Hey Folks, No review today, but I wanted to share something with you. And by “something” I mean, the dumbest thing I have ever read that someone wrote about beer. Ever. It’s a little dated, but it’s not that dated, and it’s certainly dumb enough that it requires a repeated verbal lashing. Because this is just foolish. It appeared in an article in Beeradvocate Magazine Issue #47, released December 2010, and it said the following: “Yet, many of today’s English IPAs- clocking in at a paltry 4-percent alcohol with a dainty hop presence - couldn’t survive a voyage around the block. It’s the Brits who need to change, for it’s American brewers who are making Real IPA.” With this sentence, the person who wrote this clearly demonstrated that they know absolutely nothing about brewing history. At all. Not only does this sentence manage to be both totally inaccurate AND insulting, but it’s lazy. 15 minutes of decent Googling could have easily refuted and corrected the sentiments expressed in this foolish sentence. Today’s English IPA couldn’t survive a voyage around the block? American brewers are making real IPA? I don’t see how you could squeeze more incorrect, lazy information into such a short sentence. If this were a comment in some thread somewhere, it would still be dumb, but ultimately meaningless. But this was printed in a publication that people actually read. People PAID to read that. A writer was PAID to write that. It makes my head swell. - The Captain

Hey Folks,

No review today, but I wanted to share something with you. And by “something” I mean, the dumbest thing I have ever read that someone wrote about beer. Ever. It’s a little dated, but it’s not that dated, and it’s certainly dumb enough that it requires a repeated verbal lashing. Because this is just foolish. It appeared in an article in Beeradvocate Magazine Issue #47, released December 2010, and it said the following:

“Yet, many of today’s English IPAs- clocking in at a paltry 4-percent alcohol with a dainty hop presence - couldn’t survive a voyage around the block. It’s the Brits who need to change, for it’s American brewers who are making Real IPA.”

With this sentence, the person who wrote this clearly demonstrated that they know absolutely nothing about brewing history. At all. Not only does this sentence manage to be both totally inaccurate AND insulting, but it’s lazy. 15 minutes of decent Googling could have easily refuted and corrected the sentiments expressed in this foolish sentence. Today’s English IPA couldn’t survive a voyage around the block? American brewers are making real IPA? I don’t see how you could squeeze more incorrect, lazy information into such a short sentence. If this were a comment in some thread somewhere, it would still be dumb, but ultimately meaningless. But this was printed in a publication that people actually read. People PAID to read that. A writer was PAID to write that. It makes my head swell.

- The Captain

AB’s new promotional video for their new product, “Black Crown.” It looks and sounds like it was shot in 1996. It also has some great marketing trigger phrases, such as “distinctively smooth,” in the event a drinker declares that the smoothness is not distinctive enough.

Welcome to the inaugural Whosies; a year-end recap of everything I loved and loathed in the year of beer. I’ll be giving out arbitrary awards in categories that I arbitrarily create as I go along. And just a note so I can keep the Internet Semantics Police off my back, when I say “The Best” I really mean “My Favorite.” Ok? These are supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek, so just take it easy. Best New Beer of the Year – Scythe & Sickle by Brewery Ommegang. This beer made me grin from ear to ear. The flavors were elegant and rustic all at once, a truly delicious harvest-time beer that had nothing to do with pumpkin syrup puree banana spritzer gun powder nutmeg crap. Two Beers I Drank more of than Anything Else – 21st Amendment Bitter American and Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. These are both my go-to options for pale and dark. Bitter American has become my balanced pale ale companion and Milk Stout Nitro is a sweet beer that sings to my inner fat kid. I can’t get enough of either of them. The Beer I couldn’t Bring Myself to Hate even though I Really Wanted To – International Arms Race by Flying Dog. The idea was so gimmicky and foolish that I had basically pre-written a “MARKETING STUNTS BE DAMNED!” verdict before my nose even got a whiff of it. But to be honest, the beer was quite good. Another Beer I wanted to Hate but Couldn’t – The idea of Stone’s “Enjoy by IPA” pissed me right off. A beer that I have to drink immediately or the quality will suffer? What kind of nonsense is this? Shouldn’t a lengthy, reliable shelf life be cherished and not punched in the face? But my arguing was futile. For a guy that typically dislikes double IPAs, this really managed to put a hoppy smile on my face. But for the record, I still think the idea is stupid. BAH HUMBUG! A Beer That Unfortunately Validated my Dislike of Double IPAs - Resin by Sixpoint. It saddens me to say that, because I really adore Sixpoint an awful lot. But this beer, after a certain point, was utterly undrinkable. There’s a point where it gets to be too much. For me, that point is Resin. Best Spiced Beer – Friendship Brew by Green Flash and Brasserie St-Feuillien. I don’t even know what the hell was in it, but it was damn tasty. Best Foreign Beer – This really boils down to “Best Foreign Beer that I Happened to Have.” And because I drank a lot of British beer, it boils down to “Best British Beer that I Happened to Have.” The answer is pretty much anything I had from the Welsh brewer Tomos Watkin. They’re absolutely wonderful and it deeply saddens me that I can’t get their beers in the states. A Pumpkin Beer that Didn’t Suck – Fermentation without Representation by Epic and DC Brau. Pumpkin stouts can be quite tasty. These brewers realized that. Hopefully others will, too. Runner up is the Pumpkin Ale by Rivertown Brewing in Cincinnati, because they didn’t forget to put the beer in their pumpkin beer. A Beer I Genuinely Disliked – Devious by Fegley’s Brew Works. Chaotic, disjointed, really a freakin’ mess from start to finish. Summer Madness – Apollo by Sixpoint and Brooklyn Summer Ale. It was nearly impossible to get these two out of my hands during the year’s hotter months. The Beer that Knocked my Socks Off – Big Eddy Wee Heavy. This floored me, quite simply. After each sip I kept looking at the beer and thinking “Are you REALLY doing this to me right now? REALLY!?” We’re Still Havin’ Fun, and You’re Still the One – Genesee Bock Beer. I had way too much fun drinking this beer in 2012. I often brought it to band practice and it yielded many smiles from all who sipped it. The IPA that Reminded me that I still Like Hops – Uinta Hop Notch. Hops used judiciously and carefully, leading to a cleverly crafted beer. This IPA was the warm blanket I needed while I was in my anti-hop Siberia. The Beer that Surprised the Hell out of Me – Great Divide’s Wild Raspberry. American-made fruit beer has been well-documented as a common brewing pitfall, but man, Great Divide nailed this beer. Score one for Lager – Northcoast Scrimshaw Pilsner. An unsung, delicious beer. Best New Jersey Beer of 2012 – This one is ferociously contested, but I have to go with Boat by Carton Brewing Company. I’m a great admire of the attention put on flavorful low-alcohol beer, and Carton knocked this one out of the park with Boat. It’s a beautiful beer, really. You could quaff it in five minutes or stretch it out over the course of a half hour and allow the lovely flavors to develop. I’m interested by this beer every time I try it, and yet it allows me to keep my attention elsewhere when I need to. Best Up-And-Coming New Jersey Good Beer Bar – If you call the Garden State your home and you have an affinity for good beer, you’re likely familiar with places such as the Cloverleaf Tavern, The Shepherd & The Knucklehead, Jersey City Barcade and so forth. But I have to call attention to a bar that is taking good beer very, very seriously: 10th Street Live in Kenilworth. Now, I’ll freely admit that I’m good friends with the management there, so if you want to shout “BIAS!” at me, you’re within your rights. But I wouldn’t call attention to them if I didn’t feel it was absolutely well deserved. Need proof? Well, tell me how often you can walk into a bar in central New Jersey and find a row of taps that features beers such as Founders Breakfast Stout, Celebrator Doppelbock, Raging Bitch, Narwhal Imperial Stout, Bitches Brew, Brooklyn Sorachi Ace, Nugget Nectar and countless others. On TAP. They’ve quickly become a go-to good beer destination and they deserve a ton of recognition for it. Dumb Things I Read about Beer in 2012 – People reviewing Newcastle Winter IPA on Beeradvocate and bemoaning the lack of hops, saying things such as “It’s not hoppy enough, it’s more like an ESB, I would’ve rated it higher if it were called an ESB.” Ok, first of all, if you would have rated a beer higher if the beer were named something different, then you have a serious problem. Second of all, the beer wasn’t called Newcastle American-Style IPA. It was Newcastle Winter IPA. The hop dosage probably wasn’t determined in accordance with the standards of needy hop fanboys. Get over it. Also, the fact that the Brewers Association continues to suggest that brewers such as August Schell and Yuengling, each more than 100 years old, are both untraditional because they put corn in their beer or something. That’s really dumb. Great Things I Read About Beer in 2012 - Anything Pete Brown put his mitts on. Also, Ron Pattinson’s drinkalongathon had me in stitches. Things I want to see Continue to Happen or Begin to Happen – Session Beer and a tempering of hop usage. I love hops. They’re very tasty. But the three other ingredients in beer are more important. I want people to remember that those three ingredients are A) things and B) exist. Also, more good lager, please. Things I want to see Stop – Stupid gimmick beers. And that’s The Whosies, my loves. Don’t take ‘em too seriously ’cause I sure as hell didn’t.

Welcome to the inaugural Whosies; a year-end recap of everything I loved and loathed in the year of beer. I’ll be giving out arbitrary awards in categories that I arbitrarily create as I go along. And just a note so I can keep the Internet Semantics Police off my back, when I say “The Best” I really mean “My Favorite.” Ok? These are supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek, so just take it easy.

Best New Beer of the Year – Scythe & Sickle by Brewery Ommegang. This beer made me grin from ear to ear. The flavors were elegant and rustic all at once, a truly delicious harvest-time beer that had nothing to do with pumpkin syrup puree banana spritzer gun powder nutmeg crap.

Two Beers I Drank more of than Anything Else – 21st Amendment Bitter American and Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. These are both my go-to options for pale and dark. Bitter American has become my balanced pale ale companion and Milk Stout Nitro is a sweet beer that sings to my inner fat kid. I can’t get enough of either of them.

The Beer I couldn’t Bring Myself to Hate even though I Really Wanted To – International Arms Race by Flying Dog. The idea was so gimmicky and foolish that I had basically pre-written a “MARKETING STUNTS BE DAMNED!” verdict before my nose even got a whiff of it. But to be honest, the beer was quite good.

Another Beer I wanted to Hate but Couldn’t – The idea of Stone’s “Enjoy by IPA” pissed me right off. A beer that I have to drink immediately or the quality will suffer? What kind of nonsense is this? Shouldn’t a lengthy, reliable shelf life be cherished and not punched in the face? But my arguing was futile. For a guy that typically dislikes double IPAs, this really managed to put a hoppy smile on my face. But for the record, I still think the idea is stupid. BAH HUMBUG!

A Beer That Unfortunately Validated my Dislike of Double IPAs - Resin by Sixpoint. It saddens me to say that, because I really adore Sixpoint an awful lot. But this beer, after a certain point, was utterly undrinkable. There’s a point where it gets to be too much. For me, that point is Resin.

Best Spiced Beer – Friendship Brew by Green Flash and Brasserie St-Feuillien. I don’t even know what the hell was in it, but it was damn tasty.

Best Foreign Beer – This really boils down to “Best Foreign Beer that I Happened to Have.” And because I drank a lot of British beer, it boils down to “Best British Beer that I Happened to Have.” The answer is pretty much anything I had from the Welsh brewer Tomos Watkin. They’re absolutely wonderful and it deeply saddens me that I can’t get their beers in the states.

A Pumpkin Beer that Didn’t Suck – Fermentation without Representation by Epic and DC Brau. Pumpkin stouts can be quite tasty. These brewers realized that. Hopefully others will, too. Runner up is the Pumpkin Ale by Rivertown Brewing in Cincinnati, because they didn’t forget to put the beer in their pumpkin beer.

A Beer I Genuinely Disliked – Devious by Fegley’s Brew Works. Chaotic, disjointed, really a freakin’ mess from start to finish.

Summer Madness – Apollo by Sixpoint and Brooklyn Summer Ale. It was nearly impossible to get these two out of my hands during the year’s hotter months.

The Beer that Knocked my Socks Off – Big Eddy Wee Heavy. This floored me, quite simply. After each sip I kept looking at the beer and thinking “Are you REALLY doing this to me right now? REALLY!?”

We’re Still Havin’ Fun, and You’re Still the One – Genesee Bock Beer. I had way too much fun drinking this beer in 2012. I often brought it to band practice and it yielded many smiles from all who sipped it.

The IPA that Reminded me that I still Like Hops – Uinta Hop Notch. Hops used judiciously and carefully, leading to a cleverly crafted beer. This IPA was the warm blanket I needed while I was in my anti-hop Siberia.

The Beer that Surprised the Hell out of Me – Great Divide’s Wild Raspberry. American-made fruit beer has been well-documented as a common brewing pitfall, but man, Great Divide nailed this beer.

Score one for Lager – Northcoast Scrimshaw Pilsner. An unsung, delicious beer.

Best New Jersey Beer of 2012 – This one is ferociously contested, but I have to go with Boat by Carton Brewing Company. I’m a great admire of the attention put on flavorful low-alcohol beer, and Carton knocked this one out of the park with Boat. It’s a beautiful beer, really. You could quaff it in five minutes or stretch it out over the course of a half hour and allow the lovely flavors to develop. I’m interested by this beer every time I try it, and yet it allows me to keep my attention elsewhere when I need to.

Best Up-And-Coming New Jersey Good Beer Bar – If you call the Garden State your home and you have an affinity for good beer, you’re likely familiar with places such as the Cloverleaf Tavern, The Shepherd & The Knucklehead, Jersey City Barcade and so forth. But I have to call attention to a bar that is taking good beer very, very seriously: 10th Street Live in Kenilworth. Now, I’ll freely admit that I’m good friends with the management there, so if you want to shout “BIAS!” at me, you’re within your rights. But I wouldn’t call attention to them if I didn’t feel it was absolutely well deserved. Need proof? Well, tell me how often you can walk into a bar in central New Jersey and find a row of taps that features beers such as Founders Breakfast Stout, Celebrator Doppelbock, Raging Bitch, Narwhal Imperial Stout, Bitches Brew, Brooklyn Sorachi Ace, Nugget Nectar and countless others. On TAP. They’ve quickly become a go-to good beer destination and they deserve a ton of recognition for it.

Dumb Things I Read about Beer in 2012 – People reviewing Newcastle Winter IPA on Beeradvocate and bemoaning the lack of hops, saying things such as “It’s not hoppy enough, it’s more like an ESB, I would’ve rated it higher if it were called an ESB.” Ok, first of all, if you would have rated a beer higher if the beer were named something different, then you have a serious problem. Second of all, the beer wasn’t called Newcastle American-Style IPA. It was Newcastle Winter IPA. The hop dosage probably wasn’t determined in accordance with the standards of needy hop fanboys. Get over it. Also, the fact that the Brewers Association continues to suggest that brewers such as August Schell and Yuengling, each more than 100 years old, are both untraditional because they put corn in their beer or something. That’s really dumb.

Great Things I Read About Beer in 2012 - Anything Pete Brown put his mitts on. Also, Ron Pattinson’s drinkalongathon had me in stitches.

Things I want to see Continue to Happen or Begin to Happen – Session Beer and a tempering of hop usage. I love hops. They’re very tasty. But the three other ingredients in beer are more important. I want people to remember that those three ingredients are A) things and B) exist. Also, more good lager, please.

Things I want to see Stop – Stupid gimmick beers.

And that’s The Whosies, my loves. Don’t take ‘em too seriously ’cause I sure as hell didn’t.

Big News Today on Planet Beer. If you’ve not yet been informed, allow me to do so. AB-InBev, already the largest brewer in the world, has upped its 50% stake in Grupo Modelo to… 100%. Yep, for $20.1 billion, the largest brewer in the world now has Corona, Modelo, and Pacifico under its already-massive umbrella of brands. I’m no business analyst, and I’m not going to pretend to be one. But knowing a little about brewing history, this all sounds quite similar to what started happening in Britain around the late 1800s/early 1900s. Big breweries in Burton-upon-Trent and London began acquiring an array of small breweries. Bass gobbled up Worthington’s and Salt’s (among others), and later in the century would grab Mitchells & Butlers before the big merger with Charrington’s. Allsopp, for quite some time the second-biggest brewer in Burton-upon-Trent, would merge with Ind Coope in 1935. Barclay Perkins, a porter heavyweight in London, would merge with Courage in 1955. This was all a result of many, many factors: The gradual emergence of lager, mismanagement, temperance movements, the emergence of tied houses, an overall declining beer consumption rate, the list goes on. That last bit, though, is the most thought-provoking note as it relates to what’s going on now. It’s no secret that, though the big boys are still by far the biggest in the states, overall beer consumption is in decline, while craft brands are way up. That includes the “bootleg” craft brands, such as Shock Top and Blue Moon. But with the big movers, such as Budweiser, stagnating in a mature market, the big guns are looking elsewhere. They’re looking to enter emerging markets with a fleet of brands backing them. MolsonCoors just recently purchased StarBev. SABMiller bought Foster’s just last year. And now you can add this press-stopping purchase to the list. What’s it all mean? Well, the way I look at it, they’re trying to grow their brands in emerging markets as opposed to ones where beer is already a well-developed fixture. So that’s one. But they’re not going to ignore mature markets, such as the United States, either. Not as long as they’re losing money. How will they alleviate that? I’d bet by taking a controlling interest in craft breweries, such as AB-InBev did with Goose Island. The biggest players in the craft landscape, such as Sierra Nevada and Boston Beer, clearly have their own aspirations of independent growth. But not everyone will pass up a juicy pay day. It’s hard to predict whether that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s going to happen.

Big News Today on Planet Beer.

If you’ve not yet been informed, allow me to do so. AB-InBev, already the largest brewer in the world, has upped its 50% stake in Grupo Modelo to… 100%. Yep, for $20.1 billion, the largest brewer in the world now has Corona, Modelo, and Pacifico under its already-massive umbrella of brands.

I’m no business analyst, and I’m not going to pretend to be one. But knowing a little about brewing history, this all sounds quite similar to what started happening in Britain around the late 1800s/early 1900s. Big breweries in Burton-upon-Trent and London began acquiring an array of small breweries. Bass gobbled up Worthington’s and Salt’s (among others), and later in the century would grab Mitchells & Butlers before the big merger with Charrington’s. Allsopp, for quite some time the second-biggest brewer in Burton-upon-Trent, would merge with Ind Coope in 1935. Barclay Perkins, a porter heavyweight in London, would merge with Courage in 1955. This was all a result of many, many factors: The gradual emergence of lager, mismanagement, temperance movements, the emergence of tied houses, an overall declining beer consumption rate, the list goes on. That last bit, though, is the most thought-provoking note as it relates to what’s going on now.

It’s no secret that, though the big boys are still by far the biggest in the states, overall beer consumption is in decline, while craft brands are way up. That includes the “bootleg” craft brands, such as Shock Top and Blue Moon. But with the big movers, such as Budweiser, stagnating in a mature market, the big guns are looking elsewhere. They’re looking to enter emerging markets with a fleet of brands backing them. MolsonCoors just recently purchased StarBev. SABMiller bought Foster’s just last year. And now you can add this press-stopping purchase to the list. What’s it all mean? Well, the way I look at it, they’re trying to grow their brands in emerging markets as opposed to ones where beer is already a well-developed fixture. So that’s one. But they’re not going to ignore mature markets, such as the United States, either. Not as long as they’re losing money. How will they alleviate that? I’d bet by taking a controlling interest in craft breweries, such as AB-InBev did with Goose Island. The biggest players in the craft landscape, such as Sierra Nevada and Boston Beer, clearly have their own aspirations of independent growth. But not everyone will pass up a juicy pay day. It’s hard to predict whether that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s going to happen.

Wednesday with the Captain – 6/27/12 A Subtle, but Notable Trend Towards Better Beer – In last week’s “Captain” post I talked about the oddity of finding good beer in a Nordstrom, and how that might suggest there’s a bit of craft beer faddery taking hold (which isn’t really a bad thing). But earlier this week, I saw something that had me thinking a bit more about staying power, and less about faddery. Keep in mind that I work in New York City, which is kind of a bubble for all intents and purposes, and that the second you step outside its walls, all bets are off. But the following point is worthy of mention. On 7th Avenue between 15th and 16th, there’s a tiny, unassuming delicatessen called “L&M,” nearly across from the West Side Market. I was walking back to work with my lunch when I saw a boastful sign in L&M’s window, reading: “CRAFT BEER SOLD HERE!” Like a lighthouse in foggy darkness. I walked in, my interest piqued. Surveying the landscape, it appeared to be your run-of-the-mill deli: rolls, deli meat, chips, cooler filled with Snapple and Vitamin Water, and the smell of vinegar. But if you wander down the rabbit hole a bit, you’ll notice a cutaway section packed with beer. Good beer. Really good beer. In this unassuming, every day deli, a patron could walk out with the likes of Milk Stout Nitro, Red Hook Longhammer IPA, a few Corsendonk ales, Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA and a handful of others. What does this all mean? Without inferring too much and drawing too bold a conclusion, it means this little deli believes good beer sells enough to stock a sizable section of its store with it. And that, my friends, is a good thing, any way you slice it.

Wednesday with the Captain – 6/27/12

A Subtle, but Notable Trend Towards Better Beer – In last week’s “Captain” post I talked about the oddity of finding good beer in a Nordstrom, and how that might suggest there’s a bit of craft beer faddery taking hold (which isn’t really a bad thing). But earlier this week, I saw something that had me thinking a bit more about staying power, and less about faddery. Keep in mind that I work in New York City, which is kind of a bubble for all intents and purposes, and that the second you step outside its walls, all bets are off. But the following point is worthy of mention. On 7th Avenue between 15th and 16th, there’s a tiny, unassuming delicatessen called “L&M,” nearly across from the West Side Market. I was walking back to work with my lunch when I saw a boastful sign in L&M’s window, reading: “CRAFT BEER SOLD HERE!” Like a lighthouse in foggy darkness. I walked in, my interest piqued. Surveying the landscape, it appeared to be your run-of-the-mill deli: rolls, deli meat, chips, cooler filled with Snapple and Vitamin Water, and the smell of vinegar. But if you wander down the rabbit hole a bit, you’ll notice a cutaway section packed with beer. Good beer. Really good beer. In this unassuming, every day deli, a patron could walk out with the likes of Milk Stout Nitro, Red Hook Longhammer IPA, a few Corsendonk ales, Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA and a handful of others. What does this all mean? Without inferring too much and drawing too bold a conclusion, it means this little deli believes good beer sells enough to stock a sizable section of its store with it. And that, my friends, is a good thing, any way you slice it.

Wednesday with the Captain – 6/20/12 Craft Beer Must be Cool – This is a light point of conversation for today, as it’s way too hot out for me to be thinking critically about beer, but my girlfriend found craft beer at a Nordstrom. Yes, a freaking Nordstrom; you know, the almost-sort-of-upscale department store that sells handbags, clothes and perfume and stuff. She found a rack that enabled buyers to walk out with the fruits of Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter, Saranac Adirondack Lager, Flying Fish Pale Ale, Shiner Bock and a few others. The freaking NORDSTROM! I mean just think about that. Your cart could be filled with a summer dress from Free People, a pair of leopard print Steve Madden Oxfords and a flavorful bottle of everybody’s favorite fermented grain beverage. It’s a minor point, but might there be some faddery going on with craft beer? I think so. I work in New York City, and I see craft beer faddery every day. There’s a freaking growler-filling station on the first floor of my building. You can’t make this stuff up. But it’s certainly not a bad thing. All fads cease at some point, and the “shiny red ball” crowd will likely move on to something else eventually. However, the fad will have also given way to new, loyal drinkers, forming a solid good beer foundation for years to come. At least that’s my romantic theory.

Wednesday with the Captain – 6/20/12

Craft Beer Must be Cool – This is a light point of conversation for today, as it’s way too hot out for me to be thinking critically about beer, but my girlfriend found craft beer at a Nordstrom. Yes, a freaking Nordstrom; you know, the almost-sort-of-upscale department store that sells handbags, clothes and perfume and stuff. She found a rack that enabled buyers to walk out with the fruits of Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter, Saranac Adirondack Lager, Flying Fish Pale Ale, Shiner Bock and a few others. The freaking NORDSTROM! I mean just think about that. Your cart could be filled with a summer dress from Free People, a pair of leopard print Steve Madden Oxfords and a flavorful bottle of everybody’s favorite fermented grain beverage. It’s a minor point, but might there be some faddery going on with craft beer? I think so. I work in New York City, and I see craft beer faddery every day. There’s a freaking growler-filling station on the first floor of my building. You can’t make this stuff up. But it’s certainly not a bad thing. All fads cease at some point, and the “shiny red ball” crowd will likely move on to something else eventually. However, the fad will have also given way to new, loyal drinkers, forming a solid good beer foundation for years to come. At least that’s my romantic theory.

Wednesday with the Captain – 6/6/12 A Predictable, but Slightly Bothersome Note – My band practices near a bar that we’re particularly fond of hanging in. We often congregate there after rehearsals and do karaoke renditions of “Love Her Madly” and “Walking in Memphis.” This bar has a superb selection of beer; Hennepin, Raging Bitch, Golden Monkey, Honker’s Ale, Brooklyn Pennant, Otter Creek seasonals, the list goes on. So I was chatting with the co-owner there about what seems to sell the most, and why. It’s something I’m keenly interested in. When I asked him he quickly said “Honkers ain’t doing shit. I think you and I are the only ones that drink it. Hennepin, Raging Bitch and Golden Monkey sell because they’re high in alcohol. People feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.” That irks me. Honkers Ale is my go-to beer there. It’s 4.2% ABV, delicately, but notably hopped, balanced by biscuity, toasty malt, with a sharp, snappy bitterness in the finish. Brilliant, and all at a doable alcohol level. And while Raging Bitch and Golden Monkey are brilliant beers, it saddens me that people would drink them based on the alcohol content alone. I think this whole “good beer” thing is built upon flavor; not alcohol, and Honkers Ale, a 4.2% ABV beer, can be as flavorful as any.

Wednesday with the Captain – 6/6/12

A Predictable, but Slightly Bothersome Note – My band practices near a bar that we’re particularly fond of hanging in. We often congregate there after rehearsals and do karaoke renditions of “Love Her Madly” and “Walking in Memphis.” This bar has a superb selection of beer; Hennepin, Raging Bitch, Golden Monkey, Honker’s Ale, Brooklyn Pennant, Otter Creek seasonals, the list goes on. So I was chatting with the co-owner there about what seems to sell the most, and why. It’s something I’m keenly interested in. When I asked him he quickly said “Honkers ain’t doing shit. I think you and I are the only ones that drink it. Hennepin, Raging Bitch and Golden Monkey sell because they’re high in alcohol. People feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.” That irks me. Honkers Ale is my go-to beer there. It’s 4.2% ABV, delicately, but notably hopped, balanced by biscuity, toasty malt, with a sharp, snappy bitterness in the finish. Brilliant, and all at a doable alcohol level. And while Raging Bitch and Golden Monkey are brilliant beers, it saddens me that people would drink them based on the alcohol content alone. I think this whole “good beer” thing is built upon flavor; not alcohol, and Honkers Ale, a 4.2% ABV beer, can be as flavorful as any.

Wednesday with the Captain – 5/30/12 “Better Beer” and “Craft Beer” – Beerpulse sat down with Stone Brewing Company CEO Greg Koch for a little Q & A session, and we learned that he doesn’t believe in the phrase “better beer,” referring to brands such as Blue Moon and Shock Top. He says “We can talk about the difference between a craft brewer and a large company positioning some of its brands as being authentic craft. I believe that, from a consumer perspective, the truth should be easy to understand and not require special knowledge” Well, of course Koch would say that. He’s the owner of a craft brewery, and AB-InBev and Miller are threatening to grab what little shelf space remains, or worse, kick other brewer’s out of that space by flexing their monetary muscle. And if I were the owner of a craft brewery, I would be saying something quite similar. I would be stupid not to. However, as a consumer, I do believe there is such a thing as “better beer.” Let’s consider those craft production numbers that the Brewers Association releases. Keep in mind that those numbers don’t include the Craft Brew Alliance, Blue Moon, Shock Top, and a host of others. So while the numbers are impressive by themselves, they aren’t even an accurate reflection of the shifting tastes in the American beer drinker. And no matter what you think of Blue Moon or Shock Top, you would have to admit that they’re a far cry from Budweiser and Miller Lite. And I’m a believer in this: If you grow the category, you help almost everyone. Maybe someone who tries Blue Moon is more likely to try Blanche de Bruxelles? Or Yards Saison? Who knows.

Wednesday with the Captain – 5/30/12

  • “Better Beer” and “Craft Beer” – Beerpulse sat down with Stone Brewing Company CEO Greg Koch for a little Q & A session, and we learned that he doesn’t believe in the phrase “better beer,” referring to brands such as Blue Moon and Shock Top. He says “We can talk about the difference between a craft brewer and a large company positioning some of its brands as being authentic craft. I believe that, from a consumer perspective, the truth should be easy to understand and not require special knowledge” Well, of course Koch would say that. He’s the owner of a craft brewery, and AB-InBev and Miller are threatening to grab what little shelf space remains, or worse, kick other brewer’s out of that space by flexing their monetary muscle. And if I were the owner of a craft brewery, I would be saying something quite similar. I would be stupid not to. However, as a consumer, I do believe there is such a thing as “better beer.” Let’s consider those craft production numbers that the Brewers Association releases. Keep in mind that those numbers don’t include the Craft Brew Alliance, Blue Moon, Shock Top, and a host of others. So while the numbers are impressive by themselves, they aren’t even an accurate reflection of the shifting tastes in the American beer drinker. And no matter what you think of Blue Moon or Shock Top, you would have to admit that they’re a far cry from Budweiser and Miller Lite. And I’m a believer in this: If you grow the category, you help almost everyone. Maybe someone who tries Blue Moon is more likely to try Blanche de Bruxelles? Or Yards Saison? Who knows.

Wednesday with the Captain – 5/9/12 A legitimate reason to dislike a big brewer, other than “their beer is macro swill wah wah wah” – It seems the new wave of craft beer drinker is preconditioned to loathe the big guys. In many cases, I can’t blame them. But in many others, that hatred seems to be invested in the wrong reasons, or at least reasons that look awfully silly when paired next to others. The reason I most often hear is “their beer sucks.” I’m sorry, but that isn’t good enough. Sure, their beer is most often insipid and made to sap any hint of flavor and character, but that isn’t good enough a reason for me to hate a brewer, or even dislike them. Boring beer is something I can understand, perhaps even drink sometimes when the context calls for it. What I can’t forgive, though, is something like this. I highly recommend you click that link and read the story. Essentially it’s about how brewers (AB-InBev being the biggest culprit) funnel their beer into the troubled Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, fueling alcoholism, crime and other issues. The reservation bans alcohol, but the booze makes its way in through the nearby town of Whiteclay, which the reservation has no jurisdiction over. This is a reason to not like AB-InBev or purchase their products. This is legitimate. It’s not the products they make. Boring beer is something we can all understand, even if we don’t drink it. It’s not what they make, it’s how they do business. The ruthless manner in which they seek profit is perfectly exemplified in this story. Yet when Beerpulse linked to this story, comments on the story ranged from “There is just far too much local for me to be drinking beer that is not even made with close to the same quality of ingredients” and “Plus, who likes drinking a beer where they substitute barley (THE MAIN INGREDIENT IN BEER FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS) with corn and rice. I mean come on! Stupid macro breweries.” Way to gloriously miss the point, fellas. Really, because I’m sure the problem would cease to exist if the beers sold in Whiteclay were mostly Sierra Nevada or Dale’s Pale Ale. As one commenter smartly put it: “As a recovering alcoholic, I can assure you, it doesn’t matter who made the beer or how it tastes…”

Wednesday with the Captain – 5/9/12

  • A legitimate reason to dislike a big brewer, other than “their beer is macro swill wah wah wah” – It seems the new wave of craft beer drinker is preconditioned to loathe the big guys. In many cases, I can’t blame them. But in many others, that hatred seems to be invested in the wrong reasons, or at least reasons that look awfully silly when paired next to others. The reason I most often hear is “their beer sucks.” I’m sorry, but that isn’t good enough. Sure, their beer is most often insipid and made to sap any hint of flavor and character, but that isn’t good enough a reason for me to hate a brewer, or even dislike them. Boring beer is something I can understand, perhaps even drink sometimes when the context calls for it. What I can’t forgive, though, is something like this. I highly recommend you click that link and read the story. Essentially it’s about how brewers (AB-InBev being the biggest culprit) funnel their beer into the troubled Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, fueling alcoholism, crime and other issues. The reservation bans alcohol, but the booze makes its way in through the nearby town of Whiteclay, which the reservation has no jurisdiction over. This is a reason to not like AB-InBev or purchase their products. This is legitimate. It’s not the products they make. Boring beer is something we can all understand, even if we don’t drink it. It’s not what they make, it’s how they do business. The ruthless manner in which they seek profit is perfectly exemplified in this story. Yet when Beerpulse linked to this story, comments on the story ranged from “There is just far too much local for me to be drinking beer that is not even made with close to the same quality of ingredients” and “Plus, who likes drinking a beer where they substitute barley (THE MAIN INGREDIENT IN BEER FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS) with corn and rice. I mean come on! Stupid macro breweries.” Way to gloriously miss the point, fellas. Really, because I’m sure the problem would cease to exist if the beers sold in Whiteclay were mostly Sierra Nevada or Dale’s Pale Ale. As one commenter smartly put it: “As a recovering alcoholic, I can assure you, it doesn’t matter who made the beer or how it tastes…”

Wednesday with the Captain – 4/11/12 Heineken using Breckenridge-like tactics in Newcastle ads – Some of you are likely familiar with Breckenridge ads such as this one, which poke fun at the absurdity (and nonsense) of mass market beer advertising. Now Heineken, a mass market brewer itself, is getting in on the act with Newcastle ads that deliberately poke fun at Stella Artois. With the rallying cry of “No Bollocks,” the company has launched ads such as this one, which mock the Stella Artois serving glass, or “chalice.” A more direct attack was launched here, where a Stella Artois billboard can be seen reading “It’s a chalice, not a glass,” and a Newcastle ad is underneath it reading “Who uses the word ‘Chalice?’” Ad warfare can be fun, even funny, and I must say these are quite endearing. On top of that, they’re good ads, quite simply. Newcastle might be mocking Stella Artois here, but Newcastle itself is also a brand of international success and renown, just like Stella is. To re-express the Newcastle brand in a way that humanizes it for its consumers is a smart move. It can make the brand feel loved in a way that Stella Artois can’t be. Brewdog and the Art of Insulting Label Copy – Earlier today, Beerpulse linked to this Instagram photo of a Brewdog label. I think it’s the label for 5AM Saint if my memory serves me right, though it might appear on all of their labels, I’m not quite sure. It reads “You probably don’t know much about beer, you don’t understand beer,” yada yada. Stuff that goes out of its way to insult the consumer. Brewdog has never had an issue with rubbing people the wrong way, they do it on a frequent basis in the UK. Some consumers would call this label outrageous. I call it “marketing.” Do I enjoy it? I mean, it depends how you look at it. On one end, I can live without some PR jackass from Stone or Brewdog telling me that my palate is feeble or that I don’t know anything about beer. After a while, it’s a massive bore. On the other end, I like the beer that each of those brewers makes. What ends up in your glass is often far less imposing than what the label is prepping you for. In a good way. So it’s a bit of a trade-off I have set up. I ignore the condescending label copy, I get good beer. I can live with that. And I’ve no problems with a brewer distinguishing itself in the marketplace. Just make sure you’re making good beer, too. Or I’ll hate you. Baby don’t you want to go? – To your sweet home Chicago. Well, Lagunitas does; they’re planning on building a second brewery there. If you’re keeping score, that’s three craft brewers (Sierra Nevada and New Belgium being the others) that are opening additional breweries. Skepticism awaits, I’m sure, but I’m not about to complain. Some have complained authenticity being threatened, but I don’t buy it. I know the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale I drink will taste the same brewed in Asheville as it does brewed in Chico. These guys are pros, they’ll make it work. I acknowledge that location, regional affection and authenticity are contributing factors to the cause of good beer, but flavor is the biggest one. And I’m not worried about that one.

Wednesday with the Captain – 4/11/12

  • Heineken using Breckenridge-like tactics in Newcastle ads – Some of you are likely familiar with Breckenridge ads such as this one, which poke fun at the absurdity (and nonsense) of mass market beer advertising. Now Heineken, a mass market brewer itself, is getting in on the act with Newcastle ads that deliberately poke fun at Stella Artois. With the rallying cry of “No Bollocks,” the company has launched ads such as this one, which mock the Stella Artois serving glass, or “chalice.” A more direct attack was launched here, where a Stella Artois billboard can be seen reading “It’s a chalice, not a glass,” and a Newcastle ad is underneath it reading “Who uses the word ‘Chalice?’” Ad warfare can be fun, even funny, and I must say these are quite endearing. On top of that, they’re good ads, quite simply. Newcastle might be mocking Stella Artois here, but Newcastle itself is also a brand of international success and renown, just like Stella is. To re-express the Newcastle brand in a way that humanizes it for its consumers is a smart move. It can make the brand feel loved in a way that Stella Artois can’t be.
  • Brewdog and the Art of Insulting Label Copy – Earlier today, Beerpulse linked to this Instagram photo of a Brewdog label. I think it’s the label for 5AM Saint if my memory serves me right, though it might appear on all of their labels, I’m not quite sure. It reads “You probably don’t know much about beer, you don’t understand beer,” yada yada. Stuff that goes out of its way to insult the consumer. Brewdog has never had an issue with rubbing people the wrong way, they do it on a frequent basis in the UK. Some consumers would call this label outrageous. I call it “marketing.” Do I enjoy it? I mean, it depends how you look at it. On one end, I can live without some PR jackass from Stone or Brewdog telling me that my palate is feeble or that I don’t know anything about beer. After a while, it’s a massive bore. On the other end, I like the beer that each of those brewers makes. What ends up in your glass is often far less imposing than what the label is prepping you for. In a good way. So it’s a bit of a trade-off I have set up. I ignore the condescending label copy, I get good beer. I can live with that. And I’ve no problems with a brewer distinguishing itself in the marketplace. Just make sure you’re making good beer, too. Or I’ll hate you.
  • Baby don’t you want to go? – To your sweet home Chicago. Well, Lagunitas does; they’re planning on building a second brewery there. If you’re keeping score, that’s three craft brewers (Sierra Nevada and New Belgium being the others) that are opening additional breweries. Skepticism awaits, I’m sure, but I’m not about to complain. Some have complained authenticity being threatened, but I don’t buy it. I know the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale I drink will taste the same brewed in Asheville as it does brewed in Chico. These guys are pros, they’ll make it work. I acknowledge that location, regional affection and authenticity are contributing factors to the cause of good beer, but flavor is the biggest one. And I’m not worried about that one.