A planet full of beer blogs

Wednesday’s ad continues our week of ads from France, this one done in 1930. It’s for Biere Phenix, which was founded in 1886. The artist’s name is Leon Dupin. Share and Enjoy:

No, I didn’t receive 33 literal beers (I wish!), but rather the beer sketchbooks 33 Bottles of Beer. Portland beer blogger and journal entrepreneur Dave Seldon of The Champagne of Blogs is the man behind the booklets, and it’s a clever and well-executed idea (one I wish I’d had). The premise is, these are pocket-sized beer journals ideally suited to note-taking during events like beer festivals where it’s not very convenient to lug around a larger notebook:

This beer journal is designed for ease of use. It’s tough to hold a notepad in one hand, a pencil in the other, and have another hand left for beer. Taking notes with 33 Beers is as simple as checking a few boxes and entering a few basic facts.

Each page contains the necessary note-taking space for a single beer: name, brewers, price, rating, 5 lines of notes, and the facts about the beer (IBUs, ABV, OG and FG). The most unique aspect, though, is the flavor wheel on each page which gives you a visual “image” of the flavor and body characteristics of the beer, with values like dark fruit, hoppy, malty, toffee, sour, and more. You rate each characteristic on a scale of 1 to 5 on the wheel, then connect the dots. I’m really curious as to how well these “images” of beer flavor work across like styles—for example, would you be able to tell the style or type of beer by the flavor wheel image you see?

Each booklet is 32 pages long—32 pages plus the inside back cover give you 33 reviews per sketchbook, a nice maximizing of space. And here’s something else to like, too:

33 Beers is made with 100% recycled papers sourced in the Pacific Northwest. Interior pages are 100% post-consumer recycled content and covers are 85% post-consumer recycled content and 15% recycled content. The booklets are printed using US-grown soy-based inks in sunny Portland, Oregon.

The booklets sell for $4 each or $10 for a pack of three. I received my three as review copies, but I think that’s a good deal from what I’ve seen so far.

I’ll be trying it out this weekend at the Bend Brewfest, and let you know how it worked out for me.

Josephbrau Brewing in San Jose, Calif., is the nom de guerre of the contract brewing arm of Trader Joe's, the supermarket chain. The store sells some decent craft brews and also markets some store brands that don't look like -- or taste like -- generics.

Josephbrau Summer Brew is a Kolsch-style golden colored brew with a a lacing white head. There is a slight citrus note to the aroma. Overall the brew has a nice sweet malt character. Hints of biscuit and a decent hop finish that leaves a crisp edge.

I was tempted to type the headline, add (eom) and see what happened . . .

I understand the concept of nano brewery (or nanobrewery). But if we are going to have a rule about when a brewery is too big to be called micro shouldn’t there be one for nano?

I ask because the Green Dragon in Portland, Ore., is sponsoring its second Nano Beer Festival next week — “25+ nano breweries and food from Portland’s food cart scene.” Referred to as Nano Food Carts (a nice touch) on this poster.

If you give the poster a good look you’ll notice Upright among the breweries. We visited Upright last year and there’s a 10-barrel brewhouse at the heart of that system. The guys at Berkshire Brewing in Massachusetts cranked out 6,000 barrels one year on their seven-barrel system. Granted, they had to be crazy, and microbrewery has been defined on the basis of production rather than size of each batch, but nano generally refers to something very, or even extremely, small.

A nanosecond is a billionth of a second. Feel free to check my math (because it is probably wrong), but the amounts get too small if we try this with billionths. Start with a 700-barrel brewhouse — mega breweries make even bigger batches but consider of the Anheuser-Busch plant outside of Fort Collins, Colo., which is gigantic. Divide 700 by 1,000,000, then multiply by 31 (that’s how many gallons are in a barrel). Multiply that by 128 (ounces in gallon) and we’re at a batch size of less than 3 ounces. That’s a millionth of 700 barrels. Divide that by 1,000 for a billionth.

Screw it. Let’s just call them craft breweries. Much more concise.

Gizmodo has an intriguing post up right now, combining ideas from two books about early man and the dawn of civilization, Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality and Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. In Orgies or Beer? You Only Get One, author Joel Johnson speculates [...]

The Christian Science Monitor’s feature “5 famous pork projects: Beer museum and more” includes, as you might have guessed, funding for the National Brewery Museum in Potosi, Wis.

In 2004, The Potosi Brewery Complex restoration project received a $449,574 grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program to help renovate the building in order to attract tourism. Straddling the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, the renovated brewery became home to the National Brewery Museum, the Potosi Brewing Company Transportation Museum, a Great River Road Interpretive Center, and a micro brewery.

I don’t understand why this is a bad thing. As far as government projects go a half million dollars isn’t much. Efforts to create a national museum have failed elsewhere. Beyond the fact the museum houses rotating exhibits of items on loan from members of the American Breweriana Association there’s the Research Library. What could be more important?

A few photos from when we visited a couple of years ago:

My old desk top Dell gave up yesterday. I am a couple of days away from a vacation and I feel like doing much the same. But what about giving up imported beer not for the cause of slackerdom but for a higher cause?

A majority of Canadians would give up imported beer or wine to reduce shipping and lessen the environmental impact of imported products, according to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for Postmedia News. About 67 per cent of Canadians polled said they'd relinquish imported beer -- what, no Heineken? -- and 56 per cent said they'd forgo foreign wine. "That's just a testament to the good beer that we produce in Canada, and increasingly, the good wine as well," said Sean Simpson, a senior research manager at Ipsos Reid.

While I am not the first in line for right-wing libertarian economic opinions, it seems to me to be reasonable to want to avoid the extra costs of travel, and not just the extra cash. But wouldn't it be nice if the reasons for forgoing the foreign were also based on the taste of what was in the glass? I can't imagine I am the only one who has been disappointed with the too well traveled ale. And I am not talking only of the extreme case of the beaten up beer. I recently have had a couple of beer from The Bruery from California which, though reasonably priced, I suspect had just gotten beyond their natural sphere of... influence? Maybe sphere of persuasion. I am left with a poor impression of the brewery but have to remember that the would not likely taste as they did closer to their home. And how much more the case for the green bottled, mass produced stuff.

So while it is swell to be green in an abstract sense, isn't it just as valid or even more so to pass on bottles that have been trucked a thousand miles or more because a more local one should always be fresher?

Denver, Colo. – Beer fans lucky enough to score a ticket to the Denver Rare Beer Tasting II on Sept. 17 will be able to brag to friends that they got the chance to taste some of the rarest, most exotic and highly sought after brews in America.

The event, which supports the mission of the Pints for Prostates campaign, has announced a list of 26 beers, including some that are not available commercially and others that consumers have to line up overnight to secure rationed bottles.

“The art of brewing will be on full display at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting. Beer lovers have the opportunity for a singular experience, tasting a collection of beers that few get the chance to enjoy,” said Rick Lyke, a prostate cancer survivor and founder of the Pints for Prostates campaign. “The reputation of the Denver Rare Beer Tasting spread rapidly after last year’s memorable event and the brewers invited this year have raised the bar for what it means to have an exclusive beer tasting experience.”

“The Denver Rare Beer Tasting is a unique celebration of beer,” said Daniel Bradford, publisher of All About Beer Magazine, which presents the event. “It is a chance for people who appreciate fine beers to mix with some of the rock stars of the brewing business, while enjoying beer they might never get the chance to have anywhere else.”

Beers scheduled to be poured at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting II include: Alaskan Whiskey Barrel-Aged Smoked Porter; Avery Quinquepartite; Bell’s Eccentric Ale 2004; Big Sky Barrel-Aged Ivan the Terrible; Samuel Adams Cosmic Mother Funk; Brooklyn Reinschweinsgebot; The Bruery Melange #3; Cascade Noyeaux Sour Ale; Cigar City White Oak-Aged Jai Alai India Pale Ale; Deschutes Black Butte XXII; Dogfish Head Namaste; Foothills 2009 Sexual Chocolate; Founders Nemesis; Goose Island Bourbon Barrel Coffee Stout; Great Divide Flanders Red; Jolly Pumpkin Biere de Goord; New Belgium Tart Lychee; Pike Tripel Kriek; Rogue 21 Ale; Russian River Temptation; Sierra Nevada Sierra Nevada Brandy Barrel-Aged Belgian Trippel; Stone Collaboration ESB; Three Floyds Dark Lord; Upstream Farmhouse Surprise; Weyerbacher Decadence; and Wynkoop Orville.33.

A very limited number of tickets for the Denver Rare Beer Tasting, priced at $80, are still available. Admission includes samples of 26 hard to find brews, hors d’oeuvres, a commemorative tasting glass, event program and the chance to meet the men and women who created these special beers. The event takes place at Wynkoop Brewing on 18th Street in Denver on Sept. 17 from 1-4 p.m., while the Brewers Association Great American Beer Festival is taking place in the city. Only 500 tickets will be sold for the event and can be ordered through a secure link at eTix.

About All About Beer Magazine
All About Beer Magazine has been covering the world of beer for 30 years. Published by Chautauqua Publishing in Durham, N.C., the magazine is recognized by beer enthusiasts as the authoritative source on beer heritage, styles and trends. All About Beer Magazine has chronicled the people and companies involved in the American craft brewing revolution and reported on great breweries around the world. The publication organizes the successful World Beer Festival series that takes place in Durham and Raleigh, N.C.; Columbia, S.C.; and Richmond, Va.

About Pints for Prostates
Pints for Prostates, a 501(c)3 campaign that reaches men through the universal language of beer to encourage them to take charge of their health, was founded by prostate cancer survivor Rick Lyke in 2008. The grassroots effort raises awareness among men of the importance of regular prostate health screenings and PSA testing by making appearances at beer festivals, social networking and pro bono advertising. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 218,000 new prostate cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year, which is 25,000 more than the number of expected new cases of breast cancer. Sadly, more than 32,000 American men will die from the disease this year. More information is available at www.pintsforprostates.org. Pints for Prostates also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter (@pints4prostates).

Tuesday’s ad is yet another one from France, done in 1920. It’s for Biere De Vezelise, a brewery that was located in northeastern France since 1863, when it was founded by Antoni Moreau. The brewery closed in 1971. The artist’s name is Guerzan. Share and Enjoy:

In my beer review column on Taste T.O. this week, I freely admit to enjoying Rickard’s White, despite the fact that they might take my Certified Beer Geek card away for liking a Molson Coors product. It’s certainly not the best Belgian-style wheat beer around – it’s too sweet for one thing, and less nuanced than better examples for another – but it’s still tasty, especially when it’s fresh, and serves as a good fallback beer in the sort of places that haven’t come around to the fact that there’s more to beer than Molson, Labatt and a few big name imports.

Because as far as we’ve come in the current Craft Beer Revolution, we’ve still got a long way to go. For a lot of Canadian beer drinkers, Rickards White may be as close as they’ve ever come to a craft beer, in much the same way that a lot of American beer drinkers view Blue Moon Belgian Wheat, the Coors-owned beer that Rickard’s White is based upon, as something really unique and out there.

This is something I can relate to, as I had a similar reaction to another Rickard’s beer around 20 years ago. While I was already familiar with the craft beer of the time from breweries like Brick, Formosa and Upper Canada, the beers I was drinking from them were mainly pale lagers. So the first time I saw Rickard’s Red, I was confused and intrigued. A red beer? Who had ever HEARD of such a thing? And since the Molson connection wasn’t well publicized at the time, I assumed that it was from some other small brewery like those others I’d been discovering.

I downed my fair share of pints and pitchers of the stuff back then, usually sitting on the deck patio at the Imperial Pub, but left it behind soon enough as my palate for microbrews developed further. I honestly can’t recall the last time I ordered it in a bar or pub, and the only reason I’m writing about it now is because there was a can in the same Molson Coors promo pack that contained the Rickard’s White and the light beers I covered a couple of weeks back.

Even after 20 years and literally thousands of other beers, I still find Rickard’s Red to be an attractive beer in the glass, with a with a bright copper colour and a big and natural looking off-white head.  The aroma is simple – basic malt notes, a bit of caramel, a slight graininess, and no evidence of hops. The flavour is similarly unchallenging, and nowhere near the “flavour rollercoaster” promised by the commercial – just too-sweet malt, nondescript fruit notes, and a quick, blink-and-you’ll-miss-the-hops finish. For someone used to nothing but pale lagers (just as I was two decades ago), it may represent a step into a new beer realm, but put up against a ever-growing selection of distinct craft beers available to drinkers today, it’s fairly uninspired.

There’s plenty of inspiration elsewhere in the Molson Coors brand portfolio, though, as found in the couple of cans of Creemore Springs Kellerbier that were also in the package. When I wrote about it on Taste T.O. soon after it was launched as a seasonal beer last summer, I described it as “one of the best beers to be launched in Ontario in recent memory,” and I was glad to see it return for a second year.

I must confess that I drank the cans in the promo pack too quickly to write a proper review (or even take a picture – hence the generic image to the right), but my notes from last year are still pretty accurate:

It has a rich copper hue with the hazy body mentioned above, and a remarkably fresh and enticing aroma that holds notes of toasted grain, dried grass and juicy hops, along with a hint of yeast. The body is lightly carbonated, as is correct for the style, and while the flavour seems a bit muted if tasted straight from the fridge, giving the beer a few minutes to warm allows it to open up considerably, revealing a perfect balance between sweet, caramelish malt and pleasantly bitter hops, with a delicate suggestion of lemon zest in the finish. The yeast is also noticeable, but not overpowering, it just adds a well integrated depth and richness to the flavour.

Final thought: I wonder how the 20-years-ago version of me would’ve reacted to the Kellerbier? Considering how wild and crazy I found Rickard’s Red at the time, I can only imagine – and at the same time, I’m both happy and jealous that today’s young beer drinkers have the option, and many more besides.

Over on Taste T.O. this week, I’ve got a review of Muskoka Pilsner Light, a newish beer from Muskoka Cottage Brewery that is “Light” due to being 4% alcohol, but is otherwise a solid and flavourful German-style pilsner. In the piece, I make the point that the name – which I assume was chosen at least partially to get the beer noticed by drinkers of Coors/Bud/Blue/etc. Light who may be willing to experiment a bit – might end up alienating Muskoka’s core customer base of craft beer drinkers who would sooner drink water than a typical North American Light Lager.

I have hope that the quality of the beer – which is quite high – will win it fans regardless of the name. But there’s still a big reason why so few small breweries call their beers “Light” even if they happen to be lower alcohol lagers, and that reason is that most mainstream light lagers simply aren’t very good. Not that they’re completely undrinkable (well, some of them, at least), but they inevitably lack some or all of the elements that craft beer drinkers look for in a beer – elements like colour, body, aroma and flavour.

I recently had a chance to reconfirm my opinion about macrobrewed light lagers when I received a promo shipment from Molson Coors Canada containing a selection of beers from their portfolio, ranging from light and ultra-light lagers to craft and pseudo-craft brews. I’ll give some thoughts on the beers in the latter category in a subsequent post, but for this one, I’ll be concentrating on the quartet of cans in the former group.

First up – Molson Canadian 67, the first Canadian entry into the ultra-light category that is one of the latest beer fads south of the border (see: MGD Light 64 & Bud Select 55), although it has more calories and slightly more alcohol (3% vs. 2.8% & 2.4%) than the American brands. The marketing behind the beer emphasizes the calorie count, noting that it’s “about 1/2 the calories of wine or mixed drinks”, and promises a “clean, crisp, fresh taste.” And honestly, I can’t say that they’re lying, as this straw-yellow beer is definitely clean and crisp – but it’s also remarkably lacking in aroma and flavour. There’s a vague hint of grainy malt and a passing wisp of grassy hops, but to its credit, it remains drinkable even as it warms up, which isn’t something that can be said about most mainstream lagers. In a word, it’s inoffensive.

Canada’s top selling beer, Coors Light, is the next one to hit the glass, where it exhibits a slightly darker yellow hue than the previous, but nothing in the way of a head. It also has more aroma than 67, but that’s not really a good thing, as there’s a distinctly stale and slightly sour malt character that’s quite unpleasant. The flavour is less problematic – or so it seems in the first couple of mouthfuls, when I taste pretty much nothing. But it’s not long before the same stale/sour notes from the aroma start to come through in the flavour as well. Not something I want in my mouth – although to be fair, neither the “COLD” nor “ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLD” indicators on the can were showing when I poured it, so I obviously wasn’t drinking it at it’s optimal serving temperature – i.e. a temperature at which your tongue is half-frozen so you taste nothing whatsoever.

Discount brand Keystone Light follows, and hey, look, there’s an actual head on this one! Well, there is for a minute or so, before it disappears and leaves the beer looking just as lifeless as the Coors. The aroma is, um, not good – stale grain, wet cardboard, cooked veggies, and something slightly fishy (and I mean that literally, not figuratively). Yikes. But thankfully, the flavour isn’t nearly as bad – it just tastes of dry hay with a faint hint of lemon. Next!

Last in line is Miller Chill, launched in Ontario this summer to compete against Bud Light Lime and other lime-flavoured beers. This is the second time Molson has offered me a sample of this beer, with the first coming to me last fall when it was released in Alberta. My review back then noted that “the aroma is initially not so pleasant, offering that stale malt and wet corn husk smell that I get from many mass produced lagers, but that slowly clears and is replaced with notes of candyish lime,” and that “the flavour holds very little that can be described as ‘beer-like’ – it’s more reminiscent of Sprite with a very, very faint wisp of malt.” Trying it again, my thoughts are virtually identical, with the main difference being that I find it a touch more enjoyable on this hot July evening than I did back on the cold day in October.

What to conclude from all of this? Mainly that it’s pretty clear these are not beers meant to be sipped and savoured and analyzed. They’re mass-produced products meant to be drunk cold and quickly on hot summer days. I don’t begrudge Molson-Coors for making them, or people for drinking them – they’re just not my sort of thing.

Black Rock Spirits is the company behind Bakon Vodka. The Seattle-based firm recently announced an expansion of distribution so that consumers in 20 states can now get the meat flavored spirit.

Bakon Vodka is distilled using Idaho potatoes in a column still and the smoky flavor that is infused in the vodka appears tailor made for making a variation on the classic Bloody Mary.

Bakon Vodka announces its presences in a big smoked ham kind of way. The vodka is colorless, but the aroma is huge. The flavor is a mouth coating combination of protien, fat and smoke. Basically, it delivers on the bacon promise. Not great for drinking straight, but it does offer some interesting possibilities in cocktails.

You know you’re old and curmudgeonly when you remember fondly returnable beer and soda bottles. They had a heft to them, felt heavier in your hand or carrying them to the car. That’s because they were made to last, to be used over and over again. I hadn’t really thought about it until this morning, [...]

Tuesday’s ad is another one from France, done in 1929. It’s for Maik Les Bieres De Luxe, a brewery located on the Champs-Elysess in Paris. The artist is T. Mercier. Share and Enjoy:

In a provocative article today, the business-oriented website, TheStreet.com, which describes itself as the “leading digital financial media company,” pondered whether Anheuser-Busch InBev might possibly be considering buying the Craft Brewers Alliance (CBA). The piece, by Miriam Reimer, entitled Anheuser-Busch Takeover Target: Craft Brewers Alliance?, certainly had the wags wagging on the blogosphere today. There’s [...]

The two big beer festivals for Bend are just around the corner, and are nearly back-to-back: the Bend Brewfest is coming up this weekend, and The Little Woody is two weeks after that, on Labor Day weekend. Interesting how that worked out on timing; a little closer together and we almost could have had a Bend Beer Week.

The Bend Brewfest takes place Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st, from 4 until 11pm and noon to 11pm respectively. It takes place at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend’s Old Mill District. Admission is free but—as usual—the purchase of a souvenir tasting mug is required to drink beer, and tasting tickets (or tokens, I’m not sure which they’re using) are $1 each. (No mention of the mug price on the site that I can find.)

In addition to a pretty impressive brewery lineup (including all eight Central Oregon breweries) with some 67 beers, there will also be wine from Volcano Vineyards (one of Bend’s local wineries) and hard cider from Crispin Cider Company. There will be food vendors on hand, and children will be allowed up until 7pm (though parents will be required to sign a pledge “acknowledging the responsibility of preventing children from consuming alcohol and the penalties for the parent and child”—an OLCC holdover from last year’s cancellation).

There will supposedly be “activities and music” but that page on the site still says “info coming soon.”

The site for The Little Woody, on the other hand, lists just about everything except exactly what beers and food are going to be served up. This year’s Little Woody still takes place on the lawn of the Deschutes Historical Society, and it has expanded: in addition to Central Oregon’s local brewers (plus newest Boneyard Beer), Eugene’s Ninkasi and Corvallis’ Block 15 will also be represented. Plus, there will be a bourbon tasting: six tastings of five bourbons (not sure how that works) for $30.

It takes place Friday, September 3rd and Saturday, September 4th, from 5 until 10pm and noon until 10pm, respectively. Admission is $6 and includes the commemorative glass; tasters should be $1 (like last year), but I’m not finding that specific fact on the site.

The event details page lists the live music schedule for the two days, as well as the bourbon offerings. I have an email out to the organizers to see if I can get a beer list (and food list), which I’ll post if I get.

Update: I forgot to mention that The Little Woody is not kid friendly, it’s a 21 and over event only. And besides the beer and bourbon, there will also be cocktails from Bendistillery, wine, and soft drinks.

Remember Albany ale? Last spring, I found a number of references to beer being shipped around the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland to New Orleans as well as references to it being sold in Texas and even California. Not sure what it was but there was plenty of evidence that it was something.

The other day I found something particularly helpful. In 1835, the Senate of the State of New York received the Report of the Select Committee... on the Memorial of Sundry Inhabitants of the City of Albany, in Regard to the Manufacture of Beer. Forty pages long, the Report consists of answers by brewers given in response to six questions posed by Senators intended to discover whether the brewers of Albany were brewing impure beer. Question 3 gets to the point:

3. Have coculus indicus, nux vomica, opium, laurel leaves, copperas, alum, sulphuric acid, salt of steel, aloes, capsicum, sulphate of iron, or copperas, or any other deleterious or poisonous drug or compound, or any or either of them, or any extract or essential property thereof, been, at any time, or in any quantity, directly or indirectly infused, mixed, put or used in beer, ale or porter, either when being manufactured or when preparing for market? If aye, at what time, in what quantities, and by whom?

Yikes. Yiks, too. Happy to report, however, the answers were a complete and fairly convincing denial of all charges, charges no doubt trumped up by some downstate faction. But in giving that answer, the brewers, brewery owners and staff give a lot of information about what was going on with brewing in and around the Hudson Valley at that time. I will return to this text on other topics but today, I want to look at what they say about hops and where that can lead us. Here are some of the comments:

• James D. Gardner of Vassar and Co., Poughkeepsie stated: "I do not know the cause of that flavor, which gives to some beer the taste of aloes, unless it is owing to the use of strong hops which may have become damaged by packing, before sufficiently cured, or to unskilfulness in the operator, or to both combined."
• James Wallace of the firm of J+U Wallace, Troy, NY reported: "There is a great variety in the flavor of hops: some have a strong, others a more delicate flavor, which readily accounts for the different flavors perceptible in the ales of the same establishment."
• Thomas Read of Thom. Read and Co., Troy NY confirms he used 2.5 to 5 pounds of hops to a barrel and that they looked for the palest bales of hops to use in their pale ale.

What does that tell us? Well, no one describes varieties of hops even if they come in different colours, different degrees of curing and damage as well as different degrees of delicacy. We can fall into a trap thinking people in the past were not as perceptive as we are. Well, it is clear the brewers are looking for differences in hop characteristics with a professional eye but do not see varieties or breeds of hops as something available to them.

What were these hops? It is reasonable to suggest they were New York state hops. In Volume 50 of the American Journal of Pharmacy from 1877, there is an useful article setting out the importance of hop industry in central NY in the mid-1800s. In 1860, it states, each of four countries of central NY including Otsego produced more hops than all hops produced in the USA outside of New York state. Two varieties are mentioned by the pharmacists: "large and small cluster." In another report, this time the 1860 Report of New York State Cheese Manufacturers' Association, a trip to Otsego County is describe in which the hop plantings in every village are estimated. We are told at page 150 that at Richfield, about 75 miles west of Albany two varieties were grown:

Messrs. Allen & Hinds, the leading hop merchants of' the town, informed us that the past winter had been unfavorable to hop plantations in this section, and many yards had been badly winter-killed, more especially the older yards. There had been greater losses from this cause than in any previous year, but a considerable number of new plantations had been set, and it was believed the new yards would more than supply the place of those winter-killed. Two varieties of the hop are generally cultivated in town, the Pompey and Cluster. The Golding hop of England had been tried but did not succeed well, being liable to rust . The Pompey is a large coarse variety, a vigorous grower, but inferior to the Cluster in strength and flavor, and does not keep its color so well as the latter variety.

While there is still a village of Pompey and even a modern day effort in the re-establishment of the central NY of the hop industry there, we are unfamiliar with that strain. We do know about Cluster, however. Cluster is still with us, often described as an old American cultivar which is, notably, a hybrid of Dutch strains and wild indigenous ones. Hmm... where did the Dutch meet the wild in the US? The Albany area, of course.

There is more to know about Cluster and the need to more closely locate it in the early 1800s in an Albany brewer's log book but for now suffice it to say that when the brewers of Albany ale were talking about hops they were likely talking about the finest hops available locally, Cluster.

So MillerCoors has launched a separate company to manage its portfolio of (existential warning) craft beers and imports, calling it “Tenth and Blake Beer Company.”

Is this different than what America’s megabreweries breweries tried in the mid 1990s? On the surface, but maybe not that different. Will Tenth & Blake prove more successful? We’d be guessing, wouldn’t we? Before you do, consider a bit of history.

1995. “We are behind the curve, no question about it. We need to learn about specialty beer,” Scott Barnum, then general manager of Miller American Specialty Craft Beer Co., told All About Beer magazine. That’s the year that Miller bought a stake in the Celis Brewery and Shipyard Brewing. Leinenkugel and Miller Reserve were the other key brands in the ASCBC portfolio. “We have people in here helping us train our palates and our noses, working with our sensory development. We listen to guys tell us how they built their microbrewing businesses, about investment, capital. We talk to entrepreneurs. We are immersing ourselves in this world.”

Anheuser-Busch formed what it called the Specialty Group of Anheuser-Busch. “We are trying to think differently,” said Jeff Jones, who was senior product manager for the group. “That’s the whole thought process of the specialty beer business. I do have a passion for beer. We have to think differently from a large brewer, and that was the purpose for separating out our group.”

Coors established its own specialty group, Unibev, much earlier than the others, and in 1995 its star was Killian’s. The year before bock, Oktoberfest and wheat beers all flunked various trials. However, Unibev managing director Tex McCarthy said that a new brand, Blue Moon, wouldn’t carry the Coors name. “We want them to be disassociated from the Coors family. . . . If people see a major brewer’s name on a micro it loses some of the cachet that makes the beer interesting to begin with.”

You know the rest. It didn’t happen over night and it didn’t happen because Coors threw a bunch of advertising money behind the brand but Blue Moon Belgian White became the best selling wheat beer in America ever.

1997. Miller remained focused on working with regional partners rather than brewing specialty beers (the Reserve line had been axed by then). “We’ve said before that this is a regional business,” Barnum said. “More and more, you will see people contracting, narrowing their focus.”

That didn’t exactly work out. Miller ended up buying out Pierre Celis and his family and by 2000 had closed the Celis Brewery. Miller sold its stake in Shipyard back to Alan Pugsley and Fred Forsley and that company has thrived.

Forsley explained what happened a few years after he and Pugsley regained full control of their brewery: “I think initially the plan was well conceived, where Miller was focusing on portfolio selling. The whole Miller network was designed so their sales force could come in and sell their whole portfolio of beer. American Specialty Craft Beer had a relationship on the sales side with Molson, the imports, Asahi, and so on. That way a salesman was responsible not only for Shipyard but Molson. They had a variety of resources to pull from. When it changed from being a portfolio sale to a priority sale, as acknowledged by everybody in the organization, the goal became to make Miller’s main brands their focus. That really caused major problems for us. Up until then the sales efforts were working very well.”

A press release from MillerCoors indicates Tenth & Blake “will own the strategic business drivers — marketing, trade marketing and an independent sales organization dedicated to the craft and imports business.” That’s the something different. But it’s not all it takes.

“We didn’t really fit into the Coors distribution system until about five years ago,” Keith Villa, who wrote the recipe for Blue Moon White, said last year when I visited Coors while doing the research for Brewing with Wheat. A sales force is not what made that beer. Many readers here feel obliged to beat up on Blue Moon White, and yes it has became hip, a badge even. But Villa put a beer in the glass that drinkers who are willing to pay more want to drink.

Fifteen years, and more, after the people working at the nation’s largest breweries said they were ready to think like smaller breweries how many successes similar to Blue Moon can you point to? Maybe it’s not a matter of training. Maybe it’s company DNA.

In 2006, I had the chance to visit the Brown-Forman Canadian Mist Distillery in Collingwood, Ontario, on the Georgian Bay. It was a frigid visit to that part of the world, but there was whisky to cut the cold.

The distillery produces the popular Canadian Mist label and under the direction of Steve Hughes, master blender, created the premium Black Diamond expression.

Canadian Mist Black Diamond is 86 proof and higher in sherry and rye content than the standard Canadian Mist. The whisky is a cherry wood color and has a slightly sweet caramel nose. It has an overall smooth flavor with hints of fruit, almond and a passing note of wood in the finish.

Jack McAuliffe may just be the most elusive figure in the short history of craft beer. He was craft before craft beer was cool. The former Navy man and engineer founded the very first modern microbrewery in Sonoma County, California in 1976 (New Albion incorporated October 8, 1976) and began production the following year using [...]

Rick Lyke, founder of Pints for Prostates, has announced the 26-beer menu for Denver Rare Beer Tasting II on Sept. 17. It includes beers not available commercially or ones consumers often line up overnight in order to buy.

A few tickets remain available for the tasting from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Wynkoop Brewing in Denver. Only 500 tickets ($80 each) will be sold and may be purchased through eTix.

Beers scheduled to be poured are: Alaskan Whiskey Barrel-Aged Smoked Porter; Avery Quinquepartite; Bell’s Eccentric Ale 2004; Big Sky Barrel-Aged Ivan the Terrible; Samuel Adams Cosmic Mother Funk; Brooklyn Reinschweinsgebot; The Bruery Melange #3; Cascade Noyeaux Sour Ale; Cigar City White Oak-Aged Jai Alai India Pale Ale; Deschutes Black Butte XXII; Dogfish Head Namaste; Foothills 2009 Sexual Chocolate; Founders Nemesis; Goose Island Bourbon Barrel Coffee Stout; Great Divide Flanders Red; Jolly Pumpkin Biere de Goord; New Belgium Tart Lychee; Pike Tripel Kriek; Rogue 21 Ale; Russian River Temptation; Sierra Nevada Sierra Nevada Brandy Barrel-Aged Belgian Trippel; Stone Collaboration ESB; Three Floyds Dark Lord; Upstream 2006 Gueuze; Weyerbacher Decadence; and Wynkoop Orville.33.

Admission includes samples of 26 beers, hors d’oeuvres, a commemorative tasting glass, event program and the chance to meet the men and women who created the beers.

The tasting will benefit Pints for Prostates, grassroots effort to raise awareness among men of the importance of regular prostate health screenings and PSA testing.

Monday’s ad is an old one from Quilmes, the best-selling beer in Argentina. “Y Todos Con” translates to “And All With” Quilmes. I love the stylized glasses in the hands, and the way they depict the motion of having just clinked them together. Share and Enjoy:

Apparently, if there is a "we" acting on some sort of grand plan, the plan needs to address the workplace and workplace ethics:

It doesn’t even matter is the boss or manager has chosen a glass of Merlot or beer, then offered it to the job-seeker or that the job-seeker shows no effect of alcohol. The negative association is so strong that, despite evidence to the contrary, there is a perception of impaired reasoning. “Prospective job candidates largely fail to anticipate the imbibing-idiot bias,” writes Rick from the University of Michigan and Schweitzer from the University of Pennsylvania. “Candidates in informal interview settings follow the boss’s lead, even when the boss chooses to consume alcohol. Our demonstration of a robust imbibing-idiot bias suggests that this form of mimicry is a mistake.” Why a mistake? “Consuming, or merely holding, an alcoholic beverage reduced perceived intelligence [even] in the absence of any actual reduction in cognitive performance,” they say.

"Imbibing-idiot bias"? How odd. Personally, I find T-totalers a bit weak in the rafters if you get my drift. But it is not really about who is wise and who is not. It is about who has control and what delusions they are acting under.

So, if I was a clever beer advocacy conspirator, I would get beer into the hands of the bosses (or, rather, if we are honest... middle management) to make sure that even if they were imbibing then they need to be viewing craft beer appreciation as an exception to the imbibing-idiot bias. How? A complex and overwhelming volume of knowledge making the middle manager uncomfortable, giving a clear impression that the job prospect has one up. We need scripts, people. Web pages filled with scripts for the job seeking beer fan. And then, sooner or later, we become the hiring classes. It could happen.

Today is also the 41st birthday of John Pinkerton, founder and brewmaster of Moon River Brewing in Savannah, Georgia. John is also involved in Beer America TV. He also brews some terrific beers and is great fun to drink a beer or three with. Join me in wishing John a very happy birthday. At All [...]

A couple of times recently I’ve read stories — or, yikes, tweets — that mentioned how many brewing companies remained in operation in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, then reported the current number of breweries. That’s not exactly apples to apples. Many brewing concerns operate multiple breweries, and the proper comparison would be breweries to breweries and concerns to concerns.

So, for the record, here are a few useful numbers to remember.

The boom years for breweries
(From History of the Brewing Industry and Brewing Science in America, by John P. Arnold and Frank Penman)

Year	Breweries	Barrels produced
1867	3,440	6,207,402
1868	3,756	6,146,663
1869	3,203	6,342,055
1870	3,286	6,574,617
1871	3,147	7,740,260
1872	3,475	8,659,427
1873	4,131	9,633,323
1874	3,282	9,600,879
1875	2,783	9,452,697
1876	3,293	9,902,352
1877	2,758	9,810,060
1878	2,830	10,241,471

The number of breweries never reached the 1878 level again, drifting below 2,000 by 1892 and to 1,092 in 1918, the year before Prohibition began. However, overall production went straight up , to 20,710,933 in 1886, to 30,487,209 five years later, passing 40 million barrels in 1901, 54 million in 1906 and 63 million by 1911.

Many of those breweries operating in 1878 were quite small. BEER, Its History And Its Economic Value As A National Beverage, by F.W. Salem, provides a complete list of production numbers for 1878 and 1879. Thus we can see that G. P. Pfannebecker in Paterson, N.J., brewed 48 barrels in 1878 and 152 in 1879. The biggest dozen breweries in 1879 where:

George Ehret (New York)	180,152 barrels
Philip Best ( Milwaukee)	167,974
Bergner & Engel (Philadelphia)	124,860
Joseph Schlitz (Milwaukee)	110,832
Conrad Seipp (Chicago)	108,347
P. Ballantine & Sons (Newark)	106,091
Jacob Ruppert (New York)	105,713
Christian Morlein (Cincinnati)	93,337
H. Clausen & Son (New York)	89,992
William J. Lemp (St. Louis)	88,714
Flanagan & Wallace (New York)	84,825
Anheuser-Busch (St. Louis)	83,160

Before the renaissance
(From American Breweries II by Dale P. Van Wieren)

1983 - 51 brewing concerns operate 80 breweries. This is the low water mark for number of breweries.
1984 - 44 brewing concerns operate 83 breweries.

19th century startup
(As long as I’m digging through history books, some facts from 100 Years of Brewing, published in 1903)

More than 100 years before Sierra Nevada launched in California, Adolphus Busch bought an interest in a St. Louis brewery owned by Eberhard Anheuser. A brewery had been operating at the same location for 15 years, yet in 1865 sold a modest 8,000 barrels. By the time the name was changed to Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in 1875 annual production has risen to 34,797.

In the next 10 years production increased by 10%, 48%, 32%, 41%, 34%, 42%, 22%, 22%, and 5% before falling 1% to reach 318,085 barrels. Sixteen years later sales passed 1 million for the first time.

That year, 1901, the plant covered about 60 acres and as well as a brewhouse that could produce 6,000 barrels a day, it had ice plants with 650 tons daily capacity, malt houses with 4,500 bushels daily capacity, a cooling capacity of 2,650 tons per day, storage elevators for malt and barley of 1.25 million bushels capacity, stock houses for lagering purposes of 400,000 barrels capacity, and a power plant with 60,000 square feet of heating surface (equal to 7,750 horse power).

Alton Brown, from the Food Network, recently handed down his choices for the Nation’s Top Ten Sweets. Making the list for the “Best Beer-Spiked Cupcake” was the Bay Area’s own Miette. With two locations in San Francisco (the Ferry Building & Hayes Valley) and one in Oakland (at Jack London Square), here’s how Brown describes [...]

Lagunitas Brewing was founded in 1993 and the company was consistently among the fastest growing craft breweries in the U.S. during its early years. If you like hops, you will really like most of the beers from Lagunitas.

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid pours a crisp and clear golden color with a big head of long lasting white foam. This is big and hoppy, with 102 IBU screaming from the aroma right to the final flavor. The resins in this one are a bit sticky and thick on the palate. If you need hops, Hop Stoopid is a smart choice.

MillerCoors has announced that it will call its new company focused and craft and import beers “Tenth and Blake Beer Company.”

“This is a unique and exciting period in the beer business,” Tom Cardella, the company’s CEO, said for a press release. “With the added focus on our craft and import brands and the talent within our brewing network, Tenth and Blake Beer Company has the opportunity to make an impact and continue to help grow this segment. We’re made up of passionate brewers and merchants of the world’s finest specialty brews, and we look forward to celebrating the joy of beer with beer drinkers throughout the U.S.”

The press released explained the name was chosen because:

* The 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee brews Leinenkugel’s and various specialty beers.

* Blake Street in Denver is home to the Blue Moon Brewing Company and Sandlot Brewery within Coors Field.

These facilities “will be primary sources of many of the company’s brews, while serving as incubators of ideas and future beers.”

The company list its current roster of beers on its Facebook page: Blue Moon, Leinenkugel’s, Pilsner Urquell, Peroni, Killian’s, Henry Weinhard’s, Grolsch, Tyskie, Lech, Cristal, Cusquena, Aguila, Batch 19, Kasteel Cru, AC Golden brands (Herman Joseph’s, Winterfest, Colorado Native) and Sandlot brands (Brewmaster’s Special, Ski Brews, Barmen, Championship Amber Ale, Right Field Red, Slugger Stout, Power Alley ESB).

Today is the 42nd birthday of Dann Paquette, who along with his wife Martha Holley-Paquette, founded the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. It’s a fairly unique idea. They don’t own a brewery but they don’t contract brew either. They rent the brewery and Dann does all the work brewing the beer. Certainly other contract [...]

FREE BEER BBQ
Please join us at 1301PE for the LA release of SUPERFLEX’s FREE BEER (version 4.1)
Wednesday 18. August 5-8pm, 6150 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles.

FREE BEER is based on classic ale brewing traditions. The recipe and branding elements of FREE BEER are published under a Creative Commons (Attribution - ShareAlike 2.5) license, which means that anyone can use the recipe to brew their own FREE BEER or create a derivative of the recipe. Anyone is free to earn money from FREE BEER, but they must publish the recipe under the same license and credit our work. All design and branding elements are available to beer brewers, and can be modified to suit, provided changes are published under the same license (”Attribution and ShareAlike”).

FREE BEER is a beer which is free in the sense of freedom, not in the sense of free beer. The project, originally conceived by Copenhagen-based artist collective Superflex and students at the Copenhagen IT University, applies modern free software/open source methods to a traditional real-world product - namely the alcoholic beverage loved and enjoyed globally, and commonly known as beer.

Most of the details about today’s work of art are unknown to me, but despite that it still was too good not to feature. All I know is that it depicts an immigrant family, originally from the Netherlands, living in Baltimore, Maryland and was painted by the father of the family shown in the painting. [...]

One of the most important things I ever learned in life was the importance of an index. Why? Well, if you are overwhelmed by information as I was in law school I learned that reading the index for each course's material (because that is what we called it: "material") was what was in the course and what was not. Andy (who I call "Andy" even though we have never met due to our rich, rewarding but inherently thin relationship in the nature of all internet relationships) flagged this about this his second book with his thoughtful post "Great American Craft Beer: What’s Included, What’s Not…" This is not a book about every US craft beer. It does not describe every beer bar. It is an effort to exemplify where US craft beer is now.

Which beings me to a quibble. I wish it was called "Great American Craft Beer 2010" as I would like this to be an annual book. "WHAT!!!" says Andy. Exactly. A superhuman effort would be required to make such a book an annual - but it is odd that no such thing exists for a country as rich and diverse as the USA. It also contains no profiles of brewers, no real history of beer in the land and no maps. The first 45 pages include a number of brief essays on the background of beer and at the end there is a bit about enjoying beer but it is the 200 pages in the middle that are the meat of the book - reviews of specific beers.

One might say that this is the section that will go stale the fastest but it takes a picture of where we are all now. And by "we" I mean anyone who has an interest in US craft beer at this time when there are so many false pretenders, established giants, tiny interesting voices and weird experimenters out there on the beer store shelves. This is a golden era and this book captures it. From beers as pervasive as Magic Hat #9 to rarities like Three Floyds Dark Lord of which Andy writes:

At the far horizon of the Imperial Stout Spectrum lurks a beer whose flavor and motor oil consistency have made it perhaps the most geeked out craft beer on the planet. Three Floyds sells much coveted bottles of its near-mythical Imperial Stout on one day per year, appropriately called Dark Lord Day.

Note: that is about half the whole entry. Andy's writing is economical, vivid and accurate. You will see that throughout the book. We can only hope that it is at least a first edition if not an annual affair.

Paul A. Ner, who writes By the Pint, tweeted a fun photo of SNL alum and Blues Bro Dan Aykroyd holding a bottle of Schlafly Pale Ale. Nice, I’m convinced one of the ways to pull more people into the craft beer world is through celebrity endorsements, not paid ones, just by seeing more and [...]

I almost forgot about this. The week before last I got a call from the local CBS television station, CBS 5, asking me to comment on a story they were working on regarding a recent Consumer Reports beer tasting that was published in their August issue. In Bargain beer from Costco, they had consumers taste [...]

Vince and Gina Marsaglia started making craft beer at Pizza Port in 1993. Brewer Tomme Arthur was on the scene when Port Brewing opened its doors in 2006. The company's Lost Abbey line of beers has built a huge following and the company has won numerous Great American Beer Festival medals.

Port Older Viscosity is a Bourbon barrel-aged American dark strong ale. It pours a flat black color with a creamy brown head. The aroma is rich malt with plenty of vanilla. This is a big and satisfying drink. Toffee, chocolate and wood combine with lovely roasted grains. There is enough hop bitterness to balance the 12.5 percent alcohol by volume drink. Worth searching for if you are in Southern California.

Our 31st Guinness poster by John Gilroy goes back to the pint, smiling, as usual. The tagline is “Guinness Is Good For You.” At least it makes you smile. Share and Enjoy:

The advice so far has been great. Now we are working on the route - it looks like we are heading from Binghamton NY to Cape Cod through Connecticut and Rhode Island. Looking for real makers of apple cider or pear perry. Pete got me thinking. Any ideas?

Over on Hop Press today, I have an article that is pointing back to this site: I’ve developed an online (Javascript) version of the batch sparge calculations that John Palmer outlines in How to Brew. The actual calculator is here.

Last week’s Hop Press article has a bit more backstory.

Penderyn Distillery is the only distillery operating in Wales. The company started production in 2000, marking the first time a Welsh whisky had been produced legally since 1894. The distillery is located in the village of Penderyn inside the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Penderyn Peated Single Malt Welsh Whisky pours a nice light golden color. There is a sweetness to the nose that is backed up with engaging smoke aromas. The 90 proof whisky is lively with bits of pear, citrus and the peated smoke base. Fairly smooth and relaxing for a complex single malt.

The New York Times had a great essay recently by Geoff Nicholson, entitled Drink What You Know. It’s part book review — for a re-issued “The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto” — and part survey of literary drinking and writer’s advice on both writing and drinking. It includes this gem about the perils of my profession. [...]

Friday’s ad is from an earlier period, just before the golden age of poster, nearer the turn of the century, around 1905. It’s by artist Francisco Tamagno and is advertising Biere De Ville Sur Illon. Here’s a short biography of the artist. Francisco Tamagno was among the original movement of France’s fanciful graphic advertisement art [...]

Back in early July, my featured Beer In Art piece was by Ali Spagnola. In Beer In Art #84: Ali Spagnola’s Free Beer Paintings, I detailed how she’s taking requests and doing a new one-square foot painting every day, and then sends it out to the requester, all free of charge. When I wrote about [...]

Today is Tom Nickel’s birthday, who turns 37 this year. Tom was a brewer at Oggi’s in San Diego and now owns O’Brien’s, one of the best beer bars in San Diego. Join me in wishing Tom a very happy birthday.

Tom Nickel (third from the left) at OBF with John Harris from Full Sail to his left and Tom’s former girlfriend Becky on his arm. I can’t recall now who the fellow is on the far left.

Tom in the dunk tank to raise money for the brewer’s guild the night before OBF at the brewer’s dinner.

Tom Nickel and me at GABF in 2005.

 

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Or beer and roots music.

Or beer and alt.country (“whatever that is,” at the late, great No Depression magazine said on its cove).

Truth is we like wine in our family. We like all manner of jazz. Still I was surprised to see Wine and Jazz magazine today at the book store. Turns out it has been around a couple of years, and the tagline says, “Celebrating the Perfect Lifestyle Combination.”

Right.

At the risk of turning this beer and wine category into beer versus wine I do have to point out they feature “blogologists” rather than bloggers. Rest assured, if I ever start Craft Beer & Alt.Country magazine (the tagline would be “An existential debate with every sip or every chord”) we’ll employ bloggers.

One final thought. Thank goodness that North Coast Brewing has staked out Thelonious Monk for all of us.

The Kathryn Hall Winery has been a big favorite of mine since Sandy and I were lucky enough to make a visit back in 2007. The wines are a great value, priced above basic bottles, but well below cultish labels. I've never been disappointed by a bottle from this Napa Valley vineyard.

Kathryn Hall 2005 Sacrashe Cabernet Sauvignon is a big inky red purple pour that has a dense fruit and slight cedar nose. The flavor of this wine is mellow, but ample to match with most dishes. Dark fruits, some background figs and tannins roll across your tongue. A great food wine.

It’s a big day for beer birthdays. Today is also Dave Keene’s 54th birthday. Dave, of course, owns the best beer bar in San Francisco, the Toronado, which this Saturday will celebrate its 22nd anniversary. Join me in wishing Dave a very happy birthday.

Dave with Ralph Woodall from HopUnion at 21st Amendment.

At a beer release party for Brother Dave’s Triple. From left: Fal Allen, Mark Cabrera, Dave Gatlin (head brewer at AVBC) , Me and Dave.

Dave Keene and me at the Summit Hop Festival held at Drake’s Brewing.

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Marketwatch recently had a fun little video from the Great British Beer Festival about “U.S. independent beer brewers outpac[ing] their U.K. cousins and gain[ing] market share.” Interviewed in the video are UK beer writer Pete brown and also Bob Pease, COO of the Brewers Association. Share and Enjoy:

While MillerCoors had already announced their intention to start up a new division dedicated to its smaller brands and imports, today they announced that Tenth and Blake Brewing Co. was open for business. There’s no website yet, but there is a Facebook page. Here’s the press release: Tenth and Blake Beer Company Opens for Business [...]

Today is also Mark Carpenter’s 66th birthday. Mark has been brewing at Anchor since 1971 and is responsible for much of their success over the years. He’s a terrific person and one of the nicest people I know. Join me in wishing Mark a very happy birthday.

Dave Suurballe with Mark last year.

Matt Salie, with Big Sky Brewing and Mark at a recent Anchor Christmas party.

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I am in Los Angeles working on a commercial shoot this week and had the chance to go to XIV by Michael Mina this evening. The bar offerings are top shelf, and the meal and restaurant staff were fantastic. Sommelier Christopher Lavin answered all of my questions and provided thoughtful recommendations.

We had one white and two reds. I'll start with the white wine tonight, which was a hit with the table, and cover the reds during the coming days. The wine list at XIV is breathtaking, including several cult Screaming Eagle vintages that top $5,000 a bottle. But you can drink reasonably priced bottles that have been selected with care.

Hirsch 2007 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay was a nice ripe fruit varietal to start our meal. The winery experimented with various forms of aging for the juice, including glass, oak, and stainless steel fermentation, plus aging on oak some of the wine fermented in stainless. The wine we enjoyed had a crisp apple start and a pretty clean finish. There was a slight hint of butter in the base of the wine. This is a very accessable wine that matches well with grilled fish and other seafood.