet.  The bottle I received was a prototype and had no label, but I’m calling the stuff Double Dragon, because it’s a cool name and I fully intend to enjoy it while also sipping on a goblet full of Dragons Milk. Two hands, two Dragons, Double Dragon. Ka-chow!  Because this is a prototype sent to us by our pal Rich Blair over at New Holland Artisan Spirits, I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to say about it, so I’ve decided to say whatever I want.

I’m a big fan of what I call “cowboy whiskey” – I like ‘em rich, sweet and young.  I guess you could call that “Bieber whiskey” as well . Anyway, think of Stranahans Colorado Whiskey, or New Holland Brewers Whiskey and you get the idea.  Double Dragon (catchy, right?) takes a sweet, young whiskey and adds a lovely layer of rich maltiness to it, right at the back end of the taste.  It starts a little hot, then you get that sweet young whiskey flavor, and then this huge thread of caramelly deliciousness from the Dragons Milk barrels.  Magical. Then you count to three, and a little fireball ignites deep within your gullet.  That’s the Dragon.

This stuff is amazing, and I would never buy it.  Seriously.  A 375ml bottle wouldn’t see the end of a weekend.  I’m not a big booze hound, but this stuff is absolutely craveable.  I’m not sure what the whiskey experts might think, but as a beer geek who likes an occasional nip, this stuff hits the spot like nothing else I’ve ever had before.

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This beer was brewed collaboratively with Two Beers brewing and Churchkey Can Company in Seattle Washington.  The particular beer I had was their Pilsner style lager.

There are five reasons I don’t like this concept.

1) Its gimmicky.  There I said it, this is just an attempt to be different for difference sake.  What is wrong with a regular can?  It is certainly more convenient than having to find an opener every time you want to crack open a brew.  Have you ever tried to find a can opener?  I don’t know about you, but in my house where we have a constant parade of kids and their friends and four people who regularly cook, I’m lucky if I can find one of my 5 bottle openers I keep around.  Some say it is great for camping…I say, Good Luck!  I’d be beating this can with a rock in two days, tops!  Oh, but it comes with its own can opener, problem solved, right?  My house has a way of swallowing up certain items.  Some day I will find a huge stash of measuring tapes, can openers, pens, and socks…all hiding and mocking me.  But maybe you aren’t like me, and can keep track of things.  Hope you don’t like this beer then, or you will have can openers coming out your ears.

2) You can kind of tell from the photo, but the top of the can is all wet.  So it has to be completely clean before you pop the top, because the very first thing it does is overflow.  This beer had been sitting on the counter for a good 5 minutes before I opened it, and it still overflowed.  I couldn’t pop that second hole quick enough.  And good luck keeping the top clean when you are camping!  Of course dirt and a sore back is all part of the “experience” so nevermind, you enjoy your dirty beer.

3) It seems forced…you know?  I’ve never seen a beer company named after the vessel the beer comes in.  As far as I know there is no Bottle Brewery, or Growler Brewing, or Sixtel Beer Works.  Of course there is Mason Jar Distillery, but I call Bullshit on that too.  It seems unnecessarily limiting and short sighted.  But they’re locked in.  First time they brew a beer in anything other than a flat topped can I’m crying foul!

4) Can technology has come a long way…Embrace it.  Part of the really cool thing about the Craft Beer revolution is that it is spawning some really great innovations, both in the liquid inside the vessel and the vessels themselves.  Cans now have vents built in for smoother pouring, the linings are getting better so contamination is no longer a problem, hell they are even taking growler technology to a new level both in the filling of them and in dispensing the liquid inside them.  This has all been done to improve the quality of the product inside the vessel.  This does none of that.  Is a matter of fact I could easily argue that this is a giant leap backwards in making sure the beer we all enjoy is crisp, fresh, and CLEAN!  (See comments 1 and 2)

5) Finally, and most importantly this is damn good beer!  I really, really liked this beer.  It was a great blend of pilsner crispness and biscuity body with a perfect compliment of lager yeast and aging.  This beer rocks, but they put it in this really dumb can.  This is super annoying to me for all the reasons I stated above.  It would be one thing if the beer sucked, then who cares, put it in a shoe for all I care, but this beer is good and deserves an appropriate package.

I know there is a certain cool factor here, and the star from Entourage Adrian Grenier is an investor in this concept and brewery, giving it some mass appeal.  But once all the hoopla dies, what you are left with is a really well made beer in a maddening can.  I’m afraid that what they are celebrating at this brewery will ultimately be their demise, and that makes me sad because I really like this beer.

So what do you think? Am I being too quick to not embrace this retro concept? Or do you think like I do that this brewery has planted the seeds to their own destruction?  Let us know in the comments.

-Don

I’m in full-on get-in-shape mode right now.  I’m waking up at the crack of dawn to work out, I’m watching what I eat like a hawk, and I even got one of those Nike+ Fuelband gizmos to remind me to get off my ass and move around.

On the beer front, I’ve gotten very rigid about my weekday beer consumption – there is none.  Not to say that I’ll never have a beer on a Wednesday night ever again, but I need to approach life with an aggressive discipline for the next several weeks in order to reboot my lifestyle from one that’s too lax to one that’s fun, healthy and sustainable.  While many of these adjustments have been easier than others, there’s one habit that I can’t seem to break. 

Mancave stouts.

You see, I feel at my most relaxed on a weekend night, sitting alone in my mission-style recliner in the small office upstairs catching up on my TV shows.  Right now, I have last week’s Mad Men waiting for me, a new episode of Top Gear (the British version), and I’m interested in watching Veep, the new show on HBO.  Of course, the last show I started watching on HBO (Luck, which was like Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, but with degenerate gamblers) was cancelled when I was four episodes in, so maybe I should wait until Julia Loius-Dreyfus and the gang get greenlit for a second season before I give them my heart.  Anyway, I enjoy a little “me time” when watching my stories, and when I do so, I also enjoy a thick glass of beer.

Mostly my cravings go to two beers in particular – Schlafly’s Reserve Imperial Stout and New Holland Dragons Milk.  I’m like a bug in a rug with either in my hands and something good flickering on the screen.  And when I’m watching shows in the mancave without one, I hear them calling me from downstairs.  I develop a craving somewhere deep in my spine for a toe-curling barrel aged beer that’s very, very hard to resist.

That’s not to say that I don’t resist it sometimes.  If I have an early morning the next day or don’t think I’ll really get the full enjoyment out of one (or, like now, if I don’t want to ingest 700 calories worth of liquid carbs right before falling asleep), I can sit there and drink water, and the experience is almost the same. Almost.  But if I’m honest, nothing beats swirling a goblet full of rich beery awesomeness under my nose while watching King Joffrey being an absolute monster.

Right now I’m up in the air about what to do about this.  I figure there are a few ways to go.  I can stay the hell out of the mancave for awhile, thus removing the siren song of the barrel-aged ales.  I can watch my shows with a glass of water, or perhaps seltzer, which will give my palate a bubbly massage akin to a beer.  Or I can say screw it, and call it a cheat day or whatever and drink my beers and watch my shows, understanding that a life without a little decadence isn’t much of a life at all.

Of the three, I’ll probably do the one that involves drinking good beers – it’s the easiest, the most delicious, and it give me something to look forward to on a Wednesday night when I’m eating hummus and black beans on a whole wheat tortilla.  You gotta live a little, right?

How about you – what your favorite beer drinking ritual, the one that would be the hardest to give up?  As always, let us know below!

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My most recent post for TODAY.com is about the Big River Brewing Company at the Boardwalk Hotel in Disney World.  I was down there last week with the family, and Big River was a life saver – a lush desert island of craft beer in an otherwise barren sea of industrial light lagers.

While I was there, I had one of those magical beer moments that etch themselves into your mind forever.  It got me to thinking about other special beer moments from vacations gone by, and I was surprised that I could only come up with a couple.  I guess they are more rare than I anticipated.

Here are the three I could come up with, from most recent to most distant:

3. Steamboat Pale Ale at Big River Brewing Company at Walt Disney World.  As I said, this one just happened, and it mostly had to do with hop withdrawal. Our trip to Disney World was all about the mouse and nothing else.  We stayed on Disney property, relied on Disney transportation to get from place to place, and bought a seven day pass to all of the parks.  We were trapped in the bubble.  Mostly that’s a cool thing, especially with young kids, but it sucks for a beer geek.  The best stuff I could find was Sam Adams Boston Lager and Summer Ale, both of which are nice, but neither of which are a hop bomb.  After four days or so with no crafty beers, I had no idea how much I was craving hops until I had my first sip of that that Steamboat Pale Ale.  My body tingled with delight, both from the cold beer on a very hot day and from the hop flavor dancing into the happy place in my brain.  It was marvelous.   As I said over on TODAY.com, I could taste it in my toes. I’ll remember that moment for a long time.

2. Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy in the Wisconsin Dells. This happened a few years ago, when my wife and kids and I were visiting my parents out in Milwaukee.  We decided to spend the weekend up in the Wisconsin Dells, which has been a northern summertime escape for generations of folks from Milwaukee and Chicago.  We were having a lot of fun with water parks, duck boat tours and poking around the funky little shops in the downtown strip, but by the end of the day the 90 degree heat had me tired and parched.  We stopped into a restaurant for dinner, choosing to sit on the patio next to the river.  Our table had a little tent card on it pimping Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy.  It looked pretty refreshing, so I ordered one without giving it much thought.  I had never had a shandy before, and I was blown away when I took a long pull on the beer and was rewarded with a huge gush of lemony goodness.  This half-beer and half-lemonade was exactly what I needed, and I’ve been a fan of this stuff ever since.  I know Leinie’s isn’t exactly craft beer, but I don’t give a damn.  When I’m mowing my lawn, I’m dreaming of a Summer Shandy.  I even tried to make my own a few times, which is always a disaster.  Leave it to the pros, kids!

1. German Pilsner in Dusseldorf, Germany.  This one happened in the early 90′s, probably late spring of ’93.  My dad decided to bring me along on a business trip to Germany, and we moved around from Hamburg, Dusseldorf, and Koln.  I never really had many beers with my dad before that trip, and I NEVER had an honest to goodness German pilsner.  I can still remember that warm late afternoon in the Altstadt (German for “old town”) section of Dusseldorf, my dad and I sitting on a low wall outside of a tavern, gazing down on the cobblestones and watching all the German girls go by (at least that’s what I was doing).  It was a wonderful moment, and possibly the best setting ever to have your first real pilsner.  I was back in the Altstadt last year on business, but this time it was all about the Dusseldorf Altbiers, those dark and malty wonders.  Too bad I didn’t know enough back then to introduce my dad to one – they’re magical in their own right.

I’ve had many beers on vacation, and many of them have been excellent.  But few have made that special connection that makes you remember that particular glass full of beer with crystal clarity.  It might sound hokey, but I cherish moments like these.  If beer geeks kept scrapbooks, these moments would get a two page spread.

How about you?  Are there any magical beer moments you can recall while traveling?  As always, let us know below!

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Good news for beer nerds trapped in the Magnolia State – starting July 1st, you’ll be able purchase beers with up to 8% alcohol by weight (roughly 10% ABV) without playing Smokey and the Bandit and making a run to Alabama or Louisiana (or eBay). The previous limit was 5% alcohol by weight (about 6.25% ABV).  The bill to make this happen was championed by the group Raise Your Pints and signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant in early April (hey, news moves slow in the South!).

Even better news for brewers in the Magnolia State, As of July 1st you can brew beer with any level of alcohol content you choose, you just can’t sell it in your home state if it’s over 8% ABW.  Still, this will open up new opportunities for Mississippi brewers who want to make big beers for the big boys and big girls in states that don’t treat them like nannies.

Overall, things are looking up for beer geeks in Mississippi. Now they just gotta work on legalizing homebrewing down there.

I did some heavy research (well, I checked Wikipedia) and came across this list of alcohol restrictions by state, of which I posted the “notes” portion of below.  It looks like the MS info hasn’t been updated, so I have no idea how up-to-the-minute the rest of it is.

Beyond no sales of alcohol at grocery stores, my home state of New Jersey isn’t too bad.  How does your state stack up?  I certainly hope you’re not in Oklahoma… 

List by state

Hype can ruin a beer, because few brews can live up to the expectations heaped upon them by mad beer geek love.  Hype ruined Pliny the Elder for me, and it screwed up my approach to sour beers – had I know they tasted like week-old laundry left in the washer, I would’ve expected less.  In a nutshell, hype tastes awful.

But hype’s younger brother (let’s call him buzz) can taste delicious.  The way I see it, buzz is a form of hype, but it’s based on an actual visceral interaction with a beer (I just had Beer X and it was awesome!), not a predetermined notion about a brew based on what others have said about it (I’ve never had it, but Dark Lord is the best stout evar!).

Enough buzz can eventually lead to hype, and sometimes that hype is warranted. Case in point is Cigar City’s Jai Alai India Pale Ale, a beer that wiggled its way into the “great beer” portion of my brain without me ever tasting it.  How did it get there?  Hype, or at least lots of buzz. 

I was prepared not to like this beer, mostly because I don’t like the name Cigar City – I think about a beer served in a dirty ashtray every time I hear it.  Not tasty. But this beer was the opposite of that – it was VERY tasty.

I got to sample Jai Alai India Pale Ale from the bottle at a conference in Orlando last week, and it was love at first sip – there’s a lot of wonderful stuff happening in this beer.  There’s a rich biscuity foundation, loads of citrusy hops, and an underlying tropical fruitiness (pineapple, maybe a touch of mango) that walk up to the line of overpowering your senses the way DIPA might, but then back away.  Cigar City (dirty ashtray – dammit!) has created a beer that’s not quite a double, but more than a single IPA.  Let call it a 1.75 IPA.  All told, this is a beer that’s big on flavor that won’t totally weigh you down, but at 7.5% ABV, it might just creep up on you.

It’s a wonderful beer, and even better, it surpassed my already elevated expectations, which is a rare thing for me these days.  I’m not saying it’s the best beer in the world (I don’t want to hype it after all), but if this stuff were available in New Jersey, it would be in my fridge all the time.  I’m glad I finally had a chance to taste it for myself.

I should also note that our brother-in-law Sassoune is Basque and was a professional Jai Alai player in Milford, Connecticut (where he met our sister Wendi) and later went on to win the French Outdoor National Championship.  I’m not bragging, but I figured Don would go nuts and Wendi would be pipe up in the comments if I didn’t mention it.  That would be like reviewing Bear Beer and not mentioning that Don is one.

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