some of the big stouts like Abyss, XXIII or Serpents and even 15 from Stone all have flavors that will get masked by cold. but even every day Black Butte Porter benefits from warming. in the USofA Guinness is almost always served too cold as most beer bars don’t have a choice or way of controlling temperature just for one keg.

it might not be enough to just take beer out of the fridge and let it warm up. some beer will benefit from agitation in the glass. or air might interact with it as it’s being poured allowing it to “open up” the same way a scotch or red wine develops in the glass. we’ve all had an experience where we’ve not been impressed with the drink, but it aside and 10 minutes later it’s a completely different drink.

that’s why you shouldn’t be in a rush to down what you just poured from the bottle. of course there are exceptions. Kølsch for example. needs to be cold which is why it comes in a tiny glass. Pale and IPA generally are what they are right out of the bottle.

one simple way you can learn about what gets better as it gets warmer is to set aside a beer that you are enjoying and order another beer. after you finish your next beer go back to what you saved. what you will find is always going to be a surprise. which is, that some beer does not get better at all.

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you’ve heard it said before that “all beer tastes the same” when referring to “factory beer”. the best way to think of these beers is as the lowest common denominator with regards to taste, smell and expectations. they were designed with a precarious balancing act in mind: making a beer that tastes like something, has a buzz inducing quality and is cost effective to make while maximizing profits. add in a little advertising to tell people what they want (and expect) and wha-laa fizzy yellow beer that is consumed by zillions of people.

what we found echos our previous findings:
you can taste the difference between all four of these beers.
they aren’t very good when you compare this beers to craft beer.
in the right context any of these beers could be refreshing.
if you do your homework you may come to a similar conclusion.

homework:
get four factory beers and try them side-by-side-by-side-by-side. you don’t have to drink the whole beer. be sure to talk about the things that you are tasting: sweet, bitter, crispness, mouth feel and the carbonation. bonus homework is to compare the same beer in bottles and cans because there is a difference sometimes. the cans are better.

beer on the show:
Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors and Coors Light
Dogfish Head Festina Peche

the new voice is Alex. you can see her pondering which beer. and here’s a link to a video of her getting it mostly correct.

Thursday, August 4th is IPA Day. the idea is for you to introduce your friends to a craft made IPA. which is a fine thing to do. but there are some things you might want to consider before you take the advice on what to introduce to your pals. IPA is a big bold beer compared to what passes for a “normal” beer. it’s full of aroma and is often very bitter. these are two characteristics that make it very different. and not everyone will share your enthusiasm for these things because they are counter to what we’ve been told to like by marketing. just because it’s the go to beer and favorite among craft beer drinkers doesn’t mean that a Bud Light drinker will like it. don’t be surprised if they just can’t take the intenseness of IPA and order something else tasty for them.

another thing to consider is that the middle of summer is not the best time to introduce this beer. we’ve found that the hotter the temperature makes less hoppy taste even better. a crisp Pilsner or Kolsch can be amazing on a hot day (conversely when it’s cold these styles might taste too thin).

there are a few things that continuously bug us about IPA.

- none of it is going to India. so there’s no reason to call it this anymore.
- if you look up the recipe for IPA from the books publish 150 years ago you will find something not that much more then the Pale ale of the time. these beers were aged in barrels of unknown conditions for at least 120 before they were consumed. this is very different from the out of the fermenter and into the serving tank in 14 days repeat that the local breweries have to maintain.
- lots of people order IPA because it’s the simplest thing to order on the beer list. having clever names doesn’t help the knob buying beer.
- or they are ordering the beer because its the highest ABV on the list. they aren’t drinking it for the hops, balance or aroma. it might as well be Colt 45.

all that said, we think it’s fine to have an IPA day. but there is the question about the other 4o styles of beer… are we going to have days for them too? it might have been better to start with plain old Pale. not as hoppy and way more accessible as a style coming from a yellow fizzy beer. or Stout. mostly because it has the challenge of color. but we’d skip Guinness and pour one of the richer beers instead. or we might just order up a local Pilsner and do a side-by-side tasting with the other person’s favorite beer.

okay IPA lovers it’s your turn. drag your friends to the pub but please keep in mind what this beer is and how you long it took for you to love it.

link with more info about IPA Day.

IPA Day fold-a-book JPEG link.
IPA Day fold-a-book PDF link.

Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan of Almanac Beer Company stopped by to talk about their beer and what it’s about. it’s an interesting take on how to launch into the brewing business. which is to start of brewing smaller batches of seasonal beer which you can hear about on the podcast or read on the Almanac website. before the name was Almanac it was going to be called Old Oak Beer Company. but a deep trademark search showed that they might have problems with that name so the two owners decided to rebadge the company prior to having any beer in the market to avoid future confusion. 

barrel aged beers have proven to be popular in market. and while European beers have been made in wood barrels for centuries it hasn’t been until the last decade that barrel aging was done in the American market. and this is especially true for beer distributed outside of the brewing area done intentionally instead of just a brewers experiment made as a novelty for the people that visit the brewery.

somebody will point out that some US breweries have had their beer on wood since they started brewing it. yet it’s not the flavor of the wood that is the reason. in the case of beer that is “Beechwood Aged” the wood is used to increase the surface area available to the yeast. it also makes a neat marketing differentiation for the product.

the homework was to try beer that is barrel aged. we gave a few examples on the show. and if you aren’t sure what is or isn’t a beer from a barrel program ask your retailer or beer geek. or you can ask here as well.

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Forties are beers that either come in 40 ounce bottles or cost around $40.

[links go here and there]

beer on the show:
Pliney the Elder from Russian River
Firestone Walker Parabala
Mikeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
the Lost Abbey Serpents Stout

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12►

it’s fall. that means “back to school”. and don’t think that you are exempt from the task. in fact, as a beer drinker going back to school to learn about beer should not be a chore like it was when we were small. learning about beer is always fun even if the beer that is in front of you isn’t your thing. at least you’ll know not to order it next time.

speaking of ordering one of the best ways to get to know beer at a new brewer is to order the sampler. a sampler can be all the beers on the board or a select few. it’s a easy way to try out all the beers without committing to whole pints of things that you might not enjoy. the best part about the sampler is that you will usually find something that you really want to have a pint for yourself.

be sure to take notes and take pictures of the beer that you are touring. it’s easy to forget all that you are trying especially if you are at festival or a touring beer. pictures are an easy way to take notes without writing a word. when you see a picture you can instantly remember the details of what you drinking. and if you take notes you will start to develop a way to describe tastes and smells using words.

speaking of festivals… go! attending a festival is a great way to cover a lot of different beers in a day without a lot of effort. skip the beer that you already know or that’s local to you and instead focus on beer that you have never tasted. listen to the buzz around the tent for clues on what you absolutely should not miss. by the end of the day you may have a new favorite beer or two to live your fridge at home.

if you’ve never brewed your own beer you’re missing out. there are a few ways to do this. one is it use a “brew on premise” service. just do a google search for “brew on premise your city” to find one. a BoP has all the gear ready to beer 5 to 10 gallons meaning all you need to do is show up with your friends. it takes between 6-8 hours to brew a batch so plan accordingly.

you can also make beer with a home brewer.

if you want to dig into the ins and outs of serving beer the Cicerone course may be for you. it covers everything from styles to vessels. be sure to download the sylybus first. you can learn lots just from that without going into the gory details.

some people have a palette that can drill into very specific flavors. if that’s you consider becoming a beer judge. it may take your several years to learn what what it takes but that’s what sets a judge apart from the people at the bar.

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anyone who is driving away from Boonville after last call is bound to get pulled over by the numerous CHP ready in wait. it seems that there are more officers on patrol every year. bottom line. don’t drive unless you are the DD and even then it’s a good idea to wait for the crazies to get far down the road.

one of the highlights of the weekend is hearing the Firkin Tappers play around a campfire. the Tappers are a marching band and marching bands have always been fueled by beer. you can walk around the band as if you were in the band. the sound changes a little. some instruments totally drown in the mess. but funnier is hearing the musicians bicker amongst themselves. it’s just like high school all over again. nice to see that some things never ever change.

after the band there was a session of joke telling around a camp fire. eventually guitars broke out. some guy came up to the fire, sat down and promptly passed out in that chair. eventually it was 3 in the morning. and that was it for me.

anyway. fun times. stay and enjoy it.

PS: the podcast is all music from the weekend.

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beer on the show:
Ruby
Hammer Head (IPA)

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Anchor Brewing got sold. The sky is not going to fall.

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this is the long though lost IPA show. it was recorded last fall on August 23, 2009.

there are a few things that continuously bug me about IPA.

1) none of it is going to India. so there’s no reason to call it this anymore.
2) if you look up the recipe for IPA from the books publish 150 years ago you will find something not that much more then the Pale ale of the time.
3) these beers were aged in barrels of unknown conditions for at least 120 days before they were consumed. this is very different from the out of the fermenter and into the serving tank in 14 days repeat that the local breweries have to maintain.
4) lots of people order IPA because it’s the simplest thing to order on the beer list. having clever names doesn’t help the knob buying beer.
5) or they are ordering the beer because its the highest ABV on the list. they aren’t drinking it for the hops, balance or aroma. it might as well be Colt 45.

there are lots of new trends happening for IPA. Black IPA is very interesting to me as an evolutionary style. when done correctly it makes a very drinkable beer. however the trend I’m bugged about is using the malt as color not for adding another flavor. the Windmer BIPA tasted like this. don’t take that as me not liking that beer. it was very good. but it’d doesn’t look like it tastes. but it’s a stupid name: Black India Pale Ale. there is no category of black pale. that’s a different beer.

the other trend that doesn’t always meet with success is the over hopped beer chasing 120 IBUs or more. these beers are made with something like 13 different hops added at every possible place in the beer making process. the “hop bomb” sometimes works but its a rare beer that you want to have more than one of. it’s not a pleasant thing to drink. there are few exceptions that stand out. Magnolia makes a beer called Promised Land that is simply wonderful.

we think it’s time for this style of beer to adopt a new name. the style that is being crafted today is nothing like the beer that made the trip in barrels to troops fighting a war in India. availability of so many different local hops have allowed West Coast brewers to make an entirely new style. thus West Coast Pale is a better name. or Left Coast Pale. or California Pale Ale. no matter what the beer ends up being called it’s time to leave India out of it.

beer on the show:
Pliney the Elder from Russian River
Racer 5 from Bear Republic
Stone IPA from Stone Brewing
Imperial IPA from Anderson Valley
Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing

Note: these are all local beers for us. and it’s why we choose them for the show.

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