you know those books that list 300 things you must try? chances are half of what’s in there is unobtainable. so why not make your OWN book. 500 Beers is your book that contains everything you need capture all the unique beer that you are drinking. it contains space to log the details of your quest for trying beers close to your home or around the world. there is space to write the what, where, and when for each beer. and there is lots of space for notes, pictures and labels. this is a living book. it’s up to you to make it yours.

inside there are four types of pages:
a detail page where you list the beer, brewery, style, location you drank it and the date.
a progress bar that you fill in so you have a visual time line of just how many beers have made the list.
the grid pages are there for doodles, pictures, maps, specific notes or anything else you might want to capture.
mark maps in the back of the book where you beer came from. there’s even room for you own maps.

500 Beers is a fun way to learn about beer.

buy the book from our robot printer called Lulu now.

it’s sooooo close…

1) I don’t like the cover art. so that gets changed. fixed. see the revised cover above.
2) the text and the margins are wrong on some of the pages on the wire wound version. too close and too big. fixed.
3) watch that edge. seriously. fixed.
4) it’s obvious that some pages are in the wrong place. reflowed.
5) smaller type in places. yep, make the typeface smaller. make the typeface small. made smaller.

here’s the snaps.

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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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Brews on the Bay – Jeramia O’Brien located on the water in SF
September 10th
http://sfbrewersguild.org/botb.html

Biketoberfest Marin Fairfax, CA
Sunday, September 25, 2011
www.biketoberfestmarin.com

Wet Hop Festival
October 15 – Bistro – Hayward, CA
http://the-bistro.com/

Bay Area Craft Beer Festival
Oct 22
http://www.bayareacraftbeerfestival.com/

video: the boil, the first grain out video, and the other grain out video, and finally here’s the sound of a conical fermentor.

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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.

before you head out for IPA Day download and “fold a book” containing information about India Pale Ale. it’s easy to make. all you need is a printer and some scissors. there is no glueing, taping or stapling required. print as many as you like and hand them out at your IPA Day event.

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

want to make your own book? the pocketmod tool will help you.

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here’s a gallery of the sketches that were the basis for the fold-a-book. some things changed, stuff got cut, and some of it stayed exactly like it was imagined.

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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.

Beer with food pairing dinners are a great way to learn a lot about beer in an evening. usually these events are structured in a way that will leave you happy and full. if you’ve never been to one of these events here’s some things you can expect.

the beers won’t be a full pint. and this is a good thing. sometimes you won’t like the beer that is in front of you. which means that you’ll be dumping it in the bucket. and while it seems unfair to the beer imagine dumping a whole glass.

the food won’t be big either. remember these are portions designed for pairing. usually each beer has something that it goes with. meaning in an evening you’ll have 5-9 “courses” which turns out to be a lot of food.

this means that smaller is better. you’ll get to try more beer and eat a large diversity of food. but more importantly you don’t want to get “full” unless you like this feeling.

somebody will want to talk. this is the part of the learning part. usually your guide will tell you about the style of beer that is in front of you, what the brewer had in mind while making it and possibly a funny story to wrap it up. usually brewers and owners are quick with their words allowing you to get back to your own tables conversation.

speaking of your table, be sure to introduce yourself to everyone. you never know who will be next to you. we’ve met beer writers, judges, geeks, travelers and home brewers all of whom have a ton of knowledge that is relevant to the evening.

sometimes these things seem like they cost a lot of money. but added up it’s not that much more compared to a regular night out. remember this is part classroom, part show and a chance to try things that you might otherwise ignore or miss.

do and don’ts
if you’d like more beer be sure to finish what you already have.

before you dump a beer ask you table if they would like to finish it. somebody will appreciate that you asked.

try all the beers. don’t skip one just because you don’t like the color. who knows, that barley wine may be the best thing you’ve ever tried.

it’s a marathon not a sprint. you are going to sample food and beer for over 3 hours. so go slow. enjoy the whole night.

it’s ok to ask questions! ask your table, your hosts and the brewers.

upcoming events:

Beer School at 21st Amendment August 2011

Explore Your Craft featuring beer from Widmer Brothers:

San Francisco – August 13th
Orlando – October 18th
Seattle November 19th

I’m sure you’ll be able to find at least one beer event in your area. and if you don’t see one listed on this handy guide and calendar it’s easy enough to make your own event. you could get a selection of different beers, invite your friends over and have a night of tasting. or you could visit one of the 1600 breweries around the country for a tour. or you could just have a night out with pizza and some tasty beer.

hopefully you won’t have the problem that the crazy “city name beer week” events like San Francisco, San Diego and Philadelphia create which is back to back to back events or multiple events on the same night that are “must attend or you’ll miss it”. it’s a lot of fun to have so many things to choose from but we’re happy that it’s only once a year.

Links:
here is the resolution from the 11th Congress.
find an event in your area.
video of the resolution 1297 being past. [snooze]