Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Yeah, Andrew, it's staggering how great New Belgium's less popular
beers are so amazing. I love 1554. I tried one in Ft. Collins while on
tour called Giddy Up that's an espresso ale with lemon peel. Note: not
a coffee stout. How I wish I could find that again. But that doesn't
address your question at all.

Fortune Magazine ranked Google as the best company to work for. But
Outside Magazine begged to differ. They ranked New Belgium Brewery as
the best job in America. And frankly, I know which place I'd rather
work. Yes, Google offers tons of perks, but taking some beer home ain't
one of them.

Here's a list of SOME of the perks of working at the brewery:
1. Free beer.
2. Ownership. Yes, after working there for a year, you automatically
become a co-owner.
3. Free bike. Along with ownership, you get a cruiser to ride to work,
the park, the co-op. It's part of their super green efforts.
4. Volleyball on the clock. Most brewers rarely get face time with a
big brewmaster. These guys get to play volleyball with Peter Bouckaert
every Thursday.
5. A trip to Belgium. On their fifth anniversary, all the employees
(that year only) get an all-expenses paid bike tour across Belgium to
see first-hand founder Jeff Lebesch's vision.
6. The whole place is a playground, actually. There are tons of indoor
and outdoor games because a happy employee/owner is a productive one.
7. Bikram Yoga. In short, the brewhouse produces a lot of heat because
mash tuns are heated to over 150 degrees. Everyone is invited to a
yoga class a) for their well-being and b) because the heat they absorb
means that much less goes into the atmosphere, reducing their
greenhouse effect, or something like that.
8. Free beer. Yeah, it deserves to be listed twice.

However, even if you took all those things away, you'd still work for
a forward-thinking company that cares deeply about environmental,
social, sociological, and general well-being. Not to mention the
opportunity to have your homebrew recipe brewed for their Lips of Faith
series. See my initial comments, then track down a keg of "Eric's
Ale/Lips of Faith"!
  

    
Was Eric's Ale a homebrew collaboration?  I loved that beer. One of
the most interesting trends in modern American brewing is the
adventuring into the realm of sour beers.  Eric's was like a softly
sour, barely sweet Pear Lambic. (I guess to be correct one says
pseudo-Lambic or pLambic, since it was not brewed in Belgium.)  

If you wanted to repeat your road trip you could make the rounds this
year with commercial brewers playing with those ancient souring
bacteria, and the members of the Brettanomyces family of "funky"
yeasts.  
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brettanomyces )

I've only been keenly fond of these beers for about a year, but once I
"got" them, beers like Eric's ale, and the more sour and equally
delightful La Follie became my go-to festival destination beers.  If I
consider going to a festival, I ask myself who will be there and are
any of them doing sour beers.  

Over the weekend I was visiting family in NJ, and so Steve and I
managed to work in a trip to Pennsylvania as our beer-education detour.
 We visited at Victory, a fine brewery that makes a noted IPA, Victory
Hop Devil, which is a bright hoppy assertive example.  They were
pouring Wild Devil:  same recipe brewed with 100% Brett instead of a
regular American-based-on-English ale yeast.  Not sour. Not "funky" in
the sweaty or ripe-cheesy sense of the word. But with an earthy, savory
"Bretty" flavor along with the malt and hops flavors of the IPA...
then boom, the bitter finish just truncated.  Very strange.  

I'm writing this without tasting notes in front of me, but I did
actually pull out a notebook for that one because it was so
interesting, and I wanted to figure out what I was experiencing.  
  

    
Maybe I should have paid closer attention to my bad batches!

Brian, a place like New Belgium surely takes exceptional leadership. You
revealed a bit of that in the book, speaking with Kim Jordan, the CEO:

"I said I didn't think she had to worry about unionizing. 'I started off the
[bike] parade with some of your employees, I noticed that they were all in
different departments, from the brewhouse to marketing to IT, but there they
were on their day off. Yeah, it's a fun-as-hell company festival, but it's
still their weekend. They are all friends and their spouses were friendly,
their kids knew each other.'

"Kim said, 'We're a very tight community. I tell them a lot that they blow
my mind. It chokes me up.'

"It did. It was the first and only time that someone cried during an
interview. Through some tears and a tissue, Kim added, 'There are moments
when we slip, but the vast majority of us are committed. Our biggest fear as
we get bigger is that we lose community.'"
  

    
Since both of the last comments center around New Belgium, it's easy
to address both at once.

It's an interesting development to see what beers someone grows into.
I certainly started from the stout side of the spectrum and will always
love dark, roasty beers, both dry and sweet stouts. For a long time my
threshold was American Pale Ales. I'm still not a devout hop head, but
I think as brewers realize balance is equally important and brute hop
bitterness, I'm coming to the IPA table more.

Same with sours. A funky beer just for the sake of funk isn't
appealing to me, and is often off-putting to newbies. But then ones
like Eric's Ale (which I thought was peach but could've been pear)
destroy preconceived notions. Having said that, while I enjoy tasting
La Folie, I still think it tastes too much like cider when I'm in the
mood for beer, but maybe that's on me. My personal favorite sour beer
isn't from Russian River, but one inspired by Vinnie at Russian River.
If anyone ever has the opportunity to try Schooner's Vin-de-cation,
which brewmaster Craig brewed as an home to Vinnie, it's mind-blowing.
Barrel aged, Bretted ("crittered") Kriek-style (cherries added),
Imperial Oatmeal Stout. It is the best of four different worlds.
Schooner's is a brewpub in Antioch, far out in the East Bay, so it's
not easily found, but it's worth the hunt.

Back to New Belgium, Kim Jordan crying in front of me was another
episode that I struggled with how to tackle it in the book. I didn't
want to blow that out of proportion, but it really does show her
commitment and matriarchal connection to her company and co-workers
(since everyone is a co-owner, she doesn't refer to them as employees).

I have to say, though, having all that access to Eric's Ale would be
enough to make me cry, too.
  

    
People really do come into beer from different directions. With me, it was
hops that was a revelation. I still vividly recall the first Anchor Liberty
Ale I ever tasted, in the early eighties: it was like getting stoned on
Mendo primo. Today I had lunch down at Pacific Coast and had their
Firestone-Walker Reserve Porter to start, then moved on to Russian River's
Pliny the Younger, which is totally the opposite, a celebration of bitter
hops as opposed to the porter's emphasis on malt. (Avery's magnificent
Maharajah super IPA, a total aromatic hops experience, was dessert.) It is a
golden age of beer for maltheads, hopheads and yeastheads.

Our two-week session will end on Friday (though we can all stick around
longer), so I wanted to ask what you're working on next. The world of beer
journalism is small, but one can make a living in it. On the other hand, you
have a degree in Professional Writing with bachelors degrees in Russian and
religious studies. Seems to me that with that background, the world is your
oyster. So what's up?
  

    
Hey, don't bounce Brian, he's still got another round or two left in
him! Closing time isn't until next Wednesday.
  

    
Ha, thanks, Dana!

(Is this where I appeal to the read-y-loos to get their
questions/comments in now?)

Before I answer Andrew's question about what's next, I have to ask:
really? The porter before the two imperial IPAs? Sweet before
uber-bitter? Isn't that like having dessert before your salad and
greens?

As for what's on deck... remember that mention at the beginning of our
discussion about the National Homebrewers Conference? In a nutshell,
I've started working on a manuscript about just that--homebrewers. I
also am pimping my beer journalism services out to whomever will have
me, ie: Los Angeles Times, All About Beer, and, while I feel weird
posting this link before I even have Story One up yet, I'm the new SF
Craft Beer Examiner (in homage to Charlie Papazian who, among many
hats, is the national Beer Examiner).

http://www.examiner.com/x-11696-SF-Craft-Beer-Examiner

But just like I used my background as a music writer to break into
beer writing, I never limit myself. Essentially, I interview artists
(since I have no other artistic abilities). Musicians, muralists,
bakers, and brewers--they're all artists. That's my beat.
  

    
Wow, congrats, nice writerly moves all around! 

Now you'll be at ALL the cool events, including the cool homebrew
gatherings. Are you going to cover beer judging and competitions as
part of the culture around homebrewing? 

You are of course right that N.B.'s Eric's Ale was (and/or is) a sour
peach beer. I too am a fan of Steve Altimari's Valley Brewing --
especially the special barrel-aged stuff he does for festivals. It's so
great to "discover" beers like his at festivals.  Speaking of sour
beers, tomorrow evening at City Beer Store, I'm going by to taste
Ommegang 2008 Rouge next to the 2009 and some Port Brewing 3rd
Anniversary. Anybody planning on being there?
  

    
What can I say, to me porter is an appetizer and double IPA is ending a meal
on a high note.

It must be a challenge sometimes to interview artists like musicians and
brewers. After all, if they could express themselves in words they'd be
writers. It always imprssed me how the late Bill Brand could write about
malt, hops and yeast week after week and keep it fresh. Maybe you
sidestepped that problem by focusing your road trip and your book on the
business, specifically the family business of brewing. Everybody can talk
about business and family, even if they're inarticulate about their brewing
vision, right?
  

    
Gail, I'll certainly aim to cover as much as possible in every aspect
conceivable. I have a problem being called a reporter. I'm more of a
champion. You should see how many editor's notes I get back saying "no
cheerleading."

If you or anyone has any media lists for upcoming events, by all
means, please add brian@beerodyssey.com to them.

And Andrew, you absolutely hit the nail on the head! Bill Brand was
majestic in his ability to write about the profile of beer. Of tons of
beers. Partly because other writers already do that and partly so that
I don't have to, I do focus on the people. If there's not a personality
involved, it's not something I'm interested in--writing or
reading-wise. It's funny because I have a book idea that is not
beer-related, but the few people I've mentioned it to poo-pooed it. In
a book proposal, there's a segment on the intended
audience/demographic, and there isn't one for this topic. That's
probably the reason that in the section where I'd compare it to other
similar books, I'd have none to choose from (I've checked). It's
admittedly off the wall, but I think that's what would draw people.
Maybe...down the road...once I've written about all the Beer People in
the world...I'll undertake this other odyssey.
  

    
Brian, you visited 14 "family breweries" for your book, and each one was
distinctive, but I keep coming back in my thoughts to Lexington Brewing
Company in Lexington Kentucky. That's in the heart of America's distilling
industry, where bourbon is king. It was snatched out of bankruptcy,
apparently on a whim, by the immensely wealthy "yeast king" Pearse Lyons, an
Irishman who made his fortune in all kinds of microbe-powered chemistry
after getting a PhD in yeast cell walls. He hired the best of help from the
Siebel Institute (like "trying to buy Harvard University, then settling for
hiring 85 percent of the professors instead," you say). They make three
beers, each one exquisite, and sell them in only three counties.

What's going on? This isn't some homebrewer starting out with a sack of malt
and sweat equity; it seems somewhat like giant brewer Miller launching its
pet "Plank Road" line of mediocre ale with more money in the bottle labels
than in the bottle's contents--yet the product has integrity. Lexington
Brewing seems like a vanity project, started to give Dr. Lyons' son a place
to work. It's as if the president of U.S. Steel funded a blacksmith shop for
his kids to play in. Where's the American Business Dream in this?
  

    
I posted too soon earlier.  Butte Creek Brewing is no more.  The brand
survives as a contract brew, but the brewery in Chico is closed. 
http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=992922

On the subject of Sierra Nevada specials, I just heard about "Bike
Chico Lager" that is appearing at some local taps.  Gonna try it this
afternoon.  O hai, that's now!  Will report back....
  

    
Alan, I forgot to respond to that as well. Yeah, Chico doesn't get to
claim Butte Creek anymore, nor Bison Brewing, which, when it was sorta
booted from Berkeley, contracted with Butte Creek. Sorry. At least the
beers are still on the market.

Andrew, you raise a good point about where a boutique brewery like
Lexington fits into the American dream, and I love your analogy to
someone like Rockerfeller giving his kid a blacksmith shop. But don't
overlook the core story with Pearse Lyons. A young Irish lad grows up
pushing a broom in the Harp Brewery, wants to brew for the biggest
brewery in Ireland--Guinness--but is told he's not worthy of being in
the club, so he goes off to earn his PhD in malting and when Guinness
comes calling, he eschews the boys' club to make his dreams come true
in America. When he realizes he's of no use to the established
distilleries, he begins mixing billions of yeast organisms by hand and
builds a global empire by creating demand for a new product (in this
case, organic animal feed, not whiskey or beer).

I found this guy and this brewery because of my desire to find
breweries properly spaced out around the country. Colorado, Oregon,
California, Pennsylvania... these were easy. The very notion that
there's a good brewery in Kentucky (a few now) came as a surprise. And
even though this guy could afford to distribute and market this beer
widely, he keeps it local as part of his attachment to his adopted
homeland.

And guess what. They're launching a distillery, to complete his dream
come true. Oddly, he says he has no plans to create a bourbon, just
Kentucky whiskey. Could more barrel-aged products from these guys be
far behind?
  

    
Brian, were there any questions you thought of as you were driving out
of town following one of these visits?  Anybody early on you wanted to
re-interview as you understood more about the business?
  

    
I wasn't at all surprised that you found a great brewery in KY... home
of superb craft distilling at all levels of production and some of the
best weed in the world.

I finally finished the book with a slight twinge of jealousy. There
was a time that I could travel for long periods of time solo,
couch-surfing and sleeping in the car, but that time is past for me.
Good to see how well it worked out for you.

Knowing a little bit about the people behind the breweries does make
me more interested in trying their products, in particular I need to
visit Dogfish Head next time I'm in the northeast of the USA. (I did
find one of their beers at Trader Joe's some years ago but it was bog
standard, nothing like the inspired and borderline-evil brews you
describe in the book.)
  

    
A traditional song:

My daddy made corn whiskey
Grandaddy made it too
And we ain't paid no whiskey tax
Since 1792

That could be Kentucky, or Pennsylvania. 
  

    
I was really attracted to this conference because 1. I just retired as
a teacher 2. I am very interested in joining the world of beer because
I finally got over the overindulgence after-effects of my youth and 3.
Brian, I noticed that you are a professor of religious studies and
that is a new quest of mine since I have time to pursue it.  I just
started out drinking the 7 ounce bottles of Corona because I was given
one at a friends and it was really good.  I am ready to move on.  What
do you all suggest I go try?  I guess I like the lighter brew.  And
also what literature will give me some understanding of "The True
History of religious beliefs."  I live in Oregon, so I certainly have
good micro-breweries to explore.    
  

    
<31>:  Thank you Brian.
  

    
GAIL, that was, indeed, an issue. Imagine the learning curve of doing
a trip like this. I'm still learning a lot, and it's over three years
since I hopped in my car for the beer odyssey. Luckily, I was able to
ask follow-up questions by phone or email after so I didn't have to
drive back to each brewery. There are some general questions I wish I'd
asked them but I went prepared so I don't feel there's anything
glaring I left out. Finally, I wrote it from the viewpoint of a person
who was just starting to explore the world of beer and brewers. One of
the best kinds of feedback I've gotten is from people who thought they
knew all about a particular brewery, based on the beer and whatever
they'd read on their web sites. My goal was to get the stories that
were too personal to be on the About Us section of their sites.

BARRY, it's funny because whenever I stay at a hostel now, if there's
anything uncomfortable, I think to myself, this is the last time I'm
staying in a hostel. But then I realize I can't afford anything close
to a four-star hotel, not to mention all the great stories I end up
with. That guy Orf, from the "Beer to There" section between Shiner and
New Orleans--I met him at a hostel almost a decade ago. The first time
I met some girl he hooked up with was at that hostel (now his wife).

Luckily I never met anybody while crashing in my car on the side of a
road!

Not to over aggrandize this book and the stories within, but I think I
listened to Mozart symphonies differently after I watched Amadeus. I
do hope that people drink beer differently by thinking about the people
responsible for it, whether they read about them in my book or read an
interview in a magazine or something. If you like a beer, know there's
someone to thank for it. If you don't, before you go talking smack,
remember there's someone who still worked hard on it.

JOHN, if I ever go backpacking through Kentucky (but hopefully not
kayaking through W. Virginia), I want you there singing all the
Appalachian songs you know.

SUSIE, welcome and glad that you chimed in. Teachers are, admittedly,
one of the few professionals we need more than brewers. Also, welcome
to the world of beer. I hope you enjoy your expedition. Without a
doubt, Oregon is among the best places to start exploring, and not just
in Portland. While I do enjoy those 7-ounce "chico" bottles of Mexican
lager (if you've read the book, you'll even see that in the Electric
Brewing chapter!) there's a whole world that is about to unravel before
you.

I can't possibly tell you which types of beers to try because everyone
has different palates. You may discover you like milder beers closer
to Corona (other lagers) or you may go hog wild for outrageous flavors
found in Double IPAs (a specialty in Oregon), farmhouse-style Saisons,
robust dark stouts, and on and on. Try one of everything! Try taking
notes and you'll realize you gravitate toward one style over another.
Some of my favorite Oregon breweries are Hair of the Dog (Portland),
Caldera (Ashland), Deschutes (Bend) and my favorite brewpub in Portland
is the Lucky Lab (cheap food, solid beer, and dog-friendly). But with
way over 100 breweries and brewpubs in OR, you have a lot to check out.

Lastly, sorry, but I'm not a professor of Religious Studies. I did
major in it (and Russian, and I could never be a Russian prof. either).
But I can recommend two of the textbooks from my studies that sound
like what you are interested in!! Comparative Religion: A History (Eric
J. Charpe) is a great all-the-world-religions-in-a-nutshell. And for a
more left-field approach, especially since it deals with why we have
founded so many religions if you think about it, there's The Sacred Art
of Dying: How World Religions Understand Death (Kenneth Kramer). But
these were from my university days. There could be newer ones.

OILERS, thank you too.
  

    
The way you handle all these comments at once shows that you're pretty good
at broken-field running yourself.
  

    
Brian, I envy (and fear) the variety and extent of beers you consumed in
this project. Like you, I've had homebrew that was amazingly wonderful and
commercial product that would be best forgotten.

Because of the varied consumption you managed, I wonder whether you come
away with any sense of trends. We know there can be "house style" in a given
brewing operation. Are there regional styles? Where is the taste of beer
trending in the near term? Any ideas?
  

    
Bumbaugh, interesting question about trends, and there is a direct,
short answer to that, but I'm no good at those.

Remember the popcorn trend? I don't know how national it was, but in
the early '80s, a bunch of stores popped up (pun unavoidable) selling
nothing but popcorn. Flavored popcorn. Some had dry spices, some were
shellacked with colorful, fruity flavors. You could easily find over 50
flavors of popcorn. Some good, some gross.

Today all those stores are gone (but a friend in Chicago happened to
mention there's one that's an institution there). And look at our
popcorn selection today: regular, caramel-covered, powdered cheddar
cheese, and of course kettle corn. I wouldn't know where to get
blueberry flavored (colored) popcorn if I tried.

But I do know where to get blueberry beer. And a Caramel Maibock
(Schell's in New Ulm, MN). Luckily, no cheese beer, though I have had
"pizza beer" I shit you not.

To those who only know of two kinds of beer--Bud and Bud Light--these
exotic styles of beer probably seem like a passing fad. But I really
don't think so (I mean, the pizza one, yeah, but not fruit or Lambic
beers.

The short answer to your question is threefold: Imperials, Sours, and
Barrel-aged.

Imperials or doubles or big or extreme beers are ones that beef up the
grain bill or hop bill or both, and maybe add exotic adjuncts from
burnt brown sugar to fresh maple syrup to Thai basil. The fact that
during SF Beer Week two anchor events were the Double IPA fest and the
Barleywine fest--two styles of beer that would scare the bejesus out of
a Bud drinker, means there are real devotees and there's no way
they'll stop loving these.

Sours such as ales brewed with Brettanomyces (as opposed to or in
addition to common Saccharomyces) and other funky critters are beyond
huge. Look at the stuff Russian River and Jolly Pumpkin are doing.

And my personal favorite, barrel-aged beers, allow beers to age for
extended periods of time (sometimes a month, sometimes a year) in oak
barrels that themselves impart interesting flavors. Some go beyond mere
toasted oak barrels and use spent spirit barrels (bourbon, whiskey,
brandy, as well as various wines) so yet an extra layer of flavor is
imbued. I recently had Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye aged in Chardonnay
barrels and it blew me away. Down in San Diego, seemingly every brewery
has a room filled with such barrels.

This is making me very thirsty.

And lastly, as for regional styles, I happened to just write about
this for Drink Me Magazine. In a nuthsell, regional differences
reflected areas of immigrant settlers. New England made great British
ales and the Midwest through Texas, where Germans and Czechs settled
excelled at Germanic lagers. The pioneers who went wagons west were the
crazy ones who were open to any possibilities, and found fertile
valleys, so it's no wonder hoppy, flavorful beers originated in
California and Oregon during the renaissance--it was in their blood.

Having said that, beer lovers are everywhere now, so styles are
flooding every market. Sorta like how MTV destroyed musical
geographical borders, disseminating knowledge through sites like
BeerAdvocate and RateBeer are doing the same for beer. Which is a good
thing.
  

    <hidden>
  

    
Lusting for Lamb Vindaloo I took my wife to the India Palace in North
Dallas tonight. Along with the lamb and the Kuchamber salad I had a Sam
Smith India Pale Ale. It was superb. The label said "top fermented in
stone Yorkshire squares". Explain this to me please. 
  

    
(Interesting ideas, hinging0, but 263 lines long and an off-topic request,
so I hid it. Anyone can click on the link or type o 73 to read it.)

Sam Smith's uses special stone thingamajiggers that impart a bit of diacetyl
flavor, as I recall it. But somebody will come through with more to share,
johnmorris. That IPA sounds like a fine complement to the Vinadloo!

Brian, I haven't seen the barrel aging trend that much, or haven't noticed
it. You're right that those "big" beers -- barleywines, trippels, and the
like -- seem to have taken off. And there are several variants of the Wit
style, too. Somebody in Texas had a great one, there's a Blue Moon, and many
breweries in this area seem to be making one, too.

Maybe it's just the price of hops nowadays, but those really, really, really
hoppy ales don't seem to be being introduced as much as a few years back.