Marriage
1
Monthly Archives: July 2010
Beer snobbery saves a life
James Yeager is an American geologist who was advising the government of Afghanistan in 2007. Because of his distaste for a certain ubiquitous Mexican export—which an intruder left behind—he avoided assassination.
he returned to his residence in Kabul to find it had been burgled. The intruder took money from a drawer and left behind a bottle of Corona beer. The Corona bottle sat on his counter for the next two weeks Yeager says, because Corona is one of his least favorite beers. He finally opened it during a going away party as the other drinks began to run low.
“I pulled it out and when I popped it there was no fizz and the cap was loose,” says Yeager. “Because this one didn’t have fizz you wonder if it went rancid or not, and I just kind of sniffed it and I went ‘Oh, that doesn’t smell like beer.’ ”
Yeager, a geochemist familiar with acids, realized it smelled like sulfuric acid – otherwise known as battery acid.
So next time you reach for one of those industrial light lagers, consider if you really want it. The life you save may be your own.
(via Boing Boing (via The Christian Science Monitor))
Serafijn
The other beer I received from the Rare Beers of the Month Club was the Serafijn Belgian Pale Ale. This beer was also truly rare as I learned that it is brewed in the garage of the family run brewery called Microbrouwerij Achilles in Itegem, Belgium. The family lives in the small house behind the garage where they transformed their living room into a small, quiet, cafe.
This beer was unfiltered and it was obvious that it re-fermented in the bottle a bit more as the voluminous heads overflowed our glasses. Oh, by the way, also rare these days, I got to share this sample with Al (yes, Hop-Talk Al).
Al first noted by the aroma that “there was a lot going on in there”. The big airy head was heavy with floral and spice. However, we noted the hoppy smells were unexpectedly American like.
As we drank we noted that it was not as hoppy or bitter as the aroma lead us. To me, it was a fairly classic pale ale with only hints of those distinct Belgium yeasts. It had something else I couldn’t put my finger on … cheesecake? None the less, it finished slightly bittersweet and satisfying.
We both liked it, but we also slightly disagreed with the overall rating. Al said it was not something he would have regularly, as it was not his “cup of tea.” I on the other hand thought it was a wonderful pale ale that I would prefer to have at a pub along with a good old basket of fish & chips.
The Beer of the Month Club also tells us a little about the interesting name,
The name Serafijn comes from the plural of Seraph, an order of angels that serve as caretakers of God’s throne. The name means “the burning ones” and it is said that such a bright light emanates from them that nothing, not even angelic beings, can look upon them.
Beer pint graph
I think somebody is drinking their beer too slowly. Or holding the glass too much.
(credit GraphJam.com)
Rare Beer – Cigar City Brewing
I was presented with a great sample recently from the Beer of the Month Club. I had no idea that they offered something called The Rare Beer Club. I was given two bombers of beer that I had never had before and that is always a treat in itself, but the both these beers out of this world.
The first of the two beers I tried with some close friend (and beer lovers) was the Jai Alai Cedar Aged Humidor Series India Pale Ale from Cigar City Brewing in Tampa Florida. It is a west coast style IPA aged in cedar and is a GABF Gold winner.
This beautiful beer poured a light rusty orange-red with a big sticky head. The aromas coming off this beer were huge, both spicy and citrus. On the palette, my friends and I all immediately said “grapefruit!” As I kept drinking I also noted some sweetness behind the spice, I called it banana and butterscotch. The spice was hard to describe – maybe cedar’y. We all thought it was a treat.
The Rare Beer Club is a great find… Just look at what they offer on any given month. One of the things I like so much about The Beer of the Month Club is the newsletter they provide each time. It is a well written article about the beer and details about the brewer, the style… you name it.
For instance, in this case they point out that excellent craft beer from Florida is quite rare in itself, which I never really thought about. They also mention some of the other wonderful brews at Cigar City, like their Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout which is aged with Peruvian cacao nibs, Ancho and Pasilla chilies, cinnamon , and Madagascar vanilla beans. (Yumm!)
Cigar City obviously knows what they are doing and I love that they are out there on the fringe trying things like cedar barrels to age in. I hope you try some.
(Serafijn review coming soon)
Meet Matt
Matt is our first new addition to the Hop Talk “family”. He’s going to be posting a weekly version of the Beef ‘n Beer comic strip and perhaps some of his own prose musings on beer.
Matt is a married thirtysomething living in the San Francisco Bay area teaching High School English. No kids yet, but he aims to rectify that lack fairly soon.
Like us, he “grew up” with mass-produced American light lagers. As a poor college student, quantity definitely won out over quality, so discount brands were the order of the day. But not for long.
He now enjoys hoppy IPAs and ice-cold creamy stouts, but has a special fondness for brown ales.
Oh, and drawing. He does that sometimes too.
Gimme a beer
Happy Beeroversary
It was four years ago today that Ron kicked off Hop Talk by musing whether he was qualified to talk—or, rather, write—about beer. Along the way we’ve learned that when it comes to beer you can’t be wrong (though you can be misinformed), hosted The Session, and that having a beer every day is harder than you’d think. And more!
Here are some statistics (as of yesterday):
- 1,313 articles
- 1,552 comments and trackbacks
- 186,852 unique visitors
- 306,697 page views
- 7,300+ RSS subscribers
Thanks to everyone for coming along. Hop Talk wouldn’t be here without you.
Wherever you are this evening (or afternoon, or whatever) tip a glass with us to celebrate this milestone.
p.s., I re-upped hosting for another year, so we’ll be here well into 2011. We’ve also got some surprises coming up soon.
First ever beer bloggers’ conference
Wine bloggers have apparently have had a rather successful blogger conference for several years. Not so for beer bloggers. Until now, that is.
The World’s First Beer Bloggers’ Conference
We are proud to announce the world’s first Beer Bloggers & Social Media Conference. Scheduled for November 5-7, 2010 in Boulder, Colorado, the conference will bring together an estimated 150 beer bloggers and others involved with online and social media in the beer industry.
The conference will include excellent dinners, delicious beer tastings, interesting speakers, and outstanding academic sessions designed to help beer bloggers improve their trade. We have already lined up some serious support including the Boulder Beer Company and Oskar Blues Brewery as our two dinner sponsors, Draft Magazine to help promote the conference, and the Boulder Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Colorado Brewers Guild. The host hotel is the Boulder Marriott.
It’s being run by the same people who do the wine bloggers conference, so they know what they’re doing.
Are you going?
On the origin of “craft beer”
Not the origin of craft beer itself, but the etymology of the term “craft beer”.
Stan Hieronymous points out that Vince Cottone, way back in 1986 in his Good Beer Guide: Brewers and Pubs of the Pacific Northwest may be the original source…or not.
“I can’t swear I was the ‘first’ to use the term, but I also don’t remember any source I borrowed it from. Possibly CAMRA used it in the UK before me, and in fact I traveled there in 1984 and ’85. If they did use it their usage was probably very casual and I don’t think they made any attempt to define it or promote it as an something like an appellation. I know of no brewing company who used it prior to my book.”
When his book first appeared North America was home to scores of small breweries that opened only since 1980, not hundreds (or eventually more than 1,500). Consider that context. Also, that at the time Cottone wrote for many publications, both within beer trade and outside (such as theSeattle Post-Intelligencer and The Washington Post).
This is worth a read.
Craft beer: the 1986 definition
