Worldview of American Craft Beer

CraftBeer.com posted a great article today about world perceptions and views of the American craft brewing scene. Multiple brewers from various parts of Europe were contacted and asked their thoughts about the craft beers currently coming out of the States.

The resulting answers were very positive, highlighting important aspects of the movement, including creativity and the familial relationships between brewers. It's a great read, and very interesting to hear about the impact that American craft brewers are having on the global brewing scene.

Washington Beer Open House

If you haven't already heard, the Washington Beer Commission has organized the Washington Beer Open House. Many local breweries are participating in this event, and you should too. The event will include new or exclusive releases, tasting opportunities, preview tastings...this list goes on. Check out the link for a list of participating breweries and start making your attack plan. The event runs tomorrow from noon until 4:00.

Buy Wine and Help New Zealand Earthquake Relief Efforts

Hard Row to Hoe will be donating $2 for every bottle of wine sold this weekend to the New Zealand Red Cross in an effort to aid in their earthquake relief work. This applies to bottles sold at their winery, as well as through their internet store - you don't even have to brave the snow! Buy some wine for a good cause.

Home Brewing Seminars

Curious about home brewing? Yearning to learn the secrets of this mystical art? King County Library wants to help. They are sponsoring a series of introductory home brewing classes at various library locations throughout April and May.

Class dates and instructor bios are available at the Washington Beer Blog (one of their own contributors is even teaching a couple of the courses). This is a great opportunity to learn the basics, as well as tips from experienced home brewers.

Charles Smith Wine Tasting at Full Throttle Bottles

This evening, Georgetown's Full Throttle Bottles will be hosting a tasting of several Charles Smith wines. Smith is a Washington winemaker who has generated a great deal of buzz over the past couple of years, and was even named Food and Wine Magazine's Winemaker of the Year in 2009.

Samplings will include the Kung Fu Girl Reisling, the Velvet Devil Merlot, the Boom Boom Syrah, the Charles & Charles Red Blend and the Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon.

The tasting will run from 5:00-7:00 this evening, and only costs $3.00. Check it out!

Initiatives 1100 and 1105 - WTF?

Okay Washington, the time has come. Election day is creeping up on us, and it's time to make a decision. No doubt by now you have begun to see numerous ads supporting and decrying Initiatives 1100 and 1150, which are attempting to privatize Washington's liquor industry.

From the Washington Secretary of State website:

1100: This measure would direct the liquor control board to close all state liquor stores; terminate contracts with private stores selling liquor; and authorize the state to issue licenses that allow spirits (hard liquor) to be sold, distributed, and imported by private parties. It would repeal uniform pricing and certain other requirements governing business operations for distributors and producers of beer and wine. Stores that held contracts to sell spirits could convert to liquor retailer licenses.

1105: This measure would direct the liquor control board to close all state liquor stores and to license qualified private parties as spirits (hard liquor) retailers or distributors. It would require licensees to pay the state a percentage of their first five years of gross spirits sales; repeal certain taxes on retail spirits sales; direct the board to recommend to the legislature a tax to be paid by spirits distributors; and revise other laws concerning spirits.

Some of the wording is fairly straightforward - the initiatives are trying to throw out the state-run liquor stores and allow booze to be sold privately - easy enough. But they both mention repealing and/or revising certain "other laws" and "other regulations." What the hell is that?

The tricky thing about these initiatives is that they impact more than just the state-run liquor stores and the spirits business. The fine print includes changes to the current system that will impact the craft brewers and wineries of Washington as well.

The world of politics is overly-complex (and intentionally so), and at times like these, when important decisions are being made, it is vital to have a firm understand of exactly what you are being asked to decide. Which is why I have called in reinforcements.

If you are as confused as I am about these initiatives, you will probably want to check out some of the articles that have been written by local bloggers intent on getting to the heart of the matter. Check out the sites below for a breakdown of the issues:

• Beer Blotter has been running a series of articles on the issue since summer.

• Washington Wine Report has done a 4-part series on the initiatives (this link takes you to Part 4, which, in turn, links back to all of the other posts). Additionally, check out this piece on WA wineries and their positions on the measures.

• Paul Gregutt argues the pros and cons of both sides. Additionally, this article gives the opinions of several individuals from various sides of the business and the impact that the initiatives would have.

• Seattle Beer News breaks down how this affects the beer industry.

• The Seattle Met Blog has done a series of articles on the issues.

• Write for Wine has a large (and very helpful) list of resources and community posts that includes several of these, as well as many others.

I am still sifting through the information on both sides, but hopefully these resources will be as helpful to you as they have been to me. And thanks to everyone listed above for taking the time to help break this information down.

Starbucks to Serve Beer and Wine

You may have already heard (it's a popular topic on the interwebs, after all), but a local Starbucks recently underwent an overhaul. The Olive Way Starbucks on Capitol Hill reopened yesterday after 3 months and some $500,000 worth of renovation.

This store received more than just a face-lift; this location seems to be serving as a test run for a new business model that will include an expanded menu, late-night offerings (including beer and wine), as well as entertainment. In fact, as noted by Beyond the Bottle, this location will serve local Washington and Oregon wines (and beers, one would assume) that may be offered in other stores as this project grows.

We'll see how this vision develops as time goes on; it is definitely an interesting concept, and a new place to find your local favorites.

Pumpkin Beer for Everyone!

Nothing says "Fall Time" (also, "awesome") like the opportunity to sample over 40 different pumpkin beers with a room full of beer lovers. That's right - this weekend is Elysian Brewing's Annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival.

Elysian will be highlighting their own Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, The Great Pumpkin, Dark o' the Moon Pumpkin Stout, Hansel & Gretel Ginger Pumpkin Pilsner, Kaiser Kurbis Pumpkin Hefeweizen, Mr. Yuck Sour Pumpkin Ale and a variety of guest pumpkin beers from breweries from around the country. A full list is available on Elysian's website.

Festivities will run from 12-10 p.m. on Saturday, and from 12-6 p.m. on Sunday at Elysian's Capitol Hill Brewery. The tapping of the Great Pumpkin (that's a huge pumpkin filled with beer - please join me in cheering) will commence at 4 pm both days.

The entry fee is $18, which includes a souvenir glass and 6 drink tickets. Additional drink tickets can be purchased for $2 each.

What We're Drinking

Rogue Brewery's Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

There is nothing better than a pint of stout to help ease you into the week. Enjoying a bottle of Rogue's Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout last night was the perfect answer to a long day.

This stout pours a dark brown color with a frothy tan head. Its rich, creamy taste balances flavors of roasted malt, oats, coffee and a hint of dark chocolate, and the hops bring a slightly citrusy taste at the end. This is a solid, complex stout that sports a variety of flavors that blend together quite harmoniously - no individual taste is ever overpowering and it goes down crazy-smooth.

This beer recently won Bronze in the American-Style Stout category at the Great American Beer Festival, and it's not hard to see why.

Northwest Winners in the Great American Beer Festival

The Great American Beer Festival came to a close over the weekend, with several Northwest faves taking home medals:

• Widmer Brothers Brewing's Hefeweizen won Bronze in American-style Wheat Beer with Yeast.
• Pyramid's Apricot Ale won Silver in Fruit Beer
• Elysian Brewing Company's Dark O' the Moon won Silver in Field Beer
• Rogue Brewery's Hazelnut Brown Nectar won Bronze in Specialty Beer
• Boundary Bay Brewery's Imperial Oatmeal Stout won Bronze in Other Strong Beer
• Deschutes Brewery's Gluten Free won Silver in Gluten Free Beer
• Bend Brewing Company's Cherry Baltic won Silver in Aged Beer
• Hale's Kolsch won Gold in Kellerbier/Zwickelbier
• Alaskan Brewing Company's Smoked Porter won Gold in Smoked Beer
• Chuckanut Brewery's Chuckanut Pilsner won Bronze in German-Style Pilsner
• Silver Moon Brewing's Bridge Creek Pilsner won Bronze in Bohemian-Style Pilsner
• Chuckanut Brewery's Chuckanut Vienna Lager won Gold in Vienna-Style Lager
• Ram Brewery's Maibock won Bronze in Bock
• Deschutes Brewery's Mirror Pond Pale Ale won Gold in Classic English-Style Pale Ale
• Laurelwood Brewing Company's Deranger won Bronze in Imperial Red Ale
• Widmer Brothers Brewing's Drop Top won Bronze in Ordinary or Special Bitter
• Deschutes Brewery's Bachelor ESB won Bronze in Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter
• Barley Brown's Turmoil won Gold in American-Style India Black Ale
• Deschutes Brewery's Wowzenbock won Silver in German-Style Wheat Ale
• Pelican Brewery's Tsunami Stout won Bronze in Foreign-Style Stout
• Rogue Brewery's Shakepeare Oatmeal Stout won Bronze in American-Style Stout
• Pelican Brewery's MacPelican's Wee Heavy Ale won Bronze in Scotch Ale
• Bend Brewing Company's Outback X won Bronze in Old Ale or Strong Ale

You can find a complete list of placements and categories here. Congratulations to all!

What We're Drinking

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

I love fall, and I am sucker for all things pumpkin. Breads, cakes, ice cream, pasta, and most importantly - beer. The arrival of pumpkin ales on the shelves and on the taps is the first sign of autumn for me, and I was psyched to sample my first pumpkin ale of the season earlier this week - The Elysian Brewing Company's Night Owl Pumpkin Ale.

Night Owl was the brew that got me hooked on pumpkin beers a few years ago. The pumpkin is very present in both the aroma and the taste (each batch of the ale is brewed with pumpkin, as well as with pumpkin seeds). It is also flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger. The nutmeg and the cloves are the most prominent of these flavors, and are present throughout, giving the beer a spicy kick and butching up the flavor (like if your mom's Thanksgiving pumpkin pie got all hopped up on steroids before being served). Then it wraps it all up with a warm, slightly hoppy finish. Yum.

Great start to pumpkin beer season, and I am looking forward to many more over the coming weeks. Happy Fall!

Virtual Tasting Madness

Quick update on a couple of virtual tastings that are taking place this week:

• TONIGHT - Washington Wine Report's monthly Virtual Tasting, starring the 2009 Chinook Cabernet Franc Rose. This event will run from 7:00-8:00 PST. You can download a list of retailers offering this bottle here. Join the conversation on Twitter under the hashtag #wawine.
  
• THURSDAY September 2nd - Cabernet Day. Sample and discuss all things Cabernet. This event will run all day long, so grab your favorite bottle and join in when it suits you. Event details can be found on Eventbrite. The Twitter hashtag for this tasting will be #Cabernet.
  

These events are always a great deal of fun, and a great opportunity to commune with fellow wine-lovers. I will be participating under @ankerhauspub.

N 2gether Now

Buy low, sell high. That's the game, right? The simple rule that underpins all business, the Canon Truth by which an enterprise will either thrive or starve.

You get your goods and services from the lowest bidder, and then you turn them around for the maximum markup the market will tolerate. Then you sit back in your highback armchair and polish your brandy snifter with your monogrammed ascot. Quite.

But wait - that's big business. Business where the target market is measured in eight or nine digits, and where the product line is cobbled together from dozens of globalized production sources. That's Business Gone Wild, living the fast life in the back of Joe Francis' tour bus. But what's going on at street level?

The inspiring answer is on display at any number of modern small outfits - businesses who insist on taking the time to find the best bidder, not the lowest one. Take a look at Seattle's own Melrose Market - a collaborative project that has the Capitol Hill foodie crowd at rapt attention. These are small businesses that care about their product, their customers, and their relationship with their neighbors. The Calf and Kid isn't going to sell you cheese it isn't proud of; nor is Rain Shadow Meats going to offer you a cut of meat they aren't absolutely confident in. And neither business is going to charge you more than their exceptional product is worth. They get it; they're part of the neighborhood, and part of the larger community of principled small business that's taking root all over the country.

"Buy Local" has become the battlecry of the New Responsible, but like most simple battlecries, the mantra loses some nuance in the chanting. Why buy local? Why collaborate, as neighborhood small businesses? Why seek out quality suppliers in your area at potentially greater expense than a national distributor? For us, it's the same reason we're happy to be conducting a private investment campaign instead of seeking capital through the banks: it really matters who ends up benefitting from our hard work and success. By selecting our suppliers locally, we can know that every dollar passing through our register contributes to building a healthier, stronger small business climate in Washington. Every customer that has a good experience strengthens not only our tavern, but also the local businesses that we buy from. Whenever we attract foot traffic, the Capitol Hill businesses around us get stronger as well.

There was a popular concept bouncing around the Internet a few years back which posited that corporations, when examined using criteria designed to evaluate personality types, tend to operate as classic sociopaths. We'd like to put forward that when we look around our neighborhood, we're proud to see small businesses that exemplify sanity, consideration, and a real drive to support this community, not just benefit from it. It's a good place to be; the modern commercial equivalent of wiping an honest day's sweat off one's brow... and we can't wait to take our place in the ecosystem.

So sign on. Ask us for a copy of the business plan. Find out how you can be a part of this venture, and how you can be part of making our modern business world a better place one storefront at a time. It's an exciting time to be stepping into the marketplace; this is a moment when principled, dedicated entrepreneurship has the very real ability to make a big difference in our neighborhood, our city, our country. Let's do this thing.

Guest Post - Great Taste of the Midwest 2010

This just in from Dop, our roving heartland correspondent:

Great Taste of the Midwest 2010

Flashback to May 2nd, it's 3:30am on a Sunday morning in Madison, WI. It's cold, dark, and rainy, but our love of beer has brought us out to a grass lawn beside Steve's Liquor. However, we're not here to drink. In eight and a half hours, a limited number of tickets will go on sale for The Great Taste of the Midwest, an event that doesn't takeplace until August 14th.

Put on by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild, the Great Taste of the Midwest is a massive beer tasting event held every year at Olin Park. The list of participating brewers is so long that even if they only brought one style there'd be way too many to try in one afternoon. Take a look at this year's program (available online)... I dare you.

I'll admit I'm not the best beer reporter when it comes to an event this size. I always start out with good intentions, keeping track of the brews I've tried and my thoughts on them. In the end though, it's about the love of beer of all kinds and keeping track just seems like too much work.
There are a few that stand out in my mind though:

New Glarus: Unplugged, ABT
New Holland: Imperial Hatter IPA
Three Floyds: Longhaul

I also had an amazingly smooth and easy to drink lager, but let's face the facts, it's hard to remember when you're getting drunker by the minute and you've thrown away your program because it was too big to fit in your pocket.

What We're Drinking

Left-Hand Milk Stout

I've talked about it a bit before, but I wanted to write a post dedicated to the Left-Hand Brewing Company's Milk Stout. We picked up a 6-pack last weekend, and I really can't sing its praises enough. This is a great stout.

This stout is made with a sugar called lactose, which comes from milk and is not affected by beer yeast. Because it is not broken down during the brewing process, the finished product is characterized by a creamy sweetness. This flavoring helps to neutralize the bitterness that tends to characterize stouts. The beer is still very rich in flavor and has the roasted quality typical of stouts, but minus the bitter finish.

In a moment of pure genius, we paired Left-Hand Milk Stout with Triple Threat cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. WOW. That's really all I can say. That, and F#%&@$* AMAZING. The two complemented each other ridiculously well. The chocolate brought out the barley and the coffee flavor in the stout, and the stout, in turn, highlighted the dark chocolate in the cupcake and balanced out the sweetness.

Like bears and chainsaws, both elements are fantastic on their own, but are a force to be reckoned with when brought together.

Kiwi Zombie Madness

This is a choose-your-own-adventure ad campaign was put together by a New Zealand pizza company called Hell Pizza, and it is FANTASTIC. Guaranteed to make your Monday a little easier to take.

"What does this have to do with beer?" you may ask. Absolutely nothing. I just love it and wanted to share.

...

...Actually, I guess this is representative of the level of service that we plan to provide at the Ankerhaus Pub. We would gladly face hordes of the walking undead to get you a drink.

See how I tied it all together? Enjoy!

What We're Drinking

Alaskan White Ale

My parents were in town from Illinois last week. One of our favorite activities for visitors is to head down to the Pike Place Market; after we have perused the various food, craft and jewelry stalls, we swing by Pure Food Fish on the way out and buy something to cook later that evening. It's a fun activity for everyone, and allows us to treat our guests to something they might not ordinarily have access to. Our favorite purchase has always been crab. Most of our visitors hail from the Midwest, and are always wow-ed by the size and freshness of the crab legs that can be acquired in a coastal city.

This was exactly what we did on Saturday, and to great success. We steamed the crab legs and picked up the perfect beer to complement them - Alaskan White Ale. Alaskan brews this ale in the Belgian witbier style (translates to "white beer"). This light, wheat ale is great for warm weather, and absolutely perfect with seafood. It is a light-bodied beer that has a distinctive flavor without being overpowering. It has a crisp, slightly sweet taste with a hint of citrus in the finish.

In addition to being fantastic with seafood, we also recommend this beer to people who aren't traditionally drinkers of wheat beers, or who are new to the craft beer scene. It is a good introduction to both, allowing them to try something new that is simultaneously flavorful and not overly complex or aggressive.

Hard Row to Hoe Vineyards and Seattle Wine Gal are Giving Away a 7-night Stay at Lake Chelan

Hard Row to Hoe Vineyards and Seattle Wine Gal are teaming up to offer you a chance to win a 7 night stay at The Lake House (a $2,000 value) in Lake Chelan. You can register here until 3:00 pm PT tomorrow (Friday, July 30th). A winner will be chose at random in August. Sign up now!

Wine Dinner at Duck Pond Cellars

Looking for a lovely way to spend a Saturday evening? Duck Pond Cellars is hosting a five-course alfresco wine dinner this Saturday, July 31st on their terrace. Enjoy a delicious meal and sample a variety of Duck Pond's offerings.

Tickets are $85; seating is limited, so reserve your spot soon!

What We're Drinking

Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale

Nothing beats a summer beer in July (now that summer has finally decided to join us). Over the weekend, I grabbed a six-pack of Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale and kicked back to enjoy - and enjoy I did!

This is a golden-colored brew that balances a citrusy, hoppy taste with a rich, malty finish. I love it for summer because it packs a lot of flavor while still remaining a fairly light-bodied beer. Not too heavy, and great for warm weather. It's available though September, so grab a six-pack for your next cook-out.