What's brewing this weekend

A colleague who lives nearer to Birmingham offered to pick me up something this week on his regular trip to Whole Foods. He brought my request with him to the office today - a six pack of Sweetwater IPA, newly legal again in Alabama. The brewers reportedly adjusted the recipe, bringing the ABV back under 6 percent. Now if only someone would start stocking it in Calhoun County (the trucks have to go right past us from Atlanta to Birmingham, after all).

The sixer will be nice to have around for the weekend, though most of my consumption likely will come at the Berman Museum's Suds Fest (see last week's column about it, here). I'll have to hold a couple back for next weekend, when a beer-loving friend from Denver pops in for a visit.

What will you be sipping this weekend, and where? Click below to comment.

Today's column: Brewing it our way

We Americans like to do things our way, even (sometimes especially) if old-world tradition frowns on it.

Exhibit A: the Berman Museum decides to throw an autumnal celebration of beer, holds it on one day in September, and does the whole thing indoors.

Oktoberfest it's not, but then, Anniston ain't exactly Munich.

The museum's fourth annual Autumn Suds Fest is set for Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. The proceeds this year will help support a touring exhibit arriving in October 2009, Mary Lee Bendolph: Gee's Bend Quilts and Beyond.

That national independent streak of ours goes for our beer, too.

For every established European style of beer, there's a few dozen American brewers concocting their own interpretations.

It's very proper that Suds Fest takes place at the museum, where relics from around the world are displayed alongside artifacts of American history. At this year's festival, attendees will get to sample established European beers, many of which epitomize their respective styles, then quaff a version from a domestic brewer.

Expecting that the more-local brew will always seem the worse for comparison with competition from across the pond? Think again. The old bias against American beer may have been closer to the truth in the past, but independent brewers a generation ago began a revolution that is still reverberating through the market. Now, even the big U.S. labels are getting experimental, moving into territory once dominated by imports and smaller insurgent American brewers.

Anheuser-Busch, for example, has been using its Michelob label to bring a range of different styles to market that may be unfamiliar to many American consumers. There's a porter, a hefeweizen and a pale ale. Michelob Marzen will be on hand at the festival, for comparison to the seasonal Oktoberfest offering from the venerable Spaten label from Germany.

Also, Coors has scored a major success with its Blue Moon, a version of a Belgian "white," or wheat-based beer, and a line of co-branded seasonals. Suds Fest participants will get to sample it alongside the "original" Belgian white, Hoegaarden.

Some of the craft brewers leading the major labels down that path will be represented, too. Brooklyn Brewery's Brown Ale will be served alongside the ubiquitous Newcastle Brown Ale from Britain, Sierra Nevada's seasonal Summerfest Lager will match up with the Czech Pilsner Urquell, and Sierra Nevada's porter will stand alongside the Taddy Porter from Britain's Samuel Smith.

Even one Southern brewer makes an appearance, with the 420 Pale Ale from Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing served next to the U.K.'s Bass Ale.

The beer is being provided by three distributors, Alabama Crown, Bama Budweiser and Supreme Beverage. Served with the suds will be bratwurst and other beer-friendly food. Museum development director Lindie Brown says there will also be darts, giveaways, museum tours and a more social atmosphere than in years past.

To attend, make a reservation ($25 per person or $45 per couple) by calling 237-6261.

Today's column

Has it been a week already since my last post? Wow, I owe you guys an apology. Here's my latest column, also available at The Star's Web site, here.

Pitcher This: A pint at the museum

09-12-2007

You're standing in a large room, surrounded by priceless works of art and rare relics of history.

There's a Winslow Homer watercolor on one wall. Nearby rests a bronze sculpture by the French master Rodin. And scattered about are pistols, combs, silverware and other objects once held by Napoleon and Hitler, men who nearly had all of Europe in their grasp.

Perhaps the last thing you'd expect to hear the person next to you say is, "Beer me."

OK, so the discourse probably won't be quite so coarse this weekend, but there will be plenty of malted beverages on hand at the Berman Museum of World History.

The museum's hosting its third annual Autumn Suds-Fest on Saturday, from 6-8 p.m.

The event was born when a museum volunteer who'd traveled in Germany wondered if the regular wine-related fundraisers could be translated from grapes to grain, according to Lindie Brown, development director for the Berman and the Anniston Museum of Natural History.

A few grilled bratwurst, some pretzels and many brews later, the Suds-Fest was born.

The idea was conceived as a local version of Oktoberfest, the traditional Bavarian festival in which beer is the star attraction. But the scheduling didn't quite work out for the museum, Brown said, Oktoberfest traditionally taking place as it does for 16 days in September leading up to Oct. 1.

Brown says proceeds from the event in the past have helped pay for renovations to the museum's lobby and elevator. This year, though, the beer should help boost a traveling exhibit headed here in 2009 called "The Working White House." That's another place one wouldn't expect to be asked for a bottle opener.

Two area beer distributors are providing the beer for tasting. Anniston's Hughes Beverage Co. will bring a range of brews including the well-known Dutch lager Grolsch, Anchor Steam Beer from the San Francisco microbrewer of the same name, and Abita Purple Haze, a raspberry-flavored wheat microbrewed product from Louisiana. Bama Budweiser will provide extra special bitter from Seattle-based Redhook Ale Brewery and Michelob Marzen, a big-brewery attempt at a popular Oktoberfest style, among other offerings.

The museum at least won't have to worry about patrons grabbing a rare German stein off the wall to fill it with lager. Collections manager Robert Lindley says there are no beer-related items in the museum's holdings.

But are museum officials worried about their valuable art and artifacts with so many potentially-tipsy patrons on the premises? Brown says participants the last few years have been very well-behaved. Still, she said with a laugh, the galleries will be open for tours before the tasting. Not after.

"We've never had a problem," she said. "But that's why we give them little-bitty beer-tasting cups."

Tickets are $25 for individuals, $45 for couples. Make your reservations in advance by calling the museum at 237-6261.

Pitcher This appears in The Star every two weeks. There's more online at http://pitcherthis.blogspot.com.