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Tapping into Fine Beers

Posted on: Monday, 17 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

Imagine that when it came to wine most Americans drank only lambrusco, the sweet, soda-pop red made famous by Riunite.

You'd go into a wine store and it would be stacked with aisle after aisle of lambruscos _ with maybe a few burgundies and chardonnays in a corner.

You'd go out to eat and the wine list would have 20 different lambruscos _ and only one or two cabernet sauvignons or pinot grigios.

What a sad place this nation would be. Nothing but lambrusco, lambrusco and more lambrusco.

Now you understand the situation in America when it comes to beer.

More than 80 percent of the market is dominated by a handful of mega-breweries that make versions of lager, mostly of the pilsner variety. Light in color, light in taste, light in alcohol content.

In America, beer is almost always a blonde.

The problem is not looks _ not with chemical enhancements to give it a rich color and a foamy head. The problem is taste.

The difference between drinking fine beers and these mass-produced lagers is the difference between eating a steak and eating a picture of a steak.

Until about a decade ago, even if you wanted to experiment with different beers, you were mostly out of luck. Mercifully, the Dark Ages are over, and we have been happily in the midst of a beer renaissance.

If you doubt the times have changed, you should have been at the beer-tasting held at the University of Pennsylvania Museum last month, as part of the Book and the Cook festival.

More than 1,000 beer aficionados gathered to listen to beer guru Michael Jackson speak on beer _ and taste a sample of 10 exotic beers, including a Jewish rye beer that tasted like ... well, Jewish rye bread.

As Jackson has written in his book "Ultimate Beer": "In an age when more people work at computers than in coal mines, the thirst for beer is changing. There is a trend toward drinking less but tasting more."

Imported varieties of stouts, porters, ale, bocks and Belgian tripels are increasingly stocked local delis.

And many places have been pouring more than a dozen different varieties from their taps.

So why are you sitting there still nursing your lambrusco? I mean, your Bud. Why not get off your duff and experiment with these new beers?

There are two impediments:

First, these beers are more expensive than the mega-brewery brands. While a six-pack of Budweiser goes for about $1.20 a bottle at take-out stores, craft and imported beers can range from $1.50 to $8 a bottle.

Second, the world of beer can be confusing. You've got your porters, your Russian Imperial Stouts, your IPAs, your doppelbocks, your wheat beers, your Scottish-style ales. But wait, there's more. At a good beer store you could be confronted with 500 different brands. You can suffer analysis paralysis.

Do not be disheartened. I am here to serve as your Sherpa on this climb.

First things first. The best way to try out a new beer is to buy a new beer and drink it. To be frank, though, it is too expensive to gamble by purchasing a case, which can cost up to $100 for 24 bottles. It will hurt bad if you find the brew undrinkable.

Luckily for you, beer stores and bars with take-out have popped up that stock lots of different varieties and brands.

My favorite is the Foodery, Jack Lee's deli and beer store in Philadelphia. It stocks more than 700 different brews, and the staff is knowledgeable and helpful.

The best way to taste beer is with friends. Along those lines, and strictly in the interest of advancing the cause of beer knowledge, I hosted a beer-tasting party recently. With the help of Foodery staffers Ian Pyle and Sean Wolfe, I picked 10 beers and laid them out in front of my panel of tasters.

A word to the wise here. Lager has the lowest alcoholic content among all types of beers and ales, averaging between 4.5 percent and 5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV).

Imported and craft beers have more of a kick. An ABV of 8 percent to 10 percent is not uncommon. Most of these beers list their ABV on the label.

These brews are meant to be sipped, not chugged _ if you want to remain standing.

Of the 10 beers we selected, five were domestic and five were imported, five were light and five were dark. The idea was to get a good mix.

My four tasters weren't beer aficionados. For most of them, their beverage of choice is wine. But all of them are smart about food, know how to cook, and are open to experimentation. And all of them are guys. Guys like beer.

I asked my tasters to score on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 the best. It was a blind test. I wrapped the beers in brown bags and served samples in plastic cups.

Darned if they didn't surprise me. Since they were fairly new to the world of beer, I thought they would prefer the brews that were like traditional lagers.

They didn't. The top-scoring beers were dark, hearty brews, including an Imperial Porter, which is to beer what espresso is to coffee.

They also surprised me by voting for an ale produced by a local brewery over the most famous names in foreign beer.

Victory Brewery's Golden Monkey Tripel Ale ranked third overall, beating out the Belgian-made St. Bernardus Tripel Ale. And it's a heck of a lot cheaper. The Victory cost $2.90 for a 12-ounce bottle at the Foodery. The St. Bernardus cost $4.75.

At the end of the night, over hot bowls of homemade chili, a consensus was reached: Good beer has the complexity, depth and flavor of the best of wines.

And once you have tasted well-crafted beer, it's unlikely you'll go back to the weak and watery world of the mass-produced brews.

Slowly but surely, the American beer market is changing to resemble what it was like in the 19th century, with hundreds of breweries, producing many different varieties of beer and ale. The big difference is these local brews have a wider reach, with national distribution of their brews.

What a glorious age in which to live. When it comes to beer, this is the best of times.

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TOM FERRICK'S RECOMMENDATIONS:

ULTRABRUNE BELGIAN BEER

Brewery: Brasserie d'Ecaussinnes, Belgium

Type: Beer

Alcohol content: 10 percent

Cost per bottle: $3.25

This is a brown beer in a bottle that reminded me of an old Schmidt's beer bottle. At 10 percent ABV, it carries a lot of kick, and one judge found it too strong for his taste. But this craft beer from a Belgian microbrewery scored highest overall, with judges praising its "depth and balance" and its "nice finish."

Score: 8.50

GONZO IMPERIAL PORTER

Brewery: Flying Dog Brewery, Denver, Colo.

Type: Porter

Alcohol content: 9.5 percent

Cost per bottle: $2.95

This brew was made to honor the memory of Hunter Thompson, the gonzo journalist who committed suicide last year. My judges loved this dark, creamy porter and praised its body, its undertones of chocolate, and its creamy finish. "It has a nice balance of bittersweet and creamy," one noted.

Score: 8.25

GOLDEN MONKEY TRIPEL ALE

Brewery: Victory Brewery, Downingtown, Pa.

Type: Tripel ale

Alcohol content: 9.5 percent

Cost per bottle: $2.50

This fizzy, Belgian-style tripel ale was a hit with the judges, outranking a famous ale from the St. Bernardus Brewery in Belgium. One judge called it "crisp, elegant and balanced," while another praised it as "yeasty and sweet, smooth and easy to drink."

Score: 8.00

ST. BERNARDUS ALE

Brewery: Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV, Belgium

Type: Tripel ale

Alcohol content: 8 percent

Cost per bottle: $4.75

Note that Belgian ales are costly. Most Belgian ales have their roots in monasteries, dating back to the late Middle Ages. Although few are made by monks today, the brewing follows their standards and recipes. Generally, I find Belgian ales too soft and fizzy _ as if someone had shot CO2 into the bottle. But there were judges who liked those tiny bubbles. One praised its "creamy champagne bubbles."

Score: 7.75

OLD CHUB ALE

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery, Lyon, Colo.

Style: Scottish ale

Alcohol content: 8 percent

Cost per bottle: $1.60

This ale comes in a can, but it packs a lot of taste. My judges found it to be a flavorful brew. "One of my favorites," one wrote, "chocolatey and creamy, really nice drinking." And strong enough to withstand spicy food, the judges said.

Score: 7.40

EGGENBERG URBOCK 23

Brewery: Castle Eggenberg, Austria

Style: Bock beer

Alcohol content: 9.6 percent

Cost per bottle: $3.35

Bocks are lagers on steroids. This one is from one of Europe's oldest breweries and is a personal favorite, but not with the judges. They liked its caramel color, its yeasty aroma, and thought it would go well with mild sausages or pork. But it didn't wow any on my panel. They found it passable, but not exceptional.

Score: 6.75

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NOT RECOMMENDED:

The Treeganator

Brewery: Troegs Brewery, Harrisburg

Style: Ale

Alcohol content: 8.2 percent

Cost per bottle: $1.85

The Troeg brothers of Harrisburg produce good beers, but most of my judges didn't take to this one, a dark version of a German-style ale. One judge liked it because it was "dark, but easy to drink for a dark beer." The others were harsher, with such judgments as "watery, thin and sharp," and "too hoppy, not balanced."

Score: 5.15

DOGFISH HEAD 90 MINUTE IPA

Brewery: Dogfish Head, Milton, Del.

Style: India pale ale

Alcohol content: 9 percent

Cost per bottle: $3.15

IPAs have their roots in the British empire and the difficulties of exporting English-made beers with long travel times and swings in temperatures. In 1790, though, a formula was developed that enabled the brew to withstand the voyage to India, by increasing the hops and the alcohol content. It was called India pale ale. My judges split down the middle on this IPA, ranging from "bitter" and "too hoppy" to very drinkable. Score: 5.00

AVENTINUS WEIZENBOCK

Brewery: Schneider & Son Brewery, Germany

Style: Bock beer

Alcohol content: 8.2 percent

Cost per bottle: $6.95

Some beers are an acquired taste. This is one of them. Despite its impeccable pedigree as the oldest wheat doppelbock of Bavaria (and despite its eye-popping price), most of my judges hated the stuff. It reminded one of Karo syrup. Another called it: "smoky, malty, syrupy, maple sweet."

Score: 5.0

HELEVIUS KAPER

Brewery: Elbrewery Co. Ltd., Poland

Style: Beer

Alcohol content: 8.7 percent

Cost per bottle: $2.20

I included this beer because it was the closest in taste and color to American lagers, though it has more kick. It didn't pass muster with the judges. They found it was too simple and too sweet. I have a higher personal opinion of Helevius, but the judges have spoken. Score: 4.15.

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(c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

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