A Little German in Me

My beer explorations have steadily continued this week. Monday was my night to cook dinner, and before picking up the food I made a trip to John's beer room for the liquid. One of their knowledgeable staff members was there giving out samples of Weihenstephener Korbinian (a rather tasty doppelbock that I picked up) and their Hefeweizen. It tasted like a pretty good Hefe, but I am not really a fan of those, so I passed on it.

Then we got to chatting about Saisons and Pilsners. I was disappointed to learn that Saisons don't really travel well, hence the reason the three I have had recently were brewed in Kansas, New York, and Iowa rather than on the Franco-Belgium border.

As the weather was a little warm and sticky I asked for some recommendations on a smooth, crisp German Pilsner. He pointed out the Ayinger Jarhundert Bier, which is one of his favorites.
Many of you might recognize the Ayinger name as they are the brewers of that great goat ornamented doppelbock, Celebrator. The Jarhundert was shockingly good. A super clear pilsner that somehow packed in an exhorbitant amount of flavor. I can't wait to pick up another one. It might become one of my favorite summer beers.

The beer man also recommended a Dunkel by Spaten which had just come off the ship and was thus very fresh. This dark lager was quite a shift from the crisp pilsner we tasted first. The intial sips were somewhat dissapointing, but after clearing the pallet (which I should probably do some other way) I found the beer to be sweet and smooth. It had a big malty caramel flavor, quite similar to many Oktoberfests. I will definitely get it again.

While consuming these great brews I was reading Charles Bamforth's Grape vs. Grain, a cultural and historical comparison between wine and beer.

Bamforth is a food science prof at UC-Davis, but is originally from England. He has that wonderful British sense of humour, and he makes no qualms about his goal--to raise beer up to the level of appreciation and sophistication that wine has enjoyed for numerous decades.

And he makes a pretty good case. The book is a quick read, and for anyone who wants a brief but still thorough history of beer and beer making, it is a great place to start. I also found the wine chapters interesting, but I mostly ended up skimming those. They were equally as informative as the beer chapters, but Bamforth's tone is slightly anti-wine (though he still enjoys his fair share of it). So if you want a less scued history of wine, you might want to look elsewhere.

Tonight is date night, and with some damp, rainy weather on the way I'm thinking it might be a appropriate for something Belgian.

Of Bikes and Beer

Well the rest of April just slipped by and I didn't even get a blog in. That is some bad blogging practice, and I will try to be better in the future. In those two weeks Robin and I went to the Chicago burbs to celebrate my grandmother's 80th Birthday. It was a grand time. And I took a super easy week on the bike, which was very much needed.

In fact, I will credit the easy week as the reason I was able to finish the ride on Thursday night. There were some other reasons, too. It was mostly a straight out into the wind and then a straight back with the wind kind of ride. Those are generally easier to stick with than the rides of many crosswinds. Still, there were hills. But then there was the fact that I only took one pull (not counting the times when we were riding a double paceline). I look forward to increasing that number by many multiples in the future.

As some of you may know, Robin and I have been talking about buying a house (though we have recently talked about waiting, as the market here is a little crazier than we are). This means we have been working really hard at saving money. Some weeks are better than others, of course. On one of the better saving weeks I decided to save on beer. While perusing the hundreds of fine brews in the John's beer room, I could not find a deal that pleased me. But then I somehow convinced myself that a 12-pack of PBR, for just over 8 dollars, would be a worthy substitute for a similarly priced micro-brewed 6-pack.

It was an interesting experience. I, of course, have downed many a PBR, and enjoyed it, too. And the PBR again did a pretty good job. It certainly is priced right. And a cool, crisp, inexpensive lager is a nice thing on a warm day. And as long as you don't directly compare PBR to a brew in another league, you are fine.

But then last weekend we shared some fine brews with our good friends Steve and Cody. We had some quality pilsner, got torpedoed again, and explored the Boulevard Smokestack Series. We had brought the Saison, and Steve and Cody brought the Sixth Glass. About two-thirds of the way through the lovely evening we explored that Sixth Glass (it might have literally been our sixth glass, it was hard to say) and wow is that a knock you on your ass strong brew. PBR will not knock you on your ass. It will, admittedly, increase the likelihood of putting you in a position to be knocked on your ass (like friend bowling or the buffalo crack, but those are stories for another day).

After that Sixth Glass we were not able to fully explore the others. So Robin and I tried the Saison a few days later and absolutely loved it. It was crisp and clear and super hearty with little citris spices. I had experienced brews similar to a saison, but now I am somewhat of a convert.

So after the week of 'PBR,' I entered the week of 'much more expensive beer.' We tasted a much cloudier and wheatish saison from Hennepin. And then we also had a special brew from the good folks at Sierra Nevada called Wet Hop Harvest Ale. Strong, dark, and hoppy. It was another style that I had never truly experienced and I really want to go back soon. Apparently they harvest the hops at a certain time in the season when they are still wet and immediately start the brewing process. Very interesting. Does anyone know a great Cultural History of beer? There is so much I don't know.

Anyways, this is getting wordy enough. And I need to start eating breakfast, because in a couple hours I'll be suffering on the Amana ride out to Maifest, where there will no doubt be some more fine brews consumed. I cannot guarantee that there will be more pulls at the front of the ride, though. That might take a couple more weeks.

disclaimer: After linking many of the fine brews, I am now realizing that they might not work as you will have to verify you are of age. They work on mine, though, so I wish you the same good reader.