After reading a recent article about smoked beers, I have no doubt that we need to carry one at the bar. Especially since our fare is New Ranch Cuisine, focused on cured and smoked meats as a centerfold to our menu. So the first sample came last week, Spezial Rauchbier Lager. Spezial Brewery is the oldest brewery in Bamberg (1536) which is located in Bavaria on the Regnitz River and is one of the few towns in Germany that was not devastated from bombing in World War II. Spezial does all of its own malting and smoking at its brewery in downtown Bamberg. In this beer they use 40% smoked malt and 60% Bavarian barley malt, which gives a slight smoky flavor to the beer but not as much as I was hoping for. Pours a nice deep amber color. The nose is fruity as in over-ripe apple with a touch of peaty smoke. It is sweet and malty on the palette with vanilla and very little smoke. The finish is not very long and the smoky flavor does not linger. Not quite what I was looking for, hoping that the next sample is smokier. This brewery also makes another Rauchbier that is 70% smoked malt and 30% barley malt, so maybe we can get a sample of that.

We just got in the Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier for summer and by accident our rep sent us the Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier. Pretty much any beer drinker knows that Weihenstephaner is the oldest running brewery in the world (although a neighboring abbey Weltenburg says that this claim to fame belongs to them). Regardless, Weihenstephaner is well known for their wheat beers and it is their dunkelweiss that turned me on to drinking beer, as I had absolutely no palate for beer before this experience and thought it all to be quite boring as it all just tasted like beer. The Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier is a beautiful wheat beer that is perfect for summer. It pours a beautiful golden color with just a hint of cloudiness. The nose is banana, citrus, and a hint of clove. Flavor wise there is a smidgen of citrus with a gorgeous creamy finish. It is by far the best Hefeweizen I have ever had.

The Kristall Weissbier was very light in style and if I had blind tasted it, I would have never guessed it was a wheat beer, but rather a lager. The color of it is a crisp clear yellow. There is still a hint of banana but minus the clove of the other Hefeweizen, it is also lacking the creamy finish of the Hefe but still had a refreshing finish with some nice hints of lemon zest. It was interesting but too light for most people’s expectations of a Hefeweissbier. I’m glad the regular Hefeweizen came on this last order.

We also got a new IPA two weeks ago, Lompoc’s C Note. It is an Imperial Ale which means that the brewer altered the style of the beer to make it bitterer. In the beer world there is actually a bitterness scale (IBU International Bitterness Unit) which is used to determine how bitter a beer is. Typically heavier beers have a higher IBU because the beer needs more bitterness to be balanced, but they might not taste as bitter because they used more malt to balance the flavor. There is no way to measure a beer over 100 IBU’s and the Lompoc C Note claims that they have over 100 IBU’s. To put things in perspective, most American lagers (Budweiser, Coors, Miller) have and IBU of 5. Porters tend to have between 25 to 40. Stouts tend to have between 25 to 60. And IPA’s tend to have over 40.
Lompoc named this beer the C Note because they are using all the C hops, Centennial, Crystal, Cluster, Chinook, Cascade, and Columbus. It is brewed in Portland, although I’ve been surprised that there is not a lot of name recognition. I’m sure time will change that. It pours a hazy amber color. The nose is very floral with a little bit of lavender and lemon. Has a very dry mouthfeel with lemon and pine and a long bitter finish. I personally like something a little more rounded with more grapefruit (i.e. Pliny the Elder) but this is a fairly-well balanced IPA and the bitterness is smooth and long, not abrupt as in the West Coast IPA.
It was also the week of bitters as my long awaited Angostura Orange bitters came in. I’ve wanted them for a long time and was hoping the liquor store would stock them, but that never came to fruition so I ordered them online. I also got a bottle of Regan’s orange bitters and Peychaud’s bitters (embarrassed we didn’t always have them). This in addition to the bitters I made last month, which all turned out quite well (although the cardamom in the Bitters IV is a bit too strong – will tool around with that in the near future) has made for very little space on the bar top (need a shelf just for the bitters). I cannot tell you how I love the Angostura Orange bitters, they got excellent reviews and they are the best orange bitters I have ever had. They have a much deeper complex flavor that the Fee Brothers (which taste like Fanta Orange) or Regan’s. There is cardamom, lemon zest, and cinnamon which add an intricacy that you don’t find in other orange bitters. The flavor is long and involved with the flavor of orange essential oils bursting through at the end.

I just ordered some bottles that I am quite excited about, so when they come I’ll keep you posted: Franca Menta, Strega Strega, and Aalborg Akvavit.

No one is as discerning as the yellow beer drinker. I work with a guy who can jam his nose deep in a Bordeaux glass and tell you because of the slight aroma of charcoal that it is a 2006 pinot blend from Walla Walla. I work with another guy who will tell you that he is a certified beer snob who spends all of his free time reading about lagers, stouts, and ales; brewing different hop and barley concoctions; and traveling to breweries on any long weekend. But neither of these guys’ palates can rival the yellow beer drinker.
It is he who knows that Budweiser is absolutely delicious and Coors is unpalatable. It is he that knows that Miller Light is scrumptious and agreeing to the soul but that Fosters is so unagreeable that even the mention of such drink is enough to cause a gag reflex.
You might think that marketing has created image and brand loyalty, but I have asked the lager sophisticate and they will tell you it is based entirely on flavor. Considering that they all taste so similar (many the less worldly would tell you that they all smack of piss) it is truly awesome that so many have developed such acute senses of smell and taste. The pity is that the yellow beer drinker, unlike other food and drink snobs, is unwilling to expand their repertoire. The third level sommelier will taste Three Buck Chuck but the Michelob Ultra drinker will ascertain that tasting Amstel Light will tarnish them for life. The Iron Chef will taste the oily rancid gray meat of the lamprey by slowly churning it in his mouth but the yellow beer drinker knows that if her delicate palate only knows the satisfying deliciousness of Rolling Rock that a mere splash of PBR will singe her tongue. As there is no doubt there is extreme torture assumed when a Busch drinker has to down a Pacifico (I have heard their cries) we should consider any detour in brand physical and mental torture per the Geneva Convention. We feel your pain yellow beer drinkers!

The Sophisticate
Blind taste ten lagers and pilsners – that’s it. I dare you to.

Why do some bars call last call early, and why don’t they just do another round if people are still in the bar? I’m a paying customer, don’t they want my money?

First, yes we want your money – that’s the only reason that we open our doors everyday. However, maybe we call last call because of the type of liquor license we have. Or maybe we call last call because things are rowdy and no one needs to drink more, or maybe we call last call because it’s getting late, or maybe we call last call because it’s been a long hard night and we are just done. It doesn’t matter the reason behind calling last call, the important thing to remember is last call is last call. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve spent, who your friends are, or that you know the owner – when last call has been called, then you can order one more drink and then are you done drinking at this establishment. If it isn’t 2:30, go to another bar that does last call later. That’s how it works.

You only have Coors Light on draft, I only drink Bud in a bottle. Now I have to go someplace else.

You are welcome to go anywhere you want and certainly if the only thing you drink in this world is Budweiser in a bottle and I don’t have it, I find it completely legitimate for you to spend your money at a location that carries what you want. On the other hand, it’s a sad state of affairs that you will not branch out of your box. And even more sad is that I am positive in a blind taste test that you couldn’t taste the difference between Coors Light and Budweiser. I have met beer cicerones that couldn’t taste the difference (not that I think this is a particularly interesting topic to a cicerone). I have met third level sommeliers that will try Three Buck Chuck, but you aren’t willing to go from one yellow swill to a different yellow swill because you are so positive the flavor of it will be so despicable that you won’t be able to palette it? Ridiculous.

The biggest beer snobs are always domestic yellow-beer drinkers. I assure you that you can’t taste the difference, I know this as I spent one long winter working a ski area bar where we served Budweiser, Bud light, Coors, Coors Light, and MGD. We very rarely had all five beers on draft, as distribution was an issue at 11,000 feet. One day I had five guys who ordered one of each type of beer. I didn’t feel like having the yellow beer meltdown, so I brought them all MGD (the only yellow beer we had on draft). After two rounds where each thought they were drinking their brand of choice, they ordered another round and I informed the buy who was drinking Budweiser that we had ran out, but I had MGD. With a huff and a smirk he informed me that he would never drink such shit. I just smiled – proof positive he couldn’t taste any difference.

There were many days where we didn’t have all the beers on tap and I often substituted one for another without informing the guest, I never once had anyone tell me that they weren’t drinking the beer they ordered. (I don’t consider this good practice, but these were special circumstances as I worked for a very poorly ran, micro-managed, hole-in-the-wall ski area bar and I must admit – it was the perfect situation to test a theory I had always had.)

Check out this article, a good piece on Brand loyalty and the belief that you CAN taste the difference.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin/321214_virgin26.html

A challenge to all yellow beer drinkers to do a truly blind taste test challenge. And a bigger challenge to expand your palette to darker beers or better yet, how about small batch bourbon.

Here are some of the more interesting items that have come to my attention this week.

Pliny the Elder Double IPA

I am not a beer drinker, but this is one of the best beers I have ever had. It begins with a beautiful tangerine and grapefruit bouquet. It is bitter but not astringent. Perfectly balanced, as the bitterness is slow on the palette with light malt. Nice crisp bubble structure with medium mouth feel make this one sensational beer. Do try do try! I like it better on tap than in a bottle – maybe because it opens up a little more.

Hard to find bitter ingredients

Ah bitters! I have been trying to make some of the classic bitters such as Boker’s bitters and Boudreau Bitters No.2 to find that the ingredients are almost impossible to find. I went online to find quassia, catechu, and calamus with not much luck. I found catechu but I had to order a pound of it (only need three ounces). Looks like a lot of these items are used in acupuncture, so perhaps I can get them that way. I’ve also contacted a girl from where I used to live who is an herbalist, so perhaps she can be of help to me. For the meantime, I’ll experiment with some different ingredients.

The tic tac craze.

I had not heard of this drink a month ago and now it is the new hot item amongst the late night crowd. I guess as long as you get to drop something into red bull – it’s good?!?!?!? I’ve always joked that people will buy anything that comes out of the fryer and better yet if you put it on a stick. The same rings true with anything with red bull in it and then anything where you get to put a little glass inside of a big glass.

My HOT drink right now is El Scorcho, easy to make.

EL SCORCHO

1 ounce ginger syrup
1.5 ounces fresh-squeezed lime
1 ounce pineapple
2.5 ounces habeñero infused vodka

Ginger syrup

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 cup peeled and cut fresh ginger

Bring to a boil, let sit for two hours. Do not let sit overnight as the ginger will instill a bitter heat into the syrup.

Habeñero infused vodka

Cut one habeñero pepper in half. Put into a fifth of vodka and let sit overnight. Obviously the longer you let the pepper stay in the vodka the hotter it will get. But after one day, most of the heat is released into the alcohol.