What does your beer say about you?

With all the media circus over yesterday's "make up" beer session between Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley, it's obviously a question on everyone's minds.

Apparently, among things, the beer you drink is a signifier for whether you are a self-syled elite or working class Joe, a patriot or a traitor to the Constitution.

According to New York Times columnist Eric Asimov, Obama chose Bud Light because, "like every Ivy League Democrat must battle the public impression that he’s an effete snob, [he] made the sensible political decision to go for an American everyman’s beer." But, Asimov (an effete snob himself, if there ever was one) goes on to explain that he should have picked a plain ole' Bud, lest he wanted to be perceived as "fussy" about his weight.

Well, folks, clearly this is one of those issues that Obama can't possibly win on. If he chooses a an All-American beer, like Bud or Bud Light, people accuse him of political theater and trying to appear to be blue collar. If he chooses, heaven forbid, a craft beer or a Belgian import, he risks Fox News calling him an East Coast liberal elite, or worse, some Benedict Arnold.

The irony in all of this, of course, is that Bud is now owned by InBev, the European beer conglomerate...

Which brings us to other interesting revelations that have come about from this weird episode in our nation's history:

1. U.S. Congressmen-especially ones you've never heard of--will seize upon any media opportunity to promote their local interests.

U.S. Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts actually wrote a formal letter to President Obama today, chiding him for not drinking an American-owned beer, and offering the friendly suggestion that, next time, he choose a Sam Adams (coincidentally brewed in his district of Boston).

2. Craft beer aficionados are equally opportunistic and, dare I say it, shameless. One NPR commentator is reporting that many a hipster bartender shed a tear over Obama's "wasted opportunity" to champion the David vs. Goliath cause of micro-brews by choosing a small batch brewery's product.

3. Nerds will always find a way to make a nerdy graphic--in this case, a venn diagram--explaining the news, even if the news is about the role beer plays in political discourse.

Beer Summit

Uniting enemies and diffusing the Nation's collective racial tensions... how are we still lacking a post on this monumental occasion for beer tonight at the White House. Not that I want to divert any more attention to the incident in Cambridge but I had to get a word in about the prominence of beer in the latest twists of what is turning into a larger discourse on race.

On the menu are Bud Light (Obama), Blue Moon (Crowley) and Red Stripe (Gates). Obama should have selected Allagash White to complete the Stars and Stripes trifecta. More than that an American craft brewery could have received a shout out here since they we're handed any bailouts in the stimulus package.

Read or listen to more in this story on NPR.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
President Obama's Teachable Moment
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers

On the Road

Quick update from Venezia - poor internet access up in these regions, but the style and beauty of this place more than makes up for it. It's most definitely not beer culture around Venice; I've followed local example and quit the amber (or more likely, in these parts, a limpid yellow) liquid, moving into prosecco and Campari territory. There's one lone beer store I've found selling things you can find just about anywhere in the states, so I passed. Oh, well; the spritzes are so nice, anyway...

La Dolce Birra

Catherine and I are now in Rome, and seriously, I'm impressed with the Italian beer culture. Exhibit number 1: On our street, where our hotel is, there's a microbrew store that I've been frequenting every time we pass by. There's some good beers out here - I'll take the time to explain later, but we should take note of the advancements Italian microbrews have made in the past ten years or so.

Des nouvelles de biere

Since the last posting, we've been having a session. Winners: St. Rieul Brune sur lie (a fantastic Belgianish Stoutish brown, pours black, no head, tastes of espresso, figs, chocolate, but also the Belgian cloves and spices come out; beautiful), and Volcelest Brune (a nice, crisp, balanced, slightly hoppy brown ale, very refreshing and satisfying without making me slobber for more). Losers: Just barely losers, Garrigues La P’tite Bière (great initial taste but thin to the point of falling over like cardboard; refreshing for a summer day but didn't live up to the hoppy hype - Simon told me a great story about how at the end of the year they cleaned out all their remaining hops with this beer, but that must have been like ten hop pellets) and La Choulette Brune (not too bad, but kind of a medicine-and-dust combination that made me not want to finish the bottle.) Alright, back to tasting. It's a hard life.

For Vargo

Vargo, can you read this guy's shirt? Are they really traitors? That's what I will call them from now on. This was taken in front of the Paris Opera; this dude (fanny pack, pajama pants and all) was selling scarves on a Boulevard.

Paris, Je t'aime (ton bière)

Boucaneir at Le Sous-Bock

French Beers: The Mediocre and the Great

La Cave a Bulles: Best Beer Shop in France

Le Sous-Bock: Get any Major Microbrew You Want

Well, it's been a busy couple of days for us Breeds. Besides me fitting in a few hours a day to research my dissertation, we've walked all over this amazing city, sampled some great food, seen some amazing art and architecture, and rested our bones in beautiful gardens. What's more, we've gotten to try some amazing French brews. But, to be honest, it's actually hard to find the really good stuff on tap. We did get to Le Sous-Bock, the place described in Time magazine (in an article written by our own Ben Gerhardstein's cousin, no less) as a "Basque-country-themed tavern in Paris" with over 40 local microbrews. Well, they do have lots of beer, and they cook some good Basque food (especially their Axoa, a basque kind of goulash topped with crunchy potato wedges), but they didn't have much in the way of the real good French stuff. We ended up getting some Belgians that we didn't know about before, since Jenlain and Angelus seemed to be the most micro-brewy it got for French beers. (Also, they had Desperados, the margarita flavored beer of choice over here, but we declined). (Update: tried the Desperados. Tastes like a generic lime-flavored lollipop - you know, the kind banks have in fishbowls and cheap people hand out for halloween - melted on a hot sidewalk and then stirred into a glass of year-old Lipton tea.)

We ended up getting Bière Du Boucanier Golden Ale from Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Mort Subite ("Sudden Death") Oude Gueuze from Brouwerij De Keersmaeker, and Brugse Zot ("Crazy Bruggeian") by Brouwerij Straffe Hendrik. I liked all three quite a bit, but the Boucanier and Mort Subite were fantastic - the Zot was a bit thin and disappointing. The Boucanier was very alcohol-y, but in a good way: hot and spicy. The initial alcohol faded into cloves, herbs and even a touch of honey. It was fantastic... highly recommended. The Gueuze was a lambic-type beer that I've been getting into over here - kind of like a Flanders sour, similar to the good Duchesse. This particular Gueuze, the Mort Subite Oude, had that wild-yeast funk with a sharp cider and pear flavor. Mmmmm. So good for a summer night: a strong flavor but light, crisp, and dry.

So we were just ordering stuff we had never heard of, but it turns out you can get all of these at least somewhere in the States. Kind of a bummer, until I looked up the rest of the beer menu that I could remember. It turns out you could get most of them in the States. But that's the problem with even the best French beer restaurants: there's nothing but broad-distribution brews, even if they have a lot of beers available. It's like going to a beer bar in the states that says it has "microbrews" but that means Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Magic Hat. I've given up on finding a Brick Store East.

However... I did find the Holy Grail of French beer: La Cave à Bulles.

Awesome street art in front of the Cave.

I only had a short window of time to get some beers and then meet back up with Catherine, so I peeled off and got to the store... only to find that he closes for a three-hour lunch (which I love) and was due to get back in ten minutes ago. Problem was, he wasn't back yet. I could tell this might be the case for some time, because a delivery dude was sitting there all frustrated with his beer. After twenty minutes or so, Simon the owner rode up on his bike and hurriedly opened the shop back up. I ran in and asked him a bunch of rapid-fire questions, which he was more than happy to answer. I had literally heard of maybe five beers out of the two hundred he had on hand. This is the beer-lover's dream: alone in a store full of medal-winning beers you've never even seen. It was a shame to only have fifteen or so minutes talking with the guy, since he knew everything about these beers - their stories, the region from which they came, the brewers, and even the people who import a small sliver of this stuff to the States. A full report of the beers is coming later, since I need to go at the moment, but suffice it to say that the Biere de Brie line from Ferme-Brasserie De Gaillon and the Page 24 line from Brasserie St. Germain are amazing... more to come.

Beerbucks? Starbeer?

Starbucks to drop their famous name and start serving beer? I'm skeptical.

The Louvre: Beer History

Not only did ancient Egyptians make beer; they made little models of people making beer. These models were put in a royal tomb in order to give the deceased servants in the afterlife. The idea was that these wooden models had a spirit that would enable them to do what they were pictured doing in the spirit-world. They had all sorts of models - for example, of boats, cattle herders, bakers, and, of course... beer brewers.

Here's a model from about 2000 BCE (or 4,000 years ago). These are beer brewers; the guys on the right are pounding out the grain, while a woman does something next to them (the model here is damaged). She's probably brewing the beer. Next to her is a big jar of grain and smaller vats of fermenting beer. Probably tasted like crap, but seriously, it's enough that they are making the stuff (but no hops, remember: that's not until the middle ages).

Below is another dude pressing a wet fermented bread-cake on to a filter over top of a jar. He's squeezing out the beer and leaving behind the grain. I am glad we don't brew like this today, or we might be using words like "putrid" and "insipid drivel" to describe our beer.

Dispatch from the City of Light (Beer)

Tonight, Catherine and I enjoyed an aperitif or two (or four) at Au Trappiste, a Belgian restaurant with a great beer selection in the middle of town. Just the thing to take the edge off of a day well spent in the Louvre...

Yes, you're correct, that sign above the name, "Au Trappiste," says "Royaume de de la Biere," or "Kingdom of Beer." That's my kind of oppressive totalitarianism.

So we pulled up some seats and found beers among the 20 or so on tap (not to mention the 100 or so in bottles) that we hadn't seen before. In the end, we had ourselves a Bush Prestige (at times this brewery releases in the US under the name Scaldis, or so BeerAdvocate tells me, even though this wasn't a Scaldis tripel), a Hanssens Gueuze, and an Angelus, a sweet little biere de garde (as well as a Duchesse de Bourgogne, for old time's sake.)

Here's the man pulling the pints.

Two things come to mind:

1. This is a great place - a nice, laid-back atmosphere, fantastic location in the middle of ancient Paris, etc. - but, even objectively, it's no Brick Store. The Belgian selection was great, but it made me that much more proud of our little Atlanta treasure. We've got more Belgians on tap and in the bottle than the best Belgian beer bar in Paris. I think that's saying something.

2. French craft beer is on the up-and-up. It's amazing that there are local producers out there who make something delicious but aren't to be found in most Parisian bars. Instead, everybody is drinking lighter, boring-looking beers (Kronenbourg's 1664 is everywhere). I mean, it's better than Bud being the staple beer, and Leffe is basically a low-tier beer here, appearing in 40-ounce cans in grocery stores, but the better French stuff is so hard to find. For example, the Angelus is really good - a bit sharp, but a full and complex flavor, quite a counterpoint to the French mainstay right now (called Desperado; and I hear it's quite awful, like kid-friendly beer, but French people can't get enough of the stuff. ) The Gueuze was really wonderful, had a kind of cider-like taste, and was a great sumer beer without sacrificing flavor or body, and the Bush is an excellent tripel - not something I'd order again if St. Bernardus or Karmeleit or Golden Carolus tripels/quads were on the menu, but really very good. And, of course, the good duchess was tasty as always.

So I'm still hopeful at this point in our trip. Haven't gotten to Cave à Bulles yet (that should be the high point, beer-wise, of our Paris leg), but it's on the agenda for tomorrow. Cheers!

NYTimes Profiles English Pubs

Seems they're not doing so well these days, economically speaking, but have retained their charm. Katie thought they were great, except for the beer... I looked up some of the beers mentioned in the article, and only the star of the show, the Hook Norton, seems to be any good. You know, I think Decatur has hit upon a great combination: pubs with really, really good beer. I think the Brick Store guys could be on to something big... Alright, off to taste more French beer...

Paris: Where the beer flows like wine

Agent Catherine and I landed in Paris a few hours ago, and are thankfully freshening up at our digs for the week. We're staying in the Marais, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods over here. Hip and (for Paris) cheap: the winning combination.

Anyway, though Paris isn't known as one of the beer capitals of the world, it's more or less the best place to find French craft beer. Which may be like saying you're in the best place for sunbathing in all the Antarctic. But maybe it will surprise us? For starters, we're going to walk by this place in a minute or two, and then we'll definitely stop by this place later in the week. Anybody have better recommendations? What's the best French beer out there?

In general, they seem to have a lighter palate over here (lots of lagers and saisons), but hopefully the up-and-coming craft brewers have pushed into some more challenging flavor frontiers. We'll let you know what's what. If the Orangina is better than the beer, we're in trouble. I'll have to switch to wine, I guess... c'est la vie.

Oatmeal Stout and Heath Bar Ice Cream

The only thing that could potentially be better than the Dirty South Beer Club is the Dirty South Ice Cream Club*.



I, for one, would like to head this threat off at the pass. Let's make Oatmeal Stout and Heath Bar Ice Cream for our next meeting.

*The Dirty South Puppies and/or Baby Kitties Club might be cool, too.

(h/t BoingBoing. Picture courtesy of A Good Appetite)

Dogfish Beer's Head

From Inc. Magazine this time, it's an article on everyone's favorite eccentric beer brewmaster and (I'm reluctant to say) rapper. I only ever hear one line about IBUs in lemonade. I need more!!


Also, with GA unemployment at 10.1 it is refreshing to see Dogfish Head post another job opening at their site.

Weirdest Beer Related Story Ever

Seriously... what's going on here? Utah, abduction, forced beer consumption, mistaken identity... could be a movie. My favorite part is that the writer thinks the two beers are going to make this man pass as a drunk.

For Relaxing Times...

With news of a possible major merger in the Japanese beer market between Kirin and Suntory (that may be blocked for violating anti-trust laws - and, by the way, didn't know Suntory made beer), I just have to remind us...

2009 Great American Beer Festival Tickets Selling Quickly

2009 Great American Beer Festival Tickets Selling Quickly

Posted using ShareThis

Traveling-while-traveling review

Though I am stationed for the summer in Washington D.C., this weekend I took a trip to New Jersey to visit a few friends and use one of their amazing libraries for a few hours. While there, I tried a couple of beers I haven't been able to find in Atlanta or D.C. - among them, a couple of beers from Hoppin' Frog Brewery in Akron, Ohio (also home of the Black Keys). My friends and I tried their Double IPA and Imperial Stout, both of which I give a thumbs-up. The stout (awesomely called "BORIS the Crusher") was billed as an oatmeal stout, but wasn't short on the sweet chocolate and coffee, while the double IPA had a very non-cascade hoppy front (we need to get some of those single-hop brews so I can nail down what it tasted like, but here goes: a super-bitter, slightly citrus but non-piney hop - maybe amarillo?). Also tried the Mikkeler Beer Geek Breakfast Stout, which was really delicious but available in GA (and, for my money, not as good as the BORIS - and at twice the cost). Seriously, if you see some Hoppin' Frog out there, try it out. Especially the Imperial Stout...

I Got Really Excited, and Then It Faded Considerably

Via the Dallas Morning News (my source for all knowledge), there's a Dallas-based company named Word Beer Company that is shipping craft beer in "buckets" to 27 states - including Georgia. It's an interesting way to get around distribution laws, since you can get out-of-state beers... and apparently, UPS ships beer to Georgia with no legal problems. So, I was pretty psyched, and as I went on to their website was thinking about all the Alesmith and Three Floyds I would be drinking... until I saw their list of beers and their prices. A couple of good brews could be bought, some not available in Georgia, but nothing spectacular. No beers from Michigan available...how can I get my hands on some more Founder's? And then there's the extortionist pricing - 60 bucks for 8 12-ounce beers? And the suggested gift packs have Anchor Steam, Magic Hat #9, Peroni, and Guinness in them? 60 bucks for some beers you could pick up at any Kroger in the country? Perhaps we need to start our own, and better, world beer company. Apparently people will pay through the nose for this stuff...

Beersness News: Trouble in Deutschland

Some dude named Charlie has an interesting series on the decline of craft brewery in Germany (down from 2,200 craft breweries fifty years ago to about half that now). Apparently, large conglomerates have bought up many of the small breweries, but now that economic times are tough, they are deciding to close some of the smaller, though excellent, breweries just to boost profits. Makes you wonder if that will ever happen states-side. Right now, we've got hundreds of amazing independent breweries, but what if a large corporation decided to buy Stone brewery, and then a few years later to close it down... it happened to the Old Dominion brewpub when it was bought out, so I guess it could happen to the beer, as well. Anyway, in honor of better times in German beer, here's me at the Alt-Giessener brewery, enjoying one of the many delicious brews they have there.

Watch some bizarre brewing

courtesy of Sam at Dogfish Head:

Tampa Bay: Way to make beer club sound lame

Seriously: this guy sounds like his biggest concern about beer club is making sure no-one gets a buzz. Our write-up sounded way better.

Deschutes + Bend brewing Co's--we locate some duds!

So it's not all fun and games on our trip--in between our backpacking trip in the 3 sisters wilderness area and dipping into bagby hotsprings, we ducked into bend, oregon to try the 2 famed beer places there.

We started with a tour at Deschutes, where a (extremely beer loving) tour guide explained the brewing process step by step and showcased the very expensive brewing equipment. One thing that makes DBC unique is their use of the whole hop flower instead of pellets or extract. The tour was quite interesting and ben and I were glad to learn more and bulk up knowledge.

At the end of the tour we stopped by the tasting room where we tried Mirror Mirror (a decent barleywine), inversion ipa (a good and classic northwestern ipa), black butte porter (surprsingly their most popular and also the best we had), green lakes organic ipa (ok pale ale--they admit u sacrifice quality in some ways w organic beer--makes me think we should do an organic beer club night), and lasly the black butte xxi (their 21st anniversary smoked espresso stout...kind of like a cup of coffee poured in a beer--interesting but not good!!).

Deschutes is huge. They talked about their huge distribution and their love of the environment. They are taking some interesting steps towards going green and reuse their spent grain to make breads.

Ruling: pretty decent. Nowhere near the best but obviously a bit step above anything we get from sweetwater.

Instead of trying more we went to bend brewing co. We had read about their female brewmaster and good beers in beeradv mag and were excited for their half price happy hour apps. But their beer was mostly not memorable. We did the sampler and tried all ten on tap and had some bad, some decent and one or two good ones. Their oatmeal stout nitro was good and their dark lager was like slovenian pivo temno. We will try their hop head ipa later (their best and imperial ipa).

Ruling: blah. Depending on the imperial ipa.

We also think full sail brewing is overrated.

Finally, I write this from the timberline lodge in mt hood where we tried the mt hood oatmeal stout. Not at all a dud--a really yummy and not too heavy stout that deserves its A on beeradv. Ok ben is reminding me to get back to our leisurely dinner and view of mt hood.

And tomorrow we go back to the woods for 3 days--in need of a beer respite!!

Science...

Researchers have discovered that the famed "beer gut" is fiction, not fact; people who store fat in the belly-region are genetically predisposed to do so, as opposed to people who store fat in other areas of the body. Beer doesn't make it go anywhere in particular. Hmm, now I have to blame my Mom and Dad for my gut, not Stone Brewery; though I guess it's better than storing it all in my hands, or something like that...

Not Portland, but Almost Birradise

Tonight, Catherine and I (along with my parents) visited Pizzeria Paradiso, one of the best places in DC to get craft beer; and on this occasion, it didn't disappoint. Sure, whatever, the pizza is great, but who is even thinking about tha when the beer list is like ten pages long? Of course, since I'm out of town, I'm looking for rare, new or strange beers. Just my luck: they had two Three Floyds beers on tap: one on the beer engine, the Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale on cask, and another rare one, the Sand Pebbles Brown Ale (with all of 2 reviews on BeerAdvocate). I guess you'd call the Sand Pebbles an Imperial Brown, because it was about 8% alcohol, and you could taste it (though not in a bad way). It poured a dark brown, and had a baker's chocolate and nutty aroma, a big hop kick on the initial taste and then a roasty, creamy sweetness at the end. I thought it was pretty amazing. The Scottish ale was even darker, much less hoppy, smoky and caramel with dark fruits at the end, with a smooth-as-silk mouthfeel (probably from the beer engine). I was just so happy to try some 3 Floyds, and they are really wonderfully crafted ales; but then, with a desire for the exotic, we also tasted the Italian brewer Piccolo Birrificio's absinthe-beer, called Chiostro (spicy, herby, lemony, with a licorice kick at the end from the absinthe), and Verhaeghe Echte Kriek, which was like an extremely sour-cherry pie in champagne form with a little wild-yeast funky kick in there. I loved it, but I think it's an acquired taste. All in all, a great night. To be honest, I'm surprised to see Three Floyd's here, but I'm even happier to drink it.

A Rogue XSperience

Headed to Oregon with an eye toward beer, I knew well in advance that a stop in Newport at Rogue Ale's Public House was mandatory. But, it wasn't until the day before we arrived in Newport that we seriously considered taking advantage of Rogue's "Bed & Beer" - staying the night in one of the three apartments above the pub (the apartment comes with two 22 oz beers). The one bedroom (which comes with a full kitchen, two 22oz beers and a couple pint glasses), it turns out, was available for $90.

Owing to our cheapskate vacationer mentality it wasn't a no-brainer. Katy had visions of a frat house room for rent, while I was more optimistic about the digs. After arriving in Newport we hemmed and hawed in typical Lovehardstein fashion. I had a hard time taking Katy seriously because she was wearing the red long underwear pants she had donned the night before when we were camping at Cape Lookout State Park. Anywho, we walked into Rogue to just to "check it out," and a few minutes later we had decided to stay the night. Good decision.

The Public House is located on historic Bayfront St in what still feels like a fishing town with a tourist problem...or however that bumper sticker goes). The Rogue Brewery is on the other side of the bay.

Approaching the bar you are confronted with a panoply of Rogue Ales on tap (we heard a heated exchange between two locals about whether or not to call them beers) - perhaps 15 in all, about eight from their XS series. Rogue Ales on tap, plus Budweiser and Coors Light (huh? - I'll explain later). We started with a sample of Rogue's uber-popular American Amber Ale (it being almost July 4th and all) which has enjoyed some ridiculous string of wins for the category at competitions (according to the bartender at least). It was a good warmup. Next came a flight of tasters - Double Dead Guy, Imperial Stout, Imperial Porter, Old Crustacean Barleywine, and the I2PA ("I-squared"). Interestingly, the Double Dead Guy and the Old Crusty were probably the two we were less impressed with, though we'd had them back East and thoroughly enjoyed them at the time. The I-squared was the standout. This is Rogue's Imperial IPA and it was freaking incredible. One of our favorite beers of all time. Gad-damn do they know what do to with those hops round here in Oregon. The I-squared is the perfect hazy, unfiltered, full-bodied, hoppy (but not stupid hoppy) IPA. I really really really want to bring some back to Atlanta. Oh, and the Porter and Stout are also "the bomb."

After the tasting session we headed to the Brewery where Rogue was selling cases of bottles on the cheap, as they do to move inventory from time to time. Katy and I scored six 750 ml bottles of the Imperial Porter for $23 - about $65 off retail price! Whoa. We also got to sample a little more - the Double Chocolate Stout was a melted chocolate bar, and we learned that Rogue repackages their beers for sale in Japan (apparantely a skeleton on a beer bottle does not go over very well with Japanese consumers).

Speaking of Asia, we ate that evening at this little Noodle Cafe across the street, reviewed here. It was AMAZING. The owner/chef cooks everything (noodles included) from scratch and uses local seafood. The Jung Bong Spicy Seafood Soup was perfect.

And then, back to the bar, where we were treated to a couple more beers - Katy stuck to the Imperial Stout and I2PA, while I branched out into the Rogue's other hoppy beers, the Imperial Pilsener, Brutal Bitter and Juniper Pale Ale. All were very good - though I was most taken with the Brutal. A local also bought me a shot of Rogue's Dead Guy Whiskey, which was fascinatingly smooth.

About the Bud and Coors on tap - apparently the manager of the Public House only drinks them (weird), but whenever anyone orders them the bartender rings a bell and the locals whistle at them. This should be standard practice at all pubs throughout our nation.

So, in sum, we had a great Rogue Bed n' Beer XSperience. The apartment was well worth $90 - far from a frat house, it was spacious, clean, quiet, and the kitchen allowed me to make some fabulous late-night popcorn.

Breaking News: Best Beer In the World Found

Ninkasi.

Best. Brewery. Ever.

Though the brewery is only 3 Years Old...this $h!% is going to be blowing up soon. Keep your ears to the ground.

Ben & I have just come back from visiting their brewery. Though we may never have it again, Maid in the Shade (an Imperial IPA?) --Made in the Shade??--Maiden the Shade?-- was the most amazing special limited edition seasonal brew, made specifically for the Oregon Country Fair. And apparently totally un-googleable.

Southern Tier Strikes Again

Had the Southern Tier Mokah Imperial Stout tonight. Deep, rich chocolate, roasted almond, espresso goodness, and an amazing aroma make this easily the best dessert I have had in some time... Don't drink this one until you are ready for some decadent chocolate and coffee madness. I will be bringing this back to Atlanta by the truckload. Oh, why, ATL, do you not carry Founders and Southern Tier...but at least we're not Pennsylvania.

Dirty South...Breaking News...

"DEBAUCHED BEER CLUB TEMPTS NATION'S YOUTH, ENABLED BY LIBERAL COMMIE PINKO RAG"

"keeping it real"...developing...

...word. Nice attempt to hold in the smile, Katie.

Oh, and Mike and Sarah got engaged. Whoever they are.

Find Craft Beer Immediately

PubQuest... Here's the map for Portland, OR...

Also, try BeerMapping.com...

Beer Review (Out-of Town? Not sure)

Perhaps you can get this in the Drrty GA, but I helped myself to a bit of Péché Mortel (translation: "Mortal Sin") last night, and wow... it was killer. It's an Imperial Stout packed with tons of fair-trade coffee (pretty sure the fair-trade does not alter the taste, but it renders negligible that bitter note of economic injustice). The brewer, Montreal's Brasserie de Dieu du Ciel, knows what they are doing. You know, I've been impressed with upstate New York and Quebecker beers as of late (Southern Tier and Unibroue are now on my list of top 10 North American brewers.) If this were a piece of low-hanging forbidden fruit, there's no way I would resist the temptation. And it's a bit expensive, since it's rare (only brewed in 50-barrel batches a couple of times a year). But, oh... is it worth it...

It's black as night with a dark brown head, and smells like the best coffee you have ever sniffed... You know when you walk into a wonderful coffee house, one that roasts their own beans, and the whole place just smells like awesome? ...that's this beer. And the taste... it doesn't let up on the coffee, but there's a wonderful balance between the bitter dark roast coffee and the sweetness of some molasses, some whiskey, and just a bit of chocolate. The whole time I was sipping this nasty, nasty little drink, I was so happy to be alive. If you can find this beer, put on your smoking jacket, wait until dark, start a fire, and drink it dry.

And, if drinking this beer is a sin, it is so good it can't possibly be my fault. Who to blame...I guess you know what we have to do...