Brewed Musings

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Half Litre of Surly Fest Bier (Psst! Find it and get Surly!)

Let me get this out of the way right now because I am quite sure it has not crossed your mind, but I am paranoid that it has and want to explain. Over the months of July and August, I was the only brewer in a two-brewer brewhouse due to an injury to the other brewer. I took it upon myself to make sure that production did not halt during this time, therefore I was working 6 days a week brewing 5 or 6 times during the week. To give you an idea of the epic size of this task, on average I would brew 3 times/week, 12 times/month. In this two month span I brewed 39 times - three months of production smashed into two months. Needless to say I was tired and the idea of talking or writing about beer fell to the wayside. Oh, I still drank beer! I will always find a way to enjoy a pint here and there regardless of how much work I complete. With that long and drawn out explanation, let’s get on with the topic of the day: Favourite brewers not favourite beers.

It is inevitable a person ask we in the brewing community what our favourite beer or beer style is when they find out we brew for a living. If I had a nickel (I hate pennies, get rid of ‘em! 99 cents my arse!) for every time someone came up to me and asked me my favourite beer I would have enough money to start my own brewery. Maybe I should start asking for a nickel…Hmmmm…Anyway, most brewers, if they are sincere, will agree that their favourite beer is the one in their hands at the time - one of the many things we brewers have learned from the great (British) Michael Jackson. My friends have learned over the years to wait for me to order before they decide.

For me it is doubly hard to answer this question because my tastebuds play tricks on me almost every other week. I swear! I must have gotten my mom’s lust for chocolate in beer form. An example came just the other day while I was riding home. As I turned the corner, a very dangerous corner making this revelation even more amusing, my mind turned to a German Sausage and a litre of Oktoberfestbier. This was completely out of the grey (now that it is October in Oregon, blue equals grey.) My favourite beer can go from Walking Man’s IPA to Ninkasi Believer to Saison du Pont to Hidden Treasure Alt (I had to throw one of my own in there for promotion!)

So, naturally, when someone approached me and asked me to give them my top 3 favourite beers, I smiled a shy little smile and told them that was impossible. “I could geek out and give you a small list of my favourite brewers. But my favourite beers changes more often than the seasons.” Apparently she was not interested in learning about the people who make my favourite quaff, just about the quaff itself. But you are somewhat of a captive audience, so I can enlighten you friendly folk out there in cyberland. And by enlighten, I mean bore.

For me, and any who know me already have heard this, the beers, at least the beers I tend to drink, are really just an artistic extension of the person who makes it. Unlike the commercial breweries like Miller and St. Louis Bud, the microbrew industry tends to be less concerned with reaching the largest body of consumers. The brewers in my industry seem to be more concerned with making a more flavourful brew. These brewers brew what they like to drink. And, in doing so, their brews are steeped with a bit of their art. Leave it to me to make something as simple as a favourite brew into something deep and complex. I can see all my friends rolling their eyes, saying to themselves, “Here he goes again…Want to go shoot some darts til he is done?”

Unlike the concerts I made you wait months for, my favourite brewers are not in any kind of order. They are just names that pop into my head when I ponder the utmost important question to any brewer, “If you could have one last beer before you die, who would you want to brew it.” Actually I just made that question up. Stay with me people…

The brewers I tend to enjoy a lot are the ones that inspire me and challenge me to skew my already tight lines of brewing. My favourite, at least for now, is Thomme Arthur of Lost Abbey Brewing in Southern California. He does some amazing things with his brews that I am left speechless every time I have one. Currently, my last beer before I pass on would be Lost Abbey Avant Garde. But after Thomme, there are other brewers just as influential to me like John Maier from Rogue Brewing in Newport, OR, or Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog here in Portland, or Sam Caglione of Dogfish Head Brewing back east. Finally there is one brewer in town that I know on a more friendship level that, without his knowledge, inspires me and challenges me even more than Tomme and that is Jason McAdam at Roots Organic Brewing. I have known Jason for 5 years and he never ceases to amaze me.

Well, I think I have bored you enough with this jibber-jabber. Besides, my dog, Tess, has been waiting patiently for a walk and is right now doing her best imitation of a kangaroo. Damn! It does feel good to be writing about beer again. Thankfully I now have another brewer to torment back at the brewery, giving me more time to torment you in my most unusual way. Hopefully I have given you brew for thought and you will think about the man or woman who brewed your beer. Ask to see them next time you go to your favourite brewing establishment. But, please, do NOT ask them about their favourite beers. I need your nickels!

Prost!

the good-to-be-back confucian brewer