A pint of bitter please...

In 1983 I was a young intern at the eminently restrained Lloyd's Broker "Hogg, Robinson, Gardner & Mountain Ltd. " lodged on Crutched Friars, London England. The title of this article hearkens back to those salad days... London was hot that year, I recall the envious looks of my co-workers as they marvelled at my lightweight, American made, worsted wool suits. Their eminently respectable British wool was thick and heavy, more like my Citadel Dress Grays than the international uniform of reinsurance and commerce. On the way to the 'tube' or on a Saturday after touring the city, a pint of bitter was just the ticket to wet your whistle and sharpen ones appetite.

The "bitters" in London are served "cooled to cellar temp" not warm, nor icy cold, just cooled. They were "pulled" by hand pump from a cask in the cellar into a delightful and easy grip pint "jar" or a dimpled mug --and were not at all bitter. They were gently carbonated, deliciously malty with a floral hop nose. What they weren't is "bitter." Not sure at all where the name comes from but the style of beer that is the English Bitter is an easy drinking beer that does not overwhelm the palate and does not bloat you with carbonation.

Eric Azimov wrote a great column for today's New York Times (Wed 5/28/08) that goes into more detail and includes tasting notes. Rather than replicate that here I point you in that direction for further and more detailed info on the style and tasting notes.

As we transition from a wet cool spring to a warm summer on the bay shore many of you will reach for a Corona or another pale, fizzy, lager beer. Sometimes with a piece of citrus perched on it other times without. I say "hold the lager mate and give me a pint of bitter. " Great beers are just a short jaunt away...

Our local Vingo here in Atlantic Highlands has a few bitters on hand even as I type this. Consider sampling Fuller's London Pride or Fullers ESB from England or Brooklyn's Pennant Ale from Brooklyn Brewing. while touring the British Isles, also at Vingo are Theakston Brewing's "Old Peculier" (not a typo) a delightful Yorkshire Ale that has profile similar to a true "bitter" and further north to the land of the Kilt and the Claymore are Belhaven's Scotch Ale and Long Trail's Hibernator, nothing like a bitter but a a nice, gently warming, malty, smoky, study in contrasts from the "bitters" of the South.

Real Men drink from a Glass

It never ceases to amaze me that there are folks out there that believe that drinking beer from a glass is elitist and something for the weak willed. Alas, nothing could be further from the truth.
Now listen up all you working stiffs, I'll put this in very simple terms. You work hard all day, and the fruit of your labors is something you take pride in, be it an automobile, a widget, a well tallied spreadsheet, a nicely drafted contract-- or whatever . You want the end-user to appreciate your craft and treat it with dignity and respect the amount of work that you put into it. So too with brewers, they take pride in their product and want you to enjoy it at its best. They want it served fresh, at an appropriate temperature and from a clean glass so that you can marvel at the color and carbonation, allow the brew to form a proper head, smell the roasted malt and hop notes and taste it and enjoy as they intend you to. Just as you hate to see your hard work discarded, unused and unappreciated, watching someone slug down a well crafted beer straight from the can or bottle is an insult to the hard working men and women that made that marvel of nature that you are enjoying possible. Show some respect for the folks that labored hard for you -- be they union, non-union and/or self-employed. Show them you appreciate what they do and next time you're out ask your server for a glass. You will find you enjoy your beer more and you will be sending your brewer a message - the right message - I appreciate what you do.

Small Beer and Small Town Politics.

Both are not for the unitiated. Small beer is a brew that is generally low in alcohol and fermented from the second mashing of batch of grain. The only domestic brewer that still offers small beer (that I know of that is) is Anchor Brewing of San Francisco. They brew a Barleywine called "Old Foghorn" and then ferment the mash a second time to make their "Small Beer". I found it an acquired taste. Likewise with small town politics. As most of the locals know my wife and I try to give something back. We participate in many local activities. My wife serves on the School Board, I serve on the Planning Board and we both volunteer our time and/or treasure to many local organizations. We also encourage our kids to do likewise. In a small town this gets you two things. Appreciation from the folks that appreciate what you do and scorn from folks that think you should "shaddup and moind your own ... &*$%^ newcomers" You learn to live with this though it seldom makes you happy...

Small beer anyone?

Pairing Food and Food.

Here is a link to an interview with a master of the art of pairing food with great beer, Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at the Brooklyn Brewery. Nuff said.

http://dcist.com/2008/05/13/chewing_the_fat_2.php

Extreme Beer and the Craft Beer Renaissance

My friend Gene and I occasionally walk up to New Beer Distributors here in Manhattan to grab a bottle or two of something especially tasty that we have tried previously and sometimes we each grab something that appears unusual or intriguing. In today’s craft brewing renaissance this usually translates into what is sometimes referred to as an “extreme beer.” Just what is an extreme beer? Well that depends on who you ask. Some say it refers to highly hopped or high alcohol brews. Others say it refers to a departure from accepted styles such as adding fruit or spices to a traditional beer such as a Pomegranate Wheat Beer or a Chipotle Smoked Porter. Whatever definition suits you I think we can agree that some of these brews are exciting and others… well just plain wrong.

Gene is prone to saying that to him it seems that craft brewers are brewing some of these extreme beers for no other reason than “because they can.” I am inclined to agree with him. Nonetheless, beer is food and I have come around to thinking of it as an ingredient in cooking as well as a beverage. I can see the merits of adding a robust brew to flavor soups and stews. Sometimes a particular beer may add another layer of flavor to a pot of chile for example. The aforementioned chipotle smoked porter would be a prime candidate for this type of endeavor.

Other extreme beers make complex “sippers” that can take the bite out a chilly spring evening here on the Bay Shore. I have been enjoying a canned Imperial Stout with the improbable name of “Ten Fidy” as my evening warmer. Yes, I said canned as in aluminum cans. Brewed by Oskar Blues of Lyons Colorado and weighing in at an impressive 10% alcohol by volume, Ten Fidy is smooth and roasty like a stout should be without the cloying sweetness that pervades many other imperial stouts. At $10.50 for four 12 ounce cans it is a bit pricier than a traditional stout but well worth the additional expense.

While on the topic of extreme beer we cannot neglect the current trend/concept of “barrel aging.” Dogfish Head has its oak aged “Burton Baton”, There is Bourbon Barrel Stout from Goose Island and “Oaked Arrogant Bastard” from Stone Brewing. But these all pale with the apparent audacity of the folks at Iron Hill. Here is an excerpt from their latest press release:

“WILMINGTON, DE – Your Dad doesn’t have to love Johnny Cash to embrace Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant’s spicy Father’s Day treat: on Sunday, June 15, they will premier “Ring of Fire Porter,” an assertive brew sure to light Dad’s fire.
Crafted from Iron Hill’s own Pig Iron Porter, then aged and finished in a TABASCO® pepper mash oak barrel, this is a libation that will please beer and barbecue lovers alike. Better still, it arrives just in time for grilling season. Ring of Fire will be available in 375 ml bottles for $9 at all Iron Hill locations for dine-in and carry-out.
As the beer ages inside the oak Tabasco barrels, the heat and the pepper character mix with the roastiness and subtle chocolate notes of the porter, making this a steak-friendly beer with 5% alcohol that’s sure to be a summertime favorite for its sweet, smoky character and flavorful punch…”

I do not want to think about where the name “Ring of Fire” originates, though perhaps the morning after a few of these you may have a revelation … nevertheless I might try this as a marinade or a base for a homemade sauce or in a pot of chile.

Well whatever your preferences these days there is an extreme beer for you. And while Garrett Oliver may not be thrilled with this moniker I think the term “Extreme beer” is firmly entrenched in the brewing lexicon.

Another Reason to Like Sam Adam's...

I read about this in several places on the web including a blog calle "Fabrichorse" where I nicked the above photo...

Apart from their Double Bock and Scotch Ale what is so good about Jim Koch and Samuel Adam's? Lot's apparently. For quite some time now people have brewed beer using barley, yeast, water and hops. These ingredients were happily plentiful and many made merry with modestly priced beer. Then, sports fans the hop regions suffered a drought and the hop vines that did not dry up and die outright fell victim to disease. The harvest was small. The brewers took comfort and solace in the old saw, "Well, one year won't kill us." With so many hops in the bank (warehouses), they might get a little more expensive.... " Did I say warehouse ... you all recall reading about a tragic fire in a major hops warehouse?? It even made it to the local papers. That fire consumed much of the nation's strategic hop reserve. Hops, that noble vine and key ingrdient in American craft beer-making (think IPA, Double IPA, Imperial IPA yada yada) became scarce. A scramble to find Hops was on, at least among the America's craft brewers. Distributors began to raise their prices, from $3 a pound to upwards of $30 a pound, and brewers began to worry. Just as a signficant diversity in American beer was settling in, marking a new "Golden Age of Brewing" on this side of the ocean, the microbrew industry faced an uncertain hopless future ... spruce tips anyone??? Ouch!!!

Most of the market's remaining hops were already contracted to huge breweries who could afford to finance a producer's entire hop crop. Craft brewries were calling their suppliers to no avail... Add to this the cost of Barley going up as more acres switched over to corn for ethanol and the future looked bleak indeed.

As this story sounds like something from the "Perils of Pauline" we need a white knight. And so it we have one in the unlikely form of Jim Koch and his Boston Brewing Company ("BBC") BBC has become part of the major leagues, if they brew craft brewed beers its clearly on a macro brew scale. They are a major national brewery whose beers are almost everywhere, but they still cling to the spirit of craft brewing. They brew some edgy beers such as their"Imperial Pilsner" and "Utopias". Every year in advance of the Great American Beer festival, they sponsor a homebrew competition and produce a mix-six of the top three brews (called "Longshot"). These practices keep them on the craft side of the Macro vs. Micro American Beer divide. When Koch heard about the impact of the hop shortage on small brewers, he set aside 20,000 pounds of BBC's own hops for small brewers to purchase at cost their cost which was-- far below market prices (apparently $6 a pound). Apparently a brewery could request up to 528 pounds each and brewers were asked to apply only if they really needed hops and not because they'd merely save money. Nearly 350 microbreweries applied for them, which is nearly a quarter of American brewers and the the lot of them were raffled off in a lottery. Way to go Mr. Koch.

In the meantime, beerlovers are hoping the next two harvests will be than the last. Hats off to BBC and their fine example. This is also fairly shrewd on BBC's part. Keeping the craft beer movement vibrant will only serve to strengthen BBC's standing with todays discriminating beer drinkers.

The Price of Beer

Here is a great article from Jim Zebora that tries to explain the dramatically increasing price of beer. From the hop Shortage to the petroleum crunch its all there... A perfect storm of economics that does not bode well for craft brewing.


If barley is the heart of beer, hops are its soul. They contribute flavor, aroma, bitterness, body and so much more to a brew.
But these days they also contribute to beer's increased cost.
It may not be the worst of the world's crises, but the rising price of hops, delicate flowers that grow on a tall vine, certainly adds to the pain in the wallet caused by $4 gas and $5 milk.
Try finding a quality craft brew on a package store shelf for less than $8.99; it's almost impossible. Even budget beers that were selling for $12 per 30-pack a few months ago are three or four bucks higher today, though not all of that increase can be blamed on hop prices.
The reasons for hop inflation are myriad, but all pretty much within the bounds of an Economics 101 class. After several years of oversupply, when growers often had to sell their hop crop below cost, the opposite is now true.
Hops have had a couple of lousy years in the field, with crop yields well below normal. In addition, many hop farmers curtailed production rather than sell below cost and did not ramp up their growing as prices increased.
In some cases, they devoted their fields to more profitable crops and have not gone back to the Fuggles, Cascades, Saaz, Goldings and Northern Brewer varieties that make beer so fine to drink.
The result is that hop prices have at least doubled, and at the extreme hops can cost five or six times what they did a few years ago.
Big commercial brewers have been somewhat
insulated from the rise in hop prices. Companies such as Anheuser-Busch Inc. get a big percentage of the hops they use from their own farms in the Pacific Northwest and so are not competing on the open market for limited hop supplies.
The big brewers also tend to use fewer hops per barrel than smaller brewers, for recipe and scientific reasons, so their cost per barrel is less affected by hop prices. Budweiser hasn't seen the same percentage price increase at retail as have microbrews, for example.
The real casualties are microbrewers specializing in very hoppy beers - those with names such as Hop Devil, Hop Trip, Big Hop Harvest Ale, Hop Heaven, etc. - who can use three or four times the amount of hops per barrel as the big kids.
This is partly because they are seeking to give their customers the hoppiest experience they can, and partly because hop utilization - a measure of the alpha acids and other components they release into the brew as it is boiled - increases with the size of the batch.
Large breweries make beer in vats roughly the size of small oil tankers, but I've seen one very tiny micro whose brewing vat was barely bigger than a turkey fryer.
As a homebrewer, I quickly learned that hops varied in price depending on the variety, the preparation and the packaging. Noble hops such as Kent Goldings (used in pale ales) and Saaz (used in pilsners) could cost twice as much as varieties with more bitterness but less aroma and flavor.
The hop flowers are sometimes used in original form, but processing them into pellets gives greater yield, and also makes them easier to ship and store.
Back in the years of plenty, I could sometimes buy a pound of bittering hops for $8, and noble hops could be as low as $1 per ounce. Today, homebrewers are seeing three- and fourfold price increases in this essential ingredient.
Of course, hops aren't the only reason that beer is costing more. Cereal grain prices are also rising due to the diversion of much corn production to ethanol, and energy prices for brewing, conditioning and delivery are also boosting the bill.
Like oil, gasoline, bread and so many other staples of modern life, beer is simply getting more expensive. And we beer lovers just have to suck it up while we're guzzling it down.
*
Jim Zebora, managing editor of Greenwich Time, is a dedicated homebrewer and a contributor to Zymurgy, the magazine of the American Homebrewers Association. His column appears once a month. His e-mail address is jim.zebora@scni.com.

Beer in a Box

This is something really cool...

Beer in a box by John Holl/Star-Ledger Staff
In a novel approach to the way freshly brewed beer can be carried home, a Hunterdon County brewery has decided to go the route long used by wine and more recently by coffee and soda purveyors. The Ship Inn Brew Pub in Milford now gives its customers the chance to buy its beer in a box.
“There really isn’t much of a learning curve,” said Tim Hall, the brewer. “There aren’t a lot of people doing this.”
Since it opened in 1995, patrons to the brewery have been able to take the brewed-on-premises beer home in half gallon jugs called growlers, that can be refilled multiple times, but Hall said a lot of the decision to switch to a cube was economical and environmental.
The boxes are inexpensive and biodegradable and are a favorable alternative to glass bottles. Hall, who has spent a lot of time abroad as both a student and tourist said that he was unaware of the stigma that boxed adult beverages have in the states.
“In Europe, it’s really good,” said Hall standing behind the dark wood bar on a chilly morning. “At first, I was getting strange looks from customers.”
Sideways glances did not last long however. The Ship Inn began to test the five and 10 quart boxes in the fall of 2006 and by last summer had made them a staple of the pub. The idea has caught on and they are now selling about an extra 100 gallons of beer each week.
A brew pub is defined as a restaurant that brews small batches of beer on premises. State law prohibits the pubs from selling their suds through distributors. A micro brewery is traditionally defined as one that produces up to 15,000 barrels per year. A barrel holds roughly 31 gallons.
Currently the Ship Inn has three of their homemade beers on tap. There is an English Bitter Style Ale, a cask conditioned -unfiltered and low carbonation beer served from a hand pump - ale and Golden Wheat beer that Hall calls more of a “lawn mower” beer, designed for people who still might be leery of craft brews.
Of the nearly two dozen brew pubs and micro breweries in the Garden State, the Ship Inn is the only one currently pouring into boxes, according to the state brewer’s guild.
Hall said he researched the idea for a few years and had to reconfigure the pub’s taps to accommodate the new system. In the spirit of fresh beer, they are only filled when ordered.
“You won’t find them sitting on a shelf or cooler,” he said.
There are a handful of brew pubs across the country that are also boxing their beer, including Rubicon Brewing in Sacramento, CA which has been offering gallon boxes for the last few years.
But in large, the idea of boxing beer is a new thing.
Julia Herz, a spokeswoman for the Brewers Association, a nonprofit group devoted to professional brewers, said that while “alternative packaging” has become a trend in craft brewing, she and others at the association had not heard of the cardboard contraptions.
“From a cost perspective it’s probably a helpful decision,” she said in a telephone interview from Colorado.
She noted that many craft brewers are also returning to the idea of cans - a container that can also carry a negative image - saying that in 2007 at least 25,000 barrels of suds wound up in aluminum cylinders. Micro brewers who are using cans said it is cheaper than bottles, it better helps retain flavor and helps their product stand out on shelves that are becoming more and more crowded with craft beers.
Dan Soboti Jr., who brews at the Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant in South Orange said that they would likely stick with glass growlers for the foreseeable future.
“We talked about it, but we decided that it wasn’t going to work for us,” he said.
Hall said that he sells between 30 and 40 boxes and growlers per week and once a cube is filled, the beer stays carbonated for 2-3 weeks. The five quart box sells for $18 and the 10 quart for $28. Each comes with a reusable plastic tap that can be screwed onto the spigot and reused by return visitors. The box itself isn’t built for more than one use, though the brewer said it’s possible to get a second round out of it. When the box is emptied, drinkers can break it down and toss it in with the recycling.
Customers to the Ship Inn, like Richard Kroth of Milford, like the box because they last longer than growlers. And with a young child at home, he’s not able to get to the pub as often as he’d like.
“It’s just really easy,” he said.
Looking forward, Hall says he hopes to add some new beers to the rotation that are “full of flavor but have a low alcohol content.”
In doing so, he hopes to bring new drinkers to the craft brew bar, and see them leave with a box tucked under their arm
Link to article.

Magic Hat and Pyramid to Merge

Well, a sign of the times. Brewpub becomes micro, micro becomes regional, becomes macro, becomes mainstream.

SEATTLE & SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (April 2008) - Pyramid Breweries Inc. (NASDAQ: PMID) ("Pyramid") and Magic Hat Brewing Company & Performing Arts Center, Inc. ("Magic Hat") today announced the execution of a Letter of Intent ("Letter of Intent"), which contemplates a transaction by which Magic Hat will acquire Pyramid, through an agreed all-cash tender offer and subsequent merger, at $2.75 per share of Pyramid common stock on a fully-diluted basis.The proposed transaction is subject to the negotiation and execution of a definitive merger agreement. The merger agreement will provide for a first-step tender offer for outstanding Pyramid shares by an acquisition entity wholly owned by Magic Hat, to be conditioned upon the acquisition of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares of Pyramid. The tender offer, if consummated, will be followed by a merger of Magic Hat's acquisition entity with and into Pyramid. The proposed transaction is also subject to the satisfactory completion of a due diligence review by Magic Hat of the business, financial and legal affairs of Pyramid, and receipt of necessary consents and approvals of regulatory agencies and third parties.The Letter of Intent provides for the payment of a break-up fee payable by Pyramid to Magic Hat in specified circumstances, and also for the payment of Magic Hat's reasonable expenses in specified circumstances, each involving the failure to consummate the proposed transaction.Certain shareholders of Pyramid holding approximately 29% of the outstanding Pyramid common stock have, concurrently with Pyramid's execution of the Letter of Intent, entered into a Tender and Support Agreement (the "Tender Agreement") with Magic Hat, pursuant to which they have agreed to tender the shares owned by them in the Magic Hat tender offer and have granted Magic Hat an irrevocable proxy with respect to such shares. The portion of the shares subject to the Tender Agreement in excess of 19.9% of the outstanding shares of Pyramid common stock may be released from the provisions of the Tender Agreement in specified circumstances in connection with the receipt by Pyramid of unsolicited superior offers as defined in the Tender Agreement.The closing of the proposed transaction, subject to the conditions referred to above, is anticipated to occur not later than August 31, 2008.The board of directors of Pyramid has approved the transactions contemplated by the Letter of Intent."The combination of these two well established, high profile craft breweries will be very complementary given our respective brand portfolios and the geographies in which we predominantly operate. Additionally, there will be a number of important benefits for Pyramid to be part of a private company versus continuing to operate as a stand alone public entity. This consolidation makes both good strategic and financial sense and is well timed, particularly as the beer industry's competitive dynamics continue to intensify," said Pyramid CEO Scott Barnum. "The Company will continue to have offices in Seattle, its historical home, and will seek opportunities to capitalize on the enhanced assets and capabilities of the new combined entity," he added.Martin Kelly, CEO of Magic Hat said, "We have a great deal of respect for Pyramid's brand heritage, award-winning beers and its dedicated employees, and look forward to consummating this transaction, which provides both strategic and financial benefits both to Pyramid's and Magic Hat's stakeholders."Important NoticeThe tender offer for the outstanding common stock of Pyramid contemplated by the Letter of Intent has not commenced, and will only commence pursuant to the terms of a definitive merger agreement, as described above. This document is neither an offer to purchase nor solicitation of an offer to sell securities. At the time the tender offer is commenced an affiliate of Magic Hat Brewing Company & Performing Arts Center, Inc. will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). The tender offer statement (including an offer to purchase, a related letter of transmittal and other offer documents) and the solicitation/recommendation statement will contain important information that should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the tender offer. Those materials will be made available to Pyramid's shareholders at no expense to them. In addition, all of those materials (and all other offer documents filed with the SEC) will be available at no charge on the SEC's web site: www.sec.gov.About Pyramid Breweries Inc.Pyramid Breweries Inc. is a leading brewer of specialty, full-flavored beers produced mainly under the Pyramid and MacTarnahan's brand names. Pyramid's family of unfiltered wheat beers continue to be honored by beer drinkers and judges, earning the most craft beer medals in the last decade at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival ("GABF"). Pyramid has received a total of 34 medals at the GABF. The brewery has also received a total of eleven medals in international competition at the World Beer Cup.Pyramid owns two alehouse restaurants adjacent to its full production breweries under the Pyramid Alehouse and MacTarnahan's Taproom brand names in Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon, respectively, and three alehouse restaurants in Walnut Creek and Sacramento, California and Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit www.PyramidBrew.com.About Magic Hat Brewing Company & Performing Arts Center, Inc.Founded in 1994, Magic Hat has become one of the largest craft brewers on the east coast, and ranks among the fastest growing companies in the category nationwide. The company has methodically expanded its reach, and today sells its beers from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Illinois. Magic Hat is known for its distinctively flavorful offerings and imaginative recipes that combine ancient brewing traditions with the miracles of modern science. Created in the company's unique brewery and Artifactory, Magic Hat's family of fermentations includes three year-round beers (#9®, Circus Boy®, and Lucky Kat®) a full line of seasonal ales, and a variety of special single-batch "Odd Notions." Magic Hat has been hailed by the appreciative palates and grateful connoisseurs everywhere who enjoy the brewer's pours more than any they've explored before. For more information, visit http://www.magichat.net. Note Regarding Forward Looking StatementsThis news release contains certain "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). This statement is included for the express purpose of availing Pyramid of the protections of the safe harbor provisions of the PSLRA. The forward looking statements contained in this new release are subject to factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Important factors that might cause such a material difference include, but are not limited to, the inability of Pyramid and Magic Hat to negotiate and execute a definitive merger agreement; Magic Hat's possible determination not to proceed with the transaction based on its due diligence review of Pyramid's business, financial and legal affairs; a material adverse change in Pyramid's business or financial affairs; failure to obtain required regulatory approvals or third party consents; the tender of less than 66 2/3% of Pyramid's outstanding shares in the first-step tender offer described above; and similar matters. If the proposed acquisition does not close, Pyramid's stock price may significantly decrease, and Pyramid's business may be materially impacted. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward looking statements. Pyramid undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update these forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this news release, except as may be required by law.