Madison Beer Review

Let Me See If I Understand This Correctly

2012-02-10T05:30:00.000-06:00

Article here about Ocalala Indian Tribe suing A-B, Miller, et al for selling beer near their reservation.

The facts are these: Ocalala Indian Reservation, in South Dakota is a dry reservation. Yet, despite the ban of alcohol on the reservation, alcohol (namely beer) is destroying the Tribe. According to health reports the reservation has the lowest expectancy of anywhere in North America except Haiti. One in four children born on the reservation has fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The reservation comprises the third poorest county in the United States with a median household income of only $27,300. The reservation has been dry since 1832. Yet, liquor stores near the reservation have been selling alcohol (beer) far in excess of a reasonably proportional amount for the community in which they reside.

In other words, the only conclusion is that people are coming from the dry reservation to purchase alcohol, and take it back to the dry reservation. Therefore, the stores are knowingly serving people from the dry reservation. And, by extension, A-B, Miller, Coors, et al should have known that beer was going to the dry reservation in violation of reservation law because their distributors were selling beer to the stores in quantities far in excess to the number of people in the non-dry communities.

What do you think?

I think it would set a very dangerous precedent. Moreover, it leads to absurd results. Could the US sue the Netherlands for allowing American tourists to smoke weed? It's illegal here and the Dutch know it is illegal here, yet they allow American tourists to take part in an activity that they know is illegal in their home country. Can the US sue Canada because the drinking age there is lower and 19-year olds from Detroit go to Canada and drink, then come back to the US.

How could the remedy (sale of alcohol to someone from a dry community/reservation) possibly be enforced? How far away do you have to be? And, can you not sell to anyone from any dry community, or just dry communities that are nearby that you know are dry? Moreover, how are the distributors to know that their product is going someplace where it shouldn't be? All the distributor is doing is fulfilling orders for a store that is legally permitted to purchase their product. Can distributors be sued for supplying Colt 45 and other malt liquors or cheap alcohol to urban communities where consumption is far in excess of a regional average?

On the other hand, these groups are taking part and actively encouraging the downfall of a blighted community. In light of successful tobacco lawsuits, is this really that different? We have known health damages to a community and active marketing and distribution to the community suffering under the health condition. The tobacco companies were liable for their failure to warn of the health problems caused by their product and their active marketing to those to whom consumption was illegal (in their case minors, in this case citizens of a dry reservation).

Five Gallons At A Time: Water Chemistry Updates

2012-02-06T05:30:00.000-06:00

I updated the six-part series on water chemistry. Here are the links to the articles:

Part I (introduction)
Part II (easy ballpark water treatments)
Part III (factors that affect mash pH)
Part IV (target residual alkalinity calculations)
Part V (water treatment outline and salt addition calculations)
Part VI (slaked lime and lactic acid calculations)

I rewrote the old articles instead of writing new ones because leaving up the old information, some of which was valid and some of which was outdated, would have been confusing for readers. In addition, I wanted to leave the original web addresses intact so people who use them as references would be able to find the new information as easily as possible. I included latest revision date in the body of each post so people will know that the content has changed since the publishing dates.

I'm always trying to better myself as a brewer, and I've gathered a lot of new information about water and mash chemistry over the last year. Some of it profoundly affects how brewing water should be treated:

-The target mash pH range of 5.2-5.5 is for room temperature measurements, not mash temperature measurements.
-Some of the pH strips available at homebrew shops report values that are about 0.3 lower than the actual pHs. I was using them, which made me believe my mashes were within the target pH range when they weren't.
-Kohlbach's claim that each mEq/L of residual alkalinity will raise pH by 0.084 was for 12-Plato kettle wort, not mashes.
-Water with significant carbonic acid, such as Madison city water, requires additional slaked lime to convert carbonic acid into bicarbonate ions.
-A given amount of acid will lower a mash pH at a higher rate when no carbonate alkalinity is present in the mash water.

That's why I decided to update the water treatment posts. I hope you find them helpful.

Text of Emergency Rule Found

2012-02-02T05:30:00.000-06:00

Here's the text of the Emergency Rule (thanks Phillip!). It turns out that I was right. It doesn't just "waive the fee" like the Journal Sentinel article implied. Rather, it creates a new class of "Brewer" called "Recipe Brewer". So, Buffalo Water, Furthermore, etc. are no longer wholesalers, but instead will distribute under a state Brewers License as a Recipe Brewer. It's not entirely clear how this plays with the fact that these "breweries" can't get federally licensed as breweries, but can be Brewers in the State.723 Proposed Order (Emergency - V2)

Wisconsin Beer Law Update

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000-06:00

Two fun, new, and exciting developments in Wisconsin law.

The first exciting development is that the new legislation forced on craft brewers over the summer is already being revised because it was poorly written and hastily passed. Here's the catch though: I can't find the text of this "Emergency Rule", so I can't really comment on its contents. Maybe one of my readers who is more adroit at searching obscure legislative acts, will have better luck than I. The Journal Sentinel article states: "

... [A] new emergency rule that takes effect Friday will eliminate that requirement for recipe brewers [to pay the $2500 state wholesaler fee], said Stephanie Marquis, Department of Revenue spokeswoman. ... The new rule, which Gov. Scott Walker has signed, allows recipe brewers to self-distribute their beer without being defined as beer wholesalers, Marquis said. That exempts them from paying for the wholesaler's permit, she said. ... The new regulations prohibit brewers from buying wholesale distributorships, while allowing brewers that produce up to 300,000 barrels annually to do their own wholesale distribution - which requires brewers to pay for the state wholesaling permit.

But, this doesn't make any sense. At all. First, the statute doesn't have something called a "Recipe Brewer". Buffalo Water and Furthermore are Distributors, not Brewers - they don't have brewers' licenses or permits. But, according the article, the rule would alter the law to make them not wholesalers, but brewers. This is a far bigger change than merely waiving fees. Moreover, even Brewers that self-distribute have to comply with the Wholesale rules - which would still be onerous on both Buffalo Water and Furthermore. In other words, it sucks that I don't have a copy of the Rule because there's no way that this is simply a fee correction.

Second, there's a law making its way through the legislature that would change the law as it relates to homebrewers. Currently, the problem is this: the law says homebrewers can only serve homebrew in their homes. This may seem obvious, but it's also quite draconian: they can't serve it at their friends' homes, they can't have homebrew competitions, they can't do homebrew demonstrations at festivals or part of Madison Craft Beer Week.

Known as SB 395, the proposed new law would cap homebrewing at 200 gallons per household per year (or roughly 40 5-gallon batches per year). But, the good news is that homebrew could be "used" for "exhibition, demonstration, judging, tasting, or sampling or as part of a contest or competition." I'm not sure what it means to "use" homebrew; presumably "use" would include drinking, does it include service to the general public?

One final thought would be to consider how this affects server/host liability. Say a minor goes to a homebrew competition (because, you know, the fake IDs are pretty good these days), gets legally drunk on someone else's homebrew, and wrecks a car killing a person. Who is liable? Typically in this situation, the bar/vendor is liable because the person is a minor (and it's strict liability, so it doesn't matter if they showed a fake ID and had a beard). Is the homebrewer also liable? Probably not, but they might be considered a "vendor" and pulled into liability anyway.

Five Gallons At A Time: Brewhouse Efficiency Update

2012-01-30T05:30:00.000-06:00

A variation of this MBR article was published in the November/December issue of The New Brewer (the journal of the Brewers Association). Before submitting the article I ran simulations of two, three, four and five batch sparges, which illustrate how the solutions convergence on a single answer as more sparges are added. It also changed the brewhouse efficiency multipliers by small amounts, which I'll get to shortly.

I recently read a thread on a professional brewers' forum about the logistics of no-sparge lautering. I was surprised to see the topic because very few commercial brewers employ the method. The reason why is because it's colossally inefficient, as shown in the chart below.

However, many homebrewers believe it results in better beer. The theory is straightforward: during the lauter, the wort in your lauter tun is always at the same gravity as the wort in your kettle. Because the wort in the lauter tun is always relatively dense, and therefore well-buffered against pH increases, fewer tannins are extracted from the husks. Now, before you decide to mash in with all of your brewing water to reduce tannin extraction, I'd like to point out that the enzymes responsible for creating complex protein-degradation products (which Jean De Clerck believes are far more important to mouthfeel than dextrins) work best in thick mashes. There's a simple solution, though: mash like you normally would for continuous sparging and mix in all of your "sparge" water shortly before vorlauf.

I won't be using the no-sparge method anytime soon because my mash/lauter tun is too small to hold the grist plus all of the water for a full-size batch. That doesn't damper my academic curiosity, though, so I created a set of no-sparge brewhouse efficiency multipliers and added them to the latest version of my chart.

Switching topics, expect a water treatment overhaul in the next few months. I'm hoping to avoid another six-part series, but we'll see.

Happy Anniversary Central Waters

2012-01-27T05:30:00.001-06:00

Central Waters Brewing Company is celebrating their 14th Anniversary this year. They've been brewing fine beer for you since 1998. If you don't have anything going on this Saturday (tomorrow), you should come on up to Amherst and party like a rockstar with the rest of us; all the cool kids will be there. Here's the special beer tapping schedule:

3:00 - Bourbon Barrel Stout
3:45 - Peruvian Morning
4:30 - Pilot Batches (3 five gallon kegs of experimental mini IPA's)
5:15 - FOURTEEN fourteen [ed note: not 2:14? 14:14 - missed opportunity there]
6:00 - Exodus
6:45 - Bourbon Barrel IPA
7:30 - Kosmyk Charlie's Y2K Catastrophe Ale (Barleywine)
8:15 - Bourbon Barrel Barleywine

What's your favorite Central Waters beer?

Me? That's easy - Kosmyk Charlie's Y2K Catastrophe Barleywine. It's my go-to winter beer. I'm not sure there's a better barleywine in the universe.

I'm not a big stout person, so much of Central Waters' oeuvre is wasted on me, unfortunately. I'm curious about those experimental IPAs and the Bourbon Barrel IPA (who didn't see that coming?).

Review: New Glarus Thumbprint Barleywine

2012-01-25T05:30:00.001-06:00

At some point in the past year or so New Glarus switched the name of their quarterly, one-off special release series of beers from "Unplugged" to "Thumbprint." Disappointingly, they also changed to label, removing the superbly goofy sketch of brewmaster Dan Carey and replacing it with the company's standard "Drink Indigenous" Wisconsin logo. New Glarus President Deb Carey explains the switch this way on the company website:
"It is always flattering when less imaginative competitors copy our beers, packaging, and/or marketing. I usually accept this as a personal challenge to do something more. When our trademarked Solstice name was infringed on, I regrouped with Dancing Man. When lots of deconstructed 4 and 6 packs showed up I knew I was doing a good job. When another Midwestern brewer released a "Un*******" series. I thought I can do better."
Deb is no doubt referring to the "Unchained" series from St. Paul brewery Summit, which has been churning out excellent beers under that label for a couple of years now. I suppose "Unchained" is a bit derivative of "Unplugged," though I don't think anyone would confuse the two. Regardless, this new limited release Barley Wine is a "Thumbprint" beer. Made with Styrian Golding, Willamette, Columbia and Sterling hops.

Appearance: Light copper, straw
Aroma: Tropical fruit with a spicy, floral hop note.
Flavor: Earthy hop flavor up front with just a hint of citrus, followed by a malt sweetness blending with a bracingly bitter finish. A bit of alcohol warmth in the finish as well. Enough malt flavor to tame the hops just a bit, but the bitterness is the focus. With a slightly thinner body, this could easily pass for a Double IPA.
Drinkability: One is just right for me, thank you. Not the heaviest beer I've ever had, but full bodied and with a strong bitterness. Definitely not a session beer. (No ABV is listed for this beer, but if it's south of 10 percent I'd be surprised.)
Summary: New Glarus Unplugged/Thumbprint beers can often be fascinating without being intense; that's part of the reason I still have fond memories of beers like their Bohemian Pilsner and Berliner Weiss. But as they proved last year with their stellar Double IPA, they can go big when they want to, and this is another example. In a way this rides the line between American and British style Barley Wines; it is American in the high hop flavor, aroma and bitterness, but the hop profile strikes me as more European than American. Willamette and Sterling are American hops, they don't have the citrusy quality of popular west-coast hops like Cascade and Centenial (Sterling has noble hop lineage, it should be noted). An interesting and well orchestrated take on the Barley Wine style. Though the hop flavor will die down in time, this could be a good beer for the cellar as well, though hop heads should drink it while it's fresh.

Open Thread: Upcoming Events - Wisconsin

2012-01-23T05:30:00.000-06:00

OK, I know there's a lot of stuff going on out there. I've gotten plenty of press releases that are all buried under the mountains of email that I get. So, if you know of an event happening in the next 60 days (before April 1, 2012), post it in the comments.

I know of two off the top of my head and both are at Dexter's:

The Schmaltz Brewing Co's 15th Anniversary - January 28th, 2012, 11am - closing - Schmaltz Brewing Co. will take over the taplines at Dexter's.

Breast Cancer Recovery Benefit - February 12th, 2012, 12pm - 4pm - The annual beer and chocolate event is a lot of fun and helps to raise money for the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation. Minimum donation of $20.

Oh. And, keep your calendars open the first week of May. Madison Craft Beer Week starts May 4 and will run until May 13th. More details in the coming weeks.

A Beer Weekend in Indianapolis

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

----Ed Note-----
This series of posts is brought to you by beer bloggers across the Midwest. Robyn, of Madison Beer Review, wrote the last article about a beer weekend in Madison. Your handy-dandy guide to Indianapolis (just in case you decide to use those Super Bowl tickets you bought when you were delusional enough to think the Packers might actually make it) was brought to you by Mike over at Hoosier Beer Geek.

----Ed Note 2-------
Jeff is Bears' fan. Tough luck Packers.

-------------------START POST-------------------

Friday
5 p.m.
Begin in the Basement

Opened in 2007, Chris and Molly Eley's Goose the Market (2503 North Delaware, (317) 924-4944) quickly became a hub in Indianapolis' growing gourmet and local food movement. In June of 2010 they opened up their basement space to create the Enoteca, "a casual place to drink wine" (and beer), featuring six ready-to-drink beer choices, as well as anything from the well-selected varieties on their store shelves. While the beer selection is nothing to blink at, it's the Enoteca's food that's the star. With selections such as duck rillette, terrine, charcuterie, or one of their highly-regarded sandwiches, there's something adventurous and tasty waiting for you.

6:30 p.m.
Welcome to ~~Broad Ripple~~ Meridian-Kessler

With a focus on local and regional beer selections - "(beer from) the people that I know" - Broad Ripple Brewpub brewer Kevin Matalucci's Twenty Tap (5408 North College Avenue, (317) 602-8840) is one of your best bets for getting a taste of beer from all over the state. It's worth noting that Twenty Tap offers half-pours of any of their beer selections, allowing patrons to moderate their sampling. Chef Rob Coates keeps a menu of expected bar food favorites interesting and upsale, yet remarkably affordable. The vegan bahn mi sandwich is a Hoosier Beer Geek favorite.

8:00 p.m.
But if want to try Kevin Matalucci's beer..

Despite owning Twenty Tap, Kevin Matalucci still holds down a regular job as a brewer at the Broad Ripple Brewpub (842 East 65th Street, (317) 253-2739). English expatriate John Hill opened the brewpub in 1990, in an effort to bring an authentic English pub experience to Indianapolis. He did more than that, launching the careers of more than one Indiana brewer, and creating an Indiana craft beer monument. Matalucci's English-style ales and an extensive menu help complete the effort. Order whatever is on the hand-pull.

9:30 p.m.
Belgium by way of Broad Ripple

As further proof of the influence of John Hill and the Broad Ripple Brewpub, stop in at Ted Miller (and his wife Shannon Stone's) Brugge Brasserie (1011a East Westfield Boulevard, (317) 255-0978). Miller began his brewing career at the Brewpub before traveling the world, and ultimately returning home to open this Belgian-style Gastropub. Ask your server if there are any sours on tap, and be sure to order the frites (fries), which are among Indianapolis' best.

11:00 p.m.
Topping off

When restaurateur Scott Wise finally got around to opening a brewery to support his local chain of Scotty's Brewhouse restaurants, he wasn't quite prepared for the success of his beer sales directly from his brewpub. Thr3e Wise Men (1021 Broad Ripple Avenue, (317) 255-5151) is that brewpub, and it remains the only Wise owner restaurant to carry his beer. Brewer Omar Castrellon puts his 20+ years of brewing experience to practice brewing styles that live up to Wise's vision. The pizza will come in handy after a full day of drinking.

Saturday
10 a.m.
Wake Up!

Still with us? After yesterday's effort you'll probably want to wait until noon before you start drinking again. Start your day at Good Morning Mama's Cafe (1001 East 54th Street, (317) 255-3800) a former filling station turned breakfast stop. There's a menu full of the breakfast classics, as well as the Hoosier Loco Moco, a sort of KFC Famous Bowl of breakfast foods, featuring rice, cheesy grits or potatoes, an egg, a beef, sausage, or spam patty, with a biscuit top, all covered in gravy, all for just $7.99. I don't order that, but it's an option.

11:30 a.m.
Say Hi to a Farmer, and Get Drinking

Indianapolis' City Market (222 East Market Street) has gone through many changes over its recent history, but finally seems to have hit its stride with the additions of a Saturday farmer's market and the Tomlinson Tap Room (upstairs in the main hall, west wall). The former can provide produce or baked goods for snacking along the route today, while the latter can get you started on drinking by providing a full list of beer from Indiana's breweries. Partially owned by the Brewers of Indiana Guild, Tom Tap often features Indiana's harder-to-find craft beer selections. Keep an eye out for something from Three Floyds. If you're hungry, check out Papa Roux on the lower level for a po' boy.

1:00 p.m.
A Rainbow of Beer Flavors

Now that you're back to drinking, your first brewery stop today should be at Flat12 Bierworks (414 North Dorman Street, (317) 635-2337). Since opening in 2010, Flat12 has gained a dedicated local following for their "tradition with a twist" approach, leading to a myriad of variations of their house lineup, as well as an adventurous attitude towards their specialty beers.

2:00
Heavy Medals

A short trek southwest bring you to Sun King Brewing Company (135 North College Avenue, (317) 602-3702) where - if you got there in time - you can catch a 2 p.m. brewery tour. Sun King recently made big waves in craft beer community, capturing eight medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and showing the country what Hoosiers already knew: Indiana makes great beer.

3:30
Hidden in Plain Sight

After your tour, head north on College and then north east on Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave to locals), where you'll be spending the rest of your day. Just before the road turns north, you'll run into Black Market 922 Massachusetts Avenue (317) 822-6757) - but only if you know where to look. Cross the sidewalk, find a parking spot, and step into one of Indy's best restaurant spaces. The food lives up to the space, with locally sources selections that put a modern spin on traditional Hoosier favorites.

5:00
Drink your way down Mass Ave

The following list of Mass Ave establishments provides a little something for everyone, so you can pick and choose who suits you best as you work your way back towards downtown from Black Market.

Best Chocolate in Town (880 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 636-2800): Yes, this is a chocolate shop. But this chocolate shop offers truffles made with Sun King's Wee Mac. Definitely worth a visit.

Mass Ave Pub (745 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 974-0745, smoking permitted): Smokers in your group will appreciate the fact that they can enjoy a pint and a cigarette in this locally owned neighborhood pub. A surprisingly deep selection of craft beer rounds out the experience.

Chatham Tap (719 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 917-8425): Like soccer? We do. Chatham Tap is the default choice for fans wishing to catch a bit of English Premier League action. That tap list follows format, with the standard English selections, as well as local taps and a nice bottle list.

The Flying Cupcake (715 East Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 536-0817): No beer here, just a cooler full of cupcakes to satisfy your beer-drinking sweet tooth.

Yats (659 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 686-6380): An Indianapolis cheap food institution, Yats provides diners with a plate of something saucy and cajun in a pile of rice. Chili cheese etouffee, anyone?

The Rathskeller (401 East Michigan Street, (317) 636-0396): If you're the German beer-hall type, Rathskeller is your Indianapolis answer. A full selection of German-made styles await you, as well as a sausage-heavy menu that fits the atmosphere.

Chatterbox Jazz Club (435 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 636-0584, smoking permitted): The Chatterbox Jazz Club - a Mass Ave original - is the divey-est of dive bars, with a legendarily dusty interior, the most interesting stage carpet that ever existed, and bathrooms that are either scary or entertaining, depending on your outlook. Your best drink option is probably Sun King in a can. But what an atmosphere!

Old Point Tavern (401 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 634-8943, smoking permitted): Something about Old Point is just plain cool. Maybe it's the wedge shaped building, or the girl dancing on the sidewalk outside, or perhaps even the extensive beer menu. In any case, the cozy confines provide plenty of entertainment.

MacNiven's (339 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 632-7268, smoking permitted): You might be thinking that a place named MacNiven's is an Irish pub. You'd be wrong: MacNiven's is a Scottish/American Pub. It also features one of Indianapolis' most extensive beer lists, and regular and rare tapping from the likes of Sun King, Bell's, and Three Floyds. And I haven't even mentioned the giant folded cheeseburger and the awesome haggis!

Ball & Biscuit (331 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 636-0539): Perhaps the most polished of all the Mass Ave bars is Ball & Biscuit, a cocktail lounge with a very solid beer lineup. The cozy spaces are made even more comfortable by the lack of televisions. This is a bar built for conversation.

Bazbeaux (333 Massachusetts Avenue, (317) 636-7662): Once again we end the night with pizza - this time from an Indianapolis institution that provides a full selection of craft bottles to keep you on even keel. Opened since 1989.

Sunday
10:00 a.m.

Act like a tourist, finally.

If you've survived to straight days of drinking, today's the day to catch a few easy local tourist areas. At the center of Indianapolis lies the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1 Monument Circle), perhaps best known as the only part of Indianapolis they show during national football telecasts. If you manage to make it up to the viewing deck, keep in mind that Hoosier Beer Geeks' very own Jason Larrison is the architect responsible for those vertical windows you're looking out of.

A little bit north of Solider and Sailors lies the Indiana War Memorial (431 East Meridian Street) perhaps best known for this), the American Legion Mall, and the Central Library (40 East St. Clair Street). While I wouldn't normally recommend a library for tourists, our features one of the best views of the city, as well a pretty impressive interior.

Lastly, a visit to Indianapolis wouldn't be complete without a stop to Maxine's Chicken and Waffles (132 North East Street, (317) 423-3300) for a stomach full of fried chicken goodness for the drive home. A word of warning, though - show up early and beat the church crowd.

* * * * *

Indianapolis cab companies: All this drinking calls for either a designated driver or the services of a cab driver. To be honest, Indianapolis' cab companies don't have the best reputation, but they are still, in many cases, your best option.

Yellow Cab: (317) 487-7777
Blue Line Cab: (317) 444-1444
Prompt Cab: (317) 927-7070
Freedom Cab: (317) 244-4448

A Beer Weekend In...

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

Why Don't Non-White People Drink Craft Beer?

2012-01-11T05:30:00.000-06:00

Headline caught your attention? Well. I'm serious.

According to data, almost 90% of craft beer drinkers are white. IMPACT 2009 (Simmons Market Research)*. A mere 3% of craft beer drinkers are African-American, while around 5% are Hispanic or Latino.

African-Americans comprise at least 12% of the United States. 16% of the United States is Hispanic/Latino. A full 38% of African-American households would at least be classified as "middle-class", while around 10% of the African-American population would be considered "upper" or "upper-middle".

Yet very few of them are drinking craft beer. Just wondering why that might be.

* Data is referenced as part of a BeerAdvocate forum. I don't normally attach much weight to BeerAdvocate forums, but this matches with other data that I've seen in more "proprietary" formats. It's one of the few places where this kind of information is not behind a (very expensive) pay wall online.

Audience Participation: Create Your Own Beerfest!

2012-01-05T05:30:00.000-06:00

I've been approached by a number of places around town (Madison) to hold a beer festival like thing at their location. I have some ideas of my own, but I'm curious about what you might think. So, let's call it a bit of an open-source beer festival. The following are the restrictions:

Venue is big but not huge (300-900 people) and both indoor and outdoor are options
Preferred timing for the event is anywhere from late-Winter to mid-Spring
In Madison, parking is not an issue, but public transport and alternative transportation aren't particularly good for these locations, either

My thoughts on this kind of event are:

It can't be a general beer fest because the space just isn't that big - 8 to 10 tables or so, maybe as many as 15 tables - which means at most 30 breweries, so I believe this has to be a "specialty" or "themed" festival - at least if you think about this in terms of typical beer fests - creativity here is an interesting thought;
The timing is difficult for me personally because of my involvement with Madison Craft Beer Week, so another issue that comes to mind is whether this event would be a Craft Beer Week event - there are enough holidays and things to focus on during this time that it could work as a stand-alone festival; and,
Each venue has (very good) food, so catering and food, thankfully, isn't an issue and, in fact, could provide an interesting twist on the event

So, any ideas?

It's Time - Best Wisconsin Brewpub

2012-01-03T05:30:00.000-06:00

I haven't had a chance to put together a 2011 Awards post yet. But, it is time to get voting started for Best Wisconsin Brewpub 2011. An annual tradition at Madison Beer Review, we ask you to vote for the best brewpub in the state. (pssst. The poll is over there to the right)

You've been to them all haven't you?

Last year there were so many that stepped up their game, it's hard to pick. And there will be more opening up this year.

So, get your votes in. It's a leap year this year, so you have one extra day to vote. Voting closes at midnight on February 29th.

Beer Sommeliers and Groupthink and Getting A Decent Recommendation

2011-12-22T05:30:00.000-06:00

Slate, the online magazine, (you all know what Slate is? I don't really have to qualify that do I?) recently wrote an article about craft beer. More precisely, Slate wrote about Beer Sommeliers.

One kind of beer sommelier is called a Cicerone, and we've written about them before here at MBR (here and here). The Cicerone Program has multiple levels of certification, much like the Wine Sommelier program.

Ah! But sommeliers are so damned snooty! Snooty! I tell you. The petite bourgeoisie, you, have no knowledge of the complexity of wine. The dozens of varietals, the years on French oak (years!), the complexity imparted by aging sur lees.

The great thing about beer? It's made for the petite bourgeoisie. (Can you tell I like using the phrase "petite bourgeoisie"?). It's complex. The processes, ingredients, aging, and souring mechanisms, let alone philosophies that go into producing a fine beer are certainly on par with that weird "biodynamic" shit the wine hippies want to lure you into. But without the damned wine hippies. At the end of the day it's beer.

On the other hand, a good recommendation from someone who knows their stuff can make the difference between a good meal with beer, and a phenomenal food experience. I can tell you that I regularly ask around for beer recommendations. Some places are great (Brian and the folks at The Mason Lounge, for example), some are not so great (if you see me, ask me and I'll be happy to rail against some not-so-great local establishments - and one's with "good" beer lists, too). I've had a lot beer that I would have never tried without a recommendation and a lot of places that I'll never go again because of a bad beer recommendation.

One of the problems, as I see it, with the beer universe (and I point my fingers at the most well-traveled of beer recommendation engines BeerAdvocate and RateBeer) is that the results are so damned boring. And, the result is always Russian Imperial Stout, Imperial IPA, or La Folie. The groupthink that creates those reviews and recommendations would never recommend the perfect crisp Helles Lager, a subtle Belgian Blonde, or a rough and tumble Porter, let alone the Zwickelbier that the Slate journalist experienced. Many bars hire fans of beer, those that read and participate on BeerAdvocate and RateBeer and get drawn into the groupthink there; but few bars and restaurants hire bartenders that can actually demonstrate any real knowledge of the stuff that sits in the tap.

While I'm happy to see the taplists are getting better (many of the new restaurants popping up have at least serviceable, and in some cases great, beer lists), the knowledge needs to come along with it or the opportunity is wasted. I'm constantly frustrated by good restaurants that pride themselves on good drinks and great wine lists that offer nothing better than Amstel Light for quality beer to pair with quality food. But, then I think, that even if they offered great beer, the offer would be meaningless anyway, because they don't have anyone who knows what the hell they're talking about.

Five Gallons At A Time: More on Dextrins

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

I love you, Jean De Clerck:

"Beers rich in dextrin are generally considered to have a more mellow palate and this is usually attributed to the greater viscosity of such beers compared with beers of higher alcohol content. This view, however, is quite erroneous (emphasis mine).The author has made a series of mashes so as to obtain worts of differing dextrin content (12-15% difference in attenuation limit) and found that the beers brewed from these high dextrin worts lacked palate fulness. This result is probably due to the fact that raising the mashing temperature suddenly from 50C to 70C to suppress partially sugar formation, at the same time leads to a failure to form intermediate protein degradation products, as will be seen in the next paragraph."

"These intermediate protein degradation products undoubtedly make a major contribution to palate fulness, nor must it be forgotten that the higher the dextrin content, the lower will be the concentration of alcohol, which is also a contributory factor to mellowness and palate."

-A Textbook of Brewing, Volume One

It's Miller Time

2011-12-09T05:30:00.000-06:00

Confession time! It annoys me when people slander the quality of beers produced by the megabrewers. It's almost impossible to not make fun of their marketing, and I often do. Plus, considering all the "we can pay to play" political obstacles they throw at craft breweries, some of their corporate higher-ups are downright evil. However, the quality of their beer - i.e. the fact that they can nail their product specifications despite numerous brewery locales and variabilities in ingredients, equipment and water supplies - is mind-bogglingly impressive. I can understand not enjoying their beers, but it's simply wrong to accuse them of being poorly made.

I imagine that being a brewer or a scientist at a company like Miller must resemble living in a country where the characteristics of your nutcase leaders are projected onto you by the rest of the world because most people don't know anything about you. Having met a few of the Miller folks, I can vouch for them not being a bunch of ignorant cookie cuttings. They even drink craft beer! At the end of the day, though, people need jobs and Miller pays well. In addition, the company is on the forefront of brewing science and technology. Hell, I applied for a brewing job there a couple of years ago. I wasn't qualified because I don't have a degree in chemistry or chemical engineering, but imagine how much I could have learned! I like to think that I could have taught them a few things as well, but that's probably a common fantasy among craft brewers. The bottom line for industrial breweries trying to enter the craft market is that until they build dedicated facilities which trade efficiency for flexibility, or buy existing craft breweries and leave their core processes alone (the verdict is still out on you, GooseBev), they'll never be able to pull it off. Which is a shame, because some of the most flavorful beers I've ever tasted have come from a Miller pilot brewery. I don't know if they actually do this, but I find it funny that an experimental Chocolate Bock could account for 0.1% of the volume of any given batch of High Life.

Anyway... whether they brew Imperial Nut Oregano Braggots in souped-up 1/2-barrel kegs or brew MGD on the 1,000-barrel pinnacle of German brewhouse engineering, I enjoy the company of other brewers and I appreciate their work. My war is with the corporate executives and their lobbyists.

Madison Coffee Review?

2011-12-05T05:30:00.000-06:00

The boss of MBR is an irresponsible slacker who believes that living without computers for three weeks is a better use of time than meeting his publication deadlines. The nerve! I'll try to pick up some of the slack, but I'm lucky if I can churn out nerdy homebrewing articles on a monthly basis and, as a professional brewer, I'd like to avoid masquerading as a beer critic. While I wake up the ol' brain and ponder which politicians to randomly accuse of torpedoing Wisconsin's beer industry, I'll talk about something that's vaguely related to brewing beer: brewing coffee!

The best and worst coffee in my household are both made via French press. In fact, they both exist in a given mug at the same time. The top 3/4 of the mug is beautifully robust, with thin wisps of brown foam on top and an aroma that can stain walls and make you optimistic about the existence of heaven. The bottom 1/4 of the mug is a sludgy, gritty ooze that needs to be chewed before swallowing. My French press is a cheap piece of junk, pain and simple. I have a small drip machine as well, but its default coffee defines mediocrity.

Thinking of coffee in beer-making terms, I realized that using a French press is like batch sparging and using a drip machine is like continuous sparging. Could I batch sparge the coffee grounds in my drip machine? Hell yes! For coffee to flow out of my coffeemaker, the pot needs to be on its warming plate. By just brewing the coffee without the pot, I can let the beans steep in the brewing water for as long as I like. Once the grounds are steeped, I quickly slide the pot onto the warming plate and wait for it to fill. Because the filter housing needs to hold all of the water in addition to the beans, batch sparging cuts my brewing capacity in half. Luckily, I rarely drink more than one mug a day.

After some trial and error, I found that grinding the beans coarsely and letting them steep for four minutes (starting when all of the water is in the filter housing) works really well. The coffee is much better than what my drip machine would normally produce, but it's not quite as good as the first 3/4 of a mug that comes out of my French press. At some point, I'll throw some money at the problem and make it go away. In the meantime, knowing how to make beer is improving my coffee.

On the Importance of Barley, Part One

2011-11-30T05:30:00.000-06:00

We've spent a whole lot of time here on MBR talking about hops. A whole lot of time. We've talked about growing them, we've talked about steeping them, we've talked about hop efficiencies. We've endlessly debated my love for West Coast IPAs and hop-bombs and everyone else's disdain for them.

Maybe it's time we spent some time talking about malt.

There are a whole world of questions that I'm not sure MBR has ever discussed about malt. What is "malt" being foremost among them. Let alone how malt is smoked, why "chocolate malt" doesn't have any chocolate in it, differentiating between Munich and Vienna malt, and who, or what, Maris Otter is (though we know who Roger Maris and Otter Creek are). Though, strangely, we have discussed 6-row barley and the relative merits of 6-row vs. 2-row barley.

But malt is a pretty big component of beer. And, one of the world leaders in malting barley is located just up Highway 151 in Chilton, WI: Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.

So, it's probably best to start at what is Malt, and more precisely, what is barley since, as we'll see, "malt" is short-hand for (usually) "malted barley".

I'm not sure we're going to finish answering that question today, but it's best to back up a minute and look at the brewing process itself because the science of barley is the science of brewing.

1. Barley is picked from the field and aggregated at a centralized grain storage and distribution facility.

2. Brewing quality barley is transported to a maltster where it is malted. The resulting product is generally called "malt". Grains other than barley can be malted (wheat, for example), though most brewing adjuncts (things other than barley) are unmalted additions to the mash (see below).

3. Malt is shipped to and stored at the brewery where the actual brewing process will begin.

4. The malt is put into a hopper and crushed in a grain mill. Also called milling.

5. The crushed malt is sent to a mash tun where water at a specific temperature is added and the malt is steeped for a period of time (the temperature may or may not be altered during the steep). This is the mashing process. The liquid (called "wort") is drained from the mashtun into either a lautertun (in which case the grains are also transferred) or a boil kettle.

6. The remaining grains are rinsed off with more water and that liquid is also added to the boil kettle. This is the lautering process.

7. The wort is boiled for about 60 minutes, during which hops are added at various points (often at the 60 minute mark, the 30 minute mark, and when the heat is turned off). This is the boil.

8. The wort is then cooled down to approximately 65 degrees (for an ale), and transferred to a fermentation tank where yeast and oxygen is added.

9. After a few days you have beer, which, in a commercial brewery, is sent to a bright tank/tax tank to carbonate and settle out, then on to the bottling/kegging line and out the door.

From start to finish, the science of barley and malting affects the final product in your bottle. So, what is this all-important grain, barley? I'm glad you asked. Barley's scientific genus is Hordeum, with two species that are relevant to beer: Hordeum Vulgare (6-row) and Hordeum Distichon (2-row). It is an annual grass. There are endless cultivars as brewers and maltsters are constantly genetically training barley for their specific purpose.

Barley was one of the first grains human civilization cultivated starting in approximately 10,000 BC. Yes, 12,000 years ago. Today, it is the number 4 cereal grain in the world with over 152 billion tonnes (metric tons) produced globally each year. It is used largely as a feed crop for animals, as it was when it was first cultivated, but human consumption accounts for a significant percentage of the production. In the United States about 25 percent of the annual production is sent to malting.

Barley is grown in temperate areas and is known as a relatively finicky grain. For example, while it is moderately heat tolerant, it does not tolerate cold at all, and most brewing varietals do not tolerate long droughts. Moreover, it is susceptible to a number of crop diseases. So, much like the problems in corn, barley monoculture (growing one variety of barley) can have drastic effects when disease hits.

The stem (stalk) of barley can vary from 1 to 4 feet and typically have 5 to 7 leaf-like nodes below the spike. The spike consists of spikelets attached to the central stem called a rachis. Three spikelets develop at each node. In six-row barley a flower/seed form at each spikelet; in two-row barley on the center spikelet forms a flower/seed (see images a, and b, respectively, below). 2-row seeds are much bigger than 6-row seeds and have a higher ratio of nutrients (carbohydrates and protein) to non-starch material (husk).

It is the seed that maltsters and brewers are most interested in. The seed itself is comprised of a protective husk on the outside, a non-starch cellular membrane called "aleurone", then the endosperm that consists of carbohydrates and protein, and an embryo. "The total number of cells in the kernel endosperm reaches over 280,000, as compared to 117,500 in wheat and 180,000 in rice. This is the reason why barley kernels contain more cell wall material and, consequently, more of its main component, beta-glucans, than those other cereals." [cite]

A mature seed contains approximately 35% moisture (a white milky substance, typically) and is allowed to dry in the field until its moisture reaches approximately 20%. This is done for a variety of reasons, the primary of which is that a seed that has a lot of water is very brittle and tends to rupture and split - something that the maltsters don't like because it reduces the ability of seed to continue to germinate (we'll talk about this later).

You can see how decisions in the field directly affect barley quality. Thus, barley from one farm, whose micro-climate may be dryer (slightly longer germination and faster drying conditions), may be very different from barley from another farm whose micro-climate may be more moist. And we haven't even discussed differences in the hundreds of barley varietals that the farmers choose to grow. Each varietal has slightly different growing conditions and carbohydrate and protein mixes. These differences can have profound impacts when the barley is malted.

During "threshing", the seed is removed from the stalk and the "chaff" (the feathery material and other non-seed stuff). After the seed is removed from the stalk and chaff it is dried to below 12% moisture for storage and transportation. Because of the precise dry-storage conditions required for barley, the seed is transported from the farm to a central storage facility. After this central drying and storage, the seed is often then aggregated in larger centralized silos and then shipped off to maltsters.

You can see how the decision to aggregate and mix, commodify, barley is both a blessing and a curse. In one respect it evens out the minor differences between farms in order to fulfill large orders placed by maltsters and brewers. On the other hand, though, it removes the uniqueness that one farm's barley has with respect to another. In wine, with grapes, we call this uniqueness "terroir" and it is celebrated and valued. It is only recently, within the past 2 years, that this value is being leveraged in the brewing industry with Lakefront, Rogue, and Sierra Nevada leading the way with beer produced with non-commodified barley (Local Acre, Chateau Rogue, and Sierra Nevada Estate, respectively).

If you refer back to the steps listed above, we have just completed (in a very summary way mind you) step one. In future articles we'll talk about the malting process and how that works.

I Promise This Is The Only Time I Will Say This

2011-11-16T05:30:00.000-06:00

Not to be political or anything, but apparently a recall attempt is getting under way here in Wisconsin. I am not endorsing any particular candidate, nor am I even suggesting that you vote one way or the other, I'm not even recommending that you do or do not sign a recall petition.

I will just remind you that our Governor had the chance this past summer to veto a bill bought and paid for by MillerCoors and the Wisconsin Beer Distributors Association. As a result of that legislation even TheStreet.com recognized that Wisconsin is now a worse place for craft brewers and craft breweries:

"Why isn't Wisconsin ranked higher [than 7th], then? Partly because of production that doesn't even crack the Top 10, but partly because of legislation passed this summer that protects Miller from A-B InBev encroachment that combines the brewer's permit and wholesale and retail licenses given out by municipalities into a single permit under state control and prohibits brewers from buying wholesale distributors. That's great for Miller, but just made life a whole lot more difficult for the more than 70 brewers in the state that aren't Miller who now have a much more difficult path to getting licenses and getting their product on shelves. Wisconsin's total beer output grew only 0.2% during the past decade. Making life harder for most of your brewers for the sake of one doesn't seem like the best way to create growth."

Admittedly MillerCoors (not a Wisconsin company, but headquartered in Chicago) and the Wisconsin Beer Distributors (most of whom specialize in selling you Miller and Anheuser-Busch products) are better off.

#OccupyBeer

2011-11-14T05:30:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. While the skeptic, pessimist, and pragmatist (do all three mean the same thing?) in me doubts the long-term efficacy of the movement, the short-term media coverage at least makes it clear what the message is.

But, really, it's not just Wall Street. The Declaration of the New York City General Assembly lays out the grievances thusly:

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

According to Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, beer is for straight, football-lovin' males that love to make fun of each and ogle the ladies (but drink responsibly boys).

Beer is a commodity product. It all tastes the same. Barley and hops is barley and hops (except when it's triple hop brewed). Fields of barley in Montana and North Dakota are the same as fields of barley in California and Wisconsin.

If you don't have Clydesdales you aren't cool.

It took national boycotts in the 70s and 80s to cure labor issues at Coors. Anheuser-Busch was sued in 2005 for using illegal surveillance practices on its employees.

None of the three major beer marketing companies in the United States are owned and operated by US companies.

They have bought and influenced politicians in Wisconsin and throughout the United States to actively suppress competition from craft brewers.

Four Loko and similar products, despite known health issues with alcohol and caffeine products, were pushed into student and minority markets.

Through control of advertising and other media outlets, the major breweries impose propaganda on the public to their own benefit and to the detriment of craft beer.

Beer, perhaps more than any other product, imposes American colonialism world-wide.

I propose that we promote an agenda to #OccupyBeer. Tell Anheuser-Busch-InBev, SABMiller, and MolsonCoors that you agree with Twisted Sister "We Aren't Gonna Take It". Tell the Beer Marketing Companies that you disagree with their world-view. Tell them that you prefer local, you prefer craft, you prefer sustainable.

And, most importantly, drink craft beer.

On My Lack of Posting - Rediscovering Augustiner Maximator

2011-11-11T05:30:00.000-06:00

Things have been relatively quiet around here recently. I'm hoping this changes in the near future. I've been debating whether to say anything, but I think some explanation might raise some interesting issues. But, first, thanks to Joe for finding time to write even with a new baby in the fold.

But on to the reason that I haven't been posting lately: I've been really bored with Wisconsin beer lately. I don't think I've bought a single six-pack of beer from a Wisconsin brewery in 5 months. Nothing new. Nothing exciting.

The best, by far, has been Potosi's new Witbier. And Kirby's Eternal Flame is a pretty awesome project.

But, by and large, Wisconsin beer has been really, really boring. And, you can tell me that you're too busy brewing your base brands. That demand is so high. Constrained production. Stretched too thin. Blah, blah, blah. I don't care. Boring.

So, what have I been drinking? Nothing. To be honest, I haven't been drinking a whole lot lately - beer or otherwise.

I've bought some bottles of Stillwater and Fantome that are sitting unopened. I bought some Surly Wet in Minnesota that was pretty delicious (good, not as good as I had been hoping it would be). I've had some bottles out of my cellar that I've been trying to get through (2008(9?) New Glarus Berliner Weisse - REALLY good; 2006 Two Brothers Heavy Handed was interesting).

Tonight, just for kicks, I pulled out a 2008 Augustiner Maximator, one of my favorite doppelbocks. Still one of the prettiest beers you can buy, the tawny body is below a dense tan head. The chocolate and roasted caramel aromas explode out of the bottle. A strong booziness mixes with the chocolate to create some amazingly complex plum, and earthy fruit-like aroma. Still dry as ever, the flavor is somewhat subdued and very drinkable. The cherry fruit comes out in the finish with a fine pucker, a slight bready maltiness holds up the body quite well.

After 3 years in the cellar this beer is still one of my favorites on the planet. Kirby doesn't make 'em this dry, which is unfortunate, because if he did, between Augustiner and Capital, I'd never drink anything else (OK, except maybe an occasional Double IPA or Arrogant Bastard).

Five Gallons At A Time: Blending, Priming Sugar and Alcohol

2011-11-09T05:30:00.000-06:00

Each of the last three years, I brewed a batch of English Ale and set aside a gallon to age on oak chips that were originally inoculated with Flanders Red microorganisms. I blended the remaining four gallons of each batch with the aged beer from the previous year, then added corn sugar to carbonate. If you know the alcohol content of each beer in a blend, you can use the mixing formula to estimate the alcohol content of the blended beer before you add priming sugar:

Blended ABV = (ABV1 x Volume1 + ABV2 x Volume2) / Total Volume

My Old Ale was about (6.1 x 3.9 + 7.7 x 0.9) / 4.8 = 6.4% alcohol by volume before priming. Figuring out the alcohol contribution of the priming solution is a little more involved. I primed my beer with 120 g of corn sugar dissolved in water. The volume of my priming solution was a pretentious 417 mL. Those are the values I knew, and these are the values I assumed to be true:

-Corn sugar solubility = 90.6%.
-Corn sugar fermentability = 100%.
-1 lb of fermentable extract produces 0.078 gallons of alcohol.

First, I needed to know how much alcohol was already in the beer. Rearranging the definition of ABV:

Initial Alcohol Volume = (ABV / 100) x Beer Volume = (6.4 / 100) x 4.8 = 0.31 gal

Next, I used the following formula to figure out how much fermentable extract the priming sugar contributed to the beer.

Fermentable Extract = (Solubility / 100) x (Fermentability / 100) x Weight / 453.59 = (90.6 / 100) x (100 / 100) x 120 / 453.59 = 0.24 lbs

Since every gram of fermentable extract produces about 0.078 gallons of alcohol, you can calculate the volume of alcohol produced from the priming sugar as follows:

Priming Alcohol Volume = 0.078 x Fermentable Extract = 0.078 x 0.24 = 0.02 gal

Adding the priming sugar to the main batch, I ended up with 0.31 + 0.02 = 0.33 gallons of alcohol in 4.8 + 417 / 3785.4 = 4.91 gallons of primed beer (1 gallon = 3785.4 mL). My final estimated ABV was 100 x 0.33 / 4.91 = 6.7%. As you can see, priming sugar can significantly influence alcohol content. If you want to control the alcohol content of a bottle-conditioned beer, you can adjust the amount of water in your priming solution. I don't usually bother, but it's nice to have a comprehensive estimate of ABV.

Press Release Tuesday - Imperial Stoutfest at Brasserie V

2011-11-01T05:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the slow pace of posting. As I've mentioned, it's been crazy 'round Casa de MBR. I promise that I'll get back to posting more frequently. In the meantime, go to Brasserie V for an Imperial Stout.

--------------START PRESS RELEASE-------------------

Stop in Brasserie V this week for our Imperial Stout Fest starting Tuesday, the 1st.
We will be tapping four very rare, hard to find kegs of Imperial Stout (ok, one is a porter) all from Denmark, that will be a real treat for all you dark beer lovers.
We will be offering these as flights so you can try them all. Here is the lineup:

Amager HR Frederickson
Djævlebryg Gudeløs
Xbeeriment Blackforce
To Øl Black Ball Porter
We have also just added over 25 new beers to our 130+ hand-picked bottled beer list!!
There are some great new beers, and hard to find stuff from Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, and more.
Check out some great new Lambics and Sours! See our website for the full list.

The Art of Craft Beer

2011-10-19T05:30:00.000-05:00

We've had this discussion a number of times in various contexts, but maybe we should just address the 500 pound gorilla in the room. Namely, at what point does brewing craft beer stop being a craft and start being a widget manufacturer? And are the two, really, inherently, at odds. I'm not talking barrel limits, because barrel limits are arbitrary. More to the point, it is entirely possible, in my theory, that a brewery that produces 3 million barrels per year is more in line with the "craft" of brewing, than a brewery than "churns out" 10,000 barrels of the same old stuff day in and day out.

I wrote an article way back in February of 2008 that I think outlines a good working definition of "craft beer".

craft beer: a trade involving the skilled art of brewing beer.

It is the art of beer that is the primary difference between Budweiser and O'So. Side-by-side you (and I) would be hard pressed to differentiate between Genessee Cream Ale and Spotted Cow. Yet we consider the latter a craft, and the former a widget. To the extent that brewing beer is a lesson in replication, anyone can turn on a photocopier and press start. But what distinguishes "craft" from "beer" is the art. It is the art that we love, is it not?

Anyone can make an India Pale Ale, but one particular brewer's vision that stimulates the drinker's senses is, like the perfect golf shot, what keeps us coming back for more. The brewer as artist. How many people have painted their mother? But we remember Whistler's Mother because it strikes a chord, it stimulates our senses and causes us to evaluate ourselves and humanity. Much the same way, how many brewers have made an IPA? But we remember Pliny the Elder because it stimulates our senses and causes us to evaluate ourselves and what it means to be human.*

Thus, a craft brewery is not a collection of beer, but rather a collection of artistic statements. Just like the difference between Claude Monet and Thomas Kinkade, there is a difference between Mikkel Bjergsø and Leinenkugel's.

So, why is it then, that so many craft breweries are so quick to abandon their art for the sake of producing more widgets?

Take, for example, Lagunitas. One of my favorite breweries from the West Coast, and their recent Press Release regarding their new seasonal "Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale":

This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feared BrownShugga’ Ale. You see, we had a couple of good years (thank you very much) and so heading into this season while we are awaiting a January delivery of a new brewhouse we are jammin’ along brewing 80 barrels of IPA and PILS and such every 3 hours.

Lagunitas the widget-maker.

Then consider Founders' problem with its recent release of its Canadian Breakfast Stout:

We make this beer because we are extremely passionate about creating the best liquid we know how to produce. We started this business as home brewers and still look at ourselves as such. We know that some of you might never get your chance at a CBS bottle, but we feel it would be a greater disappointment to have never shared this product at all.

I understand production constraints; in fact, I probably understand them better than the breweries themselves do. I understand that if Woodman's doesn't get its allotment of 80 cases of Hopalicious the world will come to a screeching halt. That if Avenue Bar doesn't get its 3 kegs of South Shore Nut Brown, the brewery may never see the tap line again. But is it worth sacrificing artistic integrity to placate a vendor?

The most common justification for widget-ification is "But the consumers!" Yes, they blame you, dear reader/consumer. You have put a gun to their head and demand that they continually produce PILS and Knot Stock and Mudpuppy Porter in such vast quantities that they can't possibly make room in the production schedule for something new.

Picasso could have sat back and sold all the Blue paintings he could ever hope to sell, but then the world would never have his Cubist or Surrealist periods. On the other hand, To Kill A Mockingbird is no less an artistic statement simply because Harper Lee never wrote another book. I'm as happy as the next guy to sit back and listen to ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears" for the rest of my life, but Radiohead was just getting started with "Creep".

------------
* I use Pliny the Elder as an example, obviously. We've all had that beer that makes us sit back, look at the bottle, and completely change our frame of reference. Whether it's that perfect beer sitting by the fire with buddies that suddenly tastes like the best beer you've ever had, or whether it's a purely academic analysis of a highly regarded, highly rated, beer.

Kohler Food and Wine Experience - And the Winner Is ...

2011-10-17T05:30:00.000-05:00

You'll recall that we are giving away some tickets to Kohler Food and Wine Experience. And, more specifically, to the Oktoberfest celebration contained therein. There were 22 entrants via web, Facebook, and Twitter. I used random.org to draw a truly random number between 1 and 22.

The lucky winner is ... Number 5.

Number 5 you can claim your prize by sending me an email with your name, email address, and the name of the lucky person attending with you. I will put you in touch with the fine folks at Kohler and they will get you set up with your 2 passes to Kohler Oktoberfest on Saturday Night!

Oh. You probably want to know who Number 5 is don't you?

Jen Jeneric who entered via Facebook. Congrats Jen.