A Place to Gather and Talk
When you think of beer destinations in Central Europe, certain cities and regions stand out as iconic.
Rauchbier from Bamberg. Budweiser from Budweis. Kölsch from Cologne. Pilsener from Pilsen. Altbier from Düsseldorf. Berliner Weisse. Gose from Leipzig. Light and dark lagers from Munich. And the beer riches of Bavaria in general.
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Portland seems to have skipped the rainy spring season and gone straight to the sun-filled patio, day-drinking spring season. Blame global warming, or maybe just our mercurial weather patterns (it’s probably going to go back to rainy at any point), but whatever the case, it’s the perfect excuse to try a seasonal beer or two from one of our many breweries.
Oddly, not every brewery has released their spring beers yet, but from the ones that have, here are our favorites.
Gose, 5.2% ABV
Mississippi (district)
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There have been a few notable dissenters who’ve roped me into long and pointless email exchanges about my ongoing love for Deschutes beers. The very things that I love about them are the things that seem to set a lot of folks off. One guy, who has now mercifully moved onto to ragging somebody else in the Beerniverse, spent two solid months trying to argue me off Deschutes, back in 2009-2010. “Their beers are flabby!” he wrote, “They talk about hops but then they don’t deliver. It’s all just marketing. They know that Northwest beer lovers want hops and yet they crap up every beer with malts that blunt the bitterness! They claim to love hops but they know that newbie drinkers won’t touch a properly bitter ale, so they mute everything! When are you and they going to get a clue?”
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An Alabama craft brewery will observe the state’s new growler law by debuting a limited-release peach beer inspired by the ongoing Gov. Robert Bentley scandal.
Salty Nut Brewery of Huntsville said its new Unimpeachable Pale Ale will celebrate the “unimpeachable leadership shown by Bentley,” who came under fire in March after he admitted to making sexually inappropriate comments to his former political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who has since resigned.
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Standing amid a barren forest of poles laid out in a grid and topped by cables, Joey Bedard interrupts a tour of his farm to take a call.
It’s Sanjay, from India. He wants hops, the cones used for centuries both to preserve beer and give it complex taste.
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Belgian Craft Beers – there are so many, it can be hard to determine which ones are maybe even worth travelling to Belgium for. There are a thousand lists out there but as a Belgian myself, already looking forward to having some Abbey cheese and beer in a pub garden in the West of Flanders during the Summer, here are the 9 ultimate brew gems…
Even the Belgian’s themselves think of this beer as something very special. Famous for its heavy and strong taste, impeccable foam and dark colours, Karmeliet is the kind of beer you order one of and simply indulge. Its fame is rare for a beer that’s only been around for about 20 years, however the monk-crafted recipe itself dates all the way back to 1679. Its popularity ran particularly high when it won the World’s Best Ale prize in 2008.
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First Round 2016 Nationals: Nashville @ Blackstone Brewery’s production facility
There are many reasons many of the situations mentioned in this edition shouldn’t happen in a competition, but due to the very human nature of competitions readers need to be aware they can happen, and do happen.-kwc
You probably have heard many of the standard reasons for why judges aren’t “spot on:” last in flight, palate fatigue… both might be valid. While it should have no influence, being the last entry judged, or first, might have made a difference. Big high gravity flights can be tough towards the end. We do our best to pace ourselves, smaller samples… but judges are human.
If judges have one problematic brew after another, and then what seems a phenomenal one, scores could get skewed. Dare I repeat, “Judges are human?” Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: The Balancing Act”
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