Brewed Musings

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Pot of Green Tea and the return of the Spring Sun

The past few weeks have been chaotic to say the least, something that usually leads my mind to the far-reaches of the cosmos and returns with some ramblings of philosophy and a sense of calm. Alas, that point has not been reached yet and I am still far off in the netherworld taking notes. (Please send some trail mix and another pen.) So I thought I would keep you loyal readers busy with some notes from a conversation I had a while back, sitting with a friend over pints. I will also end it with the one and only thought I had the other day whilst chatting with a very special friend. Enjoy!

Every decision, whether conscious or unconscious, gives birth to a myriad of decisions of conscious and unconscious. Who is to say that nothing is predetermined.

I am destined to die some day. This I know to be pre-determined. All my decisions from birth til now gave rise to our meeting, yet I was not destined to find you.

Just because all things are pre-determined in the cosmos does not mean I will inherit a million dollars. The timing must be 100%. 99.98% and all is naught.

The only place destiny is found is in death.

The previous thoughts came from a conversation a friend and I had a while back about the difference in pre-determined and destiny and whether or not there is such a thing called fate. The point of our conversation was not to debate who is right or wrong, but to get us thinking on a different plane, thinking outside logic. Take it as you will…I hope it stirs something up in your mind. And I will leave you with the following:

Sometimes all it takes to start an avalanche is a whisper.

Prost!

the whispering confucian brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice: Any good pint you would like to drink during a philosophical discussion

It has been a few days now and I believe it is time for the story that lead up to the previous statement about the talents of assholes. It is one of those statements that are clever at the moment, and depending on you outlook, be it as an optimist or a pessimist, remains clever or simply fades into obscurity. As a Mencian Confucianist, I still believe the statement to be true despite its status in the cleverness realm.

The other night a few of my friends and I were sitting around a table, pints in hand, discussing philosophy. If given the choice of discussing philosophy or politics, I will always pick philosophy. Political discussions tend to bore me because rarely does anything useful come from them save rhetoric and cliché. When I do get involved in ‘em I tend to do one of two things: 1. Sit quietly and let the others resolve nothing; or 2. Become an antogonist just to provoke said others. Most of the time it is the latter option. It seems more fun. But on this night I was around friends who felt inclined to discuss useless philosophy…My forte.

Somehow the discussion turned to “assholes.” Every one knows at least one. Some people attract ‘em like flies on manure. Some are attracted to them. Some, like me, have learned to ignore ‘em for the most part. But there is no escaping ‘em. They are there and not going away. Our discussion started because we have a few in the Timbers Army that we try to distance ourselves from because their actions reflect poorly on us as a group. It is somewhere in this lively discussion where I said, “It takes talent to be an asshole. Thankfully, I am talentless.”

That may sound like a very negative statement. Most people would rather think the opposite: the talent lies in being nice and being honest. To be honest I have a hard time coming to terms with my statement. But hear me out. As a follower of Mencius, who believed that humans were inherantly good, the asshole statement holds true. Which sounds more positive, that one has to try to be nice? or that one has to try to be mean? In my opinion, I would like to think that we as humans do not have to try to be nice. It just comes naturally. A person has to try to be an asshole. They have to perfect that ability. That is where the talent lies.

Do not get me wrong. I do not think I am truly talentless. My talents lie elsewhere. I simply have no talent in being an ass. Our discussion ended, openly, on famous baseball player, Leo Durocher’s quote, “Nice guys finish last.” Many of us at the table agreed that we would rather finish last if it meant that we did not have to step on others to place first. We can argue about this quote on a another day and with another brewed beverage.

Prosit!

the talentless confucian brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Pint of Cask Conditioned Stumptown Porter from Lucky Lab

Today as I was riding Tri-Met (Portland’s local PubTrans) to run some errands, I pulled out the Northwest Brewing News from my bag and started reading. I have many guilty pleasures in my life including: Surfing documentaries, Dwell magazine, and reading the Northwest and Great Lakes Brewing News from cover to cover. A thought popped, no leapt into my head while perusing good friend and fellow Timber’s armyman Abe Goldman-Armstong’s article on organic hops and the high demand for such a limited product. The thought is still in its broad jump as I sit here with a late lunch and a pint of Real Porter: With the shortage of hops in the industry, will we see the resurgence of the Mild Ale?

The Mild is one of my favourite brews because, underdog lover that I am, it is completely misunderstood and difficult to find in the hop happy Pacific Northwest. As an historian and a socialist, the Mild also draws me in because of its ties to labour and farmers. In fact, in honour of May Day, the official workingman’s holiday, I brew a Mild ale (called May Day Dark because fickle Americans do not like the term Mild) which I will put into tank this week.

If I have not educated you on the Mild before, let me give you a bit of historical background. The Mild was not originally a style of beer but a whole group of beers. In England in the 17th and 18th centuries, beer was served in two forms: Stock or “stale” and Mild. The term mild was to denote fresh or unaged. These beers were also brewed by country people to be served for their workers. Yep…It is a British Farmhouse of a sort. At least in my opinion. The Mild evolved over the centuries to adapt to public tastes so that by the 20th century we see the Mild as a brown, malty brew with lower alcohol. (It is good to note that brewers often bottle their beer as browns and serve their draught brews as milds.) It is also this beer that found favour with the miners and manual labourers in the West Midlands of England because, as David Sutula notes in his book Mild Ale, they could “quaff great quantities of the low-gravity beers after a hard day in the mine or the factory…” It was a replenisher.

Beer styles and trends are naturally dependent on supplies. Styles such as the Pilsener, the Municher, and English Pale came about partially because of the water that was used in them. The water in those cities creating a specific taste that at the time could not be replicated. We in the Pacific Northwest are hop mad as I have stated earlier because we have hops growing in our backyards…Sometimes literally. So naturally with the shortage of hops on our hands, a style such as Mild should come back from obscurity. And I am taking up the torch by challenging other brewers in the area to brew a batch. It does not have to be a classic Mild. What fun would there be in that? But make a nice, full-flavoured dark session ale. Mild has been ignored for too long! Have a pint!

Prost!

the confucian Mild Ale brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice:  A glass of Biere des Sans Coulettes Biere de Garde, La Choulette

Earlier this year I gave you a list of my goals for the year as it comes to marketing myself as a brewer in Portland, Oregon.  I thought it would be a good idea to give you a brief update on these goals.  Primarily because it will help me keep up with them if I make them public, but also because it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

In the past two weeks I have had two friends comment on how well my self promotion has been going.  Since my last post I have brought about a monthly event at my own pub where we release a new or special beer in the original pub which now goes unused save for the few catering events that take place there.  The first event was so-so when it comes to how many people showed.  But the last two have been spectacular in attendance and the beers have been well received.  In fact it was the last one that boosted my confidence three fold.  The beer, the Blind Abbot Abbey style ale, sold over 10 gallons in less than 5 hours.  Another customer told a fellow patron that I was the most underrated brewer in the area, which I found to be one of the best compliments I have received in a while.  And, finally a friend told me on the way home that my marketing plan seemed to be doing quite well.

In addition to that event, I was given the chance to serve my beers at a non-company pub which is unheard of up to that day.  So Tuesday night at the Green Dragon Bistro in Portland, three of my beers were being served to many patrons who not only were shocked that the beers came from the company I work for, but were also served to beer geeks (I am sticking to that term…Beer Nerd???  NO!) who have all but given up on the corporate company I work for.  It is my goal to bring these two groups back together again.  Beer geeks…The company I work for have really decent brewers working for them who actually care about the beers they create.  My company…Beer geeks will bring in more beer geeks if you welcome them.  It is time to kiss and make up.

Finally, last night, my Blind Abbot Abbey ale was served at the Portland Cheers To Belgian Beers festival.  I was there and received some rather exciting raves from the people who attended.  People now know me by my face, which scares me.  They also know my beer which was my goal to begin with.  I spent the night talking to people who were happy to know that my company allows me the freedom to do such extravagant brews.  For the last few weeks I have been able to actually see the results of my tireless self promotion.

So there you have it.  A selfless person such as myself can actually promote themselves well enough to make a difference.  My confidence has skyrocketed because it is good to be recognized for the work you do, despite the fact that I cannot take a compliment to save my life.  I will not be able to make the Craft Brewers Conference because of the cost.  But the GABF is still in my sights, as is the North American Organic Brewers Festival in June.  The excitement continues and I have YOU to thank!

Cheers,

the confucian brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Chalice of Blind Abbot Abbey

For your information, and perhaps you already know this if you happen to read as many beer blogs as I, but there are currently 140 beer styles according to the American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association. Believe it…I spent some of the day filing through ‘em all. Of course this revelation set my mind in motion. So as I was walking the White Wonder and subsequently later on as I sipped a pint watching some March Madness, I pondered the question of style.

Sometimes we in the brewing community get too caught up in style. Style serves a purpose in some respects to tell the consumer what to expect from their recently purchased pint of beer. It conveys some history behind the beer and the brewer. But in our culture here in the states we find it necessary to put things in neat little lines. The beers value is based on how close to style it is. Believe me. I am one of the many who at one time or another have stated, “Nice beer but it is not to style.”

This statement reminded me of a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago about a line up of swing bands which played here in town. Someone commented that the bands did not play traditional swing music. Nice music but it is not to style. But the important point brought up, and I cannot take credit for it, was did the musicians swing. Styles even in music can toe a thin line between decent peripheral vision and tunnel vision. Yvan de Baets says in Brew Like a Monk, “Making categories helps the human brain, but it also limits it. Descriptions don’t necessarily take into account complexity.” It is nice to have styles like Extra Strong Bitter or Swing, but there is always something underlying that a style guideline will miss.

In my opinion the underlying factor in beer styles is the brewer. One of the particular reasons I like the farmhouse styles of Northern France and Belgium, as well as Alts and Kolschs, is that while they follow a guideline to some degree they do not let that limit them. In the book Farmhouse Ales Phil Markowski says, “While style geeks insist that beers fall in line, most Belgian and French brewers prefer them to fall just outside the line, provided they taste good and are made by honest methods.” This is what I strive for when I brew up a new beer. The final product regardless of style should at least taste good and will have my own stamp on it.

It would be hypocritical of me to say I have never been one of those style geeks or the type of brewer that brewed specifically to style. Brewing to style is one of the first building blocks in brewing. It is the basics. It is that around which the beer molds itself. Ron Jeffries of Jolly Pumpkin Ales stated it best in Brew Like A Monk when he said the following:

“I brew to the taste. To the vision. Not to the guidelines. This was not always so for me. For years I followed the guidelines, trying to perfectly match any given style. Like the aspiring artist practicing year after year, painting a solitary stick of bamboo, exactingly replicating the master’s work. Only after years of painstaking perfection is the student allowed to add a leaf here, a sprig there. Such can be brewing. After years of pale ale, English versus American, porter, stout, robust, brown and the like, I began to brew differently. Asking not just how should it taste, but how I want it to taste.”

I like that quote because I have studied Chinese Brush Painting and it is just that precise. You spend days, months, years practicing the stroke to perfection. No pictures made. Just one stroke after another. I took what I learned from that experience and practiced it my brewing. Making batch after batch. Conducting one mash after another. Getting the style just right. And now I am to the point where I feel I can add my own spin on that style.

So style does serve a purpose, but too often in this culture it is blurred by competition and taken far too literal. Beers should be awarded on their own merit, a philosophy shared by my friend, Jason, co-owner of Roots Brewing who would rather have praise from customers than medals. So the next time you take a sip of a new brew, ask yourself not is this to style, but does this beer swing.

Cheers,

the confucian brewer

Local brewers take on the whole style issue 

Brewed Beverage of Choice:  Bridgeport Beer Town Brown preferably on Cask…

When I set up this blog I had hoped to remain anonymous for the sake of the people who knew me.  I did not think it necessary to have them recognized, which was in all likelihood not going to happen.  You as a reading public did not need to know who was whom in this play, so naming them by name was useless…AND it still is.  But we all knew the day would come when I would have to come out of my comfort of the shadows.  And apparently, the spirits picked the past 7 days.

But for me this is a good thing because I am all about promoting our little, local brewing community in a different light.  After the Falconer Foundation was gracious enough to award me with a scholarship, the need for anonymity was lost.  How could I honestly promote the Foundation from the confines of the shadows?  Sometimes the sidelines are a good place, but in order to play one must put up and shut up!  For those of you who may know me, shutting me up can be difficult when it comes to something I am passionate about, such as brewing, community, and music.

The reason of my departure from the shadows, and some of you may have seen it on OregonLive.com or in Saturday’s Living Section in the Oregonian, was the article written about the Falconer Memorial Brew.  In fact all day Saturday, I was approached by many people to congratulate me and basically talk.  It actually felt good to be recognized.  I usually let my work do the talking, but that can only go so far.  The shyness still shines through and my ability to take a compliment needs work, but I am trying to welcome the recognition with open brewers arms.

This does not mean I will not take time out to muse on other stuff other than beer and brewing.  Fear not, when my mind is ready to devour some philosophical or historical musing, you will be the first to read about.  It does mean that I will be using the blog more to promote events I may be at, or tell the lucky Oregonians where to get my beer.  Also, as I stated earlier, I will still refrain from using other people’s names without their consent.  At least the sun is shining on the day I emerge.

Prost!

the confucian brewer of lost anonymity

PS:  I am also planning on changing the picture at the top when I learn how to do such trivial things.

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Goblet of Rose City Til I DiePA (This was Saturday afternoon…now I am drinking coffee…)

I was sitting at a pub Saturday fulfilling one of my shameless self promotion goals when the property manager for my pub came over to me and told me that I had to go and convince a patron to vote for my Rose City Til I DiePA (RCTIDPA) over another beer in the competition. Normally I do not like doing something like talking up my beers. If it was good enough, it would stand out on its own. But that philosophy is only so good, so I walked over to the booth and started to stump for the RCTIDPA.

There were many ways for me to attack this problem. I could tell him to just buy pints of each make the decision side by side, which I did actually do. Then I could play on the “More Is Better” philosophy that permeates in this culture and tell him that my beer is actually 9.5% Alcohol by Volume and not 8.6% as stated in the program. But it finally hit me as I was speaking to him. I should play up the “Less Is Better” angle of the RCTIDPA.

Of course this topic has been rummaging around in my head for a week or so when I was having two very similar conversations. The first involving a renewed interest in English Mild Ales and Brown ales. These two beers are usually lower in alcohol and, subseqently, in the case of the Mild, are finding it hard to break into the American beer culture. The other conversation involved an article on the farmhouse beers of the Franconia region of Germany. In it, Dan Shelton, a beer importer stated the following:

“When American beer drinkers spend more money on a beer they want more alcohol. It’s a real challenge to sell something that’s not rare in its homeland but that costs a lot to get in. People need to get used to paying for character.”

So how does this relate to the RCTIDPA, which as stated is over 9.5% ABV? Well, the Rose City utilizes one of the most underappreciated factors in brewing: the longer boil time. It is more common on the Continent to use fewer types of grain and getting colour from the longer boil. For whatever reason, brewers in the states inevitably try to throw everything plus the kitchen sink into their brews when it comes to hops and grain. The more the better. I find this tactic to sometimes make the final product a bit overwhelming and “glamourous.” That is glamour for the sake of glamour. Pretty on the outside.

The Rose City only has one type of grain: a local organic pilsener malt. It is practically the lightest malt on the market and if boiled for 60 minutes to 90 minutes, makes a beautiful straw colour. Straw being the colour of a pilsener or some American IPAs. But the Rose City was boiled for two hours and has a pleasant medium orange hue. The two hour boil causes caramelization in the beer, hence the flavour profile is a bit different than if only boiled for a shorter period of time. This caramelization adds a different bit of flavour than if I had used a Crystal or Caramel malt for colour and flavour. When you look at the RCTIDPA in a glass it is remarkable that one type of malt made that colour. See for yourself.

So this is what I had to impress on the voter. The Rose City Til I DiePA packs all that flavour and colour from one type of grain and 4 types of hops. The other beer had as many as 4 grains and 4 hops. The RCTIDPA received more from less. So in a long winded conversation basically it boiled down to “Less Is Better.” I went back several times to talk to this group of gentlemen, but when they were about to tell me who they voted for, I stopped them. There are some things better left unsaid. Same philosophy…

Prost!

the confucian brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice: A nice pint of Porter…preferably a cask conditioned one…an old favourite I had forgotten about until recently…

Today I picked up one of the local newspapers because there is a weekly article on brewing within its pages. Fred Eckhardt, a local and national beer writer, was this week’s guest author, and he wrote about brewers as artists. While at Siebel, this very topic came up several times. The instructors thought that brewers were not artists because artists create something once and move on to a different project. While this may be true, artists also spend years and years honing their artform to create those works of art much like brewers. So are brewers artists?

According to the second definition in Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary an artist is “one, esp. a public performer, whose work shows great skill.” That to me sounds remarkably like a brewer. A great brewer creates memorable quaffs through great skill and ingenuity. I am not a huge fan of the first definition which basically defines an artist as someone who practices the fine arts. That definition is too circular for me.

As I stated earlier, artists and brewers have the study of their respective crafts in common. A good brewer spends years learning the little details of different varieties of malted barley: their flavour, their colour, how grain from France is different than grain from the Pacific Northwest, etc. A good brewer studies the hops he or she uses, the equipment, and the eccentricities of every yeast strain. Just like an artist who must know about all the mediums, paints, inks, etc. This is how a brewer can be viewed as an artist.

Although I do see brewers as artists, I prefer to use the term “artisan.” The same dictionary defines artisan as “a manually skilled worker,” or a craftsman. The artisan is very similar to an artist. He or she must know the elements to be “molded.” The one major difference is that an artisan creates a work of usable art, something that can be consumed or used as a tool. (Sorry about my own circular definition…) A piece of art can be admired but is, at most times, decoration. (Jeez, I am going to have artists on my ass now…) But an artisan’s work not only can be admired for the skill used to create it, but it also serves a need.

So while I agree somewhat with my instructor’s at Siebel that brewers are not artists, it is not for the reason they give. There is a lot of common ground shared by artists and brewers, skewing the line between them. But by and large, brewer’s are artisans. They are craftsmen and craftswomen who create usable versions of “art.” I guess the bottom line is do we as a society have to change our perception of what art is? Can we say that a finely crafted brew or horseshoe is a piece of art? I do know that walking in a British pub is essentially walking into a museum.

Prost!

the confucian artisan brewer

Brewed Beverage of Choice:  A pint of New Day English Bitter (one of the beers at the dinner…)

Last year the Roadhouse Brewery celebrated its 4000th brew by making a Weizenbock, a rare and finicky brew that when done right is O! so delicious.  But we did not just want to release it, that would have been sacrilegious.  We decide to release it at a Brewer’s Dinner in the upstairs of the original pub with the fireplaces a blazing.

A good Brewer’s Dinner is a fun event: good food paired with great tasting brews.  It is a shame so few brewers actually do them.  I had so much fun at last year’s dinner that we decided to do another one this year.  And while the menu last year was fantastic, I think we trumped it with this year’s.  Our chef and I sat in the brewery before I headed to Chicago and sampled all the beers available.  Needless to say, we had quite a little buzz going by the time we reached the dessert selections.

People rarely know that good brews are excellent when paired with food.  Beer can be a better selection with certain foods than our fermented grape friend.  I am not picking on wine.  I have been known to have a glass of it now and then.  No, what I am saying is that beer gets a bad rap for being great with pizza and American football.  Many of today’s beers are so packed with flavours it is hard not to consume them alongside a good meal.

This year marked the first year where I had more of a say in the food selection and beer selection.  Of course this is only the second year, so suffice it to say, last year I had less input.  The beer selection is what I am most proud of because we have a better crop to choose from this year.  If you can believe it, a year old Cherry Stout was left off the menu.  It is not often something that good could be upstaged by 6 different beers.  So without further ado, the menu for this year’s dinner.  (I apologize to those unable to attend because you live out of state.  Perhaps you should move closer or plan on attending next year’s.  It is always the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.)

Pre-Dinner in the Brewery (Dry Hopped New Day English Bitter):  I thought it was a good idea to start off in the brewery with a pint and some good banter.  It is so very rare that a person is able to drink with the brewers in their natural habitat.  I picked the New Day because it is an excellent session brew that can be used to pass the time while talking to your friends and fellow beer geeks.  This beer has a wonderful citrusy aroma which helps disguise the pleasant malty-bitter complemented backbone.  Most people shy away from beers with Bitter in the name.  Too bad for them as they are one of the most delicious session brews around.

First Course (Seasonal Fruit, Cheese and Sausage plate paired with 15 month old Oak Aged Weizenbock):  Last year’s guest of honour could not stay off this year’s menu.  The oak aging has mellowed out this beer to give it great tastes of vanilla, clove and banana.  We decided that it would go great with some flavourful cheeses and fruit.  But then how could we serve a German beer like this without some sausage as well?

Second Course (Carrot and apple slaw with currants and hazelnuts paired with Hidden Treasure Altbier):  We stay with the German beer theme with the Altbier, an amber ale lagered for 2 months.  It has a dry yet fruity finish and a very clean aroma (this one a bit more hoppy than most alts.)  Last year we had an alt with the salad and it was a hit so we decided to bring it back, but this year with a unique type of salad.  I think the alt will highlight the flavours of the currants and hazelnuts.

Third Course (Duck Consume with Organic Saison du Pass):  I must go on the record right now and say I love duck and saisons!  The Saison was brewed this summer for the Organic Brewers Festival in July.  It has a wonderfully spicy flavour from the elevated fermentation temperatures.  Be sure I let the yeast do its magic on this beer.  It is light golden in colour and has wonderful fruity and yeasty aromas.  The game flavour of the duck will be well served by the spicy characteristics of an underappreciated beer like the Saison.

Main Course (Pork Loin stuffed with sausage and dried fruit with peppercorn sauce and baby potatos paired with Pole Ax American Strong Ale):  It came as a complete shock to me that all of us tasting picked the Pole Ax as the main course brew.  Not because it does not deserve to be, but because of all the delicacies in flavour and aroma going on within it.  It has a subtle roast, almost smokey flavour with a hoppy aroma that grabs your nose and won’t let go!  Our chef, at first sample, had Pork Loin pop right into her head.  It was too obvious for us, so we went for it.

Dessert (”Scotch Ale” cake with ale creme anglaise paired with one year old Oak Aged Stonecutters Wee Heavy):  Sometimes by the dessert most people have had their tastebuds knocked out by its heavyweight opponent.  Hopefully this year will not follow that pattern.  Last November we brewed up a Wee Heavy for a company festival and called it the Stonecutters.  I secretly hid a pony keg of it away and aged it with oak.  The flavours of this brew are out of this world: smoke, vanilla, scotch, caramel, apple.  Our chef decided she was going to use it as the substitute for the Stout cake, thus making it a Scotch Ale cake.  It is after this course that Burgess Meredith will throw in the towel saving Rocky before he gets pummeled.

My stomach is rumbling just thinking about all this food.  I hope our patrons will enjoy it as much as we did putting it together.  If you are in the neighbourhood and want to join in the festivities on November 28th, you can head to this website for details.  O!  I need some of that Consume right now!

Prost!

a very hungry confucian brewer

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