Beer Cruise on the Rhine departs October 11, 2010!

Scenic Tours, therivercruiser.com and I are pleased to present a 13 day “Brew on the Rhine” tour, departing Amsterdam October 11 and sailing 13 days to Basel, Switzerland, with lots of beery interest along the way. Best of all, Scenic Tours is now featuring two-for-one pricing on the route! More details and further links can be found here.

Stone on Film

Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch is evidently not only a beer and marketing savant, he’s also a not-so-frustrated filmmaker, at least judging by the minor slew of streaming videos he has developed since his much talked-about debut, I Am a Craft Brewer.

His latest, which he was kind enough to preview for me a couple of weeks ago, is Stone Skips Across the Pond, a 26 or so minute videography of the trip he made, along with co-owner Steve Wagner and brewer Mitch Steele, to Norway and Scotland for collaboration brews with Nøgne Ø and BrewDog.

Parts one and two are now available for viewing at Vimeo, but you might want to wait until the whole things is uploaded, crack a bottle of Arrogant Bastard and sit back and enjoy. Because although beer obviously figures prominently in the film, it is definitely more travelogue than “beerologue” and a pretty damn enjoyable one, at that.

As I told Greg by email after viewing the film straight through, I like it for much the same reason I continue to recommend Pete Brown’s Hops and Glory, because it’s almost secondarily about beer and more so simply a good and highly entertaining story.

When Is an Ale Not an Ale?

When it’s a lager, of course. Let me explain.

Speaking with Jaime Jurado of the Spoetzl Brewery in Texas about the company’s new Czech-style lager, known as Shiner 101 and being bottled pretty much as I type these words, he suggested that I might also be interested in their winter seasonal, Fröst. I agreed, and since I was going to be in Miami for the Cheers Beverage Conference, suggested that the samples be shipped there instead of to my home office across the border in Canada.

So yesterday morning, in between prepping for my beer tasting seminar and wrapping up a magazine article, I pop the cap of a bottle I had nicely chilled down and proceeded to make notes on the beer. I found it to be very much in the Dortmunder style, as advertised on the label, with a little sweetness up front, firm, faintly flinty maltiness and a dry, engaging finish. Even the colour, a deep gold, seems right for the style.

But wait! What’s this on the neck label? “This classic golden ale was first brewed in Dortmund, Germany, circa 1842.” Ale? Surely not! But there it is again on the main label, right beside the “12 fl. oz.” and again in the back label copy, “…pour yourself a frösty glass of this refreshing seasonal ale.”

Colour me confused.

A quick email to Jaime resolves the issue, though. I had forgotten the obscure and ludicrous Texas law that requires all beers of above 5% alcohol to be labelled either “ale” or “malt liquor,” and the Fröst is 5.5%. As much as “Dortmunder ale” rings hollow to the ears, I agree, “Dortmunder malt liquor” would be ten times worse!

Regardless of what the label says, though, this is certainly one of the finest examples of its style I have yet tasted, and were I residing in Texas right now, I would indeed “serve (it) cold” and “serve (it) often,” as the lettering on the silver cap advises. Hell, I might even send a bottle or two to my representative in Austin to remind them of the stupidity of some of the state’s beer legislation.

A Victory for Boire Moins, Boire Mieux

I mean no disrespect to the high foreheads at the Wall Street Journal, who are today announcing that doom and gloom has settled en masse over the beer biz, with the highest U.S. volume sales decline seen since the 1950’s, but while they are right from one perspective, they are sorely wrong from another. The big brewers are down, no doubt, as the chart below plainly shows, but that’s only a part of the story.

To see what I mean, cast your eye on the aforementioned chart, below. (Illustration blatantly stolen without compensation from the WSJ story. Follow the link for better resolution.)

See, A-B Inbev may be well down, as are MillerCoors, Crown (mostly Corona), Heineken and others, but Boston Beer and Yeungling are…up.

The BBC and Yeungling numbers are important because they represent what I believe is really going on, which is not so much a literal “worsening” of demand, but rather a shift in demand, coupled with a growing endorsement of the old French axiom boire moins, boire mieux, or “drink less, drink better.” Simply, the battle is between style and substance, and right now, substance appears to be winning!

It’s a difficult case to prove because the Brewers Association has not yet compiled craft beer sales numbers for 2009, but nearly every craft brewer I speak with is sounding quite happy with their sales figures from the preceding year and optimistic about 2010. This is because large swaths of consumers are now deciding that one Arrogant Bastard or Prima Pils is easily worth two or even three Bud Lights or MGDs.

This is equally true, I believe, when speaking of what I have started to call imported craft beers, they being everything from Duvel and Schneider Weisse to Burton Bridge Old Expensive and Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast. Overall imports are definitely down, but demand for small scale specialty brands remains high. Again, boire moins, boire mieux.

The WSJ doesn’t see this because they’re used to looking only at the large, public corporation side of things, rather than the successful entrepreneur side. Then again, weren’t they the ones who years ago predicted that the craft beer craze was finished?

Me and Michelin

In the premiere issue of Beer Connoisseur magazine, which you should still be able to find on some magazine store shelves – or subscribe here! – I wrote a story headlined “Bettering Beer & Food,” in which I sang the praises of several good food pubs in London. (Not necessarily gastropubs, I hasten to add, despite the editor’s addition of “The Rise of the Gastropub” as a sub-head on the story. Rather, I wanted to highlight pubs which simply had excellent food.) Among the places I noted are the Warrington, the Fox & Anchor, which also features terrific accommodations, and the Harwood Arms.

Now, remembering that last name, click here.

Yep, the Harwood Arms is the first pub in the British capital to achieve a Michelin star. And best of all, they did it with simple, unfussy food, well-prepared and presented, period. No pomposity, no pretence, and a sizable area maintained for those who just want to pop by for a pint or two, even at prime seating times.

Congratulations to the Harwood Arms! And Michelin inspectors, if you want any further insights, please feel free to drop me a line.

Lance and Ultra – Huh?

As much as I do considerable research and reading on the web, I’m still a big fan of the printed word and so read a large number of magazines on a more or less regular basis. One of these is Runner’s World, which I enjoy for its tips on how to make my running life easier and less painful. (When you eat and drink as I do, you need some kind of activity to keep the weight from piling on. Mine is running.)

And so I came to the February issue of Running World, where runs an eye-catching, two page endorsement of Michelob Ultra by no less than Lance Armstrong. Which is all fine and good – I begrudge no one their endorsement dollars – except that it contains as a major component a Q&A with Armstrong in which the cyclist is asked “How does Michelob Ultra fit into your balanced lifestyle?” His response:

I am a guy who enjoys going out and pushing myself to the limit. That could mean a 6-hour bike ride or a 2-hour gym session. Whatever the activity, I enjoy the rewards of a hard workout.

Excuse me? Does this at all answer the question, and if so, please someone explain to me how? In suspect that the answer has something to do with the vagaries of US advertising laws as they pertain to beer, but even so, this strikes me as a most curious thing to work into advertising copy.

Listen to This Man: He Speaks the Truth!

The Burgundian Babble Belt is one of the more intelligent beer discussion forums out there, and often the source of useful information and occasional insight. Like this wonderful line, taken from a post I believe to be authored by one Joe Strange, the Thirsty Pilgrim himself.

All brewers, Belgian or American or otherwise, ought to have the freedom to play around with various hops and yeasts without it suddenly being nailed down and pigeonholed into some imaginary style.

Well stated, Joe. And amen!

Cruising, Baby!

Almost since I started reporting on the global beer beat, I’ve thought it would be a great idea to organize a European beer cruise, sailing down one of the continent’s great rivers and stopping and sampling terrific beer from a multitude of countries along the way. And now, finally, I’m very happy to say that I’ve done it!

Announcing Scenic Tours’ 13 day “Brew on the Rhine” tour, departing Amsterdam on October 11 and hosted by yours truly!

The beer portion of the trip is all very new – so new it hasn’t yet been included in any of the promotional materials for the trip – and so several details are still being worked out, but I can guarantee that the beer highlights will be many, from a visit to Amsterdam’s terrific Brouwerij ‘t Ij to tastings at Belgian, German, French, Luxembourg and Swiss breweries, a pub crawl through Köln, and even floating tutored beer tastings. Coupled with the Scenic Tours “Space Ship,” (pictured above) which features balconies attached to almost every suite and plenty of room in both the public and private areas, and lots of additional tourism time, I think it all looks like a pretty amazing time!

Even better still, Scenic Tours is offering two-for-one pricing for this itinerary!

For a basic outline of the cruise, stop by the Scenic Tours website and have a look at the itinerary departing October 11 from Amsterdam and sailing for 13 days to Basel. And if you like that idea, give CruiseShipCenters Rosedale a call at 866-355-7447 or 416-962-7447 for more info and booking details.

THIS Is Why Beer Cocktails Get a Bad Name

Simply revolting…

Beer Margaritas

Photo by www.rachaelraymag.com

Recipe from www.rachaelraymag.com

Ingredients:
Four 12-ounce bottles cold light-flavored beer, such as Corona
1 cup (8 ounces) tequila
One 12-ounce can frozen limeade concentrate
Lime wedges
Kosher salt, for rimming glasses

Directions:
Combine the beer, tequila and limeade in a large pitcher. Rub a lime wedge around the rim of each glass and dip it in the salt. Pour the margaritas into the glasses.

What I Learned About Beer in 2009, Part II

6. Craft Brewers Aren’t Generally Big Cocktail Drinkers: When I ordered a negroni at a Vail, Colorado, bar in January of last year, you might have thought from the reactions of the beer folk around me that I had just reeled off a 20 minute soliloquy in Greek. Yet most of the top cocktail people I know, like Jeffrey and Jim and Tony, all have a far above average grasp of beer. Time to catch up with the times, people!

7. Anheuser-Busch Can Make a Pretty Damn Decent Bavarian Style Weiss: Some of my colleagues discovered this at a GABF tasting a year or two earlier, but I wasn’t as impressed at the time. The sample of Michelob Bavarian Style Wheat I tasted towards the end of 2009, however, convinced me.

8. Big Hops Aren’t Going Anywhere Any Time Soon: Massively hopped beers, even ridiculously out of balance massively hopped beers, continued to prove insanely popular in 2009 and likely will again this year.

9. Beer & Cheese Is Even Bigger and More Beautiful Than I Ever Imagined: Notwithstanding No. 4, this is a relationship that can sing gorgeous arias and rockin’ screechers on the palate. And I fully intend to spend several pounds of weight and untold dollars further exploring it in the coming year.