Ruddy Duck owner Carlos Yanez stands behind the taps with Aubrey Brenner, working the crowd at the Ruddy Duck's first BAM Springfest in Frederick MD.

Springtime.

A young man’s fancy turns to…beer?

Well, at least here in the Mid-Atlantic, that’s true for the stretch of spring that signals the final approach of summer. The last weekend of May I attended the Brewer’s Association of Maryland (BAM) Springfest. This weekend signals the kickoff of Philly Beer Week and SAVOR in Washington, DC, then next weekend will see the World Beer Festival hosted by Richmond, VA,a week after that city hosts one of the Beer Bourbon and BBQ Festivals, and then there’s Microfest hosted by Stoudt’s in Adamstown, PA a week later. All of this leads into Harrisburg Brewer’s Festival in Pennsylvania at the tail end of June.

And that’s not even a comprehensive list. There are others occurring in June in each of those states – all celebrating beer. On average, there are two events, and in most cases, more than that being held each week through the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia – the last having been a longtime bastion of the brewing big boys like Budweiser.

Each year it seems like there are more and more festivals out there – more opportunities to enjoy and sample beers that we otherwise might not have access to, or beers that we see in that refrigerator case at our local retailer that we think “next time I have to try that,” but that we never do because we pick up that one with the familiar label.

In my case, covering Maryland for the Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, the BAM Springfest is an opportunity to sample the beers and meet the brewers from parts of the state I can’t regularly make it to. Overall,  I’ve always believed that festivals like the BAM Springfest, and the World Beer Festival in Richmond are win-win propositions – not only is it a chance for hop-heads to sample new beers, but it’s an opportunity for small brewers to grow their customer base.

“Membership in the [brewer's] association is only $250.00 per year,” said Heavy Seas capo Hush Sisson at the BAM Springfest in Frederick, MD. “You do one of these events and you more than make that back.”

Newcomers to the Maryland association, and brewers returning were present at the recent Springfest, bringing the beers of Bawlmer’s, The Ruddy Duck, Ellicott Mills, and Johannson’s either back to the festival for the first time in years, or just for the first time. Carlos Yanez, owner of the Ruddy Duck, located in southern Maryland, chartered a bus and sold tickets to his customer base, bringing a bus-load of already established fans.

Some, like Sisson and Heavy Seas, will be getting on the road and heading down to Richmond for the WBF to spread the good word, so to speak. The festival, recently named one of the top ten in the nation, should prove to be a boon to the growing Baltimore brewery.

Recently I had a chance to do a brief Q&A with Julie Johnson, editor of All About Beer magazine, the organization that’s behind the WBF. With this weekend’s edition being held in Richmond for the first time ever, Ms. Johnson was kind enough to address what goes into some of what the general public never gets to see in regards to making a successful festival, and if people can expect All About Beer to continue expanding its geographical focus on future WBF locations.

I know that you have held several in the greater Raleigh/Durham area. Were there any strategic issues that presented themselves in organizing a festival several hours away from homebase?

We’ve already hosted World Beer Festivals in Columbia, SC for two years, so we’ve had a chance to work out the logistics. Obviously, members of the festival  team spend a lot more time in  travel in advance of the festival. And in both Columbia and Richmond, we’ve worked with PR groups who are familiar with local hotels, restaurants, and media–contacts we’d handle ourselves in North Carolina.
The distance isn’t really the challenge. Given the patchwork nature of alcohol legislation in this country, our biggest challenge as we’ve hosted events in South Carolina and  now Virginia has been to familiarize ourselves with new sets of regulations.

It’s really proximity–combined with the fact that this part of the country is rich with opportunities to introduce people to craft beer. The good beer culture is younger here than in other parts of the country, and it’s more exciting to work with these newer converts.

The World Beer Festival is designed to strengthen the local beer culture, so we work hard to identify other local resources: the food booths and bands all come from the Richmond area. There are also merchandise booths, and I organize tutored tastings every hour on the hour.

I don’t know. Maybe we should be asking you! When we look at cities where we want to launch a new World Beer Festival, we look for several things: a medium-sized city with a healthy groundswell of beer interest, as evidenced by good retail and wholesale support for good beer, and a strong homebrewing community, as well as the demographic features that seem to predispose a town to beer appreciation. The first things I’d look for would be a university and a farmer’s market!

Nor are we in an age where, “I gave at the office,” is even a relevant term. These days we have people sponsoring walks, running in races, and bicycling across our states, raising money by the mile in order to fund the charity of their choice, to fight diseases that all too often have touched each of our lives.

Some of the charities or events which have started out locally have since gone national, and others remain local. The charities themselves have gotten creative, offering new twists on old ideas – charitable dinners have new presentations in order to draw larger crowds, and pub crawls have found their way into the world of giving.

Charities like Pints for Prostates and Brews for Boobies, raising money for prostate and breast cancer research respectively, utilize beer and bar culture to raise money and awareness for their causes. One might say that these two groups have found a new approach for a new generation.

The MetroDC division of the Cystic Fibrosis foundation is currently in the throes of organizing the 6th Annual Brewer’s Ball.

The event has grown rapidly, and the organization expects to host more than 800 guests, with the opportunity to sample a variety of craft beers from around the Washington DC Metropolitan Area.

In spite of the fact that the cost of the ticket is all inclusive, from the meal and beer, to the live entertainment, the 2009 edition of the Ball was able to contribute 95 cents of every dollar raised towards investment in CF research, care and education.

Laura Starr, the organization’s special events specialist explained how the Foundation was able to dedicate such an impressive percentage of proceeds back into the charity. “In it’s first year [the ball] brought in approximately $50,000,” she said, “and doubled in the second year and has slowly been gaining more notoriety in the DC-metro area with more and more brewer’s and food vendors participating. We are able to secure these as in-kind donations which results in the lower than nine percent cost ratio. We have little overhead and try to keep all expenses to a minimum with thanks to all our in-kind donors, participants and volunteers.”

With 16 largely DC-area microbreweries represented, the Ball has a decidedly local flavor. That flavor was achieved by working with local wholesalers, explained Starr. At the same time, she pointed out that the Ball itself wasn’t a home grown idea, per se.  “The Brewer’s Ball is in its sixth year,” she explained. ” It began in 2005 by a volunteer who worked on a Brewer’s Ball event in Atlanta, GA.”

“The beer and wine is provided through local distributors,” she added.

According to information from the CFF, in addition to the 16 microbreweries there 12 food stations.  Tickets to the event cost $115 each and your names are registered at the door.  All drinks and food are included in the cost of a ticket. The food stations include: Pasta; chicken; burger and fries; cheese from Cabot Creamery; some dessert stations plus more.  There will be a wine station too and a silent and live auction; entertainment; band and a dance-floor.

Starr provided a list of breweries which will be represented at the charitable event;

Capitol City Brewing Company

Clipper City

Fordham Brewing Co.

Old Dominion Brewing Co.

Dogfish Head Alehouse

Flying Dog Brewery

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant

Hook & Ladder Brewing Company

Hops Grill and Brewery

ICS Group

Starr Hill Brewing Company

Williamsburg AleWerks

Tuppers Hop Pocket Beers

Vintage 50

Rust Belt Brewing Company

Holy Brew

Local 1
The Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn, NY
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
Grade: 9.0

I have mixed feelings about this beer.

It was a very good beer, maybe a little light for my taste, but it drank more like a hefeweizen to me than a Belgian. There were hints of banana in the finish, and I got none of the citrus that others have noted. There was nice mouth on this beer and very subtle hints of malt pairing nicely with the banana.

A little cloudy, very smooth. Would be great on a hot day.

Old Scratch
Flying Dog Brewing Company
Frederick, MD
Style: Amber/Lager
Grade: 9.0

I’ve had this beer before, but typically in the bottle. I recently caught this on tap at a tweet-up event in Maryland.

I’m not a huge Lager guy (as in the sub-style, not the general term that includes Dunkels, Marzens, Bocks, etc.), but this is a beer totally worth going out of your way for – particularly if you are a lager fan. And particularly if you can get it on tap. It’s just a damn good beer.

It has a nice, rich, amber color, and pours with a nice head. At the same time it has a very good aroma with hints of malt. It’s a complex beer without being overwhelming and drinks with the maltiness one would expect given the beer’s aroma.

Oatmeal Milk Stout Redux (batch 005)
River Horse Brewing Company
Lambertville, NJ
Style: American Milk Stout
Grade: 8.7

I have yet to have a beer from this company that I don’t like. That said, I need to qualify a few things in regards to this beer (but not in regards to the quality of this beer – but in regards to style)…

I grew up on Irish dry stouts. As such, for a very long time it was hard for me to take American stouts seriously -  particularly since it was just presented as “stout.” Those beers were always too close to porter for me. One day it began to occur to me that the beers were like Nut Browns – a beer that had separate stylistic characteristics here than it has across the pond. American Stouts tend to drink a little thinner than their Irish counterparts, and aren’t as dry.

This stout is a nice stout, and a well-crafted beer. The color is spot-on. The mouth feel is a little thin for me, as was the pour, and the beer failed to retain a creamy head – but that was the worst of it. The flavor was wonderfully complex with touches of coffee and chocolate, and, based on the flavor, I would guess that it was bourbon barrel aged. The aroma was filled with the chocolate malt and coffee. This is a very smooth beer, and I think will appeal to anyone who is a fan of milk stouts.

Admittedly, I try to do my best in avoiding those grenades myself, but at times it’s unavoidable. Not this time, though. This time I had three winners – two from the West Coast and one from the East. And on to the wonderful world of beer…

(Sonoma Farmhouse) Hop Stoopid Ale
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Petaluma, CA
Style: Double/Imperial IPA
Grade: 9.0

This was a very nice (I)IPA with good hoppiness and a bitter finish with a hint of malt in the aftertaste.  It’s a very drinkable, very enjoyable beer – now on to the particulars…

I felt the color was a hint paler than you get with most pale ales. It pours well and the and with a nice  head which thins quickly – not inconsistent with the style, and has a complex aroma full of hops and  citrus. The bitterness from the hops isn’t overwhelming like in some Imperials, but it does linger  pleasantly in the mouth. Not terribly rich or creamy in the mouth, but definitely has an effervescence to  it.

I would certainly get this beer again. A very nice offering from Lagunitas.

Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock (Limited Release #1)
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Portland, OR
Style: Doppelbock
Grade: 9.5

This is as good a beer as I have ever had – just a really complex, well made beer. Enormously drinkable. The only problem with it was that when I was done, I wished I had more. Lots more.

It’s a beautiful, lightly hazy brownish-red and pours well with an almost non-existent head. The beer has a wonderful, malty aroma with just hints of cherry in the back of the nose – there’s almost a hint of being in a bakery to the aroma. The flavors are very much the same: a subtle blend of the nice and malty, the cherries, and just a hint of oak.

Based on this beer alone, I would give the benefit of the doubt to anything Widmer wants to try brewing – even if it were beer made with squid ink, or even haggis. This beer is that good. Keep an eye out for it because this beer won’t be around long.

Tripel Horse
River Horse Brewing Company
Lambertville, NJ
Style: Belgian Tripel
Grade: 8.7

I stumbled across River Horse years ago, when I first moved to Pennsylvania back in 2000. A really  solid, small brewery right on the Delaware River, I’ve found The Horse to consistently produce good  beer.

This was not a beer they were offering when I still lived in The Keystone State.

Like the Hop Stoopid, this may be a shade pale for the style, but the flavors are wonderful. For a beer  that’s at 10 percent ABV, this is surprisingly light, yet complex; a little bit sweet with hints of vanilla and  orange peel – both subtly evident in the beer’s aroma as well. It pours well with both good head and good  mouth – almost feeling creamy on the tongue.

While I don’t believe this is a perfect representation of a Belgian Tripel, it’s a damn food beer and very drinkable. It’s one of those beers that I would term “dangerous” in that it doesn’t drink like a high grav beer, and with the hint of sweetness mixed with the other flavors, it would be very easy to drink a lot of it.

With more and more craft brews crowding the shelves, what is it going to take in the future for one to keep its place at the local liquor store? Is there a magic number for maximum density for the industry, or can the industry just continue to grow without major issue? Photo by Kelly L. Fowler

I recently posed the following question: At over 1550 brewers currently operating in a professional capacity in a continually growing industry, at what point do we reach industry saturation? Jumping into the conversation were Matt Simpson, owner of the Beer Sommelier in Atlanta, GA; Nate Dizo, better known as Brewmaster Nate of the Brewmaster Store in Durham, NC; Adam from Massachusetts, known around the Web as Beersage, and the founder of beernews.org; and Michael Smith, a New York architect and craft beer fan who has explored opening a brewpub.

While no numbers were thrown around in an effort to define what saturation really meant in today’s world, some interesting historic perspective was provided, possibly giving us a view of what the future could hold for an ever growing industry.

The US is currently home to roughly 1550 breweries (brewpubs included). What’s maximum density? When are there too many for market?

Matt Simpson: A long time from now, with MANY more. We’re nowhere near capacity. Throughout Europe, they’re on just about every block.

Michael Smith: The Troy and Albany area were a hot bed of brewing before prohibition. There were some 50 commercial brewers in Troy in 1890 (compared to 17 in the entire USA in 1978). That’s about 1 for every 5000 people. The government ruined that – perhaps the single biggest argument for libertarianism.

Ever hear of William Newman Brewing? I believe it was the first microbrewery this side of the Rockies. I think it opened in Albany in 1979 – just after Jimmy Carter took mercy on our souls and passed (repealed?) the home brewer law. Jim Koch got his start at Newman’s. When I rode for the Downtube we would ride over and he would fill any gallon container with beer. Awesome place.

FYI, Brown’s is in Troy and they serve a fine Imperial Stout and a deadly whiskey porter. If you ever have the misfortune to spend a day in Troy. . .or seven years, god forbid . . . you should stop in.

Brewmaster Nate: Still recovering from prohibition. one per 5,000 sounds dead on

Michael Smith: I don’t think that there is an achievable maximum density. Pretty much any family friendly pub could be a brew-pub.

The up front cost of establishing a brewery and a restaurant is the killer. Very few can afford to swing the pub and the brewing costs. It’s hard enough to afford just opening a restaurant. And the brewing part has to make money on its own.

We looked into opening a brew pub in Tarrytown, NY. We even did a Statistical Market Survey. Based upon our information (admittedly not applicable to Maryland), I wouldn’t locate a brewpub in an area with less than 100,000 people in a 20-mile radius unless you had a large 30- to 50-something professional crowd.

We were looking at a 10-bbl system with the help of Mike Kondrat (who passed away in 1998)

Kevin Smith: Interesting – I would have thought that Tarrytown would have been ripe for something like that. The only issue I really see [in] the location [is that] I’m just not sure what facility there would be a good fit.

You probably could have worked fine with a 7bbl system, as long as you were going with more fermentation tanks. That’s the common complaint that I get from the brewers at brewpubs – that they’re limited by fermentation space.

Michael Smith: I didn’t say that Tarrytown wouldn’t have been a good fit. Mike Kondrat worked for The Colorado Brewing Co. in Danbury. They pulled their money out in 2004 and shortly later Mike died of an aneurysm. A brew pub without a brewer is not a brew pub. That killed the plans.

I agree with your comment regarding the 7-bbl system.

But my understanding of the process is too limited – I left it to the experts.

Adam Aka-Beersage: Matt’s right. Though retail shelf space is getting tight in some metros, I think there is plenty of room for

What is the strategy for small beers like Tupper's Hop Pocket, when fighting for marketshare against larger micros? Photo by Kelly L. Fowler

nanobreweries and perhaps even brewpubs to flourish everywhere. New packaging breweries would be a boon in some places. Though I’m not sure the European beer scene is quite like that in the U.S. It could take decades to get there.

Kevin Smith: @Adam – so if we might have an issue, or already are experiencing the issue of Micros fighting for limited shelf space, how important then is establishing your beer as the beer of choice in the local market? I would think that “local” brand identity becomes more and more important as we gain more access to more micros.

Adam Aka-Beersage: I think you’re right for the most part, Kevin. Local seems like a logical, cost-effective strategy for young breweries. As for veteran breweries, I don’t know how they would go about creating a local identity if they’ve skipped that part when they first started. I’ve noticed stores adding more shelves to accommodate more beer over the years though they are running out of room quickly so it will be interesting to see what happens. Though I’m in a hub so-to-speak so not all places have hit that point yet.

But I also like the hunt.

“The hunt?” You might ask. Yes, the hunt. Like most people, I have a favorite, or certain favorites, but with over 1500 men and women out there brewing any number of different styles of beer professionally, I think it’s safe to say that I have tried only a small percentage of the beer being made out there. A lot is good, some of it is great. Some of it, I suspect, was made by drinking some Schlitz and then pissing in a bottle. And no I don’t like when I find the latter, but when you find a great beer, it’s like finding a treasure.

Whenever I would visit a new city, I almost have always tried a beer local to that burg. Sometimes it has worked out, sometimes it hasn’t. But the practice has opened me up to any number of beers. The following three fall into the “good,” or “pretty damn good”  qualification, but none are great beers.

Hop-A-Lot-Amus
River Horse Brewing Company
Lambertville, NJ
Style: Unfiltered Double IPA
Grade: 8.2

It seems like everyone and his Aunt Mildred is producing Imperial this, Extra that, and Double those these days. It’s all about the X-Beers now – how extreme can we make it? How hoppy can we go before it’s undrinkable? Is it possible to creat a 17 percent ABV nut brown? Can a brewpub base jump?

At times it seems as if the breweries are pushing into the ridiculous. Some DIPAs/EIPAs/IIPAs are downright undrinkable. I’m a hop head and I’ve found some that are just too damn hoppy. This is not one of those.

River Horse’s version of the Imperial/Double/Extra is a solid, enjoyable beer. The color is spot on, and the beer pours well, retaining a nice head. There’s a strong, hoppy aroma on the initial opening of the bottle, but not overwhelmingly so. The flavors are a strong reflection of the aroma. It finishes just a little more astringently than I would like, but it’s a good beer that I would happily have again.

Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic
Boston Brewing Company
Boston, MA
Style: Lambic
Grade: 8.0

I don’t like this beer as much as I once did. It was, at one time, one of my favorites from Sam Adams, and remains a  solid, reliable beer, but it’s not a great beer. It’s good. It’s drinkable. But it has no wow factor.

The first time I had a Cranberry Lambic, it wasn’t made by Sam Adams – it was from a brew pub in Baltimore back in 1993. That was a great beer. Rather than sweet, they went with tart, and it complimented the other flavors in the beer quite nicely.

This beer pours well and has a nice flavor, but is maybe a little too sweet. Some tart to balance that out would have been nice, as the sweet feels like it overwhelms the other beer flavors a little too much. To the eye it’s a very attractive cloudy reddish-amber and the nose hints at the sweetness to come.

This beer can only be found in the Sam Adams Winter Collection.

Coney Island Freaktoberfest
Schmalz Brewing Company
Saratoga Springs, NY
Style: American Red?
Grade: 8.4

These guys do some rock solid beers. Nothing I’ve had by them would ever be over a 9.00, if it reached that, but none would be below 7.5 either (and no, I have not yet sampled their entire line, but I have had several of the Schmalz beers). This beer is not your traditional Festbier. It leans, characteristically, towards being a red rather than a Dunkel and does have some small issues, but there is definitely a “fun” factor to this beer and most of the company’s products.

The label is arguably better than the beer – the label looks like a sign from a boardwalk or carnival freakshow and the beer pours red. I mean really red.  The beer is a little cloying on its own and works better paired with food.

I’s a very malty beer with medium hops – very round tones. Very drinkable, albeit on the sweet side. It’s a solid offering from the brew-mongers who gave us “The Chosen Beer.” Personally, I would recommend it with kielbasa or pizza. Something hearty that will balance out the sweet a little bit.

Festivals like the World Beer Festival in Durham, NC are commonly used by small craft brewers trying to get their beer in front of more people. Photo by Kelly L. Fowler

that the beer consumer once lived. Many of the craft breweries out there have not only developed loyal local followings, they actually strive for regional associations.

Harpoon, for example, owns the Boston market; Ommegang – upstate New York; Anchor in San Francisco. The list goes on.

When Flying Dog moved from Denver to Frederick , MD, the then director of marketing, Neal Stewart, said that part of the company’s mandate was to own Maryland in the same way that those other beers owned their home markets. The company wanted people that thought “Maryland craft beer” to think “Flying Dog” first.

Without the advertising budget of your big boys like Budweiser, Coors, or even Sam Adams, the question remained – how does a small brewery with a fraction of the marketing budget of the larger breweries go about building that local brand loyalty?

The first principle that I think the vast majority of craft brewers understand is that they need to understand their audience. Craft beer drinkers tend to possess a strong understanding of the product, and there is, I think, an understanding that these are people that will seek out quality products. Which brings me to an associated point. most craft brewers understand that they need to make a quality product, or they’ll be dead in the water – it’s something I think has been forgotten in other industries.

Which still leaves the question of how do these breweries get word out to the masses.

Stewart liked to engage in what he called “viral word of mouth” advertising. Basically, you hire someone to get out there to bar and liquor stores and talk to bartenders, managers, and potential customers about the beers. If you’re wondering how it works, it runs of the basic principle behind the old shampoo commercial, “and she told two friends, and so on, and so on…”

It’s not unlike what larger breweries do with their tee-shirt give-aways. Recently, Flying Dog held a series of tweet-up events in Denver, Washington DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland in order to promote the beers. We’ll come back to that.

Erin Biles (l) chats up Flying Dog beer at the January Tweet-up. Photo by Kevin Smith

Previous to the recent use of social media the promotion of the craft brews out there happened at festivals, and in-bar promotional events. The Internet, however, has become a cheap tool for craft brewers to access the masses. Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are more and more the norm , allowing these small breweries to not only reach new customers in new markets, but to put a definitive stamp on one’s home market.

It’s now commonplace for me to have news of not only what Flying Dog is doing (the brewery is a short 20 minute drive from where I live), but also of what Stone (CA), Flying Fish (NJ), Goose Island (IL), and Widmer Brothers (OR) are doing as well. Currently, I have  Facebook and Twitter feeds from well over 100 craft brewers from around the United States and Canada.

While reaching the people free and easy through the Internet is all well and good, the breweries still need to get their beer out to the people. The Internet is just a tool to let the people know where the beer is going to be.

Last week Frederick, MD’s Flying Dog hosted the aforementioned Tweeet-up, a get-together organized through Twitter. The Maryland Tweet-up, held at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Urbana was attended by new marketing “mutt” Erin Biles and capital division sales manager Matt Crow. The two worked the crowd, chatting up Flying Dog beer.

While these events are about Flying Dog to the likes of Biles and Crow, and the same attitude is in place for reps from Flying Fish who are likely to be at Thursday’s Flying Fish beer dinner  at Chifa in Philly, or the one on the 20′t at the Iron Abbey in Horsham, PA, it’s still about the bottom line to the bar owner.

Chris Mabe, the bar manager of TBonz in Ellicott City, MD, said that TBonz would be having what they’re calling “Pints and Pancakes,” on Sunday, January 31 from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. For a $5.00 cover per person, people get all the pancakes they can eat and live music. Beer will be served a-la carte.

“There’s no football that Sunday” between the last game of the playoffs and the Super Bowl, said Mabe, explaining that this was designed as a way to get people in the door on what would otherwise be a quiet Sunday for the restaurant. Mabe also said that there was a lot of thought put into the beers that will be available that day. “They’re all breakfast beers,” he explained. “We’ll have the Flying Dog Coffee Stout [a small batch beer], and Abita’s purple Haze on tap, but [some of the other beers include] Well’s Banana Bread Beer, Pub Dog’s Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, and both Lancaster’s Strawberry Wheat and their Oatmeal Stout.”

Beers like Budweiser and Coors are designed to be unoffensive and with as little taste as possible in the effort to appeal to the broadest possible base. It’s often the same model followed by Hollywood in its effort to create a blockbuster – some of the best films to come out in the last couple of decades have come from independent film makers who weren’t afraid to take on controversial topics, offend, or deal with sensitive issues. The highest grossing films, on the other hand, have been movies which, while entertaining, haven’t always been great. I enjoy the Harry Potter films, but I wouldn’t really put any of them on the level of say The Shawshank Redemption, or The Visitor, or Hotel Rwanda. The Star Wars films have been god-awful, but have made a ton of money. Essentially, they were made to make money and be inoffensive – the Budweiser of the film world.

That said, it’s important to remember that no matter what, you drink what you like. While one company might make what brewers and food critics call the perfect IPA, or the perfect Dunkel, you might find you just plain don’t like that beer. Drink what you like, and don’t let anyone bully you into what you don’t like. The idea is to enjoy  the experience. If you don’t enjoy your craft beer experience, then you’re not going to come back for more – and with so much out there waiting to be tried, that would just be a shame.

On to the reviews…

Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown
J. Leinenkugel Brewing Company
Chippewa Falls, WI
Style: American Nut Brown Ale
Grade: 4.5

This is a nut brown in color only, but color does not make the style.

I came to this beer with some trepidation. They had been advertising on my local sports radio and extolling their virtues (as ads will do), and pumping up the fact they had been around for forever and had been recognized repeatedly for their brewing excellence. When I picked it up at the store I was struck by the fact that, from a packaging perspective, they looked as though they were trying very hard to be a macro instead of a micro. That just filled me with more trepidation.

After tasting the beer, I believe I was well justified in my hesitation to pick up the Leinenkugel product. My first impressions were that everything about the beer except for the color was just wrong for a nut brown. The aroma was less suitable to a nut brown than it would have been to a coffee porter, and the flavor was just plain off. It tasted a little too much of coffee and ash with a sour hint, with virtually no sweetness or nuttiness in the finish. The color, as I previously noted, was good, and it poured well, but that was almost the extent of it.

I said almost because I have to admit, I used the remainder of what was in the half bottle that was left to make meatballs. It turns out to be a good beer to cook with, but I wouldn’t drink it again.

Munchen Dunkel
Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau GMBH
Munchen (Munich), Germany
Style: Dunkel
Grade: 9.25

I really try to stick to the American craft brews for this site, but I was at a store with limited selection, and figured that I had the beer, I might as well review it.

I knew what I was getting into with the Spaten-made Dunkel. The German brewery makes a damn fine beer, and I knew that going in. It poured the way a Dunkel should and had a gorgeous deep amber color – almost a rich brownish. There was some head, but not huge – something consistent with style.

The aroma of the brew was nice and subtle. A good, beery aroma with a hint of burnt caramel. It was quite pleasant. This was a good tease of the flavors one should expect, and does get from the beer. It’s a smooth beer with heavy caramel overtones and a light smokiness in the finish. Really an enjoyable beer, and a good example of the style.

Red Rocket Ale
Bear Republic Brewing Company
Healdsburg, CA
Style: Bastardized Scottish Red Ale
Grade: 8.7

Bastardized styles are always fun, and somewhat problematic from a review standpoint. When reviewing a nut brown, or an IPA, or a Dunkel, there’s a standard against which to compare. Things like Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch (Belgian IPA), or this beer, both of which combine styles, has no ideal associated with them. In a way, it’s liberating as well – is it a good beer, or isn’t it? That becomes the question. No, “is it hoppy/malty enough? Is the color right,” sorts of questions. It really comes down to – did I like it, and would I recommend it.

My guess, based on tasting this beer, is that Bear Republic was going for a fusion of IPA and Scottish Red. As such, there is a strong, hoppy flavor combined with a nice maltiness. The beer has the aroma of an IPA and has a nice creamy head to go with a deep red/amber color in the glass. While not my favorite beer that I’ve had, it’s a solid, enjoyable brew that I would definitely recommend.

Flying Dog's Jim Lutz (R.) has been at the forefront of the Maryland brewing recolution in the 1990's when he founded Wild Goose, still brewed at the Flying Dog facility. Photo by Kelly L. Fowler

We just finished a year, and in finishing that year, we finished off a decade. Here in Maryland where I live, it’s been a pretty good year for beer. Flying Dog was recognized as mid-sized brewery of the year at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, DOGBrewing and Brewer’s Alley both won medals at GABF, brewer Matt Hagerman (Growler’s of Gaithersburg) became vice-president of the Mid Atlantic District for the Master Brewers Association of the Americas, The Ruddy Duck finally opened their doors down in Solomons Island…and took six medals in the Maryland Governor’s Cup competition – including a gold for their Oktoberfest Beer.

I think that Maryland has been a microcosm of what is happening in the craft beer industry with more openings than closings, and more and more well crafted beer coming available to the beer aficionado in all parts of the state.

Sure, in the last decade the state has seen Frederick Brewing falter, then fall. But the facility was state of the art, and just waiting for the right management – enter Flying Dog. In Vermont, a number of years ago the same thing happened. The Catamount Brewery – a facility that produced a fine product, was mismanaged and eventually run into the ground. Today that facility is going strong producing Harpoon beers. In recent years, there has been more and more of this as some of the larger craft brewers, and even some of the macros have acquired smaller breweries – such as Anheuser-Busch acquiring Old Dominion (minority owner), and Red Hook, or this past fall’s news regarding Long Trail acquiring Otter Creek. There has been a trend towards consolidation.

While I have no particular issue with consolidation (with certain stipulations – I’ll get to those later), I can see where it might be viewed as a dirty word among much of the craft brew consuming public.

Anyone with a strong sense of history regarding the industry will recall that back in the 1970’s, just as craft beer was in its infancy, will recall that the brewing industry was tending towards fewer and fewer breweries. Projections by the mid-1970’s were calling for the industry to shrink to less than five major companies producing beer in the United States.

While acquisitions have occurred this past decade, its been different than what was going on 40 years ago. Back in the late 1970’s a group of homebrewers started a business that failed, but it knocked a hole in the dyke, and no thumb has been able to stem the flow of tasty, tasty beer that has poured through that hole.

The current consolidation is not what happened back then – yes, Frederick Brewing is gone and in its place is Flying Dog, but FD retained the Wild Goose label – in itself a respectable product. But AB, recognizing that there is a strong and growing market for craft beer, bought into several smaller breweries but largely stayed away from messing with the recipes. Hell, even AB was purchased, but Belgian based buyer, InBev, recognizing a cash cow, very quickly announced that they would not change Budweiser.

For all the consolidation that appears to be happening in the industry, the industry continues to grow – offering more and more choices to the craft beer drinker. As a matter of fact, according to statistics at the Brewer’s Association’s Web site, in the last 30 years the industry has grown by more than 1500 brewers – and has grown every year in the last decade in spite of the current economic state. It seems that openings have outweighed closings. While the numbers are still out on 2009, in the last two years for which the association has the statistics, ‘07 and ‘08, 128 brewpubs, 113 microbreweries, and one regional craft brewery opened their doors. That’s 242 new brewing facilities opening over a two year stretch in the US against 98 brewpubs, 30 microbreweries, and two regionals closing – 130 total facilities.

With more and more labels available every year and more festivals to attend, availability of craft beer has never been higher. Photo by Kelly L. Fowler

The amazing thing about the industry – during the first year of the economic downturn and at the tail end of the hops shortage, closures of brewpubs went down by 13 percent, and microbreweries by 50 percent – not even counting for the growth in the industry.

Overall, while there have been the comings and goings typical of any industry, the first decade of the new millennium has been good to the lover of craft beers. What does this mean for the next ten years? Absolutely nothing.

Sorry for the pragmatic view. The outlook is indeed good, however, as we saw in the recent economic downturn, past success is not necessarily an indicator of future performance. A perfect storm of ingredients shortages and the clusterfuck of legislation and taxes could indeed cause serious problems for the industry – particularly for the small brewery or brewpub owner, and these factors always seem to be lurking – particularly the legislative issues.

For a strong decade of craft beer ahead of us, it will take not only us showing our local beer stores that we want more from the craft brewing industry with our wallets, but it will also take lobbying efforts on the part of the industry – just ask those in West Virginia where it has only been in the past year that legislation has opened up that state’s market for craft brewers – 30 years after the craft beer revolution began.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and through the Brew Haus
Not a creature was stirring, except brewmaster Claus
For the month before while it rained snow and ice
Local brewers were busy making beers filled with spice

During the month beer fans searched their liquor stores with care,
In hopes that favorite seasonal beers would soon be there.
On the night in question, beer drinkers were all snug in their beds,
While visions of dubbels danced in their beer drinking heads.

With mash in its boil, and beer in our pints,
We settled our brains for the long winter nights
The wife in red satin and I settled in for our naps
As Brewmaster Claus was on the floor testing the taps

When down by my fridge there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the ice box I flew like a flash,
Tore open the door and checked out my stash.

The little bulb inside the grand appliance
Gave lustre to the kitchen, a nighttime defiance.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a six mystery bottles – printed with eight tiny reindeer.

With my church key, so lively and hale,
I knew in a moment it must be an ale.
More rapid than 15 seconds of fame,
I drained the bottle then looked at the name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!”
To his waitresses Brewmaster Claus did call!
“Now pour ale! More ale! Holiday ale for us all!”

I heard him exclaim to his buxom elves on the street,
As, to stay warm, he drank a single malt – neat.
So from kitchen to kitchen the waitress elves flew,
With Brewmaster Claus and six packs of brew.

And then, in a twinkling, as I drank down my beer
I polished off one bottle of holiday cheer.
As I rinsed out my bottle and headed to nap,
Brewmaster Claus tipped his red silk cap.

He was dressed all in silk, from his head to his toe,
With his scantily clad elves he put on a pimping good show.
A keg in his car with a bag full of six packs,
He looked like Father Christmas, in his drunk, snowy tracks.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was sipping beer filled with spice,
And the beard on his face was caked full of ice.

An imperial pint held in his right fist,
My brain registered, despite a drunk mist.
He had a broad face and an impressive beer belly,
That shook when he chugged, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was a beefy old brewer, a jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
He slammed back his beer as he threw back his head,
And set down his pint glass, leaving it for dead.

He spoke not a word, as he continued his work,
And dropping beer at the houses before he turned with a jerk.
He gathered hi elves at Terry’s house, ’round back,
Where they climbed one by one into his fine Cadillac.

He swerved into the street, honking the damn horn,
With his beer elves who belonged more in porn.
I heard him exclaim, as his car careened to the right,
“A very beery Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”