Professor Good Ales

The craft beer business is booming, but one of the nation’s biggest alcoholic beverage companies has no plans to get in on the action.

Rob Sands, chief executive of beer and wine distributor Constellation Brands (STZ), is not interested in buying up any of the nearly 2,500 craft breweries that have sprung up across the nation in recent years.

“People expect one of the big guys to get in and roll up the craft business,” Sands said in a recent interview. “But it’s not clear that’s a good strategy.”

For fans of locally made beer, that may come as a bit of a relief. But it’s also a bit surprising considering the explosive growth craft beers have experienced in recent years.

Related: Small craft breweries hit it big

Craft beers made up nearly 8% of the overall beer market by volume in 2013, up from 3.7% in 2007, according to the Brewers Association. The group estimates that craft brews had a retail value of $14.3 billion last year.

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It seems unthinkable in today’s world of double and triple IPAs that much of beer’s evolution took place without hops at all. It’s true — for nearly 8,000 years brewers made beer with of a variety of other herbs, spices and plants like Juniper, coriander, spruce and rosemary as preservatives and flavorings agents. This hopless drink is now called Gruit or Grut. Though there aren’t many brewers making beer without hops today, if you’re really interested in finding out what it tastes like, German brewers Professor Fritz Briem make an excellent one called 18th Century Grut Bier.

Our current brew obsession has a lot to do with the wide range of incredible flavors and aromas imparted by different kinds of hops. There’s also a common misconception that all hops are bitter, which is far from true. Hop profiles are incredibly diverse, from the intense tropical and citrus fruits of Citra hops to the white wine and gooseberry flavor imparted by Nelson Sauvin. Check out 13 other things you probably didn’t know about the best thing to happen to beer since water:

1. These Hops Sure are Pliny
You’ve heard the name in Russian River’s iconic IPA, but who was Pliny and why is he so important to one of the best-rated beers in craft brewing history? Well all those hoppy beers you love? Thank Pliny the Elder himself! He was the first recorded description of hops in his early encyclopedia “Naturalis Historia” published around 80 AD. Interesting to note: If not for his fate via Mount Vesuvius, he might have taught us so much more.

2. Hoppy Beer Comes from France

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Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Nixon said I am not a crook and I am saying “I am not a homer.”

Gosh this was a fantastic sour beer. i waited for the hype of the release to die down and then went to the bottle I had in the fridge. Beautiful appearance. Hazy , golden. As though someone had taken the sun out of the sky and put it in the glass. Fizzy fat head of off white foam that popped and did not last.

Nose is striking! It’s as though they have bottled sweet and fresh air. It’s pristine with a touch of woody sweetness. The kiND of sweetness that would attract a bumble bee to wood. Some brett and a bit of bread. These do no compete in this beer. The funk is funky and light and the bread has a bit of honey and both are content to be equal. Then the fruit. Lemon and mango. The lemon is rendered into this beer perfectly with all it’s facets, from tart and sour lemon juice to the sweet peel. The surprise is the tropical mango. At first it shows itself like a bit of tartness and you raise an eyebrow but as the beer warms it appears to ripen right before your eyes.

This beer has a vinegary backnote and beautifully bold acidity that is ultimately enveloped by deep sweetness that cannot compete with the earthiness. If you will notice, my tasting notes have no distinction between nose and taste. That’s damn fine beer that lives right up to itself in every way. This beer creates tension on the palate like the best and most boldy acidic red wine and it is succulent and invigorating! I love this!

Thank you @cavedave for taking me to the release for this beer where I met lots of people whom I hope to see much more of.

4.5

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

This beer poured a murky dark brown with a thin loose head of foam that fell before I even picked up the glass.

Nose is lovely. Mellow and spicy rye. Deep but not too bold. A light airy wood and a modest sweet whiskey. Dry dark fruit like raisins, nuts and a touch of expansive malt sweetness like toffee and caramel. A fragrant bit of vanilla and I can’t wait to taste this.

Taste is lovely. Spicy rye that has become modest with a bit of age and from the oak barrel. Deep and tall rye flavor that is not unbounded like most rye ales but rather proper and containing all it’s loveliness so that you can have it but so that it does not overrun the other flavors. A touch of smooth vanilla and airy wood. A surprise in some brilliant tart cherry. The cherry really enlivens the palate and lets you taste all the malt sweetness by contrast. The mouthfeel is surprisingly light with some tiny prickly bubbles in the finish. A small warming form the alcohol Smooth and very mellow.

This one awesome beer.

4.5

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

It’s an unlikely beer-drinking toast: “Here’s to El-Tee-Pee-Won!” Yet, the secret to optimal foam in the head of a freshly poured brew, according to Cornell food science research, is just the right amount and kind of barley lipid transfer protein No. 1, aka LTP1.

Bitter compounds found in hops, like iso-alpha acids, are important to brewers, says Cornell’s Karl J. Siebert, principal investigator and author of “Recent Discoveries in Beer Foam,” set for publication in next issue of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

“Dissolved gases in the beer – carbon dioxide and, in some instances, nitrogen – play a role. So do acidity, some ions, ethanol levels, viscosity and numerous other factors that have been tried by brewers and scientifically tested,” says Siebert, professor of food science and technology at the New York State Agricultural xperiment Station in Geneva, N.Y. “But LTP1 is the key to perfect beer foam.”

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Written by Tom Becham for Professor Goodales

(Octoberfest picture courtesy piximus.net

Well, I’m here to give you a good guide to attending beer festivals.

First of all, at this time of year, when the weather is starting to warm up, there will be a metric assload of beer festivals. Sure, they happen all year ’round, but Spring and Summer are when you will find a huge number of them. And, unless you are independently wealthy and don’t have a steady job (and possess the liver of Hunter S. Thompson), it will be literally impossible to attend all of them just in your area! So, you need to be selective.

Check out a festival carefully before purchasing tickets. Continue reading “Attending a Beer Festival”

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Pours a hazy honey orange color with golden and yellow highlight. As if the sun were shining from out of the beer. A fat pillowy head of off white foam that lasts and lasts and leaves plenty of lace.

Nose is bright, floral and fresh! Just brilliant with hop character that includes sweet and tangy pineapple softly sweet fresh orange, and a bit of citrus peel from both orange and from earthy grapefruit. There is a a small earthy pine in the background. For malt it has the scent of a light and flaky little biscuit.

Taste is outrageous! The active carbonation dances across the palate and enlivens the tongue to be ready to taste the brilliant hop fruitiness. Sweet, orange, bright orange peel, tangy pineapple and the just sweet, just dry and lightly breaddy biscuit. One of the best malts on a pale I have had lately. Crisp malt that is the dryness in this drink. The hops bite only a little and finish with a lingering sweetness that includes that lovely biscuit malt presence.

This beer was lively, fresh, had boisterous fruity flavors and was indeed a tiny beautiful something. One of the best pales I have had.

4.5

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.