beer

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

There is a never-ending deluge of events and goings-on in the beer world and in trying to stick to one topic per week, lots of things slip through the cracks. With no one subject in particular dominating my thoughts this week, I thought I’d take the opportunity to hit on a few recent events that caught my attention that I think are worth sharing:

Founders’ huge growth extends to All-Day IPA packaging: 2013 was a gigantic year for Michigan’s Founders Brewing Company. With a major expansion finished, Founders experienced a massive jump in production; from 71,000 barrels in 2012 to 112,000 by the time 2013 was done. With new room to grow at their brewery, Founders is having some fun: very soon we’ll not only be seeing the beloved Centennial IPA in 12-pack cans, but the current All-Day IPA 12-packs will become 15-packs in March. Go ahead, have a gander; I’ll be here when you get back.

Ok, so how cool are those? I can see no practical reason to do this, which makes me love the 15-pack all the more.

New year-round releases in March: Besides the All-Day 15-packs, there are going to be some significant new year-round beers hitting the market this March. Allagash Saison 4-packs will be arriving; a smart addition to the Maine brewery’s lineup as the Belgian-style Wit segment becomes more crowded. If these 4-packs are priced anywhere even close to their Black Stout 4-packs, this will be one of the few year-round Saison-style 4- or 6-packs out there.

Perhaps the biggest of the newly-announced year-round beers is Stone’s new Session Ale, Go To IPA. Clocking in at 4.5 percent ABV, Go To is dry-hopped with Citra, Mosaic, and Cascade hops. If what I’ve heard so far about Go To pans out, this could be the bold, full-bodied Session hop bomb a lot of folks have been looking for.

Big Beer’s acquisitions continue: AB/InBev buys Blue Point: The middle of the week brought bombshell news as Long Island’s Blue Point Brewing Company was bought by Anheuser-Busch/InBev (ABI). I use the term “bombshell” because I hadn’t even heard a rumor about this deal being in the works, and this is one of the most gossip-riddled businesses out there.

What isn’t surprising is the buyout itself; with Blue Point in its arsenal of brands, ABI now has known “craft” breweries in two of America’s biggest cities/markets (New York and Chicago’s Goose Island). As craft beer sales rise and macro brands falter, ABI and SAB Miller will turn even more to the time-honored philosophy of the massive conglomerate — if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

After a one-year detour to New York, the Brewer’s Association’s SAVOR craft beer festival is back in the District for 2014. For beer geeks like me and many others planning to attend, waiting for the list of participating breweries is becoming a bit of an occasion.

While “supporting” partners and breweries are mostly known about ahead of time, the reveal of the lottery results determining who will fill out the 76-brewery lineup has become something of a beer holiday. This year’s SAVOR attendees were announced early this week, showcasing a huge amount of change and potentially a coming-out party for several states — including Virginia.

65 percent of attending breweries at this year’s SAVOR are different than those at the 2012 event, when it was last held in DC; compared to last year’s event in New York, that number rises to 70 percent. Atlas Brew Works and Bluejacket will represent DC, while Evolution, Flying Dog, and Heavy Seas fly the banner for Maryland.

Virginia is set to make waves at SAVOR 2014, however: five Virginia breweries will be attending and showing off their beers—Alexandria’s Port City; Richmond’s Strangeways and Hardywood Park Craft Brewery; Lickinghole Creek from Goochland (I swear I’m not making any of that up — have fun, ARLnow commenters); and Devils Backbone of Lexington. The tremendous growth of Virginia breweries could start to make national waves as brewers, buyers, and press from across the country take the opportunity to experience them at SAVOR.

Beyond our local representatives, the list of SAVOR attendees is full of breweries whose wares I’ve wanted to try for a long time. Among them are Funkwerks of Fort Collins, Colo.; Spokane, Wash.’s No-Li Brewhouse; Kuhnhenn Brewing of Warren, Mich.; and Great Raft Brewing from Shreveport, La., co-founded by DC Beer Curmudgeon Emeritus Andrew Nations along with his wife Lindsay (proud of you guys!).

Who else am I’m going to make sure to visit at SAVOR this year? Well, the Bell’s table is always worth waiting for, as is Dogfish Head’s. I’m really excited to see Port Brewing back at SAVOR and I may make a beeline for the Surly table as soon as I get inside — everything I’ve tried of theirs over the past year or two as been great. Are you planning to attend? If so, which breweries are you looking forward to most? Let’s hear about them in the comments. Before that, though….

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

By now most of us are familiar with many of the more boutique Canadian craft brewers; Quebec-based outfits like Unibroue and Dieu du Ciel whose more esoteric offerings are usually Belgian in style or inspiration. But when we think of Canadian beer, it’s usually of big Lager houses like Molson or Moosehead (or Elsinore for the Strange Brew fans out there). But there’s a full spectrum of Canadian craft brews out there, some of which a new importer is bringing to our area.

Canada’s Select Brews (CSB) is dedicated to finding Canadian craft breweries as of yet undiscovered by Americans and bringing them here. CSB is so young that at this point they are only representing two breweries in the U.S., both of which are located in British Columbia, and both of which are now available in Virginia.

Right now I’m not carrying everything from both, but here’s a quick rundown on them and some of the beers of theirs I’m going to be carrying starting this week:

Parallel 49: Vancouver’s “hipster” reputation didn’t materialize from thin air, and its artisan scene has led to a burgeoning craft beer industry. Three friends who grew up in east Vancouver opened a restaurant in 2008, and as its success grew they realized their dream of opening a brewery. I’ve only been able to try a couple Parallel 49 beers, but already my far-and-away favorite is Salty Scot. Based on traditional Wee Heavy Scotch-style Ales, Salty Scot plays with the flavors found in a classic Wee Heavy. Where Wee Heavy beers have lots of caramel notes from the malts used, Salty Scot uses actual caramel to make it “go to 11” along with some sea salt because sea salt and caramel are delicious together. The final product isn’t nearly as sweet as you think it should be, and much lighter than its 7.5 percent ABV suggests.

Howe Sound: About 45 minutes north of Vancouver you’ll find the mountain town of Squamish, where the Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company has been hosting guests and brewing beers of many styles. Howe Sound uses unique “pot-stopper” 1-liter bottles with Grolsch-like rubber flip-tops, and I’m kind of in love with them. With nearly a dozen year-round beers and many seasonal and limited releases, you’re going to be seeing lots of Howe Sound beers out and about. For my money, the Total Eclipse Of The Hop DIPA, Wee Beastie Oak-Aged Scotch Ale, and Megadestroyer Imperial Licorice Stout are the ones to snag. All three are bold in flavor yet show the kind of balance present when a brewer truly cares about keeping their beers “drinkable”. The Megadestroyer is especially impressive, as I usually dislike beers that use star anise and/or licorice: the trick here is that Howe Sound uses the star anise flowers, which impart all of the flavor you’d expect without the intense medicinal “burn” that comes out most of the time.

Try some of these beers out if you see them around, and let’s hope for more great beers to come from Canada’s Select Brews in the future. Until next time.

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

This week was supposed to be about some tasting notes I have (and we’ll get to a couple in a moment), but I wanted to write about something I’d been thinking about this week first.

It’s a little “inside baseball” but I think it’s worth getting into: I had an interesting conversation with one of my distributor representatives early this week. Now such an occurrence may be column-worthy in-and-of itself, but that’s not what I needed to talk about. The conversation veered from general “shop talk” to comparing the roll-outs of new breweries in Virginia over the past year or so, and the differences between those debuts that were more successful and those that weren’t.

I’ve noticed a convergence of factors when it comes to new breweries entering this market that I suspect affects others as well. One factor is the “grass is always greener” line of thinking that develops among us beer geeks: craft breweries grow regionally, eventually garnering national attention and building expectations. I hear often from folks who’ve gone to visit other areas of the country and reporting back how the big local craft brewer there was only “OK.”

There are just so many good breweries all over the country (over 2,700 breweries in the United States, with no signs of any slowdown in openings yet); it’s too easy to be underwhelmed even when a brewery’s entire lineup is good. The other major factor is overreach by breweries that buy into their own hype and the chatter among beer enthusiasts.

Over the past year alone I’ve seen breweries either enter the Virginia market with too many beers when only one or maybe two had the buzz to truly be successful, or at too high a price point across their lineups because they can sell their wares for that price in their local market.

The reality of the beer retail in Northern Virginia in 2014 is that while the craft beer bubble hasn’t burst yet, space is becoming tight as far as styles go (with the exception, it seems, of IPA: no one’s losing money making a great IPA). When a brewery overreaches with regard to the demand for its full lineup, beers sit that otherwise would better serve their home market and the availability of their most popular beer is limited.

When a brewery overreaches on price, they alienate consumers and retailers, regardless of the quality of the product. There is no one right way to open a new market, but it seems right now that the slow roll, allowing one great beer to build a fanbase for the rest of a brewery’s line, is the smartest move. If nothing else, it allows for the natural growth of a brand, as opposed to massive roll outs that can feel forced and overwhelming. (more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

With the start of every new year come predictions as to how the craft beer business will fare. I was pleasantly surprised by a column I saw this week by wine writer Jamie Goode, who sees 2014 as potentially a “big year” for craft beer — though I don’t believe that craft beer’s rise has to come at the expense of wine’s fall.

The point is that all too predictably, columns start popping up every December and January warning of the craft beer bubble bursting; of impending “collapse;” that there is “too much craft beer” on the market and that a 1 percent drop in overall beer sales means that the market is closing in on craft beer’s approximately 10-12 percent share, leaving no room for new brewers to succeed — no room I tell you!

The predictions of impending doom for craft beer come in spite of craft’s continuous, steady growth. The Brewer’s Association (BA) is a trade association whose mission is the advancement of the craft beer industry, so you’d expect them to try to put the best possible spin on any bad news; it’s just that there doesn’t seem to be any.

The BA hasn’t yet posted numbers for 2013, but its 2012 figures indicate craft beer sales grew 15 percent by volume and 17 percent by dollar over 2011; a year that saw sales grew 13 percent by volume and 15 percent by dollars over 2010. This, by the by, is during a period where big beer saw dramatic losses, leading to the major mergers that have taken place over the past few years (and will continue to take place).

The BA figures bear out when I look at craft beer’s growth in our area. Growth of beer sales in shops I’ve worked in over the past ten years bears a close resemblance to BA’s reporting, and one local beer distributor has seen its craft beer sales roughly double every year from 2010 through 2013.

With more breweries opening in the U.S. than ever, you will see more fail; that’s simply unavoidable. Not every brewery will light the world on fire, and a lot of money-chasing will inevitably lead to busts. A true craft beer bubble could burst any year now, but from my perspective and experience it appears to be years, perhaps decades away.

It will happen someday — all things must pass, after all — but not while the biggest names in craft beer are still dwarfed in size by the smallest of the international conglomerate brands. Personally I think 2014 won’t be about any bubble bursting so much as craft finally breaking through to the mainstream, becoming less a niche and more accessible to more consumers than ever.

In any case, none of us knows what’s going to happen, so let me have some fun and call it here: the only bubbles in the beer business are for the big boys, who have saturated the market in nearly every possible way and have nowhere to go but down, and for concern-trolling columns by everyone who wants to be able to say they were the first to notice the sky falling- — as if it won’t be obvious when/if it does happen.

Until next time.

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

2013 is in the books, and it was a great year for beer and those of us who enjoy it. As we enter 2014, I’ve been taking some time for self reflection and reassessment (as one does), and I’ve come up with some beer-related resolutions of my own. Like most new year’s resolutions, mine will more than likely be forgotten a month from now, but it’s good to set goals even you don’t reach them, right?

Right? Well, in any case…

Get out more often. The retail schedule means a lot of late and weekend shifts, which in turn means I don’t get out that much. There are just too many great options in our area for beer lovers, from ChurchKey to Right Proper, Meridian Pint, Black Squirrel, Mad Fox, Port City, DC Brau, BlueJacket and so many more—this year I’m hoping to get out there a little bit more and spend some more time among the wonderful folks of the DC beer scene instead of just writing about them.

Focus. The number of new breweries available to us in Virginia not only from the U.S. but from all over the world, is increasing at a rate that makes it hard to keep up with. I want to focus in 2014 on keeping the space for our longtime favorites while not getting carried away with chasing down every new beer that comes in. Of these resolutions, this will be the one that I’ll break first and with the most zeal.

Travel. There are so many places and breweries I want to visit, and I’d really like 2014 to be the year when I start finding the time to. I haven’t done the Dogfish Head brewery in years—I’d love to pass through there again. I have an entire New England swing I planned out in my head a year ago that would be fun; Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, etc. There are breweries scattered across North Carolina: I’d like to visit again, maybe spend a couple days in Asheville again. Then there’s the west coast—Oregon, Washington, California. I could make trips of each of those states, and still find reasons to go back.

What I’ve Been Drinking This Week:

Dogfish Head Namaste: Now available year-round in six-packs, Dogfish Head’s Witbier is spicy and at 4.8 percent ABV light enough for most any occasion. The use of lemongrass among classic Wit spices is a wonderful touch, and Namaste was an excellent pairing for some great Thai food we had.

The Bruery Melange No. 1: Went to a bottle share with some friends over the weekend, and this rarity from The Bruery popped up. A blend of their Black Tuesday bourbon barrel-aged Stout and the red-wine barrel-aged Flemish Sour Oude Tart, Melange 1 finds a great balance between rich malt and intense acidity. Very cool, and as a Bruery fan this was a treat.

The Bruery Bourbon Barrel-Aged 4 Calling Birds: More Bruery goodness. This hard-to-find version of one of The Bruery’s 12 Beers of Christmas Series was delicious; with a couple years of aging the flavors have mellowed into something resembling a beer doing an impression of boozy eggnog. I know how that sounds, but it was pretty awesome.

Mother Earth Windowpane Series Double Wit Raspberry: An Imperial Wit aged with raspberries in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir barrels. The wine influence is strong — very strong — but it makes the beer work for me, and I hope that we’ll see this series of beers up here sometime this year.

Aventinus Eisbock Barrique (Tap X): A small amount of this was sent to Virginia last summer, and I’d been dying to try it. This is a small batch of the already unique (and massive) 12 percent ABV Aventinus Eisbock aged in Pinot Noir barrels for two years before bottling. The rich, malty, dark fruit notes in the standard Eisbock mesh perfectly with the cherry notes in the wine barrel. Eisbock Barrique was a joy for the Burgundy fan in me, and even the non-wine drinkers at the bottle share dug it.

Until next time.

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

Before we get to the mildly-anticipated Beermonger Top 5 Beers of the Year list for 2013, a quick note: in last week’s column of notable Christmas Ales I gave Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout an honorable mention, which led ARLnow.com commenter Truth to say “You’re high, go home” in response.

The thing is, Truth had a point: I was trying to focus on beers that were and might have still been available in our part of the state, and with it not being available up here and having written a tasting note for it just before last week’s column ran, I decided to give it the honorable mention. In the context of the column I stand by the call, but in hindsight I should say that were it available in Northern Virginia this year, Gingerbread Stout would have been right at the top of my list, and I should have taken a moment to clarify that. Moving on.

This week I’m taking some time to shine a light on five outstanding beers I’ve had during 2013. As a heads-up for those who missed last year’s list: my Beers of the Year list is fairly arbitrary, taking into account not only those beers that made the biggest impression on me, but those that I feel have a certain importance or are special beyond being rare/high ABV/cellared, and the like. With that, let’s start the list with…

5. Maine Beer Company King Titus/Red Wheelbarrow: I think I’ll stop putting Maine Beer Company brews on this list when they give up the habit of sending great new beers our way. I’m cheating a little by mentioning two Maine beers this year, but I just couldn’t leave either out. Red Wheelbarrow is a recent release — a Red Ale with a bolder, citrus-fruity hop character compared to their piney, earthy Zoe Amber Ale. King Titus Porter has become a staple in the Arrowine beer department over the course of 2013, with a balance of rich, roasty, hoppy, malty, dry, and sweet characteristics.

4. Stillwater Classique: This is a version of Stillwater’s Premium (my pick for Beer of the Year 2012) that doesn’t have the same veracity of Brettanomyces, but is more easy-going. After trying Classique on draft at an event early in 2013, I was thrilled to finally start receiving the packaged version later on in the year. The canned 6-packs that Classique comes in are not only perfect for shotgunning (as was the brewer’s intention), but signal a shift in what we expect from “gypsy” brewing. In a category dominated by hard to come by, high-powered, often prohibitively expensive single-bottle beers, Classique stands out as a Session Ale that can bring a wider audience into the fold.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

We’re not going to waste any column space today because I have a very special tasting note that I want to tack onto the end for you all. Holiday and winter seasonal beers are among the most popular of the year, and like everyone else I have my favorites. This close to Christmas, many of the holiday releases have already come and gone, but it never hurts to ask of something’s still available. Now, in no particular order:

Blue Mountain Brewing Company: This Virginia brewery produces three great winter beers: Lights Out marries the spiciness expected in Christmas Ales with a just-malty-enough Old Ale. Blitzen is a classic Belgian-style Noel, with one of the best labels you’ll see out there. I opt for the Long Winter’s Nap; a 10% Blond Bock-style Lager that is as balanced in feel as it is rich in flavor.

Mikkeller: The father of “gypsy brewing” always celebrates the Christmas season with special beers, and this year has been no exception. The 2013 Red/White Christmas and Santa’s Little Helper are great as always; the former being a blend of a Belgian-style Wit and a hoppy Red Ale and the latter Mikkel’s take on a Noel-style Ale. This year we also go Via/To/From, a spicy Porter with a nifty gift tag printed right on the label; and Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas, an IPA made with ginger and pine needles that is very cool and recommended.

Heavy Seas Yule Tide: If you’ve been passing up the Uncharted Waters Series releases from Heavy Seas this past year, fix that mistake in 2014. Heavy Seas closed out this year with Yule Tide, and Imperial Red Ale with ginger and aged in Rum barrels. There are still some bottles of this floating around out there; if you can find one give it a go.

Honorable Mentions: Port City Tidings; Vicaris Winter; Hardywood Gingerbread Stout; Sly Fox Christmas; St. Bernardus Christmas; Dogfish Head Piercing Pils. Now it’s time for a very special…

What I’m Drinking This Week

Thanks to a friend who had opened one at a bottle share and gave me a few ounces, I recently got to try the 2013 edition of Sam Adams Utopias. Produced since 2002, this is the $200 bottle that is notoriously hard to come by and involves blending batches of up to 19-year old cask-aged beer with a final ABV upwards of 28%. If you’ve never tried Utopias before, it is most often compared to fortified wines and spirits like Sherry, Madeira, and Brandy.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

This is a very special week indeed, friends and fellow beer geeks; for this week sees an all-too rare library release of J.W. Lees Harvest Ale.

For the uninitiated, J.W. Lees is a brewery founded in 1828 in Middleton Junction, a town in the northern section of Greater Manchester, England, by retired cotton manufacturer John Lees. As Manchester grew along with the Industrial Revolution, so did the popularity of J.W. Lees, and the momentum has carried the brewery into its sixth generation as a family-run business.

Today, J.W. Lees is a stalwart of old school pub fare, producing mostly cask Ales along with a handful of Lagers. It was through a modern addition to the lineup, however, that I was introduced to the brewery years ago. The J.W. Lees Harvest Ale is a vintage-dated Barleywine first produced in 1986, featuring the first hops picked from the year’s vines along with a classic British malt character.

Not only does Lees produce the Harvest Ale, but they also source barrels from wine and spirits barrels for special runs of the beer. The Harvest Ales are built to cellar for years, and develop as long as enthusiasts care to hold on to them. All of the Lees Harvest Ales that arrived this week are relatively young, but in their way all of them are approachable even now.

The 2009 Port-Aged Harvest Ale has the vinous note but not the extra sweetness from the fortified wine that you might expect. Of the four barrel-aged Harvest Ales, the Port is the most subtle. That’s definitely not the case with the 2011 Lagavulin-Aged Harvest Ale. My first experience with the Lagavulin-Aged Lees was with a fresh bottle of 2009 upon its release; the Scotch flavor overwhelmed the Barleywine, and I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Not long after starting at Arrowine I got to revisit the ’09 Lagavulin Harvest Ale, and the two years had done it a world of good. Not only did the peaty Scotch notes calm down and integrate into the beer, but some of the extra heat had died down as well, making for a smoother experience overall. The 2011 that just arrived should be in much the same place, and should also continue to develop more in the years to come.

The 2012 Sherry-Aged Harvest Ale is quite young yet, but it’s my pick for the Lees to stock up on. The nutty, rich Sherry aromas and flavors make for a precocious Barleywine that can come off seeming older than it actually is. With time the Sherry-Aged Lees finds its voice, and of the lot I think it’s the Sherry casks that flat out work best with the beer.

My personal favorite, however, is the Calvados-Aged Harvest Ale, the 2008 vintage that is now in stock. There’s something magical in the melding of the rich, boozy apple flavors of the Calvados with the Barleywine over time, as the caramel notes of the malt assert themselves. The 2008 Calvados Harvest Ale is just old enough to start getting into, but has plenty of life in it for years of cellar aging and enjoyment.

These J.W. Lees Harvest Ales are available now, but not all are easy to find. Barleywines fans owe it to themselves to try these out: not only are they prime examples of the style; they are also great ways to start exploring beers aged in barrels that didn’t contain Bourbon at one point. Now it’s time for our newest hit feature that is taking the country (or maybe just the county, or more likely not even that):

(more…)