Dripping in This Strange Design

Packaging makes or breaks a beer. What's that you say? I'm crazy? Well yeah, but not really. Beer in and of itself should be judged solely on the liquid that is either in the bottle or from the tap. This alone is simple enough, yet it's getting to that liquid that can often prove difficult.

Here's the deal: I'm a sucker for slick packaging and presentation and really, we all should be. Why? Craft beer choices for the consumer continue to grow. Here in New Jersey we now have more than 100 American breweries that offer their products to us. I am of the mindset that as a brewery if you are taking the time to care about how your product is presented to the marketplace, be it through labeling, logos, tap handles, etc, then you'll be equally if not more so concerned with and attentive to the quality of the product you put in those same packages you took such pride in creating. That well designed packaging scheme is basically saying, "Check out how wonderful I look. The beer inside is even better. Take me home to drink and I won't let you down."

You can't be loyal to a product you've never tried, so why not start with trying to stand out from the myriad of other options surrounding your products on the shelves?

And yes, as is the case with everything, there are exceptions. There are breweries with top notch marketing and packaging efforts that couldn't brew a decent beer if their life depended on it, yet there are also breweries that have abysmal packaging schemes that put out some of the finest ales or lagers in the United States. But when push comes to shove, if I'm looking to try something new and am deciding between two or three brewery offerings that I know little to nothing about, then I'm picking the one that on the shelf is most appealing to my eye.

Sure, I understand that some craft breweries might not have the budget to develop their brand as much as they'd like beyond word-of-mouth marketing, and others may have both the marketing budget and also the creative brewing mind to capture liquid genius in a bottle yet can't fathom how to actually market that bottle, but in the end it's a shame that so many breweries are just unable to take that extra step to get their beers into the hands of consumers more easily.

Fortunately, there's a movement of breweries within the industry who do seem to get and thrive on the overall scheme of complementing great beer with great presentation (Great Divide, Stone, The Bruery and Dogfish Head are just some examples), and the latest to jump on board is the Left Hand Brewing Company out of Colorado, which is in the midst of drastically overhauling it's brand labels yet still very much keeping with the brewery vibe and marketing approach of the past.

Check out some of the changes below. While the old set wasn't terrible, it never really stood out either and got to the point where it had been around for so long that it seemed to be caught in that stale, 1990's looking, flat design. The new look just pops a whole lot more with more vibrant colors and lively graphics and certainly draws me in more at a quick glance to make me stop and find out what that beer is. I can easily see more people now doing the same and picking up these Left Hand brands to learn more and ultimately holding onto them to purchase, which in my mind means mission accomplished with the design reload. An excellent job all around by Left Hand.

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OLD / NEW

Time of the Season

Seasonal creep has hit a new low in the brewing world. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, seasonal creep essentially refers to breweries releasing their more popular seasonal beers sooner than the season that they represent dictates in order to maximize sales on that particular style from their portfolio.

From a business perspective, this makes complete sense. If you've got a Winter Ale that typically sells twice as much as your Octoberfest, then you best get the former on the shelves as soon as you can. The problem is that from a craft beer consumer standpoint it often leaves you scratching your head.

Case in point, and the reason for this post: I went out to dinner over the weekend and while the beer selection was limited, the bar had tap handles for Magic Hat Vinyl, Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Samuel Adams Noble Pils, which if you didn't know is the new Spring Seasonal from Boston Beer Company and is actually quite enjoyable and in my opinion is a significant step up from their former Spring seasonal, the White Ale. Anyway, I happily ordered up a pint of the Pils and not five minutes later our waitress had returned to inform me that the Pils keg had recently kicked and had since been replaced by the Summer Ale. Huh? Spring was barely a week old and the Spring Seasonal from one of the largest breweries in the country was already being shoved aside. Unacceptable. I decided to pass on the Summer and go for a pint of the Vinyl instead as while it's not nearly as flavorful or enjoyable as the Noble Pils or even the Summer Ale at that, it's still decent enough and is actually Magic Hat's Spring beer. A light, refreshing lemony summer wheat beer just didn't seem right on a cold, windy and rainy April evening.

(As an aside, and this is not Boston Beer's fault in any way, if a keg of one beer kicks and you replace it with something else, change the tap handle! I'm pretty sure it's actually illegal in New Jersey to dispense beer from a tap that's marked as another brand. Bad form by the restaurant.)

And while Boston Beer might not be the biggest culprit, they are almost certainly the most visible simply because of their size, yet are of course not the only offenders. I've been able to pick up four packs of Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale in early August, have already seen Leinenkugel's Summer Explorer Twelve pack on the shelves this year and just recently purchased a Lakefront Brewery Sampler Eight-Pack (reviews of these beers coming soon) where one of the slots was reserved for a seasonal beer from the brewery. I assumed that slot would be occupied by Snake Chaser, their Irish Style Spring Stout, but alas was greeted by a bottle of White Beer which is, you guessed it, their Summer offering.

Now, I'm not suggesting that a Summer Ale for instance should only be available from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but having it out in the market from late April until early September seems much more reasonable (although it's still too early for my liking).

Hopefully we've maxed out the seasonal creep for the breweries that are current offenders and others won't follow suit. The problem is that, again from a business standpoint, you can't really blame them for making the decision to do so as they'd just be trying to keep up with the other guys.

The only way to make these breweries realize that their release schedules can be a bit ridiculous is to refuse to purchase a beer that comes out with a crazy early jump on it's intended season. Maybe then they'll realize that they're doing a disservice to their other brands (you certainly can't grow a brand if you limit it's release window) and change their ways. Speaking for myself, I can say that my first sip of Samuel Adams Summer Ale is still weeks away...at least.

Otis Blue

Sure were still in the early part of the year and it's not a new beer by any means, but I'm telling you now that Otis, a fantastically tasty Oatmeal Stout from Brooklyn's own Sixpoint Craft Ales, will be on my Top Ten Beers of 2010 list. It's that good.

From the rocky off-white head and luscious near black color to the aromas and flavors which both impressively balance a roasted malt, heartier base with sweeter caramel and chocolate/cocoa notes, along with a touch of coffee. Bitterness is fairly tame overall and the great balance along with a bit of chewy ruggedness makes this one impossibly easy to drink.

I paired it with some lobster enchiladas which were layered with a spicy red diablo sauce, rice and beans and it worked perfectly. Much as the beer itself strikes a nice balance between roasted and sweet, it helped to balance the meal as a whole with the sweeter notes complementing and somewhat taming the overall spiciness of the food.

While the obvious and most common beer style pairing with spicy dishes is the IPA because the boldness of the hops stands up nicely to the intensity of the food, I usually prefer a sweeter based Porter or Stout to accentuate some of the flavors, especially if there is any seafood in the dish, as a spicy dish/IPA combination can often overwhelm the palate.

The Sixpoint lineup is draft only and is fairly difficult to come by in New Jersey, so if you live or find yourself near Asbury Park I highly recommend stopping into Langosta Lounge on the Boardwalk. The food is great and they've got Otis on tap, but who knows for how long...


Hopback, beer, Sixpoint, Otis, Oatmeal Stout, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Asbury Park

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Some good news and some sad news arrived from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania today via the Tröegs Tales March 2010 Newsletter. Let's start with the bad stuff:

Tröegs has announced that the last batch of Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale was brewed back in February and has officially shipped out for the last time. According to the newsletter, there was simply no longer any room in the portfolio (or the tanks) for Rugged Trail given the current beers that Tröegs is currently brewing.

I for one am sad to see Rugged Trail go. It has always been amongst my favorites from Tröegs (bet you can't guess my actual favorite...) and was a wonderful take on the style and a great session ale for sure. If you're a fan, I suggest you grab any and all six-packs of the stuff while you can.

Yet from this sad news comes some good, and while it's been out there as rumor for a while, Tröegs has officially given word that Javahead Stout, which was to be a limited, seasonal beer originally released last Autumn, has been given year round status and will now be available in 12 ounce, 22 ounce and draft formats. The 12 ounce bottles have already begun shipping and the 22 ounce and draft will be available starting in late March/early April.

Finally, Tröegs has also announced a new variety case called Anthology. It will replace the Tröegs Dozen variety case which has been around for a long while now, and will have two slightly different incarnations. Anthology Number One will contain Hopback Amber Ale, Tröegs Pale Ale, Dreamweaver Wheat and Sunshine Pils, while Anthology Number Two will swap in the Javahead Stout for the Sunshine Pils. The former is anticipated to be available from April until September and the latter from September until March.


beer, Hopback, Troegs, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Rugged Trail, Nut Brown Ale, Javahead, Stout, Anthology, Pale Ale, Sunshine Pils, Dreamweaver Wheat

Sweet Home Chicago

Collaboration beers are all the rage in the craft brewing world right now, and with the Brewers Association's annual Craft Brewers Conference coming up next month (April 7-10) in Chicago, a new one time only beer will make an appearance as the ultimate Windy City collaborative effort.

Heartwood Symposium Ale was brewed by members of the Illinois Craft Brewers guild at Chicago's own Goose Island Beer Company. It is 100% Aged in Bourbon Barrels and, according to the print on the label is the result of 15 Illinois breweries which "formed four teams, each creating a recipe and brewing it at Goose Island Beer Co: Imperial Stout, Imperial IPA, Scotch Style Wee Heavy and a Barley Wine Style Ale." These were all aged separately in Bourbon barrels and then blended into the beer that will be presented at the conference.

This sounds like an amazing project. I'd sure love to get my hands on some, and I'm sure most of you would too, but good luck in your quest. The Symposium beers are typically tiny batch offerings that are bottled and given only to conference attendees and perhaps some members of the local press, so coming across one for non-attendees will be next to impossible.


Beer, Hopback, Craft Brewers Conference, Chicago, collaboration, Goose Island, term one, Heartwood Symposium Ale

Stone Skips Across the Pond

The guys over at Stone Brewing have finally posted the final part of their most excellent Stone Skips Across the Pond mini-documentary and the entire saga is now available for viewing in it's complete form.

For those who don't know, Greg Koch, Steve Wagner and Mitch Steele from Stone made the trek over to Europe in July of 2009 to brew the latest edition of a collaborative Stone/Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne Ø Holiday Ale at the Nøgne Ø facilities in Norway. From there, they shot across to Scotland where they set out to brew Bashah, a Double Black Belgian IPA, in collaboration with BrewDog.

This isn't a technical look behind the scenes by any means, but rather a fun peek into the world of brewing and collaborations amongst friends and colleagues, and is definitely worth a look. Click below to watch or click on the image above to go direct to the Vimeo site for a larger, HD version.

Stone Skips Across the Pond | Full version from stonebrew on Vimeo.

Hopback, beer, Stone, Nogne O, Jolly Pumpkin, Norway, Scotland, Bashah

Thelonious Monk(shine)

Ah, Utah. I've never been, but it's a state that has always intrigued me for a variety of reasons. While my parents say it's far and away the most beautiful state they've ever visited, I've always seen it as the place that's chock full of bizarre laws: boxing matches that allow biting are not allowed (sorry, Iron Mike), no one may have sex in the back of an ambulance if it is responding to an emergency call...you get the picture. More importantly, and for our purposes here, the liquor laws have always been odd as well, with alcohol by volume maxing out at 4.0% for beer and private club membership being required for full alcoholic beverage service.

Thankfully, things have loosened up a bit for Utah residents in recent years. While taverns, restaurants, brewpubs and grocery stores can still only sell 4.0% ABV beer, private clubs have morphed into non-membership bars with full alcohol service and state liquor stores can also sell beers that weigh in over that 4.0% ABV threshold. This has really allowed Utah breweries to get their creative juices flowing, and one such brewery is, ironically enough, Four + Brewing out of Salt Lake City, which is a division of Uinta Brewing Company.

Monkshine is their approach to the Belgian style Pale Ale, and I have to admit that I was a bit shocked at just how well this one came together. There's a lot of sweetness to the aroma from the Belgian yeast that gives off a nice candy-like vibe, and it mixes in with some banana and citrus notes and a good dose of grassiness/graininess. There is also a slight tick of corn in the aroma which I have found to come out in this particular style from time to time. Nothing offensive and nothing negative about it, but it is there.

The flavor continues on with the aromatic characteristics, and pulls off a more bitter than expected finish to compliment the sweetness that lingers throughout. General candy gives way to a slightly more specific bubble gum vibe. Again, there are some nice grassy qualities here. Refreshing.

There's a certain wispy farmhouse quality to this one that was really quite enjoyable from start to finish. It actually reminds me of a specific beer, but I can't put my finger on which beer that is. I'm sure it'll come to me eventually. I would certainly pick Monkshine up again and would say it is absolutely worth your time to try a few bottles. It's not a big beer that will knock your socks off, but rather something that holds truer to the style and is highly quaff-able.


Hopback, beer, Utah, Salt Lake City, Four +, Uinta, Monkshine, Belgian, Pale Ale

Let There Be Rock (Art)

The Double India Pale Ale has come a long way lately and it is finally starting to catch the attention of my palate. While the style is fairly young in comparison to most others in the beer world (it has really only been brewed for the past 15 to 20 years or so, and only truly became uber-popular and trendy in the early to mid 2000's), it arguably contains some of the most sought after products in the market within it's family, at least here in the United States. My problem with Double IPA's has been that in the past they've largely been something that was brewed to out do the previous guy in trying to create the hoppiest beer possible. Thankfully, this has started to change in recent years, and we're getting Double IPA's that are more balanced than ever, yet can still provide a palate shredding hop burst that standard IPA's just can't touch, and nor should they. A great example of what I think is a newer wave of the Double IPA is the IPA (II) from Vermont's own Rock Art Brewery.

It pours out of the bottle a murky amber/copper color with minimal head retention, but the real story here is the flavor and aroma. As noted above, a much more balanced attack is the key: there's a bit of citrus and also a peppery, slightly spicy bite and all of this blends quite nicely with a hint of caramel sweetness but more so a nice bread-like quality throughout. The aroma takes on a bit more of a biscuit quality while the flavor sticks more toward the traditional baked bread characteristics. Similar yes, but quite different at the same time. To add just a bit more complexity to the mix, a slight hint of pine comes through at times as well.

Balance is again the key in the mouthfeel, where there's a good bit of chewiness and a tongue-tingling bite from the hops meshing with the carbonation, but it's not as heavy handed as a typical Double IPA where often one's mouth can feel like it's being slashed with each sip.

This is a very drinkable beer in general, and especially so for the style. Hops certainly still lead the way but never overshadow any of the other flavors. I'd call it a bit of a "tweener," straddling the line between a standard and Double IPA, but still leaning heavily toward the latter. It could be seen as a nice introductory beer into the world of Double IPA's, but by no means would I call it tame, and it's 8.0% ABV is actually hidden quite nicely. Nice stuff.


Hopback, beer, Rock Art, Vermont, Double India Pale Ale, IPA

Some Like It Hottenroth

Who's in the mood for a low alcohol, sour ale that's made using a wild bacteria culture? I'm guessing there aren't too many hands raised, but the truth of the matter is that these are all elements of a rare style of beer from Germany called Berliner Weisse.

The Berliner Weisse, as you may have guessed from the name, has roots in the city of Berlin and it's surrounding area dating back to about the 16th century, and is brewed with a large proportion of wheat. The beer tends to stick to the lower end of the alcohol by volume (ABV) spectrum, typically coming in around 3.0% ABV (to compare, most macro beers like Budweiser, Coors, etc tend to fall in the 4-5% ABV range, while most "sessionable" craft beers come in around 5-6% ABV), with the sour flavor created either by secondary fermentation in the bottle or by adding lactobacillus during the brewing process.

While a Berliner Weisse can certainly be enjoyed on it's own, it is often paired with flavored syrups, with raspberry and woodruff being two of the most popular choices.

The style is still somewhat difficult to come by, yet a growing number of craft breweries in the United States have been diving into it to offer up their own take. One such stab at the style is Hottenroth from The Bruery, a less than two year old establishment out of Southern California that has been cranking out an array of incredibly solid and flavorful beers since day one.

Hottenroth pours a light golden color that is mostly clear but has a slight haze to it. The mid-sized head quickly dissolves leaving no residue on the glass. Interesting. This one looks very much like a beer, yet at the same time doesn't. Very difficult to explain.

The aroma is incredibly tart and sour, with a bit of a funk to it. Green apple, a touch of lemon and maybe a bit of grass and wheat are present. There's not a ton going on here, but the tartness is very cool, especially when mixed with the apple. This carries over into the flavor which I really enjoyed. There is a LOT more tartness, with the beer being sour to the point of puckering your lips after each sip. Green apple blends in well throughout. Lemon notes are kept on the backburner for the most part but are definitely there as citrus plays a part throughout. Wheat chimes in toward the finish of each sip, which gets a bit bready at times, especially as the beer warms up a bit. There is certainly a lot of funk here too, but it fits in well.

This is good stuff. I can't really compare it to much else as the only Berliner Weisse that I can recall sampling in the past is the Dogfish Head Festina Peche and the last time I had it was years ago in a small sample glass at a beer festival. As the Hottenroth stands, it does a lot with a little. I really loved the overall sourness throughout. Could I drink this one or this style in general often? Probably not, bit it is most definitely a nice treat to have every now and then. I urge you to seek this one out and in fact seek out any beers from The Bruery, as I've had the pleasure of trying four or five different styles from them thus far and they've all been top notch.

Hopback, beer, Berliner Weisse, Germany, lactobacillus, The Bruery, Hottenroth, California

TTB Find of the Week: Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary, Round One - Fritz and Ken's Ale

Fritz and Ken's Ale, The first of Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary Celebration beers, will be hitting shelves soon and here is a sneak peek at the label, which is quite similar to the 30th Anniversary web page logo posted here a few weeks ago:

This stout is a collaboration between Anchor Brewing Company owner Fritz Maytag and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company founder Ken Grossman. Fritz and Ken's Ale is a "nod to the dark ales and stouts that seduced both Fritz and Ken in the early years."

Per a recent post by Sierra Nevada's own Bill Manley on BeerAdvocate, the beer was to come in at 10%+ ABV, but as the label here clearly shows it settled in just below that at a still-hefty 9.5%ABV. Manley continued that Maytag was to be in Chico on the 29th of January and that the beer should be "ready to go" by mid-March. One final note is his post was that as of now there are three collaboration beers with other brewers planned for 2010, and a fourth that will be a collaboration of all brewers in the Sierra Nevada family.

Sierra has really gotten into a creative zone in the past year or two (yet has still very much kept these new beers tied to their traditionalist roots) and for their 30th Anniversary it sounds like they're going to raise the bar even higher...

Hopback, beer, Sierra Nevada, 30th Anniversary, Stout, Anchor Brewing, Fritz Maytag, collaboration, Chico, California