A Place to Gather and Talk
What do we taste when we drink a glass of beer or wine?
Are we imbibing the liquid itself? Or is there more to it?
What about the conditions under which we consume the beer? Are we with friends at a pub? Is the beer part of a sumptuous meal? Or does the beer conceal its identity as part of a blind tasting? Are we consuming an aura? The reputation of a brewery? A BeerAdvocate or RateBeer score? Hype? Marketing?
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Firestone’s Velvet Merlin, their mass-marketed Oatmeal Stout, has a storied history. It originated in an Imperial Stout called Velvet Merkin, which they’ve used for years as a blend in their anniversary ales, in their taproom, and just recently released in 
bottles. There was a bit of an uproar about the name (You may want to pause and Google “merkin”. NO, SERIOUSLY, DO IT.). And according to a brief conversation I had with FW Brewmaster Matt Brynildson at a beer festival a few years back, the good folks at Firestone weren’t too aware of the meaning of merkin when they named that beer. Continue reading “Tom Becham on Firestone Walker”
Wort fermentability can be a confusing topic. In a simple sense, base malts, toasted specialty malts, and unmalted adjuncts contribute long chains of sugar molecules (i.e., starches). The enzymes contributed by the base malt clip chains of sugar molecules of various lengths from the starches. Shorter chains are fermentable sugars, slightly longer ones are unfermentable dextrins.
The saccharification rest temperature is the simplest variable to adjust to alter the percentage of carbohydrates in the wort that will be short enough for brewer’s yeast to ferment. This is because the enzyme (alpha amylase) that works most effectively at the upper end of the standard 140-160°F range produces both sugars and dextrins, while the enzyme (beta amylase) that works best at the lower end of the range produces maltose, which is easily fermentable by brewer’s yeast. At lower temperatures especially, allowing more time for the beta amylase to work also boosts fermentability (if you only mash for 10 minutes at 142°F, the result will not be a very dry beer). Not much controversy there I hope.
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Courtesy thecraftbeergirl.com
Perhaps the greatest misconception of better beer is that craft beer fans are all a bunch of beer snobs. Elitist pricks certainly walk among us, but they are actually few and far between. It is an annoyingly persistent stereotype that really needs to be put to bed. There is a big difference between a snob and an enthusiast, and that goes for all products and interests. Beer snobs are an unfortunate nuisance in the world of craft beer and enthusiasts despise them just as much as novices do. With that in mind, let’s take some time to note the differences.
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With all the crazy, delicious chip flavors being concocted lately, we should have known that beer flavored chips would eventually hit the shelves. UK-based chip company, Burts Potato Chips, has combined the familiar chocolaty flavor of Guinness with thick cut crisps to create Guinness-flavored potato chips.
Burts currently has two varieties of Guinness chips to choose from. The first is the original, flavored with “a unique blend of roasted barley and hops.†The other choice is Rich Beef Chilli. Burts has taken “fresh jalapeno chilies and juicy succulent beef flavors,†and infused them with Guinness to come up with this concoction.
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Being a beer snob is kind of like being a serial killer (stay with us…) in that people rarely just come right out and say “Hello, I am a beer snob.” It’s all about the ACTIONS, whether they be stockpiling a bunch of bodies in the basement, or stockpiling a bunch of rare beers in the one corner of the basement not occupied by all those bulky bodies. With that said, here are the different types of beer snobs you might encounter, which, just to be clear, does not in any way make them more likely to be a serial killer.
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In the wake of my criticism of Elysian’s former owners for their sale to AB, I expected to get a lot of scorn and derision for what I wrote from those who have anointed themselves and each other as the TRUE movers ‘n’ shakers of craft beer…and I was not disappointed. I completely understand that many people are close to Dick Cantwell and love Elysian and could not possibly have been happy to see them referred to as “lazyâ€, “uncreativeâ€, and as giving a big “Up Yours/Fuck You†to its fans. What I had thought was frankly beneath them was an attitude that nobody counts in the beer biz unless they own a brewery or suck up to those who do.
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“Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale, we’ll be brewing us some golden suds.â€
Only losers drink pumpkin peach ale. Everyone knows this. Except, wait, what’s that? Elysian Brewing, the Seattle brewery that Anheuser just purchased last week, makes a … yes … pumpkin peach ale. It’s called “Gourdia on My Mind .†Anheuser is literally mocking the consumers of the COMPANIES THEY NOW OWN. Honestly, how devastating is that for the Elysian brewing team? Your owners think your customers are pretentious hipsters. These are the people who own your business. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn that Twitter handles of employees like @ElysianMatt have already been deleted after they informed the public that employees weren’t even informed of the acquisition before it was announced online.
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Rules were made to be broken, right? There’s no hard and fast logic that says wine has a lock on pairings with cheese. In fact the malty-sweet, fruity, bitter, spicy, and sometimes sour flavors in craft beers from cheese-loving regions like France, Germany, Belgium and Holland, the U.K., and the U.S., pair beautifully with a variety of cheeses. Weekly Pint recently teamed up a delicious evening with maître fromager Max McCalman, Belgian beer importation pioneers Vanberg & Dewulf, and craft brewing powerhouse Firestone Walker of Paso Robles, California. We found McCalman, the easygoing and author of three excellent books on the subject, including Mastering Cheese, which has a full 16-pp chapter on pairing cheese with beer—an invaluable resource.
Where to start? “You’re looking for balance,†says McCalman. “In a beer-and-cheese lineup, as with a tasting of wine pairings,†he writes, “you’ll want to proceed from the lighter, milder lager, pilsner and pale ale styles to the deeper, richer, heavier, darker, more complex-flavored styles of brew.†As you progress up the intensity range in your beers (find our picks at Whole Foods), you’ll need to step it up in your cheese, too.
For three mind-expanding cheese-and-beer pairings, keep reading.
1. Fondue & Firestone Walker Double Jack IPA
Delicious cheese and conversation requires a big beer. Artisanal Premium Cheese’s Fondue du Jour is a mouth-watering mix of six alpine cheeses that you can mix at home in any saucepan with the white wine of your choice, serving two for dinner or six as an app. Firestone Walker’s Double Jack IPA makes a great pairing for fondue sessions, with buckets of grapefruity, resinous hop character and an ample, boozy kick (9.5%ABV).
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