Archive for April, 2008
Forget the Napa of beer…how about the Calistoga of beer?
Napa is famous for its wine, and the Czech Republic for its beer.
Calistoga, just north of Napa Valley, is famous for its mineral baths. And apparently, Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne, in west Bohemia, are famous for their beer baths. At the local Chodovar Family Brewery, you can bathe in tubs of their Chodovar 10.
While this sounds to me like nothing more than a recipe for sticky hair (hey, maybe you’re thinking about growing dreads and your hair needs a little encouragement…) and smelling like eau d’frat house, the ‘balneologist’ and ‘local curative specialist’ swear it is healthy and relaxing.
“It increases circulation, decreases blood pressure and purifies the skin because of the proteins, the high vitamin B content and also because of the minerals in the water.” Soaking in beer, he adds, is also very relaxing for the mind and good for wellbeing.
I’m still skeptical about whether these are benefits derived from bathing in beer as opposed to drinking it, but it seems to me like they’ve finally solved the problem of what to do should you find yourself with extra macrobrew on your hands. Instead of letting it sit around in your fridge undrunk, throw yourself a spa day! If only I had known about this sooner, I wouldn’t have those two cans on Bud Light languishing in the bottom of our crisper. And yes, our crisper is full of beer (It’s where non-special every day beers for sharing live, while the big or special bottles get the door).
Thanks to Paul for the tip-off to this article!
Add comment April 25, 2008
Weed beer not so legal after all…
I’m not generally ‘a fan’ of Fox News (possibly the biggest understatement of the year), but I saw this article and thought it was pretty funny.
I thought it was going to be about Humboldt Brewing Company’s Hemp Ale, but nope! It’s about Mount Shasta Brewing Company, based in Weed, CA, and their decision to print “Try Legal Weed” on their caps.
Apparently this is illegal for not for the drug reference per se, but for consumer protection reasons: we might all be misled about the “characteristics” of the beer. Really??? Doesn’t the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau have better things to do?
At least it sounds like the writers of the article had some fun with it. My first favorite quote:
Once, Dillmann said, his wife, a former teacher, was delayed on a field trip to San Francisco as tourists clamored to pose next to the school bus, which said “Weed High.”
My second favorite quote:
And he can’t understand how his label has run afoul of federal alcohol regulators who must surely be aware of one of the most famous advertising slogans in American marketing: “This Bud’s for you.”
Score one point for Dillman! But did the Feds not notice his other beer is called the Shastafarian Porter? Let’s just hope he doesn’t have a brewpub called ‘The Joint’, then they’ll really be after him.
1 comment April 24, 2008
New pairing duo: beer + books
Little does Amazon know that I totally scooped them on the beer + books idea and that once The Monkeyhouse is open (give it a few years…) this will be completely de rigueur.
In the meantime, I’m psyched about this article from Amazon on pairing books with the appropriate beer. The intent of the article was to suggest beers to drink with contemporary books. I took a bit of a backwards approach to the article, using it as a tool to find books I might like, to go with beers I already know I like.
Warning: there is not actually any science whatsoever in most of the pairings since their methodology was to ask the authors what beer would go well with his/her book and several of them so clearly aren’t beer fans. Evidence? First three suggestions: Bud, Bud, & Busch. Boo. Though Part II of the article is coming out tomorrow, so maybe they’ll redeem themselves.
It starts to pick up a little steam with Sierra Nevada & Boddingtons, until… Jackpot! Ommegang Three Philosophers. This is an awesome beer that I had for the first time a couple months ago when I received it as a birthday gift (I knew there was a reason you’re my favorite co-worker, Jay!). I guess this means I’ll have to check out Lauren Groff’s The Monsters of Templeton.
The best writing about beer and books is unfortunately about books I’ll probably never read:
Soft Skull Press’s Richard Nash also suggests a cherry lambic for another “monster” book, Martin Millar’s Lonely Werewolf Girl: “There’s an earthiness to the role of the werewolf, a carnality, that’s the lambic for me, and then the cherry is the fruity feminine, but not so purely feminine as a raspberry lambic…[Besides,] it looks gorgeous, and I think our book does too, if I do say so myself.”
Peaches and badgers, not cherries and monsters, enter the beer discussion for Tim Lebbon’s gritty heroic fantasy novel Fallen. Lebbon rates highly Badger’s Golden Glory, a Hall & Woodhouse ale: “It’s a bitter but subtly flavoured beer with a hint–some would say a forbidden breath–of peach. It’s long been said that a gift of peach blossom bring good fortune and happiness to the recipient, and such a gift would be well-received by the two yoyagers in Fallen….Golden Glory would light their [forbidden journeys] with its eager freshness, but it’s definitely an ale with a hint of danger … and it’s not afraid of a fight.”
This got me thinking, if we all flip the tables on Amazon, can we come up with the opposite list, a list of books that would pair well with each of our favorite beers?
Here are two of my recent faves, both beer-wise and book-wise, paired:
Dogfish Head 90 Minute: Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. I loved this book for its sense of humor and irreverence, and I think that’s something that comes through in the Dogfish Head brand, and that the owner, Sam Calagione, completely lived up to at the last two beer events I went to. At the same time though, the book got down to serious business: layoffs, cancer, an abducted daughter. And I think we all know that if Dogfish Head were all laughs and no substance they wouldn’t be the powerhouse craft brewery they are today. So, with this pairing you get deep thoughts and a rich beer in oddball packages.
Brouwerij Van Steenberge’s Gulden Draak: Like You’d Understand Anyway by Jim Shepard. This is a book of short stories with incredibly well developed characters, so I thought it would be a good pairing with the Gulden Draak. This is a deep, rich, beer with new flavors that emerge across the course of a single sip, and across each new sip that you take. And of course since it is 10.5% ABV, you can’t have too much without getting bowled over, so a little but powerful story seems appropriate to go with a little but powerful bit of beer.
I’d love to see posts with other people’s suggestions, so post your own if you have one!
2 comments April 23, 2008
Drink beer for charity
I’ve been a fan of Kona Brewing’s Pipeline Porter for a while, and it was just about this time last year (at the last SF For Mason Beer Festival) when I last was able to get my hands on some of their tasty Wailua Wheat seasonal.
If you also like Kona Brewing Company’s beers, or want to find a way to justify drinking beer as a productive enterprise, you should consider attending an upcoming tasting at the Redwood City Whole Foods.
They’ll be having tastings of Kona beers in the grocery store from 5:00 - 7:00pm on May 2nd and June 6th. The beers on hand will include:
- Longboard Lager
- Fire Rock Pale Ale
- Wailua Wheat.
All of the money raised will be donated to the Tim Griffith Memorial Foundation. Their mission is to “partner with public and private agencies to deliver support services and education without bias, to those affected by violence, addiction and personal hardship.”
I don’t know yet what the cost of the tasting will be, but you can email Will Elliott, the beer buyer for the Whole Foods Redwood City Location for more details.
Add comment April 23, 2008
