Even after drinking three or four over the last few weeks, I still can’t decide if I actually like Budweiser’s American Ale. My first impression was something like “eh, it’s a pretty average beer that’s  a bit too sweet“, though I admit the beer was too cold and I wasn’t able to give the beer my full attention. I gave the beer another shot while sitting in my friend’s basement/brewery.  Before I even pursed my lips for that first critical sip, a little voice in my head reminded me to be fair; after all there is no real reason why the brewers at A-B cannot make a great tasting beer. Did my inner voice just call me biased?

I poured the beer into a very clean, room temperature glass. American Ale pours with a tan, fairly tight and rocky head, reddish color and free of haze. The first thing I did was attempt to get a snoot full of the beer’s aroma. The aroma is very clean, but malty sweet with an earthy/citrus hops aroma. Yes, you heard me; I actually smelled hops in an Anheuser-Bush beer! The first thing that I noticed upon tasting the beer was a pleasant hop bitterness that was surrounded in an almost-too- sweet, medium bodied beer. The beer is definitely drinkable, but is it good? The “drinkable vs. good” dilemma is always the challenge for a macro-brewer who is used to brewing by committee, relying on the results of countless consumer taste panels instead of the brewer’s instincts. Did Bud simply formulate a beer to meet the demands of the masses? Not this time…

“American Ale” is a transformational beer for the Budweiser brand; it is a “Real Beer.” It may not be a beer that will win shelf space in the fridge of the hard-core beer geek, but it may very well help win over a few beer-geek wannabees, and that is not a bad thing.

I found the beer to be good enough to have a few, but I am not sure that I really like it. One thing that I noticed is that the beer suffers greatly when served too cold. The hop aroma disappears and the underlying malt complexity just tastes sweet (as with all flavorful beer); this is nothing new. My concern is that this being a Budweiser branded product, it will not be differentiated from its macro-brother and will wind up being served in frosted mugs at the local sports bar. The only way this beer has a chance to be a “real beer” is if it is served properly; otherwise all bets are off…

Pairing recommendations: I would treat this beer like an American brown or red ale. Pair it with grilled salmon or pork tenderloin. I think it would be great with mild cheeses that were aged, like Gouda or maybe even aged Asiago.  It will be pretty versatile at the table, so have some fun experimenting!

A friend and I attended the first (I hope of many) Upper Kanawha Valley Oktoberfest held in downtown Montgomery. I really wanted to attend it not only to get out and about on the first real fall weather weekend so far this year, but to also see if the organizer’s  claims of German beer were true. That’s what the sign said, and I felt it my duty to check it out. Third Street became the festival grounds today. A performance stage was placed at one end with the promenade flanked by various food booths and a sort of “rag-tag” biergarten that was a little too far away from the music.

The weather was crisp and the smell of a pig-roast wafted through the air along with the sounds of Oompah music in the distance. The fall colors blotted the surrounding vista of the nearby West Virginia hills in the seemingly narrow river valley. The crowds grew as the afternoon went on. I wondered why the organizers chose to hold the fest the same day as “Bridge Day”, assuming it would limit the crowd. I am sure it had some effect, but not enough to dampen the festival spirit. I didn’t stay for the evening events; maybe the festwas overflowing with people by then. (more…)

Doppelbock Braised Short Ribs

-By Rich Ireland

This is an easy to prepare dish that features hearty German doppelbock lager beer as a braising liquid which then reduces into a complex and flavorful demi-glace that goes great with chewy, buttered bread or buttered noodles/spätzel.  The dish should be served with a dark lager beer such as dunkle or märzen style.

Ingredients

16 to 24 oz of beef short ribs (well-marbled)

16 to 24 oz of doppelbock beer

1 large onion cut into medium to large wedges

2 cups of eggplant cut into large cubes (de-bittered by soaking in salt water for 4 hours then rinsing) 

Optional: Parsnips or potatoes in lieu or addition to eggplant (cubed)

Salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp dried thyme

2 Tbsp of dark brown sugar

½ Tbsp of canola oil

3 Tbsp of flour (optional for dredging beef before browning)

Directions

Brown the beef in a large skillet or saucepan using canola oil on high heat for 2 minutes per side. Reduce heat and add beer, seasoning and half of the onion wedges. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add remaining onion and eggplant (or other vegetables) and continue simmering covered for 30 minutes. Taste the sauce; it should be bitter at this point. Add the brown sugar to sweeten to taste. Cover and continue to simmer for an additional 45 minutes or until ribs want to fall apart, making sure the juices do not reduce to the point of burning (add a little water if needed). Serve the ribs with sauce and vegetables over the top.

I recently heard Alton Brown of Food-TV fame recite a quote from “Honest Abe”. It struck me as very timely considering the global economic crisis and with all of the B.S. that we are hearing about how we got here and how to fix it. I think we are all beginning to realize the one most important fact. We are going to be the ones paying!  Here is the quote…

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts and beer”      -Abraham Lincoln

Regular readers of this blog may automatically assume that I am doing back-flips of joy as I type out this blog entry; but that isn’t happening. In fact, I write this with mixed feelings and even some despair.

As you know, West Virginia’s beer laws are trapped in a time capsule that dates all the way back to the reversal of prohibition; steeped in patriarchal fear of allowing the masses to have easy access to that most dangerous of beverages, beer. Our beer laws actually create and maintain an inept monopoly of beer distributors in what is referred to as a “tiered system.” The laws also severely limit the availability of many of the world’s best beers by capping the alcohol content at 6% ABV.

Last year, the W.Va. legislature had an opportunity to help bring the state into the 21^st century by raising the ABV limits on beer. This move would have brought us in line with 48 other states and would have drastically improved consumer choice. The House of Delegates caved on the legislation for fear that it would upset the “Church Lady” in an election year. The cowards were given cover by one of the most inept of state leaders, Dallas Staples, head of the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Mr. Staples, a former police chief with zero experience in the beverage industry came up with the silly idea of allowing higher alcohol beers to be sold through the state’s liquor system. This is a stupid idea on so many levels, but it gave the house enough cover to “table” the issue without realizing (or just not caring) that they were actually limiting consumer choice. The reality is that this path to the market is a torturous one. It adds layers of complexity for the brewery representatives and adds extreme mark-ups and more than doubles the tax to the consumer. Unless the legislature realizes how bad the “Beer as Liquor” idea is, they will never move to change the beer laws. This is why I am not so happy to tell you about this very decent beer; the beer that’s legally considered liquor in West Virginia. OK, now let’s talk about beer… (more…)