Breckenridge Brewery - Off On a High Note.

I’m sorry to have begun the Colorado recap on a down note, posting a “Beer Jerk” entry about Golden City Brewery. I’ve had a positive bit of feedback from a patron of theirs and that’s heartwarming. Nevertheless, my sentiment remains the same: real beer folk offer a smile and a kind word to all who enter their establishment. (That’s the operative word here, folks. The door was open. An open door signifies something in this world. I’ll let you all do the math.) What part of "Publick House" is unclear?

Now, on a more positive note, I’m at that stage where I’m mentally summarizing the things, places and people I saw in a week of Rocky Mountain memories, returning to the high mountain town where my mom was born and raised in order to allow her brothers and citizens of the town she loved so much an opportunity to say goodbye one last time in a church from 1876.

1. Everything seems smaller each time I return.
2. The summer weather, no matter how hot, entices me to stay forever, but I always know what comes around in late October.
3. A minister with a southern drawl and three missing fingers on his right hand is a fellow I want to have as the leader of my church, any day.
4. There is never enough time to see all the family.
5. Sadly, I feel more and more like a tourist each time I go back there.

I hopped off a plane about 10:30 on a Monday morning, picked up a rental car and headed toward my sister’s place on the west side of town. I’d done a bit of preliminary reconnaissance to determine that the Breckenridge Brew Pub was along the same alignment of 6th Avenue as my sister’s place, so knowing that everyone else would be at work, I made a detour to a little place on Klamath Street just south of the 6th Street alignment.

I pulled into a small side parking lot and snapped a few pictures of the outside of the building - wondering if perhaps I was too early to find them open. (Given later events in the trip, the colossal irony of this now nearly knocks me out of my chair.) The door was indeed open and I entered to find the place empty save a barman and a fellow working in the kitchen (Initially I didn’t see the back of the plant where the bottling line was chugging away mightily.) I hopped onto a stool at the bar and over the usual pleasantries the barman supplied me with a beer list and a menu. I pondered the options, perhaps too long, and settled on a pint of their Ball Park Brown and I ordered bowl of a meat soup that really turned out to be more of a stew that might easily have crossed the table in your mom’s kitchen. The Ball Park Brown presented a dark brown with a thin beige head and a thin mouth feel. It tasted a tad sour, not unlike some manifestations of Old World’s Dark Knight Porter (ah, I love the unpredictability of microbrews, don’t you?)

My host, the barman, was Stuart and, perhaps seeing my interest in the operation, he offered to walk me into the back of the building to see the tanks and the bottling line. Sweet! I gazed upon the tanks and had a peek at the bottling line, where they were just then in the process of bottling up their Vanilla Porter. Stuart stepped around to the line and, plucking a fresh bottle off the line, presented it to me as a memento of the visit. That was nice.

We returned to the bar where I had my lunch and a pint of their Oatmeal Stout. As a lead up to the pint, Stuart explained that they’ve got their stout in a nitrogen “fortified” version and a non-nitrogen version. He poured me a side-by-side sampling and the fortified version is altogether more appealing to the eye for sure and frankly the taste difference is amazing as well. The nitrogen infused stout is a good deal smoother than its non-nitrogen cousin. Stuart told me that they no longer offer growlers of the nitroginated stout because it just doesn’t pour the same once people get it home and they get a lot of wastage trying to pour it from the tap into a growler. To which I offered my theory that a growler beer requires an aggressive pour if a cash and carry customer hopes to come close to replicating a pub pour at home. Stuart seemed to agree.

As Stuart diligently went about the tasks of the typical barman (counting bottles, jotting notes, interacting with the bottling crew and trying to field the inane questions of a visitor) I finished my lunch and beers.

It was altogether a terrific first stop on the Colorado trip and a personal exchange for which I’m grateful. I mentioned the purpose of my visit and we commiserated briefly on the vagaries of life and Stuart offered condolences; all the things one would expect from any public house worth its salt. Made me wish I lived just up the street.

I just wish I’d gotten a chance to go back before catching the flight home a week later. Next time.

Farewell Cinder Cone Red....

...we hardly knew ye!

Just as I was preparing to post my last set of Quick Riffs, I learned that Deschutes Brewing has discontinued production of their stellar Cinder Cone Red seasonal ale. To me this is big news because my discovery of Cinder Cone coincides roughly with my new found appreciation of beer and I believe I waxed effusively about it in one or two posts and I snapped dozens of pictures, of which, only two or three survive. My scant photographic record does note that I spent one Fourth of July grilling with Cinder Cone.

As I’ve already pointed out, my first instinct was to get pissed off. Then, very quickly came the impulse to fan out and scoop up as much Cinder Cone Red (let’s call it CCR) as I could and hoard it. (Ironically, that was my first impulse when I first discovered CCR and learned it was a seasonal. I kept 12 of them stashed in the back of the closet for more than a month!) Now, in my zeal, I immediately sought out the local distributor, the local Total Wine outlet and Deschutes themselves. I neglected to bother with much detailed research on line at places like Beer Advocate; an oversight that would eventually prove significant.

Cutting to the chase:
Last Monday I visited no less than three Walgreen’s outlets, a Fry’s grocery store, a Trader Joe’s and a BevMo in search of some Deschutes CCR. I was helped in my quest by kind assistance from the customer service folks at Republic National Distributing Company, the go-getters at Total Wine and ultimately the gurus at Deschutes Brewery and the brothers at Beer Advocate.

The Outcome:
I returned from my sortie, bereft of any CCR. I logged on to the Beer Advocate site and found that the 2010 batch was only released in Oregon, parts of Washington State and Hawaii. Sigh. That’s that.

An email from the very kind people at Deschutes allowed as the entire stock of CCR was gone and none is even available in their hometown! Never mind that some lucky squirrels managed to get sample sets of both the CCR and the Red Chair to try out. One nice fellow even videotaped his experience and put it on YouTube for the rest of us poor saps to watch. Cruel bugger.

The scribe at The Brew Site also got one of these mystical, mixed six-packs of Cinder Cone and Red Chair – and on Christmas Eve no less? Christ, I’m not living right.

Then you’ve got some underachiever at The Beer Guzzlers who evidently took the time to track down or stumble upon what will be some of the last CCR ever made and all he can manage is a four-sentence complaint. I realize that I’m long-winded, but talk about understated. God, I worked harder to find Cinder Cone Red than he worked on reviewing it.

One of the reasons Deschutes has given for halting production of Cinder Cone is that it’s one of their least popular seasonals. So I found it a bit ironic that Drink Hacker rated Cinder Cone higher than its replacement Red Chair NWPA.

Finally, I found a post at Seattle Beer News interesting not simply because they evidently send beer samples to this guy too, along with some smoked salmon (Good lord what do I have to do to get beer samples mailed to me?) but because one of the folks leaving a comment indicated that Lagunita’s makes a beer that resembles Cinder Cone.

Which puts me in a great spot to close this out. While at BevMo last Monday looking for bottles of Cinder Cone that do not exist, I settled for a six pack of Rogue's seasonal Santa’s Private Reserve and you know what? It reminded me somewhat of my beloved Cinder Cone Red. Wishful thinking? Hallucination? Perhaps, but I sure didn’t imagine all those nice people who responded to my frantic emails seeking out Cinder Cone in Arizona. My quixotic search came to nothing, but the search was half the fun. I’m going to miss Cinder Cone a lot but I’ve gained a new appreciation for seasonals. Enjoy ‘em while they last and know that you may not see them next year!

Now, I’m off to chat with Mrs. Beer Rant about putting in a beer cellar.

Next time: Perhaps a review of both the old Cinder Cone Red and the Red Chair NWPA and the Santa’s Private Reserve, which I seem to think resembles Cinder Cone. We’ll see.

"Douche" is such a harsh word...

When you mock the macrobrews and those who drink them, remember that there once was a time when we had no choice!

First, thank you so much to the bloggers who dropped by to comment about the last post. My sentiments come from the heart, truly. Please feel like you can put your feet on the coffee table here, anytime!

Now to today’s point: Since my last post about Beer Rant's 20 followers, I’ve had a new joiner who runs the blog LOST in the beer aisle. (Great title, by the way.)

A recent post there seeks to know the traits that make a “beer douche” and I made a point of adding my comment, which I’ll try to replicate here with some detail.

I consider anyone who flatly refuses to drink a macrobrew a “beer douche.” Now, before you tune me out or try to send a pipe bomb to Beer Rant HQ, let me explain.

"Back, when I was a young trooper coming up through the ranks..."

Some of you younger folk, the sort who have had craft beers and micro brews available to you all through your drinking years, don’t know what it was like to spend your early beer drinking days drinking the likes of Miller, Coors, Budweiser, A1 and Milwaukee’s Best. I do. Simply put: macrobrews don’t have the same foul, onerous baggage for those of us who were given no other option back in the day.

I drank stolen A1 beer before I was of legal drinking age. I cut my teeth on Miller High Life. I packed my belongings in empty Ranier beer 12-pack boxes when I last moved from Colorado to Arizona in 1988 (about the time the craft beer renaissance was getting off the ground, I might add). Fact is, there wasn’t anything else to drink back then and, to coin an old phrase from the poor side of the tracks: “Oatmeal is better than no meal.”

There used to be a saying to define loyalty that went something like, “you dance with the one who brought you.” Well, for better or worse, Coors and Miller (and some brewers who no longer exist) got me where I am today. I’m more than happy to toss a few bucks their way now and then and I definitely won’t turn up my nose at them if I show up at someone else’s picnic to find them in the ice chest.

One new feature going forward:
I’m going to try to let readers know what I’m drinking or have been drinking when I post. (Not that it matters, perhaps, but maybe I can clue you in on beers I’ve tried, even if I don’t get around to actually doing a post about them.) “In the tank” means I’ve sampled that particular beer that day. “In the glass” means it’s on the desk in front of me as I write.

What I’m drinking today:
In the tank: Pickled Santa

In the Glass: Dundee’s Festive Ale

Please! A Little Recognition for the Followers Here!

A few weeks ago, when my list of “followers” stood at about 17 or 18, I mentioned that I would one day get around to mentioning all of them individually. Well, by some miracle, my list of followers has jumped to 20 and I suspect I’d better get around to sending a shout out to each of them – especially those who also blog – before the number jumps back down to 3…or spikes to 30 (yeah, right). I hope that some of you have gotten inspiration from Beer Rant in the same way that I’ve gained inspiration from your work.


Cracker is a fellow traveler on the Internet Superhighway who I first ran into on the great site Beer Reviews Online. He’s a quick wit and we orchestrated a beer trade a year or so back. He’s a recent addition to the follower’s list here at Beer Rant and I’m honored he’s chosen to do so. You can see his frequent comments at Beer Reviews Online. I think Cracker is nearly the all-time most prodigious beer reviewer on BRO. Well he’s close.

'Chipper' Dave is a widely followed beer blogger in Colorado. His work strikes me as a good deal more professional than the junk I post here at Beer Rant so I often go to his blog for newsy posts. I seem to recall it was at his site that I first became aware of the Beer Mapping Project. Some day I hope to cross paths with him when I visit Colorado, but in the meantime, it’s a pleasure to know that he drops in here from time to time.

The Beer Babe is another beer blogger that I put in the “more professional” category. If memory serves me, I think I first happened across her blog through the Aleuminati beer social network site. In any event, she’s developed into an accomplished beer writer and, while I doubt she consults Beer Rant for good, industry-related stories, I’m happy to know she follows what goes on here and drops by to visit now and then.

Kelly calls his site The Beer Bitch, though I’d say the reviews there are very level headed and not the least bit bitchy. I particularly like the consistent rating system he uses on the blog and rather wish I had the same discipline and spine to offer more than my tepid “wouldn’t buy this one again” negative comments when I sample a stinker. Another plus is the list of reviewed beers by brewery – pretty handy and a feature I’m tempted to rip off so be forewarned and know that I told everyone I was planning to do it right here!

Aaron Walton is chief cook and bottle washer at B(eer)log and easily my favorite thing about his beer blog are the photos. (Little surprise there since he also has a blog called Aaron Walton: The Photography of Aaron Walton.) In late 2008 one of my resolutions was to try to use as many of my own beer images here at Beer Rant as I could and not pirate beer pictures off the web; my photography skills are lacking but I’ve stuck to this commitment the best that I know how for better or worse. Over at B(eer)log, it’s a similar situation with the only difference being, the pictures are really, really great! If I were going to write a beer book, I’d ask Aaron Walton to shoot the photos for it. If I were a craft brewer trying to break into the business and get my product and image out there, Aaron Walker’s pictures would be in my slick promotional brochures and flyers. Okay, I’ve gushed enough. I hope he’s not just a follower here but I hope he does drop in now and then.

Mike “Mikey” Riedel scribes over at Utah Beer and he’s on the cutting edge of what goes on beer-wise in the Beehive State. (Actually, it was through his blog that I became aware of the book Beer in the Beehive, which I later managed to track down at Red Rock Brewing in Salt Lake City.) Frankly, I don’t know how he manages to keep up with all the news up there but it’s pretty clear he has really good connections or contacts in the world of brewing, especially in the greater Salt Lake City area. If numbers in the current poll continue the way they are and I’m in need of guest columnists for Beer Rant, I’ll be barking up Mikey’s tree shortly after the New Year and when I finally follow through on forming a consortium of rocky mountain beer bloggers, I’ll be asking Mikey to sign on.

Good Burp is run by another beer blogger in the Phoenix area and here you’ll get a good notion of what makes a beer drinker and blogger tick. G.B. isn’t afraid to pull any punches when pointing out poor service at a booze retailer or sampling stinky beer. G.B. is another blogger who I'll likely be asking for a guest post if the current polling numbers continue trending the way they are at the moment.

J.K. Wise runs Highway to Ale and I’ve got to confess that, up until a month or so ago, I was unable to enter the blog – computer kept giving me some odd error message. Now that I’m able to get in, I appreciate it as a terrific site and am thankful to have J.K. as a follower.

The folks at True Brew Blog are home brewers and I suspect they’re doing a lot of brewing and not a ton of blog posting. I hope they’ll come back with some hair raising tales of seasonal winter brewing to jumpstart things but for now, I just hope they’re dropping in here at Beer Rant now and then since they were kind (and brave) enough to publicly admit they are “followers” here.

I became aware of Musings of a Smartass because Virgil G posted a request that other bloggers drink and comment on beers during Smartass’s medically ordered sabbatical from the suds. I think I drank a Kona Pipeline Porter for Smartass and have since visited his blog several times. His work is often too cerebral for a lout like me but a recent post about moving a refrigerator is classic and event a knot head like me can grasp the humor! To think that someone as smart as Smartass bothers to visit Beer Rant once in awhile boggles the brain.

A Journey Through Beer is a beer blog started up by my son-in-law, the Marine. Simply put, I’d have to say that I think his Journey Through Beer has been interrupted by children. He doesn’t post as often as he’d probably like but he was gracious enough to sign on as a follower to Beer Rant, so I’m just going to have to cut him some slack. In any event, the sorts of trouble I give him on his blog are nothing compared to the grief he gets when he shows up here at Beer Rant HQ. (It’s a father-in-laws prerogative to berate the son-in-law, isn’t it?)

Rhyan and Nick run Adventures in Making Beer and it’s possible I first crossed paths with them in connection with one of my (two) attempts to brew beer using the Mr. Beer set-up but I’m not positive. Rhyan is one of those most avid of beer converts, having only just first sampled beer in January of this year! Yet in those short few months, he’s taken to brewing the stuff himself. Check out their older posts to see a rundown of their beer brewing and beer blogging goals. Lofty? I think not. Certainly doable. Sign on as a follower so they can make their goal of having 20 followers! I did.

Virgil, the trucker hat guy, runs Vbg-log, which is the site through which I became aware of Musings of a Smartass (see above). I think Vbg-log was one of the first beer blogs I encountered on the web and likely it was one reason I decided I’d like to try my hand at beer-blogging, too. To know that Virgil’s tire tracks can be found here at Beer Rant now and then is a reassuring thing to me somehow.

Whitney blogs at Whitney Thinks and more frequently at the Mother Daughter Diet Diary. I have a suspicion Whitney happened into the Beer Rant neighborhood strictly by chance. I’ve not seen many comments from her, though she did leave a very kind offer to send Shiner on my son-in-law’s blog and for that, I’m sure she ranks as good beer folk.

Steven runs a blog called Striving for the Crown but it’s only open to members. I’d lightly tap on the door to see if I could gain entrance, but I have a terrible fear of rejection. Just know that I’m happy that Steven drops in at Beer Rant from time to time and I’m happier still to know that he’s man enough to admit it by being listed as a follower here.

Of the twenty kind souls who’ve confessed to being followers of Beer Rant, five don’t list a blog of their own on their Google profile, so to Matt and Scott, to J. Tingle and David Rife and also to Brewme_SLC, I can only send my thanks and appreciation.

Strangely enough, about two weeks ago, when my follower list stood at 18 or 19 followers, I silently said to myself that it would be nice if I could sign on 20 followers before the end of 2009. Well, it happened and probably through no great feat of endeavor on my part. I just get on here now and then to blow smoke about beer or beer drinking. But know this: followers may come and go and it’s possible that as this big dizzy orb of ours continues to spin you may one day fall away as followers of Beer Rant and likely as not it’ll be because I’ve said something really stupid, but until that time, thank you for signing on for the trip.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to you all.

Reminder: Vote in the Gimmick Poll to see what stupid thing ought to be the driving force behind Beer Rant in 2010. I might just follow up on the majority decision...or not.

Nein, nein, oh nein! A Retraction

I created the posting label “Beer Jerk” for a reason, people. When I apply it to one of my blog postings, I mean to say that I’m being a beer jerk. Which is to say, the posting is probably off the mark.

Back in July I posted a short piece called Hot-Weather Ramblings that dealt with, among other things, an article in the July/August issue of Beer Magazine. In that posting, I characterized a particular article in that issue as “rather inept.” Well, the author of that article somehow stumbled onto Beer Rant. (Don’t ask me how; we’re located off one of the most remote back roads on the entire Information Superhighway.) He left a comment that was far more diplomatic than necessary, asking me to explain my characterization of his article as “inept” (or “rather inept”). Frankly, he had every right to call me out in stronger terms because after re-reading the article, I can’t find much fault with the content and were I to describe the article again, I’d certainly not call it inept, but perhaps “clumsy.” Understand, the article’s clumsiness is due entirely to issues related to layout and not due to content so the blame (if there is any) should fall on the magazine editor, not the author.

So, having inaccurately described Mr. Brooks’ article as “rather inept,” I’d like to point out the high points of the piece and hopefully describe the specific attributes that made the article clumsy in my opinion. The piece is broken down into about 18 sub-sections that cover a number of aspects of beer labeling policy and practice. I especially liked the section on measurements under the heading “Required Information.” The section entitled “The Long and Winding Road to Approval" is interesting and brought to mind the hoop-lah that attended Flying Dog’s slogan “Good Beer, No Shit.” The discussion of the differences between “alcohol by weight” versus “alcohol by volume” in the section “Fat or Heavy” was especially enlightening and finally, the explanation of the terms “out of code” and “gone bad” is good information for folks who wonder just how long a six-pack is allowed to sit on the shelf before being “recalled” by the brewer.

If I praise Mr. Brooks’ work to strongly now, it may come across as patronizing. All I can say at this point is that I was mistaken to describe his article as “rather inept” or “inept’ in any fashion. Upon a second reading I find that I’m most bothered by the fact that some of the text of his piece is barely legible because of the editor’s poor choice of background photographs. This probably won’t matter one bit, if, as Mr. Brooks mentions in his comment, the article is aimed at a “younger audience.” Kids today don’t know from subtly, nuance or turn of phrase; they’re probably just looking at the pictures, which makes the illegible text immaterial.

I want to thank Mr. Brooks for having left such an even-handed comment in response to my harsh criticism of his article – he certainly had every right to use stronger language. He strikes me as an even handed fellow and nobody with such a love of the common “French Fry” could possibly be all bad, right? Don’t believe me? See Mr. Brooks’ French Fry blog HERE!

Some recent label anomalies I've found:

When is a lager, not a lager? When you're in Texas. Then it's an ale!

Guess where was when I found this "unlawful to remove" sticker on a bottle of beer.

Think Globally, Drink Locally and Don’t Steal Kegs!

(For those in need of a refresher: I've become especially interested supporting and tracking the progress of a local brewery that recently opened within a mile of Beer Rant HQ. My point in this is to follow through on what I think was a central message of the documentary film Beer Wars. If we want good, fresh locally produced beers, then we'd better damned well be willing to support such efforts when we see them. I figure Old World is worthy of our time and at least a bit of our money.)

I stopped by Old World Brewery today after work to sample some more of their product and happily got more than I’d bargained for. But first, let’s talk keg crisis, shall we folks?

You’ll remember a year or so back the net was abuzz with talk of a worldwide hop shortage. The kind folks at Boston Beer were helping out some of their smaller competitors in the craft beer industry and it was a wonderful time for all, I’m sure. Fact of the matter is, from what I’ve heard, the hop shortage was somewhat overblown but tell that to a guy who’s paying nearly $1,500 for a box of pelletized hops – to say nothing of the fellow who has to pay for whole buds - the real thing. Well now it seems there's a whole new shortage to contend with.

The crew at Old World Brewery still has their work clothes on and they’ve wrangled a distributor to begin making their beers available to a larger audience. That’s great, right? Well, sure, but what do you put that beer in? Short of a canning or bottling system, you’ve got to keg that delicious brew for shipping to the mass market. Problem is, there seems to be a shortage of kegs – “cooperage” to quote Old World principal Perry Parmely. I guess every crack addled ne’er do well in the greater Phoenix area is snagging unguarded kegs and cashing them in at the scrap yards for their value in stainless steel. (About 45 bucks according to Perry.) Remember the days when people stole kegs to make gas tanks for their hot rods? Remember when people stole milk crates to hold their long-playing record albums? Remember when people knew what “LSMFT” meant? Geez, I’m becoming a living relic!

So, we’ve hit upon yet another obstacle that a fledgling brewer must face. Sure, you’ve got the beer all brewed and gently aging in the tanks, but how the hell do you get it down the throats of your adoring public? Not something I’d ever thought about much. Glad I don’t make the stuff. Glad I just drink the stuff.

If you’ve got a local line on a reputable supply of kegs, won’t you please contact the crew at Old World Brewery and let them know you heard about their dilemma here at Beer Rant?

Which brings us to the “more than I’d bargained for” part of today’s discussion. I’ve now officially sampled every beer on the Old World Brewery list AND I’ve sampled some of what will soon be their Voyager IPA, which is at just over the two-week stage.

Today’s pints were:

Peg Leg Pale Ale
I’d asked for this during my first visit a week or so back, but they were out of it at the time. Seems this one must be their most popular product. I got lucky today and it’s telling that Perry remembered that I’d asked for this one originally because he specifically asked me if I wanted to try it (see if that ever happens at a big chain pub or brewery). This pale ale pours with a quick head and very little beading. The taste is both bitter hoppy and sweet, which must hint at some sort of careful balance that my uninitiated palate is incapable of picking up. It’s also vaguely nutty with low carbonation. Bottom line: Peg Leg Pale Ale is a good one and a decent example of the style.

I queried brewer Matt Mercer regarding Peg Leg’s hoppiness, stating that I figured it to be as hoppy as some IPA’s I’ve tried. That’s when Matt gave me some of the dope on the Voyager IPA he’s currently got in the works. He disappeared for a moment and returned with a short but stout sample glass of the pending Voyager IPA. I sampled it gratefully and found it still retains some sweetness that should diminish in a few more days as the sugars work off. It’s cloudy and has a significant bit of yeast sediment still, and while it’s not ready for primetime, it’s getting there. I’ll be curious to see if it is in fact hoppier than the Peg Leg Pale.

Nitro Blonde
Pours a nice orange-gold color with about a finger width of head initially. The taste is grainy –or of grain, but not necessarily corn. It’s hard to place. This one tastes like Bud and Miller wish they tasted like.

I finished my Nitro Blonde, wrapping up my chat with the Old World Brewery crew. Seems to me they’re pretty serious about this whole brewing thing. I don’t imagine it will be too long before they’ve broken into the Phoenix area bar market. I did notice that they still haven’t gotten that sign hung up on front of the building, though Patrick and Perry both assured me that the sign is in fact in the building and waiting for the “sign guy” to install it. So, don’t say I didn’t tell you that Old World Brewery might be a bit hard to find. Guess you’ll have to earn it.

Meantime, here's a picture of the growler I bought at Old World Brewery last week - reportedly the first growler to be sold on premises.

Next time: I plan to give some details of a recent trip through Tucson and a visit to Barrios and Nimbus. Standby!

Old World Brewery: Phoenix, Arizona

New Neighbor, Old World

Almost a month ago, I committed to visiting Old World Brewery before making another post here at Beer Rant. My purpose then was to follow through on what I think was one purpose of the documentary film Beer Wars: to promote local brewers. My vow, my promise, grew out of the fact that the night I attended the local screening of Beer Wars, I was almost completely disappointed by the reaction of the local brewing crowd. None of the folks I talked to at the local Rock Bottom Brewery or Yardhouse seemed to know anything about the event, despite the fact that both were located in the same complex as the theater that screened Beer Wars.

But as I stepped out of the theatre, largely satisfied with the film and dissatisfied with the poor local marketing, I was met by Patrick Fields, eagerly boosting his newly opened Old World Brewery. It seems that Mr. Fields and his upstart operation succeeded where the likes of Rock Bottom and Gordon Biersch, Four Peaks and Papago had failed, and as I took the business card from his outstretched hand, Mr. Fields very kindly acknowledged that he remembered me from an earlier visit to his establishment (weeks before, when the first batch of beer had yet to be served). Here’s a link to my original post regarding Old World Brewery.

It’s taken too long but I did finally manage to pay a visit to Old World Brewery this past Saturday and again yesterday, when I purchased what I’ll claim is the first growler of beer to be sold from their fledgling north Phoenix operation. I have to say that, despite some initial apprehension following my first pre-brewing visit, I’m completely impressed with their product and ecstatic at the thought of having a microbrewery nearly within walking distance of Beer Rant HQ.

What have I sampled so far? The Dark Night Porter (of course), the Irish Red Ale and the Old World Wit. How’d they stack up?

Dark Night Porter
Dark as you’d expect with a robust beige head. Initially smells vaguely of sour coffee but not in an unpleasant way. Tastes distinctly of coffee, vaguely chocolaty and faintly smoky when sampled on tap. From the growler, not nearly as heady but the coffee taste is right there and, on the second day, perhaps a bit more smoky and decidedly flatter as one might expect.

Irish Red Ale
Smells of sweet tea and pours a dark red color – almost too dark to be a red but still light enough to pass with heavy lacing in the glass. Sweet grain taste with this red and a mildly dry finish, I think.

Old World Wit
Pours a deep orange color that is cloudy opaque and very eye-catching. I characterize this one as a Hoegaarden that I can actually palate. By this I mean that the coriander and spice tastes aren’t so extreme that the beer tastes completely like a breakfast sausage. Frequent visitors will know that I’m no fan of wits but this one isn’t bad and it may be the ideal gateway beer for folks trying to jump off the Blue Moon bandwagon. The Old World Brewery brewer Matt Mercer tells me that this first batch turned out a bit more orange than they’d expected but I’d say it makes for a nice floorshow in any event.

So far, in four visits to Old World Brewery, I’ve met each of the principle players at least once; not something that’s likely to happen in the Coors tasting room. I have it on good authority- from someone who dared to briefly block his view at a Colorado Avalanche game - that Pete Coors is a real horse’s ass anyway. The fellows at Old World Brewery are not, as far as I can tell, horse’s asses.

Which brings this little story full circle, I hope. It would seem to me that the guys at Old World Brewery managed to see an opportunity that others missed when Beer Wars hit the screen for a single night last month. Maybe it was small potatoes and too insignificant for the likes of Gordon Biersch, Rock Bottom and so forth. What I do know is that someone at Old World Brewery thought enough to meet the beer drinking public the night Beer Wars was screened and, if I remember the crux of the film, that’s what it is all about.

If you live in the greater Phoenix area, find your way to Old World Brewery at 201 West Lone Cactus Drive, just south of the Deer Valley Airport. But look carefully; when I was there yesterday, they still hadn’t put up their sign, which was scheduled to be delivered today. Old World Brewery is working to earn your support.

Here’s their product list, so far:
Nitro Blonde, 4.2 abv
Old World Wit, 4.8 abv
Peg Leg Pale Ale, 5.2 abv
Irish Red Ale, 5.5 abv
Dark Night Porter, 5.8 abv

Beers for Smart@ss: Four Peaks Hop Knot

I don’t know exactly why Smart@ss is prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages for the next six months – frankly there are some questions you don’t ask folks you bump into in bars or Internet blogs. What I do know is that one clever blogger has offered to do something nice for another clever blogger and I’ve offered to take a swing at lending a hand.

Vgrid over at Vbg-log has offered to consume beers for Smart@ss and following a request for other volunteers, I signed on to consume a beer for Smart@ss today.

The beer I’ve chosen is Hop Knot IPA, which is produced locally by Four Peaks Brewing here in Arizona. Since Smart@ss lives in the “middle(ish) of the Midwest” I’d like to think that perhaps he’s pining for warmer weather at the moment – it’s been in the high 70s here lately. Failing that, perhaps he’d like to sample a bottle of beer that is made in Arizona and available only on draft and in growlers, kegs and cases at the Four Peaks brewpubs. Here’s what it looked like a few weeks ago when I first pulled it out of the case:

Hoppy IPA’s are not a beer style to which I naturally gravitate. I purchased a case of Hop Knot in order to transact a beer trade with a fellow beer fan in Arkansas and, having sent off a portion of the case as trade goods, I’ve been slowly working my way through the remaining beers from the case. I have to say, I’m beginning to appreciate IPA’s quite a bit more, now that I’ve tried a few of them. The thing that I continue to dislike is the practice of over-hopping beers in a sick game of one-upsmanship. I liken these hop monsters to that scary guy down at the gym who’s clearly jazzed on ‘roids and likely to blow up at the slightest provocation. Can we stick with the traditional style standards, please? Hops for the sake of hops seems a bit extravagant these days. But enough of this! This beer’s for Smart@ss!

It strikes me that Smart@ss is a thinking man and as such, I think he’d enjoy the complexity of this Hop Knot. Perhaps the weather is more conducive to a stout or a porter where he is, but with the furnace stoked and the dual pane windows in place, an IPA might be a nice counter-seasonal choice.

Hop Knot smells like grapefruit, perhaps with hints of pine; certainly the mark of a well-hopped beer so I’m told. It’s dry with a slightly thick mouth feel and the carbonation seems low while the lacing is heavy for a bottle pour. I’d be interested in trying this on draft and I suspect Smart@ss would be too. As with a number of IPA’s I’ve sampled lately, my initial impression is that they taste a bit like a nondescript soda pop and Hop Knot finishes with that dry-in-the-back-of-the-throat feeling you get after eating slices of grapefruit. Great beer and perhaps one of the better local beers I’ve tried so far!

I’ve considered saying this many, many times over the years, but never thought I’d actually get to put it out there: Cheers, Smart@ass!

Beer Reviews Online: How Do You Rate?

Once I found I’d made the decision to begin truly tasting and sampling beers, the next thing that I had to decide was how and if to actually rate the beers I tried. I’ve refrained from giving full-fledged reviews of beers here at Beer Rant. Beer is an acquired taste in itself, and to attempt to rate the myriad styles of beers that are out there would really be far above my skill set. The simple aspects of setting and circumstance can make a beer taste great on one occasion and lousy on another. Here at Beer Rant, I’ve simply acknowledged those beers that I prefer, occasionally adding that I would or would not seek out a particular beer again. The beers I’ve found that I especially like, I’ve usually referred to in multiple posts.

This is not to say that I don’t rate beers, I do, but not here on my blog. Normally, after I’ve made a personal rating for a beer, I check out how it stacks up with other drinkers. I refer to the ratings on Beer Advocate and Rate Beer, and they’re perfectly fine, wonderful sites but good gravy their rating systems boggle the mind with percentages and point scales. Ugh. I just need some place to jot my notes, make my ratings based on a simple scoring range and hopefully network with other beer drinkers of a like mind.

For my purposes, I’ve found a great online beer group called Beer Reviews Online. Sure, the other beer rating and ranking sites on the web are great and each has merit, but so far, I’ve only joined Beer Reviews Online. Why? Mostly because BRO is a simple, straightforward site that doesn’t have a convoluted multi-facet, subset rating system. At BRO, beers are rated 0 to 10 with space for comments. That’s it. In addition to the ratings, there is a member’s forum for sharing commentary and good-natured banter. Members can also connect directly through their profile pages and I’ve wrangled a great Beer Trade with another member of Beer Reviews Online, which is reason enough to jump into the pool. And guess what? If you decide to re-rate a beer, you can go into your ratings and edit the rating to move it up or down on your scale. I think that’s a nod to the vagaries of setting and circumstance, for sure.

So far, membership at Beer Reviews Online is fairly small and seems to include a lot of regional members. I’m an interloper to some extent in that I don’t live in the area where most of the other members live, but I feel more than welcome there and I have no reason to believe that others who visit and join BRO wouldn’t feel just as welcome.

New Year, Old World

This is what will pass for a New Year’s Resolution Post, I guess.

In the coming year I’ll work to keep my posts shorter.
In the coming year I’ll post fewer beer sampling comments and more general beer commentary, book reviews and so forth.
In the coming year I’ll refrain from using anything but images that I myself have created.

Sorry, I can’t resolve to be funnier, or smarter – heaven knows I’ve tried that for years and I’m pretty much stuck on “barely inoffensive, mildly humorous pseudo-intellectual.” I’ve learned to live with it, so can you. For those of you who might be wishing I’d simply resolve to go away; sorry, I can’t do that either. The good news for you is that there are a bazillion really good beer-related blogs on the net for you to visit and enjoy and that’s another of my 2009 resolutions. I’ll try to post more links to other beer blogs so that in your beer journey, you can stop by here on your way to those other beer blogs!

Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near Me: Old World Brewery

So, since I’ve already broken the first resolution, I may as well go on and fill you in on the few details I have regarding a new brewery that is scheduled to open near Beer Rant HQ in the coming weeks. I stumbled across an internet reference to Old World Brewery and while on a beer hunting errand I dropped in to find the place still under construction. Not wanting to make too much of a nuisance of myself I chatted briefly with the installation crew who appeared to be working on the material handling system to bring the ingredients to the brewing vats and then I excused myself. Exiting through the front lobby I bumped into Perry who told me they planned to brew in a couple days and that I should come back then. I thanked him and continued.

I returned in the afternoon on the appointed day to find Perry and Patrick (the owner) in the front office, Patrick on the phone to a supplier. The conversation appeared to revolve around a piece of equipment needed to complete the installation process. From the discussion, it was evident that no brewing would take place this day.

The phone call completed, Patrick stepped out into the lobby and gave me the quick greeting of a man with many things on his mind. Nevertheless, like so many good beer folk I’ve met over the last year or so, Patrick took the time to walk me through their set up, all the while discussing equipment issues with Perry and keeping an eye on the gauges and dials that lined the east wall of the brewery.

By his own account, Patrick doesn’t come from a brewing background but he strikes me as a business savvy fellow who has come into brewing in a round about way. One thing’s for sure, Patrick and Perry have their work clothes on and they’re working hard to get the beer brewing and the doors open. Old World Brewery will be the first tenant in the building and already they have installed a stage with lighting and a full drum set. The brewing equipment was purchased from a brewpub in Mississippi who lost their master brewer in 2004 or 2005. Perhaps Mississippi’s loss will be our gain. The plan at this point is to begin brewing the first batch on Wednesday, January 7th and a charity fundraising event is scheduled for January 24th.

Here’s the SuperPages Entry for Old World Brewery. Listed under “brands” is something called Sheriff Joe Scotch Ale. Hmmm. Hope that’s something they put out soon, since old Joe just got reelected. Maybe he’ll offer to come up for the grand opening! Another interesting point is the brewery’s proximity to Deer Valley Airport. Heck, pilots stopping in to top off their fuel tanks will practically be able to walk over to Old World for a pint or two before they take off on the next leg of their flight! (Just kidding.)

It’s a tenuous time and not necessarily the best time to be starting a new brewery endeavor. That said, you’ve also got to admire the truly American spirit that drives folks to create and produce under any circumstances and in any economic environment. I’ll be checking in at Old World as often as I can and will hopefully have a write up on their grand opening in the coming days or weeks. Meantime, let’s all wish Patrick and Perry best of luck with Old World Brewery!

Book Review: Christmas Beer

It seems that Christmas literally starts earlier and earlier each year. I’m not kidding when I say that one radio station where I live actually started playing 24-hour Christmas music the day after Halloween! Okay, if we really must have 60- or 90-days of Christmas, let’s have good beers and good reading material to go with that ceaseless music, okay?

I stumbled upon Don Russell’s book Christmas Beer (the full title is Wishing You a Merry Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest, and Most Unusual Holiday Brews.) in Salt Lake City. You can find it on Amazon and not have to trust to dumb luck that you’ll just chance upon it in some obscure book and card shop. Either way, and no matter, if you maintain a “beer library” here’s a book you should buy. If you don’t maintain a beer library, here’s a great starting point. If you don't read beer books but know someone who does (or should) then buy them this book.

This great book works on two levels: it’s an interesting read, and, having read it, you’ll find yourself picking it up again and again just to browse the contents. If you’re like me you’ll first scan through it to see how many of the beers listed are beers you’ve actually sampled. My personal beer list is rather short so I only checked off 3 or four beers, but happily, most are listed in Russell’s top 50. I was happy to see that a couple of beers that I really enjoyed, Hibernation Ale and 2 Below rated fairly high. The trick now is to track down some of the other beers listed.

Author and journalist Don Russell is more commonly known as “Joe Sixpack.” He writes a weekly Joe Sixpack column for the Philadelphia Daily News and, for the record, he was Joe Sixpack before that term was hijacked by politicians, pundits and news hacks. The moniker Joe Sixpack conjures up an image of a regular fellow who would likely pick up his share of bar tabs now and then. I refer to these sorts as “beer folk” and they’re good folk (sure there’s always a few stinkers, but they don’t get to be called beer folk). As if to confirm this notion, when I emailed Joe Sixpack and asked if he’d be willing to field a few short questions for a review of his book, he quickly replied in the affirmative. So, without any more foot dragging, here are BeerRant’s questions and Joe Sixpack’s answers to some burning questions about Christmas Beer:

BR: Do you go by “Joe or “Mr. Sixpack”? (Heh, heh, bet he hasn’t heard that one a million times.)

Joe: Joe’s fine. Or Don. Or anything if you’re offering me a beer.

BR: How long did you go between idea and realization in putting together Christmas Beer:

Joe: About three years. Of course I’ve been drinking Christmas beer for much longer than that, but in the winter of ’05 I realized nobody had ever written a book about my favorite beers of the year. That’s when I started collecting the beers I needed for the book and began my reporting.

BR: Many beer books include what I call the “ensemble shot” with a bottle of the beer next to a full glass of the beer. Any reason why you or our editor’s chose to have pictures of the bottles alone?

Joe: Simple reason: I had a limited photography budget. Setting up those shots of poured bottles is extremely difficult – you need 3 people to do it right, and it takes a lot of time to get the pour to look good. That means you need a hell of a lot more bottles than I could round up. Remember: these beers are available only about two months a year, so I had to do a lot of organizational work just to put together the collection. In the end, it was just easier to present the bottle. Maybe the next edition will include more pours.

BR: Did you select the 50 best and are they in the order you chose?

Joe: Yes, I selected the 50. A difficult task paring them down, and that’s my lineup as originally written. I rarely “rate” beers because I’m one of those people who believes everyone’s palate differs. But I wanted to highlight these 50 as beers that are worth the effort to seek out.

BR: Do you have a guilty favorite you were reluctant to disclose in the book?

Joe: No. Actually, my guilty favorite is the No. 1 pick, Troegs Mad Elf. I knew from the start that it might be a bit controversial because it’s a regional beer, available only in the Mid-Atlantic. It would’ve been much easier to pick, say Anchor Our Special Ale or Sierra Nevada Celebration (both of which made my top 10) because they’re readily available. I picked Mad Elf because it’s truly my favorite Christmas beer. But honestly, I love every one of the beers in this book.

BR: What will you be savoring as a Christmas beer this Christmas Eve?

Joe: I wait till Christmas night to break out the best stuff. My wife and I make a big deal out of sharing something special in front of our fireplace while we exchange gifts. I have some four-year-old Mad Elf, some two-year-old Affligem and a few others. I was a huge fan of last year’s batch of Corsendonk Christmas – if I can round up an aged bottle of that, I’d be very happy.

BR: Besides beer in general, can you tell us what your next beer book is going to be about?

Joe: I don’t have a next book lined up, yet. It’ll most certainly have something to do with the culture of beer-drinking, as opposed to a guidebook.

I have a suspicion that Christmas Beer will find a place beside Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide on many bookshelves this holiday season, but because this is the holiday season, I imagine Christmas Beer will spend a lot of time off the shelf, in the hands of eager Christmas beer drinkers. And if that’s Christmas music I hear, it must be Christmas Beer that I’m drinking – and reading!

My thanks to Don “Joe Sixpack” Russell for kindly agreeing to field some questions for this review. You give beer folk a good name, Joe.