Beer Navigation 101

June 2008  

So. . .I don’t do cell phones and I’ve driven the same car since 1988.  That doesn’t mean I’m totally techno-illiterate.  In fact, my old Integra is equipped with the latest in navigational technology that has resulted in a vast improvement on my dead reckoning skills--or lack thereof.  To maximize the benefits of this tool, I’ve found that adding a few “Point Of Interest” (POI) files greatly enhances its usefulness.  For instance, a database of breweries from beerme.com can be downloaded into the unit to inform me where I am in relation to the nearest beer production facility.  When in proximity to a microbrewery, the voice of Homer Simpson lures like a Siren from my own Odyssey epic, “Mmmmmm…beer."  When I near a location that sells the nectar, another POI application informs me in a computer-generated voice, “beer store ahead.”   

It’s a wonder I’ve been able to sustain myself all these years without this wonderful technology. 

To find applications like this for your GPS unit, visit:  www.poi-factory.com. 

P.S.  There’s also a frequently updated POI file to warn you when approaching any of the numerous speeding/red-light camera locations throughout the Valley. 

-Johnny

 You’ll be A-Pee'in tour.

May 2008

This past March we did the annual Papago European tour.  Starting out in Brussels, 19 of us had dinner at a great beer restaurant called Spinnekopke.  We basically took over the whole restaurant being that it is a small place and enjoyed some wonderful beers and Belgian cuisine.  Doc from BJ’s to this day is convinced that he had a horsemeat stew that night although I think otherwise.  After dinner we proceeded to Mort Subite,  for some lambics.  Mort Subite is described as a brown café because the walls have always been brown from all the smokers.  It is over 100 years old and has a lot of charm to it along with good beers.  Then we went more modern and hit the Delirium Café, a bar with 2008 beers.  Being rather crowded as it usually is on Friday nights we crossed the alley to its sister bar called Floris.  Floris has over 300 different kinds of Absinthe and a few of us made quite a dent in the list while some of the others just stuck to beer.  Absinthe does not make you hallucinate as some people believe but it is quite strong in alcohol and has a really strong licorice flavor, that is cut down through the addition of sugar in your glass, either by melting a sugar cube by dripping water over a sugar cube over your glass, or by dipping the sugar cube in the absinthe and then burning it over the glass, caramelizing the sugar as it drips into the drink.

The next day we started out at Cantillon for their open brew day and watched them make lambic.  One thing that they only have during the open brew days is Faro, a lambic sweetened with sugar and it was quite a good breakfast drink.  After Cantillon we proceeded to Sint Niklaas for the Zythos beerfest.  The fest features about 150 Belgian beers and goes on for 12 hours a day for two days.  The fest is a little bit of an astonishment to some of the Belgians as at times there are probably just as many beer loving Americans at the fest as there are Belgians.  The fest ended at midnight, and a few of us were still not done so we went to a couple of the bars in town.  At the one bar, Mel from Papago spotted a really unusual beer, Rodenbach Vin du Cereal.  It is a 12% sour beer aged for three years in white wine barrels.  It was a limited release and each bottle was individually numbered.  That night and the next day we cleaned the place out of its inventory.  It was one of the best beers I had on the trip.  Sunday we did the fest again and tried some of the local cuisine, frikendales sure hit the spot when drinking a lot of beer.

Monday we toured Bosteels Brewery where we received fantastic hospiltality, then were taken out to a restaurant just outside the town for a really nice meal, white tables cloths and all and had a choice of Salmon, Eel or Steak au Poivre courtesy of the Bosteels.  After that we headed to Westmalle for one of the highlights of the trip. Westmalle Abbey only gives two or three tours a year and the last English speaking tour was about 5 years ago.  It was a really interesting place, especially the bottling line, which was built underground and soundproofed so that the Monks above could not hear it while they prayed.  We also discovered one of the strongest tasting mustards I have ever had at the café there.

After that we headed to Cologne for some boring old Kolsch, then down the Rhine towards Frankfurt stopping for a beer or two along the way.  In Remagen I had an excellent Bitburger on draft at the McDonalds.  We then took the overnight train to Prague.  Toured Prague in the morning and headed to Plzen (Pilsen).  In Plzen we first toured Pilsner Urquell which has significantly upgraded its tour over the years but still lets the tour taste unfiltered, unpastuerized beer straight from an oak barrel which is a remarkable tasting beer, nothing like the pasteurized beer they send here.  We also toured the towns brewing museum before heading to a new place there called the Pils Pub.  They have two of them in Plzen and are opening about 10 more in Czech.  It was a really great place, first off they serve unpasturized Pilsner Urquell brought strait from the brewery in big dairy tanks and the really cool thing about it is that it is self serve.  They have individual taps that are metered at each table and you pay for how much you drink after you are done.  It was a really popular place and if you go you really need to make reservations in advance or you won’t get a free table until after midnight.

From Plzen we headed back to Germany to Munich.  Munich is one of my favorite towns in Europe because there is so much to do and it is really easy to get around.  Some of the highlights there was a good tour of Weihenstephan and a fantastic meal at the restaurant there and the Ayinger bar across from the Hofbrauhaus.  The Ayinger bar taps a cask of Helles every night at 5:00 and serves up a mean dish of horseradish soup.  One night we were guests of Paulaner for Starkbierfest at the Nockherberg.  The fest starts out pretty mellow with everyone listening to traditional German music, eating and drinking liters of dopplebock out of stoneware mugs.  It ends with being a rowdy party with dancing and a lot of 70 and 80’s rock music sprinkled in with the occasional John Denver tune.  One of the other great beers I had was out at the Andechs monastery.  They had a winter beer that was a dark roasty bock beer that was incredible and only available on draft at the monastery.

After that everyone left except myself. I got a rental car and toured around southern Bavaria over towards Stuttgart.  Along the way I found a new beer style that I had not had before, a Schwarzweiss, a black wheat beer, that I have since made a batch for at Papago.  In Stuttgart I spent some time in a couple of the local brewpubs that are more like American brewpubs than the typical old world German brewpubs that you find everywhere else in Germany.  I ended my trip up in Dusseldorf on St. Paddy’s day, drinking a few pints of $8.00 Guinness along with some Alt beer.

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November 08, 2007

 

Danger, Danger, Will Robinson.  Beer prices will be going up. 

 

 For the first time in years beer prices will be going up across the board.  The price increases will hit the small craft brewer first and hardest.  As has been reported in the press recently the cost of raw materials for brewers has been going up drastically.  Malted barley is up as much as 50% and some hop varieties are up by as much as 600% and I don’t believe it is going to end there.

 

 It has been a perfect storm when it comes to the price increases.  Higher prices around the globe for raw materials are due partially to bad weather in Australia and Europe, smaller hop crops being planted, stainless steel (for kegs) and bottle prices rising.  Also, because the dollar just isn't worth as much as it used to be, it has increased the demand for U.S. grain and hops from overseas buyers.  To top it off gas surcharge prices for shipping has also risen by 30%. 

What this means for you is having to pay more for that pint of beer or a six-pack.  People in the industry that I have talked to say that initially at a minimum prices for the end product will probably go up at least $1.00 a pint and also for a six pack across the board.  Some are saying that we could even see a $10 pint soon.  I believe that we could see six packs and bomber prices increase by as much as 50% next year for some specialty craft brews.  Not to panic you but you might want to put a new fully stocked refrigerator on your holiday wish list this year. (We will be happy to special order you cases of your favorite brew to stock your new refrigerator with) J

 

Craft brewers don't have the means to hedge against rising commodity prices, like their industrial rivals.  But even the mega breweries will be raising prices.  Kirin was the first large brewery to recently announce a price increase and has been followed by some European breweries.  Most distributors will be raising prices January 1^st.

 

One thing that hasn’t been talked about much is how it could affect the industry and the flavor of your beer long term.  In order to make a profit, brewers may have to cut back on the amount of hops they use in beer or in the amount of grains being used.  It could force craft brewers to make lower alcohol, less hoppy beers.  I certainly hope that doesn’t happen but if you start to see an resurgence in brewers making English style Pale Ales or Bitters, more Blonde ales or more Pilsners you’ll know why.  Some craft brewers have already been forced to change their recipes because certain hop varieties are not available.  I have seen multiple e-mails from brewers across the nation desperately looking for certain hop varieties.  We are facing the same challenges with some of our beers.  So far we haven’t had to change the hops in our beers but we will soon.  The cost of Columbus hops, which we use a lot of in our Hopfather Double IPA has gone from $7.50 a pound to $50.00 a pound now.  When we are out of our current inventory I am going to be faced with three decisions, stop brewing it, raise the price a lot or change the recipe and still raise the price.  I will probably opt for the last choice since I love the beer and will do everything I can to keep it as close to what it is now.

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 The past few months have been pretty hectic with a lot of different beer festivals both here in Arizona and out of state. After this Saturday's (Saturday, November 11th) things will slow down considerably until after the holidays.  I am really excited about what we are going to be doing this Saturday at Papago.  We will be conducting our annual Belgium Beer Party with at least 15 different Belgium beers on tap.  Last year we still had our regular menu and had Belgian cheeses, chocolates and waffles.  This year we are scrapping our regular menu for the day and Leah has put together a nice Belgium food menu for the day, much of it prepared with Belgian beer.  I would advise getting their early if you want to eat because when certain items run out that will be it.  And, of course the waffle wrench is back with authentic Belgian waffles.   

 

 I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Belgium beers.  Besides the United States, the brewers in that country seem to be about the only ones willing to continue to experiment and to create new flavors in their beers and to make multiple styles.  In the other major beer brewing countries like Britain and Germany, the brewers to this day rarely if ever venture from making the same style of beer that they have made for at least a century.  If you ever find someone that says they do not like Belgian beers they are blowing smoke.  Brewers in Belgium make almost every style of beer made.  There are almost as many beer styles as there are breweries in the small kingdom of Belgium.  Just with the lambic style alone they run the gamut from soda pop super sweet fruit lambics to lambics you could use to acid wash your swimming pool that are intensely sour.  They make Pilsners, Stouts, Scottish Ales, Wheat beers (Wit beers), Pale Ales, Farmhouse Ales, Strong ales and Barleywines and the famous Trappist beers, brewed by monks.  About the only style of beer that hasn't been brewed there yet is an big IPA or Double IPA, but I know of a couple of brewers there that are moving in that direction so it won't be long before they brew one. One of the reasons that Belgians brew so many different styles of beer could be because of their diverse culture.  Linguistically, the country is divided amongst those who primarily language and heritage could be either Flemish, French or German, but they all get along and many people there are tri-lingual, in addition to knowing all of their own native tongues many people there also know English.  Making it a great place to tour. It is one of the few places on the planet you can go where the French speaking people are actually nice to you.

 

We are truly blessed to be able to get some of these Belgium beers over here.  While they do have some large breweries, like Stella Artois, many of the beers we get from there come from extremely small places, some are even one person operations or are family run with the husband, wife and their kids or parents.  Some of them have annual production amounts that are only a few kegs more than an active homebrewer over here.  Other than size differences, Belgium breweries also go anywhere from state of the art stainless steel equipment at some of the Inbev and Palm breweries to places where they really do not know how old the equipment is.  As an example, at Caracole, which is basically a one man operation, he still has to heat the water up with a wood fire the night before brewing.  Some beers from a couple of places are aged in caves, the same as wine or champagne. 

 

Many of the breweries there have a long history and are full of fantastic stories.  At De Dolle Brewery, in World War II the Germans imprisoned all the local townspeople in the basement, and some even died there.  There are many other World War II stories.  Many breweries had to close up because the Germans confiscated much of the brewing equipment.  To this day, if you have a tour at the Bosteels brewery they will fly the American flag that day in our countries honor for liberating them in World War II.  At Rodenbach, many of the family members served in Napoleon's army and one of them co-wrote the Belgium National Anthem. (Sometime soon, very soon I have been promised, Rodenbach beer will be available here.) 

 

Prost, Ron

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August 25, 2006

 

Fresher Beer, Once a Year
To Toast a New Crop, Brewers
Roll Out 'Wet Hop' Barrel;
A Truce in a Bitter Battle
By CONOR DOUGHERTY


First there was Beaujolais nouveau. Now comes beer nouveau.
The end of the growing season has been celebrated by everyone from apple growers to winemakers, but lately brewers have started marking the renewal of their own annual cycle, with beers that are brewed with hops picked only a few hours before. Called "fresh hop," "wet hop" or harvest beers, they begin appearing in late September, typically on tap and lasting only until the kegs run dry.
Harvest ales started showing up in the last decade or so in hop-growing regions like Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. But as the style catches on and more farmers plant hop yards, the beer is increasingly found outside of its traditional home. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. sold its Harvest Ale in all 50 states last year, up from five in 2000. Late next month Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del., will release its first fresh-hop beer, Fed-Extra Mild, an English-style ale with two varieties of hops: one freshly picked and shipped overnight from the West Coast, and a second grown in an employee's yard. And while the majority of wet-hop beers are poured from tap handles, some brewers are now bottling it. Denver's Great Divide Brewing Co. started bottling its Fresh Hop Pale Ale three years ago, and now the brew is distributed in seven states including Texas, Florida and Massachusetts.
'Liquid Poem' to Hops
The season's first hops are also cause for festival-style celebration. At O'Brien's Wet Hop Beer Festival held at San Diego's O'Brien's Pub, bar owner Tom Nickel plans to serve 35 beers this year, double the number at the inaugural event two years ago. (New names at last year's festival included Hop Trip from Deschutes brewery of Bend, Ore., and Last Hop Standing from Blue Frog Grog & Grill in Fairfield, Calif.) While so-called craft brewers are leading the trend, industry giants have also taken notice: Last year an Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fort Collins, Colo., released its Front Range Fresh Harvest Hop Ale for festivals and at Anheuser-Busch tour centers.
These beers are the latest expression of brewers' obsession with hops, the sticky green cone of the Humulus lupulus plant that gives beer its bitter flavor. Classically, beer has four main ingredients -- the others are water, yeast and grain, typically barley. Before hops, brewers had balanced the sweet taste of malted barley with herbs including yarrow, coriander and ginger. Around 900 years ago they began adding hops, which imparted flavor and also served as a preservative.
Much more recently, hops became a rallying point for U.S. craft-brewers -- a movement that took off in the 1980s as a reaction to the big-brewery beers that critics dismissed as too light, too watery, and too stingy on the hops. Bitter became better for a subset of craft-brew drinkers, many of whom tend to measure a beer's worth in proportion to its hoppiness. The measuring stick is the International Bittering Unit, or IBU, with the biggest beers logging in at 100 plus IBUs. Mainstream brews from Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors are typically around 10 or 20 IBUs.
The hop infatuation has resulted in a game of chicken among brewers, who have continued their effort to out-bitter the next guy -- as evidenced by beer labels that boast mixed hops, extra hops or triple hops. Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, Calif., calls its Stone Ruination India Pale Ale "a liquid poem to the glory of the hop!" Delaware's Dogfish Head has pioneered a pair of hop-enhancing technologies, including a "continuous hopping machine" that adds hops gradually over up to two hours of brewing instead of throwing some in at the beginning, middle and end, as is customary. The brewery also invented a method for delivering a final hoppy hit to kegged beer by running it through a hop-stuffed chamber before it hits the pint glass. Dogfish Head calls the device Randall the Enamel Animal, and some bars and beer stores have also started serving "Randalled" beers.
But for a few months in the fall, brewers stop worrying about more hops and focus instead on fresh hops. When first plucked from its stalk, a hop flower is green and about 60 percent water by weight. For brewing purposes, hops are usually dried and refrigerated, or made into pellets that resemble rabbit food. Wet-hop beers use flowers that have been picked just hours before, so they still possess the volatile flavors that are lost during processing. Brewers compare beer made with these moist hops to a meal cooked with just-picked herbs -- entirely unlike one made with dried oregano and parsley from the back of the pantry.
A fresh-hop beer can often, in fact, be less bitter than a corresponding version with dried hops, and instead is powered by floral, citrus tastes. The retained oils line the inside of the mouth and have a tinge of greenish, vegetal flavors. (Many brewers recommend drinking their wet hops with a glass of water.) It's easy to taste the difference between a normal brew and a fresh-hop version -- though that isn't always a good thing. "If you're not careful you can end up with a beer that tastes like lawn clippings," says Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery.
Fugglerama #2
Brewing, of course, has a long tradition of following the seasons. Before refrigeration, beermakers were eager to get their hands on the first hops of the season. They tended to make beers in the fall that highlighted them, before switching to maltier beers as stored hops lost their character. (Germany's Oktoberfest is a slightly different story: The two-week festival now marks the fall with copious amounts of beer, but got its start as a wedding celebration.)
Randy Mosher, a beer author and instructor at Siebel Institute of Technology, a Chicago brewing school, says there's little historical precedent for using hops within a few hours of picking. "What people are trying to do with craft beer is put people in touch with their food again, and remind them that they're drinking an agricultural product," he says.
Fresh-hop beers started popping up about a decade ago when Sierra Nevada brewed its first Harvest Ale. The style attracted other brewers, and there are now several dozen versions available. Sierra now makes three wet hop beers, including one using "estate grown hops," while Steelhead Brewing Co. in Eugene, Ore., last year made a pair of fresh-hops, "Fugglerama #1" and "Fugglerama #2," with two varieties of Fuggle hops. There's even a nascent movement among brewers to grow their own: Today in Kearney, Neb., Trevor Schaben, owner of Thunderhead Brewing, plans on heading out to a hops field 10 miles from his brewpub to pick with a handful of customers (it's the brewpub's second attempt at a wet hop).
Though wet-hop beers inspire brewers' creative fancies, they also pose a logistical challenge. Many breweries are set up to use pellet hops, which are much easier to filter out than the leftover plant matter from wet hops. A wet hop requires a special filter or trapping system to keep the debris out of the finished product.
But the bigger problem is getting the hops in the mix before they've spoiled. Victory Brewing Co. contracts a refrigerated truck to collect hops from a grower in upstate to New York then drive straight back to the brewery in Downingtown, Pa. Come fall Russian River Brewing owner/brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo gathers about a dozen friends and family members to pick hops on a quarter acre plot a few miles from his brewery in Santa Rosa, Calif. As they pick he begins brewing, then throws in the hops as they arrive from the field. Sierra Nevada uses two varieties -- Centennial and Cascade -- that have different picking periods that overlap for a day or so. The brewery sends a truck to collect the last of the Cascade harvest, then to another field to collect the first of the Centennials, then back to the brewery in Chico, Calif. "I never know what day it's going to be," says brewmaster Steve Dresler.
And for brewers who don't have their own hop farm, this often means paying to have fresh hops sent overnight, multiplying their hop tab. One thousand pounds of hops from Washington state grower Yakima Chief, for example, runs about $2,800 for overnight delivery, compared with $400 for the same amount by slower shipping. Because fresh hops contain so much water, brews that incorporate them can require several times more hops by weight, boosting the price even more. Russian River charges $165 wholesale for a keg of its HopTime Harvest Ale, $50 more than it charges for its Imperial Pale Ale, and $6 per pint in its brewpub, $2 more than it charges for other beers.
But for calendar-watching beer drinkers, the once-a-year brew is worth the splurge. "It's like being able to get vegetables from the farmer's market," says beer aficionado Richard Sloan, a computer programmer from San Diego. "You better be there, or they're gone."

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