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According to a new study by Four Points by Sheraton, 80% of people entertaining this year ranked beer as their number one beverage choice beating out champagne and wine from the traditional top spots.

Four Points by Sheraton has a Chief Beer Officer (!). His name is Scott Kerkmans, and he continues:

During these times and with the holiday season upon us, more and more people are realizing that beer is one of those simple pleasures that they can still enjoy without taking a huge bite out of their budget.

The press release includes tips on beer and food pairing, specifically foods served over the holidays, such as ham, turkey, roast beef, etc.

— Consumers Cut Back, Ditch the Bubbly and Pop a Beer This Holiday

Happy New Year!

Mid-Atlantic brewers feted

In addition to local brewpubs celebrating their own winter beers at their own establishments, Mid-Atlantic brewers and their winter beers were celebrated at least four events this December in the greater D.C.-Baltimore-Richmond area.

• The Brickskeller in Washington, D.C.
• Hard Times Cafe in Fairfax, Virginia
• Hard Times Cafe in Bethesda, Maryland
• The Brewers Art in Baltimore, Maryland.

At The Brewer's Art Holiday celebration, Saturday 6 December in Baltimore, Md., I had the opportunity to talk with owner Volker Stewart at his Belgian-bistro themed brewpub and restaurant (and in a follow-up email).

YFGF: I like the format of the event. Closed house, tables set up throughout the upper floor of the restaurant and bar, patrons can meet and greet with the brewers at their tables, and ask them questions as they sample their winter fare. When did you hold your first event?
VS: I want to say 2001, but I am not 100% sure. It used to be almost all owners/brewers, of course this has changed since then (although the owner/brewer turnout for this year was good, and Bill Covaleski said he would have come had he not had a prior commitment). I remember Sam Calagione being there at the first one with his new, then, World Wide Stout.

YFGF: Whom did you invite to this year's party?
VS: Wharf Rat, Clipper City Brewing, Brewer's Alley, Red Brick Station, DuClaw, Dog Brewery, Lancaster Brewing, Victory Brewing, Troegs, Southern Tier, Dogfish Head Brewing Company, Weyerbacher, The Brewer's Art.

YFGF: If a person's friends are a measure of a his worth, Volker Stewart is a wealthy man indeed. Since he opened the pub in 1996, five co-workers have gone on to open their own beer-friendly establishments. I asked him for the list.
VS:

• Annabel Lee, Kurt Bragunier, past GM (Baltimore Md.'s Canton neighborhood)
• Chameleon Cafe, Jeff Smith, past line cook (Harford Road, just north of Baltimore, Md.)
• Clementine, Cristin Dadant, past bartender (Harford Road, just north of Baltimore, Md.)
• Hamilton Tavern, Tom Creegan, current partner (Harford Road, just north of Baltimore, Md.)
• Parkside, Chris Cashell, past brewer (Harford Road, just north of Baltimore, Md.)

Thanking him (and he was busy), I went on to taste the beers, and the generous food spread.

Steve Jones, brewer for Wharf Rat was there, pouring his Little William's Winter Warmer, 7.5% alcohol by volume (abv), gently spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

I said hello to my former employer, Hugh Sisson of Clipper City Brewing. He had brought his World Beer Cup gold-medal winning Winter Storm Category 5 Ale (an un-spiced, strong amber ale, sometimes referred to as an Imperial ESB).

Mike McDonald of Red Brick Station had his Winter Solstice, which he had brewed with two pounds per barrel of cocoa nibs and some Tahitian bourbon vanilla.

Tom Flores is the executive brewer for Brewer's Alley in Frederick, Md. He and his pub's new brewer, Maggie Lenz brought their 6.2% abv Oatmeal Stout, unctuous and tasty. Holding a degree in Food Science, Maggie told me that she was pleased to be applying her expertise to brewing beer.

Jim Wagner --brewmaster for the DuClaw chain of Maryland brewery and restaurants-- was pouring his Devil's Milk Barleywine. Standing next to him was George Humbert of Dog Brewing, pouring a 5.2% abv Juggernaut Porter, a beer whose recipe had been an award-winning homebrew at the Maryland Microbrew Festival.

Tim Wadkins, Victory Brewing's Quality Assurance Director, was pouring the brewery's Old Horizontal. By this point, I took only a sip of this 11.5% abv barleywine.

I noticed snow flurries outside: it was time to end the afternoon. So I finished with a taste of 2008 Festivus, spiced with fresh ginger and orange peel, and a sip of 2003 Festivus, spiced identically. The aging had softened the spices to almost a orange-ade citrus.

And then it was out into the cold ... but I was feeling warmed.

• More photos here.
• Brewer's Art Resurrection Ale is now in bottles, available in limited amounts in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
• (Surprising to me, the other home-grown chain in the area, the Capital Ale House, now with four locations in Richmond and Fredericksburg, Va., held no formal celebration of local winter beers, even though the pubs did pour some local seasonal beers.)

Christmas in Baltimore

Outed! Santa Claus brought me a Miller Lite polo shirt for Christmas. Is that what I've always secretly wanted?

It's been a mini-tradition of sorts for me to hit Baltimore, Md. for a day of beer tasting soon after Christmas Day. It was easier when I lived there. Since 2002, it's required getting off the couch and driving north on I-95.

Last year, it was to the Wharf Rat for a book signing: Beer and Philosophy.

This year, it was with friends to Maxs TapHouse in the Fells Point district, a block from the Inner Harbor.

Among the beers we tried were a cask pull of Weyerbacher Winter; draft JW Lees 1997 (!) Harvest Ale (tasted like a prune juice cocktail... in a good way); bottle Hanssens Oude Kriek; draft Chouffe Houblon; draft Oaked Aged Arrogant Bastard; draft Uerige Doppel Sticke; draft Troegs Mad Elf; bottled Ølfabrikken Jule Ale (Danish strong golden ale hopped with US Centennial); and bottled Ølfabrikken Winter Porter (bottom-fermented porter of about 7.5% abv).

Mark your calendars now for Max's 5th annual 72 Hours of Belgium, a three day celebration of Belgian beer, 13-15 February 2009. In year's past: over 100 Belgian draught beers, and 200 bottled Belgian beers.

Bah, humbug: Winter Beer

Just as magazine issues are released weeks before their printed issue date, seasonal craft beers are often brewed well before their 'season'.

Calendar winter begins on 21 December. Winter beers can appear in early October. On the very day after Christmas, they are undesired by beer shop owners.


In a December beer column in the Washington Post, Greg Kitsock reviewed a new book about Christmas beers, written by Don Russell, who is the Joe Sixpack of the Philadephia Daily News.

The common denominator of Christmas beers is that they have no common denominator. <...> Generosity is a hallmark of the season, and many breweries add a little bit more of what they use during the rest of the beer.

Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest, and Most Unusual Holiday Brews
(Universe Publishing, 2008)

But in reading through the consumer reviews of winter beers (or Christmas beers or 'holiday' beers) on sites such as Beer Advocate, one can find comments such as this one:

Unlike most winter seasonals, this beer is very hoppy with no spiciness. While I'm a hop head by nature, the lack of spice and malt flavor and the overwhelming hoppiness leave me underwhelmed.

To these style Scrooges, I say: Bah, humbug!

Winter beers are celebrations of the season. They can be big, they can be malty, or they can be hoppy, or they can be spiced. Or maybe not. They are not an ordained style.


Early in December, Washington DC's Brickskeller hosted its annual Winter Holidaze Extravaganzee, a two-evening tasting of local winter beers.

Emcee Bob Tupper noted a change in style among local winter beers.

Five years ago, most would be spiced, à la Anchor's Our Special Ale. Now, he observed, even if spiced, they are much more likely to be Belgian in character: strong, dark, and yeasty-fruity.

Four of the attending brewers had brewed their beers all with the same yeast, reputedly the same strain as used by the Trappist monks at Westmalle in Belgium. It was fascinating to taste the differences and similarities. The four were:

• Dubbel from Capital City Brewing, Shirlington (Brewer Mike McCarthy)
  
• Tripel from Capital City Brewing, Capitol Hill (Brewer Ryan Curley)
  
• Dubbel from District Chop House (Brewer Barrett Lauer)
  
• Anniversary Ale (Trouble) from Rock Bottom Brewery, Bethesda (Brewer Grant Carson)
  

All four were brewed with remarkable restraint, the exuberance of strong Abbey-style ales balanced with repeat-drinkability.

A special treat was the 5 Apostles Saison brewed by Jason Oliver.



Mike McCarthy of Capitol City Brewing (l); Jason Oliver of Devil's Backbone (r)
Greg Kitsock of Washington Post (back to camera)

For several years, Jason Oliver has been the executive brewer for the DC area Gordon-Biersch brewpubs. But he has since moved 3 hours south to the Wintergreen resort area of Virginia and opened the Devil's Backbone Brewpub.

The name of his saison derives from nearby moutain peaks of the Blue Ridge. Jason pointed out that the Appalachian Trail is on the ridge just above the brewery.

Other local beers poured that evening were:

• Gordon-Biersch Winterbock (Brewers Ben Matz and Mike Grossman)
  
• Old Dominion Baltic Porter (Brewers Favio Garcia and Jesse Brenneman)
  
• Clipper City's Winter Storm Hop3 Ale, served from a cask (Owner Hugh Sisson)
  

Brickskeller owners Dave and Dianne Alexander then treated us to three additional beers.

• Wyerbacher Wit
• Southern Tier Old Man Winter
• Sam Adams Chocolate Bock

By this point, Jason Oliver, feeling the winter cheer, happily announced:

It wouldn't feel like Christmas without tasting beers here with Bob and Ellie Tupper at the Brickskeller [a 25 year tradition].

Winter continues until the vernal equinox on 20 March 2009. You'll have the time to enjoy these beers of winter.

• More photos here.
• Read a review of the Wednesday tasting, featuring beers from other local breweries, written at blog DC Beer.
• A different tasting of many other Christmas/winter beers described here.
  

No misfortune #2

As has been reported here before, a contest of photos of beer was recently held, conducted concurrently by blogger Stonch of the UK and blogger Alan of Canada.

Click here on Stonch or Alan for the lists of grand and lesser winners.

A photograph I submitted was one of the latter, but yet still a winner.

Consequently, I'm to be a recipient of schwag: an Obaminator tee-shirt, graciously donated by the Wynkoop Brewery of Denver, Colorado, which had brewed a bock beer of that name at the time of the Democratic Party Convention held in that city.

Here is my winning entry.

It's a photo of a firkin of Clipper City Brewing's Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale, taken on 24 September 2007.

The firkin's shive bung tut has been broached, and the soft bamboo spile is fobbing as the firkin comes into condition. The firkin sits covered by an insulated blanket, keeping it cool, in the upper dining room of the Taco Mac Restaurant in the Lindbergh Center of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The glow of a television monitor, displaying a poster advertising the beer, illuminates the blanket. Later that evening, the cask was tapped, and served to accompany a beer dinner, organized by General Manager Fred Crudder and prepared by Executive Chef Matthew Deckard.

And now, my acceptance speech.

Thank you to Jeff (Stonch) and Alan for organizing the contest. Thank you to Wynkoop Brewery for donating the prize. Thank you to Taco Mac for the beer dinner.

And thank you to Cellarman Stephen Marsh of Clipper City Brewing for preparing a wonderful cask of ale.