On Craft Brewing

This past month I just spent a few days with my cousin, Jim, out in the Bay Area.  Jim is a local expert on Bay Area beer. He's experienced and very focused on the Bay Area beer scene. Jim knows a lot about beer in general as a patron or consumer and the history of craft brewing.   I'm a patron as well but I look at things more as a brewer. Since I've moved to the Southwest from the Midwest I'm very conscious, now, of regional styles and tastes in beer. It used to be assumed that one beer fit all...more or less. The American lager was what you got if you wanted a beer.  I remember some variations..."fire brewed" Strohs was one. When Miller Lite came out it was called a Pilsner beer and no one knew what that was.  I recall people smuggling Coors into St. Louis like it was contraband...but why?  The "one fits all" idea is mostly dead thanks to craft brewing. As an example, my 76 year old neighbor had a 50th birthday party for his daughter-in-law. He served Newcastle Brown, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Tecate, Sol and Dos Eqius. Three Mexican lager beers, an English ale and a California IPA.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm a beer snob. I am a traditionalist. If I have a bias it is that some brewers and many patrons are too enamored with hops and it seems that they think that more is better....sometimes way beyond the standard for the beer style. I think, too often, heavy hopping is a crutch for bad beer. I've talked to several brew-masters about this and they generally agree but they have to brew what sells.


I favor English Ales...which includes the IPA style and I've made several good IPAs. The Bay Area, and even Albuquerque to some extent, is hop crazy, especially for Citra hops.  IPAs, double IPAs and triple IPAs are popular and some of the IBU (bitterness) ratings are in the 130 range. IBU ranges for the standard American lager beer will be around 15 and the range for an American Pale Ale can reach 45. The IBU range for an Imperial IPA (heavily hopped) can go over 100 but most IPAs brewed to the standard will top out at 70-80 IBUs and some are lower.  Hops provide bitterness and aroma but also taste. Much of the Citra hopped beer tastes too much like grapefruit juice.

So - that was the general debate between Jim and me until we got into the Belgian sour beer up at Russian River Brewing. Sour Beer is a traditional style and I've had Sour Beer before but I've never liked it. Belgians have a long history of making innovative beer styles...often with fruit or wild yeast. If I made a beer that tasted like some of the sour beer we had at Russian River I would think that something went horribly wrong in my brewing process. The Belgians strive for that taste, which is achieved by allowing wild yeast or bacteria to intrude (infect?) the beer while brewing. This is yet more proof that there are regional preferences and tastes in beer.  Apparently, in the Bay Area, there are sufficient numbers of brewery patrons who have acquired a taste for Sour Beer because it is available at local breweries. This week was "Beer Week" in Albuquerque and I noticed two out of maybe fifty events offer Sour Beer tasting.


I like that most of the up and coming beers are ales. Some people make a strict distinction between ale and lager and get huffy if you call an ale "beer".  When I brew I favor ale styles and never do a lager. I can't do lagers because I don't have the equipment and there is so much I can do with ales I don't care go the lager route. I'm an extract brewer because life is too short to do a full grain recipe. I'm a slow and careful brewer as it is and an all grain recipe would add hours to the process. My last beer was a Amber Rye Ale and I will break out of my mold a little on my next beer and do a Kolsch but not with much of a cold storage....it's already late May and I'm thirsty.

"The Brewer's Lament"

Your beer conforms to the sour persuasion.

It seems so wrong on the few occasions

that I've given it my full attention.

If I brewed a batch that took on that taste

I'd think my effort had all gone to waste.

So what is the deal with regional beer?

There's Belgian and Baltic and Irish but

Mexican beer has an Austrian root.

So drink what you will, I won't call it swill.

Don't over think it - pour it and drink it.

Stay tuned...it's Beer Week.