Better Beer Blog

Just checked my email this morning and it looks like Russian River’s new brewery is up and running! Vinnie and crew pulled a 15 hour workday on Thursday the 8th to produce their first batch of beer, called “Consecration”. It’s a sour beer that they’ll age for a year in used Cabernet barrels with black currants with “the usual critters”. Can’t wait.

In any event, you can view the post on Natalie’s blog here.

Sammy and I got back from Boonville mid-Sunday afternoon. I’m in the process of doing the write up and downloading the pictures. I’ll have the recap written by late tonight, hopefully.

This weekend is the 12th Annual Boonville Beer Fest sponsored by Anderson Valley Brewing Company (AVBC). I wrote about the details in a past post but I’ll just rehash it here to save you the trouble:

12th Annual Legendary Beer Festival

Date: May 10, 2008
Place: Mendocino County Fairgrounds, 14400 Hwy 128, Boonville, CA (Absolutely no dogs allowed)
Prices: $35 Advance Sale, $35 Online Sales + $3 handling, $50 at the door.

Because Boonville is about 3 hours away, Sammy and I will be making this a mini-vacation. We’ll be driving up and camping with some friends Friday and Saturday before making the long trek back to San Jose Sunday morning in time for Mother’s Day dinner. I’d like to get into more detail about who and where we’ll be camping with and at but I don’t want to ruin the surprise. If all goes according to plan, I’ll have a lot to write about and a lot of photos to share.

In addition to the beer-related festivities, a summit of bay area beer bloggers is in the works. By summit, I mean meeting at the “small wooden gazebo in front of the right-hand side of the band stage”. And by bloggers, I mean myself, Jessica, and Jay. If there are any other bay area beer bloggers, or beer bloggers in general, we’d love to have you join us for the festivities. The more the merrier.

Boonville or bust, baby!

Last Saturday, May 3rd, I drove up to Toronado in San Francisco to take the BJCP examination to become a beer judge. This is something I’ve been working towards for the past 3 months or so. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’d know I’ve been attending a BJCP study class in preparation for the exam. So it all came to head last Saturday.

I arrived at Toronado roughly by 9:30am. The last time I was at Toronado that early was for their Barleywine Festival. The place was quiet, eerily so. Usually Toronado is bustling with activity, not necessarily packed with people but busting with a healthy number of folks all enjoying good beer. The exam was held in the side room that they only open for special occasions. By the time I got in, there were already a small handful of exam hopefuls already seated. Many of them I knew from the class and a few that I’ve never seen before.

As the clock struck 10am, the test began and I would not stop writing for the next three hours.

While I can’t tell you what questions were on the BJCP exam I took, it’s easy enough to find accurate study guides on the BJCP website. The test basically breaks down into two main sections: an essay section and the tasting section. The essay portion of the exam is worth 70% of your overall score and is composed of fill-in the blank questions, T/F questions and essay questions. Of these three, the essay questions will take up the majority of your time. The tasting portion of the exam will have you tasting 4 different beers and judging them on appearance, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel and overall experience. The person giving you the exam will tell you only what style beer you are having and it’s up to you to remember the finer points of that style.
You’d think that experience would have taught me be more prepared but in the end, old habits die hard. In my collegiate years, I’d have crammed the night before. This time, I crammed for three consecutive nights. In hindsight, I should’ve been studying all along but hell, three nights is an improvement over one. If you are thinking of taking the exam, here are a few pointers that should help you out:

• Memorize the BJCP Style Guidelines to the best of your ability. The test pretty much revolves around this.
• Study the BJCP Study Guide as it is a very accurate representation of what to expect.
• Study at night before you go to bed as you will retain this information longer
• Practice answering the study guide questions. The test is 3 hours long and you will be writing for 2 hours and 55 minutes of it.

Technically, I am now a BJCP judge with the rank of “Apprentice”. It’s the first rung on the Beer Judge ladder but everyone has to start someplace. Since the BJCP is a volunteer organization, it will take some time before I get my test results back, roughly 3-4 months. I hope I did enough to pass the test and move up the latter to “Recognized” but that remains to be seen.

Feel free to shoot me an email at betterbeerblog(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any questions about the exam or the BJCP or leave a comment to let me know how you did on your test if you’ve taken it before.

Got this in my email sometime last week. I’ve just copied and pasted it verbatim and add in my two cents afterwards.

Charles Bamforth is a brewing scientist. One of the best.

He’s been bothered for a while with a nagging question: why do many people consider wine to be more sophisticated than beer? Is it really better? Healthier? Why do most fancy restaurants have massive wine lists and a few token beer selections?

Bamforth picks apart the complex social, cultural, and scientific histories of both beverages. He has quite a few suprising insights about the (often highly scientific) production of both beer and wine. He’s not seeking to take wine down a notch, but to elevate beer to its proper place, right next to wine, demonstrating just how healthy and complex a beverage it really is.

Want to pick his brain a little? Please join him on Thursday, May 8 at Anchor Brewery Bamforth will discuss his new book: GRAPE VS. GRAIN

The event is free and open to the public.

Charles Bamforth, Chair of Brewing Sciences, UC Davis
Anchor Brewery, San Francisco
May 8, 5:30pm

Before I really got into blogging about beer, I was fortunate enough to have seen Charles Bamforth speak at Xerox PARC over in Palo Alto. I found Charles to be an engaging, charismatic man with a dry, English wit (which makes sense since he is from England). His presentation on Grape vs. Grain was extremely informative and makes a strong case, in my opinion, on how beer is responsible for civilization as we know it.

Now that I am able to reflect on things, I can safely say that Charles Bamforth is one of the inspirations for this blog. I can say his lecture lent a strong hand in forming my own philosophies on beer and it’s place in the culinary world.

Whether your a beer aficionado or wine connoisseur, I fully encourage you to attend this lecture. Bamforth is a wealth of information regarding the brewing sciences and I suspect you’ll have a good time as well. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it as I’ve never been to Anchor Steam brewery either.

AHA National Homebrew Competition at Devils Canyon click to view gallery

This coming Saturday, May 3^rd, is the day I take my test to become a recognized BJCP beer judge. I’ve been studying a little but like most folks, I wait until the end to cram. Having already taken the BJCP preparatory classes, I got a small sense of what beer judging would be but not having been at a homebrew competition, I’d never know for sure. That was until last Sunday.

The American Homebrewers Association held their National Homebrew Competition, West Regional Event at Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company in Belmont, CA. I signed up for this event partly because I’ve never been to a competition and I wanted to see what they are really like. And partly because it people who served at this event will get priority for the Samuel Adams Longshot Competition in San Francisco late May.

Not having ever been to Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company (Devil’s Canyon), I assumed that it would be like most brew pubs. Meaning, it would mainly be a restaurant with a brewery. What Sammy and I found was nothing of the sort. Devil’s Canyon is located in the middle of an industrial park and is more of a production brewery.

Since I haven’t taken my BJCP test just yet Sammy and I signed up to be stewards. The job of a steward is fairly simple: we bring beers to the beer judges and double check their scores. According to the BJCP, the steward’s job is as follows:

A program participant who assists judges, obtains entries and supplies, handles paperwork, and manages the competition logistics at a judging table.

While I was initially a little nervous, once we got into the flow of things, being a steward was actually fairly easy. There’s a lot of standing around and paying attention to the judges. As soon as they begin to engage each other in a debate, that’s when you know they’re ready for the next beer. We take away the old beer and score sheets but not before asking if the most recently judged beer should be capped for a mini-Best of Show (mini-BOS). Nothing too exciting but as someone who is passionately interested in beer, I found it very interesting to listen to the judges go back and forth with each other.

Usually, a more experienced judge (national level or higher) is paired with a less experienced judge (apprentice, recognized or certified). It’s kinda like the whole Jedi/Padawan relationship only without the lightsabers, the force, and mind tricks. Also lacking were the Jedi robes, the hair braids and spiritual philosophies. Okay, it’s nothing like the Jedi/Padawan relationship.

I joke, of course. It’s actually a very good system that fosters honest debate and open dialogue. One pair of judges (a national level and a recognized level) were often at opposite ends of the spectrum with their beers. The national level would rate a beer highly and the recognized level lower or vice-versa. If the difference between scores is greater than 7, discussion is supposed to take place between judges and, hopefully, compromise.

At the end of the day, I didn’t get any scores or winners because this was a regional event with the winners moving to the next round. By the end of the day, I got a really good sense of how a homebrew competition works. All-in-all, a very good day and I’m looking forward to this weekend’s test hoping to join the ranks of other BJCP judges.

I’ve been making it a point to search out breweries or brew pubs that I’ve never been too. It’s always interesting to see how each one is run, how they’re put together and, most importantly, how good their beers are. Seeing that I was going to be in San Francisco for the week at a conference, I decided to hit Thirsty Bear Brewing Company since it was within walking distance from Moscone West.

Thirst Bear Brewing Company (Thirsty Bear) is pretty non-descript from the outside. They have a sign that’s easily read from the road but their façade isn’t that wide. The most memorable thing about their location is that they’re often referred to as being “across the street from the Gold Club”.

I walked in and got a seat at the bar. Thirsty Bear has a well designed interior that is modern, spacious, industrial and warm all at the same time. In many ways, it reminds me of Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose. Behind the long bar is the brewery portion separated from the restaurant by what looks like Plexiglas. All of their beers are written above the bar on individual chalkboards. Some of their beer carry are thematically named to match the name of the brewery as well as allude to what style of beer you’d be having. For instance, they have Polar Bear Lager and Brown Bear Ale. Not all of them are named in such a manner but it works out well.

Surprisingly, it’s a 50/50 chance that I’ll know more about beer and the brewing process than most of the people who work at brew pubs. For most people, it’s just a job, something that pays the bills. After some time, I’ve stopped expecting the people who work at a brew pub to know about their products in any great detail. So you can imagine my surprise when Patrick, the bartender, ends up knowing as much if not more about beer than me. Really, that’s how it’s supposed to be. I enjoy going to brew pubs where the people know more than me. It gives me an opportunity to learn.

Patrick, who used to work as the head sous chef at a brewery in Arizona, mentions they have a “Black Bear” schwartzbier on tap as their seasonal. Seasonal beers are great in the sense that they are usually fresh and tend to be more interesting than the regular beers on tap.

Thirsty Bear’s Black Bear schwartzbier pours an opaque black. The head is tan, not long lasting but leaves some nice lacing on the glass. The aroma is roasty and clean. As the beer warms up, sweet malt aromas start to show up in the bouquet. How a beer smells is a very good precursor to how it will taste and this was no exception. Roasty, grainy notes hit my palette first followed by coffee-like flavors characteristics. Hop flavor and bitterness is low, just enough to remind me this is still a beer. Black Bear is medium bodied with medium-low carbonation and a dry, clean finish. I found the beer to be good tasting, refreshing for a roasty beer with characteristic lager finish.

Based upon Patrick’s recommendation, I order the hangar steak burger. When my sandwich arrives, I find the steak to be on the pink side but that’s just how I like it. While I didn’t take much notes on the steak, I did try it with the Black Bear schwartzbier and found the flavor combination to be a pleasant one. The char on the steak was echoed more prominently by the roastiness of the beer. The only thing that threw me off was the inclusion of the blue cheese in the burger. As you may (or may not) know, blue cheese has a very distinct flavor, it’s strong and rustic yet tasty. I found the blue cheese overwhelmed the burger a little and overpowered the beer. Had I known, I’d have ordered the burger with the blue cheese on the side. On the plus side, the garlic fries were extra crispy but not overwhelmingly garlicy.

When I first got to the bar, one of the chalkboard signs above mentioned “cask-conditioned beers $3” on Tuesday. Lucky for me, it was Tuesday. The guy who set up the firkin was the same guy who poured Thirsty Bear’s offering at the Firkin Festival in Berkeley a few weeks back. Similar to then, the cask-conditioned beer was their Kozlov Vanilla Stout.

The Kozlov Vanilla Stout poured out black, with a long lasting tan head. Good lacing was left behind as it slowly dissipated. I was getting roasty notes from the aroma, not unlike the schwartzbier, only more so. The vanilla, placed directly into the firkin to soak for about two weeks, played a more subtle role and was in the background of the beer’s aroma. I was picking up roasty flavors as well as a strong chocolaty character. The vanilla, once again, played a supporting role. I’d like to think that the vanilla actually reinforced the chocolate notes I was getting in the flavor. As the beer warmed up, I started to pick up some wood flavors and aroma but to Patrick’s knowledge, no wood was used in the maturing of this beer. Despite being low in carbonation, the vanilla stout had a creamy, smooth mouthfeel with a moderately low level of roasted grain sharpness. Although I did notice a slight tartness in this beer, a characteristic that is both uncommon and usually unwanted. Overall, I found this beer to have good flavor and subtlety while remaining drinkable.

Thirsty Bear is a good brew pub with good food and knowledgeable staff. I was only able to try three of their beers, two of which I took tasting notes on. If those three are any indication of the rest of their beers, then I can safely say Thirsty Bear Brewing Company makes good beer. With the exception of the vanilla stout, there was nothing exceptional about their beers, which could be a double edged sword. On hand, I doubt anyone would be disappointed with any of their offerings. On the other hand, there was nothing ultra-memorable about them. I would attribute this to the type of crowd they service. Like me, most are corporate types or convention goers out on lunch. We corporate types aren’t necessarily the most demanding of beer aficionados so these well crafted beers are easy drinking hoping to appeal to a wide audience. I can respect that. Given Thirsty Bear’s geography and proximity to many business it would be bad business to brew aggressive beers that appeal only to “hardcore” beer lovers and not the casual beer drinker.

One thing I forgot to mention was that Thirsty Bear’s beers are certified organic. This means all their beers’ raw ingredients have come from producers who practice sustainable farming and who don’t use any chemicals in the farming of their crops. So, if you find yourself over in San Francisco attending a convention at the Moscone Center, I would recommend Thirsty Bear Brewing Company for some finely crafted, certified organic beers and food.

Dogfish Head at Toronado Click to View Gallery

Admittedly, my curiosity is what brought me to Toronado last night. I have head a lot of positive things about Dogfish Head beers and I wanted to know if there was any substance to the hype. Living in San Jose, it’s a bit of a drive up to San Francisco for a Monday night’s worth of drinking. It can get pretty difficult enough doing this on a weekend, but a Monday? I just hoped it would’ve been worth the effort.

I can honestly say that it was *so* worth the drive up.

As it is with most places in San Francisco, parking is a bitch. We spent a good 20 minutes cruising the immediate neighborhood looking for a spot. I’d either miss an opening or the spots I did find were too small for my pick-up truck. This time, I kept my composure and we eventually found a spot only a block away.

Unsurprisingly, Sammy and I walked into Toronado and found it packed to the rafters. While not as bad as their Barleywine event, it still took a bit of effort to make our way to the back area. Similar to the Barleywine event, they Toronado opened up an adjacent room usually reserved for storage and special events, such as tonight.

We must have ordered our beers at the peak of demand as it took a while for the bartender to get to us. As in driving and looking for a parking spot, patience was the name of the game. Not wanting to waste the bartender’s time, we Sammy and I ordered a flight of Dogfish Head beers, the Chateau Jiahu, Immort Ale, and the Old School Barleywine. At the front of the adjacent room Sammy and I retreated to were plates of three cheeses designed to pair with the flight of beers we had taken. Unfortunately, I didn’t write the name of the cheeses down. Good thing William Brand has them written down on his blog.

To be completely honest, I didn’t take any notes on how the beers tasted with their associated cheeses. There were many reasons for this, the primary being I was having a good time. It’s hard to “work” at these events where you are thoroughly enjoying yourself, the beers you have on hand and the people you are with. Here are my tasting notes of the beers we tried. Unless noted, all these beers are from Dogfish Head:

• Chateau Jiahu: Wow! Poured and opaque gold not unlike a hefeweizen. I didn’t get too much from the nose but the flavors were fabulous. The beer was tart enough to get your mouth watering but not so much to have you puckering like a fish. There was a noticeable fruit sweetness that wasn’t cloying or overpowering. Creamy mouthfeel. Derived from residues found from 9000 year old preserved pottery in Jiahu, Northern China, this beer has been reformulated with rice flakes, wildflower honey, Muscat grapes, malted barley, hawthorn fruit and Chrysanthemum flowers and fermented with sake yeast. As interesting a beer experience as it gets! Paired with Berkswell Cheese, a sheep’s cheese from England.
• Olde School Barleywine: Robust malt aromas supported by a floral characteristic with a little bit of alcohol on the nose. It’s surprisingly smooth, which doesn’t bode well for the uninformed of its 15% ABV. Paired with Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar from Modesto.
• Immort Ale: Noticeable smoke on the nose and in the flavor, yet different than a traditional rauchbier. We found this beer to be balanced in flavor, although biased toward the malt side of the beer flavor spectrum. Noticeable alcohol on the nose as well. After coming back home and looking this beer up on the Dogfish Head website, it turns out their barley was smoked with peat. Juniper berries, vanilla and maple syrup were included and fermented with a combination of Belgian and English yeasts. Oak aged. Paired with Isle of Mull cheddar from Isle of Mull, Scotland.
• 90-Minute IPA: Completely unlike any other IPA I have ever tasted. It had a great floral nose. Despite the nose, this beer has an extraordinarily smooth hop bitterness. I mean, if you didn’t know this beer had a 90 IBU rating, you’d think it was in the pale ale range. It’s a big beer to boot with 9% ABV. Another “wow” beer.
• Midas Touch Golden Elixir: Marketed by Dogfish Head as the oldest-known fermented beverage in the world. Like the Jiahu, this beer was formulated from residues found in drinking vessels from King Midas’ tomb (hence the name). We found this beer to have very low hop flavors and aromas while having a pronounced grainy flavor. It’s a sweet beer, having mead-like qualities. This could be considered as another “wow” beer but after having the Jiahu first, Midas Touch Golden Exiler’s thunder may have been stolen. Still another fine, tasty beer.
• Palo Santo Marron: Roasty porter-like beer. Definite wood on the nose and in the flavors. Probably my least favorite of the evening but a good beer nonetheless. The Dogfish Head websites lists this beer as “an unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented brown ale aged in handmade wooden brewing vessels”. Palo Santo is an exotic Paraguayan wood from which the tanks were crafted from.
• Roddenback Grand Cru: Sour ale brewed in the Flanders Red style. This beer immediately smells like vinegar but tastes anything but. We found this beer to be more tart than sour, with the tartness coming from lactic acid. It poured dark with little head.

Of course, one of the highlights of the event was getting to meet Sam Calagione himself. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the guy. I mean, in the brewing industry, he is a bit of a rock star. I don’t ever recall a moment that night when Sam wasn’t in conversation with someone. Judging by the body language, it all seemed to be light-hearted in nature. Still, I was a bit nervous in approaching him. I wondered what I would say or even breach the conversation he was in. Even before I could come up with a plan, Sam beat me to it by approaching me first. That pretty much set the tone for the entire evening. I found Sam to be very down to earth, approachable, affable and generally fun guy. Sam had an ease and charisma to him that put people at ease. Having done formal speaking engagements and other such structured events, he mentioned he felt most at home in a bar.

What impressed me most about Sam was his ability to remember everyone’s name. I, admittedly, am horrible at remembering people’s names. Imagine being in Sam’s shoes, you are the center of attention at a bar where everyone wants to get their two cents in or ask their questions. It’s easy to remember his name because he’s the star, the man of the moment but throughout the night, whenever he would pass by or I would see him, he always remembered my name. I wish I could say I left some sort of lasting impression on Sam but he did this with everyone. It just shows me how much attention he pays to the people he speaks to and on how well he’s crafted his interpersonal skills to be able to remember people’s names. Very impressive.

The other, arguably, greater highlight of the evening was the many connections Sammy and I made. While meeting Sam and finally sampling Dogfish Head beers made the trip worthwhile, meeting new people and connecting with them made the event memorable. It’s not too often you can go, pretty much cold turkey, to a beer event and have such wonderful conversations. Many thanks to Cassandra, Brian, Kristian, Craig, Christen, Betsy and Joshua for making what was already a good event, an awesome event.

For once, Sammy and I were able to make it to a festival at its early stages. The goal every time is to get to a beer festival early enough to get a seat and to sample some (hopefully!) good beers before they’re all gone. The Hop Rhizome Festival at the Bistro is different from other beer festivals in that the star of the show isn’t a beer or series of beers but a key ingredient: hops.

Hops, in case you weren’t aware, is one of the four principle ingredients of beer. Hops are used in beer as a bittering agent to balance out the sweetness of the malted barley. In addition, they give some beers a wonderful floral, citrus, piney aroma and contribute greatly to a beer’s flavor profile. In addition, hops have mild, antibacterial properties that allow its use as a preservative.

The Bistro had four varieties of hops for sale: cascade, centennial, Chinook and nugget. By far, cascade is one of the more popular hops used in brewing today. It’s floral and citrus characteristics are highly prized by brewers and if you’ve ever had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, then you my friend have tasted cascade hops. I already have a cascade growing in my backyard but I picked up another cascade rhizome as well as centennial (I think). We’ll be putting these into the dirt this weekend and I’ll take some pics to share with everyone.

Easily finding a seat, Sammy and I settled into the festival to enjoy ourselves the brief time we were going to be there. I ordered Russian River Brewing Company’s (RRBC) Pliny the Elder and Sammy ordered Green Flash’s Imperial IPA. I spent many minutes looking over the board of beers at the Bistro thinking if I should have ordered another beer other than Pliny. It’s not the Pliny is a bad beer, quite the opposite really, it’s just that I should make an effort to always try something new and then go back to my favorites.

Sammy, on the other hand, looked a bit overwhelmed by the Green Flash Imperial IPA. My wife is not a hoppy beer loving person but she tends to gravitate toward Imperial (or double) IPAs because of their increased sweetness. In what I would consider a good Imperial IPA, the beer should have balance. The hop flavors are aggressive but not overpowering and there should be a strong, malt backbone to support all those hops. Having that strong, malt backbone gives this style a surprising sweetness one would not necessarily expect. This is what Sammy was expecting but instead she found a beer with aggressive hop flavors but not enough malt backbone for her liking. I tried this beer and found it very enjoyable but the hop bitterness clings to your tongue and doesn’t let go. I mean, wow, it really sticks.

Sammy and I also tried Phat Quail from EJ Phair and a barley wine as well. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any tasting notes so I don’t remember too well the Phat Quail and I don’t think I even tried Sammy’s barley wine. It was about this time that Steve and Gail from Beer by Bart showed up and we got to talking with them. I met Steve and Gail from the BJCP classes I was taking. Their website is chalk full of information about good craft breweries all accessible by public transportation. From what Sammy tells me, they are really into quality and only list bars, brew pubs and breweries that care about beer. The beers have to be good and the staff has to be knowledgeable. Basically, if Steve and Gail walk into a bar and they know more about beer than the bartender, the joint is not getting on their list. With such lofty standards one can expect the establishments they’ve listed to be top-notch.

Unfortunately for Sammy and me, we had to leave the Hop Rhizome Festival just as it was picking up. We had a prior engagement that afternoon and needed to head back to San Jose to get ready. Overall, it was a very pleasant and relaxing festival to have gone to. We talked to some good people, sampled some good beers and picked up some hop rhizomes that I hope I’ll be able to harvest and brew into a BetterBeerBlog Harvest Ale. We’ll definitely come back to this event next year but with more time to spend.

Having gone to the Hop Rhizome Festival last weekend and a Double IPA Festival some months ago, I would never have guessed that the brewing industry is in the midst of coping through a hop shortage. At the Double IPA festival alone, we sampled 11 hop-tastic beers and at the Hop Rhizome Festival there were about a dozen more on tap. While I consider myself fortunate to have experienced a lot of good, hoppy beers lately, brewers in other parts of the country are not so fortunate.

An article forwarded to me some weeks back served both to illustrate to me the desperation of the situation and as the impetus for this post. In the most basic of terms, there is a hop shortage. Globally, drought and flooding have produced lower than anticipated yields. In addition, some hop producers have chosen to turn their lands over to grow more profitable crops such as corn to be used in the biofuel industry. All in all, the result is less hops to go around.

Hops are one of the four, primary ingredients in beer with malted barley, yeast and water being the others. Hops act as a bittering agent to balance out the sweetness of the barley. Hops also have wonderful aromatic properties, with some varietals being described as floral, piney, and citrus. In addition, hops have mild, antibacterial characteristics which serve as a natural preservative.

Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Company, known best for their Samuel Adams line of beer, has trademarked the phrase, “Hops are to beer what grapes are to wine”. While there is some truth to that, from a technical standpoint, it’s incorrect. Semantics aside, I understand what Jim is trying to say. The different grape varietals each have their own characteristics and qualities that give rise to the many different types of wines. Each grape holds within itself the soul of a wine, the intangibles that separate the mediocre from the magical. In this regard, yes, hops are to beer what grapes are to wine. Malt gives beer body and substance but hops impart soul, personality, and that certain je ne sais quoi that makes a beer memorable, remarkable and in some instances, life changing.

Major production breweries such as Anheuser-Busch (AB) and Molson Coors have huge contracts in place with existing producers to insure supply in a volatile market. If they are feeling the effects of the hop shortage, they’re not showing it in the form of increased prices of their products.

Mid-sized breweries like the Boston Brewing Company have opened up their personal stores to share with fellow brewers via lottery. I continue to be impressed with how the Boston Brewing Company has repeatedly supported the craft beer industry. Their Longshot Contest is a prime example of reaching out to and involving the homebrewing community.

Smaller production breweries, independent craft brewers and your local brew pubs have been hit the hardest. Without the benefit of a huge contract, they are left to scramble as best they can to source their raw materials.

“I have nine beers on tap right now, and maybe five beers aging. I think somewhere in the late spring the last pint would be served,” Sayler estimates. After that, his brewpub would become just another taproom serving beer produced beyond its own walls.

The hop shortage isn’t the only problem. An increase in prices for barley, glass production and transportation have all affected the bottom line. Brewers of all sizes can only do so much before the buck gets passed on to us, the consumer.

So what’s a craft beer lover to do? Really, the only thing we can do is continue to support the craft beer industry. This means continuing to purchase our favorite beers despite their rising costs. At the end of all things, a brewery is still business and if they’re not making money, they can’t continue to brew the beers we love.

“We can only absorb so many inflationary price increases. We’ve seen it in gasoline, milk, all these different foods that are out there. And after a while people are just going to get concerned about what they can pay,” observes Wolaver. “But I think there’s enough loyalty where they’re not going to go back to the bland beers. Once you’ve had a taste of heaven, why would you want to go back, right?”

Sphere: Related Content

Got a pleasant surprise this morning when I opened my inbox and found a note from the Toronado. Normally it’s a pleasant surprise when I don’t get an email that isn’t spam but it’s always more fun when it’s beer-related. Here’s the email in it’s lengthy entirety.

Monday April 21st 6:00pm
Dogfishead Kickoff Party for distribution in
Northern California at the Toronado.
We will have 6 beers on draught and Sam
the founder will be in attendance. See you there
Cheers
David

According to William Brand, this won’t be your regular beer tapping/unveiling/kegging event as they’ll be pairing the Dogfish Head beers with cheese. I’ve done my own experiments with beer and cheese and found some combinations more successful than others so it’s always fun to see what other people are doing.

Dogfish Head, not unlike Russian River Brewing Company, is one of the few breweries that have the title “Destination Brewery” thrown at them on occasion. Not having tried any of their beers, I can’t honestly comment on that. Still, if they live up to their reputation, I am in for a treat. Unfortunately, Dogfish Head will only be distributed in San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma so sampling them will be an adventure unto itself.

I’m currently Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione’s book Brewing up a Business and will review that here when I finish. He also has a new book out, He Said Beer, She Said Wine, that compares and contrasts beer/food pairings with wine/food pairings. It looks like a must read for the “staff” here at BetterBeerBlog and I’ll be picking that up soon as well. Now I just have to convince the wife to take a half day off on Monday to go up.

In addition, this month is Belgian Beer Month at the Toronado so expect to find a wide variety of Belgian beers on tap. Always an experience at Toronado.