Under the Label: The Low Down on Good Beer!

Hey Rocky, Watch Me Pull a Seasonal Out of My Hat

2006-12-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Okay... for the next few weeks I will be buying the beer ahead of time, instead of depending on the fine grocers of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area to have exquisite taste in beer.. But this weeks reviews will include Snow Cap from Pyramid, and Winter Lager from Sam Adams.

First is Snow Cap ( http://www.pyramidbrew.com/beer/beerguide/snow_cap.php ):

Per Pyramid Brewery this 'full-bodied winter warmer' is '...mahogany in color, complex and spicy, yet delicious' that is weighing in at 7% alc/vol.

Beautiful deep ruby color complimented by the clarity, and topped with Belgian lace. Deep caramel and molasses aroma with low hop aroma. The chocolate and coffee tones blend nice with the maltodextrin to help create a big body feel in the mouth. The bittering hops are buried in the beginning of this, but seem to surface after finishing bits. These become more persistent as the beer gets warmer and encompass it from beginning to end.

I felt this beer got better the closer it came to cellar temperature, carrying itself like a dopplebock in the beginning. But it was still a fine beer coming out of the fridge. This is a mid to late afternoon beer before you move to barley wines or visiting in laws. Don't slug this beer down! Enjoy it in a barley wine glass and give it a little minute to warm up, because it will definitely get your attention! Not for light beer drinkers.

And next on the list we have the The Winter Lager brought to us this season by Sam Adam's (http://www.samueladams.com/world_of_beer.aspx):

The Winter Lager touts itself as a '...dark wheat lager brewed with winter spices.' and brings a 5.8%alc/vol to the table. One thing I do appreciate about the Adam's Brewing Company (which I can balance with my gripes after visiting their Boston locale) is they have a date marked on the side to let you know when the beer is no longer good. So if you love and care for this beer it should last you until April. And my first impressions say stock up on this.

With the lofty lace balancing on top the amber glow of this nicely filter beer, it would look beautiful anywhere. Though there is a touch of diacytle in the nose, it carries fine with this buttery caramel beer. The hops create a subtle backdrop to the swirl of 40L that finishes so clean you can't wait to have another drink.

This fine beer would be nice while attempting to put together toys on Christmas morning, an evening spent wrapping presents you didn't buy, or brunch with people you want to spend the holidays with. I was a fan of this one and it warmed up nicely as the evening progressed. This should be served in a tulip glass so you can draw in the aromas of this lighter bodied beer.

It's That Holly Jolly Seasonal

2006-12-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

In the world of beer styles there are 15 categories of hybrid styles, 15 styles of lager beers, and 37 styles of ales creating 147 different styles of beer (per the Great American Beer Festival). Needless to say, it will not be hard to write on this subject. This week we are going to get ready for the holiday season by perusing the unregistered, but highly touted, 'seasonal' style.

New to our shelves (and soon to be gone) are these wonderful beers that the head brewers present to us. Even if they have the same name as last year they can be completely different, which puts a little more adventure into the season. These can take on many different category names like specialty beer (#7), or my favorite name (that strikes terror into the heart of every beer judge), experimental beer (#10). But seasonals of this time of year usually fall into the fruit and vegetable category (#4) or herb and spice category (#5).

This fall and winter season carries big beers (high alcohol and robust flavor) into our homes, hearts, and stores. Some of the common flavors are clove, nutmeg, vanilla, pumpkin, cherry, molasses and brown sugar. These are commonly mixed with a low hop variable (or they should be). Whereas, some of the seasonals balance their powerful aroma hops with such things as smoke, juniper, pine and hazelnuts, sage and and other herbs of the season. With these beers your imagination and pallet only set the limits.

If you are a beer drinker and not too sure if you will like a certain seasonal, only buy one, making a mismatched 6-pack to take home for the night. Pick from a couple different companies that are home favorites (like Winter Solstice from Anderson Valley, Yellow Snow from Rogue, Big Foot from Sierra Nevada, and Old Stock from North Coast just to name a few of the classics), and maybe a couple you've never heard of and dial in your taste, (it's much better to have a half finished beer then a 5 pack of beer that will only taste worse in 6 months in the summer heat). If you are a home brewer and you have a fab~boo idea that NO ONE has ever tried before, get a reality check from your brewin' friends. If only half of them cringe DO IT!!! And if it doesn't work in the way you hoped it would you got 4 1/2g of a great marinade for the summer barbeque's!

Cheers!
And a happy holidays!

Magic Bubbles Doin' Their Magic

2006-12-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

We all know that beer has CO2 But do you know why it's so intrical in the taste of your beer? Or why these tiny bubbles make beer better for tasting food then wine? It is the 'better living through chemistry' section today so I guess we're gonna have to delve into the murky depths of O Chem 101 to get a better idea of why beer is just so damn good!

CO2, our little friend carbon dioxide, is a strange bed fellow with H2O, who take up to 80% or more of that beer in your hand. Together the two form carbonic acid. As you take a drink of that beer the CO2 comes out of solution, creating bubbles in my mouth. These bubble are scrubbin' away at the particles in your mouth and gettin' your tongue all prepped and cleaned for your next bite so you can taste every morsel of the fine pizza in front of you.

Now you say, 'But the barley wine I had last night didn't have as much carbonation as the El Sol I have in front of me right now! What's up with that?' And I would say you are a fine scientist and completely correct! Craft brewers are very discerning about the amount of CO2 they put in their beers! Certain beers that have complex flavors and they need to linger so you can enjoy them all. Now there are other beers (these are the Voldemort of beers...we never speak their evil, evil names.), that over carbonate the beer to the degree where the CO2 is equal to the amount in champagne and you will never truly taste there beer (in this case that is a happy thing!!!).

So enjoy a beer with your meal! And when people ask tell them it's for the love of beer and science!

Cheers!

Let's do the Numbers

2006-12-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

We could do a roll out like the Dow but these numbers seemed a bit more inspiring to me...

In 2000 the average American consumed 81.6l of beer (that's almost a keg! But my mother will be proud to know I am above average...)
The top three countries in the world that drink beer are Czech Republic (157l), Ireland (141.2l), and Germany (117.5l). We are #12 on this list... so get to drinkin', eh?
In 2000 America consumed 6,400,000,000g of beer (that's 203,174,603 kegs of beer!)
60% of regular beer drinkers make over $50,000 a year
87% of all the alcohol consumed in America was beer
The craft brewing industry ONLY accounts for 18.1% of all the beer purchased in America

Starting on a dry note...

2006-12-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

It's Monday which means it's time for a little history lesson!

We are going to start with the American tragedy of Prohibition. Just to revisit some of the things you might have forgotten since 5th grade we'll just lay down a bit of the scaffolding so we have something to work with:

On January 16, 1919 the 18th Amendment passed stating no more beer in a year
On October 28, 1919 the Volstead Act passed defining all the wonderful things we would not be allowed to enjoy anymore in this fine nation
And on January 16, 1920 the omen came true and we were stuck with no beer and no end in sight

Now our nation was not the only one afflicted with this atrocity. The early 20th century was hard all around, including some of these other fine upstanding countries that did not need to bear this kind of hardship:

USSR from 1914-1925
Iceland from 1915-1922 (but beer was still illegal until 1989!!!)
Norway from 1916-1927
Finland from 1919-1932
United States from 1920-1933

The light at the end of the tunnel was finally restored on December 5th of 1933.

Though we had fallen on dark days and many wonderful breweries had to close their doors (for example Barth Brewing of South Dakota) there were some new businesses that emerged from this time. Chicago helped lead our way towards new cravings when a soda jerk at Walgreen's invented the Malted Milkshake in 1922. Ovaltine hit the scene and created a niche to include the 4 row malt to be used as a breakfast drink when mixed with milk. There is also a famous candy that came on the scene in England then migrated across the ocean. The homemade candy sold on the streets of New York and Chicago. The recipe was bought out by a company called Overland Candy that called it 'Giants'. What is that candy called today?

The answer will be posted tomorrow in the Tuesday News Day.

Cheers!