Aged like fine ... beer

In his Washington Post column today, Greg Kitsock explores the practice of aging beers to enhance their flavor.

"Which styles will stand the test of time? High-test brews such as barley wines, imperial stouts, wee heavies and Belgian strong ales have an advantage over beers of moderate strength."

Kitsock also mentions lambics as prime for leaving be a while.

One key in keeping beer around long enough to enjoy it more, he writes, is keeping it at an even temperature of 55-65 degrees, in a nice, dark place. I'd like to try aging beer, but I'm not sure I've got a proper spot for it. Most of what I buy I keep in a smallish refrigerator, around 35-40 degrees, situated under the bar in a "man room" built onto the back of my house. Unfortunately, the room is not climate controlled, and anything stored outside the fridge would alternate between freezing and frying as the years drag on.

Do you keep a stash around, waiting for the perfect time to crack the cap? Where? In the bottom of a dark closet next to your tax receipts, or in a special, climate-controlled room with a double airlock? Click below to comment. I could use the advice.

Now from the "Why didn't I think of that" department ...

Here's a brilliant concept, but probably a bad idea.

You're likely familiar with Camelbaks, the backpack-style water bottles that have been around for several years. Well, some enterprising folks have adapted the design and marketing a bit. Introducing the Beerbelly.

The company's Web site says the product is designed for worn under one's clothing to resemble an ample gut. In theory, this would allow the wearer to carry up to 80 ounces of a favorite beverage into any situation. The site suggests it's appropriate for the movies, sporting events and ... airplanes? I'd suspect at least that last one would break a law or two.

The company also markets a product for women who aren't keen on sporting an expanded midsection, and who'd perhaps prefer a beverage other than beer: the Winerack is worn just as you might imagine.

Anybody out there got one of these things? Where have you used it?

Compromise broken, but by who?

In a post yesterday evening, I reported that Pat Lynch, Birmingham Budweiser vice president, said he blocked a bill in the Legislature last year that would have raised the allowed alcohol limit for beer sold in Jefferson County because the bill's supporters broke a compromise by drafting a bill that also would have allowed for beer sales in containers larger than 16 ounces. The text of the bill in question, however, contains no such language. It's available online at the Legislature's Web site, here.

Stuart Carter is president of Free the Hops, the main group advocating for changes to the laws restricting beer sales in Alabama. He reacted strongly to Lynch's claim, saying supporters had put off the goal of larger container sizes to address the 6-percent ABV limit. The local bill was introduced last year when it became clear that a bill to raise the limit statewide would not pass. Carter says Lynch agreed to help pass the local bill, with the stipulation that higher-alcohol beer must be sold unrefrigerated, but that Lynch later withdrew his support.

Carter and Free the Hops called Tuesday for a boycott of products distributed in Jefferson County by Lynch's company, Birmingham Budweiser, in response to what they said was Lynch's continued opposition to their efforts. A list of brands distributed by the company is available at a discussion of the boycott at FTH's Web site, here.

Lynch earlier criticized the call for a boycott, saying FTH should have called to discuss the matter first.

"We didn't feel it was necessary to notify him we were about to launch a boycott in the same way he didn't feel it was necessary to notify us when he was about to kill our Jefferson County bill last year, " Carter wrote in an e-mail to The Star.

EDIT (3:48 p.m.): A complete response by Carter to Lynch's comments is available online at the FTH site, here.

B'ham Bud's response: How about a phone call?

An executive for a Birmingham beer distributor says he's not happy with calls by a beer enthusiasts' group to boycott his company's products.

A post earlier today carried the news that Free the Hops is calling for a boycott of Birmingham Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch's Jefferson County distributor. FTH president Stuart Carter said the company's vice president, Pat Lynch, was opposing a bill in the Legislature that would raise the allowed alcohol-by-volume in beer sold in Jefferson County.

Pat Lynch, speaking with The Star today, said he is opposed to such a local bill, and that he helped block a similar local bill last year, but that he has taken no steps to pre-empt anything that might be introduced in the Legislature's upcoming session.

"They assume that that’s our position," Lynch said. "It would be good before somebody boycotts us for somebody to call and ask our position."

Lynch said he thinks local bills to raise the 6-percent alcohol-by-volume cap on beer sold in Alabama are a bad idea because they would create a patchwork of regulations for the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to enforce. He said he does support a bill to raise the cap statewide.

A 2007 bill backed by Free the Hops to raise the cap statewide went nowhere after a measure to bring it up for consideration in the Senate failed. FTH backed a number of local bills to raise the cap in some communities, but those failed as well. Lynch said he took action to block the Jefferson County bill because it would have raised the cap and allowed for containers larger than 16 ounces. He said that violated a compromise distributors had worked out with FTH to only lift the 6-percent cap.

FTH says the 6-percent cap and 16-ounce container limit restrict consumer choice, and prevent some of the world's finest craft beers from being sold here. Alabama is one of three states to limit beer's alcohol by volume to 6 percent. The others are Mississippi and West Virginia. Grassroots movements similar to FTH have seen ABV limits in South Carolina and Georgia lifted in recent years.

Lynch said he continues to support a statewide bill raising the ABV limit. He said he might still be willing to discuss that and perhaps a local bill with FTH, but that the call for a boycott wouldn't help.

"A boycott's not going to endear me into negotiations," he said.

The proposed boycott calls on consumers and retailers to avoid buying Anheuser-Busch products distributed by Birmingham Budweiser in Jefferson County.

FTH to B'ham Bud: This boycott's for you

Free the Hops, the grassroots organization trying to change Alabama's restrictive beer laws, is calling for a boycott of Anheuser-Busch products from Birmingham Budweiser, an AB distributor. Stuart Carter, FTH's president, says B'ham Bud is opposing its effort to pass a local bill in the upcoming legislative session that would lift some restrictions on beer in Jefferson County.

FTH announced the boycott in this press release. A list of B'ham Bud-distributed beers is included in this thread at FTH's discussion forum.

It's worth noting that the boycott specifically targets AB brands in Jefferson County, where B'ham Bud distributes. It's not the brewer they're asking folks to boycott, but the local distributor.

My first thought was that FTH's gourmet beer fans might not drink many AB products to begin with. I asked Carter this via e-mail, and he replied the boycott's aim was not so much to hurt sales, but to publicize the distributor's opposition to FTH's efforts.

I've put in a call to Birmingham Budweiser, specifically to Pat Lynch, the company vice president that Carter names in the press release as opposing the Jefferson County bill. Left a voicemail, but no response yet. I've not seen anyone from the company quoted in any other stories about boycott out there in the Web.

Now, a bit of disclosure. I joined Free the Hops back in June at the Magic City Beer Festival. Obviously, as a columnist who explores the diversity of beer, I'm an advocate for more beer diversity in Alabama. I joined to support that cause, thinking that appearances of conflict of interest probably wouldn't arise. It looks like I was wrong in that assumption. I plan to let my FTH membership expire, but you can still expect me to advocate for more beer diversity in Alabama through my column and the blog. But I want readers and the people & companies I cover to believe they're being treated fairly, even if they disagree with me.

What are your thoughts on the boycott? Will you participate?

Today's column

Also available at our Web site, annistonstar.com.

Pitcher This: Laissez les bonnes bières roulez

01-23-2008

If you're of the sort who's usually looking for any excuse to throw a party, it has probably not escaped you that Carnival is upon us, and Lent is looming.

And given that many celebrations in observance of the above involve alcohol, it's a safe bet that readers of this column planning to partake are looking for the proper brew.

Consider what follows a few beads from the beer-suggestion float.

• Is there a better way to celebrate Carnival and the approach of Mardi Gras than outside, on the street with other revelers? Who knows? Better yet, why bother trying anything else?

If you're headed for the coast, why not skip New Orleans and head for North America's original Carnival celebration, in Mobile. That city also was home to Alabama's original brewpub, The Port City Brewery opened not long after the state made brewing in restaurants legal in 1992. Sadly, Port City closed in 2001, but was followed in the same location in 2004 by the Cannon Brewpub, which lasted until 2006.

The good news is that Hurricane Brewing Co. has picked up the mantle, and is celebrating its first anniversary in the same location as its forbearers on Dauphin Street downtown. The brewery is in a massive, three-story historic structure, with a pub-style lounge on the first floor and sit-down dining upstairs.

Apart from the building, one other thing has remained the same through all three iterations: head brewer Todd Hicks.

Hicks says Hurricane's brews tend toward British-inspired ales. If you're there for Carnival it would only make sense to sample the seasonal Flying Debris Mardis Gras, described as an extra special bitter.

The menu is full of pub-style fare, from fish and chips (Southern-fried, of course,) to sausage plates to the regionally appropriate seafood and po' boys. For desert, perhaps step outside and catch a flying Moon Pie.

If you can't head south for a proper celebration, there is some Gulf Coast representation on local store shelves:

• The Abita Brewing Co. in Abita Springs, La., is just a stone's throw from the Mardi Gras ground zero that is New Orleans. They're one of the oldest craft breweries in the country, and claim to be the oldest in the Southeast, founded in 1986.

You'll find at least three Abita brews in local stores, including the company's original Amber, an Oktoberfest-style lager. It's fairly light-bodied, somewhat malty, and without much of the hops presence one might expect from a microbrewer. Abita's Purple Haze, a raspberry-flavored wheat beer, and Turbodog. Turbodog is a dark brown ale, nearly a porter, with lots of chocolaty, coffee-ish malt and just enough hops to offset that sweetness.

• Lazy Magnolia Brewing is in Kiln, off the Mississippi coast where there's just as much French Catholic history as in New Orleans and Mobile. The brewery's Southern Pecan Brown Ale is a sweet, malty treat. Available on tap locally, and now in bottles elsewhere in the state.

NYT: Superbrands for Super Bowl

Say what you will about their brews, but Anheuser-Busch has got to be the king of beer advertising, at least.

With the advertsing frenzy of the Super Bowl just around the corner, the New York Times says in a story today that AB will be saving all its ad love for its two flagship brands, Budweiser and Bud Light.

That seems like an odd decision. We've seen that craft brewing is the only segment of the beer industry with any significant growth over the last few years. And like other mega-brewers, AB has attempted to cash in on that trend with more than a few craft-like offerings. Just on shelves here recently I've seen their Redbridge sorghum lager, Stone Mill and Wild Hop organic beers, and a line of seasonal offerings from their Michelob label, including a marzen and a porter.

Of course, AB didn't get so big and rich by following my advice. And it could be that craft beer drinkers aren't interested in trying anything that comes from mega brewers. Or, perhaps the guys in St. Louis feel Bud & Bud Light need the help.