BetterBeerBlog

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

I’ve been racking my brain for the past couple of weeks trying to find something worthy to discuss. I have several Beer & Food Dinners on my plate but we’ve already spoken about those. I have several homebrews going at once but I’m not sure if you’ve jumped back into homebrewing yet. There are festivals, upon festivals to be merry at but I can’t be everywhere at once. As I mentioned to you in a previous email, I have never been so busy in my life.

So I got to wondering why am I so busy? I don’t think I’m doing anything out of the ordinary. Despite having several carboys going at once, I am actually behind schedule for homebrews this year. I’ve also been saying, “No” to a lot more festivals than before. After much introspection, the smoking gun literally sits right in front of me: my laptop! It’s just not my laptop either, it’s my cell phone. Technology is shrinking the world faster than ever before. Last I checked, there were still only 24 hours in a day but we’re just doing more. So this Hopinions is about technology and how it affects craft beer.

I’ve noticed that you will occasionally send a reply email via your Blackberry. I know this because your “signature” says “sent from my digital leash”. While some folks are truly tethered to their work and are on-call 24/7, like Mrs. BetterBeerBlog, our smart phones have opened up a level of connection unlike any other. Email, Twitter and Facebook have revolutionized how quickly information can spread. I can know of a special craft beer tasting minutes after a bottle shop or bar decides to let the public know. I can make reservations to one beer dinner while seated at another. This begs the question, “Are there more craft beer events or are we just hearing about them easier? Maybe both?”

Even with regards to homebrewing, technology is leaps and bounds from what it used to be when homebrewing was first allowed. I remember Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada give a keynote speech at the National Homebrewers Convention regarding the early days of homebrewing. They relied on malt syrups of varying quality. Hops came in pink bricks that were originally supposed to be used in baking. Now? We can get just about anything the professional brewer can. I still ferment in a glass carboys but there are small, stainless steel, temperature controlled fermentation tanks, that look like scaled down version of used in a professional brewhouse, available for homebrewers. As a BJCP judge, I’ve had many homebrews that have been wildly better than their professionally brewed counterparts. Are the leaps and bounds in homebrewing technology yielding a superior professional brewer? Are the limits of beer styles being pushed, pulled and sometimes broken because of more precise homebrewing tech?

The notebook I’m typing on has forever changed craft beer for me. My laptop has been a teacher of styles, a guide for research and a sometimes dissonant voice inspiring debate. Many people I consider good friends I have met through time spent on my laptop. There are a great number of beers I’ve been introduced to, at least made aware of, through my laptop. Has technology replaced how we interact with people? I social media truly social or are we all just playing Farmville (Bejeweled in my case)?

Everything is two-sided, technology included. I’ve talked briefly about how technology as enabled me to try new beers, brew better beers and even meet really cool craft beer people. In what cases have you seen technology negatively affecting the craft bee world? I often see big trucks hauling around palettes of Bud Lime. Is this an instance where advances in automotive technology is actually hurting the people?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

For the purpose of this topic, I’ll make sure I respond via my blackberry.

I think you make excellent points as to the availability of news within the craft beer industry. Where we used to wait 2 months for our printed craft beer news, we now have it delivered as it happens via Twitter, Facebook, email or all of the above all at once.

This allows us to attend every event we want, try every beer that interests us and stay on top of all the news that’s going on within the industry.

But there is a cost. We don’t rush to the store/bar for the newest Celebrator or Brewing News. We aren’t surprised at the beer aisle when a new beer arrives. We don’t get excited for the one local festival because we know there are actually 5 and we’ve already been to a dozen this year.

There is a backlash to this instant beer news. I’ve had a brewer tell me to not tweet about his beers because he wants people to find them on their own. I myself have built up a bit of apathy towards press releases as they never stop, there’s always another waiting in the inbox.

Does technology affect my enjoyment of a beer? Well, kind of. Better equipment, for professionals and homebrewers, has made it far more rare that I drink a truly bad beer. Consistency is at an all-time high and spoilage isn’t tolerated. These are good things to be sure.

What else could we be doing with this rush of technology? With Wordpress on my Blackberry, I’ve considered live-blogging an event, but then I figured I don’t do anything interesting enough to warrant it. What are some ideas you have?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

I attempted to follow suit during my lunch hour but was roped into a lunch-time discussion regarding the branding principles and company core values and philosophy as well as simple chicken recipes and sausage-making. Mmm… sausages.

The cost of information availability you have outlined below hits the nail right on the head. Beer festivals that were once, regional and community celebrations have morphed into grand “events”. On the other side of the coin, I imagine that beer festivals have been cannibalizing each other’s attendance. Just this upcoming weekend, there is the Napa Blues, Brews & BBQ, and the Eat Real Festival (which looks like I’m going to miss) while Morgan Hill brewery El Toro is having their Augtoberfest.

The “end of print” was being proclaimed way back when I was in college earning my degree. I personally do not see print ever ending; there’s just something about the tactile sensation of the printed page, the smell of the ink, the “heirloom” quality of a book or well-designed magazine that I don’t think will ever go out of style. Granted sales and distribution from traditionally printed works will continue to decrease but I think the opportunity is there to be creative with how you parse out your content. If there’s anything today’s technology has killed, it’s the old way of thinking and doing business.

I think the worst thing technology does is build up expectations to an unimaginable degree. I wrote before on how I think Wesvleteren 12 is overrated not because it isn’t a good beer but there’s just no way to live up to the expectations set by the hundreds of beer reviewers out there. Hyperbole, exaggerated rhetorical statements made to make a point, are now the norm. Words such as “epic” are being thrown around so much they’ve lost their true meaning. This is especially true on Twitter and, to a lesser degree, Facebook.

Live blogging is an interesting idea and something I’ve also thought about. At the same time, isn’t that kind of what Twitter is supposed to be? You can even make the same argument for Facebook’s status updates. If you were to do live blogging, I imagine it would have to be in the realm in-between a full-fledged post (approximately 500 words) and a tweet but with more robust and richer content.

There is also the idea of streaming video from a craft beer event via our smartphones. I remember seeing Brew Dog do a “virtual” tasting with a craft beer bar thousands of miles away via Skype. Now that was a novel, creative and realistic approach to using new media. Speaking of which, my main issue with new/social media is that there are soo many companies doing virtually the same thing, it’s hard to decide which company/technology to adopt. Adopt to early and no one “gets” what you’re doing or trying to accomplish. Adopt late and you’re just another sheep in the flock. I suppose at the end of the day, the technology you use should be determined by what you want to accomplish.

So, where does all this lead us? Will technology continue to destroy the “small town”, “regionalism” and artisanal qualities often associated with craft beer? Will brewers start to see more so-called “beer hunters” in their breweries and brew pubs or will they cultivate a larger community of people? Do you see technology uniting the craft beer industry or creating further segmentation? Lastly, is Hopinions one, ill-advised, social media stunt from becoming an Internet meme to be paraded at ROFLCon?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

It’s funny you mention Napa and Eat Real this weekend. I don’t think either really represent a true beer festival, but reach out to just a certain atmosphere. Napa has wine tasting to go along with music and BBQ and Brews just seems to fit in because it rhymes. The Eat Real Festival is a sustainable “street food” festival, but the beer shed is more there because of the craft beer and sustainable food crowd tend to overlap.

It’s this overlapping that’s really starting to emerge in the craft beer community. As social networking has more people focusing on the small details of one’s life, we begin to realize that we might have more in common with our beer drinking buddy from the pub than we initially thought. Well tuned organizers can then notice their crowd for a beer festival, which they always assumed was a sausage and beer crowd, might appreciate a cheese display, a produce stand, etc at their beer festival. In the same vein, the cheese festival may try to bring in new crowds by adding beer tables.

You also mentioned virtual tastings. I’ve participated in two of these, one with Widmer and another with Deschutes. While each had their own strengths and weaknesses, I did really like the opportunity to drink a beer while talking to the brewer. I may not get a chance to sit down with any of these individuals with this new beer in hand at any other time, and the computer really gave us the opportunity to share a moment drinking a beer.

I don’t see any blanket statements of ending regionalism or leading to further segmentation applying to the craft beer scene due to technology. I think you’ll see more people from out of town, but you’ll also be able to promote a small event with a more targeted audience thanks to these new tools at our disposal. I can’t speak for others, but I know I’ve become more present at local events thanks to Twitter and Facebook because I finally heard about all the interesting things going on around Sonoma County.

As for Hopinions, shut your mouth Peter or else they’re all going figure us out!

In this timely iteration of Hopinions, Mario brings up the topic of lists, specifically, “Best of Beer” lists. The Altrom Brothers at Beer Advocate, whether driven by curiosity or boredom, switched up their “Best of…” craft beer lists to see what would happen. The results and their findings were interesting.

So that’s what we’re talking about this week: lists. Are they good? Are they bad? Who is best suited for writing a list? Are they even useful? Check out what we have to say at the link below:

Hopinions: That’s it, That’s the List

Normally, Hopinions is a collaborative effort between myself and Mario, blogger of Brewed for Thought. We take turns picking a topic, writing about it and then hosting the collaborative post on our respective blogs. For the past few years, this format has been successful. With the exception of a few posts where we seem to bicker within the post itself, the process has gone swimmingly.

Swimmingly, until now.

Mario has decided to put his foot down and not write about the topic I choose. The topic? The End of History, a whopping 55% ABV beer brewed by Scotland’s own Brew Dog. Mario has very strong opinions about this beer and about Brew Dog that he unfortunately refuses to share on his blog.

Hopinions, though, is not about airing “dirty laundry”, so-to-speak. This has always been, and will continue to be, a place for collaboration. Having had the downtime yesterday to let the situation sink in, I came up with an idea.

The Birth of the “End”

I have a homebrewed Russian Imperial Stout that I’ve aged on a bourbon soaked oak spiral that is about 1.5 years old now. I brewed this beer, developed a label for it and gave it away as Christmas presents last year. While I still have a handful of bottles left over, I have about 1/4th to 1/3rd of a 5-gallon keg of this beer left. I have decided to take this beer and run it through the freeze concentration process Brew Dog uses to make their incredibly high alcohol beers. I would then bottle the resulting beer and wrap it in a koozie of my own visage and give it away to the first person to donate $100 to the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA).

I have decided to name this beer End of Hopistory.

Thinking about it further, I felt that this was a lot of trouble for a $100 donation. So I have decided to expand the idea to try and raise as much awareness and money as I can for the LFA. So why the LFA? And what is lupus? According the to the LFA website:

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years. In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs (”foreign invaders,” like the flu). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues (”auto” means “self”) and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.

Someone close to my family has lupus and this effort is for her and the thousands of other people living with lupus. There are many causes in the world that are important and urgent to many people; this is mine and I’m hoping you can help me.

Can I get a helping hand?

So here’s the plan: I want to raise money to support this cause. I am still working out the details as to how I will be raising the money. Mario has suggested a raffle. I’ve been looking into silent auctions and how to do this online. Is online even the best way to do so? The last time I helped to raise money for a cause, I was selling candy bars out of Ziplock bags. So I am looking for ideas that are fairly easy to implement.

I am also looking for people to help with incentives. This is what I have to offer so far:

• End of Hopistory homebrew
• Tentatively planned 3-day/2-night stay in Windsor, CA (Santa Rosa is a quick, 10 minute drive south of Windsor)
• A bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin or Sink the Bismarck, both graciously donated by Brew Dog

So if any brewery, brewpub or business is willing to donate other incentives to sweeten the pot, I would greatly appreciate it. I also would greatly appreciate a company with philanthropic designs to fully match, dollar-for-dollar, whatever I am able to raise. I would even be happy for partial matches.

As ideas solidify and details become set, I will be setting up a page for this fundraiser. It will be a way for people to keep track of my efforts and of the incentives that will hopefully come our way. August has shaped up to be a very busy month for me but I will be looking to launch this campaign in the next, few weeks.

So I guess the next question is, does anyone have a freezer I can use?

Mario is hosting this edition of Hopinions and the topic this time around is “Proud to be Drinking American”. Even though Anheuser-Busch is no longer an American owned company, they still carry the “title” of the American beer/brewery. Or do they? Is there a worthy successor to that title? Is there a quintessential “American” beer? Finally is Mario a racist? (SPOILER ALERT: He isn’t, he’s just joking.)

So click here to read the latest edition of Hopinions: Proud to be Drinking American.

Once again, Ale Industries has been the inspiration regarding this edition of Hopinions. The issue at hands stems from the TTB ruling that Ale Industries change the name of the flagship beer from Orange Kush to Orange Shush. While a fine example of making the best of a bad situation, should the TTB be concerned with creating “social responsibility” policy or enforcing it? Also, do you brew with the bong water or not?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

An article on beernews.org talks about how Ale Industries has had to change the name of their flagship beer from Orange Kush to Orange Shush, all thanks to our friends at the TTB.
TTB is an acronym for Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. As pulled from their website, the TTB mission is:

…to collect alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and ammunition excise taxes that are rightfully due; to protect the consumer of alcohol beverages through compliance programs that are based upon education and enforcement of the industry to ensure an effectively regulated marketplace; and to assist industry members to understand and comply with Federal tax, product, and marketing requirements associated with the commodities we regulate.

Effectively, if you wish to sell alcohol, they are the gate keepers you have to go through; their hoops are the ones you must jump through. This is especially significant if you wish to bottle your beer and sell them as the TTB reviews and approves (or rejects) labels.

The original issue at hand was that “Kush” has a negative connotation; specifically, it’s another name for a strain of marijuana. Ale Industries argues that the name Orange Kush was inspired by the Egyptian Kingdom of Kush; where they source one of the beer’s ingredients from, specifically, chamomile. Unconvinced, the TTB still forced Ale Industries to change the beer’s name while accusing them of being socially irresponsible.
This is not the first time breweries have had to change the name of a beer to suit the will of the TTB. A little further up north, Lagunitas was forced to change the name of their copper ale, The Kronik (which is another euphemism for marijuana); in response, they renamed their beer Censored.

If there’s anything I’ve learned about the brewing industry, it’s that overall, brewers have a pretty good sense of humor. Many beer names have a tongue-in-cheek quality about them. Pete’s Support Belgian IPA at Firehouse Brewing company is a nod to both Pete Slosberg (Pete’s Wicked Ale) and the much lauded Pizza Port Brewing Company. With the slogan, “Why have just one?”, Polygamy Porter from Utah-based Wasatch Brewing, pokes fun of the polygamist Mormon stereotype. While I have no doubt that Orange Kush was originally named as a reference to the Kingdom of Kush, there’s no doubting a double entendre exists whose meaning could be argued is more commonly known than the original inspiration.

So the question I pose to you is, is the TTB “correct” in having Ale Industries change their beer’s name? Are they infringing upon Ale Industries’ first amendment rights? Is it even the TTB’s call to be setting “social responsiblity” policy or to enforce it?

Last, but not least, what about the TTB’s lack of consistency with regards to enforcement? James Costa, a commentor on the Beernews.org article I reference earlier, brings up several beer names that have obvious cannabis referencing names that have not received (at least to my knowledge) instructions to change.

What about Lost Cost Indica IPA and 420 Pale Ale from Sweetwater in Atlanta?Old Bongwater Hemp Porter from Kettlehouse? I’m sure there are others. This is selective enforcement does’nt the TTB have better things to do than pick on small business owners?

If much of law is decided by precedence, then what allows these beers to slip through and not Orange Kush?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

Having worked with public agencies as a civil engineer for some time now, I refuse to try and figure out why they do what they do. I can see why they dp it, and can laugh when they fail (Legal Weed anyone?)

As for some of the beers that James mentioned having made it through, Bongwater is the easiest to explain because to be honest, it hasn’t made it through. The line lf Bongwater named beers remain draft only. For Ale Industries Orange Kush, the name should stay unchanged for draft offerings.

Personally, my favorite beer containing a thinly veiled reference is Terrapin’s Wake N Bake, currently bottled as a Coffee Oatmeal Stout.

In the end, true fans know the real roots of the beer and TTB rulings only help by giving a beer a bit of a story (and who doesn’t love a beer with a story). In fact, for the Real Ale Night I promote at the Toad in the Hole, we had a smoked beer theme for 4/20. Not having local smoked beer for the cask, Lagunitas got us a double dry-hopped cask of Censored. It wouldn’t be 4/20 without some extra stinky Kronik, right?

There is something interesting on the horizon though. In November, California voters will vote on the issue of legalization. If passed, not only the names, but the ingredients of some craft beers may change. What are your thoughts on the possibility of thesee sativa skunked suds?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

A few years ago, I did a beer review in “honor” of April 20th. For that review, I focused on hop forward beers; the common thread being that hops are a cousin to marijuana. You even commented on using smoked beers and it was good to see that you followed up on that for cask night at Toad in the Hole.

The issue of legalization is an entire matter altogether. While I don’t have a strong bias towards or against legalization, the idea of using marijuana as a brewing ingredient is interesting. I’ve heard anecdotal accounts of homebrewers adding the stuff to their own beers, a double-whammy, but have never attempted it myself. Picturing it in my mind, I see a group of friends sitting around a campfire, all have cotton mouth despite having beers in hand. Funny.

American brewers, homebrewers and professionals alike, have always been an experimental sort. I’m not sure if adding wacky tobacky to a beer, while interesting in concept, would result in a good beer. Depends on how you use it. Are you grinding up the seeds and using them as you would with coriander (Weedy Wit, if the name’s not taken yet, I call dibs!)? Or will you be “dry-hopping” your beers with the leaves? Would adding hemp to the mash help with setting the filter bed? If you really wanna go nuts, smoke your malt with the stuff. Then there’s always using the bong water… eww.

How would you envision using weed in beer? Even if legalization goes through in California, none of these new labels would ever fly through the TTB. Of course, if you’re luckly like Allagash (well, depending on your viewpoint), you could submit your “Hugh Malone” label to the TTB and get back “Huge Mellons” approved.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I wouldn’t claim to be an expert, but if it’s the intoxicating effects of the cannibus you’re looking for, then there are two things you need to do. First, THC is fat soluble, not water soluble, so there needs to be a binding agent. Second, I believe it requires heat for activation.

A friend of mine made an imperial stout flavored with coffee, orange peel and cocoa powder. Using the ingredient in question for 30 minutes seemed appropriate given other techniques of ingesting the herb. The result was a rather wicked brew .

You idea for using hemp seeds similarly to coriander in a Wit is intriguing and more easily executed under current laws than any other use. I believe hemp seeds can be purchased at just about any organic market, health food store, etc. You might not know, but hemp seeds are supposed to be pretty healthy, similar to the benefits of flax seeds. If you do brew this beer, let me know how it comes out.

In the end, it will be interesting to see what happens. In the mean time, I hope brewers continue to mess with the TTB and see what they can sneak through. I mean if Leafer Madness can get approved, anything is possible!

This week on Hopinions, Mario and I discuss containers, specifically, the containers beers are shipped in. You know these containers to be 12 oz bottles, 22 oz bombers, 750 mL, half-gallon growlers and even 5L draught kegs. With the way craft beers are being consumed nowadays, shared between friends in small pours, are these current sizes still relevant? Should there be a new bottle size?

Mario is hosting this week so click on the link to read up on the article - Hopinions: Does the Bottle Fit Cinder-ale-a?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

Morgan Cox of Ale Industries expressed his frustration on Facebook the other day. His frustration was so great he created a Facebook group called, “Only companies that brew beer should be considered a brewery“. At first glance, it’s a no-brainer; of course companies that brew beer should be called breweries. It’s not only common sense but obvious as well, right? As I let this question percolate in my noggin, I came to the realization that maybe the issue isn’t so cut and dry.

Of course it’s obvious that companies that make their own beer should be called breweries. They have earned the distinction by their vary actions. You show up to their place of business and, if your timing’s good, you can smell beer being made. Often you will be able to taste the final product, or products, as well. If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck then it must be a…? Brewery, right.

But we all know this is not the case. There are various brewing companies out there that call themselves brewing companies or brew pubs that don’t actually brew the beer they serve on premises.BJs is probably the largest of these companies. Marketing themselves as a restaurant and brewhouse, I have yet to walk into a BJs and smell wort being made or see a galoshes, cargo shorts, beard adorned brewer walking about. I could be wrong, I could just be visiting BJs when they’re not brewing but I don’t think so. Do I feel this is disingenuous? Eh, a little. Do I let this bug me? Not so much anymore. Unfortunately at the end of the day, your average customer isn’t as beer savvy and as a result, they don’t care where the beer is made as long as it’s being poured where they’re at.

Then there are other breweries, the kind Fritz Maytag referred to as “marketing companies”. They don’t have a brewery of their own to produce their beers but they aren’t brewpubs either. In most cases, they are essentially marketing companies that contract out production breweries to brew their beers up for them. In some cases, someone from those companies will actually brew the beer at the production facility but that’s not always the case. Should these companies be allowed to append “brewery” or “brewing company” to their names? If we were to side with Morgan Cox, the answer would be “no”.

But I don’t side with Morgan, in fact, I’m not really siding with anyone. I’ve met people who have started, or will be starting, breweries without an actual brewery. These are honest people, hard working people, with a dream to make great beer even if they can’t make it themselves. In many cases, the cost of starting a brewery proper is far prohibitive to the average craft beer fan. In these cases, it’s more cost-effective to either use someone else’s equipment or pay a production brewery with extra capacity to make their beers.

So, the question I ask you is, “should companies that brew beer be considered breweries only”? Is there a “wrong” or “right” side to this issue? Should we even be applying morality to the issue to begin with? Maybe it’s more of a question of ethics? Oh, and what are some of the more memorable “brewing company” beers you’ve had?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I guess I’m a little confused. How is BJ’s disqualified from this argument? They brew their own beer, not on premise, but it is still done by BJ’s for BJ’s. Long ago, I believe each of the BJ’s actually housed a brewery at some point and they have since consolidated their brewing operations to a few regional centers. This would be similar to Rogue and their Ale Houses. Then again, Rogue’s official name is Rogue Ales, and not Rogue Brewery saving them from putting “Rogue Brewhouses” on their establishments. Pyramid and Gordon Biersch would be similar examples.

Where Morgan’s Facebook group seems to be aimed is at contract brewers. I’m not quite sure I agree with him in that contract brewers should not be called breweries.

I’ll give an example of a friend of mine, Daniel Del Grande of Bison Brewing. When I was in college in Berkeley, Bison was set up just down the street from my residence. As this was before my brewpub hopping days, I never made it through the doors of Bison (something I regret) before those doors were closed permanently. Today, Daniel’s beers are brewed at Mendocino Brewing Company’s facility in Ukiah.

By Morgan’s standards, this would mean Daniel would have to change his company’s name. A name change could negatively affect his brand, which would only serve as an additional slap in the face after having to close a brewpub. And to what end?

Let’s apply this standard to other aspects of life, such as consumer electronics. Most people don’t realize, but the insides of that Sony, Panasonic, Dell, etc are generally the exact same. Manufacturer’s around the world produce components for these electronics which are then sold to us with a new name and in some cases, nothing changed but a shiny case. Big retailers re-brand electronics with their own logos all the time. Best Buy doesn’t know anything about making TV’s, but they still have their own brand.

I’d rather have Daniel continue to brew Bison’s Chocolate Stout (one of my favorites). I’d also like to see him continue to produce a selection of organic beers, something the brewing industry is lacking in general. Add into this that Daniel is one of the few American brewers who released a bottled un-hopped ale.

Sure, out of the same Ukiah brewery, Carmel Brewing Company’s Carmel Wheat and Pale are being produced and these, in my opinion, are awful beers. The good people of the Monterey Peninsula are misled into believing that they are drinking a locally produced beer and continue choking down the stuff in the name of local pride.

I’d love to see someone alert the public to branding schemes like this, but to paint with such broad strokes would throw the baby out with the bathwater.

So where’s the compromise? Do former brewpub/brewery owners get grandfathered in? Am I missing the true target of Morgan’s comments?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

The point I was trying to make with BJs is that they market themselves as a brewhouse, which for me has the implication they brew on premises, when in reality they don’t. I’ve only been to the Pyramid in Berkeley and they brew on-site there. Gordon Biersch, on the other hand, brews at all their brewpub locations so would be excluded (at least all the locations that I know of/have been to).

It’s difficult to say if we’ve missed the true target of Morgan’s comments, only Morgan can verify that. I don’t mean for this Hopinions to be a “pick on Morgan” thing but he does raise an issue I think is worth talking about, even if it’s within the context of 4 emails.

If we read between the lines, it sounds like people are gaming the system. There are benefits having a “brew on premises” license and if people are abusing the system, perhaps it’s time to take a look at the system. Maybe now is the time to update it to reflect the reality of today.

It’s interesting you use Daniel Del Grande, and Bison Brewing by extension, as an example. I had a chance to try their Honey Basilyesterday for the first time (I liked it); it was in during research for that post did I find out they contract their beers out to Mendocino Brewing as you described.

Personally, the real issue with brewing companies that don’t brew their own beer lies not in where the physical location of where their beers are brewed, but with their intentions. If the goal at the end of the day is to brew a quality beer honestly marketed, then it really doesn’t matter to me if they brew on-site or down the street at a Public Storage. The last thing I’d want to see is an explosion of contract breweries putting out poor products in an attempt to make a quick buck. The craft beer world is already facing issues with the macros trying to gain a foothold through fictitious craft breweries.

So where does that leave us. Are they breweries, are they not? Do we need to take a look at the existing rules and regulations to see if they need tightening up or are they fine as is? Is it fair for consumers to demand a certain level of transparency from the companies they patronize? This is a topic that I would love to see our readers chime in with their thoughts.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

After responding to your email, I talked to Daniel a bit and got some information on this contract brewing thing. On brew day, Daniel heads to Ukiah and watches over the brewing process. While he’s not as involved as he had been with this previous setup (Mendocino’s system is very large and very automated), he is as present and as much a part of the brew as any brewer who owns a brewery and has a full-time production brewer. He also told me that as things continue to improve, as demand for Bison beer grows, it will be necessary that he goes and buys his own brewhouse.

He also wanted me to pose this question: Is the Homebrew Chef not a chef because he doesn’t own his own restaurant?

I think there is transparency with the labeling requirements we have today. Grab a bottle of beer, look at the label and see where it’s brewed. This tells you a lot. Yeah, there are ways of confusing the issue. Somehow, the contract brews that show up at Trader Joe’s from Firestone, Goose Island, etc bear a different brewery name. For the most part though, the name of the brewery that actually did the brewing will appear on the label.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with contract brews. Many are excellent beers and poor products will not gain acceptance among craft beer fans. Mass marketed faux-craft beer will always be there. If someone’s drinking a Blue Moon, let them know it’s brewed by Coors. The most likely answer will be “So what?” as they reach for the orange slice placed on the edge of their frosty mug.

Additional Reading:

Mario brought this to my attention this morning; the timing couldn’t have been better. It’s an article from Hop Press/Ratebeer written by Brian Cendrowski explaining further the intricacies of contract brewing. I learned quite a bit.

http://briancendrowski.hoppress.com/2010/05/27/why-arent-there-more-contract-brewers/

Mario is hosting this iteration of Hopinions where we talk about the beers we miss; the ones that got away. Y’know, those early favorites that we “cut our teeth on”. I then flip the script and talk about what makes a beer a can’t miss.

Don’t miss the discussion: Hopinions - Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I recently attended new beer tapping at one of my local brewpubs. As usual, I had a great time at the event and did my write up a day or so later. The brewmaster wrote back to me commenting on how I compared this beer to the BJCP guideline for the style. Long story short, he purposely doesn’t brew that specific beer to “style” but instead brews it to the palettes of his consumers. It’s one of his best selling beers so it’s a justifiable change. So that got me thinking about beer style guidelines; how useful they are, how limiting they can be and most of all, how divisive they are in the beer community.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

The beer style guidelines I most refer to are those from the BJCP. As a BJCP judge, these form the backbone of the work we do. Part of the BJCP’s Mission Statement is to promote beer literacy and these guidelines help to do so.

The other set of guidelines I refer to less but are no less useful come from the Brewers Association. While the BA style guidelines are very similar those from the BJCP, there are major differences. The BA guidelines are more succinct; they are also organized with a greater focus on country of origin and historical consideration.

When initially developed, each set of guidelines had a specific objective they wanted to fulfill. Individually they are great resources but when used together, they paint a very comprehensive portrait of the world of craft beer.

As important as I think style guidelines are in providing a common language and context for craft beer, I have met more than a handful of brewers who aren’t too keen about them. Their resistance ranges from annoyance to declarations of evil! A major criticism is that style guidelines are restricting.

What are your thoughts regarding beer styles? Do you find them useful in defining a common ground by which we can all talk about beers in-depth? Do you think they’re restrictive and killers of the imagination?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I like this topic as I was thinking about it myself recently. As some may already know, I am actively avoiding any BJCP certification. My reasoning is that I want to avoid honing my ability to detect flaws in the beer in front of me and simply enjoy it. Ignorance is bliss after all.

On the topic of styles, I am pro- and anti-guidelines. My problem with BJCP or BA guidelines is that it finds a way to criticize a beer that is otherwise perfectly fine. The subtle difference between a Bohemian Pilsner and a German Pilsner matters if you’re specifically trying to brew a style, or looking at beer from a historic perspective, but from a beer drinker’s point of view it simply needs to taste good.

The use of guidelines reminds me of my time working at a music store through high school and college. At first, you had a handful of sections: Rock, R&B, Classical, Jazz, Country. Then there was a section for Rap; then Electronica, then the Jazz section was split, and so on and so forth. Eventually, there were so many sections and sub-sections that order was lost. Some bands would belong in multiple sections, making finding anything more difficult.

Beer can be the same way. If a brewery brews a beer exactly as they intended and it’s an excellent beer, but it falls between categories, that beer is punished by the powers that be. They will not bring home GABF hardware, they will not win anything at the World Beer Cup. Does this mean a beer is a lesser beer than some that win those medals? Does it mean a gold medal is the best beer or the beer that fell in line the best?

This is where I think the guidelines can hurt the awards themselves. Every year, brewers submit for GABF and World Beer Cup with hopes of winning, but you also hear the dismissal of the awards and the judging after the fact. Brewers will be biased, but there are always surprises among the winners where you wonder how that beer beat out some of the others in the same category. Granted, no system will make everyone happy, but should the best beers win the gold medals?

So do I say get rid of styles all together? Not at all. The 2008 BJCP Style Guidelines has 23 Categories and over 70 individual styles. How about drop the sub-categories, make it simple. Sure, some categories need a split between Imperial and otherwise, but that’s simple, find a dividing line according to strength and give a little in each direction (e.g. Stouts with ABV less than 8%, Imperial Stouts with ABV of 7.5% or more)

Styles can be helpful for an everyday beer drinker as well. Hand me a beer, say it’s a pale ale, I know what to expect. Sure, it could be an English pale or an American pale, but that can be left to the brewer to describe to the customer.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

BJCP certification really isn’t for everyone, in reality it’s not for everyone. If you want to take an active role in the homebrew scene, then it might be something to look into. Being able to recognize flaws in beers is actually a good thing. How else would be able to know what good beers are or how to fix bad ones? Trust me when I say that it’s pretty easy to shut off the “beer analysis” part of the brain and just enjoy a beer. That being said, I think having a lexicon by which to describe beers goes a long way toward appreciation. I’d rather someone be specific when describing a beer as opposed to telling me, “It’s a’ight.” or “Meh.” or “Hella good!”. Why is the beer lackluster? Why is it good? I don’t need to know what the “original gravity” is or what the “apparent extract” or even what “SRM” the beer is at to enjoy it. A little too much information. That being said…

The whole reason we have beer styles today is because beer, like many other food products, are regional. They are a direct result of the ingredients available to local brewers and the techniques they’ve been taught and incorporate. A few insightful people in the craft beer community noticed this, drank a lot of beer, took detailed notes, drank more beer, refined those notes and did their best to categorize a vast body of information. If anything, blame the late Michael Jackson for this quagmire because it is through his notes that many of these beer style guidelines have been developed from.

I’m glad you brought up the issue of competition and awards. I have to respectfully disagree with you in this matter. It is in these specific instances that style guidelines were developed. While I like your analogy of the record store as it relates to the organization of beer styles, I think a dog show analogy would better represent what goes on during a competition. Beers are not necessarily judged against each other, at least not in the beginning. When judges receives beers, they are “blind” in that they have no idea who brewed this beer or where it came from. Judges then have to compare the beer in front of them against a “standard”. In this case, the “standard” is taken from a style guideline. In the Best of Show rounds, beers are then judged against one another. I think this is a fair system. I think the BJCP says it best:

Without beer styles, competitions would be nearly impossible to conduct. Judging would simply become a hedonistic event, where judges would simply pick beers according to their preference. The outcome would be totally arbitrary and would depend on the background and preferences of those who judge their beers. This is not a desirable situation.

With regards to beers that don’t fit a particular category, there are “catch-all” categories in both the BA and BJCP guidelines in which these beers can be entered. The BJCP has Category 23: Specialty Beers, which was designed just for this purpose. The BA has Specialty Beers, Experimental Beers and Out of Category - Traditionally Brewed Beer categories for tweener beers. Entering your beers in any of these categories gives you just as good a chance to medal as the traditional categories. Take the Sam Adams Longshot homebrew competition. In the short time I’ve been involved in the craft beer scene, I’ve noticed just as many non-traditional beer recipes win as traditional. Grape Pale Ale? Not my favorite but it won.

One thing to remember is that there is no super-secret Craft Beer Illuminati trying to push their agenda on the populace. Beer style guidelines are just that - guidelines. They should not be seen as hard and fast rules but as a point of reference. They are living documents; constantly evolving and being updated as brewers push the boundaries of current styles and in many cases, develop entirely new ones.

Going back to the original reason I chose this topic, a local brewmaster decided to brew one of his best selling beers slightly out of style. His customers demanded it and he’d have been a fool not to listen. That being said, what are some notable non-traditional beers you’ve had? I found the Orange Kush from Ale Industries, an American-style Witbier I suppose, to have been surprisingly good. The Hades Habañero from Devils Canyon remains one of the few chili beers I actually enjoy. Hell, most of what The Bruery or Lost Abbey brews can be considered non-traditional.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I wasn’t suggesting a free for all-category free competition. I just thought less specialization would be nice. I like the analogy of the dog show. We need less best of breeds and more of the best of groups.

For me, I live in the heart of non-traditional brewing. Lagunitas makes an excellent pilsner that doesn’t fall into categories as it’s their own interpretation of the broader style. Or take their most recent release, A Little Sumpin’ Wild, a highly hopped, wheat ale that comes in at over 7% and is fermented using Belgian yeast. What style would that beer fall into?

This actually reminds me of a conversation I had at the bar a few weeks back. A man was sipping a Scrimshaw pilsner and complaining about the Lagunitas pint night going on. According to him, Lagunitas needs to use less hops. He wondered why Lagunitas couldn’t brew a pils like Scrimshaw, to which I replied “because North Coast already brews it, why do we need two of the same beers?”

The point of this is that I love style bending. I love when a brewer take a style, sees room for improvement (in his or her opinion) and executes it. That’s how we see changes in the brewing industry. Racer 5 calls itself an IPA, but how does this compare to an IPA of 15 years ago? In terms of IPA, one of my favorites right now is Belhaven’s Twisted Thistle. This was an IPA brewed by a Scottish brewery specifically for the American market.It’s incredibly fragrant, but not bitter and still in the 5% range. It’s not an English IPA and definitely not an American IPA, but it’s own style.

This conversation has me thirsty. I think I’ll go dig through my fridge and find a style bending beer and raise a toast to the BJCP. In the end, as long as good beer continues to make it’s way to my glass, I can’t complain. Styles do a great job of reminding us where we should be and also let’s all of us, home brewers and professionals, to feel like a rebel when we break out of the mold.

Despite the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area has an awesome beer scene, craft beer drinkers remain a promiscuous lot. Our eyes, and tongues, often wander in search of the next thing. Oh craft beer, you soneofawhore bitch, I wish I knew how to quit you.

In a perfect world, we should be able to pick up any beer we want from any brewery we want. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. So a secondary, cottage industry has started: beer trading. No money ever changes hands. Care packages are sent from one craft beer connoisseur to another filled with beers out of our reach. This is a market born out of a love for good beer.

Mario is hosting Hopinions: Quest for the Holy Ale this week. Go on over and check it out.