For the most part, Russian River’s Pliny the Younger has come and gone for the year. If you were lucky enough to be in Northern California or at one of the scattered handful of bars (like Denver’s Falling Rock Taphouse) that got a keg of the Younger in February, you might have had the opportunity to sample the fabled brew. If not, then you’re like the rest of us…sadly Pliny the Younger-free for yet another year.
The difficulty of obtaining the Younger led a fellow Alehead to ask why Russian River intentionally limits the distribution of the beer. After all, it’s not like the beer is made with some impossibly rare or expensive ingredient like swallow’s nest or saffron. And it’s not barrel-aged or cellared so it can be brewed and distributed as quickly as any other normal, high-gravity offering. If it’s so good (at the time I’m writing this post, it’s the top-rated beer on BeerAdvocate) and so clamored for by Alehead Nation, why not brew it in greater quantity? Hell, why not brew it year-round? Read the rest of this entry »
Good evening everyone. I am writing this blog post on behalf of the Czar Vladabeer S. Bootin’ who is currently indisposed. He had a party last night and I’m afraid we still have medical personnel tending to some of the guests. The Czar himself and Svetlana have made it clear to me they are not to be disturbed until Wednesday.
My name is Karl and in the matter of beers I have editorial responsibility to clarify and communicate the Czar’s tasting notes and opinions. In the matter of other things I have other responsibilities. As the Czar likes to say: ”You are being my number one bitch!” This is of course humiliating not only for the coarse language but as the statement is actually true. I do almost everything he asks because he grossly overpays me and because I really really don’t want to do what the Number Two Bitch has to do. Read the rest of this entry »
In 1996 longtime friends Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski fulfilled a lifelong dream and converted an old Pepperidge Farm bakery in Downingtown, PA into the Victory Brewing Company. Each brought years of experience in a microbrewing industry still in its infancy, as well as formal training from top German brewmasters. From 1,700 production barrels in ‘96 to almost 60,000 barrels in 2010 the brewery now sports a lineup stacked with critical and commercial successes: a lager that reimagined the style (Prima Pils), a hoppy and aggressive flagship IPA (HopDevil Ale), a complex and hard-hitting Imperial Stout (Storm King Stout), and many more. In anticipation of Victory’s 15th anniversary celebration, Ron and Bill announced the release of a beer to commemorate the occasion- and what sort of uber-extreme, one-off, barrel-aged prestige brew to show off VBC’s brewing muscle did they select? An American Pale Ale, specifically the Victory Headwaters Pale Ale. Read the rest of this entry »
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, my favorite time of year for decades was the Hot Stove season. Until the Red Sox began focusing on pitching (and spending money like it was water), there was really no reason to believe they had much of a shot at winning the World Series once the season began. But during those Winter months, when impractical trades were tossed around like confetti and every player was expected to have a breakout season…THAT was often the highlight of the year for a Sox fan. Because of those futile years of pining, I’ve learned to appreciate and love the fine art of speculation. Read the rest of this entry »
See here for my previous note on flavors and molecules in beer.
A recent post about tasting notes from Brother Barley has really got me thinking. I’ve always felt humbled by the descriptive terms the other Aleheads in tasting notes, and felt that my own palate (or perhaps my nose) isn’t really up to snuff, so to speak. As a true science nerd I’ve been thinking a lot about smell recently, and it’s something that relates heavily to our perception of the flavor of beer. Flavor is to a huge extent driven by smell: our tongues can taste only 5 flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, Umami (sometimes described as savory). There is also some evidence that suggests a 6th sense of taste for fatty foods, although this is a relatively recent discovery. That means that every other “flavor” we sense is predominantly a smell. Furthermore, the idea of a “taste map” on your tongue, where you can only taste certain flavors on certain parts of your tongue, is pretty clearly a myth. To put this all in context, rumor has it that in the absence of smell, an apple, a potato, and an onion all taste the same [CITATION NEEDED]. Read the rest of this entry »
Hi again Aleheads – it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to post: it has been a busy fall and winter for the Professor. I’ve been buried in a job search that has been dragging on for many months and culminated in a huge amount of travel all over the country – including a visit to Brother Barley last fall. In between the holidays and a lot of other ups and downs, my brother got married. I love [drinking beer at] weddings as much as the next guy, and being the best man at my brother’s wedding was fantastic. Of course, my brother knows me well, and he gave me the best groomsman gift an Alehead could ever ask for: a 6 month subscription to a rare beer of the month club. And so it has come to pass that at the end of each month I run to my mailbox like little Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” waiting to see if my box of two 750 mL bottles of rare beer have arrived. Read the rest of this entry »
Ah, South Florida in February: to whose sun-soaked beaches swarm the most gorgeous young women, along with the ugliest, fattest living senior citizens on the planet, as they flee their harsh winters in search of vitamin D. Though I fit into neither category (not yet, anyway…my sex change operation is next week), I headed down there with two goals in mind: to find great beer, and to play 18 holes. I’m happy to report that I accomplished both. Accompanied by Lady and Little Lady Copperpot on Hollywood Beach, in between soaking in the rays and the sights, I took a few minutes (read: several hours) away from the beach and the 82-degree pool to sample whatever local craft brews I could get my hands on. After all, there must be some decent beer being brewed in southeast Florida, right? Here’s a rundown of the non-Cigar City selections I found (Cigar City selections to come in a subsequent post): Read the rest of this entry »
The first thing to know about the fresh-faced youth that is Kid Carboy Jr. is that my world experience is severely lacking. Whereas some of the wiser Aleheads would knowingly turn up their nose at the street corner game of Three Card Monte, I’m intrigued.* “Who are these nice men who seem so eager to drape their arms around my shoulders?” I wonder to myself. “Perhaps they will be my friends.”
Like most Americans, I consider myself an indisputable product of these here United States. But when asked about my heritage, I start spouting out fractions like a 3rd grade mathlete. “Well, I’m 1/8th this and 1/4th that, and 1/16th blah blah blah.” My grandfather was Irish, so I tell people that I’m a quarter Irish. This is despite the fact that I’ve only been to Ireland once (Doc and I took a trip there while in college for the sole purpose of swimming in a vat of Guinness…didn’t pan out). I have no real connection to Ireland. I don’t know much about the culture. The only Gaelic words I know are sláinte and shillelagh (the latter only because the Celtics’ leprechaun mascot carries one at all times to beat Lakers fans with). I am, in fact, not even remotely Irish. Yet because I had relatives from the Emerald Isle, I beam proudly on St. Patrick’s Day and drink dry Irish stout with reckless abandon (to be fair, I would do that even if I was Italian). Read the rest of this entry »
We at Aleheads have talked often about the “canning” revolution currently taking place in the craft beer world. In 2002, Oskar Blues became the first craft brewer to begin canning their products, and since then, the floodgates have opened. There are a variety of crucial advantages to canning beer (better light protection, less breakage, cheaper to produce, easier to stack, easier to recycle, etc.) so as the stigma of cans as a vessel solely used for cheap, tasteless, watery suds has been obliterated, the humble can has become ubiquitous in high-end package stores across the country. While the glass bottle isn’t going anywhere, cans are clearly no longer a novelty.
No one knows this better than our friends over at CraftCans.com. Russ and Kelly’s site has become the go-to source of information about canned craft beers for beer lovers everywhere. And unlike Aleheads, a site which prides itself on a lack of accurate, useful, reliable information, CraftCans.com actually has a functional, easily searchable, and comprehensive database of every canned craft beer in the US. Simply put, if you like reading about big beer in little metal cylinders, Russ and Kelly are your guys. Read the rest of this entry »
Constant Readers: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little ale recommendations of my colleagues. You may remember the inquiries I made among the various presidents whilst away, and the journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be agreeable to you to know the results of my explorations, many of which you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of an evening’s uninterrupted leisure in my present habitation, I sit down to write them for you. To which I have besides some other inducements. Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity regarding the availability of crafty and considered ales, the conducing means I made use of, my readership may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imitated. Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone who tries to tell you that the macro-brewers of the BMC world aren’t worried about the continual expansion of the craft beer industry simply isn’t telling you the truth. To put it more simply: They are telling lies. Either that, or they are themselves misled or willfully ignorant of how the sudsy landscape continues to evolve. Craft beer’s segment of the total beer market may still hover around only 5% of the total in volume, but you wouldn’t know it from the way both macro-brewers and retail competitors attempt to cut in on the same perceived cash cow. Read the rest of this entry »
For most of the Aleheads, the 90s were the the “best” era in the history of rock music. Sure, most of the critically-acclaimed “greatest” bands of all time (Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Cream, etc.) existed before then. And, of course, there have been some incredibly good bands that have arrived on the scene after the 90s drew to a close. But the truth is, you never connect with music quite like you do in your teens and early 20s. It’s during those emotional, tumultuous years, when every experience seems fraught with meaning and everything seems so raw and important that music is most powerful. Since the Aleheads came of age during the era of Clinton and grunge, it’s only natural that the music of that period would be our favorite. Read the rest of this entry »
NOTES: Bomber @ Venti’s Basement Bar. Initially grabbed this because it has a limited edition label that is my new favorite bottle art of all time.
STYLE: Saison/Farmhouse Ale
ABV: 5.0%
APPEARANCE: Cloudy Orange-Gold
HEAD: Less than a finger of fluffy white head. Below average retention, little lacing
NOSE: Tart and dry with wine and a little sour cherry coming through.
TASTE: Tangy and bright with a nice cherry kick and an astringent finish that has more to do with lactic acid than alcohol. A little funkiness appears toward the end, but it’s not at all overwhelming. The pinot barrel aging actually seems to tie everything together rather than pop out too much on its own.
MOUTHFEEL: Moderately full bodied, not over-aggressively carbonated.
DRINKABILITY: At 5% ABV you could knock back a couple bombers if you were in the mood, though I tend not to session sours. I got through this bottle quickly and enjoyed the hell out of it.
RATING: 3.5 hops. Though I absolutely bought this bottle for its label, once I broke into it I forgot about bottle art. It’s a great sour saison from an up and coming craft brewery in Portland. Grab a bottle if you’re lucky enough to find one!
Our friends at Bodega recently opened package store at the North Market in Columbus, Ohio called The Barrel and Bottle. True to form, they wasted no time in getting in a selection of beers you can’t find anywhere else in town. The owner was kind enough to root through some boxes with me and dig out a collaboration among the three premier craft brewers in the San Diego area: Green Flash, Pizza Port Carlsbad, and Stone. As your attorney, I advise you to pick up as many bottles of this limited offering as you can.* Read the rest of this entry »
Newcastle Brown Ale is one of the most ubiquitous brews on the market. You can’t avoid it. Stop in any bar, package store, or fast casual restaurant in the US, and you’re likely to see that familiar yellow label with the trademark blue star. Is it a good beer? Not particularly. It’s a fairly bland session beer that functions like background noise. You barely even notice you’re drinking it…it essentially just keeps your mouth wet while you talk. Nevertheless, many an Alehead has found him or herself ordering a pint of Newcastle when options are limited. And most will discover a drinkable, harmless, inoffensive brew.*
*Note: The same does NOT hold true for Newcastle in a bottle. For reasons no one seems to quite understand, Newcastle is bottled in clear glass. Since light is the worst offender when it comes to beer spoilage, Newcastle is generally considered the most frequently “skunked” beer in the history of ever. Read the rest of this entry »
Being an Alehead is about more than just vociferously explaining to everyone within earshot how impressive the lacing on your Imperial IPA is. It’s about embodying a certain spirit and lifestyle. It’s about representing the craft beer industry as boldly and obnoxiously as possible. It’s about making people say, “If I hear you utter the word ‘phenolic’ one more time, I swear to God I’m going to smash this bottle over your head.” In short, it’s about living by the Code. Read the rest of this entry »
Nice piece of news a few weeks back out of Grand Rapids, MI (home to the Aleheads’ perennial “Best Brewery in the World” contender, the Founders Brewing Company). It appears that a new ale factory, Brewery Vivant, will be selling their Belgian-style brews in 16-ounce “tall boy” cans.
Canned craft beers are hardly novel these days. Since Oskar Blues began the craft can revolution in 2002 with the release of their Dale’s Pale Ale, many forward-thinking breweries have jumped on board the aluminum bandwagon. You’ve probably read our discussions of canned beer in the past, so we won’t go into detail about the advantages those little metal cylinders afford (no light spoilage issues, easier to stack and ship, less breakage, cheaper to produce and recycle, etc.). Suffice it to say, when an idea makes this much sense, it’s only a matter of time before it goes from being a novelty to being the industry standard. Read the rest of this entry »
For the most part, Russian River’s Pliny the Younger has come and gone for the year. If you were lucky enough to be in Northern California or at one of the scattered handful of bars (like Denver’s Falling Rock Taphouse) that got a keg of the Younger in February, you might have had the opportunity to sample the fabled brew. If not, then you’re like the rest of us…sadly Pliny the Younger-free for yet another year.
Posted by Barley McHops 
