Fridays During The Tour - Week 3

OK, last Tour post, I promise. Through the first 12 stages (the riders are on stage 13 today) and after over 50 hours of riding, Aussie Cadel Evans has a 1 second lead over Luxembourgian Frank Schleck and a 38 second lead over American Christian Vandevelde. The Top 12 are all under 5 minutes from the lead. Even without drugs and relatively little external drama, this tour is turning out to be one of the best in recent memory. Heck, I even got my dad, a Midwestern meat-and-potatoes football and baseball kinda guy, hooked on the excitement of the damned thing. And, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin are easily best announcers on television.

So, starting Saturday, the tour heads along the Ligurian Sea, into the Italian Alps, with a stage or two in Italy, then back into the center of the country through the Rhone-Alpes and Auvergne regions.

Stage 14 and Stage 15 - Through the plains of Nimes and into the Alps on Sunday, there are no breweries until the tour crosses over the Italian border and passes through Frassino. There the tour will pass the B&B La Birra Della Valvaracho where Bierra Boero is brewed. Bierra Boero has been brewing since 2006 and now has 7 beers, ranging from a wheat to a porter and many in between.

Stage 15 ends in Prato Navoso, Italy and Tuesday is a rest day in Cuneo, Italy before trudging back up into the mountains and back into France. The 157 km Stage 16 from Cuneo to Jausiers is bereft of any breweries.

Stage 17 - Embrun to L'Alpe D'Huez - On Wednesday July 23rd the tours engages in a brutal 210 km high mountain stage through the Alps. This one stage features 3 of the most difficult climbs in all of France. The Col du Galibier, the Col de la Croix de Fer, and a finish on the L'Alpe D'Huez promises to make this, literally, a make or break stage. With the distinct possibility of eliminating virutally every sprinter and completely destroying the climbers, if you only watch one stage of the entire tour - this one will be unbelievable. And, there's more! What? More! How could you ask for more? Well, consider this a bonus. About 31 km into the ride, just as the peloton will begin break apart on the climb up Col du Galibier, there is a brewery in Briancon called Brasserie Artisanale des Grands Cols. By all accounts it is not a particularly good brewery. But still. It's better than nothing and it should provide carbs needed for the day.

Stage 18 - A foothills stage coming out of the Alps and into Saint-Etienne. About 8.5 miles southwest of Chavanay is an organic brewery called Brasserie du Pilat. Pilat brews 5 blondes, 3 ambers and 3 saisons. This makes the second all-organic brewery that we have seen along the route. Which is interesting to me because I think I can count on one finger the number of all-organic breweries here in the states. Of course, these French breweries are all small-time and I am sure there are plenty of small breweries and brewpubs not named Wolavers that are all-organic that just do not have high availability. But we have also seen a number of breweries that offer a few, if not all, organic beers. Nonetheless, it does help to bring to focus a trend that we here in the states may view simply as a trend, but that the French take very seriously - namely organic and sustainable agriculture. Outside of Paris, France is still very much an agricultural country and to prevent the erosion of that industry, they must make their agriculture sustainable. They simply cannot afford to rape their arable land in the name of industrial agriculture. I think there is an agricultural attitude here in the US that says that we can continue to fertilize and genetically enhance and monoculture our way through. But, I think we are starting to learn that this simply is not sustainable. Erosion reduces arable soil table, fertilizers wreak havoc on the waters, and monoculture requires trucking necessary fertlizers and soil nutrients all across the country in diesel trucks getting 7 MPG, $5/gallon at a time. Thankfully we are starting to see at least the forward-thinking Wisconsin brewing industry doing something about it - whether it is David Anderson's BrewFarm or South Shore Brewery leading a buying group and purchasing Wisconsin-based grain and hops. Hopefully these measures prove that local, sustainable agriculture is the only way to reduce reliance on others, decrease costs, stabilize an economy and ensure quality. Apparently the French already know this.

Anyway. Sorry for the little diatribe there, sometimes I get a little carried away.

Stage 19 - Roanne to Montlucon - this is the last stage that we will cover for the Tour as no beer is along the Stage 20 time trial and Stage 21 in Paris - well, you're probably not in Paris to drink beer. Besides, there is only one brewery that is only kinda sorta along today's route. Just shy of 9 miles south of Commentry is Brasserie des Sagnes in La Crouzille. Brasserie des Sagnes makes two beers. I'll let you guess the style? Think you've figured it out? Did you guess Blonde and Amber? If so, you would be correct. The brewery is not open to the public, though, so you'll just have to settle for finding their beers in local restaurants and bars.

I hope you've enjoyed this trip through France. I had no idea what to expect when I started this, but it is possible to make some general observations. First, French beer is not a big industry, there are very few active discussions or reviews of these beers and with limited exception are not available outside of their immediate areas. Even the major cities are often without major breweries. It is difficult to make any pronouncement as to quality - while some reviews haven't been particularly favorable, few have been atrocious and there simply isn't a very big sample size. Most of these breweries appear to very local, so the extent that these breweries are putting out "table beer" is it really fair to judge them on any particular set of criteria other than "not bad" or "would spoil your meal"?

And second, French beer, or at least much of it, attempts to duplicate the sustainable agriculture of the renowned French wine industry. For this reason few of them would even be capable of growing large enough for inter-national distribution channels.

In any event. I hope you've enjoyed this brewery tour of the Tour. Au revoir.

Some Random Thoughts

Today's column is inspired by the all of the real-life journalists who can't be bothered to write real columns so they just list a bunch of random things and expect that to be sufficient. Except, these are legitimate questions that you can take seriously.

Why doesn't Wisconsin have beer from Stone Brewing Company, Lost Abbey, AleSmith, Brooklyn, or Alaskan Brewing? These are some of the top breweries in the world and constitute most of the top 10 in American brewing, but our distributors can't be bothered to get them here. Thankfully this is being rectified in some measure by the impending arrival of Stone. While all of my sources say June 23^rd is the day, I will note that they didn't say 2008. I've been told that kegs and bottles will roll out on the same day. From the sounds of things it's all coming together pretty quickly – which means it can all fall apart pretty quickly, too. So, like many, many others I'll believe it when I see it. It's not yet known which brands we will be receiving. I'll hopefully have more about this next week.

But the point still holds. Why can't we get the others? It's not like they are secretly stashed away in their respective locales (admittedly, Lost Abbey and AleSmith are a little less distributed, but I've seen bottles of these for sale here in the Midwest). These are brands that have pretty deep penetration into the United States. We just don't have them here, in Wisconsin. Having these brands not only brings great beer to our state, but it might just jump start some of the creativity here as well as it seems the Wisconsin craft brewing industry is desperately searching for some inspiration.

Speaking of lack of inspiration. The Belgian Triple is the new IPA. Everybody has a Belgian Triple now. You know the drill, light bodied, high alcohol, low hopping, sugary sweet, moderate carbonation. Rinse, repeat. I have no problem with Belgian Triples. My favorite beer in the entire universe is a Belgian Triple. Much like the IPA, it is a very easy beer to brew, but a very difficult beer to brew correctly. The key to the Triple, and to the IPA, is balance. Nobody wants to suck on a sugar packet. There needs to be some malt backbone, and at least enough hopping to provide some damn closure. And, I know, I don't like picking on Capital, but it's very frustrating to go out East and have Brooklyn's Local 1, then have to come home and drink the Prairie Gold. Which isn't really fair to Capital. To be honest the Prairie Gold is a good, quenching, sweet summery beer. If you haven't had one, you should go out of your way to get one, or, heck, by a six. It's truly good stuff.

And, not to nitpick, but has anyone seen Capital's Baltic Porter on tap here in Madison or in Milwaukee? I've seen it on tap. In freaking Chicago.

Although talking about trying to find inspiration. I can't wait for Tyranena's Imperial Black Weizen. To quote Brewer Rob: "I am not at all sure what [the] beer style is exactly supposed to taste like. Now I thoroughly enjoy our Hefeweizen... the clove and banana flavors... but a Black Hefeweizen would have those flavors masked by the darker malts... and an Imperial would limit the ability to consume multiple glasses that is so easy with the lighter Hefeweizen." I'm a big fan of Dunkel Weizens.

This is what the BJCP (Class 15B) has to say about Dunkels: Low to moderately strong banana and clove flavor. The balance and intensity of the phenol and ester components can vary but the best examples are reasonably balanced and fairly prominent. Optionally, a very light to moderate vanilla character and/or low bubblegum notes can accentuate the banana flavor, sweetness and roundness; neither should be dominant if present. The soft, somewhat bready or grainy flavor of wheat is complementary, as is a richer caramel and/or melanoidin character from Munich and/or Vienna malt. The malty richness can be low to medium-high, but shouldn't overpower the yeast character. A roasted malt character is inappropriate. Hop flavor is very low to none, and hop bitterness is very low to low. A tart, citrusy character from yeast and high carbonation is sometimes present, but typically muted. Well rounded, flavorful, often somewhat sweet palate with a relatively dry finish. … By German law, at least 50% of the grist must be malted wheat, although some versions use up to 70%; the remainder is usually Munich and/or Vienna malt. A traditional decoction mash gives the appropriate body without cloying sweetness. Weizen ale yeasts produce the typical spicy and fruity character, although extreme fermentation temperatures can affect the balance and produce off-flavors. A small amount of noble hops are used only for bitterness.

We can see then that some phenol and ester-y components (often associated with higher ABV imperial beers, but also a by-product of some ale yeasts) can be appropriate. The trick will be ramping up the ABV without overpowering the complexities inherent in the style, particularly since you can't rely on roasted malts. I don't know whether Tyranena is setup to do a decoction mash (a process that New Glarus uses frequently, and most recently on their Bourbon Barrel Bock) but it's a neat trick that adds body and ABV without making the grain bill in ridiculous proportions.

Allagash may be leaving Wisconsin, so pick up the 750s and bombers while you can. It's a frustrating move because Allagash makes excellent, excellent beer. The Allagash White is a great beer to take home to your girlfriend or fiancée or wife or lady friend and serve with grilled chicken dinner instead of white wine.

Oh. Rodenbach may be going away for a little while, too.

The last poll results are down. Your favorite Spring style was the Maibock. Tied for second were the Bock and Weizen. A close third was the Irish Red. Picking up the pack was the Irish Stout. No Guinness or Three Feet Deep love, eh? Ah well. Next poll is up. Vote for the best Wisconsin brewing region! I'll be very curious to see who wins. The Northwoods is overshadowed by Leinie's, but has some excellent small, local breweries and brewpubs. The Central region is really starting to get a lot of respect with Central Waters, the new O'So, Stevens Point, Calumet, and a host of new brewpubs in the Appleton/OshKosh area. The SouthEast, of course has all of the great Milwaukee-area breweries and brewpubs. From Lakefront to Silver Creek. Meanwhile the South and SouthWest has the twin 500 pound gorillas of Capital and New Glarus, with brewpub kings The Great Dane and The Grumpy Troll along with newcomers like Ale Asylum and Furthermore. So, get your votes in!!

Finally. A nasty little rumor about a new brewery possibly starting to brew next year up in Wilson, Wisconsin. Rumor has it that the brewery, run by Minnesotan brewing veteran David Anderson, is on a hop and grain farm and that the beer will be made entirely from hops and grains grown on that farm. Possibly even a maltings on the farm to malt their own grains and windmills on location to provide power; the water will come from a local well. If anyone knows anything about this (David Anderson?), please, please get in touch with me. This could be a very, very awesome thing.

I Suppose I Had To Have It Eventually

I didn't want to purchase a 4-pack of the stuff. What if it sucked? Then I'd be left throwing 3.5 of them down the drain. But I finally found one on its own in the wild, and like a hungry cheetah circling a lonely gazelle, I snapped it up before I would never see it again. The following are my scribbled notes.

Budweiser Chelada - Budweiser and Clamato Juice (note: clamato juice is tomato and clam juice)
Appearance: big, foamy and pink, very hazy; tomato-y reside on the sides of the glass; thick and viscous, like pus that oozes out of a week-old sore
Aroma: an alarming spritz of tomato, followed by the faint smell of celery and salty water
Flavor: very hard to figure out what this tastes like; not really tomato, a slight gag reflex, and carbonated water
Body: thick and long lasting - the taste won't go away ... please make it stop
Drinkability: no.
Summary: no.

I have consumed some pretty terrible drinks in my day. I've had my mouth washed out with dishwashing liquid. And nothing, I repeat, nothing, is worse than brussel sprout Jones soda. This has got to be one of illest advised travesties of the "beer" universe. I hesitate to even call it beer. I can't fathom a scenario where this drink would quench my thirst. I can't envision the events that would unfold that would cause me to pause and say "You know, this would be enhanced by a Budweiser and some clamato juice." I immediately think, well, bloody marys are good on Sunday mornings after a long night of drinking; but this is far too muted of a flavor to serve that purpose, and the strange carbonation and fizziness of the thing wouldn't really settle a stomach.

In fact, short of losing a bet, I struggle to comprehend why a person would mix clamato juice and beer in the first place. I think simple genetics prevents me from appreciating clamato juice, although I can understand it. But mixing it with Budweiser, or any beer for that matter? Why? Who looks at a can of clamato juice and a can of Budweiser and says: "You know? I'll bet these two would go really well together." But, apparently there is at least some precedence for this bastard mixology.

I was speaking with a friend from the Tomah area as I was getting ready to drink this (and trust, there was a lot of internal confidence boosting going on to get ready to drink this), and, I asked her if she had had this particular beer before. Suprisingly (maybe, maybe not, if you've met this friend of mine), she admited that not only had she had it, but she'd had the Bud Light version as well. She didn't like either of them. And, I kid you not, she said "I prefer just to mix clamato juice and beer from separate cans, it tastes much better." This is an astounding revelation! Finally someone from this foreign culture that created, or at least enjoys, this Frankenstein's monster of a drink! So, I enquired further. Where did you get the idea to mix these two things? "Oh, my dad and brothers have been doing it for years on camping trips." What? Really?

Who the hell takes clamato juice camping!?

The Big are Getting Bigger

So, if you're in the brewing or distribution industry, raise your hand. OK, you can put them down. If you're an afficianado, raise your hand. OK, thanks, you can put them down, now. If you've randomly stumbled across this site and will be leaving soon, raise your hand. Oh, already left. Right. Well, not that it matters, I can't see you anyway. I was just trying to gauge whether anyone actually cares about this whole InBev-AB thing.

If you're wondering who "InBev" are and what "AB" is, you can find out here and here, respectively. Needless to say, this aggregation would create the largest brewing entity in the world and the fifth largest consumer products company in the world. The news broke about this beast of a transaction early last week and I've put off commenting about it for now.

But, now it appears that SABMiller is getting in on the action. While Bud is mulling its options, Miller has said they would welcome a "partnership" with InBev [cite, via the omnipresent Brew Blog], and InBev appears to be taking this seriously. It appears that this SAB-InBev move may just be a play to force A-B's hand; surely such a merger would be dark days indeed for Bud. Or at least on an international stage.

And, that's an interesting dilemma for Budweiser; by foregoing this merger, Anheuser-Busch would basically be saying "Damn globalization. We are OK with the American market and we think anything more would dilute our brand. The rigors of being under InBev's bland-marketing thumb would sully our reputation. We have a reputation for quality product and quality service and we are unwilling to compromise that reputation for the prestige of a larger global identity. We are perfectly happy being the number one brewery for the number one country in the world, and we think that's good enough." Because the fact is everytime InBev takes over a brewery, they cut marketing budgets in that organization in favor of a centralized marketing system that emphasizes the niche that each brand can fill. I suspect Budweiser's niche would be the "hard working, beer as sustenance, male" niche. Which, granted, is filled all over the world, not just here in the U.S.

It's funny because I'd never really thought much of Budweiser. I've never really liked Budweiser, and while I went through a brief "Bud Ice" phase, I've mostly been an MGD person for my swill of choice, though lately it's been PBR and/or High Life. But I was talking with an ex-tavern owner over the weekend, and he made an interesting comment. He told this story about a friend of his who had stopped managing his own tavern and took up with the Budweiser distributor. This friend would ride along when the distributor was dropping off the A-B products and would talk to the various tavern owners and managers. The guy would ask how things were going, whether the distributors were treating the tavern owners alright, whether the managers were happy with how the product was selling. Typical tavern chit-chat. And then, three times a year the tavern owner would get a survey from Budweiser asking many of the same things. If anybody marked any response with a "3" or lower (on a 5-point scale) Budweiser would call and ask why; they at least listened like they cared. I thought that was interesting. But what I found most interesting was this: A-B was the only one doing it; not Miller; not Coors; not Pabst. The tavern owner I was talking to said he sold primarily Bud for that very reason; he told the other brewers and distributors that if they would do that, he would be happy to sell, but that alone showed a dedication to customer satisfaction that none of the others seemed interested in pursuing.

Of course, that's hearsay as far as all of you are concerned. But, it does make this point: Budweiser will no longer provide that kind of dedication to customer satisfaction if they are purchased by InBev - and that's a shame.

But that's also a lesson to be learned for all of the craft breweries. It is a way to differentiate yourself. Customer service that the big guys are simply too big to provide. Go on ride-alongs with your distributors and talk with your retailers. Get out to the pubs and talk with the people drinking your beer. Get out to the grocery stores and thank your buyers for purchasing that six-pack. Support your community events. Many of the craft brewers I talk to here in Wisconsin are already doing this and that's why I think we have such a strong and vital brewing industry here. Not only is it a state that has an innate desire to drink local, but it's further ingrained by the breweries here being active in their communities and giving back as much as the communities give to them. The More You Know.

Well, heck, this was kind of an old-school post - it got pretty far from where I thought it would go when I started writing it, but that's alright. This point is perfectly as good as the one I was going to make about the need for small breweries to band together in informal, or formal, organizations and pool resources to help each other where they can. For example, a buying group to buy in bigger bulk to get price discounts and reserved quantities for grains and hops that all of the members need to buy anyway. For example, an advertising group to place general advertising that benefits the group (e.g., "Milk it does a body good." or "Pork, the other white meat." or "Wisconsin craft beer, we aren't just Leinenkugel's anymore.") I'll write some other time about how I'm amazed that the craft breweries aren't doing this stuff.

By the way, sorry for posting a day late - while I was able to get a post up on Monday, the holiday threw off my schedule. See you tomorrow, too!

Why Even Keep Up The Pretenses

Are you excited? The latest Dane County BusinessWatch magazine is out! I know, as a beer geek you've been waiting all year for this issue. It's the issue where this bastion of fine business journalism looks at the "Best brews for BBQs. ... wines, too!" Don't forget the wines.

Well, imagine the shock, horror and amazement you would feel when you actually turned to page 31, to find ... this: (my comments in black)
Best Brews
for BBQs Wines too!
By Michael Muckian

Summertime, and the grilling is easy. Brats are jumping, and the temperature’s high. But what wines and beers go best with grilled meats? The answer often depends on what you’re preparing and for whom.

Wait a minute, now it's "wine and beer." What happened to "best beers" (and wines, too)? But still, the brats are jumping and the temperature's high. Perfect for an ice cold Capital US Pale Ale? A New Glarus Edel Pils? A Tyranena Three Beaches Honey Blonde? Heck, maybe a Furthermore Proper, a Central Waters IPA, or any of the dozens and dozens of Wisconsin summertime beers.

Grilled meats — burgers, brats, tuna steaks, hot dogs and ribs — appear either naked on the grill or dressed in tangy, sticky barbecue sauce that can alter the entrée’s flavor palette, dictating which beverages best match it.

mmm....ribs.

Sometimes it’s best to check with the experts before popping the wrong cork or twisting an incorrect cap.

Well, it's not always best to check with an expert first, but I understand what you're getting at.

“You want a wine that is imminently quaffable with a lower alcohol content,” says Craig Madigan, a registered first-level sommelier and general manager of Johnny Delmonico’s, the downtown Madison steakhouse. “A red wine with 14.5 percent alcohol level or more is too ‘hot’ for hot weather. Go with something lower in alcohol and more refreshing in character.”

I thought this was about beer (and wine, too)? This is starting to sound like it's more about wine. Moreover, it doesn't look like this "expert" would know a good, Wisconsin beer if it came gift wrapped. There's only three Wisconsin beers on the Delmonico's "Wine List" - Fauerbach Amber, Capital Amber, and Miller Mother-f'ing Lite. Now, I'm not slamming Fauerbach or Capital, they make fine beer, but, come on - Capital Amber?! This is a beer list chosen by a distributor, not by someone who knows anything about beer. I'm sure Mr. Madigan knows everything there is to know about wine, and admittedly, that's what he's talking about here, but I thought this was an article about "Best brews for BBQ ... and wines, too"?

Madigan says reasonably priced younger wines best complement outdoor grilling fare, something fruit-forward in character and acceptable to a broader array of palates. He recommends the following wines:
• Roshambo Zinfandel (about $14), from California’s Sonoma Valley, is not your typical fullbodied “peppery” Zin. Characterized by jammy fruit flavors, the wine is brighter than other zins and easier on the palate and the pocketbook.
• Qupé Vineyards Syrah ($19) is a richer, fuller wine, but one with good fruit, serving as a fine match for grilled fare.
• For something completely different, go with a Furst Gewürztraminer ($12). Gewurz is German for “spicy,” and the white wine, produced in France’s Alsace region, is redolent of fresh apricots and spice, delivering flavors both refreshing and unique to the average American wine palate.

Setting aside the derogatory "average American wine palate" we have now had descriptions of three wines and not a single beer even mentioned.

If you plan on serving beer,

Oh, here we go. The article about beer and we finally get the "if you plan on serving beer" like "not that you'd want to, but if you're going to ..."

Madigan

Because he's clearly so knowledgeable about beer

suggests Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale. Lighter in body, but with a nice caramel malt flavor, the British brew stands up to anything your picnic table can support without weighing the drinker down.

For a high temperature summer barbecue you recommend a nut brown?! Not to say you're not entitled to your opinion, but this suggestion is absurd from a professional. Besides the obvious fact that it's one of the few beers that he actually serves, who the heck orders a Samuel Smith Nut Brown in the middle of August to drink with burgers and ribs? If you're saying to yourself "nobody," you'd be pretty darn close. No Tyranena Bitter Woman, Lakefront Cream City, Lake Louie Premium. No. Screw all of those. You want a Samuel Smith Nut Brown. Does Mr. Madigan get a commission on the stuff?

For Josh Foley, a second-level sommelier and bar manager for the Capitol Chophouse in the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace,

ummm ... I thought this was about beer (and wines too)? Why are we still talking to sommeliers? You couldn't find a single person knowledgeable about beer to help you? The score is now 3 wines to 1 beer. Let's see, maybe Mr. Foley knows something about beer, at least the Capitol Chophouse sells Ale Asylum.

it’s food first, beverage second. The meat is always the constant, Foley says, but variations in sauces will drive the wine and beer selection. Sauces range from tangy vinegar and tomato-based variety to mustard-infused marinades to Asian hoisin and teriyaki sauces, each of which commands its own approach and colors beverage choices. Foley suggest the following matches:

• Tomato-vinegar basted meats call for a bold red, like the Castello Banfi Brunello (about $40). The structure and balance of
the Italian red wine, made from the Sangiovese grape, helps tame the sauce’s character and stands up to its more strident elements.
• Lighter sauces demand brighter wines, such as Campo Viejo Riserva ($15), a Spanish red made from the Tempranillo grape with a buoyancy that pairs an inherent earthiness with hints of wild strawberry.
• A mixed-meat grill – burgers, brats and chicken breasts are popular– calls for a more well-rounded wine, such as the Zilzie Shiraz ($12) from Australia’s Victoria region. The lighter body and brighter fruit make the wine a hit with more drinkers.

That's three more wines and so far, only one poorly suggested beer. This is absurd. Why was "beer" even in the title to this article? If you can't do something right, don't do it at all. Clearly, these guys know a lot about wine. The descriptions are interesting, and seem appropriate for the food. But so far, the beer knowledge is, excuse the phrase, piss poor.

Smoked meats create their own flavor demands, says Foley. A bold Zin can help cut the taste on the palate,

seven wines

while on the beer side he suggests extending that palate with a German rauch (smoked) beer.

Rauch beers with smoked food is widely considered obvious and a big no-no amongst the beer-food-pairing cognoscenti. The double smoked whammy is usually just too much - save the smoked beers for creamy, but firm cheeses like gouda and strong, rustic, non-smoked, foods where the smokiness adds flavor to the meal instead of compounding the flavors. So, Mr. Foley doesn't seem to be of any more help than Mr. Madigan.

Dan Carey, brewmaster for New Glarus Brewing Co., created his own version with Smoke on the Porter, part of his “Unplugged” series that mixes rauch beer elements within the body of a dark British porter. “I like Smoke on the Porter because the smoke element is more mellow and understated,” Foley says.

Besides the fact that this was New Glarus' winter seasonal beer and will likely be off the shelves by the time the summer grilling season rolls around, who would drink a full-bodied smoked porter in late July?

Sorry, but this article does absolutely nothing to educate consumers on beer choices for summer barbecues. It covered seven wines, and two beers that best consumed in the fall! And it was billed as a beer article, remember? "Best brews for BBQ's ... wines, too!" But it was actually, "Best wines for BBQ and a couple of beers that you will really like in late October."

In the coming weeks, I promise you we will post some actually usefully information about beers that you might actually enjoy with that bbq. In the meantime, please, please do not take the advice of these sommeliers.

I Call It Civilized Discussion On A Valid Point; You Call It Wholesale Thievery

I'm a bit conflicted about this post. On the one hand, I feel like I'm ripping off the fine folks over at A Good Beer Blog (which, by the way, when I first ran across it, I was instantly jealous that Alan thought of the title before me, because it's a great title). See, last week Alan finally decided he was going to allow anonymous posting by some brewers who had contacted him asking for such a forum. It's an interesting dilemma. Having such first-hand accounts from the industry that we write about is a unique opportunity and one that could reap great benefits. But, anonymous posting by those in the industry is somewhat frowned upon unless there is a good reason for it - attribution and taking credit (or blame, such that it may be) for your comments and all that. Anyway, Alan finally relented it and allowed the brewer to post anonymously. So, what was so important that this brewer felt the need to air it publicly in his first post? Yeah. A bit of whining about the folks at R(h)ateBeer.

Now, I've never seen that "R(h)ateBeer" formative before. Kind of clever. But, anyway, this is where my dilemma comes in. I wanted to weigh in on this discussion. And, of course, the "proper" place to do that would be on Alan's site in the comments section of that post. But, I also wanted to make sure that if any of the fine Wisconsin brewers had this same issue and just happened to read this blog (is there anybody out there?), that they would get the message, too. So, I've decided that I would post my comments here, instead of Alan's blog. Sorry Alan.

So, that's a long way of getting to the wholesale thievery:

Sites like R(H)atebeer.com are a thorn in the side for many brewers. They are dominated by a handful of posters that don't reflect the opinion of the general public.

You can read the rest of the post over there to get more of Secret Brewer XJ17.

Despite the whiny and overly-aggressive tone and the singling out of RateBeer (BeerAdvocate gets some blame in here as do all of us to some extent), Secret Brewer XJ17 makes a good point. Namely, don't believe everything you read on the internet. With rare exception nobody knows who these raters are. Why put any trust in them? Would you trust a complete stranger who came up to you while you were in the beer section and said: "The aroma of that beer is hairy and sweaty, its flavor is like dried fruit, flowers and pencil shavings." (a real live comment at RateBeer, by the way) You don't know that person. What the heck do they know about beer? What do they know about sour brown ales? Have they even ever tasted another sour brown ale? No, of course you don't take their word for it.

But maybe we can take something from the fact that this same beer is in the "98th percentile" at RateBeer. But really, is this any different? "Dude, me and all my buddies got together and we rated a bunch of beers and that beer you've got in your hands; that beer, man, it's in the 98th percentile." That's nice. Sounds like a dull evening, but cool. How many of those were sour brown ales? Was this a blind tasting or were you peeking at the label? How many beers did you have that evening? How many of you even tasted this beer?

So, you can see, while not entirely worthless information, these ratings systems are, for the most part, masturbatory and congratulatory missives from nowhere in particular. Really not much more than the aggregation of notes scribbled on bar napkins.

Maybe, we can say that those beers with a large number of reviews are more accurate. Maybe. But, what's a sufficiently large number of reviews? 500? 300? 100? 50? And it still doesn't solve the "hype" problem - both for breweries and styles. Certain breweries, because they do actually put out good beer, have garnered a certain "mystique" about them; this "mystique" has been generated through the combination of creating great beer and careful scarcity (it can't be too scarce - people actually have to be able to get some to send to their friends somewhere so that the friends in the other place can brag that they got the beer from their friends and people will actually know what they are talking about). So, when people receive these "scarce" beers they think "ooo, it must be good - my friend told me it was good and he had to mail it to me." Many of the beers rated in these systems (and reviewed on blogs like this one all over the country) fall prey to the "hype" issue.

Nor does it solve the "purpose" problem. For example, is this beer intended (either by the brewer or the taster) to be carefully sipped and scrutinized carrying a new flavor explosion at every sip? Or, is it intended for drinking during a football game with chips and hotdogs? And, how does that "98th percentile" number figure into that? I mean, Stone's Double Bastard is in the "99th percentile" at RateBeer, but you wouldn't want to drink it during a football game with chips and a hotdog. Or, I don't know, maybe you would. In either event, "99th percentile" doesn't really answer that question, does it?

When beers are reviewed on this site (we never attribute numbers or ratings), we try to ensure that you are given as much information as possible to help you in the beer section. But, there are many sites that simply refuse to review beers at all. We toyed with this notion when we started this site, but finally realized that if we were going to call the site "Madison Beer Review", we should, probably, review beer (although, to be honest, we didn't really intend "review" in such a literal meaning - but, perhaps our true intent would have been made clearer if we called the site "Wisconsin Beer News Reporter" but that didn't really have the same ring to it).

So, to get back on point. I hope that the Wisconsin brewers out there that look at sites like RateBeer and BeerAdvocate (and this one, for that matter) take anything with a grain (or 10) of salt. While I've certainly been swayed by positive or negative reviews and/or ratings, I've also been swayed by things like pretty and ugly labels, phraseology on labels, clever or silly names for your beer or brewery, coin tosses, and random whims. All of which are equally valid reasons for choosing to drink, or not drink, your beer. So, just relax and have a brew.