Announcing Session #77 - IPA: What's the Big Deal?

The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts The Session, chooses a topic, and creates a round-up that lists all of the participants. I have the pleasure of hosting the next round of The Session, which will take place on July 5. You have the pleasure of participating and/or reading (and also potentially hosting a future edition of The Session!). The choice is yours.

For quite some time now, I've been wondering what makes the India Pale Ale (IPA) style of beer so popular. Don't get me wrong--I thoroughly enjoy it and gladly participate in #IPADay. I'm just wondering, why all the hype? What is it about an IPA that makes craft beer enthusiasts (CBE) go wild? Is it because CBEs want to differentiate craft beer from crap beer? I don't care if a watered-down pilsener is labeled as "triple-hops brewed"; it wouldn't satisfy someone looking for an IPA.

At the same time, not all CBEs prescribe to the IPA way. The author (a beer writer!) of a recent article proclaims that "hoppy beer is awful" and that it is allegedly "alienating people who don't like bitter brews". I happen to like IPAs and DIPAs, so I'm not going to preach about only non-hopped craft beer, as the author suggests, just to turn people away from overcommercialized yellow-colored water. Besides, maybe the bitterness and hoppiness of an IPA is exactly what some beer drinkers that have yet to be introduced to the ways of craft might want.

So what's the deal? Let me know what you think by sending me a link to your blog post on July 5. Or if you're not a blogger, I'd still love to hear what you think. Leave a comment below, or connect with Justin's Brew Review on your favorite social media platform:

Prost!

Six-Pack Project: Pennsylvania Beer

With Memorial Day in the rearview mirror, we've entered the (unofficial) start of summer. Barbecues, beaches and vacations lie ahead.

But what's a trip away from home without throwing beer into the mix?

Enter the Six-Pack Project. It's a new, collaborative effort between beer bloggers from around the country to highlight a six-pack of our state's native brews that we believe bests represents what the beer culture of our respective states offer. If someone is coming to visit, what bottles or cans would we want to share?

Here are our rules:

1. Pick a six-pack of beers that best represents your state and/or state's beer culture.
2. Beer must be made in your state, but "gypsy" brewers are acceptable, so long as that beer is brewed with an in-state brewery and sold in your state.
3. Any size bottle or can is acceptable to include.
4. Current seasonal offerings are fine, but try to keep selections to year-round brews as much as possible. No out-of-season brews preferred.

Welcome to the inaugural round of the Six-Pack Project.

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It was particularly difficult for me to choose the top six Pennsylvania beers, and I'm sure that if I went through this exercise a year from now, my list would be different. Pennsylvania has a plethora of breweries from which to choose, and then of course, each brewery offers multiple beer styles. So in order to begin whittling things down, I took a look through Lew Bryson's book Pennsylvania Breweries and picked out the breweries that I think are pretty good. Then, under each brewery, I listed each beer they make that really rocks. This list was much more manageable, but even so, I had way more than six. Next, I thought I'd try choosing six "main" styles from the list, something like:

• Pilsener
• Lager
• Pale Ale / IPA
• Porter / Stout
• Red / Amber Ale
• Other / Miscellaneous

Fortunately, my list parsed rather nicely into these categories. And so we arrive at the top six Pennsylvania beers, in order by style as presented above:

1. Sly Fox Brewing Company's "Pikeland Pils" (German pilsener)

This refreshing beer is brewed at both of Sly Fox's locations: Phoenixville and Pottstown. There are not too many craft brewers that put their product in a can, but this is one that does. At 4.9% ABV, you can put a few of these away before you'll notice much of anything, which is perfect for a hot summer day. It pours copper gold and is bubbly with an off-white, frothy head. The malty, bready smell is backed up with a sweetly-bitter, bready flavor with a kick. This tangy pilsener quenches the thirst and leaves a pleasant, lasting impression on the palate.

2. Yuengling Brewery's "Traditional Lager" (American amber / red lager)

Yuengling was established in 1829 and is America's oldest brewery. Even though they now also have a brewery in Tampa, Florida, Yuengling is based out of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Their "Traditional Lager" is such a standard in these parts that you don't have to ask for it by name; you simply order "lager". Though this 4.4% ABV reddish-colored lager has limited distribution, it is widely coveted...and rightly so. I consider it my "go-to" beer, and it certainly goes well with  any meal, all-American or otherwise. (You can read more at this previous post from National Lager Day 2012.)

3. East End Brewing's "Big Hop IPA" (India Pale Ale)

These days, in the world of craft beer, it seems like everyone continually clamors for the best India Pale Ale (IPA). IPAs are getting to be so commonplace, it's almost as if they're a dime a dozen...but not East End Brewing's version. Coming out of Pittsburgh, this IPA packs a punch in the pint. At an even-keeled 5.8% ABV, this IPA is a perfect complement to any social activity, whether it's dinner out or just shooting the breeze with some friends. If you're a hop-head, this is the IPA for you.

4. Spring House Brewing Company's "Big Gruesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout" (American Double / Imperial Stout)

Spring House's brewery is based out of Conestoga, which is near Lancaster, where they also have a taproom. Weighing in at 8.5% ABV, this stout tastes just like you'd expect: it's like liquid candy! While some may prefer to drink this beer for dessert, I have had it with dinner and  loved it. This is a must-have for PB, chocolate, and beer lovers.

5. Tröegs Brewing Company's "Hopback Amber Ale" (American amber / red ale)

Tröegs is one of my favorite breweries, largely because they make so many great beers. But it helps that they are in Hershey, which is only a 45-minute car ride away from my house. Of all their beers, Hopback is truly exceptional and is the best of their year-round offerings. At a straight 6% ABV, this amber ale fills your mouth with a crisp piney and citrusy flavor with hints of bready caramel. This one's a sure-to-please beer.

6. Weyerbacher Brewing Company's "Blithering Idiot" (English Barleywine)

Brewed in Reading, this beer clocks at 11.1% ABV which catches up to you quickly while the Weyerbacher jester just points and laughs. This barleywine has a golden-red hue and exhibits a frothy head. While it smells like cherries, they aren't evident in the flavor. Bright and bold, you feel it all the way down. This is a robust brew with a fully body. Warning: this is not a sessionable beer!

I've identified these six beers as being the best in Pennsylvania, but of course, not all beer that is brewed is bottled or canned. There are some great breweries in the York area right now (e.g. Mudhook Brewing Company and Liquid Hero) and others in the planning stages (e.g. Baldy Beard Brewing Company) that I had to exclude based on the rule about bottles or cans.

Well, that about wraps it up. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts: did I pick the best Pennsylvania brews? Or was I way off? What are your top six PA brews? Let me know in the comments or through Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or even through a check-in on Untappd. Prost!

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Here are the links to the other five blogs which are participating in this inaugural round of the Six-Pack Project:

• Bryan of This is Why I'm Drunk (host) - North Carolina
• Scott of Beerbecue - DC / Virginia
• Eric of Sheppy's Blog - Colorado
• Ryan of Mould's Beer Blog - New Jersey
• Nick of Drink. Blog. Repeat. - South Carolina

Rant: "Triple-Hops Brewed" Miller Lite

For this post, I'm taking a page out of a fellow beer blogger's proverbial book. Each week, Bill, author of www.pittsburghbeersnob.com, posts the "Monday Rant" and discusses his various and sundry pet peeves in the world of beer.

I don't like the advertisement that says "Miller Lite: The beer that's triple hops brewed." Why? Well, there are two main reasons:

First, I have a problem with the word "the" in that statement. It implies that there are no other beers out there that can compete. Um, ever heard of an IPA? I guarantee you'll get more hops out of the weakest IPA on the market than you will from a Miller Lite.

Second, what does it even mean? The Hoosier Beer Geek wondered the same thing. Let's consider some possibilities:

a) It means that three types of hops are added.
b) It means that hops are added three times during the brewing process.
c) It means absolutely nothing.

I vote "c". (Isn't that always the right answer in a multiple-choice question anyway?) I think that the Miller marketing team was feeling particularly cheeky that day and decided to try and make their beer seem unique.

Besides, plenty of beers use more than one type of hops. And as for adding more hops during the brewing process, well that's an extremely common practice. There's "dry hopping" (adding unboiled, dried hops to the beer, often in a keg or cask) and "wet hopping" (adding fresh, undried hops to the beer, typically within 24 hours of harvesting). And then there's "continuous hopping", a process developed by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head (see their 90 Minute IPA webpage). Continuous hopping is pretty much what it sounds like: it involves adding hops to the beer all throughout the brewing process. Practically speaking, one might add hops every minute, as Dogfish Head does for their 60, 90, and 120 Minute IPAs (each one brewed and continuously hopped for the duration suggested by its name).

So basically, there's nothing unique about Miller Lite's brewing process. The only reason you won't see anyone competing with Miller Lite's claim to "triple hops brewed" is because of Miller's trademark on the phrase.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

The Session No. 74: Beer Balance

I often find myself thinking about all of the things that I enjoy and trying to decide which one to jump into next. My interests are wide and varied, which is a good thing...until I remember that there are only 24 hours in a day. So I guess the question is "to beer or not to beer?"

The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry. This month's topic, Beer Balance, is brought to you by Bryan Roth, author of This is Why I'm Drunk. (I like how he is quick to point out that the name of his blog is in jest.) Bryan wants to know how his fellow beer bloggers strike a balance between beer and life.

It's tough! As with anything else in which I'm interested, I want to spend time learning more about beer (which is the premise of my blog!). Beer has such a rich history, and I don't even know the half of it. To learn more, I love to visit Amazon; they have plenty of titles from which to select. My wife has purchased several of them for me over the years. Most recently, she surprised me with The Oxford Companion to Beer, which is quite a hefty volume. But it takes me so much time to get through a book (I'm a slow reader - I pore over every word), so instead, I often resort to learning from other beer bloggers. Blog posts are typically short enough that I can digest several posts in a sitting without too much effort. So I filled up my RSS reader with a whole bunch of beer blogs. Then I realized that I had so many blogs in my RSS reader that if I skipped a day, I had over 125 new posts to read. That's not to mention the self-imposed pressure to write my own posts! All of this is just academic -- what about actually trying new beers? visiting breweries? and enjoying beer?

It hit me recently that it was beginning to feel like beer was ruling my life. I've never subscribed to the "(fill-in-blank-here) is life" mentality; I just cannot be that single-minded. I realized that I had to do something. So I started focusing less on beer and more on life. For one, I removed many blogs from my RSS reader, which suddenly and drastically reduced my "to do" list. I also stopped putting as much pressure on myself to write new blog posts. I started trying new beers again. Basically, I started taking back the fun part of beer. Most importantly, I started focusing on life again.

What are my loves in life? I think that the "Introduction" section of my Google+ profile sums it up best:

I wholeheartedly believe in lifelong learning, continuous improvement, and the one true God. I love and cherish my wife, and I enjoy the life that we have created together. I take pleasure in using my humorous wit to make people laugh. I am an introvert with social tendencies. I am a student of the ever-changing English language and a tinkerer in German. I respect authority and law, but I bend the rules when they don't make sense. I am intolerant of incompetence, ineptitude, and inanity. I revere a highly-educated person that still understands and utilizes common sense. I like things "just so". I battle my pride daily, because I know what I don't know but I like people to think I do know. I'm not into government or politics, but I try to stay abreast of current events. I am partial to pizza, lasagna, and burgers. I don't follow or play any sports, but I always enjoy a good game. I am a hobby musician who is currently in the off-season. And as the title of this section implies, this is only an introduction to the complexity that is me.

Bad Beer: Wild Blue Blueberry Lager

You may recall that I previously debated whether or not to blog about bad beer. Debate is over. I'm ready to do it. All questions vacated my mind after I tasted this baddie.

Warning: Contains bad beer.

I had a "Wild Blue" blueberry lager a couple weeks ago, and it was definitively the worst beer I've ever had. Hands down. No joke. I despised it. It tasted like bubbly cough syrup. The only good thing about it was the 8% ABV, but even that didn't matter because I dumped it after I finished about 1/4 of the pint. I was tempted to dump it after only a few sips, but I wanted to give it a fair shake. I thought maybe it just didn't leave a good first impression but would be better after you got to know it. Nope. The first blueberry beer I've ever tried is a bust.

This drain-fodder was brought to us by the ubiquitous (and some would say, evil) Anheuser-Busch (ABInBev). While I don't partake of macro-brewery offerings very often, I do not discriminate and choose beer on that basis. I am always willing to try any beer and judge it based on the at-least-somewhat-objective characteristics of appearance, smell, taste, and mouthfeel. As a matter of fact, I had fairly decent remarks for ABInBev's Shock Top in my May 10, 2011 review.

Via Google+, someone observed that the label appears to show a dog...um, excreting the blueberry and that explains the taste. I think the graphic is supposed to be a depiction of a dog kicking a blueberry, but I prefer the former explanation because it does make sense.

• BeerAdvocate.com users didn't like it. They rated it 52/100, and the Brothers gave it a dismal 42/100.
• RateBeer.com users didn't like it even more. An overall rating of 9/100 is...pretty shabby.
• Untappd.com users rated it 3.5/5.0 bottle caps [1]. I gave it 0.5 because Untappd wouldn't let me give it a 0.

I'm hoping that this is an isolated incidence of bad beer and that it's not because it was blueberry. In fact, I have a follow-up to try in the near future: Blue Point Blueberry Ale. It's in the fridge now, so we'll see!

On one hand, I hope that I am never able to create a series of posts around the topic of bad beer. There are too many great-tasting beers in this world to waste time one the bad beers. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind as much because I would be able to warn you all not to waste your time! We'll see how the cookie crumbles. Prost!


Footnotes:
[1] I think this shows a demographic difference between Untappd users and BA / RB users. Perhaps BA / RB users, on the whole, are more into craft beer than Untappd users.

New Brewery Planned in York, PA

There's a new brewery and tasting room planned to open in York, PA this summer. In July 2013, East York can expect to become the home of Baldy Beard Brewing Company.

These guys are well on their way to starting up the new nanobrewery, but as I'm sure you an imagine, there are probably a million things to consider. With a brewery, of course, you've got to get federal and state licensing. And if that's anything like waiting in the DMV [1] just to update your driver's license photo, well, I'm sure they've got a lot of waiting to do. Even so, their brewing system has already been completed and is ready to be shipped, so please hurry up, PA officials!

I haven't had any of their beer yet, of course, but I can assure you that if it is as good as their creativity, it is going to be rockin'. If you want to see what I'm talking about, check out some of their updates over at their Kickstarter campaign. Speaking of their beer, check out this nice graphic they've put together:

Baldy Beard has also put together an interesting-sounding series called "The Peculiars". These are unique, special-release beers that we can expect to be surprised with on occasion. Some examples include:

• RumpelSTOUTskin - a mixed berry Belgian imperial stout
• Hoppenheimer - a Belgian dubbel IPA
• Missiletoe - holiday Belgian strong ale coming in around 15% ABV(!) and with notes of cherry and vanilla (yum!); limited release in November

I love the creative names they've come up with. I also love their slogan, "Unconventionally brewed, unconditionally loved", as well as their Twitter hashtag, #DrinkWithFriends. All around, I'm pretty excited for this new brewery and tasting room!

Though they haven't received all of the final approvals, Baldy Beard has a good location picked out, and they're working on raising the funds for renovating the place. That's the purpose of their Kickstarter campaign [2]. You can donate as little as $1, but if you pledge at least $10, there are some pretty sweet rewards for you as a backer. The more you pledge, the more cool things you get! Backers need to pledge at least $17,000 in this campaign, or Baldy Beard gets nothing [3]. At the time of this post and after adding my own pledge, 113 backers have pledged $11,350 toward Baldy Beard's goal of $17,000. With only 6 days left, Baldy Beard needs your help! I suggest that if you live in the Greater York, PA area and/or love craft beer, you should definitely consider pledging some money to Baldy Beard's cause. Please also consider "friending" them on Facebook, following them on Twitter, and helping them to promote their cause. We can always use more craft beer in York! Prost!

3/5/2013 Update: Baldy Beard's website has launched! Check it out at www.baldybeard.com.


Footnotes:
[1] Actually, my wife and I just updated our driver's licenses this weekend and were pleasantly surprised at how quickly the process went. Yorkers, I highly suggest hitting up the Runkle's location on Roosevelt Avenue. Of course, if everyone starts going there...
[2] If you're not familiar with Kickstarter, it's a crowdfunding website that allows new businesses to solicit funding from the market in order to get started. Assuming word gets around quickly enough, what a good way to see how much the people want your business!
[3] The way Kickstarter works is that if you pledge money toward their campaign but they don't reach their stated threshold, you do not owe them the money that you pledged. Of course, I'd much rather see them reach that threshold so that we can have some more craft beer in York!

Mudhook Brewing Beats "York Curse"

A year and a half ago, I remember reading a blog post by Philly-based author and beer blogger Lew Bryson. He talked about "The York Curse", whereby establishing a successful brewery in York, Pennsylvania seemed to be impossible. Many had tried; none had made it. At the time of his post, another start-up had just come on the scene: Mudhook Brewing Company. Lew said that if Mudhook were to still be in business in January of 2013, they would have broken "The York Curse". Well, I just checked my calendar, and the time has come to congratulate Mudhook! Way to go, guys!

Mudhook's Storefront

The brewpub is located on the beautiful Cherry Lane, and rather uniquely, it also connects to Central Market York, which is where the brewing actually occurs. The inside space is intimate (there might be 20 tables) and has a warm, inviting atmosphere. It is perfect for a casual dinner with a group of friends. Their pub fare is making me hungry just thinking about it.

The Inside Space (photo from MudhookBrewing.com)

So what's a "mudhook" anyway? Well, they explain that on their site. It's an anchor, which is exactly what Mudhook wanted their brewpub to be for Central Market York: the anchor, the premier place to go in York. In somewhat of a twist, they chose to use a fishhook for their logo, rather than an anchor.

And of course, I've got to talk about their beer! Each of the beers they offer is named in keeping with a fishing theme, which ties in with the fishhook in their logo. Their anchor brews (ha!) include The Panfish Pale Ale, The Hook Hopper IPA, The Redeye Irish Red, and The Deep Sea Stout. They also throw in some seasonal brews, and I have to say, I absolutely love their Oktoberfest (pictured below). They also offer a nice selection of local wines, which is good for my wife who does not like beer.

Mudhook's Oktoberfest is Extremely Tasty

Mudhook has certainly contributed to York's recent cultural upswing. If you live in the Greater York, PA area or happen to be visiting, I recommend that you plan on checking out this atmospheric brewpub. In fact, schedule permitting, I'd be happy to grab a burger and brew with you. Hit me up at JustinsBrewReview@gmail.com, or let me know via Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

Mudhook, we raise our glasses to you for breaking "The York Curse". Here's to many more years of success. Prost!