1. Best Pale Ales in the World!
Eric Asimov has one of his regular features at the NYT about a beer style with selected tasting notes. This one's about pale ales. He spends the first four paragraphs unnecessarily retelling the story of the craft beer revolution, and another several very slooowwwwly working his way into the tasting flight. Their faves? Flying Dog, which they compare to a pilsner, and Long Trail, which they compare to a Belgian. Sierra Nevada, which he concedes is the standard, did not make it into the top ten.
Comment: perhaps Eric should have praised a pale that, you know, tasted like a pale.
2. Deschutes Black Butte XXII Catastrophe
Angelo broke this news yesterday, but now the brewery has a blog post up about it. Problem? As Gary Fish explains, the "experimental" chocolate failed to fully dissolve and a "portion formed a layer on the surface of the beer. While the beer tastes fantastic, the visual presentation in the bottle is not up to Deschutes Brewery’s long held commitment to quality and the customer experience."
Comment: Gary, I'll give you five hundred dollars for a palette of this beer and I promise it will never appear publicly anywhere. Seriously, I'll keep it on the down low--just between you and me.
3. Ever Since A-B Went Belgian, St. Louisians Want Local Beer
In this heartwarming story by the Beeb, we learn that micros are cropping up all around St. Louis to capitalize on a backlash from locals who are now off the whole Bud thing.
Comment: Good for them.
4. GABF Tix On Sale Now
The title sort of says it all, but here's the link.
Comment: I'm prepared to go on a junket if anyone wants to send me.
5. Zymurgy Readers Identify the Best Beers in the World!
Pliny gets the top slot, but, unlike the BeerAdvocate and RateBeer, IPAs, not stouts, dominate the top ten. But get this, these pinheads think Sierra Nevada Pale is the 5th best beer in America. Don't they read the New York Times? The whole thing is thrown into question, however, by Guinness's appearance at number 7. Apparently most Zymurgy readers live in Texas, because Rahr placed a dozen in the list. By contrast, the only Oregon beer is Black Butte. Washington gets skunked.
Comment: Never mind the Guinness, I'm cool with Pliny.
Ok, it's not your article and I should comment there, but the BBC reporting on St. Louis (AB land) is comical. How narcissistic can you get with this brewer comment:
ReplyDelete"There was no part of this community that wasn't a part of the brewery," says Dan Kopman, who founded Schlafly Beer in St Louis in 1992.
Not true. What IS true is that AB ruled the city by making all beer prices high, by lobbying for laws such as you have to be AT LEAST so big to be allowed to bottle in the city, etc., etc., making it hard for any craft breweries to get started, much less distributed.
Looking back on my sentence served in Misseri, I can thank AB for pushing me to take up brewing for myself...
The take-away for Beervana is to embrace diversity and avoid letting anyone big enough to force a monoculture.
To follow-up in the land of AB:
ReplyDeleteIt's a tough life, but if you have an extra $18-20M lying around:
http://www.beverageworld.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37952&catid=3&Itemid=173
On a local note, I'm also sad about the Black Butte, but I'll take comfort in it being on tap locally (per their blog).
Apparently all the voters were from California or Texas, and all Hop Heads! I guess Oregonians don't read Zymurgy?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Rogue Dead Guy count as a Oregon beer - tied with Black Butte at 41.
ReplyDelete