Craft in Cans: Give Me a Tallboy!

On my last few visits to local liquor stores, I've noticed a new sensation: I turn my nose up at bottled beer. Not every bottle—just six-packs. Bombers, or 22 oz bottles, of beers are perfectly fine, mostly because they are generally something a bit more special, while a six-pack is something I'm looking to drink every day. It seems that I have a preference for canned craft beer, especially 16 oz tallboys. Surly tallboys frequent my fridge.

One of my recent tallboy favorites

I toured the original Surly brewery in June 2006, according to my database. The image of Omar talking about the hopes and dreams of the new brewery still lingers in my thoughts, including the revelation that Surly was going to can. Oskar Blues is famous for canning early, and Surly was going to follow. The most sensible argument at the time from Omar was space. Cans packed more efficiently and space was very much at a premium in the old brewery. Omar went on to discuss the benefits to the beer, but that sounded like rationalization: Surly had little choice but to choose cans.

Now, it looks like amazing foresight. I think Surly's quality in the can is part of the reason other breweries have joined the bandwagon. The benefits of getting to beer in market in better shape with less stigma took care of the rest. An article in MarketWatch on craft beer in cans summarizes the benefits versus costs from a total perspective rather than from my consumer's view.

While only one beer drinker, I seem to have a clear bias for cans. Besides freshness, not having to worry about being light struck in the liquor store, etc, a tallboy fits well in my favorite Brooklyn Brewery daily-drinking glass; I can pour the full can with a proper head and be happy with one for the night. In the old days, beer geeks always looked for corked and caged as a sign of quality. Then, caps were better for beer, so a wax dipped bottle was the beery grail. Now, the informed beer geek knows that cans rule and I, for one, will keep buying tallboys.

Tipping Point: Anhueser-Busch's Superbowl Ad Bashing Beer Geeks

A friend posted The Whine of the Craft Beer Children on Facebook in response to the beer geek bashing Budweiser Superbowl ad.  My friend agreed with the article's sentiment, and I can't argue even though I don't like the tone. I get it—an insulting ad is seen as insulting, so the writer uses an insulting angle to make a point. Message received.

However, I think the larger point is missed. Budweiser has thrown in the towel, and for good this time.

Screen shot from Budweiser Superbowl Ad: Brewed the Hard Way

At my last Superbowl party in 2006, I bought a bottle of AB Brewmaster's Private Reserve. It was a bigger than wine size bottle of premium lager that was a bit better than their average. To my friends at the party, I asked them what this bottle represented. Responding to their quizzical looks, I said "It's the beginning of the end. AB just admitted craft beer is real."

Today, craft beer is winning big and macro is losing at every turn. Now, AB is dropping pretenses and taking advantage of craft beer's middle age. As the pioneers of craft beer get long in the tooth and pass on their life's work, AB will take advantage of the opportunity. As a result, the beer world will become more complicated and the lines between macro and micro will blur. This ad simply marks a clear business decision in light of these changes. AB is just trying to re-frame its brand with those who identify with drinking thoughtless beer while purchasing enough craft brands to insure profits.

Craft beer will change too. As the number of breweries grow, the old school collaboration will first be tested and then finally snap. This part of the whine article is spot on—competition between craft brewers will soon be a matter of survival. The warm fuzzy story of pulling together against the common macro enemy is crumbling and the beer world will be forever changed. In the old days, say five years ago is all, a beer gathering meant seeing all the same faces as every other beer event. Today, I can't even think of attending all that is beery in the local scene, plus count myself lucky to run into a handful of familiar faces. To visit any of my favorite local liquor stores like Four Firkins or Elevated, the choices are beyond my financial and drinking resources to support craft brew; I now have to pick winners and losers.

AB knows what I know, or vice versa. They tried to wage war on an equal footing and got pummeled. Trapped in the corner by a steady downtrend, they are simply buying up the competition, rebuilding their own brand image and fighting their way out of a corner. Likely, they will play both ends and still make money in the new beer world in spite of a shrinking market share or anything a fussy beer geek says.

To Style or Not to Style

Opening day at taproom
Bent Brewstillery

When I took the beer judge certification classes with the Minnesota Home Brewers, studying the BJCP style guidelines made it apparent that winning medals in home brew competitions is about hitting the bullseye. The style guidelines are the mark and winners hit the mark.

For example, one of my favorite beers anywhere is Masala Mama IPA at Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery. And, that's the straight pushed beer and doesn't consider Mango Mama or the cask version.  It's an amazing beer in any form and yet none of Town Hall's 14 medals at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is from Masala Mama. My interpretation (shared by a others) is that Masala Mama is a fine IPA that falls in between styles. As a result, this amazing beer won't get a medal even though it would be a top national IPA if it was ever allowed to be released outside of the state.

All of which is back drop for my same night visit of Bent Brewstillery and Sisyphus Brewing. As the beer boom grows, every brewery is fighting harder than ever to carve out a niche in the heart of MN beer drinkers. Both breweries are attempting to do that but in very different ways.

I miss so many openings that I couldn't resist the Facebook post by Bent Brewstillery to celebrate their reopening as the merged company (Joining forces with Pour Decisions). I opened big with a draft of Dark Fatha, listed as an American Emperial Stout (and yes my spelling is correct). The menu description calls this a hybrid beer style that combines the feel of a light ale and the robust dark flavors of a stout. I think that descriptions at Bent Brewstillery will likely be important. Reading the tap handle in line, I read Imperial Stout and ordered. Tasting at the table, it seemed like a thin for the style and that's how it registered for me. However, reading the intention of the brewer, it really is light and refreshing while still being a full flavored ale that's cleanly brewed and excellent. However, checking out the reviews on BA, there seems to be some similar confusion and low ratings as a result.

On the Bentbrewstillery webpage for the opening today, it states specifically that one of their goals is to rebel against styles. In theory, many of us applaud this approach (unless you truly love the BJCP guidelines, which some do). Anyone familiar with Minnesota homebrewing or reads the AHA results will know of head brewer Kris England. No one has the success Kris has in homebrew competitions with knowing how to hit the style mark. So, I'm extremely confidant that I am drinking exactly what Kris intended. While style guidelines can be seen as restricting creativity, they are also map to what you want to drink, especially for those that are new to craft beer. For an all dog like me, a little reading solves the problem to enjoying an opening of some pretty cool beers that hit a mark all their own.

Sisyphus Brewing

Next stop was Sisyphus Brewing, which is taking a different approach.  With only four taps, the names are simple and straight forward.  My Brett IPA and Double IPA were excellent, and very much what I expected from the names. Sipping on a pint while listening to the comedy show that's laying the groundwork for a future theater, I ponder my evening and wonder which approach to a brewery is best. Or, if comparing even makes sense. As a veteran geek, my beery knowledge is a comfort in new situations, something I worked hard to achieve from the early days when tap lists were bewildering.  Drinking a variation of a clear target is something I enjoy.

Yet, tonight, I'm drinking from a growler of Town Hall's Sunshower, a honey lager interpretation of the awesome Thunderstorm with lemongrass and a serious hop bite that I can't seem to get enough. Velvety smooth lager with a lemony nose that draws me in and a lingering acidic bite of lemon and hops.  Love it and totally not a style.

When this began this post, I thought I had an opinion. Turns out, I'm conflicted. I find styles reassuring and helpful, yet want to be challenged by master brewers to break the very rules I learned to embrace.

Drinking order philosophy: Go Big

Al and I going big at Great Taste.  

On the path of beer geekdom, most of us have read the same advice for tasting samples: drink light to dark. In theory, sampling light to dark will allow a drinker to not blow out the taste buds by starting with the double IPA. For years, I slavishly followed the advice.

I changed my drinking order philosophy after a short night at Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn. With a small but legendary draft list, there we're several that I wanted to try. We settled in and I ordered a Chelsea Blizzard IPA, which was disappointing, and then moved up to La Merle, a saison from North Coast. While a good visit, I had been eyeing a barleywine on the board (that I can't remember the name on now). If you haven't been to Spuytin Duyvil, it's a pretty sketchy walk through Brooklyn. And, in our search for an affordable hotel in New York, we tried a hotel in Jersey, which required a late night train transfer. The combination sent us packing to the subway before I got to the beer I was most interested in drinking.

Not a catastrophe, but enough disappointment to make me re-think my approach, especially on vacation. Now, I go big early and drink whatever looks best on the menu regardless of style or size. This approach will often get me a quizzical look from fellow drinkers when I order the 10% plus barlewine or triple IPA for the first draft. Working through a rack of samples, I will still follow the light to dark guideline (leaving samples that are unimpressive half full or more—another change). But, when ordering drafts, I go big early and drink the best I can find.

First draft and biggest on the menu that
day at Hammerheart Rune Stone Stout

I'm happy with my new philosophy over the last six years since Spuyten Duyvil and our recent trip to Lagunitas is a good example of the approach. Drinking for clear reasons, I started with their IPA because it was 57% of sales (info from the tour) and I couldn't remember it's taste. Then, we jumped right into a sample tray of all the special beers, including some big barrel aged offerings. As a result, we found the fantastic Rye Barrel Aged Gnarley Wine that we were delighted to drink it in spite of the 100 degree day.

This philosophy does have a downside. It will inevitably reduce the overall number of beers you can drink before heading home, whether driving or not. To drive home, a single beer before water and dinner might be required. At the most recent Great Taste, Al and I started with a 16% barleywine and a couple of bars later I ordered New Holland's Pilgrim's Dole wheat wine that comes in a 11%. Even taking a bus home, the big beers slow down the night pretty fast. While this approach takes some discipline and may not be for everyone, it's gotten me to better beers faster and improved my beer stops by simply stepping off the trodden path.

Growlers and Minnesota

Growler storage in my trunk

My first knowledge of recent changes in Minnesota beer laws was Harriet Brewing's policy for growler refills. Bring in your Harriet growlers before September 1st and get $5 back. Brought mine in today and filled up Fulton and Fitger's growlers with Harriet brew.

I decided to take advantage of Harriet's policy to make some room in my trunk. A couple years ago, I walked into the Container Store in Edina with a growler and proceeded to test it in each type of storage system. I finally found a archival box that fit 12 growlers perfectly. To date, I haven't had a growler break in the back. This was my solution to Minnesota's requirement to turn in an empty growler in exchange for a pre-filled one, and a lack of storage space in my house.

Now I'm torn. While it's nice to have three fewer growlers in my collection, I like the pre-filled growlers. They store exceptionally well in the beer fridge until opened and, in my opinion, have a significantly better carbonation retention than those filled from the tap. My problem is that I only like it in Minnesota.  When travelling, I, for obvious reasons, prefer to get beer in my own growlers.  I will rarely purchase a growler from out of state to bring home because of the waste.

My double standard extends to the present system.  I'm hoping that my favorite places like Town Hall Brewery continue to pre-fill growlers while others I visit less frequently can change with my blessing. It's just a bit more work to wash and sanitize before visiting a brewery. Less spontaneous but it'll work. Asking bartenders to not rinse the growler with water and pour on the foam will take more effort. Besides, I have my trunk system in place already—even the guys of the food truck tonight were impressed by my system. We'll see how long I will need it.

On drinking alone

Growing up on a farm in Iowa during the 70s and 80s, neighbors would help neighbors with large jobs like baling hay, a job I enjoyed. One nondescript summer in high school, we were helping Junior—my Uncle Gerrit— put up hay in his barn. I don't remember how the subject came up in, but Junior said that my dad "probably had two or three beers with dinner."  I responded that I had never seen my father drink in the house alone. An awkward pause later, we went back to work.

Don't misunderstand. My father was a good ol' boy who spent much of my childhood in a bar. In fact, I spent much of my childhood in a bar. We'd drive by Alley 7 to see who's truck was parked out back or I could be found doing my homework on the bar at the VFW after football practice. As of result of my father's fondness of beer (mostly Miller Light), and not being home except on Sunday and my mom's bowling night, my family and community thought he was an alcoholic. It didn't help that dad threw his empty 'one for the road' Miller Lite cans in the bed of his truck (in the days before open container laws) until I recycled them for extra cash. In the days before the ubiquity of soda, this beer was a thirst quencher to cut the field dust. My dad drank during the nadir of beer choice, so drinking alone could only be for one reason.  I understand and don't blame my uncle and others at all for their assumptions, my dad was not an alcoholic like his two brothers.

My father was the definitive social drinker. I would sit in a bar and watch him milk a beer or a Black Velvet and Coke at half or a third the pace of others. He never drank alone at home, but I can still hear his voice tell me to "Get  three beers, kid" when a pick up would pull up on our yard. My dad loved people and beer was the lubricant that brought them together.

Because of my family history, I didn't drink through high school or college, except for a few unfortunate episodes that seems to be mandatory in youth. In fact, beer as a hobby and blogging came from the strict rules I place on myself. When I started drinking beer on a regular basis a few years after graduating from Purdue, my reasoning was to have one good beer instead of three crap beers. I would pick up an over-sized bottle of Rolling Rock and a Tombstone pepperoni pizza on the way home from a speech tournament when I coached in Los Angeles. When younger, the demons of my family were so strong, I refused to keep any beer in the house except the one bottle I would pour that night.

Twenty years later is a different story. Today my demon is a hoppy burn. Or, whatever is new or unique. While the exquisite joy of drinking with friends—old and newly made— has provided many a high point, the solo pursuit of beer can be just as sweet. Intensified since I started blogging, I seem to relish drinking and writing alone in a brewpub, savoring the first samples and crafting my impressions. Along with a sublime solitary brew is blended the guilt and shame of drinking alone, an presumption born from the whispers that swirled around dad.

My attitude about drinking at home alone didn't change overnight. My first step to drinking alone was during a Sunday football games; I found that sipping on a barleywine through an entire Vikings game, pouring the remainder of a chilled bottle at half time allowed the glass to warm slowly, creating a rise and fall in the taste throughout an afternoon. Then, in my first visit to the Toronado in San Francisco in 2004, drinking the likes of Ommegang Three Philosophers, the epiphany washed over me that a good slice of pizza and great beer are sufficient.

And here is my confession: I like drinking alone.

I smile at the sight of a freshly poured rack of samples at a new brewpub, and then, without distraction, I sip each in solitude and write. I look forward to focusing on a special bottle by myself sans world to imbibe the artistic glory of hop and barley. While beer writers praise the inherent sociability of beer, I, in opposition to my father, drink the drink alone for the sake of the drink. With the creation of the craft beer world since my father's time, we need to bury the stereotype of drinking alone. Beer is good with or without friends, and drinking alone should not carry the stigma of old.

To Be Determined

Late in the summer, I read the Lifestyles Blogging Report by the folks that run the Beer Bloggers Conference (yes, it's a bona fide event). I participated in creating the data because I was interested in the results. These results were background to several recent life events that have created an upheaval in my priorities. Without commenting on the events, I realized the time I was devoting to this blog needed to be placed elsewhere, mostly, because I don't fit the definition of a serious beer blogger. As a result, I'm not producing the sort of work that I personally read. While I am confident that I could write to the level of those I respect, I really don't have the time or motivation. I don't think it's an accident that most of those I admire are or are working to become some version of a professional in the beer industry. And, I'm not willing to change to become serious and this means the direction of my blog will change.  

However, I have no idea what that path of Pint Sized Revelations will be. Previously, I was writing about nearly every place I stopped locally and on vacation, but that amount of writing is taxing and taking away from the simple pleasure of reading about and tasting beer. Note taking also changes the experience of a stop, especially on vacation. I have a few recent stops that I would really like to share, so some of last summer will make the front page of the blog yet.  Also, I've recently returned to homebrewing more seriously and plan to share the results of that as well. While the blog isn't dead and will have future posts, I've also renewed my subscription to All About Beer, organized a stack of neglected beer books, and plan to take far fewer notes while drinking. 

Stone Vertical Epic Tasting

VE 03.03.03

While the exact details of how and when I heard of the Stone Vertical Epic series is buried in the foggy past, I do remember being excited by the concept. Stone was impossible to get in Minnesota until recently, so I missed out on the 02. On a trip to California the next year, I found the .03 and was then on a quest to find the rest.

Unfortunately, drinking the range over the last couple of weeks, there's no holy grail. While a few were very good to drink yet, not one was better than the first go around. Based on the styles brewed, I suspected a problem all along.  The .02 was a witbier, destined to not aged well. The rest were Belgian ales of varying strengths. The .08, a Belgian IPA, held promise but four years of aging was too much as well.

More interesting than the tasting was remembering the travels necessary for the coast to coast effort to gather the collection. .03 and .04 from Irvine and Oakland, CA, respectively, and the .07 came from Exton, PA. Only three drafts of a VE ever: .07 and .08 at Brasserie V in Madison before Great Tastes and the .11 on site at the Stone World Bistro. Picked up the .05 in West Lafayette, IN during our annual trip to a Purdue football game. After two years of buying .08 and .09 online at Beer on the Wall,  I was able to buy the last years in Minnesota when Stone finally moved into the state.

I don't regret buying the series but definitely disappointed. Granted, my hopes were high in spite of the clear evidence. Still fun and educational, especially since I've learned a fair bit about how my own cellar ages beers over a longer time period. While the Vertical Epic series was a magnificent and inspiring idea, it simply did not deliver.

Here's the beer by beer notes for those interested:

VE 03.03.03: off white rocky head that falls slowly to a thin film over a copper colored Belgian ale with amber highlights along the edges; horse blanket, toffee, dark fruit, spice and cinnamon in the nose which is complex; semi-sweet on the tongue, low carbonation, over-ripe prune and a bitter finish; alcohol is strong and unbalanced. All of the recent BA reviews are all in the same vein—beer didn't live up to the ten years in the cellar.

VE 04.04.04: hard pour to build a barely-there white head over a dark straw gold ale; malt and yeasty spice in the nose plus a musty staleness; sweet maltiness floods the tongue plus a nice spice from hops and/or yeast; not bad but also past it's prime. Again, my original tasting was much more satisfying.

VE 05.05.05: high pour down the center to raise a light brown head over a dark maroon ale with ruby highlights; heavy malt and dark cherry with a light spice in the nose; fruitiness washes over the tongue with a lingering maltiness; sherry notes from a bit of oxidation but an improvement over the .03 and .04 but still downhill from the original tasting.

VE 06.06.06: one of my least favorites of the VE when fresh; hard pour down the center and the light brown head barely rises, alcohol wafts up at a distance; light malt and alcohol in the nose and little else; thin body with an acrid pinch on the tongue; dark fruit in the dry finish. My opinion has not changed about the 06; it's still the weakest, though it doesn't show the oxidation of the 03 or 04.

VE 07.07.07: only a thin white head over a marmalade colored ale; light spice, orange and sweet malt in nose; fruitiness, yeast spice and slight oxidation spreads over the tongue with a light acidic bite; good but it seems to have lost a step and some balance from my last tasting.

VE 08.08.08: stark white head lingers a while before falling to a film; amber ale with shimmering gold highlights is promising; hop has fallen out of this Belgian IPA from nose and taste; mostly funk left and little to balance; aged a year, I was much more impressed with a bottle of the 08 in spite of being less enamored with a draft.

VE 09.09.09: thick, creamy tan head that builds quickly and hangs on; dark cherry, chocolate, spice and a hint of oxidization that blends nicely for an intriguing nose; smooth and full bodied, it fills the mouth with chocolate and toffee tones, a slight burnt malt hidden underneath and maybe a hop presence trying to make itself known. The 2009 edition has held up well and the best so far.

VE 10.10.10: near white head dissipates immediately, leaving a orange and gold ale; pretty nose of spice, pepper, lemon, yeast and bready sweetness; sweet and spicy on the tongue, front to back; slight oxidation dulls it a bit but the overall impression is good.  It has held up for the three years but it can't go much longer.

VE 11.11.11: thick, tightly-bubbled off white head piles up over a copper ale, and the beauty ends there; nose is dank with dark chocolate and cherry underneath; taste is stale malt with some fruit underneath; so far, the recent beers have improved but the 11 is the exception of the steady improvement from .03 to .10.

VE 12.12.12: hard pour barely lifted the light brown head over a pitch black ale; complex herb and spice nose with dark fruit, fig and cherry; full body fills the mouth with herbs and spices flowing over the tongue; sweet to cloyingly off the back; very good but not the excellent I remember from my 12.12.12 birthday.

The Local Beer Bar (Eureka, CA)

Cool and unique tap board

7/1/13

After Lost Coast Brewery, we walked over to The Local Beer Bar. Eureka rolls up the streets at 10 pm (confirmed by the bartender), so we moved quickly after dinner to have pint.

What a tap list. For me, this is the new model for a beer bar: a small, informed and well served list. We struggled to pick a beer, but three strikes (samples) are allowed before having to choose.

I started with Iron Fist's Nelson the Imp-Paler: pale ale with Nelson Saugvin hops; super clear lager yellow but not thin at all with a clean hop fruitiness; bites clean and the hops linger. The Mad River John Barleycorn was adequate but didn't live up to expectation but draft of Bacchus from Brouwerij von Honsebrouck renewed hope: nice sour but a bit thin and middle of the road to be impressive but very acceptable. I ended with 101 North's Herione IPA: sweet and malty IPA with a clean, brash hop charge. Good choice.

Our bartender, who I neglected to write down her name, was extremely patient and very knowledgeable. Point of fact, my bias, a level of service I didn't expect to find in Eureka. While each beer wasn't served in a brewery glass, they were served in a glass close to style. Small food offering, including veggie empanadas, but we were full from Lost Coast, so didn't check it out.

At the bar, we met two young men having a beer before heading to a local organic farm the next morning to work a two month stint for room, board and a bit of spending money. In chatting with one, he had done two years of college but it didn't fit.  He felt his family was disappointed with him compared to his educated and "successful" siblings. He could have been any one of my students, trying to find his way and needing support.  We told both of them we admired their quest and wished them luck.

Just a quite night with a jazzy background, a bartender and four people at a bar in Eureka, California, in the shadow of the redwoods. The rush of a successful beer quest plus pleasant conversion while bellied up to the bar made for a great stop. Hope more locals hit The Local Beer Bar because this it is a beauty.

Great Taste 2013 (Madison, WI)

Battle plan, which never works.

For each of my nine times at the Great Taste of the Midwest, I've shown up early to get in line to prepare the battle plan from the program for the fest. My optimism in finding every new brewery to add to my list versus the reality of always failing to conquer the goal is at the heart of why this is a great fest. With brewers often pouring their wares themselves and fighting for attention by bringing their best, failure to taste everything new and sampling amazing beer are both guaranteed. Simply, Great Taste may be the best beer festival, period.  

First, unlike the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), which has more beer, time and the heart of Denver to drink, Great Taste brewers are often pouring their own beers. At GABF, volunteers pour the samples and, as worthy and wonderful as they are, it's not the same as being able to chat with the brewer or staff when getting a sample. Second, it is an incredibly well run festival by the local Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild. All festival organizers need to take notes on getting a line in the door, the fastest anywhere. Over the years, the club doesn't rest on its laurels and even the festival layout changes and improves each year. The entrance has moved to the other side of the fest and the flush toilets are inside the grounds rather than being your last chance in line before being relegated to porta-potties for the rest of the day. Third, Olin-Turville Park's location on the lake across from downtown is unparalleled at any festival I've attended, especially because the ticket cap means a 2 oz sample is rarely far away. And, finally, the selection of beer from the midwest, draft and cask, is simply fantastic. As alluded to above, the unique nature of Great Taste all of the brewers bring their A game for everyone to taste, including fest only beers. In short, Great Taste is the granddaddy that shows everyone how to do it right.

And they are off...not stumbling now. 

For me, the value of Great Taste is finding beers that inspire a visit to a brewery later on. From past festivals, for example, I discovered and traveled to the following breweries: Bluegrass, Flossmoor Station, Lafayette, New Glarus, Three Floyd's, Piece Pizzeria, Dragonmead, Dark Horse among others. In today's booming beer age, tasting to find breweries worth visiting later is even more valuable. Because a single sample can be misleading, I tend to taste several at each brewery to make sure that the range makes the overall impression rather than just one beer. 

2013 was an especially good festival. All of the best of the fest fortuitously arrived in a single year: amazing weather with no rain and low heat; fabulous Great Taste Eve; more (good) vegetarian food than ever; too many new breweries to tackle; random encounters with beery friends before and during the fest; and my wife decided to come along. We've experienced the converse conditions at Great Taste before, including rain, high heat, bad food, pot smokers in the woods and drinkers too immature or unable to handle the demands of an all-you-can-drink festival. In the end, the good outweighs the bad by far. This year had several beer highlights. My wife's favorite was the New Glarus 2012 Cherry Stout: dark maroon with red highlights in the summer sun; awesome dark cherry and caramel nose; Door County cherry floods the tongue like Belgian Red (dancingly light but not thin) but with more depth from the stout character. We each got a couple of samples after the 4:30 tapping, easily the best of the special releases we set up in the morning line up. 

Wedge potatoes from
Smokin' Cantina

Fitger's in Duluth had my highest rated beer of the day, but it was a new release of an old favorite, 1100 Wheatwine: alcohol and wheat spice in the nose with heavy legs on the side of the glass; caramel colored with gold highlights, the big original gravity blends the spice and wheat on the tongue to near perfection; an under-brewed style, this beer is simply amazing and I can't believe I have only ever had samples at festivals. 

The next new brewery to visit from sampling will probably be Toppling Goliath. All three hoppy beers I tried—Golden Nugget IPA, Pseudo Sue and Zeelander—were all very good and worth a future draft. Plus, beer friends recommended Toppling Goliath from their visit, so the combination will get me there at some point. 

A heavily hyped beer from New Holland (cheezy track theme) that didn't quite live up to expectations was New Holland's Smaug's Breath: Dragon's Milk spiced with Chili de Arbois and aged for six months; chili pepper is hot and lingers on the front of the tongue and blends nicely with the barrel aged smoke of Dragon's Milk. While the beer clearly wins the completion of a metaphor award, it isn't as drinkable as, say, Stone's Smoked Porter with chili peppers.

Early dinner of Mango Rundown Tofu w/
Red Beans and Rice to get through fest

Since I haven't been to Great Taste in four years, several recent improvements make it even more fun. First and foremost, the organizers finally switched the brewery order of the program to alphabetical rather than by state. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you. This year was the first time that I used my program effectively to take notes. After a few samples, nothing beyond one level of organization can be negotiated and the old state format was impossible. Second, there is now a dedicated website to the festival with detailed information, including an early release of the program a couple days ahead of time. Invaluable planning information for the true geek in the comfort of your home; in addition, the Eve special gatherings are conveniently listed there as well. And third, there's an app track down beers and take notes, which is very cool; however, a glitch (by Apple, not the fest is my understanding) delayed the download to the point where we gave up and stayed with paper for the day. While very good before, it's vastly improved and the fest has been brought into the modern era for a techno generation of beer geeks. 

Leinie's road warrior trailer--a sign of veterans

I'm not sure how but Great Taste 2001 was the very first festival that my wife and I ever attended. The specifics of the day, which is before I started recording my taste database rankings, is hidden in the fog of memory. However, it inspired beer travel, wide ranging reading and 50+ additional festivals over the years, including seven more Great Tastes within the first decade of my beer journey. This festival nothing short of shaped my understanding of beer.  

In spite of all of this high praise, I'm considering not attending a Great Taste again—or at least not very often. Why? As with Autumn Brew Review and Winterfest at home, the popularity of the event means that others who are just discovering the fest can do and learn as I did. Plus, while the $50 price is more than reasonable for this experience, the five hours to drink means failure to taste all that is new is guaranteed. This may be a critique of American festivals in general (as opposed to the Great British Beer Festival that servers drafts all day). Also, the cost of hotels is Madison is high, so funding a weekend of lodging, food, drink, fest and transportation is considerable. In fact, the weekend was more than a trip to Chicago in June that was roughly twice as long. While an exception beer fest, it does mean a considerable dedication of time and resources to drink. Compounding that fact is that very little surprised me when sampling and I feel that I could be using limited beer resources to learn more elsewhere.

New Holland "raceway" for beer

But, Great Taste is a unique experience that should be done at least once by every beer geek. In spite of having tasted nearly 1000 breweries and visited almost 300 on site since 2000, the 2013 edition of Great Taste has over 50 breweries that I have not had a single drop. Amazing. Plus, with no planning, I ran into so many familiar beer people on the weekend, I felt like Norm walking in Cheers. This is enhanced by our annual stop at Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery at least once every fest to say hi to Hoops, Pete or one of the crew and taste what special something we haven't had at the put yet. Great Taste is simply spectacular and worth being the object of beery worship that draw so many every year.  

Recommendations for an epic Great Taste:

• Make it a weekend. The Eve of Great Taste is become as legendary as the festival, and easily my favorite part of the weekend now. I've even considered skipping the tickets and just heading down for the Friday night. Going down for the fest is fun but the full experience requires a night of bar hopping in beautiful downtown Madison.

• In line early. Because of the excellent organization, people in the back of the line no longer wait 45 minutes past the start to get a beer. However, the early bird still gets first choice. Be aware that the organizers move everyone up at about 12:30 pm to stage the fast entrance. An important part of showing up early is proper restraint the night before with all of the great beers available. A significant number of attendees start behind the eight ball with a hangover, some obvious.

• Build a base. Either get a hotel with a buffet breakfast, find a local restaurant for a big brunch or pick up food to eat in line. Food in the fest has improved, but it takes time from finding samples. Eating at a pub with a bus can be a good route, but arrive early to eat, pay and get on the first bus to the fest to get in line.

Best view of any festival

• To Sit or Not to Sit. As alluded in Build a base, time is of the essence. In early years, especially when it was easier to arrange tickets for larger group of friends, we took chairs along. I gave up on creature comforts and focus on getting to samples. 

• Hydrate. Backpacks are allowed, so I wear at Camelback to have a 3 liter start on the day plus I rinse my glass with most drinks. Add the easily available potable water in the rinse tanks, keeping hydrated, even on a hot day, isn't that hard.

• Dump those not worthy. I feel dumping a brewer's blood, sweat and tears but the grassy surface allows less then stellar beers to be discarded discreetly without being messy or rude. Drinking the mediocre samples will come at a price later.

• Beer strap. I find using a beer strap to hold my glass invaluable. With one notable exception, I have come home with every glass from over 50 festivals because of the beer strap. Not sold at Great Taste that I noticed this year, I'm unsure where to get them now. I am holding on tight to my collection, many of which were purchased at early Great Tastes.  

• Research pays. Succumb to the unavoidable failure of not tasting as much as you want early and prioritize from the pre-released program or the app. By having reasonable expectations and a plan, I've found the fest to be much more enjoyable.

• Post festival plan. Don't drunkenly argue to stay and fight for one more sample—don't be that guy that endangers the festival. I've noticed that festival time moves at different speeds, generally going fast near the end. Plan ahead and repeat a favorite just before close, savoring it while walking slowly towards the exits (to avoid being hastened by staff). Get on a bus to a pub or take the $1 plus tip cabs to a planned location with food, water and air conditioning.

Hop Heads Only Volume 5 at The Blue Nile (Minneapolis, MN)

While I love going to one of Al's events at The Blue Nile, I admittedly can be irresponsible and don't always make them. Happily, I was able to make Hop Heads Only Volume 5 for a wealth of hoppy beers that I hadn't been able to drink before.

Twelve IPAs and Double IPAa on tap for the takeover and I was missing just under half from my list. If not for Al's quest for Urine Trouble, a Surly/Three Floyd's collaboration last June during our Chicago escapade and a draft on site at Brooklyn Brewery on my last trip to New York, I would have been on the short side of the list. This rarely happens to be on my travels (The Local in Eureka, CA is a recent exception) and is a testament to Al's beer showmanship.

Flights of three samples (4 oz) for $7 was the deal tonight. A thirsty drinker need only write the three taps he wanted to try on the handy, dandy sheet that was provided and they would appear. It did make it very easy to remember which beer was which, especially since the IPAs often looked very similar and were easily confused.

Started with Great Lakes' Erie Monster, which is very big and smooth with a resinous body. The 9.1% alcohol is completely unapparent. This is one try again in the future.  Next is Lucid Duo, a hop sledgehammer, just as touted in the description. Just smooth enough with a great nose to keep it out of the hop stupid category. Third beer of the first set is Squatters Hop Rising, a surprisingly malty beer with a strong caramel note in the middle with the hops fighting to get out. Nice first set.

Now a little hop philosophizing. Hop heads are often derided for being of a single mind following the hop god.  In this set alone, three very distinct types of hoppy IPAs are showcased that show the infinitely variety that is the real draw for hop heads—like me. With no limit in sight for the combinations of hops and malt, this set is the reason why so many of us are hooked.

Erie Monster, Duo and Hop Rising samples
with identifier mat and 

My second set was similar and could have made the same point. Moylan's Hop Craic XXXXIPA is an easy order since a random beer geek on the other side of the bar said it's his favorite; plus saying "I want Hop Crack!" is simply fun: fresh and fruity with a bite to grab your attention and the smooth piney resin pulls it all together. Best Moylan's I have ever had to date and was my full draft pick of the night with dinner. I followed up with Goose Island The Illinois. I have always been a fan of Goose Island since my first visit in 2001. However, either they or I have changed, and this malty Imperial IPA, lacking a clear hops presence, is disappointing. Thanks to Al, I had a draft of the Surly/Three Floyd Urine Trouble on our Chicago trip. Decided to it as a sample for another look at home: it's light in the glass but delivers a funky hop bite; barnyard and fruit in the nose that makes it fun. Made for a Big Cat Sanctuary benefit, this is a hoppy beer that fits well in the Surly line that will push the limits of some.

In straight forward terms, Al does a great job of delivering fantastic beers at the Blue Nile. Unfortunately, the crowd was light for this exceptional line up, probably the best of the series. If you head down soon, I'm guessing some of them will be on tap in the coming weeks to try a pint. With life interfering, I am also guilty of passing up some of Al's beer offerings when I should be there, but more of us should attend these great events whenever possible.

Four Magic Words from the LA Times

I recently read an article from the LA Times, "Four magic words that will make you sound like a craft beer expert".  Here they are to save you the time: Dry Hopped, Cask, Mosiac (as in the hop), and Gueuze.

Besides being terms useless to a neophyte not drinking on the edge (cask, gueuze), posting this article to Beerit, the beer section of Reddit, most of the responses were in the same general direction as my initial thought: these out of context words will make you sound like a pompous beer jerk. Reading this article will set you up for an epic fail, especially since no guide is given on how to pronounce the last in the list, which I still stumble over in spite of getting it clarified for me in Brussels last summer.

While the article is less than enlightening (and, no, I'm not going to try to substitute my own list of four words), I think the existence of the article is more important than the actual content. I like the idea that the Los Angeles Times thinks that there is a need for an outsider to know something about beer. In a sense, we have arrived.

In 2006 at a Superbowl party, I opened a bottle of Anheuser Busch Brew Master's Private Reserve that came in a box and a fully flourished bottle. The beer was adequate at best but better than most AB beers.  I held the bottle for those around me and ask what they saw. My response to blank stares: The beginning of the end. AB's marketing department has conceded that better beer is the future and this is why this bottle exists. I drank the beer as a death knell to macro beer, which has pretty much come true recently.

So, this article seems to me to be another canary in the coal mine.  However, the impact of someone thinking beer knowledge is necessary to be cool is a good sign, maybe even a sign of respect.  But with the changes coming with the booming of the craft beer industry, the lack of clarity of the future makes me far less giddy than drinking my completely mediocre bottle of AB.

Lagunitas Brewing (Petaluma, CA)

Hop  Stupid and Gueze (foreground) before tour

6/29/13

On one of our early New York City trips, my wife and I were on the boat out to see the Statue of Liberty. Standing together at the very front of the boat, Gloria asked me what I thought of the statue. I paused before admitting—I thought it'd be bigger. My theory is that since the Statue of Liberty is often shot dramatically from a low angle, my expectations were too high.

Starting our beer and tree trip north of San Francisco at Lagunitas, my expectations were low but I was blown away by the attitude, history and size of the brewery: I thought it'd be smaller. While I like Lagunitas beers, my impression from their standard beers that make it to Minnesota would be comparable to more of a Summit, a safe regional brewery with solid regulars and a few edgy beers. On walking into the taproom and brewery, the large outdoor and clearly not air conditioned taproom on a 98 degree day did not bode well as a start. We hawked a table in the shade of the loud main bar and ordered a Hop Stoopid and Gueuze quickly since the tour was starting soon. A favorite of mine, the Hop Stoopid lived up to the billing and the Gueuze was more than acceptable as well. Having held off for lunch, we nibbled ferociously on the free bowl of munchies until we could have lunch after the tour.

Fermentor tanks--much bigger place than I imagined

There's no tour reservations, so we simply showed up a bit early for the 1 pm tour. Not hearing the "call" we were told would come, we took our beers to the front to join the tour as the top of the hour approached.  The initial intro to Lagunitas was in the shade of the brewery with Tim our humorous tour guide, storytelling to help us finish our beers (mandatory) before heading inside. Without retelling all of the stories, originator Tony Magee is a bit of a wild card. Starting as a homebrewer because he was unemployed in 1992, he turned "pro" within a year in spite of a yeasty blow up of a 1940s septic tank under his first brewery. Both Censored and Undercover Shutdown have stories to show how Lagunitas has run afoul of the authorities over the years, a bad boy image that I was unaware of.

New 250 barrel brewhouse

Keg filler in action

As told my Tim, this roguish behavior led to all beery magnificence around us, including the massive stand of fermenting tanks that caught my eye and surprise on the way in to the taproom. Also on the tour was the new 250 barrel brewhouse, up from the original 80 barrel system, plus descriptions of the new 300,000 sq foot Chicago based brewery that will be twice the size and will run 24/7 to cut costs on logistics while serving a thirsty Midwest. Between the origin mythology and clear growth of the brand, Lagunitas is a much different brewery than I had in my head from drinking them at a distance. Another thread in Tim's storytelling was the importance of relationships to Lagunitas, including employees, regulars and the community around the taproom. This included charity events with donated beer for good causes, most recently raising $20,000 for a local fisherman whose boat sank. I found myself fascinated with how far off my perceptions were and wondering why the Lagunitas story and image had never really reached me.   

Too far from another stop, we had to have lunch before leaving, so we headed back to fight for a seat at the bar to hide from the sweltering heat. While some at the bar were seemingly locals in the taproom, there were also a large number of sampler trays going out from the bar, so we were not the only tourists in the place. We staked out a spot at the corner of the bar, in part, with the help of Dave and Meredith from Salem, OR, our new beer friends by the end of the stop. They were at the end of their beer trip as we were on our first day in the same basic area, so they gave us advice, including how to get a beer at Russian River by standing at the end of the bar instead of behind the throngs. While we all chatted, Gloria and I had the roasted veggie avocado sandwich for lunch, which was fabulous; it good enough that we almost stopped again on the way south back to San Francisco.

Main bar from corner where we sat

I started with a draft of the IPA because Tim the tour guide said it was the engine of their expansion at 57% of production and I couldn't remember its taste: off white head over a mostly gold ale with amber highlights; floral nose with biscuit; good bite on the tongue with a very strong malt base. While refreshing in the heat and a more than adequate IPA, it's not a beer that will find a home in my beer fridge.

On to the specialty samples (we only had one set; pictured are Dave and Meredith's full sets of all beers). A range of beers, including Fusion 15 and Fusion 16 (never figured out what either was but 15 was better), an excellent Farmhouse ale and Lucky 13. Then came three barrel aged beers, all good, but the Rye Barrel Aged Gnarly Wine was spectacular, which significantly delayed our departure because of the need to have a draft: amber and brown with gold highlights; nose is full of hot alcohol and flowers with rye and dark cherry over a heavy malt; sweetness on the tongue, dark fruits galore that blends perfectly with a spiciness from rye or hop, not sure which.  Big wonderful beer that I would love to drink when it was 50 degrees cooler outside, but hard to complain when it's rare to find any barleywine on our summer travels.

Dave and Meredith's full set of regular and seasonal samplers

We had a fantastic stop at Lagunitas. Fun tour with a range of great beers and some new beer friends that made it feel like a local, all in spite of the inland heat wave. Travel expectations really can frame and alter expectations, and today, nlike the Statue of Liberty, it worked in my favor. Tony Magee was at the Four Firkins last week in Minnesota, however, sadly, I wasn't able to get to the event to add to this post. Nevertheless, this visit highlights why I enjoy visiting breweries: nothing like drinking the history and passion of beer on site to learn the full story.

McGoon's Taxi Co (Rochester, MN)

McGoon's Taxi Co Pub and Restaurant

Tonight's evening of fun and laugh's was my first visit to this downtown location since it was O'Neill's Pizza Pub.  In fact, until an invitation by friends for dinner and open mic night, I avoided going into the old place where we spent so much time waiting for Dan's heart transplant.

Walking in, it's hard to recognize the old place when I walked into McGoon's for dinner. A themed restaurant like Friday's down to the taxicab menus, it's a very friendly and cozy place to chat and drink. Limited drafts on tap and different from what is listed online. Something to be said for how a server pitches a tap list, ending with the "dark and bitter" Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale, which was the best on the list. It seemed obvious that he wasn't a fan of hops, but it's nice that they have at least one hoppy beer on tap for those of use of the persuasion.  Oddly, in spite of having been to Lagunitas on vacation earlier this month, Undercover is as a draft is missing from my list. Sticking with Lagunitas for the night, the draft upstairs at Goonie's seemed a bit brighter than the tall I had downstairs.  No specific problem I noticed; both were served just fine.

After finishing a very good dinner, we headed upstairs to Goonie's Comedy Club for open mic night. All stand up comedians, each on a tight time limit.  An interesting mix of veteran comics with several on stage for the very first time. Going in with relatively low expectations (because I had no idea), I was pleasantly surprised by how often I laughed out loud. Most of the comics were good (or tolerable) and only a few that I would have been a good opportunity to get a drink, especially since there's no cover. A diverse crowd trickled in through the show until nearly full at the end and seemed quite merry.

Greek Veggie Wrap and potato salad

I found the night interesting, not just for the laughs, but to see the developing skill of each of the comedians as writers, especially the younger performers just starting out. I half-jokingly credit much of I initial knowledge of writing from my days as a bouncer during Comedy Caravan at Nick's, a nightclub on the levee at Purdue. Bored at my post since no one fights when drinking Long Island Ice Tea for a $1.75 while listening to top comics on the circuit from New York to LA. As a communications major, I took the time to analyze the structure of humor, much of which ended up in my "writing buddy" format that I use to teach freshmen. Tonight's open mic night was a flip side of this old practice by seeing budding comics as opposed to the professionals at Nick's.

McGoon's and Goonie's is an amusing diversion with good beer and food and more than a few laughs for a Thursday cheap date night, plus I would be optimistic that the full weekend comedy shows would be worth the price of admission.  While I was slightly disconcerted underneath from my personal history with the space, it was a great time that helped me erase ghosts of my past. While not a beer bar per se, there's a couple good drafts to while away an evening with in good humor, upstairs or down.

O'Neill's Pizza Pub (Rochester, MN)

O'Neill's "new" location in the Crossroads Shopping Center

July 2013

I love O'Neill's Pizza Pub.  Besides that I really love the pizza, the additional reasons are listed below in my original review of the pub in 2006. We continued to go to O'Neill's after Dan received his heart transplant for the additional six years Dan lived in town, but my wife and I don't get there much since his passing.

My bias for O'Neill's is clear and unabashed. However, back in the day with Dan, we tried restaurants all over town and nearly every slice of pizza. Our group honestly returned to O'Neill's because we preferred their food, beer list and friendly atmosphere. Luckily, my speech coach friends indulge my obsession to stop here, so we will have business and/or social meetings over pizza at the pub. Also, local friends agree that the pizza is unique and go there for "German Club" (code for an after school teacher happy hour), independent of my influence. So, I feel somewhat justified that my bias isn't just about nostalgia.

So, please stop by O'Neill's (any day but Sunday or Monday when closed) and help keep my favorite pub in Rochester serving great pizza and beer for a very long time.


BeerAdvocate review from 9/16/2006
My nephew Dan was in Rochester waiting for a heat transplant for a year and a half. My wife and I traveled from the Twin Cities to see him every Wednesday during that time, and for about nine months of it we went to O'Neill's for pizza, beer, and edited Dan's poetry (now a self published collection). With that said, I think O'Neill's is one of the most unique restaurants I've ever been and, obviously, one of my favorites.

I rarely miss the opportunity to have beer and pizza at O'Neill's when in Rochester.

O'Neill's bar area.  Free pizza set out at happy hour

Here's why. The beer list is excellent. Not as big as either Whistle Binkies, but well chosen and fresh. I've never once had a stale beer, bottle or draft, in the times I've visited. On my last visit, there were eight drafts ranging from Kul Lite to Mojo IPA, and, as an Irish Pub, Guinness, Bass, and Smithwick's are par for the course. Always a consistent range of bottles including Victory Golden Monkey, Sleeman, several Rogue, Hazed and Infused, Murphy's, Wexford Irish Creme, Kostritzer, Weihenstephaner, Erdinger, Wittekerke, Kwak, Orval, Tilburg Brown Ale, Lindemans Framboise, Belhaven's Twisted Thistle and a few others. The list doesn't change much, but sometimes the bottled beers will show up on tap. It's a carefully crafted selection of beers that sell well with few changes over time.

Now the food. The first pizza here we had was a Greek pizza with feta, tomatoes, and black olives. In the original location (moved recently), Irish and Greek flags flew in the rafters. And it is probably the only Irish Pub that you can have baklava for dessert. Evidently, one of the O'Neill daughters married into Greek cuisine. Our "usual" is a Golden Monkey for myself, a Kostritzer for my wife, a Triple-Double (our name, not O'Nei'll's, for double crust, double sauce, double cheese) and baklava for dessert. The pizza sauce is the heart of it, sweet and tasty, very different than an Italian style oregano and basil sauce. Not sure what it is, but it is very unique and good. We enjoy our multi-continent meal several times a year when we visit my nephew, who lives and goes to school in Rochester now and is doing well with his new heart
Even wrote an ode. Irish for Pizza is a T-shirt slogan of ONeills that I borrowed for the title. Allison no longer works there (graduated and joined the service), but we've kept some contact and we were still recognized when we had a Greek pizza yesterday for lunch.

My expository poem from Do chicks really dig scars?, a collection of poems written by Dan and revised by me. Click on the Poetry tab on the blog's home page for a link to buy our book.  

Irish for Pizza

Restaurant seating

ONeills Pizza Pub, family run, marked only
by a small yellow neon sign, an Irish pub with
Greek food (both flags fly from the rafters) and
an Irish/German/American beer list worthy of
   Slainte!      Prosit!      and        Cheers!

A daughters marriage, we were told, changed the
menu so that ordering baklava with Guinness or a
hefeweizen as dessert to a feta cheese pizza with
tomatoes and olives, somehow, makes great sense.

Every Wednesday night, our ill-formed group
(get it—Dan's sick, illness formed...…never mind)
picks the center booth, puts quarters quickly in
the jukebox, and then, we wait not-so-patiently for

Draft list on last visit in June 2013

Johnny Cash to rumble out Ring of Fire.

Allison, our Supergirl waitress, as much a part
of Wednesdays with Dan as we are, takes our
high maintenance order:

a Schwarzbier for Aunt Gloria, triple-double pizza
(double crustdouble cheeseand always double
of their Oh! so sweet Greek pizza sauce), best beer
on this week's list for Uncle Cal, soda and poetry
for Dan, and whatever conversation that's on tap.

When Dan went back in the hospital, briefly, we
even ordered a pizza to-go, an excuse to tell Allison
that Dan's ok, just couldn't make it that week, tied
up with hospital tubing and an infection.

We came for pizza and a pub, and stayed for a big
booth with quiet nights to write and laugh and cry
(some tears happy, some sad) with great food and
fine drink and people who care—a sense of home
in a very hard time.

How I research for a beer trip

Chicago with beer friends Scott, Al and Heather
at Haymarket Pub

While on a beer trip to drink some of Chicago's finest beer spots, I read along with the Colorado beer trip of Kris and Mag of Beer Musings from Portland. Specifically, I noticed that places I had in my head weren't showing up on their tour. I sent a note asking Kris how they design a beer trip—and it's significantly different from mine.  .

For comparison, here are my trip planning resources:

I generally cross-reference three sources to find a hit list of breweries.  First source is Beerfly on BeerAdvocate.  Now called Places, there's two basic ways to use it. By clicking on a city list, a shortened grouping of breweries and bars come up according to their BA quality rankings; just start at the top and work down to find interesting stops.  Another way to use the list is to click on the state or country, and then within that list, click on the city to pull up a locally comprehensive list of breweries and bars listed on BA. From either location, I start reading reviews (making adjustments according to my estimation of the reviewer).

Half of the 100 taps at Meadhall in Boston

Second, I like The Beer Mapping Project.  Either by Country, Region or City, the Google map fueled project gives a full geographic perspective of the beerscape while in the planning stage.  There are often beer locations that show up on Beer Mapping that don't show up on BA, and vice versa.  Beer Mapping has a different (and often lower) standard to be included as a beer destination, so this alters what's listed.  I find that this bird's eye view speeds the planning process.

And third, I read or listen to a lot of beer material, including Beer Advocate, All About Beer, Basic Brewing Radio and blogs.  At festivals, while I try to plan a hit list of new breweries compared to my taste database, I also recognize breweries on instinct.  At an early Great Taste, a friend once said near the end of the day "Wow, just following you gets me a lot of good beer."  Another example, my wife and I found ourselves in Vermont without a brewpub because the one I had picked out was closed when we arrived.  Searching BA on my phone, I recognized Three Penny Taproom on our route and we stopped on the strength of my gut feeling that it was good, which turned out to be a favorite of the entire trip. Later I realized that Three Penney is a regular advertiser in the BA magazine. However, because I don't keep or categorize my print sources and much of it isn't available online, I tend to rely on memory to recognize good beer destinations while using the previous sources.

One Voice Denver beer tour
starting at Amato's.  

On occasion, I use a fourth source: local references.  On the recent Chicago trip, a speechie friend lives near the neighborhoods we were visiting and offered a personal perspective that altered the drinking priority.  Another time a reference worked well, I beermailed the most active BA in London and not only got advice on where to drink but how early to get a spot for the New Year's fireworks at the London Eye (a peak travel experience for us).  Besides knowing someone local (or that has traveled there), the caveat of these recommendations is the beer knowledge and preferences of the friend or acquaintance.

Once a broad range of beer places are found, I start searching through the websites of the bars and breweries.  Making a stop at Stone World Bistro in Southern California, Wynkoop in Denver or the tour at Cantillon in Brussels are easy calls, finding a quality place like Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa in Rome or Cerveceria de MateVeza in the Castro district can be a bit harder. Over the years, "reading between the lines" has become an important skill to see if the place is what I am looking for.  For example, I have a clear bias against any bar or brewpub that doesn't have a separate tab or location for the beer menu.  If beer isn't important enough to place a tab, then it's probably not important enough to visit.  After that obvious trick, the rest is using the website to determine the values of the brewery and whether or not I think they fit what my wife and I look for in a beer stop.  When reading reviews on BA or other locations, this same sort of reading between the lines is needed as well.  For any one place, BA members will be in different parts of their beer journey, present different levels of knowledge and have location and personal biases; in order to "read" for accurate information, these opinions clearly need to be weighed accordingly.

Lunch with Westveletern 12 at In De Vrede

Once I have a wish list, the logistics of the trip can be planned.  I often, but not always, will set up my own drinking map on Google maps. This can serve as a reference on trip, but mostly is used for seeing the space and knowing how to pair stops, plan a stop while being touristy or chose a hotel. I wish Google would allow the maps to print with clear labels for each point on the map, which would make it more useful when travelling.  My travel info is moving online with my phone and iPad, so it's becoming more useful domestically.  However, it doesn't help at all for international trips where everything needs to be printed.

On the road, there's two different times of beer stops we make on vacation.  Originally, the first type of beer hunting I did was simply knowing where the best available beer is when we needed lunch or dinner. While being touristy, it became almost a joke with my wife and I that she'd turn to me and ask "So, where's the nearest brewpub?"  If I knew the answer and could give clear, fast directions, the brewpub was chosen instead of something else. Recently, we started to go off the tourist path to incorporate high value drinking destinations (Westvleteren in Belgium, Brewery Ommegang in New York, Russian River in California) within the larger framework of our travel, though the non-beer itinerary generally takes precedence.

Chimay flight of 1992, 2002 and 2012
at Kulminator in Antwerp

The second type of beer stop is travelling to beer for the sake of beer. I have flown into Denver, twice, simply to drink at the Great American Beer Festival. Last summer, I flew to Brussels a week before meeting my wife and nieces in Paris for the main portion of our vacation. Easily the biggest beer only vacation, Brussels was a bucket list drinking trip.  My recent Chicago trip was purely beer, though we spent a few hours one morning at the Art Institute of Chicago and another walking around Millenium Park for a requisite "Bean" picture as our only distractions from the task at hand.

Overall, my process for these two types of beer trips has been as described above, except beer for the sake of beer destinations take a bit more planning and have a few unique logistical considerations.  A main factor is that bars and breweries tend to not be open in the morning, so sleeping in (which I don't do well) or finding additional touristy options will be needed.  Also, another limiting problem is when breweries offer tours.  In  Belgium, it was a struggle to find a tour to day each day for a week. And, finally, palate fatigue and pacing for a beer only trip needs to be considered to keep the trip fun and safe. Since the vast majority of my beer hunting in the past has been within the framework of other travel or festivals, my philosophy of beer dedicated trips is still forming.  I will update in future posts as my thinking coalesces.

Very dusty beer bottle collection at
Tuborg in Copenhagen

Which leads to my main reason for this post. On the Chicago trip, I started to suspect the my beer hunting, especially the dedicated beer trips, was rehashing what other drinkers had found. I recently came across Urban Beer Hikes and like the philosophy of earned drinking (and safety) through hiking. I am somewhat concerned with my over reliance on BA and that I am missing an opportunity to add unique, new experiences to my beer knowledge.  However, since BA is often local crowd sourcing at its best, it has repeatedly gotten me some of the best beer experiences of my life.  As a result of this cognitive dissonance and a fear that I might be missing out on ever better beer, I am looking to revise and improve my beer hunting system. I would love to hear from others about your favorite beery resources and beer hunting tips and tricks.

 Links to trips represented in photos:
2012 Belgium
2012 Colorado
2012 Copenhagen
2013 Chicago