Book Week: Beechum and Conn's Experimental Brewing

Experimental Homebrewing
Drew Beechum and Denny Conn
Voyageur Press, 240 pages, $25

• What is it? A detailed guide to modern American beer types
• Who's it For? Intermediate-level homebrewers
• Reviewer Disclosure. None (though Denny Conn does live in Oregon).

The Review

Rare is the homebrew book with a running theme, but Beechum and Conn devised one with their "experimental" concept. The notion is that homebreweries are essentially little labs, and homebrewers should embrace the science of experimentation. I'd put it a different way. While most homebrew books describe standard techniques and help you brew classic styles, Experimental Homebrewing encourages you to dabble. In this way, it is the most modern homebrew book out there, and one that closely mirrors the experimentation going on at the professional level.

There's a lot to love about this book. Beechum and Conn brew separately--and differently. They bring their first-hand experiences to bear, and the reader gleans one of the most important lessons in brewing: there's no one way to do anything. They have a loose, informal approach to brewing, and while they're happy to give you the math if you want it, they do so only to show their work (and, I suppose, for those math nerds who love it). Everything else is in clear, descriptive prose that makes the process of homebrewing seem approachable. Which is perfect--it is approachable. You can make great beer without understanding hydrogen ions.

Homebrewers are nearly always experimental in temperament (they like to make jalepeno helleses before they really know how to make helleses), and this book encourages them. There's plenty of talk of crazy ingredients and how to use them. More interesting are the sections that teach brewers how to experiment with process and technique. There's modern stuff like force injection (infusion might be a better term) , along with classics like parti-gyle brewing, invert sugar, cask brewing, blending, and more. There's quite a bit on experimenting with ingredients and technical stuff like dissolved oxygen and yeast counts.

This is a great book. If you haven't started brewing yet, you need one of the standard manuals to teach you how to get started. This would be a perfect second book--and I put it right there with Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing as a great intermediate resource. As a bonus, the authors have set up an interactive website to continue discussions about the experiment.

Beer Week: Steven Shomler's Portland Beer Stories

Portland Beer Stories; Behind the Scenes with the City's Craft Brewers
Stephen Shomler
American Palate, 170 pages, $20

• What is it? A collection of stories about the people who work in Portland's beer world
• Who's it For? Portlanders
• Reviewer Disclosure. I wrote the foreword. I know Steven a bit, but mainly in the way I know many people whom I see around town at pubs and fests.
• Scope. Portland, Oregon

The Review

Portland Beer Stories is something of a curious book. It contains a fairly large number of vignettes about brewers (home- and pro), publicans, business owners, and writers (a few cider makers even make the list). It's actually something like a collection of blog posts, though author Steven Shomler is not a blogger. (He does, however harness our local blogging talent for interstitial "writer perspectives" pieces, giving it an even more bloggy feel.) That is to say, there's no through-line connecting these stories; their organizing principle is the city itself. Collectively, the vignettes manage to convey the kind of variety you find here in our rich little ecosystem, from the owner of one of the country's oldest homebrew shops to the director of the Oregon Brewers Guild to Rob and Kurt Widmer.

But the structure also limits the appeal of book to folks beyond our borders. For those of us who live and drink here, it adds wonderful texture to the world we see superficially. I've been shopping at FH Steinbart's since the 1990s, and it was cool to read about John DeBenedetti's family business. Portland's a small town, and if you've been to more than five beer events, you're likely to have seen certain faces appear again and again. Some of them people this book, like homebrewers Lee Hedgmon and Rodney Kibzey. I doubt there's very many people who don't know beer goddess Lisa Morrison, but there she is. Beer writer John Foyston, check. Owners of  and familiar faces at Saraveza (Sarah Pederson) and BeerMongers (Sean Campbell)?--yup. 

For Portlanders, it's a pleasure to read the stories of these folks, but what if you live in Cleveland? I dunno. If this were called Munich beer stories and was peopled by local beery Munichers, I spose I'd actually be pretty interested. My guess, though, is that this is really a book for, by, and about Portlanders. You'll have to decide if that applies to you or not.

Wonderful Things

It feels a little petty, on this 26th day of June, to be mentioning anything as base as beer. This date will be remembered along with some biggies (May 17, 1954, August 6, 1965, June 28, 1968) as watershed moments in the history of freedom in the United States. Congratulations to the Supreme Court and all those who committed "countless small acts of courage" to bring it to fruition.

Session IPAs
On the other hand, this is a beer blog, and I have a few items to mention. First off, the latest podcast is live. Today Patrick and I address session IPAs. Are they an actual, distinct style, or merely pales ales dressed up in marketing gloss to sell to the rubes? We speak to three brewers who've made these beers to discover the real story. (There's a weird gap in the middle, but don't despair, it's just poor production on our part--the pod continues eventually.)

By the way, the podcast is now available on iTunes. I encourage everyone to subscribe--you won't regret it! 


The Trickiness of Beer Styles
Next, I'd like to direct you to a couple of my posts at All About Beer.  First we have the troublesome question declaring whether a particular American beer has been "brewed to style." It ain't as easy as it looks.

And more importantly, styles change—just like language. You may insist until the end of time that “hopefully,” an adverb, should never begin a sentence—but that battle is long lost. Language moves on, and so must grammar pedants (full disclosure: I am one). Until the 1950s, when they went extinct for a time the witbiers made in Hoegaarden were wild ales, something like young lambic. That changed when Pierre Celis revived them a decade later. So should we insist that breweries are doing it all wrong now?

Hard Root Beer?
Finally, allow me to direct you to a treatment a phenomenon that is sweeping the nation--hard root beers. Yup, they're a thing.

The question that leaps to my mind is this: do people love Not Your Father’s Root Beer because they love it, or because they’re impressed with the sleight-of-hand at play? It’s made by a brewery and called a beer but tastes exactly like a root beer. Also: it tastes exactly like a root beer but, giggle, it’s boozy! Those are elements of novelty that have buoyed every malternative since the 1980s.

You may not be surprised to hear where I land on that one.

Have a nice weekend, everyone. And to my poor brethren in the Pacific Northwest--find yourself a shady patch and try to stay cool. It's going to be India hot out there.

Beer Week: Mary Izett's Speed Brewing

Speed Brewing
Mary Izett
Voyageur Press, 192 pages, $20

• What is it? A homebrewing book focused on speedy fermentation
• Who's it For? Urban homebrewers on the go
• Reviewer Disclosure. None. I have no connection to Mary Izett
• Scope. Homebrewing

The Review

I have noticed a recent trend in homebrewing of books that offer full all-grain brewing experiences, but in uncomplicated forms especially for urban dwellers. Mary Izett, a New Yorker, follows this trend and offers a range of different fermented beverages that can be made quickly in one- or two-gallon batches. No complex RIMS or HERMS system--nor a back yard--necessary. These books are a very welcome addition to the homebrewing canon; they recognize a basic obstacle to brewing (complexity and cost) and address it not by dumbing-down homebrewing with extracts, but just making smaller, less complicated beers.


Izett spends the first 55 pages explaining the process of brewing and giving an overview of the various ingredients. It's brisk and clear, and those who follow the instructions will be able to brew their first batches without investing a ton of money. Homebrew converts can easily scale up without having spent a bunch of money on now-useless equipment, and those who make just a batch or two won't feel guilty about what they spent.

The recipes are divided into different categories of fermentables: beer, cider, mead, kombucha, fermented sodas (hey, they're a thing now, don'tcha know?), and a way-too-short section on traditional beverages like kvass and tepache. I didn't brew the recipes but the beer, anyway, looks well-done. The cider section isn't so great (she directs readers to ferment plain grocery-store apple juice), but the mead section is. (Mead is an overlooked treat.)

Since it's an introductory book designed to get people to try their hand at brewing, the recipes are basic and designed to be foolproof--or at least hard to mess up. Anyone who buys this book in order to get started with the mechanics of brewing will be very pleased. If you want to get someone interested in homebrewing, buy them this book or a book like it--it is far better than a $200 kit for making extract beers.

Book Week: Mosher's Beer for All Seasons

A Beer for All Seasons
Randy Mosher
Storey, 200 pages, $15

• What is it? A introduction to beer, arranged by season
• Who's it For? New to intermediate readers
• Reviewer Disclosure. None. I've admired and ready Mosher for years, but have no personal connection. I did write one of the promo blurbs on the cover, but that's because I thought it was a good book.
• Scope. Spans the globe

The Review
Most people who read this blog are already well-acquainted with Randy Mosher. He has published two of the best general-purpose beer books ever written, one for homebrewers (Radical Brewing) and one on appreciation (Tasting Beer). If you already own and treasure those books, this one is, paradoxically, probably not for you. It's an introduction to the world of beer, organized, innovatively, around the seasons. 

Anyone who wants to offer newbies a comprehensive introduction to beer is confronted with the huge task of how to arrange the material so that it is adequately complete, somehow coherent, and ultimately not so overwhelming that readers abandon the quest after a few pages. Mosher arranges things by season, slotting in the types of beer you'd be most inclined to drink then. He lists seasonal events and celebrations, and embroiders each chapter with interesting historical vignettes (a Mosher specialty). He doesn't go deep, but he does manage to bring coherence to the subject in a novel and organic read.

There is the usual stuff you find in all books (and which you'll find in the Beer Bible): an overview of the styles, history, and ways to appreciate beer. All of that will be completely familiar to anyone who reads beer blogs. That doesn't mean it's not great. Mosher is the best explainer in the biz. He fuses an informal, lighthearted voice with the ability to condense his encyclopedic knowledge into concise sentences. Here are a few sentences on yeast.

"[A]s it ferments our beer for us, yeast churns out hundreds of flavor chemicals. Yeast is quite a complex little creature, employing a huge array of bio-chemical processes in its business of staying alive and reproducing, but it's a bit sloppy about cleaning up after itself. Depending on temperature, genetics, and a number of other conditions, yeast releases many volatile chemicals into the beer, affecting the overall flavor and aroma of the finished product."

Perhaps the best thing about Mosher is his accuracy. I suppose he's probably made an error about the history or craft of beer somewhere along the way, but his batting average is so much higher than the average writer that you can pretty much take what he says as gospel. Given how many books are festooned with well-worn myths and rumors, that's a big benefit. It's not for the reader who already knows who Gabriel Sedlmayr is or what kettle souring means, but that's fine. It's the book to buy for your friend (or mom, or dad) so you know they will get the facts--and probably enjoy reading about them, to boot.

Book Week Commences: Field Guide to Drinking in America

I have been remiss. Publishers keep sending me emails asking whether I'd like to receive the newest, most excitingest beer book and I always say yes. Even when it's about cider. Or mead. Although I do not promise to review every title, it's my secret goal. And now, as the pile threatens to grow large enough to attack me, I am resolved to fight back. Herewith I offer Book Week, which is likely to extend beyond seven days, but sounds better than the more accurate Beer Fortnight or Beer Almost Fortnight. I generally try to do more lengthy reviews when I receive books, but if I'm going to get through this batch, we'll have to do shorties. Let's get started.

_____________

The Field Guide to Drinking in America
Niki Ganong
Overcup Press, 214 pages, $20

• What is it? A state-by-state guide of local drinking culture and laws
• Who's it For? Ramblin' men (and women)
• Reviewer Disclosure. It's by local writer Niki Ganong, whom I consider a friend. I've known she was working on this book since it was just an idea, and I've been a supporter. So obviously, objectivity here is out the window.
• Scope. National--it covers every state in the union (sorry, Canada)

The Review
Niki travels a lot. Facebook friends marvel at how often she posts from some very attractive brewpub across the country--or globe. All that travel alerted her to how distinctive local drinking culture is, and how weird local laws are. She decided to create a guide describing these discoveries, and it's one of the most unusual, unexpected beer books I've encountered in awhile.

Each chapter starts with an overview of the state's local culture and history. (This covers all booze, not just beer--but it is beer-centric.) It's followed by an overview of the way liquor works in each state--what the laws are, where you can and can't buy spirituous liquors. This is in turn followed by a miscellany of quirky state-specific facts. (Minnesota: a description of Minnesota 13, a "smooth, high quality moonshine" distributed nationally by Al Capone. Colorado: a mini-bio of Hunter S. Thompson and his connection to Flying Dog. Hawaii: description of Harry Yee, who invented the Blue Hawaiian.)

Maybe the coolest feature is a tip Niki elicited from a local bartender in each locale. Here's the entry for Maryland, with a tip from Brendan Dorr at Baltimore's B&O Brasserie. "Maryland has a long history of beer and spirits, from American whiskey's humble beginnings of Maryland Style Rye to German breweries scattered about Baltimore City. Even William Walters, Baltimore's local philanthropic art collector...built his fortune on rye whiskey.  However, if you are going t odrink in Baltimore and feel like a real local, then order a shot of Pikesville Rye and a Natty Boh, hon!"

I think it's a pretty cool book (but I'm biased), and the only criticism I'd levy is this: I really wish Overcup would also turn it into an app. That would be handy. 

I HAVE A MINOR COMPLAINT: The Fruit Beer Fest's Sweaty, Cramped Quarters

This past weekend we had the latest incarnation of the Fruit Beer Fest, one of the year's best. It was, sadly, still located in the exceedingly cramped parking lot in front of Burnside Brewing. Before we get to the old man's whinge, the requisite throat-clearing: the FBF is sneaky good. It poses as a regular fest, but doubles as a symposium on the myriad ways fruit can be incorporated into a beer. Each year envelopes get pushed a little further, until at this year it seemed like half the beers were barrel-aged wild ales typical of something you'd find in Moeder Lambic. Ezra Johnson-Greenough, the founder and an ecumenical drinker, has increased cider's participation in the fest. Everything about the tasting side of the fest is great.

The location, however, is perhaps the worst in the city. I traipsed down on Friday, the first day after a cold snap when the temps toppped out at about 75. Nevertheless, the sun had baked the surfaces of the locale--concrete all, including pavement and surrounding walls--turning it into an oven. Light knifed off the hard surfaces and created a blinding glare. Even with the sun getting ever lower in the sky, there were precious few patches of shade to be found.

The fest floor--a pen, really, fenced in with chain-link--is so small that the long lines running off the pouring stations blended into the crowd, making it a chore to even know where to stand. (Creating, perversely, open jockey boxes that people at the rear of the line didn't realize were free.) Oh and: there was no place to stand. You sort of do a slow waltz with the crowd as the fluid dynamics of people standing in line or trying to get to a line sent us on a perpetual move, a half-step at a time.

I know Ezra and the organizers are aware of this, and I understand there are challenges to hosting fests. Nevertheless, as a fest-goer, these are not my concerns. My concern is spending a pleasant few hours enjoying excellent beer in the company of friends. The excellent beer is at the Fruit Beer Fest, but not the pleasant few hours. A victim of its own popularity, the fest must grow or lose cranky old men like me. (And before you say it: there weren't nearly enough of us to fix the problem with our absence.)

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Italy, and More

Photo by Giulio Marini

Last week, Birrificio Italiano's Agostino Arioli arrived with three friends and co-workers on a fact-finding mission to the West Coast. I hosted them for a couple of days, showing them pubs, breweries, and leading a trip down to Gayle Goschie's hop farm in Silverton. (Big fun, natch.) It reminded me how much I love Italian beer (the new stuff, not Peroni or Moretti, though Peroni in particular is a fine mass market lager). So this week became a spontaneous Italy week. First came an overview for All About Beer.

The best Italian beer is not only world-class, but some of the best beer I’ve ever tasted. But more than that, Italians have, in just 19 short years, developed their own brewing traditions so that it’s possible to talk about “Italian-style” beer. It’s one thing when a country’s breweries develop the skill and knowledge to reproduce quality examples of existing styles. It’s another, far rarer thing when they develop their own styles. So how did they get here, and what are the markers of “Italian-ness?” Here’s a primer.

Then Patrick and I did a podcast about Italian beer, hinged to a tasting of five of Italiano's products, hand delivered by the generous Arioli. It departs slightly from our regular format, but I think it's our best ever.

Please give it a listen. And I mean that seriously. I love doing this podcast and I think folks will find it interesting. I won't be able to justify the time (nor will Patrick) as a vanity project, though, so we're really looking for an audience. You will vote with your ears, and I hope you encourage us with your interest. Your comments about what works/doesn't work and what we could do to improve it are always invited--nay, solicited. Tell us what you think.

The Beerification of Cider

The last two ciders sent to me by breweries arrived in elegant bottles with dark, wine-like labels--Crispin's Venus Reigns and the first Cider Master Reserve from 2 Towns. The latter came in a wine bottle with a cork to boot. But in both cases, I was reminded a lot more of special-release beers rather than wine. Both were good. The Crispin was actually a pear wine (like a concentrated perry) aged in wine barrels. It was heavy and rich, and had huge winy overtones. It was perhaps a little too much of a good thing, though I enjoyed it in a decadent way.

The 2 Towns is exceptional--it's one of the best American ciders I've ever had. It's also winy, but more in the sense that it tastes like a great white. It's slightly tart, but has round fruit flavors; peach, Meyer lemon, quince, and--well, I don't know my fruit flavors the way a wine writer would. Sometimes with "heritage" ciders (or whatever cideries call them), you end up admiring them more than enjoying them. But Reserve is pure pleasure--had Sally not been around, I would happily have drunk the whole bottle.

Nevertheless, it is striking how cider makers are not only positioning these like specialty beers, but pitching them the way breweries do, by discussing the process. Both go into a fair amount of detail about the barrels they used, and Crispin mentioned the process they used on the pear wine.

Cider fits somewhere in-between beer and wine on the spectrum of drinks. It is actually a wine--fermented fruit--but it's roughly the strength of beer and served effervescent. Some cideries have leaned toward wine, others toward beer. Generally speaking, though, high-end stuff is pitched like wine, low end stuff like beer. But maybe that hasn't been working. Now, it seems, cideries are using the language of high-end beer to sell high-end cider.

Karl Ockert Headed to Deschutes

This is pretty big news:

04 June 2015 – Bend, Oregon –Deschutes Brewery today announced the hiring of Karl Ockert as Director of Brewery Operations. In this position, Ockert will use his 30-plus years experience in the brewing industry to oversee and guide all functions and activities related to brewing, cellaring, packaging, safety, continuous improvement, maintenance and quality control. Ockert, who spent a total of two decades with Bridgeport Brewing Company, most recently served as an independent consulting brewmaster and the technical director for the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA).

In some ways, that slightly undersells Ockert's bona fides. He didn't just spend two decades at BridgePort; he was the founding brewer and the man who helped guide the winemaking Ponzis through the process of opening a brewery. He'd just graduated from the brewing program at Davis when he got the job.

After toiling for many years under the quixotic rule of Carlos Alvarez and Gambrinus, I suspect heading to Bend looks like an excellent opportunity for Karl. 

Wine's "Session Beer" Moment

A great piece in the Times Magazine about a backlash building against super boozy wines.

To Parr, and a growing number of like-­minded colleagues, such nuance becomes impossible to achieve when the wines are too alcoholic; it’s as if the lilting flutes and oboes of a symphony have been drowned out by a slash of electric guitar. He prefers an alcohol concentration below 14 percent and often far lower, depending on the grape variety, as opposed to the 15 percent and higher that is common in California. 

Sound familiar? It allows me to link to similar comments I've made about beer. Go read the whole thing--it's well-written and engrossing. Even if you're not much of a wine person, I suspect you'll like it.

Podcast Live, Bonus Ferulic Acid Rest Commentary

The latest podcast is now live. Today Patrick and I discuss the very welcome emergence of lagers in the craft beer sphere.

Also, in case you missed it, I have a new post up over at All About Beer. It's part of my "quirks of brewing" series. We started things out with parti-gyle brewing, and this week we go to the importance of the ferulic acid rest. What? You've never heard of a ferulic acid rest? Man, do I envy you: your life is about to change.

Once the ferulic acid is in the wort, it can be converted by yeast into a tasty-sounding compound known as 4-vinyl guaiacol, the actual source of the flavor. The yeast must be a special variety known was POF+, meaning “phenolic off-flavor.” It was originally a slur, issued from the perspective of lager breweries who didn’t want any 4-vinyl guaiacol in their beer.

Enjoy. And, as always, share the links, and send me your feedback--it's always welcome.

Churn on the Fringe

Yesterday I discussed the beer products aimed at people who don't like beer, specifically fingering the Bud Light -Ritas (Lima-a-Rita, Apple-ahh-Rita, etc.). I got a bit of push back about how long these products actually last in the marketplace, and it reminded me that most people don't get to see those figures. So here's an update to illustrate just how fast they come and go. My numbers come from IRI/Symphony numbers from a few years back.

Let's start with the biggest-debuting products in the years 2006-2012:

• 2006: Captain Morgan Parrot Bay Wave Runner
• 2007: Miller Chill
• 2008: Bud Light Lime
• 2009: Bud Light Golden Wheat
• 2010: Smirnoff Blueberry Lemonade
• 2011: Shock Top Raspberry Wheat
• 2012: Bud Light Platinum Lager (#2 was Lime-a-Rita)

As far as I can tell Wave Runner is off the market and Miller Chill and Bud Light Golden Wheat have been killed. I suspect Platinum is not long for the world--and that's probably true for Bud Light Lime as well. To put an even sharper point on it, of the 15 top new releases in 2008, only 7 were still in production by 2011. That slightly understates things because two of the fifteen were variety packs. In other words, 62% of the biggest-selling new products in 2008 had been killed by 2011.

As you can see from the list, these are gimmicky products that taste bad and die early. But whenever a Chill dies, there's a Straw-Ber-Rita to take it's place. They're worth big money ($100 million or more a year for each best-selling brand), but they don't last. Buy your commemorative cans today--they may be museum pieces tomorrow.

On the Fringe

This past Monday, I celebrated Memorial Day the way most Americans do--at a backyard barbecue. (Yes, I am aware that this misses the point.) I took along some of the new Hefe Shandy the Widmer Brothers recently sent me, expecting not to like it much. By chance, someone else brought along a Bud Light Apple-Ahh-Rita, the latest in the line of abominations AB is passing off as refreshment.

Although many beer geeks are blissfully unaware of it, there is a product segment in the beer world that is aimed at people who don't like beer. It's been a robust source of revenue for decades, but a dicey one. Each new product has a limited life span, and after a few years, they vanish without a trace, making way for the newest latest. (My theory is that these products are aimed at new, mostly young drinkers who are transitioning from soda. The products therefore become fixtures of drinking juvenilia, and after a few years, when the drinker has developed a palate for something more mature, the old alco-pop is regarded with embarrassment, like a favorite boy band from childhood.)

In any case, the Apple-Ahh-Rita and Hefe Shandy offer an interesting dichotomy. The former, part of the "-rita" line of abominations, is undrinkable. Imagine an off-brand Jolly Rancher melted down and cut with Everclear and you're near the mark. It's a boozy 8%, presumably to reduce the amount you have to choke down before the harsh, grain-alcohol buzz kicks in. It's a scam product that will die its inevitable death as soon as people realize, en mass, just how bad and absurd it is.



The Widmer Brothers' product, by contrast, is aimed at people who like beer. It wasn't made for me, but neither was it made for 19-year-old undergrads. Although the nose is hugely (and not entirely naturally) lemony, the palate is dominated by a light wheatiness. The lemon is an accent, more zest than juice, and is surprisingly dry. It's about half the alcohol (4.2%) of the Rita, and designed for backyard barbecues. Widmer Brothers could have as easily called it Lemon Hefe.

The beer market is developing very quickly. Where once there were just three categories--mass market lagers, craft, and alco-pop--now there is a large and growing segment between craft and mass market lager. There are a lot of people who like the flavor of beer, don't hate Budweiser, but don't love imperial sours and barrel-aged stouts. Blue Moon and Shock Top have been exploiting (and enlarging) that segment for years, and now craft brewers are poking their toe in these waters. Hefe Shandy will be an interesting test case; if they can make inroads into that segment, it will further accelerate the change in beer categories.

Friday Odds and Ends

I've been trying to think of a hook for this story, but I got nothin'.

But one [distillery] has found a work-around. It's come up with a chemical process that ages bourbon not in years — but in hours. The innovation is unsettling an industry that is long-soaked in history and tradition....

Terressentia's website says its process uses ultrasonic energy and oxygenation, which "finishes chemical reactions that failed to complete in the distillation stage," and results in a "smoother mouth feel."

Interesting, though.

Next, I'd like to direct you to the latest All About Beer blog post, in which thinking about the validity of regional IPA subtypes (West Coast, East Coast, etc.) leads me to consider regionalism:

So, if we think there’s a style effect going on, it’s more likely a brewery effect. They don’t drink a lot of Dortmund export in Cleveland because of some exotic local preference (I’d find it mighty surprising to see the Dortmunder style pop up anywhere else)—but because the favorite local brewery, Great Lakes Brewing Co., makes a great version of that beer. Here in Portland, one of the U.S. cities most famous for hops, our best-selling craft beer is a wheat ale. But that’s not because Portland is a wheat ale town (they’re pretty rare), but because Widmer’s flagship is Hefeweizen, and Widmer’s our hometown brewery.

And finally, a personal note: the Beer Bible apparently went to the printer today. They're doing two versions, hard- and soft-cover, though the former is mainly just for the library market. (Just 1,500 copies, but you can pre-order one--no doubt for a Limited! Time! Only! from Amazon.) On the inner flaps of the dust cover, the publisher has written really nice copy. To celebrate the imminent tangible manifestation of the book, I'd like to share it with you. (An indulgence, and I appreciate it.)

Never in the long history of drinking have beer lovers had it so good, with a brewing renaissance happening around the globe. And never before have beer lovers who also have a thirst for knowledge had it so good—The Beer Bible is a lively, comprehensive, authoritative, and purely fun-toread guide to beer in all its glory.

The Beer Bible celebrates the pleasure of discovery, for readers new to beer, and the pleasure of connoisseurship, for old hands ever eager for more information. It’s a book built on the premise that the best way to learn about beer isn’t by trying every one out there, but instead pouring your favorite and studying it. That’s what opens the doorway to history, culture, and craft, the influences that make each style of beer unique.

Like bitter, for example. Its origins in the twin discoveries of hops as a spicing agent and modern kilning, which allowed for straw-colored malts. How it took several more centuries to displace the great porter epoch. The influence of mineral-rich Burton water. The Zen simplicity of how bitter is brewed. The quality called “moreish”—a distinctly British adjective extolling the virtue of being pleasant over the course of a full evening at the pub. And the fact that it really needs to be drunk straight from the tap or cask.

To top it off, Jeff Alworth’s ever-engaging style: “British bitters are characterized by a definite hop presence, but they have no violence in them. The hops ride atop a gentle biscuit sweetness and add marmalade and spice.” And so it goes for bocks and lambics, schwarzbiers and Vienna lagers, saisons and Pilsners, weisses, weizens, and witbiers.

Welcome to beer heaven.

(That last sentence even seems to be a subtle tip of the hat to this blog.)

The Beta Podcast

Well, here's something new. Patrick Emerson--OSU econ prof, erstwhile beeronomist, drinking crony--and I have started a podcast. It was his inspiration, and against all odds, we actually sat down and figured out how to make one of these things and got around to recording one. We're hoping to keep them to a half hour, but the first one ran 36 minutes. (Not bad.) If you have 36 minutes to spare, I'd love to have you listen to it and offer some feedback. The notion is that we'll tackle one issue per pod, look at it from the beery side (me) and the econ side (Patrick). We'll probably taste beers, and we hope to have some kind of questions/feedback section. This is fairly close to what we drew up. Have a listen:

A few notes and questions:

• The music comes from Barcelona's Freak Fandango Orchestra. Yes, they're awesome; yes, they allow you to use their music for free.
• We sort of punted on the name, and I'm not super psyched about it. The "Beervana podcast" ain't entirely original, and I'm not sure it's particularly descriptive. For one, we'll be surveying the world of beers, not just Oregon, and for two, it has the economics element in it. Any ideas would be most appreciated. I'll send a bottle of something tasty to anyone who cracks this nut.
• Yes, we're amateurs. This is part of the allure, but yes, we do hope to improve.
• We intended to answer some of the questions people asked on Facebook but, in the one major blunder of the podcast, forgot.
• Tell us what you thought, what worked, what didn't, and anything else that springs to mind. Many thanks--

Now back to your regularly-scheduled slow blogging.

SABMiller Taking a Page out of AB InBev's Playbook in London

This caught me by surprise:

LONDON: SABMiller is buying Britain's Meantime Brewing Company, swallowing up one of the pioneers of the country's craft brewing movement to give the owner of big brands such as Peroni and Grolsh exposure to a fast-growing part of the drinks market.  

Meantime was a plumb target because...

Sales volumes of Meantime's beers including London Pale Ale and London Lager soared 58 percent in 2014, compared with a 1 percent rise in Britain's beer market as a whole. The more richly flavoured craft beer also sells at a premium to standard lager, another draw for SABMiller.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47297986.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Sales volumes of Meantime's beers including London Pale Ale and London Lager soared 58 percent in 2014, compared with a 1 percent rise in Britain's beer market as a whole. The more richly flavoured craft beer also sells at a premium to standard lager, another draw for SABMiller.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47297986.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Sales volumes of Meantime's beers including London Pale Ale and London Lager soared 58 percent in 2014, compared with a 1 percent rise in Britain's beer market as a whole. The more richly flavoured craft beer also sells at a premium to standard lager, another draw for SABMiller.  

I don't have a ton to add here. I toured Meantime when I was researching the Beer Bible, and enjoyed speaking with founder/brewer Alastair Hook. (I wrote about his interesting thoughts here.) I even happened to see him at the Craft Brewers Conference--no doubt he was smiling to himself knowing what was in the works. At this point, there's not a lot to say--we've been down this road often enough that we've already said it all. (Though if you're dying for analysis, Pete Brown has some.)

Hook plans to stay at Meantime, which should assuage fears any fans have, at least over the short term. It's a sign of times.

Alastair Hook

Slow Blogging Ahead

Just an acknowledgement of something you may already have noticed: I'm not doing a lot of high-quality blogging these days. That's likely to continue, as I am currently pretty buried, and the ten-day forecast is calling for more buried. I'll keep up with the weekly post on All About Beer, but you may see only scattered randomness here.

Sorry--

Good Reads

All About Beer lives up to its name today, with three articles you'll want to check out. The first comes from Oxford-based writer Tim Hampson and concerns the latest developments in English hops.

“The British climate is maritime with even fairly even rainfall throughout the year. The majority of other hop-growing regions in the world are much hotter in the summer and much colder in the winter, and all require irrigation. It is the terroir created by our unique climate that produces hops with lower levels of myrcene than in the same hops grown elsewhere in the world. Lower levels of myrcene deliver a more delicate aroma and leave room for more of the other hop oils, which provides the complexity of flavor."

Next we have a Cinco de Mayo post from Jeff Cioletti on mezcal. It's tequila's more rustic cousin, and it is by far more interesting and tasty (in this drinker's humble opinion). It's the smoky Islay malt to tequila's Highland.

Before the agave is fermented and ultimately distilled, artisans bake the heart of the plant in underground charcoal-heated ovens, imparting the not-so-subtle smokiness. Tequila distillers, on the other hand, steam their agave, which has no such effect on its taste.

Finally, the last bit is a piece I wrote about the wild, wonderful cocktails of centuries past, now documented and reproduced by local Portland mixologist Jacob Grier. You ain't drunk cocktails 'til you drunk a mulled, curdled-milk cocktail made with eggs.

I think it’s human nature to believe that the olden times were boring and monochromatic. The people were more innocent, their interests less racy, their choices few and limited by what would grow on the back forty. That may be true of most things, but not beer. Beam back 300 years, and you’d find an orgy of exotica inhabiting the average pint glass. One of my favorite descriptions, from a 17^th-century source, suggests starting with wheat and oats and “one bushel of beans.” It continues: “once fermentation begins thirteen flavorings are added, including three pounds of the inner rind of a fir tree…” Another source, from the 1500s, mentioned laurel, ivy, henbane (a poison) and chimney soot. Tasty! 

Perhaps some reading you can do over your lunch hour.

Lessons From Oregon's Mature Market

Josh Lehner of the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, has an interesting teaser for a larger report that will be coming out next week in June. Because Oregon is such a mature market, the trends he sees might soon visit states elsewhere. To wit:

[T]he vast majority of the growth in local sales is driven by new breweries and their products. While the state’s legacy breweries have seen increased sales, much of their growth in recent years is outside of Oregon (either in other states or internationally.) 

It comes with these handy graphs:

I wondered aloud on Twitter whether this trend was an artifact mainly of Ninkasi's rapid growth. The answer--a little, but not much. "Overall, from '05-'14 if pull @NinkasiBrewing out, Oregon growth of 102% instead of 118% actual." Most of the growth comes from production breweries, but as distributor Jim Fick noted on Facebook, that trend will be affected by saturation at certain outlets in the future: "Grocery stores and on-premise are close to being saturated - but convenience stores are the next growth opportunity as craft sales are under-weighted there. It's already started somewhat but look for a large expansion of craft beers in convenience stores in the next 1-3 years."

So, even in Oregon, the most mature market in the US, growth has been robust and has the potential to keep growing for awhile. If you live in a state where craft beer has less than 10% of the market, you shouldn't be worrying about a bubble anytime soon.