In recent days, New Glarus Brewing has been tantalizing me on their Facebook feed (and elsewhere) with talk of their new Abt beer. Apparently an Abt is some obscure Belgian style of beer that might also be called a Strong Belgian Dubbel. Who am I kidding? They had me at 'Belgian'. Well, they had me at 'New Glarus' and 'Belgian'. These guys know what they're doing!

As I walked in to Woodman's tonight, I was reminded that I wanted to try some. What reminded me? The case (as in six 4-paks at $9 per) set aside for someone at the front of the liquor department. That's quite a commitment - especially when you consider that it's really meant for laying down in your cellar rather than drinking now.

But who can wait a year, or two or more? Not me. So I cracked one open when I got home. First impression: wow that's a lot of malt! Second impression: wow that's a lot of alcohol! (9.6% ABV, a little more than double that of your MGD). As I sip this gigantic brew, I'm getting lots of fruity qualities (I see that the press release says raisiny. I'll agree). And it's damn good. (These guys say it better than me.)

But it's begging to be aged, so I'll oblige. The alcohol is punching me in the face right now. It needs some time to simmer down, just like that little blue bottle of Sam Adams did. So, I say goodbye to the Abt for now, and shuffle it to that special 6-pak holder in the back of the beer fridge to wait for time to pass... and wait... and wait... Maybe I'll crack one to celebrate TheGirl's high school graduation! (Class of 2016, represent!)

Czech Beers . Seeing the Light

TheWife recently returned from a business trip to the Czech Republic. I made her promise that she'd birng me a couple of Czech beers, and she came through in spades! Today, I'll be chatting about the Pilseners she brought. Other beers and the herbal concoctions she brought back for me will have to wait.

Now, I know that Czech beer is rated quite highly in the world. After all, they invented the pilsener style. The pilsner style comes from Plzen, and Pilsner Urquell is, as the name says, the original beer from Plzen. And I'll bet it's damned good on tap. Unfortunately, they bottle it in green bottles. They do the same thing with the Budvar (the original Budweiser, no relation to Anheuser Busch's sex in a canoe beer). Green bottle storage means that Budvar tastes like... Special Ex. Yes, it's lightly hopped and, thanks to green bottles, lightly skunked. This is the reason I stopped buying imported beer. Inevitably, they package it in clear or green bottles, letting light hit the compounds extracted from the hops, and creating the scent and flavor of a skunks butt. Yum.

Please note that Pilsner Urquell is different from Budvar and Special Ex. Since it's more strongly hopped, it is more strongly skunked. The really sad part - I can tell the Urquell would be delicious if it had been kept from light. The head was goregous, tall, white and creamy. The beer itself felt creamy in the mouth, and there is a more than generous serving of hops in each sip. A lovely beer... if it hadn't been ruined.

Fortunately, we needn't suffer with beers damaged by substandard storage. There are a multitude of golden American beers with solid hop flavor, most of them packaged in brown bottles. I'd say that the bitterness of Pilsener Urquell clocks in a bit below Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. But Sierra Nevada puts their beer in amber bottles, preserving the 'Yum', and keeping the flavor of skunk rectum out of my mouth. Or for those who prefer an more local product (and who happen to live in Wisconsin, like me), I'd suggest Lakefront's Cream City Pale Ale. It's well-balanced, and came on the scene before the over-hopping that ruined many a beer really caught on.

So let's tally that up. Czech beers: 0 American beers: 2

Weekend goings on

This past weekend was action packed! Among a multitude of other events, TheWife and I caught a show (three acts) at the Pabst Theater with some tickets I won from WUWM. Lenka and Missy Higgins were excellent. Opening act Lenka had a fun and quirky pop edge, and Missy kicked ass on the singer-songwriter front. The middle act was Justin Nokuza. His vibe was best described as soulless pretty boy. Uck. An additional bonus? Missy Higgins latest CD was available for $5 (as MP3s) on amazon.com. Bonus!

The most interesting thing for me was seeing the Pabst with only a 3 or 4 hundred people in it. There was lots of empty space, and this being a pop show, looking around was encouraged. What is it about a grand old theater, half empty, that is so enjoyable?

Before the show, we tried to go to Water Buffalo for dinner. Fortunately, they were a bit backed up, and we ended up going to Rustico, an italian pizza/sandwich place a couple of doors down. The salad and pizza we ordered were excellent (a crispy/chewy crust loaded with italian sausage porcini mushrooms)and , as were the libations - New Glarus's Alt really hit the spot (packed with flavor, the malt and hops perfectly balanced)!

Prohibition Genealogy

I'll be the first to admit that it sometimes takes me longer to put 2 and 2 together than it takes the average person. But how did I miss making the connection that my grandparents were kids during prohibition? I knew they were kids throughout the depression (1929-1939), but somehow failed to realize that this meant they were kids during prohibition (1920-1933). I just looked it up in the family genealogy... Grandpa L was born in 1922, Grandma L in 1925, and Grandma F was born in 1916.

I asked Grandpa and Grandma L about it yesterday, and they both had memories of prohibition. Specifically, the had memories of how their families flouted the law. Let me refresh our collective memories. The 18th ammendment prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors", which was basically anything with ethanol in it, with a few exceptions which I haven't bothered looking up.

And how did my proud American ancestors react to this restriction of their ability to purchase beer, wine, brandy and schnaaps? Well, my Grandpa's family brewed their own beer in the basement. Grandpa didn't remember, but I'm guessing this involved malt syrup, water and bread yeast. Probably not the tastiest thing ever, but apparently palatable enough. Grandma's family took a different approach, possibly because they had a source a few doors down where they could buy the distilled stuff. I'd guess the difference was a cultural one, though. Grandpa's lineage is german, so beer was the object, with brandy and schnaaps viewed more as window dressing. Grandma comes from Polish stock, more oriented to vodka. Whatever bathtub hooch the guy down the street had must have fit the bill nicely.

I'll have to see if I can find out what Grandma F's family did during prohibition. They're Norwegian-descended, so their alcoholic heritage would have combined farmhouse brewing and flavored spirits. On the other hand, her granddad moonlighted as a lay preacher, so maybe illicit liquor wasn't an option. I'll let you know if I find out.

Happy 75th Anniversary of Repeal!

On this day 75 years ago, alcohol prohibition was repealed. Most of us agree this was a good thing, and that our country is safer for it, and that life is better for it. So let's sit down with a glass of beer, or whiskey, or what the hell, a glass of each, and celebrate! And while we're at it let's think about the parallels between the violence brought by alcohol prohibition back then, and the violence spawned by drug prohibition now. Here's hoping for another repeal soon!

PS: Thanks to BA for the reminder of today's importance!

Don't let your kids see this!

No, it isn't a biopic on Brittney Spears. Nor is it a treatise on the extraction of psychoactive compounds from banana peels. It's better. This website is loaded with videos of wonderful things to do that will destroy your belongings.For instance: melting a beer bottle! I fear that if you do this with your microwave, it will no longer be fit for heating your HotPockets. But its excellent. In other news: Hey, can I borrow your microwave?

MillerCoors

Molson Coors Brewing Co. and SABMiller PLC plan to combine their U.S. and Puerto Rican operations, creating a beer powerhouse with annual revenue of about $6.6 billion. The venture will be called MillerCoors. The two companies will share control of the venture, but because of the economic value of their respective units SABMiller will have a 58% economic interest to Molson Coors’s 42% interest.

More about the story here. Apparently, Coors has a much more modern plant than Miller does in Milwaukee. Oh, damn. Not looking good for Wisconsin's last remaining mega-brewer. On the plus side, this article says the deal might hurt Bud.

UPDATE!: According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,

None of Miller's six breweries, or the two breweries operated by Coors, will be closed as the result of the merger, said Pete Marino, Miller spokesman.

Good news for Milwaukee, and especially good news for all of those who work at the brewery. Here's hoping that Mr. Marino speaks the truth!

Summerfest!

Had a great time at Summerfest on Tuesday! Saw a bunch of great bands, ate a lot of deep fried things (mmm... mozzarella sticks), drank a lot of fermented things, and marveled at what the young women are wearing these days.

To recreate my day, fry yourself some cheese curds, get yourself a few Cattail Ales, and a few Leinies, log into myspace and surf the pages (this recreates being immersed in a crowd of mindless high-schoolers, college kids, and dropouts), while visiting these websites and listening to some tunes:

• Julie Moffitt
• Roster McCabe
• Pat McCurdy

I saw some other bands, too. But I'll be damned if I can remember their names. They were mostlyof the stop a listen to a song, then move on variety, anyway. The three above were the key shows I checked out. I already had Julie and Pat on CD, and I picked up the Roster McCabe CD at the show. V. Good! All the crowds had their share of, um, interesting people, but the Julie Moffitt crowd was especially interesting, since it was composed of (in ascending proportion):

1. passers-by
2. Julie Moffit fans
3. AFI fans (who looked goth to me, but then I'm an old man, so what the hell do I know?)

Apparently, AFI was the final show of the day, and the crowd wanted to be sure they had good seats. It was pretty weird seeing all these kids in black T-shirts, long black coats, striped stockings and pierced everything, kicking back and listening to Julie. Although I'm sure the fact the Julie was smokin' hot (and amazing vocally, and had a great set list) for the show made the whole experience a bit easier for the hetero male portion of the crowd.

Oh, and it rained a bit. But when has that ever stopped Summerfest from festing?

Wisconsin History

I've been searching through an online database of scanned documents at the Wisconsin Historical Society, and I'm finding all manner of interesting information.


For instance, did you know that there was a tribe of indians in Wisconsin known as the Mascouten? At least there was until sometime around 1800. Most sources guess that they were absorbed at that time by the Kickapoo, but nobody knows where they went for sure. How are we not taught this in grade school? A mysterious disappearing indian tribe! That oughta get the kids interested in state history. Moreso than interminable talk about lead mining, anyway

And another f'rinstance: Miller brewing was founded around 1855. But by 1880, they were still a small concern, as witnessed by this scan (click for readable version):

They're only brewing about 8.5% of what the top guy (Phillip Best) is brewing, and rank fifth in production among Milwaukee brewers with almost 31,000 barrels a year. That's still around 5 times what Lakefront brewed in 2006, but a drop in the bucket compared to Miller's current production. And among the breweries listed in the scan, only Miller remains. Maybe being number one isn't all it's cracked up to be.

There's some pretty cool stuff in this database, check it out!

UPDATE!

Just found this image in the database. Kind of confusing. Perhaps Budweiser was being used to mean Pilsener?

The Girl's New Class

The Girl started a new class last week, and I love it! It's a drama class that's offered through First Stage. This installment is something about asian myths. She's gone to two so far, and is definitely digging the class. She got to be one of the Tigers as they worked on the story about how the tiger got it's stripes. The Girl informs me, based on a related unit at school that it is a 'Just So' story. Huh. I thought those were fables. Go figure.

But from my point of view, the class and her enjoyment of it are only a small part of the fun. Why? Because, the class meets int he Milwaukee Education Center's building on the border of the Schiltz Park and Haymarket Square neighborhoods. Which means it's just across the river from the Brady Street area! So, while she learns more about drama (and she's already filled with drama, if you ask me), I get to hang out in my post-college neighborhood again! An hour at Rochambo here, an hour shooting Photos in Schlitz Park there, maybe throw in lunches with The Girl at my favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurants (Abu's, for instance!), and you've got yourself a happy Fishmonger!

City Brewing to reopen Latrobe brewery!

Way to go, City Brewing! LaCrosse's City Brewing seems to have developed a taste for rescuing regional breweries who once specialized in producing green-bottle beers. Their latest acquisition? Latrobe brewery, where Rolling Rock was produced until bought by Anheuser-Bush in May. Some time after that, City Brewing bought the plant. Now, they've managed to score a $4.5M aid package from the state of PannSlovenia, and they plan to put the plant back in operation by June. Keeping brewery facilities running - that's good for everyone! And can the world's second largest six pack be far behind?

Beer Science

This weekend, I inadvertently performed an experiment with bottled beer. I happen to have a large surplus of bottled beer at the moment. While I'm bravely making headway, some of the beer has been forced to sit out on top of the refrigerator. Thus, it has been exposed to temperatures below the freezing point of water. Most of the beers were unaffected by the chill temperatures. Strangely, though, bottles of Miller Genuine Draft were half frozen, while bottles of MGD Light in the same six-pack holder were unaffected. What gives?

Everything I can think of about Light beer should indicate that it freezes at a higher temperature than regular beer. Regular beer has more alcohol, more carbohydrates, and so on. Yet, the MDG froze first. Anyone have any theories?

Boza

I wonder if SAB Miller would consider working out a distribution deal for the bulgarian beer-like product Boza? According to this story, it has certain ... 'anatomy-enhancing' qualities for women. Of course, the story makes no mention of how to induce your significant other to drink sufficient quantities of the bizarre-looking beverage to make a difference. "Here, honey" he says. "Try this great not-quite beer from the former Soviet bloc! It's in a cheap plastic bottle, a-a-and it's got a shaggy aligator (WTF?!?) on the label!"
Yeah... I'm thinking that isn't happening. What a weird world we live in.

customized beer stationery

The perfect christmas* gift (or kwanzaa gift, or channukah gift, or new year's eve gift, or whatever) for your favorite beer drinker, homebrewer or brewery employee: customized beer stationary!

Bonus! If your name is Isaac Jenner, just print out the image at left and cut to size. Voila! Discount stationary! Everyone else can order it from the link in the title.

Repeal Day!

From The Cocktail Chronicles, on the subject of the December holidays:

"Coming up first, chronologically speaking, is the fabulous new drink
holiday proposed by Jeffrey Morgenthaler to commemorate the end of the “noble
experiment,” the 13-year drought known as Prohibition. On December 5, 1933, the
18th Amendment was repealed and Americans could again legally tipple for the
first time since 1919."

So have yourself a locally-brewed microbrew to celebrate the day. After all, it was prohibition that led to the demise of most local breweries. And it took more than 50 years for the idea to really begin making a comeback. So (if you're from Southeastern Wisconsin), raise a glass of Lakefront, of Sprecher or of one of the fine locally-produced brew pub beverages to the repeal of the Volstead act! Happy tippling!