by Luke on September 30, 2009
America’s largest independent brewery, The Boston Beer Co. — the folks behind Samuel Adams — has announced the 
upcoming release (release dates to be decided) of a new series being called “The Sam Adams Barrel Room Series”. Each beer in the series shares the common characteristic of having first been aged in oak barrels. But that’s where the similarities seem to end.
The first release, the Samuel Adams American Kriek (7% ABV), was aged on “sweet yet tart” Balaton cherries. According to the Michigan State University Department of Horticulture,
“This dark-skinned European morello-type cherry was first introduced into the United States in 1984 by Dr. Amy Iezzoni, Professor of Horticulture at MSU [...] The Balaton cherry has a dark burgundy color throughout with a robust sweet-tart taste.”
The second release, Samuel Adams New World Tripel, has a much higher ABV of 10% and is being described as “golden in color with notes of spice and tropical fruit.”
Finally, the third beer in the announcement, the Samuel Adams Stony Brook Red (9% ABV),is a Belgian-style ale “with a hint of tart fruit and toasted oak character.”
It’s great to see a big brewery like Boston Beer Co. releasing some “Beer Geek” brews. They certainly wouldn’t have to do anything out of the norm, off the wall or potentially “risky” like these beers; I’m sure the company’s sales would be just fine without the Barrel Room Series. But it’s really good to see the brewers continuing to flex their respective brewing muscles by brewing some new styles.
And, just like the argument which was given in the comments section of the Michelob post I wrote a few days ago, the recognizable Sam Adams logo on these beers might convince drinkers of otherwise rather safe beers to try something they might not otherwise have the balls to try — in this case it’s people who already drink decent beers like Sam Adams Boston Lager instead of swill like Mic Ultra trying slightly riskier styles like Kriek rather than Michelob Porter. But the argument remains the same. Good for you guys, Sam Adams!
[Source: beernews.org, the craft beer news leader]
by Luke on September 29, 2009
(Click for Larger Image)
Maine’s most well-known beer geek brewery, Allagash Brewing (the only Maine brewery to win a medal at the 2009 GABF), has announced the release of the second beer in their new 375 ml series: Vagabond Ale. Vagabond is the follow-up release to the brewery’s now famous Gargamel Ale, which was released this past May.
Vagabond was aged for four years in American oak barrels and features a “complex aroma” of maple syrup and port; “background notes” of marzipan, plum and dill (which doesn’t really seem to jive with maple, marzipan or plum, but we’ll see); and flavors of tart, unripened plum, caramel and a warm toasted almond finish.
Now the exciting part. Just like with Garamel, Allagash is releasing Vagabond on a VERY limited basis. The beer — of which there are only 500 bottles — will be available ONLY at the Brewery (on Industrial Way in Portland) and ONLY from 9am to 6pm on Monday, October 19th. There is a 2 bottles per person limit and each bottle will cost $10.
If you’re after a bottle, be sure and arrive at the brewery early. Last time there was a line already formed when I arrived at 8:30 and that was in the pouring rain for the first beer in the series. Now that there’s a bit of hype around the Allagash 375 Series, you can expect Vagabond to be even more exclusive.
I’ll see you there!
by Luke on September 28, 2009
This past weekend marked the 2009 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Co. In case you’re unfamiliar, the GABF is the largest — and arguably most prestigious — commercial beer competition in the world. The number of entries in this year’s competition crushed the previous record (held by the 2008 GABF) with 3,308 entries from 495 breweries.
Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded in 78 beer categories. The most competitive of which “was American Style India Pale Ale” with 134 entries. The gold medal went to Firestone Walker Brewing Co. (Paso Robles, CA), for their Union Jack India Pale Ale. This was the second straight year the beer won this award.
The second most hotly contested category was “Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer” with 110 entries (up from 79 in 2008). The gold medal went to Arcadia Brewing Co. (Battle Creek, MI), for their Cereal Killer Barleywine.
As they do every year, Colorado and California dominated the competition for the most medals won by each state. Colorado came out on top this year with 45 medals and the top five medal winning states were: CO (45), CA (39), OR (22), WA (13), PA (12).
You can view the entire 2009 medal list here (or click here for the PDF version) but the winners of the 2009 Brewery and Brewer of the Year Awards were:
Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO; Dr. David Ryder
Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD; Robert Malone
Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Dry Dock Brewing Company, Aurora, CO; Dry Dock Brewing Team
Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA; Pizza Port Brew Guys
Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA; Will Kemper
Great American Beer Festival 2009 Statistics
- 457 breweries in the festival hall
- 2,100 beers served at the festival
- 49,000 attendees (includes brewers, volunteers and ticket holders)
- 3,000 volunteers
- 495 breweries in the competition
- 3,308 beers judged in the competition
- 78 categories judged + Pro-Am category
- 132 judges from ten countries
- Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 42
- Category with highest number of entries: 134, American Style India Pale Ale
And lastly, I must give a shout-out to the ONLY 2009 GABF winner from Maine – congratulations are in order for Allagash Brewing Co. who took home the silver in the “Belgian-Style Abbey Ale” category (58 entries) for their Tripel. Cheers!
by Luke on September 26, 2009
It’s always great to see beer & cheese pairing discussed in the mainstream news, as it’s certainly still an up-and-coming notion in much of the mainstream world. So I was psyched to find an article on the topic a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal, of all places.
The article, entitled “Trouble Brews for Wine; Cheese Chooses Beer” (how great is that?!), highlights the inroads made by beer at a recent event in Piedmont — a northern Italian region which shares a border with another country known for both its cheese and its wine, France — hosted by nonprofit Slow Food entitled Cheese 2009. According to the WSJ,
Alberto Farinasso, events coordinator for the fair, says Slow Food is eager to give more attention to artisanal brews, and has elevated beer’s role from bit player to supporting actor. In previous editions of the fair, beer was present, but wine was recognized as the default partner for cheese tasting.
This time, the fair’s program and the crowds around the beer stands made it clear that beer no longer plays second fiddle to wine. Of 37 “taste workshops,” six were dedicated to pairing beer with cheeses. On Monday, the last day of the fair, one section dedicated to artisanal beers had to shut down because it had run out of beer to sell.
Of course the end of the article highlights some of the wine snobbery still present in very cheese-centric parts of the world,
“Have you ever seen anyone drink beer in Bordeaux?” asks Emeric Sauty de Chalon, president of 1855, France’s largest online wine shop. Mr. Sauty de Chalon agrees that the most flavorful cheeses have a flavor that is too strong for some red wines, but doesn’t think beer and cheese is necessarily the right alternative.
“With some lower quality cheese, why not?” he says. “But with the most high-quality cheeses from Italy or from France I really would not recommend it. Try something else.”
But overall, especially for the common folk who actually eat the cheese and drink the beer, it seems like from the point of view of the Wall Street Journal, that a lot of progress is being made in convincing people that the two — beer and cheese, that is — pair much better together than beer and wine.
“A year ago, it was a new experience for everybody we presented it to,” [Justin Philips, owner of New York's Beer Table] says. “Now just one in 10 are surprised.”
Anyway, it’s a great article from a great source and its great for beer. Certainly worth your time to read. Check it out here. Cheers.
by Luke on September 23, 2009
For better or worse, I’m a sucker for a good beer-related LOLcat and, despite being Miller Lite, this was too cute to not re-post. I’m a softy like that…
Hi and welcome to Blog About Beer. My name is Logan and I live just north of Portland, Oregon, a city that has more craft breweries than any other in the US. I'm a full time marketer, blogger, and dad to the most beautiful girl in the world. I'm also a homebrewing and craft beer fanatic.