BetterBeerBlog

In this version of Hopinions, Mario and I discuss the Brew Dog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck! super-strong ales. At such high alcohol levels, are these beers still beers? Are these beers any good or are they just good marketing? Is this even an issue worth caring about? Read on to find out!

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

Sink the Bismarck! from BrewDog on Vimeo.

Beer has a terrible reputation in Britain, it’s ignorant to assume that a beer can’t be enjoyed responsibly like a nice dram or a glass of fine wine.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I think it’s all great marketing. BrewDog isn’t going to make their money selling bottles of Tactical Nuclear Penguin, Sink the Bismark or even their beer on the other end of the spectrum, Nanny State (a 1% ABV hop bomb).

What this race to the top does is give them an easy way to advertise their other products. Have you noticed the major push BrewDog utilizes along side these releases? Their videos on the beer are seen by far more people than those that actually get a chance to drink the beer. Even if you haven’t had the Penguin or Bismark, you’ll probably try some of their Punk IPA or other brands just for a taste of what all the hype is about.

I have to say, I don’t know what Schorsbräu’s angle is in all of this. Maybe it’s because I don’t speak German and can’t view their videos or read their blogs, but I haven’t seen anything from their end other than bigger, crazier beers. They aren’t marketing their releases in the same way, and maybe it’s just a matter of pride to hold the title “Strongest Beer in the World.”

Your question though was what do I think of all of this? I have no problem with it. They’re having fun and, from the taste of Penguin I had during SF Beer week, making interesting beers that are worth at least a sampling. Do these beers warrant the steep price put on them (even steeper for us in the US when you tack on shipping)? That’s hard to say, but I can’t knock them for trying.

From what I have heard about Sink the Bismark, it isn’t just a strong beer for the sake of being strong. It seems like a beer that has its merits. So where do you draw the line? If the beer’s quality diminishes I think it’s hard to encourage the breweries. Yet they are seemingly making quality beer at the 41% mark, so what’s wrong with that?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

Why does everything have to be in the name of advancing craft beer? BrewDog brews tasty beers and sells them. That alone “advances craft beer” in the fact that more craft beer is available. They don’t have to have a greater good in mind.

Those same groups who had a problem with Tokyo*, which is where all of this began, will tell you that BrewDog and their marketing style is aimed towards teenagers and that they copious amount of alcohol units in each bottle (that’s how the neo-prohibitionists measure alcohol in the UK) is conducive to binge drinking. Never mind the fact that teens couldn’t stomach the stuff or that even the biggest craft beer drinkers would prefer to split these bottles 5-6 ways, if not more.

That’s where Nanny State comes from. We don’t need the government telling us what we can or can’t drink.Does it not seem hypocritical that beer can be damned for selling 12 ounces of 18% beer (As Tokyo* was when released) but bottles of booze can be bought far easily at much lower prices in much larger quantities?

The fact is, high ABV beers are not for everybody. If you’re not interested in Sink the Bismark, there’s nothing wrong with that. Will I be drinking it? Once I get my hands on it, definitely. Has the whole arms race with Schorsbräu brought more attention to BrewDog? Without a doubt.

In the end you have to decide for yourself if you care or not.

This week on Hopinions, Mario and I discuss the merits of glassware and how it pertains to beer. Is it really that important to use a specific glass for a specific beer? How much does the right glass enhance your drinking experience? How do you properly clean your glassware? There are just a few questions that Mario and I talk about. Click on the link below for the full story.

Hopinion: A beer in any other glass would taste as sweet

It looks like I’m hosting Hopinions this time around. If you’re a craft beer fan living in the bay area, there’s very little reason why you shouldn’t know about SF Beer Week. In fact, the opening gala starts tomorrow. On this edition of Hopinions, Mario and I talk about SF Beer Week, the events we’ve planned, the events we’d like to be at and the events that we’d like to see next year.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

The SF Bay Area is buzzing. No, there are no swarms of killer bees nor is it an aftershock. San Francisco Beer Week starts in a day and there seems to be a sense of anticipation in the air. With one year’s worth of experience their belt, the SF Beer Week planning committee seems to be more organized this year. They got a spiffy new website, they have sponsors, they have a collaborative beer brewed up and there seems to be more events this year over last year.

Here in the south bay, I have been busy working on putting together events. Just like last year, I’ve worked with Firehouse Brewery to put on a Beer & Cheese Event as well as a Beer & Chocolate Dinner. Instead of working on a Beer & Dessert event like last year, I’m hosting a Beer Appreciation 101 class this time around.

The newest event I’m working on is a Meat the Brewer Beerfest that I am assisting Firehouse and Tied House (at the time of this post, their website is down) breweries with. This beerfest is exciting in the sense that I have always wanted to help put together a beerfest and now I’m getting the chance. I know we’ve had discussions about beerfests in the past. Rereading that post, we had a lot of good ideas that unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to bring to the table, address or implement. Stuff like that happens when you plan in a committee instead of running the show alone. Still, there is strength in numbers.

What events are you planning on attending? Which event(s) are you most looking forward to? Unless I’m mistaken, I noticed that you’re not hosting an event this year. What’s the reason? Are you playing spectator or behind the scenes?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

I actually am involved with a few events. Monday will be Smaltz and Hops night at Taps in Petaluma. We’ll be pouring some of the new Lenny on Rye, Jewbellation 13 and Sword Swallower. On thursday we’re bringing in Speakeasy for a cask night along with a few other drafts.

Up in Santa Rosa I’ll be at the Toad in the Hole’s weekly cask night which we’re turning over to Tim Goeppinger of Sonoma Spings. He’s got a new RyePA, a Green Purl Wormwood Ale and a fresh cask of his Little Chief Pale on the cask engine. Last Beer Week this was the first event I threw with Toad in the Hole and we had Tim in, so it’s a bit of an anniversary as well. The Toad in the Hole and I are still very much in love in case you’re wondering.

As for planning other events, I’m working with RateBeer on finding a way to get more North Bay events going. We hope to have a string of events planned for next year where it might be advisable to take a few days off and get a room in Santa Rosa for the fun.

So to answer your question, I guess the answer is sort of yes on both account. There’s some behind the scenes stuff I’m working on, but I also plan on playing spectator.

• Friday - Younger Day at Russian River! Have to get my fresh Pliny the Younger. Then it’s on the road to San Francisco for the Opening Gala.
• Sunday - Hopmonk Luncheon with Fritz Maytag. Although if I weren’t there I’d probably be at Beerunch in the city.
• Monday - Triple dip! Heading to Berkeley for the Triple Rock Sourfest and Bobby G’s Moonlight event. On the way home I will be at Taps.
• Tuesday - Another busy day. First it’s the Tapas at Lagunitas Brewing then to the Toad.
• Wednesday - An off-the-books day. Mark Dredge will be in from London so I’m going to take him around Sonoma County and show him why it’s more beer country than wine country.

At that point I will see if my wife will still have me and plan my attack further. I will not be attending Celebrator’s festival on Sunday, aka Valentine’s Day. I have my sights set farther down the road, specifically May, when Boonville wants to make us choose between beer and family by sharing the weekend with Mother’s Day.

Any special pints you have in mind to try during this week? I’m excited about the Double Common at the Gala and pretty interested in what this Wormwood Ale Sonoma Springs has in store. Anything missing from SF Beer Week for you?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

That’s quite the schedule you have arranged for yourself. Great list of events you have planned out. Unfortunately for me, with regards to SF Beer Week anyway, I still have a day job that I cannot mysteriously disappear from for a glorious, beer-filled week. As such, I will be limited to the events I’m planning/helping to plan. I am going to the Opening Gala event on Friday evening but cannot stay for the entire event. I am seriously contemplating going to Collaboration Dinner by the Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton, featuring Firestone Walker and De Proef. This sounds like an awesome event with two highly respected breweries. While $98/person may seem steep, it is fair when you factor in that you will be getting 8-courses paired with 9 beers. I probably shouldn’t wait too long though as I know this will sell out very quickly.

I was intrigued to see Hopmonk hosting a Brewer’s Lunch featuring Fritz Maytag. As you probably know, I was able to interview him for an article in Beer Connoisseur magazine and I think it would’ve been good to see him again. I was hosting my own event that Sunday but since I pushed this back a week, I might be able to make it after all. There’s just so much going on everywhere that it’s difficult to choose but I think that’s a good problem.

SF Beer Week 2010 hasn’t even started yet and already I’m thinking about what I could’ve done differently in planning this year’s events. I would’ve liked to start planning a little early. I would’ve liked to approach more south bay breweries to see if they’d be interested in doing any events. I would’ve liked to build upon last year’s success and plan other, more creative events. I would’ve like to reach out to businesses other than brewpubs and breweries to try and put on events as well. So many “would’ve”, “could’ve” and “should’ve”’s. I wonder if that’s a sign of poor planning or grand vision?

What are some events you haven’t seen that you’d like to see in the future? As much as enjoy some of these beer geek-centric events, I think we would all benefit from “introductory” events or “beer education” type of things. I know that I’ve moved mine a week back (complete underestimation of the Superbowl) and that Gail from Beer by Bart is hosting one up in San Leandro as well.

Lastly, this question goes out to our readers, what kind of events would you like to see in future SF Beer Weeks? Bringing in the focus, what kind of events would South Bay beer lovers want to see in our neck of the woods? I am open to ideas and the help.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

One thing I hope to do for next year is get the restaurants involved. It’s SF Beer Week, why not come up with an easy beer paired menu that you can served any day of the week. I’d love to talk to some more local restaurants about this idea. With the number of specialized events we have going on, it would be great for the excitement to trickle down to the general public.

The question then is how do you accomplish that? I’ve noticed more mass media advertising, or at least presence, and that can get people excited. As we’ve seen with St. Patrick’s day, everyone loves an excuse to drink a beer. Let’s play into that.

On the side of an education event, I held one last year for students at Berkeley and it went really well. At first they seemed a little nervous but at the end they all walked away with a tulip glass and some event took home their own bottles of Chimay, St Bernardus 12, and a few other goodies. Talking to them again they’ve taken what they learned that day and started trying a more diverse selection of beer.

To end this little discussion on SF Beer week I wanted to make sure I took care of my friends. The events coordinated for SF Beer week aren’t governed or subsidized by a central organization. This means we really need everyone to come out and attend the events that interest them. So please, consider buying tickets or attending the events listed below and take part in SF Beer Week yourself.

Super Beerunch - Feb 7th ($40)
Kelly’s Mission Rock
817 Terry a Francois Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94158

Miss Pearl’s Jam House
Broadway at Water St.
Oakland, CA 94607

A Taste of Rogue Nation Beers, Farmstead Cheeses & Artisan Chocolates - Feb 10th ($40/45)
Rogue Public Alehouse
673 Union St.
San Francisco, CA 94133

Organic Vegan Beer Dinner: Bison Brewing Co. - Feb 4th-7th ($46 to dine, $66 w/paired beers)
Millennium Restaurant
580 Geary St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

Beer & Nosh and Scala’s Beer Dinner - Feb 10th (SOLD OUT)
Scala’s Bistro
432 Powell Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Humphry Slocombe Beer Ice Creams - All Week
Humphry Slocombe
2790 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Mario is hosting Hopinions this week and the topic of discussion is “Why Beer Matters”. On one level, the answer should be simple but upon further examination, is it really? Take a look at what we have to say on the subject.

Hopinions: Why Beer Matters.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

The last Hopinions I hosted I got all sentimental with Thanksgiving and Christmas so with New Year’s Eve literally hours away, I’d thought I’d go all New Year’s resolution on Hopinions. But then I remembered how this month’s Session is called New Beers Resolution and I came up with the bright idea of “killing two birds with one stone” by combining Hopinions with the Session. This month’s Session is being hosted by Beer for Chicks and, as I’ve already stated, is called New Beers Resolution. Here’s what they’d like us to write about:

So we want to know what was your best and worst of beer for 2009? What beer mistakes did you make? What beer resolutions do you have for 2010? What are your beer regrets and embarrassing moments? What are you hoping to change about your beer experience in 2010?

To start us off, the worst beer I had in 2009 by a landslide is Pabst Blue Ribbon, or PBR as it’s more commonly known. My review of the beer can be found here. I have no idea what people see in this beer. Other than being cheap, I really don’t know what people see in this beer. Unlike all the other macro lagers out there, PBR has bucked current economic trends and grew by an amazing 25% this year. Much of this growth is directly attributed to the adoption of PBR as the hipster beverage of choice but if this is what people drink to be counter-culture, to be anti-mainstream, I’ll stick to my craft beers.

As dominant as PBR was for “Worst Beer of 2009″, my best beer is equally as dominant in the “Best Beer of 2009″ category. Hands down, the best beer of 2009 goes to Samuel Adams Utopia. I can’t say enough good things about this beer. It is the most complex food product I have ever had the pleasure to put into my mouth. The flavors are layered and the beer seemed to change character every few minutes as it warmed up. Some may balk at the steep price tag for this beer, anywhere between $170 - $200 for a current release, but you just can’t put a value on this beer until you’ve tried it. On a related tangent, BetterBeerBlog friends Michael & Diane have recently pointed out to me that they found a bottle of 2007 Utopia going for $300/bottle. I am looking forward to trying future releases of this beer, assuming I can afford to purchase any, ha!

Probably the biggest beer mistake I made in 2009 was related to one of my homebrews. I had wanted to brew up a beer using apricots, not that I’m over enamored by the fruit I just happened to have a big can of it leftover from another homebrew that didn’t materialize. Anyway, I dubbed this newly experimental beer Hopricot. The idea was to brew up an American-style wheat ale with apricots and try to cram as much hop flavor and aroma into the beer as I possibly could afford. The resulting beer on bottle was fantastic. I had the right balance between the wheat nature of the beer, the fruit and the lemony/citrus character of the hops I used. A case of this beer went with my friend back to Fresno. The remaining Hopricot I had on tap was nowhere nearly as balanced, in fact it was all hops. Now, most of you would look at this as a good thing but trust me when I say that it wasn’t. Long story short, I will never dry hop any of my beers for 10 weeks every again.

Switching the questions up a little bit, my biggest beer regret would be not having judged as many homebrews as I did in 2008. I was a much more active BJCP judge in 2008 but for whatever reason, I just wasn’t feeling it in 2009. I can’t really put my finger on why. The BJCP is important to me and I respect what they’re trying to accomplish. I am genuinely surprised and touched by how eagerly the homebrewing community has received us and my lack of involvement in judging homebrew competitions is more of a personal disappointment as opposed to a true regret.

My most embarrassing moment of 2009 happened during Halloween when I switched from beer to tequila and started to headbutt my buddy’s Spanish-style Conquistador costume. He fabricated his armor from some sheet metal he purchased, so I was literally headbutting armor as opposed to a plastic facsimile. I ended up passing out on a chaise lounge they had in their backyard by a firepit. In my great history of embarrassing moments, this was isn’t so bad but it was my worst of the year.

I guess I’ll shoot this back to you, Mario, and see what your picks were for best/worst beer of 2009 were, what beer mistakes you’ve made (and are willing to admit to) as well as what your regrets and embarrasing moments were. In addition, I’d like to know what you think were our best/worst Hopinions topics of 2009 were.

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

As I was on a bit of a vacation this week, I had my Session post all written and done last week, so I will let everyone read that for themselves. So I don’t completely kill the idea of this article, I’ll respond to your contributions and go from there.

I don’t think PBR is necessarily bad as much as it is boring. When it comes to bad, I have had a few beers that I refused to finish from craft breweries. Don’t expect me to name them, but I can say there are bad beers out there and lack of imagination is not to blame.

As far as your best beer, I have yet to try the Utopias so I don’t know much more than what I’ve heard. As you said, the price tag is definitely holding me back. Maybe Once I get a job I can splurge a little and buy me a bottle…or a taste.

I think we’re on the same page when it comes to our homebrew participation. I just don’t brew anymore, and that’s a bigger problem, but homebrewing always asks for more. As for 10 weeks of dry-hopping, my God man, what were you thinking?

Your most embarrassing moment has me laughing. “The Monarch will not stand for Spanish Imperialism!”

Looking back on the Hopinions pieces, I know one stands out as the best. I won’t spoil it for the readers, I’d just like them to know it was topical and produced a lot of conversation. That’s what Hopinions is about!

The worst? Paging Dr. Greenthumb. This one came from my brain, and it was a plea for help regarding my dead hops. My hops sucked and the article wasn’t too interesting. I did like the title though.

What about you?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

I totally agree with you regarding the best Hopinions piece. I thought the little bit of controversy/conversation we started was good. I definitely see the upper end as a place craft beer is headed, for better or for worse, but it’s good to get the conversation started. Regarding the worst, it could very well be this edition, right here. Not that I’m not trying to find new things to write about but a “year-end” recap seemed to be appropriate, if not a little cliché. Of course there could be the Hopinions piece I hosted at the beginning of the month where I got all nostalgic. There’s just something about the holidays that puts me in a contemplative mood.

I am very curious as to which craft beers you thought were awful. By enlarge, many of the craft beers I had this year were very good. At worst, they may have been considered pedestrian. I don’t think I’ve walked out a beer for being bad as much as they may have been dull.

A 10-week dry-hopping period was the result of neglect more than anything. We had been traveling a lot during that time, hosting a bunch of summer events and generally keeping busy. I’m fairly laissez faire when it comes to homebrewing to begin with but I definitely dropped the ball on this kegged version.

Getting back on track for the Session portion of this Hopinions, my beer resolutions for 2009 are ambitious. To start off, I’m hoping to get back on the horse with my homebrewing. I plan on bottling half of my homebrews moving forward and entering them in competitions just to see how they’d do and to get feedback on how to make them better. I don’t anticipate on brewing any more than I did this year, but just to bottle more. I also plan on judging more competitions to keep my skills sharp. The only way to get better at something is to keep on doing it.

A big thing that’s been on my mind has been to really go out and make connections with all my local craft brewers. I tend to frequent the same place regularly simiply because of proximity (to where I work, where I live) but I must make it a point to get to other craft brewers more frequently, at all in some instances. There’s a lot of good beer here in the South Bay that isn’t getting the press it needs/deserves so I guess I’ll raise my hand and take on the task.

Getting out and doing more beer traveling would be nice in the upcoming year. There are a lot of beer festivals and beer weeks that we’ve never been to and it’ll be good to get some of those crossed off out list. Hell, I’d be nice to travel to one of the original beer countries but that will all be determined by our work situation. Things have been tough at my day job and we’ll see if there’s a day job to be had in the coming months.

I see myself at a crossroads in my life. Before me lies two paths, one less traveled and one predictable but not necessarily safer. There are pros and cons to be had with each way, too many to be stated in this blog post, but each warranting much thought. I’ve been mulling things over in my head for months and will continue to do so but when I finally arrive at a decision, and it’s one of those milestone, life-changing decisions, I’ll share it with the world. Yes, it is beer related.

Lastly, this blog is in serious need of a redesign. Expect a new look to roll out in the next few weeks.

Swinging things back to Hopinions, what would you like to see us focus on in the future? Personal experiences? Craft beer issues at large? Single style of beers? Guest bloggers? Perhaps a transcript of a multi-person Hopinions chat? Personally I’d like to see guest bloggers join us or perhaps we use Google Wave to start a chat about a future Hopinions piece. I know this is “our” thing and that the logistics may make things difficult but I think I’d be an interesting direction to take at least once. Imagine if we had a guest participant along the lines of a Dean Bierch or a Pete Slosberg or Vinnie Cilurzo?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

As you are with the homebrewing, I take the same stance with Hopinions. I’m more interested in writing about and discussing the things on my mind at the time, and this provides a great forum for that sort of conversation. As we both agreed, our best topic was one that grew out of a weekend in the woods with a bunch of beer drinkers. You can’t really plan on what will come from such things.

All of the ideas you pose sounds fantastic, and maybe we can do a tasting panel type discussion. That could be a lot of fun.

I know, I’m dropping the ball with my last entry for 2009, but it’s New Year’s Eve! Let’s talk about 2010 tomorrow. Happy New Year!

Mario is hosting this edition of Hopinions where we talk about collaboration beers, which seem to be all the rage nowadays. What makes collaboration beers special? Can’t these same beers have been brewed without the collaborative process? What lies in the future of collaboration beers? Lots of questions, lots of answers.

Click here to read all about it: Hopinions: Collaborations.

On this edition of Hopinions, Mario and I get a little nostalgic about the 2009 Holiday Season. Okay, to be perfectly truthful, I get all nostalgic about the 2009 Holiday Season while Mario has no choice but to come along for the ride as it’s my turn to pick and host the topic.

With Thanksgiving right behind us and Christmas right around the corner, Mario and I write about what we’re thankful for and what we’d like to see under the Christmas tree this year. Please feel free to add your own “thanks” or “Christmas wishes” in the comments section below.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

With Thanksgiving over and Christmas on the way, I wanted to put a bit of a holiday spin on this edition of Hopinions. I had originally wanted to write about what beers I would be having for Thanksgiving but we didn’t really do beer for Thanksgiving outside of the Thanksgiving Beer Depletion Party we had to kick off the weekend.

To start off, I wanted to list what I am thankful for this year. I am thankful for all the craft brewers of the world. Seriously. Without them, this blog wouldn’t exist and just about everything else I’m thankful for wouldn’t be around. I’ve had a lot of good, local craft beers as well as craft beers from Canada, England, Italy and Belgium (umm… Belgium). I’m racking my brain trying to think up names to drop but there’s been so many good beers it’s hard to single them out. I’d be easier to just name the bad beers as but I won’t because this is supposed to be a positive post.

Strange as it sounds, I am thankful for Twitter and Facebook. In our beer travels to different festivals and events, social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook have allowed us to keep in touch with the many friends we’ve made along the way and strengthen some of the current friendships we do have. Craft beer is the reason Sammy and I go places but the people we’ve met are the reason we keep coming back. The craft beer community has been nothing short of warm, welcoming and giving and I’m glad to be able to consider myself a party of this community.

Lastly, I am the most thankful for my wife, Sammy. It is through her understanding, patience and participation that we are able to experience all that we’ve been able to this year. While I’m sure she wouldn’t have minded if I attended all these beer events, festivals, conferences and dinners by myself, each experience was made that much better with her presence. She is more experienced and sophisticated about beer than most people give her credit for upon first glance. Sammy is much more than my designated driver (as sometimes I fulfill that role), she is my best friend and drinking buddy.

Once you’ve finished wiping the vomit from your mouth (I didn’t know I was going to be such a sap), I’d like to know what you are thankful for. Are you thankful for craft beer in general or do you have specific breweries/beers you’d like to spotlight? Are you thankful for certain events you were able to attend? How about some of the people “behind the scenes” in the craft beer world? Lastly, how thankful are you for all the beer samples you’ve received this year?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

Well, I think we should all be thankful for the ladies in our lives, but you’re a little late on that as someone already started the beer blogger/significant other lovefest a few weeks ago. That said, I’m with you.

So what am I thankful for?

I’m thankful for Jolly Pumpkin La Roja and a piece of Toblerone at a friend’s house in San Francisco.

I’m thankful for pork belly and scallops.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to try beers that are way out of my price range.

I’m thankful for whimsical ideas that become a big success. Sometimes, I even do it right twice.

I’m thankful for new opportunities, even if they don’t always work out as planned.

I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made writing about beer.

I’m thankful that people actually read what I write.

And yes, I’m thankful for free beer.

Now that we’re thankful for our bounty, the season of giving is upon us. How does a humble blogger then translate this festive season into something beer-related? What’s under your Christmas tree or what are you asking Santa for? Everyone likes the gift of beer, any suggestions?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

Currently we don’t have our Christmas tree up yet but even when we do, there’ll sadly be no beer-related present underneath… unless Sammy decides to surprise me this year. The lack of gift wrapped beer notwithstanding, I do have stars in my eyes for certain beers and beer related equipment. Whether or not Santa Claus has deemed me “nice” enough to warrant such gifts is due much more to the state of my finances as opposed to the state of my morality or whether or not I still believe in Santa Claus.

After having tasted a Samuel Adams Utopia for the first time this year, I want one. Two really but I’ll be happy with just one. What an incredible beer. This is definitely one of those “milestone” beers you crack open for truly special occasions: getting married, the birth of your child, turning 50, the day you stop paying alimony and child support.

Not to be outdone by Samuel Adams, a bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin from boys of Brew Dog would be a great Christmas gift as well. Weighing in at a hefty 32% ABV, Tactical Nuclear Penguin has just dethroned Utopia as the new king of high alcohol beer. At $50 a bottle, this beer seems to be a bargain when compared to the nearly $200 some bottles of Utopia can sell for.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.

Having just been to The Bruery in Orange County, I would love a “first dibs” opportunity to purchase each of their holiday beers. Cleverly named after each day of Christmas, it will be an exercise of extreme patience to not open up each bottle until the collection is complete. With A Partrige in a Pear Tree being their initial release, Two Turtle Doves, predictably, is this years new holiday beer. Thankfully I have one bottle of each already and with The Bruery quickly expanding their distribution, getting a complete set of their holiday ales is looking better by the day.

To sit here and name all the beers I would love for Christmas can quickly become an exercise in masturbatory beer geekery. My pupils would dialate, my heart rate would increase, my mouth would begin to water and at the very end, I’m no better satisfied than when I started. I might as well as go to my local, well-stocked BevMo and start slipping dollar bills into the wire cage of a DeuS. Makin’ it rain!

On the homebrew front, I would love an efficient wort chiller. As much as I love my homemade wort chiller, a newer, more efficient model would be awesome. I’ve received some outstanding feedback on counter-flow chillers but haven’t committed yet. Vintage tap handles for the kegerator would be great as well.

Going for broke, I would love private beer & food dinner for Sammy, myself and a handful of friends. Can you imagine having Beer Chef Bruce Paton or Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton designing and cooking up a beer & food dinner just for you? Wrecked with guilt, I’d insist I help out with the preparations (as long as I’m given a task within my culinary skill level… like boiling water). Upping the ante, what if it was a beer dinner designed by Thomas Keller at French Laundry. Talk about makin’ it rain!

What about you? What beers are on your Christmas list? What beer gadgets get your motor running? What about a beer vacation?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

Good news, if a Bruce Patton home-cooked meal is what you want, you can win one at Winterfest. Winterfest is put on by our friends at Beer by BART. They have all kinds of great things to auction off and it all happens on Sunday the 6th.

You have compiled quite a list of beers there and I’d be happy with any of those. Personally, my gift will hopefully come from myself.

Sitting in my backyard for the last few months is my beer fridge. It was a reclamation project from a neighbor. It’s been cleaned out, sanded down, but now I just have two remaining jobs. The first is to paint it white so the wife allows it in the house. The second is figuring out the wiring, as the diagram is half missing. This may be seen as optional as given where I plan on keeping the fridge. Even without providing the juice to the fridge, I should be able to keep beer in a suitable environment.

Whatever it is that does (or doesn’t) end up under your tree, I hope you have a Happy Holidays. 2009 has been a good year for beer and we can only hope 2010 is even better. I know, it’s a bit premature for this kind of talk, but after this, we’re running out of time for 2009.

It’s Mario’s turn to host Hopinions this time around. He brings up an interesting question: does the money matter? If a craft brewery is partially owned by a macro brewery, is their product any less worthy of being called a craft beer? Should we eschew these breweries and continue to support the “little guys”?

Click on this link to read up and join the discussion.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

At the Reunion 09 fundraiser/tapping party at Firehouse Brewery & Grill last night, I ran into some friends who had just gotten back from Firestone Walker Brewing Company. In addition to sampling the great beers they make down there, my friends Pete and Arie were able to sit in on the blending of the new Firestone Walker Quercus Alba XIII Anniversary beer. Not only did Pete and Arie sit in during the blending process, they actually submitted their own blends for consideration. I’m thinking to myself, “Wow, what an experience to have been a part of”.

Unsurprisingly, this week on Hopinions I wanted to talk about blending beers. The idea of blending beers to create the Firestone Walker Quercus Alba was inspired by the wine industry. As such, Firestone Walker usually invites over a group of winemakers to assist in the blending process. They each take measured amounts of barrel aged beer from various vintages, if you will, and come up with their own blends. The “winner”, as if there really could be any losers from this sort of thing, will then have their blend be the next Quercus Alba.

While the idea of blending beers may seem new and exciting, brewmasters have been blending beers for hundreds of years already. While I could be wrong, English brewers blended together a third “ale, beer and twopenny” to create the style of beer that would be the precursor to the porter style of beer. In Belgium, brewers were blending together young and old lambics to create gueuze. In a more modern example, Anheuser-Busch has been blending Budweiser for years to insure consistency from location to location. Closer to your neck of the woods, Russian River creates Beatification by blending as well..

I purchase two bottles of Quercus Alba XII last year with the intention of drinking one right away and aging the other. As a testament to my hoarding nature, both bottles are still intact. So is my single bottle of Beatification from Russian River, their spontaneously fermented lambic style/inspired beer.

Throwing this over to you, what do you think of blending beers? Do you have any personal favorites? Do you recall any blends that were absolutely horrible?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

Blending amazes me to be honest. I opened a bottle of the Firestone XI recently with some friends and the documentation that comes with the bottle is staggering. I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Recent examples I’ve tried include the cask that Lagunitas unleashed on us up here, their Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Censored Brown Shugga Stout. This beer was as delicious as it sounds. The blend was as follows:

• 70% Imperial Stout aged 7 months in a bourbon barrel
• 20% Brown Shugga aged 6 months in a bourbon barrel
• 10% fresh Censored

While the idea of blending different brews together like this is definitely more difficult and rare, most barrel-aged beer you’ll find commercially bottled have been blended for consistency, the same way AB does it. In fact it was also at Lagunitas where I was part of a discussion regarding one of their other recent barrel-aged casks and a conscious decision to not blend the barrels as each batch had their own strong suits.

To be honest, a horrible beer doesn’t spring to mind when thinking of a blended brew. I am sure there are some out there, but none stick out.

You asked if I like the idea of blending, and I have to say I do.  While one thing I like about small batch breweries is the excitement of finding one of their kegs that’s tasting excellent (and camping out on that keg until it’s gone), when it comes to these more expensive releases, I wouldn’t be too amused to find a bottle tasting off. The Deschutes Reserve Series comes to mind instantly, as the bottle states the percentage aged in barrels.

For large releases with any kind of barrel-aging, it has to be assumed the beer has been blended.  A whisky barrel holds less than the equivalent of 17 cases of 750 mL bottles. Without blending I doubt some individual batches would even leave the brewery (and some may not).

I guess the question to you then, is do we want unblended barrels to hit the market? As a beer geek who hordes (which I do as well), could we handle the idea of dozens of batches of the same release floating around on stores shelves across the country? Personally, I don’t know if I could handle the decision making process holding a bottle of 2009 Bourbon County Stout Batch 79 and Batch 45 knowing that there would be at least 77 other batches out there and probably others on the same shelf. It’s like Verbal Kint said about shooting the devil in the back. “What if you miss?”

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog

You bring up a great question. I don’t know what I would do if brewers started releasing single batch beers. Well, I take that back, I do know what I’d do: I’d just buy a bottle and hope for the best. At best, it would be cost prohibitive of me to try and pick up every single batch of unblended beer. At the worst, I might be taking on a fool’s errand trying to run around the country collecting a bottle from each batch. I’d imagine it’d be a never ending affair as the brewery can make more beer faster than you could go around collecting each bottle.

If I remember correctly, Allagash does list on their labels what batch the beer came from. I remember being at my local BevMo and looking at two bottles of Tripel from Allagash and noting how they came from the different batches. While this caught my interest, I eventually settled on a single purchase. The way I see it, if a brewery is going to go through all the trouble of releasing a beer for public consumption, it’s going to be a good beer. Great even if it was a barrel aged beer. What brewery in their right mind would release a beer knowing it was poor to begin with?

Barrel aged beers are beasts unto themselves. Even though the beer you put into each barrel is the same, each barrel has a personality of its own resulting in a slightly different beer barrel to barrel. This is exactly why brewers decided to blend beers in the first place. The brewers and their customers demanded consistency.

Yet, because of the surging popularity of blended beers, I see more and more breweries doing what they can to minimize the uncertainty of barrel aging. Take Avery Brewing Company out of Boulder, Colorado for example. I was there when they released their Sui Generis blended barrel aged beer. What struck me most about Avery was how much attention and resources they’re giving their barrels. They know the contents (critter wise) of each barrel. They chart how much character the barrels impart to the beers that are in them over time. Avery even has a full-time person who’s sole job is to watch over the barrels themselves. With such strict quality controls in place, the hope is to be able to create predictable barrel aged beers in the future.

In case you were interested, here’s how this beer broke down:

• 39% Cabernet Sauvignon barrels
• 35% Chardonnay barrels
• 13% Port barrels
• 13% Bourbon barrels

I bought a sixer of this beer for $8 per 12 oz bottle! This beer wasn’t cheap. All these types of beer aren’t cheap. Brewers aren’t stupid people. They realize that for a little more work they can charge super premium prices for product. Why wouldn’t you want to have a barrel aged beer? Yes, I realize I am greatly oversimplifying the barrel aged brewing process. But the greatest cost to barrel aging a beer isn’t even a consumable product, it’s time. Just ask your local whisky distiller.

To wrap things up on my end, is it an issue that brewers are starting to demystify barrel aging beers? To explain a little further, do you think that a brewery has taken all the fun out of barrel again once they’ve cataloged what’s inside of the barrel and how it performs? I know that at the end of the day, being able to predict the effects of a particular barrel on a beer will help increase a brewery’s production. I get that. At the same time, you no longer get the same Christmas morning feeling when opening a barrel of beer. Color me and adventurous but I still like a little bit of mystery with my barrel aged beers. Your thoughts?

From: Mario at Brewed For Thought

Briefly, when I brought up batches I was taking it to the extreme. I am certain those Batches of Allagash are a way for the brewer and the consumer to identify which specific blend is in a particular bottle.

It’s funny you chose this topic today because I happened to find myself at the Russian River Brewery to take a picture of Natalie Cilurzo for the upcoming Brewing News. It only seemed appropriate that I bring this up with Vinnie Cilurzo, who is, as you and I are quite aware, head brewer/barrel-wrangler of Russian River Brewing.

He explained the process of blending a batch of Supplication as an example. In this case, the barrels that are ready are emptied into the fermenter, all of them. While he has monitored each barrel, and each barrel has its own character, he says the idea of a reserve line of the best barrels might be tempting but would ultimately take away from the final blended product. If a certain barrel fails to meet his standards he would pour it out.

This fermenter full of beer would be left alone for a few days in order to allow the beer to recover from the shock of the transfer as well as be cooled to a serving temperature. With bottle and keg aging effects in mind, this beer is then blended with Perdition and other non-sour beers to bring the beer to the final mix.

One thing that became apparent during our discussion was that barrel-aging is still an art and far from a science. A perfect example were a pair of barrels that caught my eye. Each barrel had the word “pumpkin” scribbled on with chalk. These batches were destined for the Elysian Pumpkin Festival, but Vinnie felt the barrels were still too “sick” with pediococcus and were left to age in the barrels. Despite having plenty of evidence as to how a beer should react to the carefully maintained conditions, the results can and do vary.

If you ask me (and you did) I still think most barrel-aged beers are like Christmas day. Even having tasted a sample out of one of the barrels of Supplication, I still have no idea what’s in the other 39 barrels and how they will taste. Vinnie might know, but I certainly can’t look at a piece of paper and say the beer has been ruined for me.  Although, I may start using that as an excuse to scam free beer from a brewery. They all seem to know the mouse in a bottle trick.

NOTE: The image used above was provided by Mario from Brewed for Thought.

This week is Mario’s turn to host Hopinions. The topic of the moment is the new guidelines the FTC recently published that is forcing bloggers to disclose whenever they receive something from a manufacturer. As it pertains to Mario and myself, that would mean we’d have to disclose whether or not the beers we are reviewing have been sent to us from a brewery or if we picked them up out of our own pockets.

There’s a lot of gray area to talk about, first and foremost if the FTC even has authority to do so. But I won’t spoil the piece for everyone so head over to Mario’s and read up!

Hopinions: Will Work for Beer