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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Summer Wheat was great take on what is often considered a bland beer style. what made it different was it’s odd use of hops giving it a citrus flavor without having to add a lemon. those hops include Chinook, Centennial and Cascade. the beer rolls in at 15 IBUs. our first thought was “hey, this would make a great Shandy which is a beer mixed with lemonade. this particular beer would hold up to the lemons very well. we found that if you start with a mix of 75% beer and 25% lemonade you be very happy. taste it before adding more lemonade or more beer for that perfect blend.

the Kolsch-Style Ale is tough beer to make. it’s not at all heavy and the flavors are almost in the background. you want to enjoy this beer on a hot day from small glasses so your beer doesn’t warm too much. the Dundee example passes the test. although it wasn’t that warm outside. but we did have the correct glassware. if anything this beer demands to be enjoyed with food like cheese, brockwurst or a single topping pizza. complex food won’t go as well with this simple beer.

the Stout from Dundee doesn’t have a bold name like Terminator or Abyss but maybe it doesn’t need one. this particular stout has a complex grain bill of seven different malts. the exact blend was not revealed. usually a stout on a summer day is far from the beer you want to enjoy. but we think this might be just the way to end day. especially around a camp fire where you might want something not so light. Dundee Stout has lots of aroma, a not so big chocolate and sweet start and it quietly disappears for it’s finish. it does not have that usual sour finish that lots of stout mimics. and it certainly didn’t feel thick like the stout you usually drink in the dead of winter. the panel of tasters suggested this might make pretty good ice cream floats. especially with raspberry. and we like the idea of doing reductions with these sweeter not hop’d up beers to put on waffles, pancakes and of course ice cream.

we enjoyed these beers that are obviously made to the liking of the local scene. it’s a change from the west coast style over the over that we usually drink. it’s interesting to note that all of these beers are under 20 IBUs. which might get scoffed for it’s perceived low flavor. as if you can know what a beer tastes like by how it specs.

finally we want to mention the art work on the label. it’s very clever. and it looks fun without being childish. we also like that the brand is supposed to carry itself instead of demanding that the drinker know it’s clever name. there’s nothing wrong with clever names though. we just like the way that Dundee implemented their package image.

thank you brewer Jim McDermottfor for the talk and the virtual tasting. we still have some beer left so you’ll hear about it on the show soon.

Dundee Brewing Company
445 Saint Paul Street
Rochester, NY 14605

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Looking for the link the BNA5 party? here you go: www.Justin.tv/brewingnetwork

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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Good beer from a can, just like good beer from a bottle, should be poured into your favorite pint glass so you can further appreciate the aroma, color and head.

Cans keep beer fresher.
Light cannot penetrate cans.
Cans aren’t as heavy as bottles.
Beer can get cold faster in a can.
Cans are better for the environment.

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they did get here and helped in the the recording of the NEVER BEER show. it’s finally recorded. the idea was to take something that you, the listeners, complain about and push it to the extreme. that is, you complain that we drink beer that you can’t get. so for this show we drank beer that nobody will EVER be able to get. okay, this is not entirely true. one of the beers in the collection could be purchased (or could have been) at show time. like Firestone 13 which we had a bottle to try. it’s not never now but in 4 years it might as well be never.

the rules for the guests were pretty simple:
please bring a beer (or two) that you has a story to tell while drinking it.
the show is like a session at your local.
you don’t have to arrive exactly at 6. but we will very likely roll audio close to then.
leaving early is totally allowed!
the show is going to be released on April 1st.

the guest list was a who’s who of beer:
Betz (formerly of Toronado)
Beth and Craig (City Beer Store)
Sean Z Paxton (Home Brew Chef)
Gabby (21a Festival Girl) who’s bringing Jeremy (Tcho Chocolate)
Motor and myself

we invited these guys but did not make the show:
Arnie (Marin Brewing Company)
Richard Brewer Hay (Elizabeth Street Brewing)

it looked like a lot of guests but not everyone stayed for the whole show. somebody told me they were going to be late. it will all worked out in the end. we all hope you enjoy what we made. hopefully you will listen along with bottles from your OWN collection. and it will be much, much more like you are participating along with us!

beer on the show:

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pictures taken during the show:

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so you want to get away? but the beach doesn’t interest you. the thought of seeing a giant hole in the ground that isn’t doing it for you. and standing in a line to see robots sing and dance doesn’t even remotely peek your interest. why not tour a country that has a tradition of making really great beer instead? yes you (and your new friends) could be traversing Belgium in search of that perfect pint.

there’s lots of ways to tour a country. you could go it alone where it’s to you to research and plan every move. and that can be daunting. you could sign up for a tour that would take you from place to place on a giant bus. but because of it’s size you won’t see the small farm house off the side road. the better tour is on the short bus with not very many people. and the guide you want is somebody that isn’t just doing it for the money. they are doing it because they love the beer they are taking you to.

here’s the link to the movie we watched on the show. yeah, silly wasn’t it? video in an audio show.

Stu Stuart of “Belgian Beer Me: does tours of Beglium beer. he’s got a few to choose from. and if you can’t go this year think about next year doing the similar tour about the same time of year.
The Great Zythos Beer Festival Tour of Belgium—March 3-8, 2010. Six days, five nights.
The Ardennes Mountain Spring Beer Tour of Belgium–June 1-9, 2010. Nine Days, eight nights.
The Best Damn Farmhouse Ale Tour of Belgium & France–Oct. 11-16, 2010. Six days, five nights.
The Lonely Monks Trappist Beer Tour of Belgium & the Netherlands–Oct. 16-25, 2010.
(combine the last two trips for extra awesome!)

go to Belgianbeerme.com for a complete list of tours.

if you want to go it alone you will need a map and a book.

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