The “BTY” objective beer tasting panel was asked to taste 3 fruit beers brewed at the former Melbourne Brothers in Lincolnshire England, now owned by Samuel Smith’s. The Brewery is described as a “gem” that has been nearly unchanged since it was built during the reign of Queen Victoria. I have tasted other “Melbourne Brothers” labeled beers that claim to be spontaneously fermented much in the same way as authentic Belgian lambic beers. These Samuel Smith’s labeled products are said to have been fermented with “complex multiple yeast strains” and do not have the tell-tale “barnyard” characteristics typically left behind by the organisms of spontaneous fermentation.  

Unlike, authentic fruit lambics, the fruit in these beers comes from organic juice and not whole, macerated fruit and it shows…

When it comes to fruit beers, I tend to set the bar pretty high. In my opinion, the fruit should not detract or completely overpower the characteristics of the underlying beer. This is a tricky balance and the reason so many brewers cannot pull it off. Bushels of fruit in the aroma, is fine as long as I can still detect beer as well. When tasting a fruit beer, the first thing one should expect is pleasant acidity, and refreshing balance, not an all out assault of sweet fruity flavors. Subtlety and restraint is part of the fruit-beer brewer’s art. The drinker should also be able to taste the fundamental characteristics of the fruit, if it says cherry on the label, I should be able to detect “Cherry” in the flavor, but it shouldn’t scream it out to me.

The balancing act is more difficult to pull-off when the brewer opts to use juice in lieu of whole fruit. Let’s be honest, how often do you find even the best fruit juice that tastes exactly like the whole fruit? The juice is a homogenous blend of flavors, sure, but it lacks the subtle flavors imparted by the tannins and pectins from the skin and pulp, or the nutty flavors from the seeds or pits. Have you ever sucked on a cherry-pit? There is a definite nutty flavor there. It comes from “cyanide” and in small amounts it tastes like almonds and it is very good! These flavors are left in the squeezer when the fruit is made to juice.

Here are the beers: Read the rest of this entry »

This links comes to me via Shaun O’Sullivan, a craft brewer and Facebook friend from the 21st Amendment Brewing Company in San Francisco. I cannot add more to this than the video itself, except to say “Cheers!”

The Craft Brewers Conference was held this week in Boston…

 http://vimeo.com/4298464

I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of my lunch today. All the “good energies” were aligned; a fresh baguette from Charleston Bread Company, nice black forest ham, swiss cheese, garden grown pickled-peppers and a very decent canned British ale.

Tetley’s Pub Ale is smooth and creamy. The beer is part of the Carlesberg empire, but brewed in the UK. You can thank the “nitrogen widget” in the can for the creamy head. Those of you that read this blog regularly, know that I am really bullish on the use of cans for packaging beer. The can is like a little keg, keeping away the damaging effects of ultra-violet light and staving off oxidation better than bottles.

Also, not revert to pessimism, but simply to further prove my point about West Virginia’s ”Status-Quo” beer distributors. Tetley’s is a perfect example of a beer that is currently legal in West Virginia but I dare you to find it. I purchased this at Leo’s in South Point, OH. Why should I be optimistic about my future “in-state” beer selection prospects?

I am sitting in a nearly empty theater in Ashland,Ky. I am waiting to watch the new documentary called “Beer Wars”. A report will follow.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Man! It’s been a long time coming; since1919 to be exact (see correct date in readers comments below). West Virginia has finally (almost) popped the cap on its very outdated limitation of beer at 6% alcohol by volume. The Governor still has to sign the bill, but he has already said he would support modernization of the beer laws. So yes, West Virginia beer lovers, you can celebrate today if you want to. (Update: Looks as if the Governor will sign this on 5/26)

 For most of us beer geeks, we realize the challenges that still lie ahead. I don’t want to rain on the parade or anything, but let’s examine reality here… If you would apply pure logic along with some common sense, it doesn’t take too long to realize that the 6% cap did in fact play a role in limiting beer selection in this state, but it also took on another role as “whipping boy”, bearing the entire blame for West Virginia being a beer wasteland.

The fact is there are so many great beers that fall under the 6% ABV limit; legal for sale in West Virginia today, yesterday and last year and we have seen nary a handful made available to us. Folks, there are fantastic beers like Victory’s Uncle Teddy’s Bitter, which I have had recurring dreams about and only weighs in at 3.8% ABV! Tell me why we haven’t seen beers such as this in WV.

The reason is complex, but it has a lot to do with our market’s size. There are distributors near Cleveland that can reach more beer drinkers in a 40 mile radius than one could if they covered every hill and dale of this beautiful state. This means that breweries weren’t exactly beating down our doors to get in. We are “noise” in the marketplace, especially when you boil it down to the people who will drink craft or specialty beers. I bet it’s less than 50,000 people in the whole state. Sure, the market is growing but so is the number of brewers competing for those palates.

Then there is apathy, mainly on the part of the wholesalers. Put yourself in their shoes. These guys have basically carved up the vast majority of the market into three brands, Bud, Miller and Coors. They have sized their entire operations around maximizing throughput of as much yellow fizzy flavorless lager that they can possibly push through. Why would they want to disturb that gravy train? Their quick remedy is to tease us with Guinness or Newcastle; or they might try to fool us with faux craft brands like Shock-Top or Leinenkugel. The incremental business for them is so small, they can care less…

The market conditions have not changed with the passage of this bill. We are still a state of less than 2 million people spread out in pockets over a rough-hilly and fairly big territory. And, most of us still like fizzy yellow water that they tell us is beer. What about those 50,000 I talked about earlier? Many of them think Yuengling is the second coming!

Oh well let’s hope against hope as we celebrate…. Yay!

(How’s that for pessimism, Workman?)

World Class Beers could finally come to West Virginia!

This thing is pretty self explanatory… (also, These folks have good taste in beer!)

For more info: www.octopustap.com

Make no mistake about it; Soho’s restaurant is haunted.  But much to the chagrin of this beer-geek, nobody at Soho’s seems to know it! (Or maybe they just don’t care?)

My wife and I joined a few friends last Friday night for a bite to eat at Soho’s. As soon as I sat down, an eerie feeling came over me, we were not alone. Yes, I realize that we were in a crowded restaurant, of course we weren’t alone: I am talking about my small group of friends- at our table, there was a familiar “presence” that I have known before…

This time, I avoided falling victim to the “Headless Dead-Guy”; I warded off that spirit by ordering a gin and tonic, but my friends Joe and Bill weren’t so lucky. They ordered beer, Dead Guy ale to be specific, usually a great beer that is somehow transformed into something unappealing when served at Soho’s. The rattle of the chains, the hoof beats were deafening…

I didn’t really want to re-write my Headless Dead-Guy blog, (click here for the original blog) but this is too tempting and quite frankly, unfortunate. Why should beer drinkers have to put up with this? Would wine drinkers accept ice-cold red-wine served in plastic drinking cups for instance? Then why should we have to put up with paying 6 bucks for a pint a beer that looks more like a glass of iced tea. This should be a continuing embarrassment for restaurateur and trained Chef Bill Sohovich. I say get it right or just go back to serving Bud in frosted glasses!

Note: For answers to “why is the Dead-Guy Headless”? Read my original Blog explaining why head formation on a beer is important and how restaurants and bars manage to lop off the heads of these innocent beers!

Yes, I heard the great news (delivered by an angel perhaps?) “Hark! I bring you tidings of great joy! Unto you will be sold a lager, you will recognize this lager by its funny name, it will be wrapped in a swanky  (and very appealing) label and will be laying among the many other macro brands in the grocer’s cooler”… Yada, yada, you know the story.

I have never understood the hype behind this very average beer. Sure, Yuengling is a well-brewed and drinkable American lager, but does it deserve this sort of worship? It certainly isn’t worshipped by the beer aficionados that I know. This worship is almost Obama or Coors-like in nature (before Coors came east). Are we so desperate for decent beer that we accept Yuengling as the savior? Please…

I have read many of the comments posted on the WV Gazette website that followed the announcement article by Eric Eyre. Somehow these confused people have mixed up the currently stalled “craft beer” legislation as the reason for Yuengling becoming available in the state. How could stalled legislation have any affect? Facts are stubborn things… 

Here’s the fact. Yuengling lager has always been legally ready for sale in West Virginia. Yuengling is within the current 6% alcohol limit for beer. The only obstacles were labeling and commercial issues. Our market was just too small for the growing brewery to put in the effort to jump through the hoops at the state government, and then have to fight for mindshare from our feudal beer distribution system. Do you know how many great beers are approved and franchised for sale in West Virginia and are never carried by the disinterested distributors that have contracts to sell them? Plenty; and the brewer can do little about it short of taking the distributor to court to sever the contract!

Why do I seem so irritated by this Yuengling worship? It’s simple; I do not want this announcement to become a distraction to the real issues. The WV senate is sitting on the house-passed legislation that will be the first step in getting real, world class beer into West Virginia. And secondly, I am frankly quite disappointed with fact that most folks would be satisfied enough to proclaim “problem solved” for West Virginia beer drinkers now that Yuengling is coming; Allelujha!

Fellow blogger and beer geek Chris Workman put a positive, but very sarcastic spin on the announcement via his WV Gourmet Blog (www.wvgourmet.com). Chris says as Publius “West Virginians no longer have to bootleg mediocre beer.  Now all bootlegging efforts can be focused on bootlegging beers that are actually worth drinking.”

Come on folks; let’s keep our eye on the ball! Call your state senators and ask them to support HB-2719, currently stalled in the senate judiciary committee!

The inspiration to write this article came to me last week when I was in Copenhagen, Denmark checking out the very vibrant craft- beer scene. I was on the way back from a business trip in Sweden when I ran into a couple of local Danes who, while not real “beer geeks” certainly crossed over into the “beer-curious” column. Michael and Thomas jokingly told me they were breaking Danish protocol when they engaged me, a total stranger, in conversation at the bar of “Brewpub København”. The discussion somehow turned toward getting a bite to eat and then a request that I join them. Whatever plans they had previously made went out the window because tonight these guys were answering a call to national duty as Danish culinary diplomats. Their mission was to introduce me to the wonder of the traditional Danish Smørrebrød (open faced sandwich) and dare I say, Carlsberg beer.

Both men assured me that the Cafe Sorgenfri was the “real deal”. The smallish café was right in the heart of the old city, just a few blocks away from the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe. The step down into the place from a corner entrance reminded me of many a seedy Atlantic City bar of my youth, though not smoky and dank at all and not one gaudy neon beer sign to be seen. In fact the place was brightly lit and quite cheery inside and out with family pictures and memorabilia donning the walls in every direction. The guys told me that the place has been an institution since the late1700’s and still family owned.

Carlsberg beer is also a Danish institution of sorts. Although a bit bland for my taste, Carlsberg beer has been the inspiration for most of the “euro-lagers” brewed today. It has become the “Budweiser for the rest of the world”, though a tiny bit more flavorful. The Copenhagen based brewery has quite a history in the world of brewing; in fact its founder J.C. Jacobsen was the man who hired Louis Pasteur to figure out exactly what caused fermentation. Mr. Pasteur’s discovery of brewing yeast was the result; the scientific name of which is Saccharomyces Carlbergensis, named after the brewery that funded the discovery. Although I am not a fan of Carlsberg or any other euro-lager, these beers do have their place, and especially Carlsberg when paired with the traditional smørrebrød fare of Denmark.

My Danish hosts ordered up the classic combinations of the meal, a round of Carlsberg beer and a bottle of an anise flavored akavit (a schnapps whose name is derived from “water of life” but I would like to see someone try to live off of this stuff!). The meal was served on a multi level tray like you would see at a typical buffet (smorgasbord, smørrebrød, are you getting the connection?). Everything is eaten with a knife and fork “open face style” on dark rye bread (instantly halving your carb-intake, brilliant!). 

Starting with pickled herring served with a pork-fat spread and then onward to liver pate, pot roast, chicken-asparagus salad and spicy shrimp salad, all were delicious. Red onion and other sides like cucumbers, beets and red bean sprouts added a range of very fresh and earthy flavors to the “protein” on the bread.

The Carlsberg beer surprisingly hung in there and dare I say “enhanced” the experience. This was no surprise to my hosts, as they believe the true success of Carlsberg beer is that it was designed to work with this very traditional and popular meal, to do otherwise would have meant sure death in the Danish marketplace. The sips of Akavit enhanced the dill and other spices and especially harmonized with the dark rye bread almost like liquid caraway seed. On the other hand, the spicy schnapps couldn’t upstage the relatively bland euro-lager at pulling this meal together; proving to me that every beer must have its place somewhere (except maybe for Miller-Chill).

There is an old saying which says that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. I went to Copenhagen with no plans to drink even one Carlsberg beer, but alas I am a “beer-culture kinda guy” and I am really glad these two guys were willing to lead me to a Carlsberg beer paired with a great meal, creating an incredible beer-culture experience.