In Praise of...Brew Masters on Discovery Channel

Watch it!

This is just a quick post to get out ahead of Sunday night’s television lineup.

Mrs. BeerRant and I watched the first episode of Discovery Channel's Brew Masters this morning – TiVoed from a week ago or earlier.

I like it, A LOT. Mrs. BeerRant liked it too (and she’s way pickier than me when it comes to television watching. Picking husbands? Eh, not so much, I guess. Lucky for me.)

I’ve gone on at length here about my feelings regarding Dogfish Head’s brews. For my previous posts about DFH Brewing go HERE. I’ve tried one of their raisin concoctions, a peach disaster, an IPA, a chicory stout, an Indian brown ale and their pumpkin beer. I like the chicory, the brown ale and the pumpkin beer, which puts them at a 50% success rate in my book. (No reason to give up on someone at 50%, hell if that was the case Mrs. BeerRant would have left me years ago!) Bottom line: I like enough of their beers to continue trying them simply on their record alone, but factor in the personality behind the brewery and I’m always willing to give them a shot. So far, the series Brew Masters is at 100 percent.

I think you’ll find that the first episode of Brew Masters shows Sam Calagione to be a personable, fun-loving but hard-working guy; an image you probably picked up on in the documentary film Beer Wars, as well.

Now, the question that pops into my head is whether there’s just a bit of the Emperor’s New Clothes at work during the tasting session, in which all the folks gush over the release of Bitches Brew brewed in honor of the anniversary of the Mile’s Davis album of the same name from the 1970s. I’ve often tasted beer in front of the brewer and, though I didn’t think it was top notch, I’ve said it was good – that’s a weakness of mine and I rarely put myself in that position these days, preferring to spout off here where I can go all “beer jerk” if I don’t like a particular beer. Anyhow, I wonder if Sam got the same sort of feedback when he developed that travesty that is known as Festina Peche. Ugh.

Okay, back on track…

I really, really liked Brew Masters and we’ll set up the old TiVo to catch the next episode. Rather than read any more of my blather, here’s what the cool kids say about the show:

Brew Public
I especially like this write up because it mentions something I noticed when watching the first episode of Brew Masters: The Blue Moon commercials. As I’d suspected, the craft beer literati and the microbrew snobs have come out retching and kvetching about this. Never mind that in the first episode of Brew Masters, we were shown what a small percentage of the beer market is actually occupied by the likes of Dogfish Head Brewing. So you don’t like Coors. So you don’t like Blue Moon. Fine. Shut the fuck up, drink your $9/four pack beer and let the unwashed masses underwrite your beer-related television viewing entertainments through their purchases of the vastly cheaper beers made by the likes of Coors. (Cheaper and less inspiring, for sure.) Or, show some testicles and boycott the damned show, boycott Dogfish Head, boycott Coors and boycott the Discovery Channel. If not, at least shut the fuck up.

The Brew Lounge
One of the comments posted at this blog takes a swipe at the inaugural episodes rap-music fixation, perhaps having forgotten that the beer being brewed is to honor the re-release of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew by Sony Records. (Or something…)

Wall Street Journal
I don’t actually read the Wall Street Journal much.

Here’s what Beer Advocate posted about Brew Masters.

I’m bushed. Must be all the turkey I’ve eaten the last day or so….or the beer.

American Craft Beer Week

Let me see. Last year I started off American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) with a plan to taste a new craft beer each day of the week. I promptly fell ill and didn’t finish out the effort.

This year, I’ve neglected the first day, really. I did have a Bridgeport Brewing IPA with lunch here at Beer Rant HQ but my real effort was focused on tending a couple of grandkids and helping them make a birthday present for their mommy. (Shhhh. Don't tell.)

I guess you could say I got a jump on ACBW. Friday evening I had occasion to travel to Tucson for an event at the Arizona Historical Society and luckily, Gentle Ben’s brewpub was not more than about 500 feet from the Society museum. So, after my event was over, I strolled over to Gentle Ben’s with a couple of friends and sampled their Red Cat Amber and I took a growler of their Porter home. I’ll simply say here that the Red Cat Amber was passable, but not extraordinary. The Porter on the other hand was terrific and I’ll give it a more detailed post later – perhaps later this week.

I see that Arizona’s ACBW events are primarily centered at places like Rockbottom and BJ’s around town. I’ll probably not get out to any of those venues during the work week but I do have some rare and unusual limited edition beers in the fridge, which I may crack open. (A couple of them are produced in locales that have recently proclaimed a boycott against Arizona, so they may be the last of their kind I sample here at Beer Rant for the foreseeable future – sorry, I can be just as spiteful and petty as the next fellow.)

You can look up Arizona ACBW events at the American Craft Beer Week website.

We’re looking down the barrel of our first 100-degree day here at Beer Rant HQ. The weatherman says Wednesday. I’ve got some winter seasonals hidden in the back of a closet here. Maybe I need to crack those open this week in honor of our hitting the century mark.

Racer 5 IPA: Tipped in Honor of Alan Kulwicki

I still owe you a write up on my visit to the Deschutes Woody Beer Wagon appearance at Whole Foods in Scottsdale but in the meantime, today is a special day to remember a champion.

UNDERDOG

On this date in 1995, Alan Kulwicki, the reigning Winston Cup stock car racing champion was killed in a plane crash en route to a race in Bristol, Tennessee. (Talk about a hideous April Fool's joke.)

Kulwicki will arguably be the last owner/driver in NASCAR’s top series to have meaningful success. (My apologies to fans of Ricky Rudd - of which I am one for sure - who made a decent go of it. My apologies to fans of Robbie Gordon but your deluding yourselves since Robbie is more interested in racing off-road. My apologies to fans of Tony Stewart who, although he is an owner/driver who could still conceivably win a championship, he won’t be held in the same esteem as the likes of Kulwicki who won the 1994 championship with a colossally under funded team. Indeed, Kulwicki was such an underdog, he scratched off the letter “T” in the word Thunderbird on the front of his racecar so that it read “Underbird.” Adding a flourish, he had an image of Mighty Mouse affixed to the front of the car as well. One more somewhat chilling bit of history: when one of Kulwicki’s cars was undergoing restoration several years after his death and after it had been run by another race team, workers found a Saint Christopher medal tucked inside the lining of the driver’s seat. The medal was later confirmed to have been placed there when Kulwicki owned the car.)

So today, I tip a mug of Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA in honor of Alan Kulwicki, a NASCAR champion taken out at the height of his success. In many ways, Alan is like so many craft brewers out there taking a big swing at the pinata for the little guy. God bless all of you.

It might have been more appropriate to tip back some Big Boss Porter in honor of Alan’s Polish heritage, but alas, there was no Big Boss available. We work with what were given here at Beer Rant HQ – just like Alan Kulwicki did.

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
Has a distinct piney/citrus smell. It’s bottle conditioned and you can see the sediment in the bottle, though my sample was from a ceramic mug, so I don’t have any information regarding color or clarity. Taste is sweet and candy-like. A decent representation of the IPA style but not sure I’d rush out to find more unless I was doing an IPA-tribute sampling because it only seems to be available in bombers.

Promise: A post on the Deschutes Woody Beer Wagon is in the works but in the meantime, Beer Rant’s mom turns 80 this weekend so you know where I’ll be!

Craftbrewing Breaks into NASCAR!

Lagunitas Brewing #37 Truck
If you’ve browsed through Beer Rant at all, you may have come across the Inaugural Post I made back in January 2008 (gosh have I been frittering my time away with this blog that long?). One look at the picture and you’ll judge I’m something of a hillbilly. As such, I like me some NASCAR now and then. (I won’t turn this into a commentary on how NASCAR is like the Mafia, or how the series caters way too much to the RV and camper crowd, or how all the drivers are becoming way too young. I won’t.)

NASCAR blows into town a couple times a year and once upon a time, I’d attend all 3 or 4 days of racing over at Phoenix International Raceway. Now, for various reasons (some enumerated in paragraph one) I’ve pared down my attendance and usually go to the minor series races, eschewing the main events on Saturday and Sunday.

So this past week, my buddy Jon flew into town from his retirement compound in Oregon and we took in the Thursday and Friday racing events at PIR. On Thursday, drinking the usual Budweiser and Coors products mandated by the sanctioning body (See my Mafia comment in paragraph one.) I was intrigued by the letters “IPA” on the side of one of the trucks speeding around the track in preparation for the next day’s Camping World Truck Series race. (See my RV and camper comment in paragraph one.)

I used to be really up on all the team numbers in all the series, but since the advent of grandchildren at Beer Rant HQ, I don’t follow the individual teams as closely. The truck was number 37 and the more I thought about it, the more I began to look for that “IPA” truck and before long, I spied the word “Lagunitas” above the rear wheel well. Cool!
Alcohol and cigarettes used to be mainstay sponsors in every NASCAR series, but nowadays, only Budweiser, Coors and Miller seem to be interested in dumping money into stockcar racing. Consequently, the only beer product you’re likely to be able to purchase at PIR is a beer from one of the main beer sponsors. Imagine seeing the Lagunitas name on the side of a truck in NASCAR’s third-tier series! Pretty cool for someone who at least knows a little bit about NASCAR and a little bit about craft brewing.

All that evening and most of the next morning, I feverishly hatched up an idea to enjoy me some Lagunitas IPA at the track on Friday. My reliable neighborhood Sunflower Market regularly stocks Lagunitas IPA and I grabbed a six-pack of it as Jon and I headed to the track Friday afternoon. I eagerly enjoyed a bottle or two of the IPA while we tailgated in our meager fashion, chatting with a fellow from British Columbia who’d driver over from his winter quarters near Yuma (Hello to you Mr. Miller. Hope you got home safely.) Knowing that I’d be searched before entering the track, I simply carried a couple of bottles of the Lagunitas with me as we browsed through the souvenir stands outside the gates. Nobody was selling hats and t-shirts with the #37 Lagunitas truck emblazoned on them. There were no Lagunitas can coolers or stickers or bandanas or thong undies. I’d hazard a guess that I was the only race fan drinking a Lagunitas product outside the track. Had I been brazen enough to smuggle a bottle of Lagunitas IPA into the track, I suspect I’d have been the only person in the stands drinking Lagunitas, too. (I’d imagine the #37 truck team had some Lagunitas in their hauler. I hope they did.)

So what of the #37 Lagunitas IPA Ford truck and its driver? Robbie Brand seems like my kind of driver – he’s older than the current crop of barely pubescent drivers in NASCAR’s upper series. Born in 1958, Mr. Brand’s older than dirt by current NASCAR standards and for that reason, just the sort of driver an old timer should root for in the series. (See my comment about drivers being way too young in paragraph one.)

Friday’s truck race was Mr. Brand’s debut in the truck series and in the end, he did alright for himself in his first Camping World Truck Series race, finishing 27th out of 36 trucks and still running at the finish. Sadly, because the truck series is a fairly low tier series, he only garnered about $8,000 for his effort; hopefully, the Lagunitas folks also supplied the team with a hefty stock of their delicious product.

For my part, I took the remaining two bottles of Lagunitas IPA home and enjoyed them the next day, comfortably ensconced at Beer Rant HQ and not fighting traffic at PIR. The 2009 NASCAR season is just about wrapped up, but I’m going to keep an eye out for the Lagunitas sponsorship next year. (They haven’t responded to an email I sent them, but I’m hoping they will eventually.) I think it would be terrific if the craft brewing industry could step into the world of racing sponsorship and make their existence known to more of us hillbillies.

You can Google Robbie Brand, but don’t expect to find a ton of information. Information about Lagunitas is far easier to locate, though there isn’t much regarding their NASCAR involvement. (I'll let you know if I receive an email from the Lagunitas folks.)

Utah ReCap

"...shot off a flare gun in the basement...religious documents hidden in the walls...no jail time." (Snippets of conversation overheard at a neighboring table.)

I’ll not bore you with much detail regarding our Utah trip except to say we didn’t really do all that much. (Certainly not as much as some folks, judging by what passes for casual conversation in Utah's brew pubs.) The big thing for Mrs. Beer Rant and I was to see our oldest daughter and our granddaughter, who's not even a year old yet! That was the fun! Some will recall from previous posts that a lot of my “vacation” time usually involves U-Haul trucks and bonding moments with my daughters. This Utah trip was no exception and I did manage to hurt my back in the process – just a bit – but as something of a reward, I was allowed to track down six examples of Utah-brewed beers during the trip. I’ll try to “tick” them off in something of a Quick Riff format for the sake of brevity.

Place: RedRock Brewery, Salt Lake City
Beers: Bamberg Rauchbier and Oatmeal Stout
The Bamberg Rauchbier arrived with a weak head but a nice brown orange color. Smells more sweet than smoky – perhaps malty, but the smokiness builds and there is a smoky taste up front when you drink it with a dry finish. A decent example of the style but not the best smoked beer I’ve tried.

The Oatmeal Stout was opaque with a sturdy head; it looked great. It had a thin mouth feel and didn’t strike me as being as distinctive as the Rauchbier.

Place: Desert Edge Brewery, Salt Lake City
Beers: Utah Pale Ale and Happy Valley Hefeweizen
The Utah Pale Ale arrived straight from the tap, a straw-wheat color with a medium head. The smell was of pine and grapefruit for sure. The taste was slightly sweet with a decidedly strong bitter grapefruit taste. Lacing in the glass was heavy and this one was much better than the beer I tried during my quick visit last year (the Latter Day Stout).

The Happy Valley Hefeweizen showed up a cloudy, light straw color with a taste that came across somewhat weak after trying the UPA.

Place: Iggy’s, Centerville
Beers: Uinta Cutthroat Pale Ale and Squatter’s IPA
Both beers arrived in the bottle so I poured them myself. The Cutthroat Pale Ale was sweet, malty smelling with heavy lacing, an orange-bronze color and a fizzy head. The taste was malty but overly light and thin; not as sweet as most pale ales I recall but definitely malty and good.

The Squatters IPA was a dark straw color and did not smell the least bit like I think an IPA should smell (but I’m not the beer expert). Frankly, it didn’t taste that much like an IPA to me either, but the 6% abv is evident as you drink it. A great beer but only a fair example of the style, I think.

If I had to pick winners from the trip, I'd have to say RedRock's Rauchbier, Desert Edge's Utah Pale Ale, and the Uinta Cutthroat Pale Ale.

Politics, Religion and Beer, Oh My!

As an added bonus, I picked up a copy of Beer in the Beehive by Del Vance, a book I’ve been looking for since first seeing it mentioned at UTAH BEER. As a student of history, I like the book a great deal and the illustrations are top notch. However there’s a political/editorial bent to much of the text that I don’t much enjoy so I’ll not go into a detailed review of the book, except to say, if you’re amassing a collection of books related to the history of brewing, Beer in the Beehive is a required addition. If you’re looking for the definitive history of Utah brewing, again, this is the book you must acquire.

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' sumpin' Ale

I’d planned to save this one for a post in praise of the “manager’s special” but since this is a limited release beer, I figure I may want to make note promptly, lest I lose track of this little gem and never get it done.

I’m also prompted into action by a nifty – and recent – post at Bobs Beer Reviews. (It’s like that feeling you get when you see your neighbor out mowing his lawn; you suddenly feel you should probably be doing the same. For the record, my neighbor’s lawns all look better than mine.)

I stumbled onto this beer amidst a cart full of orphaned singles at the local Sunflower Market. Thankfully, I bought two of them. Having never tried any of Lagunitas’ beers, I figured it best to start out small.

Here’s the dope on this Little Sumpin’ sumpin’Ale:
Smells like an IPA, and pours a gold bronze color with a weak head. Distinctly grapefruit tasting, and to me this is an IPA in taste and style. The rather high abv isn’t too noticeable and I deem this beer to be “very good.” I’ll buy this one again, if I can find it before it’s gone. Odds are, she’ll hop back into that sporty hot rod of hers and be down the road too soon.

Here’s what some other bloggers had to say about this seasonal tramp:

Beer Tastes

Daily Brew HaHa

WTF is Mick Drinking? (WTF, indeed.)

Finally, the Lagunitas website. Their page for Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ doesn’t refer to it as an IPA, but more than a few web references I’ve seen refer to it as an IPA, which is where I place this one on the style meter. (For those of you checking the gages.)

The air conditioning is out here at Beer Rant HQ. Don’t know how long Mrs. Beer Rant and I will remain here if the temperature keeps climbing. Weep for us, and then ask us why the hell we’re still living in the damned desert.

Quick Riffs: A Post Before Traveling

I’m laying off the weekday sampling for the next little bit and bracing myself for a quick trip up to southern Oregon for the weekend. (Helping a buddy bring back a truck.) In the meantime, it seems a good time to dip into this slush pile of notes in the notebook to document some recent, noteworthy beer samples.

Boston Brewing
Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier
Sampled May 24, 2009
I’d been keeping an eye out for this one for some time and then basically lost interest when my son-in-law (“the marine”) sent me an excited text message proudly proclaiming he’d found it in a local Albertson’s supermarket. My son-in-law has a beer blog too; it’s called A Journey Through Beer. He does a respectable job but remember he doesn’t post much because he’s busy defending our country.

Repeat offenders here will recall I’m no huge fan of wits, but anything new from Sam Adams is worth a try in my book. This one has a distinctly berry smell that is faintly like a breakfast cereal. Pours cloudy gold color with a decent white head, medium beading and medium lacing. The standard witbier spices (that I often detest) are there but they are mitigated if not complimented by the faint blackberry finish. Good stuff.

Sierra Nevada
Torpedo Extra IPA
Sampled May 9, 2009
I first read about this one on another beer blog – the name of which escapes me now. I stumbled upon it at the local Total Wine outlet and bought a bottle for the recent trip to Sierra Vista, but, having sampled so much (perhaps too much) of the local Tucson beers, the bottle of Torpedo stayed in the cooler and came back to Beer Rant HQ with me for sampling a few days later.

Piney and sweet smelling, orange-amber in color. Has a distinctly sweet and piney taste, too, but not noticeably citrus. The 7.2% abv isn’t out front as you might expect it to be and this beer might be the sort of beer that sneaks up on you…like a, well, like a torpedo.

Grand Teton Brewing
Bitch Creek ESB Ale
Sampled on April 27, 2009
This is another one that my son-in-law wrangled. A marine from his unit got wind that he’s becoming a bit of a beer freak and brought a six-pack of this beer for him to try. Semper Fi!

Pours dark amber color with heavy lacing. Has a sweet taste with a slightly thick mouth feel. A second glass revealed this to be more malty than hoppy and highly carbonated. There’s a taste of roasted nuts or bread there too with a sweet finish. Hard to find hereabouts and pricey from what I hear, but worth a try for sure.

That’s it for now. I’m currently really interested in a couple of beer blogs that originate in London. Hopefully I can get around to posting something about them. In the meantime, I’m off to Oregon Friday evening with a layover in San Francisco, then a drive back from Oregon via California and Nevada. I’m hoping to cast about for some good beers while I’m gone and will check the shelves of the stores when we stop for gas coming back to see what package product I can acquire as souvenir.

Thanks for visiting.

Small Batch. Big Taste.

Okay. How about a Breckenridge Brewery triple play? Yesterday it was their Avalanche Ale and the Vanilla Porter. I sampled those two beers awhile back and today, I broke into a long-stored bottle of their Small Batch 471 Double Hopped India Pale Ale. (Whew, that’s a mouthful and so’s this beer, man!)

To begin, it’s known that I originally hail from a small mountain county in Colorado, but I want it known that I’m not turning into a shill for a Colorado craft brewer. Honest. (Here is where I confess that I’ve got a Coors Brewing Company sticker on the back of my truck.) As proof, I’ll point to the lukewarm review I gave other Breckenridge products I’ve tried recently. They’re okay, but they just don’t knock my socks off.

Now, for this here “small batch” stuff. Small Batch 471 is something akin to an inside joke, I think. It’s a special recipe, I guess, that the factory hacks allowed the working grunts to run with and if that’s the case, I’m glad they did. I’ve proclaimed my disdain for overly hopped beers in the past – most recently the weird and quirky “Hazed and Infused” from Boulder Brewing (a Colorado brewer…hmmm.), but this Small Batch is a horse of a different color. For starters, it’s an ass-kicker at 9.2% abv. Secondly, it’s a wallet-buster, given that I paid $2.69 for a single at my local cigar and booze emporium. Oh well, I’m a sucker for a painted label bottle and a clever name. I bought it. I own it. I tried it.

The Tasting
Breckenridge Brewing’s Small Batch 471 Double Hopped IPA gives off a fruity, hoppy aroma in the bottle and pours a dark orange that is not the least bit clear. A head of about one finger is produced with a moderately aggressive pour. The initial taste is very hoppy with an alcohol bite and a finish than hints strongly of spiced orange. This stuff is really good but really strong. I believe it might be a nice beer to drink on a dark December evening while one waits for Santa to drop a Beer of the Month certificate in your stocking. I’m going to go out and buy another bottle just for that occasion! Hey, Santa, I’ve been good!

Here’s the link to Breckenridge Brewing’s web page for Small Batch 471. It’s good to know they make it year ‘round. http://www.breckbrew.com/beer/smallbatch.html

Here’s what the RateBeer crowd has to say about 471:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/breckenridge-471-small-batch-ipa/34157/954/

Here’s the Beer Advocate page for Small Batch 471. I especially like the comment made by one boozer, wherein he/she opined, “Would be a great session beer except for the 9.2.” I love it! (Pot would be great in cigarettes, except for the law.)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/759/22527

Here’s a nice post at Hops and Barley Blog:
http://www.hopsandbarleyblog.com/2008/02/breckenridge-brewery-small-batch-471.html

90 Minute IPA, Meatloaf and Mamacita's

I don’t drink much hard liquor for a reason: I’m not fond of it. Frankly, this beer is something like hard liquor to me and working my way slowly though a pint glass of the stuff reminds me of a little place in Juarez, Mexico.

You wouldn’t know it to look at me today, but I served four years as a Cavalry Scout in the United States army. Most of my duty was spent in peaceable pursuits on the Texas/Mexico border. One evening, another 3rd Cavalry trooper and I made a reconnaissance of Juarez, Mexico and landed smack dab in the middle of a dark little place called Mamacita’s (to be honest, my companion had already reconnoitered the joint and I suppose I was simply along on the second mission to provide cover fire). At any rate, the trick at this place is to order a rum and Coke. When you ordered a rum and Coke at Mamacita’s in those days, they brought you a bottle of room temperature coca-cola and one of those tall plastic Tupperware glasses filled to the rim with rum and ice. Now, obviously this drink doesn’t start out as a rum and Coke; you have to drink down a good deal of the rum in order to begin adding the Coke. Well shucks, by then you’re so far along it hardly matters.

So, drinking a pint glass of Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA strikes me a bit like trying to drink down that Tupperware tumbler of rum so I could have some of that precious Coca-Cola!

The Tasting

Strong smell of grass in the bottle. Smells mildly fruity and very hoppy in the glass. Pours a nice color with a medium head. Bitter, acidic taste, most liquor-like. Definitely a sipping beer. Taste and mouth feel improve as the beer warms in the bottom of the glass.

The Dogfish Head web page for 90 Minute is here:
http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/90_Minute_IPA/11/index.htm
Funny, they list some swanky food pairings for this beer, like escargot, frites, focaccia and Silton cheese. I wonder if the frozen meatloaf dinner I had with mine falls into the category of suitable food pairing. I also see that again, I used the “wrong” type of glass to drink this one. Shucks.

The fraternity at Beer Advocate rated this one a strong “A.” (Almost 1,500 people have rated this one folks!)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/2093

I think as a representative of a certain style of beer, this beer warrants high marks, however if that particular style of beer isn’t one of your favorites (in this case an Imperial IPA) then it won’t matter how well the beer “represents,” indeed that may work against the beer in some cases). I probably won’t get this one again, except perhaps if I see it available on draft and know I’m not the one driving home!