In the Matrix, people drink crap beer because they don't know any better.

Here are two companion articles that may be a "red pill" of sorts. I am feeling like a beer missionary right now!

Grab Me a Warm One!

Don’t believe Coors and Budweiser—cold temperatures ruin good beer.

There’s practically no beer worth drinking that should be served below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Some styles, like double IPAs and British bitters, are at their best around 55 degrees. But walk into any bar, even one serious about craft beer, and you’re likely to be served beer that’s close to freezing, often in a misguidedly chilled mug.

Where did this practice of deep freezing beer come from? While the cold neuters tasty beers, it masks the flaws of flavorless macrobrews. So it’s no surprise that the corporate brewers who make Budweiser, Miller, and Coors fill their ads with images of frosty mugs, snowy peaks, and bikini-clad babes frolicking improbably in fake snow. Coors Light has invested the most in frigidness, famously deploying the dopey gimmick of erecting mountains on its labels that turn blue when the beer is “cold enough.”

Too true. Next time you order craft beer and you see frost on the glass, do yourself a favor and wait to drink it. Or warm it with your hands.You will taste the difference, and you will love it. I promise. But if you've gone ahead and ordered the standard BudMillerCoors, then yes, drink it quickly while it's cold.

Can Beer Save America?

For decades, the big brewers (Anheuser Busch, MillerCoors, etc.) have marketed their products less on the basis of taste or quality than on identity branding. What you drank subsequently became a statement not necessarily of what your taste buds enjoyed, but of your self-image. The Miller versus Budweiser wars and Old Milwaukee ads, for instance, were so often a pitch to guys looking for working-class street cred. Meanwhile, Pabst Blue Ribbon lately has been pitched as a retro-themed statement of hipster style.

This kind of marketing made a certain sense, because while macrobrew brands are certainly appealing, the actual beers in question are basically terrible. Produced through the macrobrews’ low-price, high-volume process, they don’t contain high-quality ingredients, they don’t contain much alcohol and, thus, they simply don’t taste good. Knowing this, the macrobrews have logically designed their marketing campaigns to focus on everything (the can, the type of people who drink it, the logo, etc.) but the actual product. Indeed, if there’s one ubiquitous reference that macrobrewing companies make to the beer itself, it’s usually one telling you how cold the beer is or should be — a temperature that, quite deliberately, helps hide just how bad the beer actually is.

In the last few years, small brewers have filled the vacuum left by macrobrewers, specifically marketing higher-priced products based on premium quality and taste. It’s been a wildly successful endeavor. 2011’s sales results tell that story: In a year that saw an overall decline in the beer market, the craft brewing industry increased its year-to-year sales by 15 percent and substantially grew its share of the total market.

The headline overall is kind of silly, but the article has some encouraging news! There is something to be said for quality, even at a higher price point, and even in the face of strong marketing.

I also feel there is an interesting point to make about overall cost when you consider volume of consumption. A 6 pack of Coors Light is anywhere between $4-7 at most stores. The average person would have to drink about 3 or 4 12oz cans of Coors Light, at 4% ABV, to even start to feel a buzz. In contrast, you can buy a 22oz bottle of Stone Double Bastard, a flavorful and strong beer at 10.5% ABV, for about $6-7 in most stores in California. My decision is obvious, if I'm staring down the two in a store and they cost about the same. I do get less of the Stone for the same price, but I don't need any more than I'm buying for that price. I'd have to drink most of the 6 pack to get the same buzz as I would get drinking the Stone, effectively drinking nearly the same amount of dollars in one sitting. And I'd enjoy it much, much less.

Beer blog problem - fixed!

Well, in a way. The way I "fixed" it was just to port everything over here, to blogger.

So if you're actually interested in reading my beer musings (including the incredibly hilarious aspect of me trying to pick apart scents and flavors,) feel free to head on over and comment too, if you wish!

http://alwaysanswerbeer.blogspot.com/

Eagle Rock Brewery - Women's Beer Forum

One of my local beer spots, Eagle Rock Brewery, has started holding "Women's Beer Forums" every third Wednesday of each month. For $10, you can show up and try a tasting flight of four different beers that so far have been themed for the evening.

The first theme in March was affectionately called "Fru Fru" and highlighted fruit beers -- the idea was partly a play on how women seem to be directed and/or gravitate toward fruity drinks, but none of these beers were sickly sweet. The first was Ephemere Apple, a white ale brewed with apple as an adjunct (apple was actually added separately to the brewing process, as compared with notes that are present simply because the particular strain of yeast adds that flavor to the beer.) As someone with a soft spot for white ales, I enjoyed this beer and thought it was a nice way to open the flight. The second beer was Eagle Rock's own Limbo, a summer saison brewed with citrahops and Brettanomyces. This beer was freaking delicious. The citrahops gave essences of tropical fruits, and the Brettanomyces contributed a piney, earthy funk (in a good way) that gave a dry twist to the finish of the beer. The third of the flight was an old favorite of mine, Dogfish Head Aprihop, an apricot IPA. As I'd found apricot ales to be among the first beers I remember enjoying, I am especially fond of the apricot addition to my perennial favorite beer style, the IPA. Lastly, we tried Maui Brewing Company's Coconut Porter. As this was available to go, I bought two cans (yes! it comes in cans!) The coconut is delightfully subtle, but what really drew me to this beer was that it woke my nostalgia up in a major way by reminding me of Double Rainbow Ultra Chocolate Ice Cream , which to this day is the best chocolate ice cream I've ever had. And I'm not really a big ice cream person, but if someone handed me a bowl of this I would eat it happily.

Last week, I attended April's Forum which was themed "Spring Flowers" -- we would be sampling beers with floral notes. The first was Jolly Pumpkin Artisanal Ales' Saison IO, which was brewed with rose hips and rose petals as adjuncts. As I'm increasingly finding myself a bigger and bigger fan of the saison style, I really enjoyed their rose-infused take. Secondly we tried  Williams Brothers Fraoch Heather Ale. It was a very light, mild beer that was (unfortunately) a bit skunky by the time it got to us on its journey over from Scotland. It didn't make  much of an impression compared to the rest of the beers we tried. The third beer was Elysian Brewery's Avatar Jasmine IPA, which was AWESOME. The hops were woodsy and citrusy, but the real star was the jasmine, which was reminiscent of drinking jasmine tea, but in a beer. None of the flavors overpowered each other, and the synergistic product was a truly beautiful beer. The last beer of the evening was Craftsman Brewery's Sour Lavender Ale. Craftsman is located in Pasadena, so we're lucky around here to have access to their beer, as they don't bottle their products. The Sour Lavender ale is a special seasonal beer that I rather liked, for a sour, which is a style I usually don't favor. I liked the lavender element, and I also didn't find it very biting or bitter for a sour, which was nice.

I like the idea of the women's beer forums because it gives women an easy opportunity to learn a bit more about beer vocabulary and try different styles. For some reason, despite the origins of beer being attributed to women, beer has become something of a men's domain in popular culture. It's not as profound in the beer geek / craft brewing world, but there is still something of a disparity in numbers between male and female aficionados, not to mention craft/micro brewery ownership -- again, surprising, since there is at least some evidence to demonstrate that women are at least as good, if not better, than men at detecting certain taste elements in beer.The bottom line is that there is definitely room for women in the beer world, and given the popularity of the two beer forums so far, as well as the alleged eagerness of the participating breweries to provide their brews just for the event (this was the case at least with Craftsman and Elysian, and particularly in the case of the latter, which is based in Washington and doesn't ordinarily ship beers here at all) it seems that the beer world is ready and eager to accept more women into the sausage fest.

It's a nice opportunity for women to first learn the tools to be beer geeks in an accommodating environment, as there is ample research that demonstrates any number of psychological burdens women often experience when trying to participate in male-dominated environments (Impostor syndrome being a particularly common and damaging one.) It's therefore perfect for a woman who is just becoming interested in beer, but might feel intimidated walking into an established "beer bar" and trying to establish some kind of repartee with bartenders and bar owners about which beer she might want to try while having limited experience in the matter. I know I felt that way -- I'd tried beers I know I liked, but other than "It was golden, and Stone made it" I felt very lost at the beginning of my beer journey. I still feel like there are some styles I'm pretty established in, but others I don't have a taste for at all. Slip me into a conversation about the minutiae of which glassware is most appropriate for certain styles, or about the brewing process itself? I'm not really up on all that - yet. I've already learned a lot about brewing from the Forums, for instance the tidbits about adjuncts vs. yeast and hop flavor contributions. I now feel like I can hold my own with a lot of dudes, the majority of whom -- surprise! -- don't actually know jack about beer at all, but are just loud enough to seem like a commanding presence in these types of conversations.

Given all of that text and whole-hearted recommending of the ERB forum, I thought I'd end on a song of the day that I've been playing a lot lately. I love her voice and the particular eccentricity of this song really does it for me right now.

My kind of day.

Saturday, April 9, 2011 was a lovely day filled with beer and bacon.

There were two separate beer events going on: the Drink|Eat|Play LA Beer Festival, and the ColLAboration mobile craft beer garden celebrating Tony's Dart's Away 1-year anniversary. Having attended the LA Beer Festival and other events like it for about 2 years now, I was intrigued by the ColLAboration event, which promised keepsake glasses, full pint pours, and my favorite local beer darlings Eagle Rock Brewery. I was not disappointed in my choice, which ended up offering a wider variety and more hard-to-find beers than I've been privy to try in the past at the LABF and Septemberfest. Though my four tokens were used on some easier-to-acquire beers that I haven't had yet, the communal tables at the (not too crowded, thank god) event made it easy to make friends and try more beers.

I started with Eagle Rock's Populist, their IPA. I've had it before, but it has been awhile since they often run out of it at the brewery and I haven't been able to have it in awhile.

I kept forgetting to take the picture before I started drinking -- you'll see this is a theme as the post wears on.

I next tried the Lokal Red from The Bruery, which I quite enjoyed. It had a nice floral element and some great hoppiness, which I always appreciate. I plan on trying to find this in the store to purchase, as apparently it is one of their standard brews.

Next I tried the Steelhead Extra Stout from Mad River. I didn't get a picture of it at all (fail) but it was a nice, thick, full-bodied stout. Good drinkability, but not one I think I'd buy again. My last beer of the day was Eagle Rock's 2011 Yearling, a sour ale. I don't usually go for sours, and this was a STRONG sour, so I can't say this was one of my favorite beers. Still, I am glad I got the opportunity to try it, as it is one of their "vintage" seasonals at this point and not generally available at the tap room.

As you can see, we had a rousing game of Apples to Apples happening in the background, which I won, obviously.

Did I mention all of this started at noon? So at about 4:30, I made it back home and took a power nap. Day drinking is a trip. This wonky day schedule eventually led me to Denny's at about 12:30am for BACONALIA.

Thanks to Noche for this photo.

Their bacon menu is absolutely ridiculous, as one might expect. I ended up going with the Triple Bacon Sampler, an arterial nuke complete with two strips of pepper bacon, two strips of hickory smoked bacon, two strips of turkey bacon (cheating), two eggs, and hashbrowns with cheddar and -- you guessed it -- more bacon.

It was obviously delicious.

Blog notes! Or, rather, notes about other blogs.

**UPDATE: I can see that the privacy settings on the BfC page are a bit wonky. As far as I can tell, everyone should be able to see my profile and blog, but instead outside visitors to the site are being directed to a login page. I've submitted a bug report to the site, so hopefully it gets resolved. But if not, maybe if you're a beer lover, consider joining Beer for Chicks (even if you're not a chick!) since you presumably care enough about beer to want to read those blog posts in the first place ;)

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You may have noticed that I'm writing a bit more about beer-related events I've been attending. You may have deduced that this is because I'm really getting waist-deep into my beer education! As part of this, I've decided to open up a separate pseudo-blog off of the Beer for Chicks site, which is itself an offshoot of The Beer Chicks, a beer blog run by two LA-based lady beer sommeliers who got their start at Father's Office.

My intention is that for every beer I try, I'm going to try to write more in-depth specific detail about it in a blog post over at my BfC profile. I will probably continue to do write-ups of beer events over here, since they're more comprehensive and what-I'm-doing-with-my-life related, which befits a personal blog. The other blog will be just about the beer. If you're interested in that at all, please feel free to check it out!

** My beer blog! **

I'm blogging, so it must be test season!

And it is! I will not have a midterm get in the way of my insatiable desire to procrastinate. For the time being, this means another beer post (or two) since that's kind of what my extra-curriculars have involved lately (who says college ever has to end?)

So you may remember Verdugo Bar from my last post. Much like the Russian River night they hosted in February, last week they hosted a Ballast Point night.

Ballast Point, a brewery in the San Diego area, is particularly well known for their medal-winning IPA, Sculpin. I personally had been blinded by my devotion to Sculpin and was really not familiar with any of their other brews, so this was a nice opportunity to try some of their other beers and even talk to one of the head brewers (a bunch of the BP guys were actually all chilling at the bar that night, so it was nice to see some representation and talk to them about the beer.) First up I tried the Habañero Sculpin.

  

It tasted quite like how you'd expect! Which is to say, like Sculpin, but spicy. Original Sculpin has a fantastic blend of tropical and citrus fruit taste with very palatable hops on the finish. The spice in this version came in after the initial hit of fruit and stayed on through the finish. I wouldn't say it wiped out the hops (such things are difficult to do in IPAs) but it definitely provided a strong counterpoint to what is traditionally a dominant taste in this style of beer. I don't know how often they brew this, but I'd recommend trying it if you see it. It's not going on a favorites list, but it's definitely worth the novelty of trying.

Next up was the 2011 Sea Monster, an Imperial Stout.

They also offered a barrel-aged version of this on tap that night, which Casper opted to try. I'm still developing a taste for barrel-aged beers since the scotch and bourbon notes that are often present in these are overpowering for me, at the moment. So I went with the regular 2011 Sea Monster, which I found light in flavor for a stout. It's possible that my taste buds were a little warped by the punch of the Habañero Sculpin, so I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt, but that night I found it unremarkable.

Finally, after gulping down a burger from the Grill 'Em All truck (seriously, try this one if you get a chance) I finally went for the Abandon Ship Smoked Lager.

The picture is a little wonky - apologies. It was a full pint. Anyway, I don't usually go for lager styles. They're a little light for me, generally, and I am not sure if my palate is really refined enough to pick up on the subtleties of the style. I mean, generally I tend to go for really brash, overconfident beers, so particularly lagers/pilsners tend to get lost in the fold if they're not packing some kind of punch. Enter the smoked lager, which I thought would be an interesting adaptation. Suffice it to say I did like the smoke element, though as I am sitting here recapping I'm having a hard time putting my finger on some of the other flavor essences in the beer. I definitely remember liking it, but obviously as I suspected the subtleties were lost on me besides the smokiness.

Here is a picture of the full list of beers and burgers that were offered that night. I was in heaven, guys.

Anyway, I'm really growing to love this bar and Eagle Rock Brewery, which I am going to post on next time I feel like hammering out a post.
Also, as an aside - right at the end I got to try Nitro-Sculpin, which was awesome. I love beers on nitro - it gives them an interesting creaminess in the texture that can be a quite appealing addendum to the taste of the beer. Generally I've had darker beers on nitro, but I found it also added a worthwhile element to the Sculpin that puts it in the "definitely get this" realm if you ever see it available on tap.

Pliny the Delicious

Behold Pliny the Younger.

 Last Wednesday, February 16, was a day of celebration for some 50-65 (I'm not sure of the exact number) LA Eastside beer lovers.

There is a brewery up in Santa Rosa called Russian River - they produce several beers year round that are all considered very good. One of them is BeerAdvocate's #2 beer in the world, Pliny the Elder. I have several bottles of this and have tried it on tap, and it truly is great. I'm an IPA person, so I'm sometimes asked to describe my favorites, and sometimes even further asked to describe what's different about them. I think what sets PtE apart is that it's a double IPA that has the smoothness and drinkability of top "single" IPAs like Ballast Point Sculpin. In comparison to Stone's Ruination, another double IPA that I quite like, it seems much more well balanced, not like the flavors are overcompensating for the added hoppiness.

That background all serves the purpose of setting up THE EVENT. Which is that every year, in February, Russian River releases the limited batch of Pliny the Younger, which is a "triple" IPA and falls at #3 on BeerAdvocate's list of top beers. It's difficult enough to get at the brewery and in NorCal, since hopheads clamor for it and make pilgrimages to Santa Rosa to try and get it. It's even worse to try and get it elsewhere. In SoCal, Russian River sends one keg each to several respected beer bars including Father's Office, The Surly Goat, Verdugo Bar, and Blue Palms. Some of these bars tap the keg quietly (Father's Office, Blue Palms) and others put the information on Facebook etc about when they're going to open the keg. The Surly Goat tapped it Tuesday the 15th after (apparently) running radio ads, and was greeted with a line around the block at opening.

I went to Verdugo and got in line at around 5:30 PM for a 6PM opening. I'll cut the drama of waiting in line short and merely mention that there was a scare, but that Casper and I were able to get our hands on the magic tickets that were good for a pour of the good stuff:

sorry the picture is horrible.

We decided immediately that an obviously good choice was to get both the Younger and the Elder versions and do a taste test.

Younger is on the left; Elder on the right

What struck me immediately about Pliny the Younger is that it was delicious. What struck me second about Pliny the Younger was how very similar it was in character and balance to Pliny the Elder, despite being 30% stronger in alcohol and dry-hopped twice as many times. The increased hopping should theoretically increase the bitterness, but actually Pliny the Younger is a slightly sweeter beer.

It's really a shame that this is such a limited release (though I suppose we ought to be lucky that we can get ahold of it at all, compared to the #1 beer on BeerAdvocate's list.) It's insanely drinkable with an 11% ABV that you won't even notice until you stand up (whoops!) Fortunately I live within walking distance to Verdugo Bar! This is the kind of beer that will make you a beer-liever.

Septemberfest and other indiscretions

On Saturday I attended the madness that was Septemberfest, a little beer fiesta on the Paramount lot in Hollywood. It was an interesting sight to see, beer-bellied folk sipping tasty brews pinkys-up out of tiny beer mugs. When we first roll up to the entrance, a tiny unassuming door guarded by just one security person, we're kind of wondering if we're at the right place. [Roxy's] Christopher, from the passenger's seat, rolls down the window as we're doing our snail's-pace driveby, and inquires: "Beerfest?"

A simple nod from the security guard, with arms still crossed, and the affirmative "Beerfest." We were in the right place.

The inside was a bit overwhelming. Not as crowded as I expected with people, but I just didn't know where to begin with all of the breweries, not to mention that most breweries were offering more than one selection of beer. I haven't been through enough beer-sampling training to know how to actually pack away large volumes of it (or any other liquid for that matter, my stomach gets cranky and my bladder full rather easily) so I was frequently taking breaks from pounding - both to rest my stomach and, well, the toilet. The bathroom situation at Septemberfest was woefully inadequate: 2 bathrooms, but only one inside the actual perimeter, and the one inside the perimeter had TWO STALLS. Are you people kidding me? Supplying drunkards with copious amounts of beer and only two stalls per gendered bathroom to deal with the aftermath.

And then, the amazing happened.



That, my friends, is Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale. All I can say is, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL OF MY LIFE YOU SCRUMPTIOUS AND ALSO HUMOROUS BEER. I am still overjoyed. And probably will be as long as I keep up hope that I'll be able to find it in stores. Ok, so it really wasn't the *Best* beer there, but I found it to be quite delightful, and with a name like that I just can't resist. Also, it's brewed by the Black Sheep Brewery in the UK, which those of you in GPhi will understand also has special significance to me.

♫♫

Everyone loves beer!

Including my new classmates!

It's nice to know that I'll have a group of friends in grad school who willingly push the start of the pool party back a few hours when class releases early, and who recognize that said earlier start time will mean that beer drinking shall commence in the AM.

And I thought I would never be faced with a 24 pack of Natty Light again!

How wonderful life is to drink during the day, suck down some H2O, take a nap in the hot hot shade, and drive home before 4PM.

Punk Says the Darndest Things:
"Are the nerves in my feet and my stomach connected? Because a lot of the time when my stomach hurts, my feet do too."

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