Juicy

Not sure why I've put this off so long...because I really like the new Angry Orchard ciders from Boston Beer. I heard about them, and wanted to keep my eye open for them, because they promised something interesting: use of European cider apples.

Check this out from the press release:

Blending Italian culinary apples from the Alpine foothills with French bittersweet apples from Normandy, Angry Orchard cider makers have crafted the perfect flavor profiles through a lengthy fermentation process, including wood-aging for optimal complexity and balance. 

It caught my interest, and when I saw the Crisp Apple version on tap at Kitty Hoyne's in Syracuse (we stopped for lunch a couple months ago), I got a pint. It was delish! It was not gacky sweet, or light-bodied dull, but a full, interesting palate of apple and light oak flavors. Thirst-quenching and tasty, to boot. Then we got over to the bro-in-law's house, and he's got a fridge shelf full of them.

I got in touch with the guy who'd sent the press release, and asked for samples, and I've enjoyed all three:

• Crisp Apple (5.0% ABV), balances natural apple sweetness with a subtle dryness for a hard to resist crisp and refreshing, fruit-forward taste.
• Apple Ginger (5.0%ABV), combines the ideal blend of fresh Nigerian ginger and apples for a sweet, yet slightly tart taste, distinct ginger aroma and warm finish; and for those looking for a traditional European cider.
• Traditional Dry (5.5%ABV), made in the style of English draft ciders, imparts bittersweet and slightly spicy flavors with a bright apple aroma. Its dry body makes mouths pucker and look forward to another sip.

I've had all three now, and while the Traditional Dry is appealing, and the Ginger is okay for some occasions, I think I like the Crisp Apple best. I wouldn't turn any of them down, though, and given the quality and how easy it is to find them, I suspect they're going to find a place in our coolers for parties this summer.

Yuengling: Dick's on top, baby!

It's strange to think that when I had my first Yuengling 30 years ago, and took my first tour of the brewery 25 years ago, the Pottsville family business was just barely hanging on. I believe they told us that they sold about 165,000 barrels that year, which sounds like a lot in craft brewer terms, but not out of a plant that size, with a staff that size.

Things changed, as we all know, and while Yuengling is still only in fourteen states, they announced today that thanks largely to the huge surge in sales from their Ohio launch last year, they are now the largest American-owned brewery. Think on that, ye mighty, and despair.

For while I love Yuengling -- the history, the stubbornness, the Pennsylvaniality of it all -- it is sobering to think that America's four largest brewing companies, the brands that are household words -- Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, Pabst -- are all either foreign-owned or, in the case of Pabst, gypsy brewers without a home. It is a shock that the largest American-owned brewer sold only 2.5 million bbls. in 2011; that the largest American brewer is a regional anomaly.

So what do we do? Celebrate it! I'm not talking about celebrating that Yuengling blew past Boston Beer, I'm talking about celebrating that a family-owned brewer has beaten the mass-marketing of the nationals on their own turf -- mainstream lager -- and done it with a "full calorie" beer, the stuff they apparently have forgotten how to sell. That's freakin' awesome.

Look, I know. If you're reading this blog, chances are you're a craft beer enthusiast (or a whiskey drinker, and I promise: more of that this year, too!). But ain't it great that people are ready to shrug off mass-media domination and buy regional? Buy something different? I think it is. Yuengling, like Sam Adams, is often the first step for someone to try something other than the usual. This is why "the usual" is sliding hard, and why the big guys are trying to find out how to make something other than the usual (Blue Moon and Shock Top are just the beginning, believe me).

We can be scared by that...or we can embrace it. I'm happy every time a light beer drinker has something other than their usual tipple. I think when a light beer drinker enjoys a wheat beer, an angel gets its wings. And I think Dick Yuengling -- and Jim Koch! -- have had a lot to do with that. Cheers, Dick: congratulations! Keep doing what you're doing!

Boston Beer Takes a Hit

From an AP story posted last night:

Shares of Boston Beer Co. fell Wednesday, a day after the brewer slashed its full-year outlook and posted worse-than-expected third-quarter results. The stock fell $2.87, or 7.9 percent, to $33.69. The stock has ranged from $31 to $54.15 over the past year.
Goldman Sachs analyst Lindsay Mann told investors in a research note that the maker of Samuel Adams beer faces a "much tougher" cost outlook in 2009. Late Tuesday, the company said the cost of a product recall and expenses relating to the opening of a new brewery would drag down full-year profit. The company now expects to earn between 60 cents and 80 cents per share for the year, down sharply from the $1.70 to $2 per share it previously predicted.
Mann cut his full-year estimates on Boston Beer for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

BBC's been all over the chart, but given the product recall (which, while most everyone agreed was well-handled, still cost them a lot (and no word on whether any costs would be recovered from glass supplier Owens-Illinois)) and the costs of renovating the Lehigh Valley brewery, there was bound to be some backlash. Coming when it did, in the middle of an incredibly volatile market, probably amplified the downward pressure.

Not sure where Mann's "much tougher cost outlook" is coming from, though: energy's down (which means glass should at least stay steady) and the German hops crop is apparently coming through really big (just talked to a brewer friend yesterday who was in Bavaria for the hop harvest). Guess we'll see.

I still think BBC and Sam Adams are sitting pretty. Sammy A is the fall-back, the go-to base beer for many craft drinkers, and as prices go up -- and Sammy A stays relatively steady -- I still see more folks going to them. I know, many beer geeks see it as one tiny step up from Budweiser...lieber Gott...but "many beer geeks" are less than a bump in the road.

Samuel Adams Patriot Homebrew IPA

You know Boston Beer does their big Longshot contest every year, giving a couple homebrewers the chance to put their beer in the Big Time and get it brewed, bottled, and distributed by Boston Beer. Pretty cool stuff, and just one more way Jim Koch proves that he really does Get It.

But didja know they also have a New England-only contest for homebrewers to win a chance to get their beer on draft at Gillette Stadium during the New England Patriots season? Now that is sweet, 18-1 or not.

Best of all, after the disappointment of not being able to make one of last year's Longshot winners, a double IPA that just couldn't be brewed because of hops shortages (not prices, we were told: the hops just couldn't be bought at all), this year's Patriot Homebrew, from Massachusetts resident Adam Walsh, is a by-God IPA. And Boston Beer sent me two bottles, so I'm going to taste them. Yes, it's only available at Gillette Stadium, on draft, but...I did make that promise...so here we go.

Wow, that pours pretty! Big head (and yeah, I know, the Sam Adams glass is for Boston Lager...big deal), and deep amber/copper body. There's a wicked sharp pine/pineapple aroma coming off it (with a sweet teasing hint of peach or nectarine) that promises hop!!! and man, it does deliver in the mouth. There's no compromise about this baby, you're getting a bitter shot to the chops that rocks you, and then lingers like feedback echo, with a little bit of alcohol heat underneath to keep things cooking and clean. But it's not whiprazor sharp hopjuice, there's plenty of ballast under there to keep it lined up and on-target.

I was just playing Burnout Revenge last night, see, and this beer drinks like the heavy van in the Crash game. You launch something like the 4X4 pickup or the custom crash vintagemobile, and you've got speed, zing, all that jazz -- but hit a ramp in the wind and you're screwed. Put the heavy van up the ramp and BOOM. It's going right where you want it, and where you want it is getting smashed. This is like that.

Only issue is a slightly green character to the hops. Normally I like that, it's fresh, it's cool, but this is more leafy than hoppy. Not great, but minor. It actually seems to be diminishing as the beer warms a bit.

Going to a Pats game? Brother, do they ever have your beer ready. Thanks, Adam; thanks, Jim.

Biggest American breweries? Right here in PA, baby

In a conversation on Uncle Jack's blog, he and I realized that the biggest production facilities of the two largest American-owned breweries (well, once A-B actually gets bought by InBev, that is, and as opposed to beer marketing companies, like Pabst) are right here in Pennsylvania. That would be the newly operational "Upper Macungie" brewery of Boston Beer in Fogelsville, PA, and the St. Clair brewery of D.G. Yuengling & Son -- "America's Oldest Brewery™" -- outside of Pottsville, PA. (Before we get into it...yes, there's a certain amount of interpretation here: BBC makes about 1/2 of their beer under contract. There is, however, no doubt that they are the two largest breweries, so I'll leave it up to barroom conversation to make the final call.)

As I said there, this could potentially be huge for Yuengling, if they capitalize on it. And if I were Pabst...I'd get my ass out there beating the bushes to buy a brewery post-haste and become America's largest brewery. Pabst: still an icon, still American-owned, and just one brewery short of being what their drinkers want them to be: honest. Hmmm...City Brewing, Latrobe? Wouldn't that be sweet? After all, Pabst used to own that Upper Macungie plant, their last. Time to put together a deal, gentlemen.