Today's column: The best beer for your cheer

Few things go together as naturally as beer and football.

Of course, in Alabama, where the premier brand of the game is NCAA-sanctioned, that means having a brew in the stands will get you flagged for at least 10 yards, more likely the distance to the nearest stadium exit.

Since most schools also frown on grills in the bleachers (even the nosebleed seats), beer at least has some edible company in the tailgate territory to which it's banished.

But while Alabama's institutions of higher learning are happy to have acres of RVs parked and tents pitched across campus, fans merrily grilling away, drinking in public is still technically a no-no, near as I can tell.

Both the University of Alabama and Auburn University have exhaustive online guides to the game-day experience, answering fans' pressing questions: How early on Friday can I set up my tent for the game Saturday night? How close to a campus building can I set up my grill without causing an explosion?

Neither school, however, addresses a rather important question: Can I pop a cold one in the parking lot without going to jail? (And if not, will there be a TV in the jail tuned to the game?)

My own alma mater, Jacksonville State University, provides no better guidance on the matter at its Web site. Since my love of Gamecock sports and tailgate parties rivals my passion for good beer, I've often wondered what's really OK.

I'd say the avoidance of the question amounts to a wink and a nod. While the law may prohibit drinking beer on the street, I'm sure there are more than a few cases consumed outside Paul Snow, Bryant-Denney and Jordan-Hare stadiums without interruption from the authorities. Not quite "don't ask, don't tell" but, "have a beer if you like, but get rowdy and we'll haul you off."

Of course, readers shouldn't take my understanding to mean I tailgate with beer, especially those readers who are members of the law enforcement community.

But, seeing as there are people who drink beer at tailgates and since this is a beer column, I'll do my best to offer guidance. Hypothetical guidance.

Craft-beer lovers have it tougher than fans who prefer mass-produced lagers. A lot can go wrong in tailgating, and the dangers are magnified when you've paid up to $10 for a six pack of your favorite brew.

An unwelcome guest might reach into your cooler. An errant Nerf-ball pass could send your triple IPA flying. Should you really pour a high-quality brew into the plastic cups designed to keep police from noticing your beer? And if they do notice, would you want them swiping a cooler you spent $50 to fill?

So don't carry your best stuff to the stadium, but don't turn to the cheapest light lager on the shelf, either. I'd go with a less-expensive choice from an independent brewer like Boston Beer Co. or Yuengling, or one of the higher-quality selections from the American mega-breweries such as Anheuser-Busch's Michelob Amber Bock or Coors' Killian's Irish Red.

If I were having beer, that is.

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Link to the column at annistonstar.com.

My eyes aren't Irish, but they're smiling

I hit the road after work today for the beautiful white beaches of the Gulf Coast. Made it to the shore in time to have dinner in Pensacola at McGuire's Irish Pub & Brewery. Way back in the day when I was stationed at Eglin AFB, I was a regular visitor to McGuire's Destin location. Since the Mrs. and I were just as far from P'cola as Destin on this trip, we decided to head for the original and less familiar location.

I wasn't disappointed. McGuires was one of the places I learned to enjoy hand-crafted beer, and it's just as good drinking on Pensacola Bay as it is on Choctawhachee Bay. This location gets just as much business as Destin's: too much. The place is always packed. This is the first time I've been back to McGuire's since I started the column, so I'm glad to get the chance to share a few words about their brews.

I started with one I'd not tried before, the Old Fashioned Ale. The menu listed it as something found in every pub in Ireland, but I don't know about that. It's a very light-bodied, pale-colored ale. This one certainly doesn't jump out of the glass at you. The flavor is nice and balanced, with just a hint of ale fruitiness and a hint of hops to remind you you're not drinking a mass-market American lager. Not bad, but not why I came.

After that I had a porter. The sweet maltiness was very welcome after the Old Fashioned. Very smooth, and it went well with the massive steak I ordered.

Then came the stout. This is the beer I come to McQuire's for. Pitch-black, creamy, smooth, dry and coffee-ish. Perfect for desert. That's it pictured at right.

White-sand beaches and the green hills of Ireland don't have much to do with eachother, but if you're ever down here on the coast, you'd be doing yourself a disservice to skip a trip to McGuire's.

Free beer? OK, "liberate" it.

Got an unusual fax at the office recently. The Libertarian Party of Alabama wanted us to know that they're all for the efforts of Free the Hops, a group that wants to loosen Alabama's restrictive alcohol laws to allow more beer variety in the state. There's an online version of the press release here.

The Libertatians' support of the effort makes sense. The party's main aim is to reduce government's control over what Libertarians believe should be people's personal choices. Alabama law limits the production and sale of beer containing more than 6 percent alcohol by volume (we're one of three states to do so - as usual keeping company with Mississippi and West Virginia). The law also limits the size of beer containers to no more than 16 ounces. Those rules keep out many craft and imported beer commonly available elsewhere. A bill to increase the alcohol limit to 14.9 percent died in the Legislature last year.

I'm not sure how much the Libertarians' support will help future efforts at reform. A quick look at the rosters of both the Alabama House and Senate confirms my suspicion that there are no Libertarian members in either chamber. No statewide executive offices are held by Libertarians, either.

Still, as a fan of beer variety, I'm happy to see anyone calling for a change in the law.

Slim pickins, but gettin' better

Beer drinkers who like variety might not be satisfied in the Southeast, but distributors and craft brewers looking for growth will find plenty of opportunity here. That's my take on some of the numbers from sales-data presentation I listened to by phone yesterday.

The "Power Hour" presentation was presented by the Brewers Association, a trade group representing craft brewers. The data came from Information Resources Inc., which measured beer sold at U.S. supermarkets nationwide during the last half of 2006 and the first half of 2007. The most interesting part of the presentation, to me, was the regional breakdown. I got a good sense of the South's beer tastes and habits as compared to rest of the country.

For starters, there's not many different labels on our shelves, relatively speaking. There were just 263 craft beer brands for sale in all of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. That might sound like a lot, but it was the smallest selection of any region in the country, well behind the next-lowest place, California (treated as region unto itself), at 317 brands. Every other region boasted at least 340 brands, with customers in the Great Plains states choosing from among 507. Meanwhile, craft beer made up just 2.7 percent of all the beer sold in the Southeast. It was at least 4 percent of the market in every other region, and as high as 12.5 percent of the market in the West.

I'd imagine that lack of selection stems from the fact that the Southeast is home to two of the three states in the country which still restrict sales of beer to a low -alcohol content - Alabama & Mississippi. And of course, South Carolina raised its 6-percent alcohol-by-volume limit this year. Georgia's was lifted in 2005. And that's where the good news for fans of beer variety comes in.

The Southeast showed the biggest gain in sales of craft beer among all regions, with 33.8 percent growth over the previous year. I figure that's due at least in part to Georgia's decision to lift its alcohol limit, letting in a flood of specialty brews. If Alabama and Georgia ever follow suit, that sort of growth can only continue.

To be sure, there's much more to beer than craft brewing, and IRI's numbers show that. I'll be digging into them further over the next few weeks to bring you whatever interesting nuggets I can find. Meanwhile, feel free to dig through them yourself. They're in PDF format at The Brewers Association Web site.

Enjoy!

Home cookin'

Around the time I started writing the Pitcher This column, Star photographer Kevin Qualls got interested in home brewing. Kevin read everything about the craft he could get his hands on, bought the best equipment he could find, and started looking for the best recipes for beginners. For starters, he settled on The Home Brewery's Yellow Dog Pale Ale.

His first batch was ready for consumption late last week, and he brought me a couple of bottles to sample. I uncorked them tonight with dinner. What he labeled "Mr. Q's Nice Try Hop Head" was better than I would have expected for anyone's first attempt at brewing beer in their kitchen. It poured a beautiful, hazy amber-orange with a nice, foamy-white head (pictured at right with Kev's "custom" label). The flavor was outstanding, with a strong hops presence that was rather tasty.

Kevin's second batch is due to be ready to drink soon, and his third is almost ready for bottling. I'll have to show up to help out with the brewing process to see how its done. I look forward to giving you more reports on Mr. Q's brews.

Also, I'm looking for Calhoun County-area homebrewers to talk to for an upcoming column on the craft. Leave a comment below, or e-mail me at bcunningham@annistonstar.com if you'd like to help me out.

Athens doesn't dry out

Voters in Athens, Ala., yesterday rejected a move back to city's dry days. A measure to outlaw alcohol sales was soundly rejected, 68 to 32 percent, according to the Associated Press. The city only voted to go wet about four years ago. City officials to the AP the sales had raised city revenue by about $250,000 annually, and others said predicted social problems stemming from alcohol had failed to materialize.

I don't know what the beer selection is like in Athens' stores, but it's a heck of a lot better than it could have been.

Cheers, Athens.

Field trip?

My editor forwarded an interesting e-mail to me the other day. It was from the Brewers' Association, a craft beer industry group. Would we like credentials to cover the Great American Beer Festival in Denver this October, the e-mail asked? Like a bear in the woods needs a roll of Quilted Northern we would.

I'm signed up to attend, but the trip is still in the air. With space reserved on a friend's couch in Denver, it all depends on the price of a plane ticket. While the paper is more than willing to indulge my love of beer with space for a column, I wouldn't expect them to fly me to Colorado to drink beer. My Mrs., thankfully, has been more indulgent. Should airfare prove affordable enough she'll be heading for the mountains with me.