In Memory of the Virginia Tech Massacre

I just wanted to dedicate this blog entry to 32 Virginia Tech family that were struck down seven years ago. Yes, this blog is suppose to be about beer, but my life has been shaped by many of Virginia Tech alum. The Girlfriend was a student at the time (and two of her friends were shot)and one of my best friends at my school also had one of his friends shot. Though I wasn't there, these events shaped the people in my life, and thus have shaped mine. I hope something like this never happens again, and I can only wish the best for everyone in the future. Love life, love friends, and maybe share a beer or two with them.

Craft Beer, just a Phase?

Ok, so maybe trying to keep up a blog while in the middle of track season, switching jobs, and making sure the evil dogs don't take over the house is just plain old hard. I will try my best to actually post, but again, as of now it's empty promises in your head. Anyways, let's get to the beer blog.

There has been a lot of talk that the Golden Age of craft brew has jumped shark, nuked the fridge, or is on its last legs. Though I might agree that the Golden Age as we know it can not sustain itself, craft beer will not just disappear, or even decline. Yes, I might be biased (okay, lots.) but craft beer is here to stay like a bad case of crabs . Here are my three of my reasons (and please feel free to comment)

Dogfish Head, the Legendary American Brewery

1. Quality: When I was a wee lad, my father, his friends, Hollywood, and most of Europe thought of American beer as swill. Budweiser, Miller, Coors, and their Light counterparts were the height of American Beer quality. Well, thanks to Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, and Dogfish Head, American Beer can keep it's head high in the beer world. No longer do we have to hang our hats on one Blue Ribbon. If you look at Beer Advocates Top 250 we have plenty, if not most beers in the Top 250. Yes, Beer Advocate is slightly biased towards American Beers, but look this years past World Beer Cup results. All American, and damn it feels good. Which leads me to my next point.

A Little Old, but Some Interesting Numbers

2. Quantity: The above article can just be about the sheer quality of beer America has, but in reality, it's the amount of good beer there is. I'm not talking about the top 250, I'm not talking the top 500. Just the fact you can finally go into almost any beer, liquor, alcohol store and gets something that isn't an InBev POS. Look at your favorite beers from square one. For me, it was Coors Lite (American), then Michelob Amberbock (American), to Magic Hat #9 (American), to New Belgium Fat Tire (American), to finally Rochefort Trappist 8 (Belgium).

This was Once a Rarity to see, now it's my Tuesday!

3. Beer Culture: Myself, The Girlfriend, The Entire Great Trio are all mid-twenties. We go to craft beer bars as many times as a nun goes to church. A lot. And the demographic that walks in isn't just us; it's Black, White, Asian, French, Old, Young (21+ of course), Men and Women. And what we see is everyone loves good beer. Sure, when we are watching the Ravens trouncing on the Steelers we knock back swill light beers, but when we are having a nice dinner, wine isn't paired with the food, beer is. Or in The Girlfriends case, the food is paired with the beer. Beer, real beer, is here to stay.

Of course, you can argue my argument proves we are seeing the end of the Golden Age. But lately, Brew Pubs are taking hold. We might not see national craft beers like we used to, but local and regional beers are just taking hold.

Have a beer and have a Happy Easter!

Slainte

My Christmas Present, Part 1

Sorry for the late post, it’s been a hectic couple of weeks. But I promise you I’ll be posting at least once a week for now on. If I don’t, you can find my at World of Beer, and force me to drink Miller Lite, and only Miller Lite for the whole night. So let’s get down to business, beer business.

For Christmas this year (well last year) I bought The Girlfriend a beautiful Finnish watch. She, being the loving amazing girlfriend got me nothing for Christmas. Rather she got me the best thing to date, a brewery tour of the Eastern Shore. So for a good two months, I had to wait for my present, and needless to say, it was worth it.

The Girlfriend planned everything, as I literally only hadto sit in the car, walk into bars, breweries, and distilleries, and drink. She picked me up from work and we drove from Annapolis, to the St. Michael’s Md. Here, we dropped off the puppies to our mutual friend and went to a local brewery, ReAle Revival.  Here, I sampled the first beer of the weekend. Here I struck up a conversation with the bartender and started talking beer and home brewing. Little did I know, it was the Brew Master, and he invited me to check out his brewery. Needless to say, I was giddy. As I got a private tour, I was given sample of sample of  beers, mostly taste batches, but each pretty good. As it ended, he asked why I was here, and told him it was my Christmas present from The Girlfriend. He told me to wait a minute and he came back with a pleasant surprise. Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10 Aged in Oak Barrels. If you don’t know about Epic you are missing out. Either way, the Epic Series was amazing.

Next, we hit Evolution in Salisbury (uneventful) before heading to Bethany Beach. Waking up, The Girlfriend takes me to Starboards. There I am required to drink an Orange Crush. Let’s just say, my liver hasn’t done much morning drinking since college. And let’s just say, 8 a.m. was the last time I was sober for the rest of the day. After breakfast, we went to Berlin Maryland, to hit our favorite Maryland Brewery, Burley Oak. Now Burley Oak is a small brewery, but it makes perhaps the best Saison ever. Period, end of statement, the best. SummaRye, is a Rye Saison, that happens to be panned as absolutely amazing by everyone I’ve known who has drank it. I was psyched to go, but oh so sad when we got there and saw a closed sign. I moppely walked up only to find it was a beer release party and they were glad to have anyone come in. We walked out with a slightly used liver, and a bottle of beer, 1 or 440.

That’s it for now, I’ll finish the rest of our trip later. But I’ll be adding one of the Great Trio’s blogs tomorrow.

Till next time,

Slainte!   

Beer, Religion, and a Hangover

Today, I woke up five times wanting to puke. Today, I swore of alcohol twenty times. Today, I asked God to help me get through this hang over seventy times. Today of course was St. Patty's Day Ante. A day in which a good 1/4 of the adult population was nursing hangovers, waking up drunk, or just feeling like beer is worse then Putin and Ukraine in the same room. So in celebration of this hangover, I will dedicate it to the amazing things Catholics have done in the world of beer.

I want to start by saying I do not endorse any religion above another (though The Flying Spaghetti Monster is pretty dope) and in reality I wish religions would unite humanity, rather then divide it. But Beer is as European and Catholicism is, so there is much overlap. You all remember my earlier blog on Belgians, Trappist, and the amazing-ness that it is. But the overlap is more then that. First, lets look at the season we are in, which is Lent. Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday in which all adults (who are healthy and not in the military) must fast, give up meat (on Fridays), and give alms. In order to prepare for the 40+ days of fasting, Tuesday was a day of feast. People ate like there was no tomorrow, hence Fat Tuesday (or in America...just Tuesday.) Fat Tuesday, better known as Mardi Gras, or even Carnival. 

Somehow this is Catholic...

Yes, Mardi Gras and Carnival are Catholic celebrations, um, began as Catholic. Americans, Brazilians, and the German's all have celebrations before the Lenten season begins. Funny thing, those Germans. I don't know if you know this, they love their beer (hell The Girl Friend is drinking one right now and she's full German). They will literally celebrate anything just so they can get drunk! To name a few drinking holidays we have: Fasching (German Carnival), St. Martin's Day, and how can we forget Oktoberfest. Yes, technically it's not a Religious holiday. But take a look at this website and see what I mean.

This is a Catholic Mass...err, lot's of people drinking.

Finally, a little known fact is that the Running of the Bulls is part of a major Catholic Holiday. San Fermin, honors St. Fermin, who is the co-patron of Navarre. Needless to say, you have to be pretty drunk to run with the Bulls. 

So, if you're drinking with a lot of people most likely you can thank the Catholics (except you know, Super Bowl Sunday, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July,  Cinco de Mayo, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day...)

It's also why I do bad things at night, you know, when God is asleep.

But here is a list of other holidays that started with Catholic Undertones:
New Years Eve, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, St. Valentine's Day (you know...if you're single)

Slainte!

Next Blog, one of the Great Trio will be writting!

DC Beer Fest

As I write this article, my body can't help but remind me that yes I am hung over. Not just hung over, but that leg sore, stenographer in my head, liver hurting kind of hang over. The one that by the end of the day you have come to think you're finally done being hung over, only to find out your body has given up on feeling 100%. Was it worth it? Well, the amount my liver has degenerated over the day, the fights with The Girlfriend, and a very empty wallet later there is only one answer. Hell yes!

Before I proceed I must confess my post days are all lies. I didn't want to make my blog public until I had enough material for people to get drawn in. So today is my very first post that is true to it's time. As punishment, I will drink 24 Miller Lites before I sleep tonight.

So why am I hung over. Two words: D.C. Craft Beer Fest. (Yeah, it's four words I'm hungover, get over it!) 73 craft brewers and Sam Adams were in attendance (Sam Adams' is NOT craft.)

All the Vendors Are Belong To Us!

I mentioned that there were 74 breweries, but I did a B-line right to one brewery. As a VIP I was able to get in an hour early so I figured I would shoot the shit and talk, but when I found out Founder's was there I knew I had to talk to them, and drink of course. As soon I walked into the door, I left my girlfriend and two friends, and was the first at there booth. I asked "When are you guys coming to Maryland, I need some KBS, I drove 90 minutes once only to be turned away." The guys laughed, but were excited that a fan was that dedicated. They told me the great news though. May at the latest! Again, Founders is coming to Baltimore!

This is the first session, even before it was completely packed. 

After drinking some Founders, I found The Girlfriend and we hit a good 30 or 40 breweries. Some were amazing, some werre horrible, but most were just so-so. What was disappointing was the fact (she even mentioned it) was the massive amount of IPA's. I would bet 90% of the breweries had an IPA, a Extra Pale Ale, or Imperial Pale Ale. To put it mildly, I can not wait for the IPA fad to die a very fast, painful death. Don't get me wrong, there are some damn good IPA's. I love Harpoon's, and 60 and 90 Minute are amazing. But, I feel like many other beer styles don't get their due. Alas, I feel like Sours and Saisons will be the next big thing (crosses fingers.)

My favorite libation of the day happens not to be beer but mead, well two meads. The best brewery (minus Founders) goes to B. Nektar Meadery for their Necromangocon and Zombie Killer. Both are amazing, and all I can say is they make great dessert drinks that are flawless made. Necro is flavored with Mango, and is offset amazingly with some pepper. I give it 5 stars. Zombie Killer gives Cherry new life, and can only be described as the best possible drink during the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.

Oh, oh yeah, I forgot we went bar hopping afterwards and I found some amazing beer!

Founders, It's what's for Breakfast!

Hope You Beer-ventures are going well! We'll be having a guest writer soon.

Slainte!

Sour Beer, Bad Right?

Sour Beers are not for the faint of heart. Those who are new to drinking would probably spit out their very first sip of sour, but then again, why are high school kids drinking anyways? Sours, for those who dare to enter this realm of "esoteric" beer style, can be scary. To put it in a very general way, sours can have a hint of tartness like a cherry, to a full kick in the face like Warheads candies, to everything in between. Some sours, have a hint of "barnyardy" (as a Trio member calls it) , or a somewhat vinegary taste, to just plain sour. And believe me, each sour is amazing in its own right.

As I already have mentioned, there are many tastes of sours. There are also many types of sours. Each which is based on what makes them sour. In practice, brewers would make sure their beer would not be contaminated by anything other then what yeast they would pitch in their wort. Some Belgians, well some simply didn't care. They would ferment their beers in the open and it would ferment by wild yeasts in the air, or lambics. A little crazy, but hey it worked. Some even crazier brewers, mad drunk on their beer, purposely infect their beer with bacteria! They would pitch Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces, or Pediococcus with their yeast. Then, instead of having a beer ready and waiting in a couple of months, they sat on it for years to make sure the bacteria did its work. There you have it, a basic knowledge of how sours are made. And to add to your brain bank: lambics, gueuzes, and Flanders red ale are the most common sours out there.

To add to my blog, I will review my very first beer, it's rating systems, and my general take on it. It's in beta phase right now, so I will probably change it later.

Beer Review #1:

Tart of Darkness

Brewery: The Bruery, CA

Style: American Wild Ale

ABV: 7.0%

Rating: 5/5

Taste: 

Kick in the face tartness, with a large amount of grape taste. Super dry, yet refreshing finish. No bad aftertaste, and doesn't have any heat in any phase.

Overall take:

This beer is probably my favorite sour beer. The amount of tartness is mind boggling. Take all the grape sweet tarts you have had and multiply it by 10. It's just that tart. But amazingly, as tart as it is, it's balanced with sweetness, and a very refreshing grape musk taste. The best way to describe this beer is to take some Welsh's Grape Juice, add a ton of Grape Sweet Tarts, and then kick it in the side with some alcohol. Doesn't sound good? No, not really, but The Bruery does an amazing job at making this American Wild taste great. If I could clone one beer well, this would be it. Why? Well because it's f*$!ing awesome, and it's not cheap. Like $21 for a 750ml bottle. But it's worth it. Every single mouth puckering, tart tasting drop is worth it. And don't think I will be giving 5's often, I just plain think Tart of Darkness and The Bruery deserves it.

Price: $20-25/750ml

Would Recommend to Drink: Yes

Would Recommend by Value: Yes

My Idea for a New Brew

It's come to my attention that Beer is a pretty old beverage. What I thought was a maybe 10 or 15 year old libation, is actually actually some 7,000+ years old. It turns out a very large percentage of every beer in the world wasn't made by the evil inBev. Which is great because well inBev is as evil as Monsanto, the Yankees, and of course, Emperor Palpatine. Usually it goes Yankees<Monsanto<Papatine<inBev. But I digress. Anyways, beer has had a very long, intertwined relation to man. Discovery Channel did an entire mini series on "How Booze Built America." Fun fact, it's a great series, and an even greater drinking game. Tangent aside, beer has a great history. But I'm only concerning myself with a small era.

As you may or may not have figured out, I live in Maryland. One of the 13 colonies, and one of the few founded by non puritans, Maryland has a great beer history. And it got me thinking, what would early Marylander drink as beer. Imagine you're a early Maryland in the 1600. The Bay is full of weird looking water spiders things. So you decided what better way to feed your self then to steam them and eat them. Now what yo drink? Natty Boh doesn't exist yet, so you need a special beer. Turns out Baltimore is a great place, it has a large natural harbor, that is bustling with trade. Sugar, Grains, Molasses, and the like flow through the city like no other. So you visit your local granary and pick up some cereal, then some sugar. But alas, hops are hard to find, so American's used lots of different greens. And hence, my problem.

Hops existed, they weren't just very available to most colonists yet. And a couple Baltimore craft breweries have done this idea, but they use some ingredients many people don't like, such a Star Anise, Dandelion, and other esoteric brew ingredients. As one of the Great Trio's has lamented, he drove all the way to St. Mary's City to get an authentic brew, and was put off by its' flavor of Star Anise. So, I decided I am going to make a beer for him (and put a metric long ton of star anise,)

I am currently researching what ingredients I can use. I want to make sure the grains I use existed in the 1600's, the hops are as authentic as possible, and will be using local water (though I will not use bay water, bay water is like a class 1237.1 toxic waste.) Right now I have found:

       -Authentic unrefined sugar stored in Oak Barrels

       -Muscovado which is a very common sugar of the Caribbean 

As you can tell I don't have a lot, but lucky for me, beer doesn't have that many ingredients.I hope to have more on this later, and I will, but I want to blog about this from the very beginning to the very end. I am still researching grains and hops that we would have in Maryland in the 1600's but I promise the beer will be up and running soon!

Slainte!