Mythical poster at The LTS Good for What Ales You Beer Journal. Loves good beer. Hates same old, same old. Muses that Bud and Miller might as well be brewed in urinals. Drinks lagers too, if they are complex and interesting.
Massive boat/submarine brewery ready to launch. NAH, it’s Coachella Valley Brewing’s impressive filter.
I don’t normally do this, but here it is. I write a weekly newsletter. The weekly digest of beer news is prefaced by some of my musing. Like this. For whatever reason, I decided to post this one on the blog.
We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
They’re calling it 20-by-20. It is part of a craft beer mission statement. It’s a craft beer forecast. Here’s what it’s about.
The numbers are a bit hard to find and figure, and nobody wants to go on record, but last I heard, craft beer accounted for just 7 or 8 percent of overall beer sales in the USA. That’s a national number. Here in the Seattle area, that number is closer to 30 percent. I digress. Although 7 or 8 percent may not seem like a very impressive number, consider the fact that America spends almost $100 billion on beer each year. The Brewers Association (a national organization representing the craft beer industry) recently issued a new mission statement. The BA believes that by the year 2020 craft beer will account for 20 percent of overall beer sales in the USA: 20-by-20.
There may be some good news brewing for fitness and beer enthusiasts: Somewhere in the north, a Canadian beverage company has concocted a low-alcohol, protein-packed “fit beer” that is expected to be marketed as a sports drink later this year, if funding allows.
The so-called “recovery ale,” created by a team of food scientists at Vampt, touts itself as a healthy alternative to traditional ales, with only 77 calories and 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. And it’s supposedly enriched with nutrients, antioxidants and electrolytes to help replenish the body after a good workout.
Pours a perfect amber gold with bright clarity. A steady stream of bubbles make their hurried way to the top to become part of the cottony cloud of foam that tops this beer. The body has a radiance. Striking appearance.
The nose is flawless with a tropical fruits, light pine and citrus. The hops are floral and there’s mango on the nose. Sweet simcoe and amarillo. Sunny tangerine. The malt is a sweet kiss of clover honey on the nose.
Taste is out of this world. The fruit and floral hops greet the palate first and give you all that mango but with a blast of grapefruit rind. Earthy and herbal. The hops are not too oily and the malt leaves the honey behind for a moment to show off some bread. The sweetness of the simcoe is brilliant in this and really makes the beer. It has a sturdy bitter. It’s strong and it starts out deceptively mild but by the time you get to the swallow you are tasting a full hop bitter without harshness. Enchanting! This finishes dry and with a touch of sweetness from honey returned to you as if it had been stolen momentarily. Pine lingers in the aftertaste as if you had forgotten that too and it’s back to remind you.
I LOVED this. This is one of the best, most enjoyable IPA’s I have had this year. Bracing, rousing, refreshing. Thank you Jay O’Rear.
4
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
____________________________________Beer HERE
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
This poured a hazy burnt orange with lots of sediment. A fat creamy head of off white foam that would have taken longer to fall than it did to finish the beer. Left scads of lace to look at. Nose is bombastic citrus fruits! You could name them all. But mostly grapefruit with the peel and the pith. Nice and earthy. Tangerine, a sweet hop herbal and stone fruit softness. Faint spice and faint nuttiness if you let the beer sit in your glass long enough to notice. Not a lot of pine more like a bit of earth on the nose.
Taste is outrageous and sensual. There was no malt at all on the nose really but it’s the first thing to greet your palate. A light flaky biscuit and some sensual and smooth caramel. It’s a touch nutty but not heavy. Then all that fruit! Tangerine, stone fruit juiciness, the tart grapefruit leading that pack. The mouthfeel is light and creamy but it has a fullness you can’t ignore. It’s delightfully contradicting. The herbal is sweet not pungent and the pine is soft like a bit of earth. The citrus tartness is as tart as the hop bitter is bitter. Fantastic! Finishes with the lightest dusting of resin I have ever observed in and IPA. Just to coat your tastebuds and allow this beer to resonate sweetly in the back palate so that you want MORE!
4
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
____________________________________Beer HERE
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Pours hazy banana yellow. Softy pastel and with a soft light in the body of the beer. Fat white head of tight creamy foam that lasted and left rings of lace.
Nose is bright with citrus. Lemon, lime and something sweet and juicy underneath. yeast is earthy and not too strong with any funk. A soft clove emerges as this warms as does a bit of light dry biscuit. There is an earthy pine on the nose but it is subtle.
Taste is delicate and a bit earthy but deeply sweet. It has a a nice juicy fruit quality that is comprised of citrus. Soft clove and an airy dry biscuit malt. It has a bit of crushed aspirin like bitterness to the middle and a hop bitter that lingers. Mouthfeel is juicy and just a hair more than light because of the malt sweetness. Pine remains soft and earthy and the clove is even softer and more subtle.
This is a graceful and very juicy IPA that does indeed deliver west coast drinkability with a Belgian style dryness. Congratulations Ithaca. If all the beers in this box are as good as this one, it could challenge Ommegang.
Serving type: bottle
4
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
__________________________________________Beer HERE
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Chocolate in beer simply makes sense — especially in rich, heavy stouts and porters that already taste something like a liquid brownie. And cherries in a sour beer is a tart and summery idea — a perfect marriage. Even yerba mate, that bitter tea-like herb of Argentina, is a sensible fit in an IPA. But just what was the brewer was thinking who first put oysters into a vat of boiling brew?
Oyster stouts could easily play the part of just another wild concoction stewed up in the modern heights of craft brewing madness. However, they’ve actually got honest, time-tested roots going back more than a century to Victorian England, when many pub-goers ate oysters on the half shell while sipping their favorite beers. Often, these were stouts, whose bittersweet toasty flavors happened to complement the briny, juicy flesh of the mollusks quite well. For a time, in fact, “oyster stout†was simply a term that referred to a pub session at which oysters were slurped between sips of beer.
Of course what they skip is the fact it was a style pioneered by small craft and Belgian brewers, and InBev disguises it as “craft.” So deception works. Surprised? Oh, and the regular brews of Miller and AB are actually down in sales in genera, while craft is up. The unfortunate lesson: pretend with fake packaging to be craft more -PGA
A Belgian-style wheat beer by the name of Shock Top is the fastest growing craft beer in the US, according to Moody’s. Production of Shock Top surged by 64% between 2011 and 2012, according to data the ratings firm recently collected.
The greatest week of the year — if you love local craft beers — starts Friday.
New York City Beer Week promises a very hoppy time in every borough. More than 100 beer events, featuring styles and flavors from 16 Big Apple-based breweries, are planned through next Friday.
Suds lovers will enjoy familiar brews from Brooklyn Brewery and Sixpoint, but also lesser-known but no less delicious, drafts from Gun Hill Brewing in the Bronx and Rockaway Brewing in Queens.
There may be some good news brewing for fitness and beer enthusiasts: Somewhere in the north, a Canadian beverage company has concocted a low-alcohol, protein-packed “fit beer” that is expected to be marketed as a sports drink later this year, if funding allows.
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
This poured a hazy burnt orange with lots of sediment. A fat creamy head of off white foam that would have taken longer to fall than it did to finish the beer. Left scads of lace to look at. Nose is bombastic citrus fruits! You could name them all. But mostly grapefruit with the peel and the pith. Nice and earthy. Tangerine, a sweet hop herbal and stone fruit softness. Faint spice and faint nuttiness if you let the beer sit in your glass long enough to notice. Not a lot of pine more like a bit of earth on the nose.
Pours hazy banana yellow. Softy pastel and with a soft light in the body of the beer. Fat white head of tight creamy foam that lasted and left rings of lace. 
A Belgian-style wheat beer by the name of Shock Top is the fastest growing craft beer in the US, according to Moody’s. Production of Shock Top surged by 64% between 2011 and 2012, according to data the ratings firm recently collected.
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