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When it comes to picking my beer of the year for 2008, I think of Clipper City Winter Storm, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter and Brewer's Art Resurrection in a bottle.
Any other nominees?
And by the way, happy beer year.
Last night I put myself in the full Barcalounger position -- maximum recline -- to watch the battle of journalism school giants, Missouri v. Northwestern, in football's Alamo Bowl.
It was a spirited contest, proving I guess that schools that turn out scribblers (I got a journalism degree from Northwestern, my dad got one from MU) can also play good football.
The brew that I sipped while watching the game, pulling the lounge chair up to take a swig, was Ruben & the Jets, a dark chocolate stout from Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, Calif. The brewery issued the beer in honor of the 40th annivesary of the release of the Ruben & The Jets album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Zappa, of course , was a Baltimore native and Dec. 21 was declared Frank Zappa Day in this town.
The brew poured very dark, almost black. It had nice chocolate notes, but overall was much milder than I expected. Some folks report tasting pepper notes, but I missed them. It was 8.6 per cent ABV.
Overall it was a pleasant companion to a good game. It was about midnight when Mizzou pulled out the victory in overtime and the last sip was swallowed. It was a nice way to spend a December evening.
Anyone else have Frank Zappa's beer?
Anybody ever meet Zappa?
What beer do you recommend to sip while ringing in the New Year's Eve?
As the year draws to a close, a bottle of Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic Brewing in Cloverdale, Calif. was drained, and spun. This beer, 8 percent ABV, is an ale made with 18 percent rye.
I would like to describe how the beer tasted, but my older son, 28, drank it before I could taste it. That is the downside of having your older kids back home, they drink your beer.
In truth I had placed this bottle in the kid's Christmas stocking. I thought he would give Santa (his dad) a sip. Instead he drank it after I had gone bed, settling down for my long winter's nap.
Anyone else have tales of offspring draining their parent's brews?
I guess the moral of this Christmas story is: you snooze, you lose.
The ritual of exchanging beers during the Christmas season has been going on in this town for almost a quarter of a century.
Earlier this month, Michael and Joanna Sullivan opened their Baltimore home to the 23rd International Christmas Beer Exchange. Over 120 people attended, according to Jack Hughes, one of the founding members of the exchange.
The idea behind the party is that you bring a quantity of quality beer, usually a six-pack, to the gathering, and then sample the offerings that others brought. The exchange began, according to group's web site, "in 1986 as a simple holiday gift exchange among a group of six beer aficionados. Over the years, the event has grown into a full-scale celebration of fine imported and micro-brewed domestic beer."
I failed to make it to this year's gathering; my bad. But Hughes sent me this report on the proceedings. "The selected kegs were Troeg’s Mad Elf, Penn Weizenbock, Legacy Brown Aled Girl, and Ithaca Brewing Company Apricot Wheat. The kegs were quite a hit; the Mad Elf, Weizenbock and Apricot Wheat were almost drained by the end of the night. "
"For the bottled beer that guests brought to share, the greatest event was the 10 p.m. opening of Joe and Kelly Gold’s 6-liter bottle of La Fin du Monde. Wow! That was fantastic.
"Some of the bottled Christmas beers were also quite delicious; Anchor Christmas, Sly Fox Christmas, Sierra Christmas. There were also numerous Porters, Ales and IPA’s consumed by the crowd.."
Several years I attended a post-Christmas beer exchange in Baltimore County, hosted by Rick Vohrer.
That exchange usually held a day or two after Christmas, is now in its fifth year, Rick told me the other day. Guests bring a case of beer, usually 4 different six-packs, Rick said.
A recent wrinkle is that some wives of beer exchangers show up at Rick's home, but then they bolt, traveling as a group to a movie or the theater, while their men sip beer.
Anybody else know of other beer exchanges?
What are the drawbacks, if any?
The spinning beer bottle of Cheer, the winter seasonal from Shiner, says Ravens will win in Dallas on Saturday. Here is hoping that brown bottle knows something we don't.
The beer, as I have said, is exceptional, has the aroma of peaches, but with a great malt body. Since Resurrection is, our beer bloggers report, getting hard to find, this would be a good second choice.
Anybody else have a good second choice, a backup beer if your first choice is out of stock?
Whaddya think of the Ravens chances?
Just in time for the holidays, Resurrection, the potent, luscious double from Brewer's Art on Charles Street, is in a bottle and in area liquor stores.
Formerly available only on tap, the beer in a 750-milliliter bottle, secured by cage and cork, sells for $10 and is distributed by Bond.
I snagged a bottle at the Wine Source in Hampden, but was told by owner Dave Wells that the supply was limited.
I brought my bottle home, iced it down, then popped the cork. The same caramel and dark fruit flavors were there, followed by citrus. Great stuff. I did miss watching a bartender expertly fill a goblet, as is done at the Brewer's Art bar. But I muddled through, pouring a tall glass for myself.
The beer got its name when the yeast in the first batch died and was "resurrected." Over the years this beer has "resurrected" my spirits on many a Friday night.
Anyone else try this?
Even though it hails from Lancaster Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania, the spinning bottle of Lancaster Winter Warmer Ale predicted the Ravens will top the Steelers this weekend in Baltimore.
The Lancaster Winter Warmer Ale, 6.5 percent alcohol by volume, is rich with a strong, bitter finish. I like it, but not as much as I like the brewer's Milk Stout.
What do we think of this beer? What do we think of this prediction?
I spoke briefly with Rachael Ray on Friday, who will be in our area noon- 2p.m. Saturday signing her new cookbook at Books a Million in Arundel Mills mall.
I asked her about Irish tea, a recipe in her new book. It calls for mixing Guinness stout with chilled sweet tea, and topping it off with a lemon slice. It sounded awful, so I asked, did she actually drink this?
"I didn't love it, but I did have it," she told me. "My husband liked it, and so did my dogs."
A happier beer experience, Ray said, is eating the Mo's Bacon Bar made by Vosges chocolate and drinking a Rogue Smoke Ale. The chocolate maker and the brewer have collaborated and sell a gift box pairing chocolate with beer.
What do you think of Ray's suggestions? Anybody ever try mixing stout and chilled sweet tea?
How about the smoked beer, bacon and chocolate pairing?
One member of our beer drinking community reports that his family wants to buy him a homebrewing kit for Christmas.
The question is, what kit should they buy? Homebrewers of the world, do you have suggestions?
Is there a difference between kits?
What is a common beginner's mistake?
Had a terrific holiday beer this weekend, Shiner Cheer. It is a dunkelweizen topped with the aroma, and the flavor, of peaches.
The Shiner folks pull this off because there is a substantial malt body underneath. I found it at Wells Liquors on York Road for $8.99 a six-pack. Joe Falcone, beer manager at Wells, told me the beer had just arrived in his shop. Really good stuff, and I normally shy away from fruit in my beer.
Anybody else try this Shiner star?
Anybody have any "sleeper" holiday beers we haven't mentioned yet?
Today, Dec. 5, is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition. Say hallelujah!
Prohibition ended in phases, with the beer taps re-opening in April 1933 and hootch following in December.
H. L. Mencken -- remember him, a real newspaper guy? -- celebrated the return of legal beer in Maryland in April by posing for a photo at the Rennert Hotel, at Saratoga and Liberty streets, and downing a mug of beer. His verdict: "Pretty good; not bad at all."
The nation officially said good-bye to prohibition that December, when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
I wonder how we, as heirs of Mencken, can follow in his footsteps.
Any ideas?
What should we drink? What should we say in our toast?
One other bit of housekeeping: A spinning bottle of Snow Goose -- a very nice holiday brew -- predicted a win for the Redskins over the Ravens this weekend.
I think I will drink another Snow Goose, in honor of the repeal, and make a toast to the demise of Washington.
In answer to Tim D, the AB brewers I spoke with in St. Louis seem to feel that the production of their American beers, especially Budweiser, will continue as always.
I toured the Budweiser operation; even saw several of the much-discussed Clydesdales. I was told that Bud operations, including the daily 3 p.m tasting of the products, remain unchanged. The new ownership is just that, new. So we shall see.
I asked about potential cutbacks in quality control, and was told the operation is very high-tech and much of the monitoring of brews is computerized and remains unchanged.
I was surprised that a batch of Bud had 9 hop infusions, in three separate doses; some of the hops were repeats. Bud is not my favorite beer, but at a lunch tasting, I loved pairing it with a serving of smoked Gouda. Who knew?
The most impressive part of my tour was the Michelob operation, which is basically a craft brewery inside the AB complex. Brewer Nathaniel Davis experiments with new beers using the vast AB resources. As he put it: "It is like playing with your dad's tools, if your dad is Donald Trump."
I tasted several of the Michelob brews. The Dunkel Weisse, a dark wheat, was my favorite. It is one of their 14 Michelob beers. The Michelob Porter isn't too shabby either. I confess I have a new appreciation of Michelob beers, even if they come from a big brewery.
Anyone else taste them recently ?
What do you think?
Can you get past the big brewery bugaboo?
In answer to Matt's question about holiday beers that I was surprised I did not pick in the tasting, the short answer is yes.
Snow Goose is a usual favorite that I did not select, and Sierra Nevada Celebration is another. Can't be sure why they did not make my cut. We were picking exceptional beers, and these, I surmise, were well made, but for some reason did not ring my bell.
In honor of my visit to snowy Kansas City, I chose a KC beer, Boulevard Bully Porter, to spin to see how the Ravens would fare against the Bengals.
Boulevard Bully Porter correctly predicted a Ravens win. It is, by the way, a fine brew.
Anyone else had a chance to taste Boulevard beers?
I am back in Baltimore and will blog soon about my tour of Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis.
Was impressed with the Michelob operation, and the AB effort to brew more craft beers.
