Good ol’ American Craft Beer Week

The biggest and boldest beer commercials are not necessarily for the biggest and boldest of beers.

And while the fast race cars and “hot chicks” may draw the majority of America to drink mainstream beer, a growing number of beer guzzlers have found their way to American craft beers, often brewed locally and always with great passion and impeccable character. This week marks American Craft Beer Week, so what better time to reflect on the benefits of these smaller brewers who continually find new ways to titillate and surprise our malt-and-barley-loving tastebuds.

History in the hop-ping

After prohibition, American beer manufacturing came back as primarily a mass-produced product. Like many things, it was far more lucrative to focus on quantity rather than quality. Obviously, this eventually opened the door for beer makers who explored the unexplored territories of beer making, varying hoppiness and the other primary beer components while also adding flavorings like chocolate, chilies and fruits.

“The craft brew industry is really the idea of having a vision, taking a risk, building something from the ground up and doing it a lot of times with your friends,” said Bryan Simpson from New Belgium Brewing Co. “It’s a great reflection of the grit and integrity it took to build this country from the ground up.”

Yup, talk to craft brewers, and one is awash with patriotism and all-American love for craftsmanship. Mark Edelson of Iron Hill Brewery has said, “craft brewing is a grassroots [movement], and like so many grassroots movements, it is driven by passion.”

And while there is a whole lot of science to craft brewing, it is clearly also an art: “America’s craft brewers are artisans that rather than working in paint or photography or some of those medium, they are working in beer,” said Tim Myers of Strange Brewing.

Craft brew’s growing popularity

Currently, the United States has 1,753 small, independent craft brewers, according to the Brewers Association. This is the highest number of craft brewers the U.S. has ever had, too. These are folks who produce less than 6 million barrels of beer each, compared to 100 million barrels that Anheuser-Busch produced in 1997 to earn it the title of world’s largest brewer THEN. (Note: 1 barrel = 31 U.S. gallons).

But today, the majority of brewers in the United States, believe it or not, are craft brewers. Probably the reason for this is because it is easier to set up a small business than a big business, of course, and that the market can only sustain so many big beer companies. However, the taste for craft beer grows, according to the Brewers Association. Craft brewers sold an estimated 9,951,956 barrels of beer in 2010, up from 8,934,446 in 2009. That is still a fraction of the beer love that is going around, but, if you are or know a craft beer drinker or brewer, you know this is a demographic that loves to talk about “passion.”

What’s to love…

With more than 1,700 U.S. craft beers to choose from, it can be overwhelming to move beyond the cool labels and funky names. But the good news is that these beer makers have gone to such great lengths of innovation that, much like finding your soul mate, undoubtedly a beer awaits that is your ideal beverage. For the past two years, Russian River Brew Company’s Pliny the Elder has been the Zymurgy Poll’s top American beer. An Imperial India Pale Ale, it might be just your stein of beer. Second best last year was Bell’s Brewery Two-Hearted Ale, an American Pale Ale. Other top brews included: Stone Arrogant Bastard, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Stone IPA. Beer Advocate has also given A+ ratings to beers like Rare Bourbon County Stout that comes from Illinois-based Goose Island Beer Co. They also praise Duck Duck Gooze from California’s Lost Abbey and characterize it as an American Wild Ale. Likewise, Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.’s Bourbon Barrel Fourth Dementia receives merit as an old ale from Michigan.

Have no fear; your next favorite beer is out there—maybe Craft Beer Week holds your destiny and the time has come for you to find it.

 

Moms Like Wine

“There is little doubt that women are purchasing wine more than ever before.”

– From the 5^th International Academy

of Wine Business Research Conference, 2010,

Auckland, New Zealand

I don’t know if you have heard, but Mother’s Day is this coming weekend. And, considering that mothers are pretty universally women, I couldn’t help but think of the impact women have had on wine. Without doubt, some of today’s best, and most trendsetting winemakers are women. And on the other end, market researchers estimate that women make anywhere from 57 to 80 percent of today’s wine purchases.

A 2008 Minneapolis Star Tribune piece went so far as to contrast men and women’s wine buying practices. Reportedly men are more likely to find a wine, varietal, region or winemaker and stick with it. On the other hand, women are tasters, willing to buy a new varietal or wander into a wine section that is less familiar. They listen to wine suggestions from Food Network or look to the wine experts in a store to navigate through the unfamiliar territory. Women are the ones more likely to fill a case with 12 different bottles of wine rather than settling on just one. In essence, women – myself included – love to learn about and explore wine.

License to explore

A great way to try new wines is through a wine club. Lucky for folks close to Hinsdale, one of the biggest and best in the Chicago area is Hinsdale Cellars Inspired Wine Club with more than 400 members. The reason so many choose to join this club is because the wines are not only remarkably good, but remarkably unusual – wines that proprietor Sean Chaudhry has tasted himself, often as he converses directly with the winemakers while walking through their vineyards in Italy, Spain or Argentina. Always on a quest to find better wines and get better values with the bulk buying power of his large wine club, Sean literally travels the globe, testing wines in burgeoning regions and reveling in the artistry from artisanal winemakers.

Lucky mothers

Mother’s Day is but once a year and the perfect time to say thanks to your favorite “mom” — whether she’s your own mom, your mother-in-law, wife, sister,  aunt, or elderly neighbor-lady. Nothing does that better than a six-month Inspired Wine Club membership, and it lasts much longer than a bouquet or box of chocolates. For $34.99/month (no long-term contract required), members receive:

* Two fine wines each month, valued on average at $50 and selected through a rigorous tasting process

* Informative literature on Wine Club wines, including tasting notes and reviews

* 10 percent off all retail wine purchases

* Invitations to “Members Only” wine tasting events

* And just for Mother’s Day — a free box of Godiva chocolates when you sign up!

For more information, come visit the store at 12 E. Hinsdale Ave., the Web site at http://www.hinsdalecellars.com or call 630.654.9862.

– Ivy F. Kupec

 

My New Friend, Sherry

The first time I drank sherry it was by accident. Then I couldn’t seem to get enough.

Picture springtime Sevilla at a tapas café whose sliding glass doors are wide open to easily allow in customers as well as the light, warm evening breeze. In addition to a bustling inside business, small round tables invite customers outside in the quieter cobblestone walkway. The menu is modest and traditional. The wine list only divides reds from whites, with hardly a familiar wine on the list. I close my eyes and pick what I think will be a cooling white, figuring it will be some permutation of the local favorite Muscat. But I don’t pay attention, and when the waiter brings a smaller, narrower glass cloudy from the chill of it being stored in a freezer and filled with ice cold manzanilla “La Goya” sherry, I am at first perplexed.

Don’t get me wrong, I had planned on tasting sherry on this trip, but not until I got to the land of sherry, Jerez. I’m so glad I didn’t wait. manzanilla sherry is the driest of the sherry types and noted for its brininess. In this case, the golden beverage (always served ultra cold) was crisp, light and perfect for the very warm evening in Spain. It shocked my senses such that I returned to the menu quickly to see if more sherry was available to taste. Sure enough, the majority of the wines at this particular location were sherry. Another manzanilla, and then I was into the more amber and sweeter sherry: Oloroso Alfonso and Solera 1847. This was not your grandmother’s idea of sherry, I’m pretty sure.

An introduction to Spain’s fortified wine

Learning about sherry is no easy task. Sherry ranges from very dry to cloyingly sweet, with approximately seven specific types to choose from: “fino-type” known as manzanilla, fino, amontillado, palo cortado and “oloroso-type” that are the darkest and sweetest known as oloroso, cream, and Pedro Ximénez. A tour in Jerez at the Tío Pepe bodega showed the solera system that is used to make sherry. All sherry starts out from pressed grapes that are fortified with grape spirits and then progressively mixed with sherry from previous years such that one cannot buy a specific vintage. It is always a mix of many years’ vintages. Newer casks sit upon older ones and are methodically mixed together to lend the older sherry’s depth to the newest characteristics. However, in the initial fermentation, fino-style sherry is stored in casks that are only partially filled to allow for a layer of yeasty “flor” that prevents oxidation and preserves a lighter color and drier flavor. While most sherry uses Palomino grapes, the oloroso and Pedro Ximénez tap raisin-like Pedro Ximénez grapes in varying amounts to produce very sweet wines that rival the complexity of fine Port, Sauterne or Tokij.

Grandma’s sherry

In February, Lettie Teague wrote in the Wall Street Journal of how restaurants and wine shops often buy sherry more for the proprietors and staff tastes than for the customers’. Indeed, at Commander’s Palace, one of New Orleans most famous restaurants, they go through 60 liters of sherry per week…making soup. And according to our Tío Pepe Tour Guide Roberto, it’s Brits who rival the Spanish in sherry consumption. However, in the United States, we more likely think of sherry as that bottle that sits around for ages saved only for cooking or consumed by little, old ladies who like a sweet drink in small amounts. Teague recounts a disappointing story of going to a bar, ordering sherry and receiving a glass of month-old Harvey’s Bristol Cream at room temperature. “Women love it,” the bartender tells her.

Only a month after Teague’s article ran, New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov countered with his own sherry piece that a revival is afoot in the United States and our taste buds are on the search for something old that is new again. I hope he’s right.

Sherry can be delicious – even cream sherry – but to enjoy what it has to offer it should be served icy cold and from a freshly opened bottle. Keeping an opened bottle more than 2-3 days will only lead to disappointment as I found out in the latter part of our Spanish adventure outside of sherry country, after I had grown accustomed to my sherry aperitif.

So here is my Andalucian takeaway. Give sherry a try. But do it right. Talk to wine gurus like the folks at Hinsdale Wine Cellars who can make sensible recommendations for your taste. Find yourself some marbled Serrano ham and mild Manchego queso and chill a bottle of sherry until you think it will almost freeze, despite the 22 percent alcohol levels that some of the sweetest sherry contains. Then on one of those spring nights that seems far too balmy to still be called spring, bring all these essential ingredients and a chilled glass out to your deck, terrace, balcony or front porch. Taste a little ham. Maybe some cheese. Sip the sherry. Close your eyes. And then tell me you can’t see Andalucia’s poetic olive trees and feel the Spanish sun kissing your cheeks. It’s magical.

– Ivy F. Kupec

 

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