Beer, Beer, Beer

There are very few things in this life I love more than beer. Family is one of them. And then that's really it. Sports are tied with beer for second though. And women. So there's a three-way tie for second.

Sports, women, and beer.

All other things are mostly average and pale in comparison to my love for beer. Ever since I turned,ahem, 21, I've loved me some suds. But like most of you, the great unwashed that you are, I stuck with the basics. The 'ol BMC, if you will. Bud, Miller, and Coors.

Why? Because it's cheap, available, and constantly in your face. These days, I can't exist for eight consecutive seconds without an advertisement for some crappy light beer entering my line of sight. And according to these commercials, these beers are known for their crisp taste, triple hops, smooth finish, and ability to be cold (or even, super cold). But if you've ever sat down and drank one calmly by yourself and actually TASTED the damn thing, you'd realize you'd be ingesting high-quality urine. True, it IS cold. But that's all it has going for it.

And I think people are catching on. The bottom-line numbers for all three of these mega-breweries have been declining for quite some time now. Each one of them sees the writing on the wall too. Now, they're trying to adapt by catering to the craft drinker. Someone like me. Someone who actually drinks beer for the taste and not to fulfill some Freudian oral fixation.

So I tried their weak attempts at craft brewing. The "bocks", the "ambers", the "stouts". I use quotations because I need to. They aren't real beers. They are sad derivatives of something that could've been a beer. But since they are so mass produced, the cost-cutting measures have destroyed the quality of it. They are a waste of time. And if you consider yourself a craft beer drinker, you wouldn't be caught dead drinking one.

So what I'm basically saying is that craft brewing is where it's at. If you'd like, I could name about 300 breweries better than the 3 Horsebreweries of the Apocalypse I mentioned earlier. Breweries like Founders in Grand Rapids, Michigan or Cigar City in Tampa, Florida are doing things with beer that are unheard of. And it's not just the experimentation that's wonderful, it's the care they put into every beer they bottle. Each beer they brew represents who they are and what they pride themselves on. They want to be taken seriously by the beer-loving community. A community, I might add, that has very discriminating tastes and can sniff out a fraud fairly quickly.

One of my goals in life is to please this community with one of my own. That's why my father and I have started brewing our own beer. The process isn't as hard as it seems. It just takes patience, cleanliness, and diligence.

Our first brew will be an Irish Stout. The site we ordered the supplies from gave the proper ingredients and very clear directions as to how to brew it properly. As I type, the primary fermentation is taking place. After about a week, we will transfer the wort (batch) into a secondary fermenter to sit for another two weeks. Finally, after those two weeks, we bottle and cap the beers and let it sit for a final two weeks. Then it's up to us to drink or bash each other over the head with them. I'd like to think we will do the former.

Hopefully over time my dad and I can perfect and refine the process. Eventually leading to something that's truly our own and something others can enjoy.

As seen on: My Other Blog

Music Break

My Latest Purchase Part 2

I constantly write-off breweries. Constantly.

"Ew, Left Hand Brewery? I had one of their beers 5 years ago. It tasted terrible. I'll never have another one of their beers again. I'm assuming everything else they make is disgusting and they have not improved since they started."

That (see above) is me. I have a penchant for never giving a brewery a second chance. Which is the exact opposite of what a craft beer lover should do. Craft brewing is about experimentation and obviously, some beers are not going to hit the mark. You make mistakes so you can learn from them, avoid them in the future and evolve as a brewer.

What does this have to do with The Bruery? For about a six month period recently, I wrote them off altogether. And that was because of their beer Orchard White. I couldn't stand it. It was dull, overtly sour, and just not pleasing to the palate. And after the first few sips, I did what I had to do:

Poured it down the drain.

From that day forward, I promised myself I would never try another Bruery beer. But by my purchase today, I'm going to break that promise. In the photo above you will see Bruery's fall seasonal, Autumn Maple. While most breweries tinker with pumpkins this season, Bruery has decided to mess with another vegetable: yams. That's right yams. This beer is brewed with 17 lbs. of yams in each barrel alone with cinnamon, nutmeg, molasses, and maple syrup.

I'm very much looking forward to it and will report back on how it tastes.

Tupac Was Right, West Coast Bitches

So I still have to post my story San Fran drinking trip (above pic via my girlfriend from said trip) but in the meantime here is a list of the essential west coast beers by none other than Stone Brewing's co-founder, Greg Koch.  As you can see, Greg's affiliations show through on the list.  Also, lots of surprises on what was missing from his list.  I guess good beer, like everything else, is always open for debate.  Anyway, this was a good excuse for me to post a picture of Tupac just after the anniversary of his death and for me to feel like a gangsta.  I'm actually the complete opposite of a gangsta, if such an opposite exists, and even feel uncomfortable writing the word gangsta.  I actually look around the room as I type to make sure there are no black people seeing me do it.  Just like when I blast hip-hop in my car.  Well I'm out bitches, Freaktoberfest tonight, wish me luck.

Victory!!!!

Ok not really.  But this is good news for those of us who are in hate with "big beer" companies.  Ever since I began getting my taste for craft beer and my first viewing of Beer Wars (please go watch it if you never have), I have hated generic beers from Bud, Coors and Miller.  Do I still drink them, yes.  When playing beer pong or having a large party sometimes these can not be avoided.  They are there for you to get wasted drunk and we all do it sometimes.  But over the last few years I have reduced my intake of these beers and according to this report, the rest of the America is with me.  See I started a revolution.  Wait, what? It has nothing to o with me?  That can't be correct, I'm continuing on with the believe that I am taking down Budweiser.  You're Welcome!!

Ok so that's not my hand in the pic but these are the pics that come up when you google 'anti Budweiser' and 'hate Budweiser'.  How could I not include them.

Music Break

Goyte - Somebody That I Used to Know

Evidently this guy is all the rage in Australia.  Or so my music correspondent there tells me.  Ok so maybe it's just my friend Simon who sends me music before it's popular here that I tell my friends about and claim I found it.


Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) by Gotye

My Latest Purchase

Considering the rate at which I purchase beer, this should easily become a recurring post. Given my occupation, I am in liquor and beer stores quite often and every time I see something rare or good in general, I need to pick it up.

My latest purchase: The Smoke from the Oak series from Captain Lawrence. They are three different beers. All porters and each aged in a different type of barrel. One in wine barrels. One in rum barrels. And the third in apple brandy barrels. This series was brewed only once so I consider myself lucky to be able to get my hands on it. I found them tucked away deep on a shelf at a liquor store in Clifton, New Jersey. All three bottles were packaged together along with a Captain Lawrence tulip glass.

Price tag: $70

I thought about walking away for a moment, then reconsidered. There was a fairly decent chance I would never come across these beers again. So I made my decision and took out my credit card.

I brought them home and hid them in my closet. I'll probably take them out from time to time to show my friends and family. They'll get bored with my story and I'll put them back in the closet. Will I drink them? Who knows. Remember, being a beer snob is more about possessing good beer than actually drinking it. No one wants to hear if you've "had" a certain beer, they just want to know is you "have" it.

And right now, I have these.

FREAKTOBERFEST

Check this out.  It's FREAKTOBERFEST 2011, and It is the first event to kick off NYC Craft Beer Week.  Sean and myself will be in attendance along with what is slowly growing into a "posse".  And by posse I of course am referring to a group of 5 or more white people who wanna drink beer and feel cool doing so in Brooklyn.  I also hope to hit a few of the events and participating bars/restaurants over the next week.  Anyone else doing so let us know how it is.  I am sure to have lots to report back, tickets are available on the link above.

Monday Morning Music

Check out that alliteration in the header.  Did I drink some beer this weekend, yes.  Do I want to talk about it, yes.  Just not yet I'm still tired and it's first thing in the morning. So listen to some music to start your week off right.  Or don't...I don't care

This song makes me feel like I am in that scene in the movie where things are changing.  Times are tough but we know it's for the best.  She went off to college and left you, but you know your better off as a person.  Here's a montage to show you it all.  Chances are by the end of the movie you will bump into each other and get back together anyway.  Or something like that.  Also, if this song was around in 1967 it definitely would have been included in The Graduate soundtrack.  I feel enough things in the entertainment world have referenced this movie so I might as well get ours for the blog out of the way.

Rattle n Hum, The Ginger Man, Blind Tiger

I had heard about these establishments before. The moment you take the plunge into the underbelly of the craft beer universe these places are brought up time and time again.

"You've never been to Rattle n Hum?", a generic beer geek would ask incredulously.

I hated telling them I hadn't. How could I possibly be taken seriously as a craft beer savant if I had never been to one of New York City's craft beer mecca's?

I had to go. And I did. This past Saturday. I took an entire day off from watching Pawn Stars and eating Fiddle Faddle to take the train into the city with Rob, Kevin, his girlfriend, and an assortment of friends.

We started off at Rattle n Hum which is located on East 33rd Street not far from the Garden (I'd

tell you the exact address but you're on a computer, look it up yourself). The waitress handed us the draft menu which was printed on a single white piece of paper. Seems archaic I know. But when you're a beer bar that has kegs being kicked, new beers coming in, old beers going out and taps being rotated on a constant basis, I'm surprised it wasn't printed on a cocktail napkin.

I'm a wimp to say the least. After being handed a draft list with a selection of over 40 draft beers, as well as a seemingly endless bottle list, I chickened out and ordered a Goose Island Matilda. A beer that I could get (although not on tap) anywhere. I don't know why I do it. Craft beer drinking is about trying anything and everything. Yet I go for old standbys constantly. "Ohhh, I've had Goose Island before! They were good. Yes, I've have it again please." Idiocy. I realized my mistake the moment the waitress plopped the drink down in front of me. At that point, I made the executive decision to do a flight of four beers.

Music Time Again

Los Campesinos - By Your Hand.  Do you know I never gave listening to these guys a try for years simply because I thought they were a Mexican mariachi band.  Ya I know, you don't have to say anything, I'm an idiot.

Los Campesinos - By Your Hand by bobetebob

Black Market Beers

So while I was hard at work yesterday, I stumbled upon this article. Ok, so maybe by working hard I mean exploring the internet for tons of useless knowledge on company coin and by stumble upon I mean my beautiful girlfriend sent me this link.  And since she is so amazing, I will now take a moment to give her a shameless plug for her site right over here.  She, like me, is using writing about what she loves as a means of figuring it all out in life.  She is focusing on food and photography.  The food usually involves me too because I'm eating at least half of everything you see, and well, the photography is going to be a lot of food.  She also is my photographer for this site and since Rob is being paid in all those wooden nickels, I will have to compensate her in other ways, most likely going to be in cheeseburgers.  So double score for me, pimped her blog and told the world how awesome and gorgeous she is, that should be enough brownie points to last me a while.

Confession Time

So, I have a confession to make.  I love porters and stouts.  This may not seem like a confession or even news to you, but for me to hear myself say this is big.  My appreciation for craft beer is rather new and constantly growing.  Even since my first 90 minute years ago that started the love affair, I have been expanding my horizons.  This past year I have begun to love porters and stouts.

Rob v. "The Future"

So after this weekends adventures, we have recruited a new writer/indentured servant.  We are paying him in "padding for his giant literary ego" and old wooden buffalo nickles I found in my grandma's basement.  The column is called 'Rob v.', and it is pretty much my buddy Rob's review/rant on anything.  Usually not going to be beer related but most likely there will be alcohol involved, either on his part in the post, or on you the reader's part to get through the post.  We were originally going to call it, Rob reviews anything, but if you know Rob, he really loves to versus things.  Yes I know that makes no sense grammatically, or in life, but just go with it. Kind of like this..(please note Rob looks and acts like Charlie also)...




...well my apologies in advance...here's Rob....

A Little Music for the Kids

It can't all be about beer, well it can if you drink while listening. I'm going to start posting some music on here occasionally, enjoy. Today we have the Bag Raiders, two DJ's from Sydney, Australia.

Beer + Food = Beerfood?

It's not some new concept, pairing beer and food.  Sure wine and food has been the more popular and 'sophisticated' manner of pairings throughout history.  In medieval times kings would guzzle goblets of wine and chow down on turkey legs.  No, they really would, I've been to a Medieval Times in New Jersey. That had to be an accurate description of how it went down back then, right?  I had a good time nonetheless, it's dinner and tournament, what's not to love.

Anyway, pairing beer with food has grown in popularity in recent years.  And I am not just talking about the schlub who comes home after work at the factory and cracks open a Bud Ice as he enjoys his hungry man meatfest on one of those little dinner trays in front of the TV. Or maybe something like this.

These days though we have seen craft beers being paired with fine foods, or even not so fine foods.  The genres of beer have increased, leaving much debate about what goes best with what.  No longer is the only requirement for a good pairing, a simply ice cold beer.  The depth of flavors can greatly compliment your dinner.  The Wall Street Journal (of all places) has a nice article, right here, discussing just this topic.  My one disagreement may be with Ms. Jensen's advice to pair oysters and a creamy stout.  To me that would be like ordering a nice tall glass of warm milk to compliment my sashimi.  Ironically that same combo is what i think about when I try to make myself throw up.

This article reminded me of a book from a while back by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head:

This book was actually written way before this most recent wave of beer pairing madness.  Dogfish often does beer pairing dinners at restaurants and their website lists a calender of such events.  I loved this book when I first read it because I'm a beer person and seeing many combinations of types of food and beer really opened my horizons.  At the time I was still just drinking what was cheap and would get me drunk fast.  It was the beginning of my beer revelation.  I had just recently had my first Dogfish beer and they changed my perception of good beer.  90 minute to this day is one of my favorites.  If I find it on tap anywhere, I order it.  So when I stumbled upon this book, a new chapter in my beer loving world was opened.  Everybody remembers their first time.  No, not that first time.  The first time they really started to love or appreciate something.  There is always that one time or thing that brings you back to that moment when you first began your appreciation.  For me, I love a very broad range of music these days.  I always trace that love back to two things.  One being the band LCD Soundsystem.  They changed my perceptions of good music and broadened my horizons to other bands.  They were my 'gateway' band in a way.  The second was when I attended the All Points West Music Festival.  It was my first music festival and previously I had not been a concert person.  After that though, I was hooked.  I love festivals and finding new bands as often as possible. This is how I felt about Dogfish Head.  My gateway beer.

But in reality, you don't have to have the suggestions of a 'beer sommelier' (which I didn't know was a thing until this morning) to know what to pair with what.  It should be a trial and error experience.  If you find something that works, spread the word.  There's nothing better than getting a group of friends together to try good food and beer together.  Everyone can be an expert for a day.  That's exactly what I'll be doing this weekend.  I have put the call out to friends to gather in the city and make our own bar and food crawl.  Expect some interesting reports back about the beer, bars, food and subsequent arrests and mug shots thereafter.