Even though Hi times is within walking distance of my house, and the Orange County Wine show is is of one of more important shoes in the states. For someone like me who benefits greatly from the free aspect of being in the industry, Orange County is a black hole of wine. Thus it was the summer of beer. 18 gallons were brewed, countless great beers shared and tasted, and lots of good times spent seeking out. Acknowledgment needs to be giving to one Michael Richley for hunting down and dragging me out to find great beer. This post is his fault.
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| Best IPA to date in Heady topper |
Beer. the oldest of all fermented beverages and the third most consumed beverage in the world behind tea and water. The Germans would tell you that this gut inducing beverage is made from 4 ingredients: water, malted grains (barley more specifically), hops, and Yeast. And while our Deutschland friends laid the foundations or are limited by, depending on your view; we in the states are busy throwing everything we can think of into our beer. Now before I elaborate on the beer, beer culture, and the direction I think its going, I first want to address the term beer itself and its relation to the industry
Let me first be clear that in my discussion of american beer, I am talking about the not so micro microbrew scene and the increase in quality beer-esque beverages. Other than my argument for the what is the best beer in the states, none of this information is relevant to the pisswater that some people think they enjoy while the rest of us just suffer it as punishment
Like the French in regards to wine, a strong case can be made for Germany being the most important beer brewing nation. The location of Beer-vana still lies in some barley or hop field deep in bavaria. For like 600 years the Germans have made beer by a set of laws known as Reinheitsgebot, or german purity laws. Much like some of the french wine laws, the Germans specified how and with what ingredients beer could be produced. Water, hops, grains, later Yeast (thanks to Louis Pasteur) and sugar (to any beer that is top fermenting, otherwise known as ales: aka the predominant beer style for yuppy microbrews in the states). Now I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to alcoholic beverage labeling. I have always liked history, and take pride in knowing about the past.
The next statement may shock you.
Most Beer in the United States is not Beer... Blasphemy you cry out, "at least 25% of my conscious life and 35% of my unconscious life is spent in a committed relationship to beer." If needed, take a moment, a minute, even an afternoon to cry it out, drink a superior alcohol in bourbon, or find the bottle of a German Riesling bottle. Done wallowing, alright, keep reading
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| The rice rocket of beer |
Most Ales produced in the United States by microbrews do not fall under the traditional german laws. As a traditionalist, this leads me to question there old world title. and Although the laws do not extend out of Germany or even parts of Bavaria, there is something to be said for showing a certain level of respect to the Germans (they did give us Oktoberfest). Most of what we drink is a "Brewed Beverage", a witches kettle of excessive Hops, grains, sugar derivatives and damn near anything you can find in your spice cabinet. Take for example the 5 gallons of bottle ready citra based IPA, happily conditioning away with 2 oz of dry hops and another 2 oz of dried sweet Orange peels. A very tasty brewed beverage that would at the very least irritate a purist, to the extreme with Ballast Points Jalapano Pale ale which is down right offensive albeit very tasty. The conspiracy goes all the way up to the highest powers in the beer brewing land. Both the king of beers (budwiser) and Cameron Oden's beloved Coors use rice as a main fermentable saccharide. Rice is a much more inexpensive way to harness fermentable sugars than using all grain or sugar additives. This And beer is more like a Not beer. however, The term beer is so engrained into our society that its is to late to campaign for chance, I would just like for you to acknowledge why beer brewed with Grains, Hops, water, and yeast will forever been the best beer into the world, and most of what we drink are derivatives useing excess ingredients. more on this later.
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| NOT BEER, but still a realllly yummy brew |
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| Jacki's Nightmare |
At a recent ultra exclusive beer tasting of a beer you will never ever get to try, it dawned on me that this brew was less similar to beer as it was to whiskey. This beer specifically was Track 7 by Lost Abbey, an incredibly delicious experiment in oak, microbiology and fruit fermentation. Sour Brett flaw funk balanced with a lovely tart berry fruit undertone to send even the most natural of winemakers to burn the clothing he tasted the beer in. This was not beer, it was the most beautiful example of controlled decomposition I have ever tasted. The Brett in this should scare the shit our any winemaker, and it does. But just like any industry, flood the market with essentially the same product, and the outliers will stand out even more in quality. A shout of should be given to Lost Abbey for being the best brewery in San Diego for their willingness to experiment and for breeding a very accessible but committed exclusivity philosophy
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Matt is Oregon... and He loves PBR while
Grape Stomping to bluegrass |
What is the best beer in the world? Oregonians will probably side with The Abyss, Californians Pliny the Younger, Belgians, Trappist Westervelennsharfenlongname 12, The Scottish, Tacular Nuclear penguin, you aussies, Little Creatures, but watch out for Allister and his Beir Haus. For my close newport friends, we have conditioned ourselves into choosing Coors. There are two schools of thought when summing up the debate of best beer in the world. School #1, is the actual quality of the beer. Its a never ending debate simple by virtue of style, an objective observation of hop to malt compliment, mouth feel, balance, color, aroma, and length much in the same way we talk about wine. School #2 is the best beer you have ever had defaulting to the best beer in your mind. I've asked this question around to a certain few people, and not to my surprise the most peoples best brewed beverage was a refreshing right place right time. Its typically some light lager after a long day of doing physically active things. That Bud light tastes a lot better after a day of skiing than after a day of playing COD. Mine, Sitting at the santa cruz mountain brewery on a spring saturday with Brennan Davis drinking their pale ale post 3 hour 4 mile epic surf sesh. Mouth partched, eyes bloodshot from all the sun, a liter's worth of nose drippings, sand everywhere, perfect weather, outside porch, surrounded by smiling santa cruzians... and a beautiful crisp clean slightly hoped pale ale. The Best Beer I have ever had. The best argument I have ever heard claiming a beer as the best belongs to my first winery supervisor and his love affiar with Pabst Blue Ribbon, (later validated by Matt). A big lumberjack of a man who consumed PBR like it was his job while at the same time attempting to run hipsters over just because. His argument for PBR was that there is never a bad time for a PBR and it will never dissapoint you, ergo the best beer in the world. (side note: PBR uses Hops, barley malt, water, yearst, and a bit of corn syrup, while not quite falling into the german rules, its close and a hell of a lot closer than most other brewed beverages made stateside) The simplicity of the argument is what sold me, "PBR is good when its hot, its good when its cold, PBR is good when its hot outside, and its good when its cold outside. It will never disappoint you because you don't expect much, but it will fit any occasion". Hipsters have yet to come to this conclusion, still drinking on the platform that it won a blue ribbon at some obscure state fair or something that you probably havn't herd of (it was in Chicago in 1893). If you cant come to any conclusion about what you think is the best beer, well congratulations, its still out there waiting for you.
You may be reading this, and saying to yourself... I want to be more involved. I want to feel special and cultured and taste these glorious brews discussed. You a bit late to the game, and the underground aspect has been gone for a while, but lucky you, the beer has if anything gotten better. The mircobrewery scene is not so micro anymore. Still think Stone Brewing makes you seem like you know beer. They are in the same league volume wise as New Belgium, Deshuetes, and Sierra Nevada. And all 4 of them are working there way up to Boston Lager size. 5000 gallon fermentations my ass, Arrogant Bastard is brewed on a very very large scale with a very large distribution. aside from my negative condescending tone, this is a very good thing. With the increase in competition, colaboration, and style uniformity (again, anyone can brew a Big IPA) the sky is the limit as far as creativity and brewmanship is concerned. I would have 2 months ago said that I believed that the Microbrew was reaching its max capacity and was destined to pop. Then I went to San Diego July 18th for the Track 7 at lost abbey. What really surprised me that should not have was not the beer nor the exclusive pretentious feel about getting that beer, but the low end of customer that just stumbled in to be part of this every growing scene. What I failed to understand was the appeal of all the San Diego breweries as a whole. As a Vino guy, I go wine taste, this new generation of beer enthusiasts go beer drinking. Where I may have gone and tasted 25 wines in a day, this breed of mature hipster is casually drinking their way through an equal amount of beer tasters or the equivalent pints in warehouse district back lots. This well lit daytime bing-crawl is much likes its nighttime counterpart, except replacing pretty girls and shitty beer is well priced good beer. (sorry about the lack of girls). What really "opened my eyes" to what they are doing was when third party buses and vans would show up for out of towners or bachelor parties selling brewery tours. It of course makes complete sense to capitalize on such a small concentration of good beer. San Diego is creating a tourism industry around their developing brewery scene. Portland, you should probably start doing this if you haven't, but make sure its bike or bio-diesel tours.
If you really want to embark on the drinking adventure that craft brew can provide, I have a few suggestions. #1, start at and support your local microbrewery. I don't care if they arn't making Heady Topper, they still make better beer than the piss water you may be used to. Plus the brewmaster knows more about brewing than you ever will, unless of course you become a brewmaster. #2, please please please do not judge a brewery on its IPA, in fact, aside from the occasional bitter craving, steer clear of the IPA. Experiment with the different specialty beers they are producing, taste the stouts or the bitters, and whatever you do, make sure you drink their most popular beer. #3, make up your own mind, do not buy into lists or beer snobery. Russian River is the best brewery in the states because of there ability to produce a world class IPA as well as a plethora of bret ridden sours. But please calm down and make up your own mind. Personally, I like Cafe Racer 15 better than Pliny the Elder, and I tasted them both back to back at their respective breweries. #4. If you are really interested in beer, do not stop there, try to drink something different. Get a french cider, buy a port, please please try a sour beer. The more different things you taste the more you will know what you like and how to articulate why you like that. That is being an intelligent drinker. And if you do happen to try something different and you dislike it, please tell me about it and why you dislike it.
If at any point this post seemed negative or sarcastic towards the beer culture, that could not be farther from the truth. As a wine guy, I understand that beer is more of a gateway, and with the increased use of oak and hop emphasis, its just a matter of time before those people come up to the elegance and quality of wine. Also I am a huge fan of great beers and quality alcoholic beverages, the methods of production and the marketing plan. The CO2 microbrew bubble is getting larger and larger every day, and all of us reap the benifits of new flavors and styles. I for one am very very excited to taste some of the beer brewed 2 years from now.
Now GO drink a good beer damnit
You may be reading this, and saying to yourself... I want to be more involved. I want to feel special and cultured and taste these glorious brews discussed. You a bit late to the game, and the underground aspect has been gone for a while, but lucky you, the beer has if anything gotten better. The mircobrewery scene is not so micro anymore. Still think Stone Brewing makes you seem like you know beer. They are in the same league volume wise as New Belgium, Deshuetes, and Sierra Nevada. And all 4 of them are working there way up to Boston Lager size. 5000 gallon fermentations my ass, Arrogant Bastard is brewed on a very very large scale with a very large distribution. aside from my negative condescending tone, this is a very good thing. With the increase in competition, colaboration, and style uniformity (again, anyone can brew a Big IPA) the sky is the limit as far as creativity and brewmanship is concerned. I would have 2 months ago said that I believed that the Microbrew was reaching its max capacity and was destined to pop. Then I went to San Diego July 18th for the Track 7 at lost abbey. What really surprised me that should not have was not the beer nor the exclusive pretentious feel about getting that beer, but the low end of customer that just stumbled in to be part of this every growing scene. What I failed to understand was the appeal of all the San Diego breweries as a whole. As a Vino guy, I go wine taste, this new generation of beer enthusiasts go beer drinking. Where I may have gone and tasted 25 wines in a day, this breed of mature hipster is casually drinking their way through an equal amount of beer tasters or the equivalent pints in warehouse district back lots. This well lit daytime bing-crawl is much likes its nighttime counterpart, except replacing pretty girls and shitty beer is well priced good beer. (sorry about the lack of girls). What really "opened my eyes" to what they are doing was when third party buses and vans would show up for out of towners or bachelor parties selling brewery tours. It of course makes complete sense to capitalize on such a small concentration of good beer. San Diego is creating a tourism industry around their developing brewery scene. Portland, you should probably start doing this if you haven't, but make sure its bike or bio-diesel tours. 
If you really want to embark on the drinking adventure that craft brew can provide, I have a few suggestions. #1, start at and support your local microbrewery. I don't care if they arn't making Heady Topper, they still make better beer than the piss water you may be used to. Plus the brewmaster knows more about brewing than you ever will, unless of course you become a brewmaster. #2, please please please do not judge a brewery on its IPA, in fact, aside from the occasional bitter craving, steer clear of the IPA. Experiment with the different specialty beers they are producing, taste the stouts or the bitters, and whatever you do, make sure you drink their most popular beer. #3, make up your own mind, do not buy into lists or beer snobery. Russian River is the best brewery in the states because of there ability to produce a world class IPA as well as a plethora of bret ridden sours. But please calm down and make up your own mind. Personally, I like Cafe Racer 15 better than Pliny the Elder, and I tasted them both back to back at their respective breweries. #4. If you are really interested in beer, do not stop there, try to drink something different. Get a french cider, buy a port, please please try a sour beer. The more different things you taste the more you will know what you like and how to articulate why you like that. That is being an intelligent drinker. And if you do happen to try something different and you dislike it, please tell me about it and why you dislike it.