Where the Wild Things Are

If you spend some time perusing the shelves of any specialty beer store, it’s hard to have missed the fact that beers fermented with the formerly “wild” yeast strain, Brettanomyces, have begun to pop up everywhere. I say formerly because the major yeast producers, Wyeast and White Labs, offer it in an isolated culture to brewers so that they can introduce it themselves, rather than leaving the fermenters open and hoping it finds its way into the beer through the air. The yeast, which gives beers a certain sour character sometimes described as “horse blanket,” is available commercially for home brewers as well. The beers the yeast produces are unique and have the ability to either make instant fans or foes when tasted. Greg Kitsock has an article in the Washington Post yesterday about some of these beers.

As far as the beers mentioned in the article, I know you can find Matilda at D’Vines at 14th and Irving NW because I went there yesterday. I moved to the Columbia Heights ‘hood last Sunday and this looks like it will be my go-to place. I’ve also seen  Wild Devil at the P St. Whole Foods. I haven’t seen either of the Ommegangs or the Bruery Saison Rue, but I haven’t had my eyes peeled. That might even be a good feature for the blog, to post hard-to-find beer sightings, similar to City Paper’s Beerspotter. Man, I am full of ideas. I haven’t had any of the beers in question, so I won’t give a short opinion, but I am very curious to get into some of that Matilda, as Kitsock made it sound so appetizing, and I know it’s available close to my house.

***UPDATE 9-8-09*** Wild Devil is also available at D’Vines.

Good Beerish Column

Maureen Ogle, a historian, often writes about beer and indeed has written a book on beer in America. She’s also an interesting follow on Twitter (@maureenogle) if you’re into that sort of thing, which I am.

She has a good column today in the WaPo about the Beer Summit. Read it!

Beer Madness Finale

So I never updated the WaPo’s beer madness after I initially posted it a few weeks ago. And if you were really dying to know I’m sure you already checked it on its Web site. 

The Final Four proved to be some good competition: Ommegang Hennepin, Troeg’s HopBack Amber, The Raven and Brooklyn Brown Ale. But it turns out Troegs’ HopBack won it all.

I found it really surprising at some of the comments from the judging panel, whom the writer claims are “not beer geeks.” 

One said they preferred the “simple flavor of hops” compared to the subtle, lighter  – and in my opinion more drinkable to a non hop aficionado — Hennepin. I’ve always found within my circle of friends that hops are more of an acquired taste than most other flavors in beer, so I’m not convinced this panel didn’t include at least a few folks who drink their fair share of brew. I guess just because you drink IPAs it doesn’t necessarily make you a “beer geek,” but hey it’s just an observation. 

Regardless, the HopBack won it and I have never tried it, even though they sell it in my usual store, Cairo Liquor. Add that to my bucket list.

My brother — who is in college back in Chapel Hill, to where I am departing today for the Final Four! — recently attended a similar “tourney” at a local beer shop in Carrboro, N.C. I can’t recall the name of the store, but it’s attached to Tyler’s Tap Room, and is probably one of the best beer stores in the area. He said a bunch of people showed up, they tasted every matchup for the 32 beers and then divided the room for the consensus opinion. Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon. Wonder if I can convince them to do an NIT while I’m back this weekend?

Speaking of which, congrats to Penn State (my dad’s alma mater) on their championship last night!

Washington Post Beer Madness!

It’s that time of year again, and while most of us think of March as basketball month, it’s also Beer Madness at the Washington Post. Even though most of us don’t get to vote, and probably don’t have all 32 beers on hand to try it out ourselves, it’s still fun to fill out a bracket.

This is a good warmup for the NCAAs, especially because some of those first-round games might as well be picked after a few beers.

Here’s the bracket.

The first round of beer madness is over, and there were some suprising upsets.

I can not add my own feelings because I have never had either beer, but last year’s champion, Hook and Ladder’s Backdraft Brown, was upset by Dominion’s Oak Barrel Stout. Because of the context in the article, I now very badly want to try both.

Another upset was Bud Light Lime over Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss. Bud Light Lime over anything would be an upset in my book.

I’ve been thinking of a way to economically (We are in a recession after all!) recreate beer madness with some friends, and it actually would be quite easy. Have each friend bring a six-pack – or two for a bigger field – of their favorite contender and randomly pair them up.

To even the playing field, you could actually pair up similar styles in the first round just to be fair. (I’m going to take an imperial stout over an amber any day) Just open a bottle per round and split it among the tasters. Unless you have more than six rounds (which would mean lots of friends!) then you’ll have enough beer to last the tourney and probably some leftover to finish off.

DC Beer Bars

I picked up the latest copy of The Washingtonian on an impulse when I was getting lunch this week. It lured me in with its cover story, “75 Best Bars.”

I have been a fan of bars on the Washington Post’s Going Out Guide Best Beer Selection bars – wow, that was a mouthful – and noticed that under the category “Beer Heaven” in the Washingtonian, there were many of the same places. So here is a cross-referenced list with all the bars from both lists in no particular order:

Birreria Paradiso
Brasserie Beck
Granville Moore’s
Magnolias at the Mill (Purcellville, Va.)
RFD*
The Brickskeller*
Rustico (Alexandria, Va.)
The Red Derby
The Saloon*
Franklins (Hyattsville, Md.)+

*Bars I have already been to
+Franklins was the only bar in the Washingtonian, but not in the GOG

It’s clear my new mission is to visit all of them. My other first instinct is to rank them, but it’s kind of hard to rank them, because I am sure they couldn’t all fit in the same category of “beer bar.” For instance, the Saloon has a great German and Belgian draft selection, but not a great American micro selection, so depending on my mood the Saloon could be very high or very low. RFD and the Brick have a much better American micro selection (even if they don’t always have it *cough*brickskeller*cough*). So whether or not I rank them, at least I have a list to begin crossing off. Hopefully I can find some more to add to it as well.