Sam Adams Beer Glass

A couple ago a friend of mine was about to drink a beer directly out of the bottle. The beer in question was not Labatt or Coors, but rather a meticulously-selected craft brew. I told this friend he should really pour the beer into a glass to drink it, because when you drink out of the bottle, you miss the aroma, and therefore miss out on all the scents that add to the flavor of the beer.

"[Cough]bullshit[Cough]," replied my ungrateful chum.

And while there are still skeptics, it's apparent to me that aroma is really half the enjoyment of beer, or at least a very high percentage. The way the nose prepares the taste buds for the beer is essential to fully realizing a beer's potential. Ironically, this is why it's probably better to drink macrobrews like Miller or Bud right out of the bottle, because it masks the weak ingredients they use and therefore actually spares the drinker all those aromas that make those beers so mediocre.

But if you thought that simply drinking out of a glass was all that there was to enjoying a beer fully, the folks at Sam Adams did some research to find the perfect beer glass. Sam Adams founder Jim Koch talked to European glassmakers and found out that almost no breweries were interested in function, he decided to come up with a way to design his own. (See a great article about it on RealBeer.com.)

The glass is shown here, and though it doesn't have a name yet, you can see in the picture that it is a hybrid of all the best of different glasses -- pint glasses, brandy snifters, tulip glasses, pilsner glasses, etc. (Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window.)

They say that this glass isn't going to transform any beer into a great beer, but rather make the beer taste more like the beer itself, or at least taste more like its style. As Koch says in the article noted above, "[Pabst Blue Ribbon] is not going to taste like Sam Adams in this glass. It was designed to make Sam Adams taste more like Sam Adams."

The glass performs several specific functions. For example, the thinner lower half of the glass is intended to expose less of the beer's liquid to the temperature of the drinker's hand, thereby keeping the beer at optimum temperature for longer.

The rounded top half of the glass, like a brandy snifter, is intended to capture and retain the strong aromas, mostly in strong ales or stronger beers. The tulip-like lip not only allows a healthy head to form -- and aid in the distribution of aromas -- but also puts the beer on the front of the tongue first to allow the drinker to experience the sweetness of the malt first, before it evolves into the bitterness of the hops. Most glasses don't allow for this progression naturally.

Whether this glass truly does enhance the flavor of beer (and perhaps lead to the evolution of the beer glass as we know it) remains to be seen. Still, it does look cool, and I would love to get my hands on a few of them.

Still, while I am impressed by the diligence and ingenuity with which the Sam Adams people created this glass, I am even more impressed with Koch's statement regarding the need for such advances in beer glasses: "We want to educate people that beer deserves the same respect wine does." Amen to that.

Saranac's Next Big Beer

Word has it that the next entry in Saranac's High Peaks series will be a Russian Imperial Stout. "Our new High Peak Series line of beers," says the description on their web site, "are bigger, more complex and flavorful; beers that are meant to be sipped and savored." Their first foray into the world of "big beers" was the solid, tasty and well balanced Imperial IPA, released in 2006.

We have long held that Saranac (which brews a big chunk of Brooklyn Brewery's well-respected products under contract) is capable of much more than their standard line of brews. The Imperial IPA was a great first step, and the RIS will prove an excellent choice for the second. It is slated to be released in mid-September. And to think that I considered stopping by Utica for a brewery tour on Friday before passing it up to take the scenic route from Syracuse to the Capital Region!

Craft Beer Continues Upward and Outward Trend

"As sales of craft beers -- mostly local and regional smaller-batch brews -- continue to soar amid an otherwise sluggish U.S. beer market, arrivals of well-known but previously unavailable beers are becoming significant events. And craft brewers and retailers are going to greater lengths to stoke them."

In this article from Advertising Age, we learn that craft beer sales continue their impressive growth, up 18% in dollar sales in supermarkets in 2006, compared to 2.4% for beer overall. Likely as a result of this figure, supermarkets are stocking 20% more craft-beer products than a year ago. This strikes us an important sign, as the vast majority of beer drinkers are purchasing theirs at supermarkets along with the weekly groceries, not in specialty stores. Small steps to be sure, but important ones. Additionally, the launch of Colorado's New Belgium Fat Tire Amber in Minneapolis is compared to the hysteria surrounding the introduction of Apple's iPhone, Shiner Bock has a successful launch in Chicago thanks in part to viral marketing to displaced Texans, and craft beer's surging popularity is likened to that of Coor's in the 70's! It seems like more than a few things are happening in the Midwest. Sure, we've now given you the Cliffs Notes version, but the story is still a solid read (and not too long, ADD boy). Check it out.

Beerjanglin' Presents: Beer Nuggets

As long as we're on the subject of the sad demise of regional macros...

We visited Saratoga Spa State Park today for a bit of bike riding. It has been a very pleasant, if not overly warm, day, and we had a fine time. Afterward, we were able to sneak in a couple of pints at Olde Saratoga while faithful companion hit the mall. They put on a fresh keg of White Hawk IPA while we were there, and it was truly fantastic. The piney smell of the hops was very present, and it just seemed to explode with a pleasing bitterness on the tongue. Whoo! We'll say it again: this is one of the most underrated beers out there.

Anyway, while in the tasting room, we happened to strike up a conversation with someone who'll we will call an industry insider with a strong knowledge of New York State beers. Here is some of what we learned and/or discussed:

• Genny Cream is an underrated beer, and the Genny "screamers" myth has been scientifically disproven. And that is a scientific fact! It is very similar in composition to the long lamented Genesee 12 Horse Ale and is thought of by some in the know as "the micro of the macros". Look no further than Clark's Ale House for proof of this. We make a solemn vow, here and now, to drink more Genny Cream.

• Corona is a terrible beer.

• High Falls does a ton of contract brewing for Sam Adams, as in almost a third of all Sam Adams' beer. At least for now.

• Genesee Red and it's first cousin, Michael O'Shea's Irish Amber have, sadly, been discontinued due to lack of strong sales. Which were, in turn, probably due to lack of strong marketing.

• High Falls is the second largest brewer in NYS, while Saranac is third. The gap between them, however, is cavernous. Saranac does barely half the volume that High Falls does.

• The J. W. Dundee line is pretty solid and should sell better than it does. With the exception, perhaps, of Honey Brown.

• There is no good reason for the state of the Greater Capital Region beer scene. The bar scene is quite healthy, thanks. Now, how 'bout some better beer in those bars, people?
  

It's Official: Hops are Hot (and Wet)!

This comes from the Wall Street Journal via the Pittsburgh Post Gazette via the Internet, but we found it interesting and didn't want to risk losing it.

To toast a new crop, brewers roll out 'wet hop' beer

By Conor Dougherty, The Wall Street Journal

First there was Beaujolais nouveau. Now comes beer nouveau.

The end of the growing season has been celebrated by everyone from apple growers to winemakers, but lately brewers have started marking the renewal of their own annual cycle, with beers that are brewed with hops picked only a few hours before. Called "fresh hop," "wet hop" or harvest beers, they begin appearing in late September, typically on tap and lasting only until the kegs run dry.

Harvest ales started showing up in the last decade or so in hop-growing regions like Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. But as the style catches on and more farmers plant hop yards, the beer is increasingly found outside of its traditional home. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. sold its Harvest Ale in all 50 states last year, up from five in 2000. Late next month Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del., will release its first fresh-hop beer, Fed-Extra Mild, an English-style ale with two varieties of hops: one freshly picked and shipped overnight from the West Coast, and a second grown in an employee's yard. And while the majority of wet-hop beers are poured from tap handles, some brewers are now bottling it. Denver's Great Divide Brewing Co. started bottling its Fresh Hop Pale Ale three years ago, and now the brew is distributed in seven states including Texas, Florida and Massachusetts.

The season's first hops are also cause for festival-style celebration. At O'Brien's Wet Hop Beer Festival held at San Diego's O'Brien's Pub, bar owner Tom Nickel plans to serve 35 beers this year, double the number at the inaugural event two years ago. (New names at last year's festival included Hop Trip from Deschutes brewery of Bend, Ore., and Last Hop Standing from Blue Frog Grog & Grill in Fairfield, Calif.) While so-called craft brewers are leading the trend, industry giants have also taken notice: Last year an Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fort Collins, Colo., released its Front Range Fresh Harvest Hop Ale for festivals and at Anheuser-Busch tour centers.

These beers are the latest expression of brewers' obsession with hops, the sticky green cone of the Humulus lupulus plant that gives beer its bitter flavor. Classically, beer has four main ingredients -- the others are water, yeast and grain, typically barley. Before hops, brewers had balanced the sweet taste of malted barley with herbs including yarrow, coriander and ginger. Around 900 years ago they began adding hops, which imparted flavor and also served as a preservative.

Much more recently, hops became a rallying point for U.S. craft-brewers -- a movement that took off in the 1980s as a reaction to the big-brewery beers that critics dismissed as too light, too watery, and too stingy on the hops. Bitter became better for a subset of craft-brew drinkers, many of whom tend to measure a beer's worth in proportion to its hoppiness. The measuring stick is the International Bittering Unit, or IBU, with the biggest beers logging in at 100 plus IBUs. Mainstream brews from Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors are typically around 10 or 20 IBUs.

The hop infatuation has resulted in a game of chicken among brewers, who have continued their effort to out-bitter the next guy -- as evidenced by beer labels that boast mixed hops, extra hops or triple hops. Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, Calif., calls its Stone Ruination India Pale Ale "a liquid poem to the glory of the hop!" Delaware's Dogfish Head has pioneered a pair of hop-enhancing technologies, including a "continuous hopping machine" that adds hops gradually over up to two hours of brewing instead of throwing some in at the beginning, middle and end, as is customary. The brewery also invented a method for delivering a final hoppy hit to kegged beer by running it through a hop-stuffed chamber before it hits the pint glass. Dogfish Head calls the device Randall the Enamel Animal, and some bars and beer stores have also started serving "Randalled" beers.

But for a few months in the fall, brewers stop worrying about more hops and focus instead on fresh hops. When first plucked from its stalk, a hop flower is green and about 60 percent water by weight. For brewing purposes, hops are usually dried and refrigerated, or made into pellets that resemble rabbit food. Wet-hop beers use flowers that have been picked just hours before, so they still possess the volatile flavors that are lost during processing. Brewers compare beer made with these moist hops to a meal cooked with just-picked herbs -- entirely unlike one made with dried oregano and parsley from the back of the pantry.

A fresh-hop beer can often, in fact, be less bitter than a corresponding version with dried hops, and instead is powered by floral, citrus tastes. The retained oils line the inside of the mouth and have a tinge of greenish, vegetal flavors. (Many brewers recommend drinking their wet hops with a glass of water.) It's easy to taste the difference between a normal brew and a fresh-hop version -- though that isn't always a good thing. "If you're not careful you can end up with a beer that tastes like lawn clippings," says Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery.

Brewing, of course, has a long tradition of following the seasons. Before refrigeration, beermakers were eager to get their hands on the first hops of the season. They tended to make beers in the fall that highlighted them, before switching to maltier beers as stored hops lost their character. (Germany's Oktoberfest is a slightly different story: The two-week festival now marks the fall with copious amounts of beer, but got its start as a wedding celebration.)

Randy Mosher, a beer author and instructor at Siebel Institute of Technology, a Chicago brewing school, says there's little historical precedent for using hops within a few hours of picking. "What people are trying to do with craft beer is put people in touch with their food again, and remind them that they're drinking an agricultural product," he says.

Fresh-hop beers started popping up about a decade ago when Sierra Nevada brewed its first Harvest Ale. The style attracted other brewers, and there are now several dozen versions available. Sierra now makes three wet hop beers, including one using "estate grown hops," while Steelhead Brewing Co. in Eugene, Ore., last year made a pair of fresh-hops, "Fugglerama GBP 1" and "Fugglerama GBP 2," with two varieties of Fuggle hops. There's even a nascent movement among brewers to grow their own: Today in Kearney, Neb., Trevor Schaben, owner of Thunderhead Brewing, plans on heading out to a hops field 10 miles from his brewpub to pick with a handful of customers (it's the brewpub's second attempt at a wet hop).

Though wet-hop beers inspire brewers' creative fancies, they also pose a logistical challenge. Many breweries are set up to use pellet hops, which are much easier to filter out than the leftover plant matter from wet hops. A wet hop requires a special filter or trapping system to keep the debris out of the finished product.

But the bigger problem is getting the hops in the mix before they've spoiled. Victory Brewing Co. contracts a refrigerated truck to collect hops from a grower in upstate to New York then drive straight back to the brewery in Downingtown, Pa. Come fall Russian River Brewing owner/brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo gathers about a a dozen friends and family members to pick hops on a quarter acre plot a few miles from his brewery in Santa Rosa, Calif. As they pick he begins brewing, then throws in the hops as they arrive from the field. Sierra Nevada uses two varieties -- Centennial and Cascade -- that have different picking periods that overlap for a day or so. The brewery sends a truck to collect the last of the Cascade harvest, then to another field to collect the first of the Centennials, then back to the brewery in Chico, Calif. "I never know what day it's going to be," says brewmaster Steve Dresler.

And for brewers who don't have their own hop farm, this often means paying to have fresh hops sent overnight, multiplying their hop tab. One thousand pounds of hops from Washington state grower Yakima Chief, for example, runs about $2,800 for overnight delivery, compared with $400 for the same amount by slower shipping. Because fresh hops contain so much water, brews that incorporate them can require several times more hops by weight, boosting the price even more. Russian River charges $165 wholesale for a keg of its HopTime Harvest Ale, $50 more than it charges for its Imperial Pale Ale, and $6 per pint in its brewpub, $2 more than it charges for other beers.

But for calendar-watching beer drinkers, the once-a-year brew is worth the splurge. "It's like being able to get vegetables from the farmer's market," says beer aficionado Richard Sloan, a computer programmer from San Diego. "You better be there, or they're gone."

A Taste of the Harvest

Brewers and brewpubs will release fresh-hop beers starting in late September, mostly on tap. Here is a sampling:

BREWER/LOCATION: East End Brewing Co. Pittsburgh
BEER NAME: Big Hop Harvest Ale
COMMENT: This year-old brewery will release its second wet-hop beer this year. The Big Hop Harvest is a variation on the brewery's India Pale Ale, a hoppy brew called Big Hop IPA, but has 7 percent alcohol, compared with Big Hop's 5.8 percent.

BREWER/LOCATION: Left Hand Brewing Co. Longmont, Colo.
BEER NAME: Warrior IPA
COMMENT: Most wet-hop beers are poured from the keg; this Colorado brewery sells its variety in bars as well as in 22-ounce bottles distributed to 15 states. The beer is named for the Warrior hops the brewery gets from Washington state.

BREWER/LOCATION: Rogue Ales Newport, Ore.
BEER NAME: Hop Heaven
COMMENT: For three years, Rogue has brewed a wet-hop beer using Newport hops grown on a farm about two hours from the brewery. This year the company is switching to Centennial hops, and the resulting beer will be ultra-bitter, the brewer says. It will be available on tap nationwide.

BREWER/LOCATION: Russian River Brewing Co. Santa Rosa, Calif.
BEER NAME: HopTime Harvest Ale
COMMENT: Russian River has made wet-hop beer since 1999, with distribution mostly on tap in California. This beer has a grassy taste -- a common feature of fresh hops -- with melon and lemon-zest flavors, says brewer Vinnie Cilurzo.

BREWER/LOCATION: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico, Calif.
BEER NAME: Harvest Ale
COMMENT: Sierra Nevada has made its harvest ale for 11 years, one of the first breweries to do so. Kegs of the beer make it to all 50 states, but it still pays to live near the brewer: Sierra has other wet-hop varieties mostly for local distribution.

BREWER/LOCATION: Victory Brewing Co. Downingtown, Pa.
BEER NAME: Harvest Pilsner
COMMENT: Most wet hop beers are ales. This is a rare harvest lager -- in the Pilsner style -- that uses hops grown in upstate New York and trucked to the Pennsylvania brewery just after they're picked. Its brewer touts its "earthy, spicy" taste.

BREWER/LOCATION: Pelican Pub & Brewery Pacific City, OR
BEER NAME: Elemental Harvest Ale
COMMENT: Cool link and pics. Looks like a really interesting joint. Perhaps we shall be lucky enough to visit one day.