When not writing on this blog or working for a magazine, I try to find time to create beer-based podcasts, and I’m not alone. This year for the Holidays a group of beer podcasters, friends, got a brilliant idea to do a video podcast beer exchange, and I was happy to be a part of that. I put our piece in without Mark and Mike because of time considerations, certainly wish I could have delayed my part a few days to get their input on this – but there’s always next year.
Below is the video, if you’re interested. It does contain strong language, beer consumption and one guy gets slapped. It also contains a lot of humor, well wishes and another illustration of the diversity and good-nature of those who love good beer.
I sent a few beers out to Muncie, Indiana, for the good folks of the Good Beer Show, headed by JeffreyT and received a wonderful beer from the guys at The Beer Report. You’ll also get to see the guys from Craft Beer Radio, Should I Drink That, Speaking of Beer, Dude Night, Brain Gravy and Big Foamy Head. We are all part of Beer Safari.
You’re likely growing weary of the pleas to be generous this time of year, but this message may just be something you won’t mind doing. Modern Drunkard has an old story, called 40 Things, with a list of things the cool drunkard will do before moving on. Two of them you might try to cross off your list this holiday season.
10.) Extravagantly overtip a bartender.
The next time a bartender is especially kind or proficient, lay a massive tip on her. I mean, massive. You must be relatively sober or they’ll discount the act as drunken foolishness. Say something smooth like, “You’re the best of your kind,” drop the bomb, and—this is important—walk out of the bar without another word. With this single act of unexpected generosity, you will restore a bartender’s faith in humanity and give your own self-image a healthy boost.
I bet many of you have plans to visit a place or two that serves alcohol this time of year, maybe this is a good time to cross this off the list of things to do.
This next piece has a story to go along with it from our local news personalities.
26.) Give a hobo twenty bucks.
Make him promise he’s going to spend it on hooch. It won’t be a hard sell. Twenty bucks is the price of a crappy shirt to you, to our alley brethren it’s a gift from the gods.
Just before Thanksgiving a Sacramento “morning news” TV personality gave a case of beer to a homeless person, which drew venomous attacks from those who thought it was mean, cruel, demeaning or otherwise tasteless. One such attacker was noted to say something along the lines that it was probably alcohol that led the the person’s plight.
As someone who has a bit of experience working with this population, I don’t think there’s any harm in the generous giving of booze to someone on the street. I mean, we give gifts of beer and wine to those we love, how much more charitable is it to pass on this same gift to someone we don’t know? Just a thought. I mean, what else were you going to do with that 20 bucks?
The ‘40 Things’ list is a good, fun read for a dreary Tuesday afternoon. If you choose to pursue a life that sees you happily crossing off everything on the list, I hope you are a good writer because the adventures could prove to be fun reading.
There seems to be a new beer finding its way to my local beer shops every day around this time of year, the winter seasonals! I’ve sampled quite a number of them already, with 2 Below by New Belgium being the most shocking thus far. No, it wasn’t the best beer, but I really (really) did not enjoy this beer last year – maybe I didn’t ‘get it’ or perhaps my palate was just off. Either way, I’ve found 2 Below to be a great hoppy beer this season.
- Smoked beers age better than you might expect. In fact, I recently discovered that smoking malts serves as a preservative of sorts – similar to hops, but not.
- Beers high in ABV generally age better, but… remember you have to actually like the beer before you lay it down. Lots of alcohol doesn’t guarantee 3 years will make it an exceptional beer. If there’s a beer out there that’s over the top in alcohol, but tastes like hell, you can put it away if your only other choice is to toss it. Just don’t expect miracles.
- High Hopped beers are good to age, really. I recently enjoyed a bottle of 2005 Hopsickle that I found to be exceptional. Yes, much of the signature qualities of the beer had gone away with time, but what was left was absolutely wonderful. Just remember that if you’re a hop fanatic, the kind that needs to feel assaulted by your beer, you may lose some of the endearing qualities of your favorite dumperial IPA when you lay it down for a few years.
- Light beers don’t age well. I’ve tried too many Pilsners and Pale Ales, Wits and Hefes that have been forgotten on someone’s shelf – they really aren’t meant for aging. Then again, I hear rumors that some of you actually like skunked beer.
- Corked beer – lay it on its side if you’re aging it for a long time. If you keep it upright, the cork may dry and allow more oxygen into the bottle – which won’t be horrible, but not great either.
- Capped beer can be aged standing up just fine.
- Sour beers can age forever, I am just convinced of that. I had a 1994 lambic earlier this year that seemed as hard as the day it was bottled (not that I had it in 1994). I’ve heard that well crafted Krieks will age for decades with no ill-effect.
- Keep beer out of light if you’re serious about doing a series of vertical tastings some year in the future. You have some wiggle room on ambient temps, but generally you don’t want them over 65 degrees because it can damage or kill whatever yeast may be in a bottle. If you get a beer below 50 degrees it won’t harm your beer, but you also won’t be ‘aging’ it in a very effective way as the yeast will become dormant, lazy (like me in the winter).
- Speaking of vertical tastings – age your beer for a good reason. I don’t necessarily think aging hundreds of beer just to say you have hundreds of beers is impressive. You should try to collect a case of a few different beers every year (for me, I have years of Bigfoot and Anchor Christmas, along with Alaskan Smoked Porter I build upon each year) and then, when you have 5 or 7 years worth – enjoy them! Bring a handful of friends over and either take notes or just see if you can detect the differences of the beer from year to year. Vertical tastings are great, mind opening experiences.
- Be patient. If you can, don’t open your collection for a few years, minimum.
- Belgian strong ales age wonderfully.
- German strong lagers age wonderfully too.
