A REMINDER ABOUT OUR RATINGS SYSTEM

For those not as insane and obsessively strange as I am, the notion that I actually spend even microseconds "rating" a beer is a bit too much to take. I have been verbally mocked and harassed by several individuals whom I shall not outright name for said behavior, though I will say that one lives in my house and her name rhymes with "Bebecca". However, if you have stumbled upon this site and have yet to run in terror, I say - please come in, gentle friend. You and I - we understand each other.

Back in April I tried to write up a rudimentary scorecard that detailed Hedonist Beer Jive's "ratings system", in the hope of helping you discern the difference between, say, a 6.5/10 from a 7/10. Oh, you may laugh about such anal retentive hairsplitting now, but who will have the last laugh when you don't listen to me, and end up pouring your Dunkel Weiss down the drain in frustration? So let's revisit the aforementioned ratings system, shall we? It may help you to better understand just what it is that I want you to drink tonight:

10: An exceptional, world-class beer that is among the small handful of the best I've ever had. Reserved for the greats, like DESCHUTES' Black Butte Porter or ANDERSON VALLEY's Boont Amber, or like recent discoveries of mine like TRAPPISTES ROCHEFORT 8 or HACKER PSCHORR DUNKEL WEISS.

9-9.5: A knockout, stellar beer that I'd drink again anytime, anywhere. We've already thrown two 9's on this site at BEAR REPUBLIC's Racer 5 (since lowered to an 8 after my second taste of this) and DRAKE'S Denogginizer, and then gave MOYLAN'S India Pale Ale a killer 9.5. I'd also add that RUSSIAN RIVER's Rejection Belgian Black Ale deserves a 9 as well.

7-8.5: Very good beers that I can recommend and drink repeatedly with pleasure, just lacking something that keeps it from the true heavyweights.

5-6.5: A good microbrew, usually best tasted once before moving on to something else, with the thought that maybe it might get ordered again somewhere down the road.

3-4.5: A disappointment or something just not that worthy. Drinkable, and that's about it.

1-2.5: A crap beer that I will never drink again & will encourage you not to either. So far we've awarded this brilliancy prize to COAST RANGE'S Famhouse Saison 7, and thankfully no one else.

0-0.5: Blatz, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors Light, etc.

A DOUBLE IPA TO BE SMITTEN WITH

I've always been kinda so-so on the offerings from the LAGUNITAS BREWING CO., based out of Petaluma, CA. They've done a great job getting their wares on taps across the San Francisco Bay area, and I know I've seen their basic IPA on taps in other states. It's everywhere here, almost as popular as Anchor and Sierra Nevada. I just think it's average at best. Others beg to differ - a beer-obsessed co-worker of mine professes deep love & admiration for their products & relays that Lagunitas is all she and her husband drink at home (that and water). With that in mind I decided to try out their Double IPA LAGUNITAS MAXIMUS when it popped up on the shelves of the City Beer Store, and I wasn't in the least bit sorry I did.

The "Maximus" advertises its ingredients as something along the lines of "Hops, Water, Hops, Hops, Yeast, Hops, Barley, Hops and Hops". Yes, the breweries are very clever that way these days. Loading lots of hops into your IPAs seems ripe for cheap comedy in their eyes, but I reckon it gets the point across. I thought this beer was fantastic & balanced exceptionally well. It was a cloudy golden in color, and was a smooth drink through and through, but with that bitter, biting hop taste that you Double IPA fans know and love. It really went down easy & didn't have that overwhelming aftertaste of, say, the Smuttynose IPA or even the Racer 5 from Bear Republic. Both fine beers. This one's better. Say hello to Lagunitas Maximus - a super-impressive 9/10!

SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAIN BREWING ORGANIC DEVOUT STOUT

Down in Santa Cruz, which is 90 minutes south of my home in San Francisco, a new brewery has popped up called SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAIN BREWING that’s starting to garner some quick attention for its devotion to "organic" brewing (much like the EEL RIVER BREWING CO.) and for the high quality of its products. They're not available in the greater Bay Area, though, so on a fact-finding mission to Santa Cruz a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at the hippie grocery store downtown and picked up a bottle of this ORGANIC DEVOUT STOUT and gave it a whirl. Pretty impressive. This crew knows how to bring out the deep chocolaty tastes in a stout and mix it almost with an espresso feel - oh yeah, with a bunch of alcohol too -- making it easily as good as any of the celebrated Irish stouts available everywhere. There's a "roasted" taste to this one that you'd probably look for in any good stout - god, I have to admit it's been so long since I've had a stout that this was truly a pleasure. It must be all those Double IPAs and Belgian Ales I've been consuming - something this smooth & enjoyable is a total counterbalance to the taste bud-engulfing hop monsters regularly served up in my house or in my bars of choice. It wasn't perfect (I'll go with a very respectable 7/10) but hey, these guys have been in business like 2 months and they're already off to a roaring start. Give 'em a ring next time you're in Santa Cruz to watch some world beat bands or to play in the hacky sack tournament!

GOOD BELGIAN, BAD BELGIAN

One of the best things about being such a beer greenhorn is getting to play catch-up on the vast world of Belgian beer. The San Francisco Bay Area features a number of stores that import dozens of different beers from Belgium, and there are bars such as the Toronado where the Belgian beer has been elevated to rockstar status. They truly are the rockstars of the beer world right now, and the more I sample, the more I’m learning about the multiple rich, complex, flavor-bursting beers from this small European country. To that end, I tried a MAREDSOUS 8 on tap at the aforementioned Toronado last weekend, and I was pretty goddamned pleased about it. This is made by the Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, the same team that brought you DUVEL (I drank Duvel for the first time in 1990 at a pub in Prague, and thought I’d died & gone to heaven). This one is a Dubbel, and has an ABV of 8% - not shabby, and definitely something that’ll get your buzz on. It poured a dark maroon and had this “roasted” taste to it that was pleasant, with a little bit of fruit sneaking in there as well. It may have smelled and tasted a little too much of alcohol to make this a top-tier beer, but the 7.5/10 I awarded means I’ll undoubtedly come back to it someday.

I wish I could say the same about POPERINGS HOMMEL ALE, but instead I poured the last third of it down the drain. It was a sickeningly sweet ale that was a golden yellowish (it’s listed as a “Belgian Strong Pale Ale”) and smelled very floral or honey-ish, but really not in a good way. I wanted to appreciate it, I really did, but it just tasted like someone’s cliché idea of what a European ale should taste like, and its bitterness was not the bitterness I’m hoping for when I drink a $3.50 bottle of beer. I gave it a 4/10, and that’s not too good. Bad Belgian! Stay out of my house.

A SALUTE OF SORTS TO THE CELEBRATOR

In Northern California there exists a free monthly magazine devoted exclusively to craft beer called THE CELEBRATOR. If you live in the United States, you doubtless have one of these papers in your neck of the woods as well – ALE STREET NEWS on the East Coast, NORTHWEST BREWING NEWS in the Pacific Northwest, etc. These papers are generally supported by ad revenue from microbreweries and pubs, as well as from what I assume is some meager subscription revenue. That said, they are a labor of love that have probably done more to push and increase the consumption and appreciation of speciality beer than every friggin’ beer blog combined. I first started picking up The Celebrator in the early 1990s, when the triumph and growth of microbrewed beer with anything but assured – at that time it focused primarily on the west coast. You know why? That’s where all the good beer in America was coming from. Back then I remember it was a minor miracle if you could find a bottle of Anchor Steam or Sierra Nevada on visits to Southern California, yet The Celebrator was flying the flag for nascent breweries like Devil Mountain and Anderson Valley who were just getting it together in those early years.

Their enthusiasm and out-and-out golly-shucks dorkiness for beer was, and remains, something to behold. I personally like to keep the broader “craft beer culture” at something of an arm’s length, since with every hobby there is a core of fanatics who personify the obsession, and take their passions to the extreme; well, The Celebrator appears to be run by said extremists, and its contributors write accordingly. This isn’t all bad by any means, but to an outsider or an on-the-fencer, their talk of new hop strains or obscure dopplebocks has the distinct, off-putting ring of the model railroader or the vintage hat collector. At the same time, transmitted with enthusiasm and knowledge, that’s how cults become a little less cultish, and The Celebrator has been a huge resource in turning me from a micro dabbler into a beer lunatic. Every issue there are regional columns highlighting what the local breweries in the Bay Area, San Diego or Alaska are up to (for instance); a middle section that takes a particular style of beer and rates dozens & dozens of representative examples; ads for beer festivals all over the area; and enough information on trends and developing styles in the beer world that a subscription to this is worth its $19.99 price at least threefold. And man, if you want a paper that has loads of pictures of “beer people” partying – not the least of which are the dreaded “brewery bands” – then this is your mag. I’m a subscriber, and yet I can pick this up free in a half-dozen locations within 10 miles of my house. So who’s the true dork, right?

HACKER PSCHORR DUNKEL WEISS

This is the last of my “NYC beer exploration” posts until the next time I go back East for more spelunking. The same night that I went to the Ginger Man bar & sampled both the Smuttynose IPA and the Avery Karma, I also took a dinner detour and headed to the Upper East Side at 88th @ 2nd Avenue to worship at the newly-heralded CAFÉ D’ALSACE, a place the New York Times wrote up as being an amazing gastropub, wholly focused on pairing beer with food. The way their article told it, their “beer sommelier” would handhold you through your meal selection & make sure you had the perfect high-end European beer to accompany it. I looked at their selection online & despite the criminal per-beer prices (New York City, you’re killing the common man), I decided to give it a go anyway. Well, no sommelier was helping me out, and this place seemed just as focused on wine & liquor as it was beer, but man o man was the food incredible. Having no idea what would go well with ravioli & asparagus, I winged it and picked one of the few non-bottled beers on the menu and ordered up something called HACKER PSCHORR DUNKEL WEISS and hoped for the best.

This might have been my greatest shot in the dark yet, as this was simply put, the single best German beer I’ve ever had (including altbier in Dusseldorf, no lie!), and the newest addition to my grand slam club. That’s right folks, I’m giving this the fabled, hallowed 10/10 – it was really something else. This is a dark wheat beer that went down as easy as lemonade in Tucson in July, with no aftertaste or bitterness to speak of. It poured a rich amber brown out of a big-ass bottle, and the restaurant knew well enough to not drop a slice of lemon in there – that would have been flat-out wrong. It had this really rich, smoky taste to it but was far from overpowering – just an all-around incredible drink. This one was on tap, but it looks like this Dunkel Weiss is available in bottles and is imported all over the United States – and is likely pretty easy to find within Old Europe too. I’m usually partial to trying something new every time I get a chance but this is one that will immediately go into the normal rotation. Give it a look-see-drink when you get a chance.

ST. BERNARDUS ABT 12

These days it’s about randomly choosing a Belgian beer off the shelves, filing it away in the garage, & pulling it out when the spirit moves me to try something different with dinner. Perhaps you’re the same. Recently the spirit told me to grab this ST. BERNARDUS ABT 12 from the store shelves, and it was transported from retailer to dinner table to esophagus within a mere two hours. It has this happy grinnin’ monk on the bottle – look at him, ain’t he cute? The brewer? Why, the Brouwerij St. Bernardus, of course. The style? It’s a Quadrupel! Not a “dubbel” or a “trippel”, no sir. Here’s what the always-helpful Beer Advocate site has to say about this style:

Inspired by the Trappist brewers of Belgium, a Quadrupel is a Belgian style ale of great strength with bolder flavor compared to its Dubbel and Tripel sister styles. Typically a dark creation that ranges within the deep red, brown and garnet hues. Full bodied with a rich malty palate. Phenols are usually at a moderate level. Sweet with a low bitterness yet a well perceived alcohol.

I think I’ve made this comment before about such beers so do forgive me, but I appreciated this one more “intellectually” than I did “gastronomically”. That means that I knew I was drinking a fine ale of great breeding with every sip – a beautiful amber/black, huge malty taste, creamy, somewhat fruitish flavor – but in the end it fell down the scale for me a bit. I reckon it just didn’t have the je ne sais quoi of, say, the TRAPPISTES ROCHEFORT 8, say, which is one of the best beers I’ve ever had. The St. Bernardus Abt 12 was just good enough but maybe a little too deep for me, and hard to see myself drinking repeatedly. In appreciation I signed off with a respectful 6/10 with my final sip, and got busy thinking about the next Belgian to conquer.

NEW BELGIUM'S 1554 - 2ND BEST BLACK ALE OF THE YEAR

Did he just say “Second Best Black Ale of the Year”? Whoa. That said, I have only one other data point in 2006 to compare this outstanding beer to – the Russian River Brewing Company’s REJECTION Belgian-Style black ale, which was an off-the-charts incredible 9/10 when I “rated” it, yet this offering from the New Belgium Brewing Company really hit the spot on Monday evening and is easily in the same league. I know that some of you highfalutin beer drinkers won’t lower yourselves to sample a product from said brewery because of the immense (and well-deserved) popularity of their signature FAT TIRE ale, but if I blindfolded you & forced this 1554 BRUSSELS-STYLE BLACK ALE down your throat while lying that it was from the Osprey Springs Brewing Company in Ketchikan, Alaska, I can bet you’d be pretty goddamn impressed, as I was. It has a fantastic toffee/chocolate aftertaste and a bitter but creamy “foretaste” – if there is such a thing – and that’s a great combination if you ask me. I like how dry it was and how easy it was to drink despite that. I can imaging getting a whole 6-pack of this & not getting tired of it, the way I do most sixers. I can only imagine how good this is on tap; in fact the only thing keeping me from placing this in the hallowed company of the Rejection beer from Russian River is that I had the former in a bottle and the latter from a tap. I hope this one catches on to taphandles the world over, so you can all complain about another outstanding “corporate” New Belgium beer. 8.5/10.

NOW THAT’S A STRONG PALE ALE

After a most enjoyable Happy Hour downing a SMUTTYNOSE IPA last Tuesday at the Ginger Man bar in Manhattan – and seeing at last 25 beers on tap I’d never even heard of – I just had to make a return visit after a hearty meal elsewhere. After all, there were two selections from Colorado’s AVERY BREWING on tap – and I have heard that they are one of the top upstart brewers in the US, and you can’t get ‘em where I live in California. There was a “Karma” Belgian Pale Ale and a “Maharaja” Double IPA on tap; the Double IPA would have been the safe and predictable choice, but I decided to live large & went Belgian. The Karma Belgian Pale Ale is simply put, one of the strongest “light, pale” concoctions I’ve ever experienced. To hear the connoisseurs on Beer Advocate tell it, this is a smooth, refreshing, easygoing pale ale – which was exactly the opposite of my experience. I found Karma to be exceptionally strong drink, a real beguiling gullet-chewer that packed a wallop of intense, complex flavors in every swallow – almost the way a barleywine (!) can taste when you’re not ready for it. This was a pale ale?? Come on. At the same time, I appreciated it for what it was – a very authentic Belgian-style beer that tasted like sucking on a robust, malty orange. If I had to choose at knifepoint between this and the NORTH COAST BREWING’s PRANQSTER, I’d go with the latter, but I applaud Avery brewing’s chutzpah with this one & will sample their wares again when I get the chance. 6.5/10.

ONE BEER – AND I CHOSE THE SMUTTYNOSE

I was in New York City for work last week and decided to make a heroic effort to break away from the day-to-day and get to a bar I'd read about called THE GINGER MAN on 36th, near the Murray Hill neighborhood in Manhattan. It was advertised as having 60+ taps, and I reckoned that there might be a few good'uns sprinkled in there - perhaps even the fabled Dogfish Head, a beer that no one on the west coast can get??!? Well, the only Dogfish Head brew on the premises was some pumpkin or apricot thing in a bottle, so I stayed well on the limb and chose the SMUTTYNOSE IPA instead. Theirs is a name that's not easy to forget, and I knew that their brewworks were "just up the road" in New Hampshire (that's like an hour away, right?) - had also heard that theirs were some of the favorite elixers of the east coast beer dorks. As the Smuttynose web site puts it, "...this is definitely not a training-wheels IPA..." and I'd second that emotion in a hurry. Smuttynose IPA is intensely hoppy to a fault, and while drinking it I vacillated between being blown away by its flavor & being a bit annoyed by it. It is not for the meek, and I'd just finished workin' and all and was maybe still getting my beer legs for the night. Then - hey, lookee there, it was all gone! I concluded that I was pretty impressed with the thing - a very almost lemony taste spread throughout orange citrus clouds of hops, and while it wasn't smooth, it was a fine choice for a Tuesday evening happy hour & I'm glad I made it. The Ginger Man's a great place, too - after dinner I came all the way back there & tried something else -- we'll chat about that later. In the meantime, Smuttynose IPA rates an impressive 7.5/10. Next time you're in New Hampshire, give 'em a call!

OH YOU ARROGANT BASTARD

As discussed previously in these pages, STONE BREWING from Escondido, CA are hot hot hot right about now, routinely making their way into every beer connoisseur’s Top 10 lists and beer cellars, popping up on taps and in speciality stores the nation over, and winning awards hand over fist at the various festivals across the US. I’m pretty late to the Stone party, having only had my second example of their wares – the outstanding 9TH ANNIVERSARY ALE – just a couple of months ago. A little over a week ago I returned, this time with my hyper-critical beer blogging eye and my “rating notebook” in hand, to the only other Stone product I’d previously consumed, the much-heralded ARROGANT BASTARD ALE, which I believe is their “flagship brand”. This is classified as an “American Strong Ale”, to which I say, “isn’t it indeed”. It comes up really bold and upfront with hops like you wouldn’t believe, but also with a sweetness and all-around fresh taste that is just too great for words. Its dark amber color has you thinking it’s going to be like a bitter Belgian dubbel, but instead you get this curveball fruit taste and a rich, pleasing hop-based scent. Maybe some caramel going on as well. I don’t know, it’s real strong drink and probably not something you’d want to throw back over and over, but as a one-off this is one of the finest beers I’ve enjoyed this month – this year even! 9/10!

GREAT FOOD, SHAME ABOUT THE BEER

My “beer sensei”, the gentleman who taught a beer appreciation class last year that was so enlightening it gave rise to this blog, had one bit of particularly nasty criticism that he leveled early and often throughout the class: that New York City was “the worst beer city in the United States”. Per capita, and based on my experiences in NY to that date, I had to admit at the time that there was probably something to his strong and surly words of condemnation. Now it just so happens in my line of work that I get “called away” reasonably often to that fine city, and I reckon in the past 18 months I’ve made at least ten different visits to New York. I made a vow recently that on future trips I was going to “go deep” into the City’s beer culture and sample every microbrewery in town (all 3 of ‘em!) and find the pubs that would shine a light of personal experience on my sensei’s assertions.

Two weeks ago I sprang into action at the HEARTLAND BREWERY at 51st and 6th, right across from Radio City Music Hall. I will say that I actually tried Heartland a few months before this but was so hungry at the time of my 9:30pm dinner that the beer was a quenching afterthought only, but if I remember anything from that visit it was that their chicken pasta was actually damn good. Good food at a brewery? Are you kidding me? I chalked it up to being famished and figured that was that. Don’t even remember what beers I ordered. Now I’ve got a blog to take care of and a readership in the low dozens, so I HAD to take notes this time. Let me say this – Heartland Brewery’s cooks have got it going on. For less than $20, which is exceptionally infrequent in New York, you can get a steak dinner with a fine, juicy piece of meat & mashed potatoes that taste like mama made ‘em. Soggy vegetables? No way man, Heatland’s grilling up asparagus spears like they’re in the South of France and the whole family’s coming for Easter dinner. OK, so I exaggerate a bit, but I can’t tell you how many mediocre-to-godawful brewery meals I’ve suffered through in order to enjoy quality beer – no doubt you have many tales to tell on that end as well.

So it was disheartening to say the least that of the 3 Heartland beers I tried, all 3 were varying shades of blah, with one being tolerable in the right circumstances. First up was their INDIA PALE ALE, the beer snob’s brew of choice. It was a far cry from the MAGIC HAT IPA I had just two days later – duff, lifeless and lacking any kind of hop-laced zing at all. I gave it a 4/10 and figured anyone can make a bad beer, let’s move on. Next up was the one they were flogging all over the restaurant, the SUMMERTIME APRICOT ALE. This was better for sure, but again, how could something with the promise of the tart/sweet apricot be so bereft of any kind of hops or complex malts to balance it out? I gave it a 5.5/10 but that seems too generous. Guess I was in a summery mood or just excited to be in New York. Finally, looking for redemption, I ordered up the FARMER JON’S OATMEAL STOUT. Why, this one actually won medals at the “Great American Beer Festival” in 1995, 1997 and 1999 – that wasn’t too long ago, was it? Afraid so. This was the worst of the bunch, a barely-drinkable dry concoction of dark black water and alcohol that left me sad and dejected. I “awarded” this beer a 3.5/10, which is dangerously close to Miller Genuine Draft country and is definitely my personal signal to “never order this one again” (I keep a list, you know). So I feel like I gave the Heartland Brewery a pretty good college try, but I came up short on game day. This is, let it be said, a “chain brewery”, but I don’t remember being this disappointed in beer at the ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY in Cincinnati, Ohio last year. Ah, Cincinnati! A story for another day!

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS FIRESTONE

Had heard some positive things about the FIRESTONE WALKER BREWING Co. from Paso Robles, CA, but if this one's any indication of their dedication to making a top-end, special microbrew then all bets are off. Their FIRESTONE DOUBLE BARREL ALE is advertised as an American Amber, and that may be true, but I swear it tastes like a macrobrewery trying to "go micro" rather than the other way around. In other words, if you've ever tried concoctions like "Budweiser Hefeweizen" or "Coors Amber Bock" (making the names up, you know what I mean), this Firestone beer's in roughly the same class. It has a brownish-orange color and a sort of caramel-ish taste, but it truly tasted like a tarted-up Bud to me. No complexity, no hops, no future, baby. And look at that label - doesn't that look like something that every Tom, Dick & Harry would be hauling off the liquor store fridge shelves, right next to the "Keystone" and the "Rolling Rock". These fellas are going pro in a big way - and that's no sin, I will defend both Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada to my dying days -- but unless they've got some heavyweight beers hiding behind this marginal "American Amber" (come on!), I'm keeping a wary and distrusting eye on 'em. 4.5/10.

HOUBLON CHOUFFE DOBBELEN IPA TRIPEL

This one looked awfully intriguing calling from the shelves, what with a happy 'lil gnome on the label and the words "dobbelen" (double), "IPA" (IPA") and "Tripel" (the famous hop-heavy Belgian beer style). Well folks, it was. It came shooting out of the bottle into the glass like a sugared-up 7-year-old at SplashWorld water park, and the head it surrendered was something to behold. In the glass I'd estimate it was about 1/4 beer, 3/4ths foam, and even a mouthful o' foam tasted real, real good while I waited for it to settle. Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel is a product of the Brasserie d'Achouffe in Belgium, and it appears that all of their labels features this gnomic character. I wonder what he makes of the 9% ABV on this thing. What made this one better and perhaps more drinkable than a lot of the American Double IPAs is the fact that it gives off more of a fruit/floral taste to counteract the hops, and unlike overpowering drinks like MOYLANS' excellent Hopsicle, this isn't a cloudy, impenetrable beer. It looks like it tastes - simple, sweet, and robust. I gave it a 7/10 and marveled at how many likely fantastic Belgian beers there are left to enjoy and evaluate - just those imported to the United States alone will keep me busy for a couple years.

IS BEER SNOBBERY THE WHITEST HOBBY SINCE LACROSSE?

Pull up a stool at a 40+-taphouse in the US, attend a domestic microbrewed beer festival, look at the faces shown partying in any Celebrator, Northwest Brewing News or Ale Street News, and you’ll see the biggest collection of pasty white faces this side of the Kennebunkport High girls’ field hockey squad. I should know – I have one myself. But to broach the delicate subject of race and craft beer consumption, one must be willing to ask if there are indeed subtle palate differences between the races that make it so, or if it’s just something of an unfortunate outreach issue that the microbreweries haven’t tackled yet. I don’t know. Asian friends are the first to tell me that Asians often don’t do too well with too many drinks – and yet in Japan, beer culture and especially sake culture are rampant. Every salaryman is out on the town with his co-workers 5 nights a week slamming the alcohol down, and sure, it might be Sapporo or Kirin or Asahi or whatever, but it’s beer just the same. Anyway, microbrewery culture is not about the quantity consumed but the quality & craft of the 1-2 or 3 pints taken in on any given evening. So where are the Asian faces at said bars and events? I dunno.

Folks of a Middle Eastern persuasion, I can understand. They’re typically not at the cocktail bars or wine bars in droves either. Latin Americans? Not sure – could be a clinging love for the cold, refreshing beers of their hot, blast furnace of a homeland, rather than the complex and often acquired taste of a microbrew. What about African-Americans? Well, let’s think about it this way. The beer that I and those of you reading this blog have fallen for has its roots in Germany, Belgium, the UK and surrounding areas. European areas. White areas. Black people did not live in those areas 100-700 years ago (those that did were certainly not there of their own accord), and thus had no wide exposure to it until it popped up and started to spread quickly in America around – jeez, what, 15-20 years ago? Those of us with English, German, Dutch etc. roots, well, I’d be hard-pressed to say that there’s a natural inborn palate for the stuff – otherwise Australians would be cranking out great beer now, and Americans would have done so far earlier than we did – but maybe drinking European-style craft beer is a sort of solidarity with the motherland in some sort of semi-conscious way. African-Americans, lacking said inborn connection, stick to drinking something closer to home for them personally. There are undoubtedly class issues at play (below-poverty-line white Americans aren’t buying Anchor Steam any more than below poverty-line black Americans), and who knows, maybe some physiological ones as well. I just know that in a diverse state like California, being in a room with 100 people, with 99 of them typically being whiter than white, is a pretty goddamn jarring thing. Sounds like some clever marketers have some untapped market issues to think about.

SAN FRANCISCO'S CITY BEER STORE

It’s beginning to look like specialty, microbrewed craft beer is entering another heyday in the United States, the second renaissance since the initial early 90s explosion that brought great beer and microbreweries to American towns hither and yon. I haven’t collected all the evidence yet, but the leading indicators are the growth of the “gastropub”, complete with beer sommeliers (of which New York’s Cafe D'Alsace is only the most recent example); the stats that keep pouring out showing this is still the fastest-growing segment of the beer market; the megabuck purchases of small microbreweries like Blue Moon by macrobreweries like Coors (remember this was going on a bunch in the early 90s too, during craft beer’s first strike into the heartland); and the opening of amazing new beer-only stores like San Francisco’s CITY BEER. Can you imagine supporting an entire business made up of sales to beer snobs alone? Craig Wathen can. He’s created a palace of beer at 1168 Folsom Street, between 7th and 8th. I just had to pay a visit last Friday, and not only did it exceed my expectations (you can drink there!), but Craig turned out to be a pretty stand-up guy. He’s an army of one at this place, and he’s turned a longtime passion for high-end beer into a true community resource where others can catch the bug too. It’s got chairs, couches, beer on tap (6 ounces only at a time, due to weird-ass liquor laws), and Craig’ll even tap a bottle of anything in the store for you for a dollar. He’s open until 9 or 10 most nights, so I expect this to become the San Francisco beer dork hangout of choice when the Toronado gets to be a bit much.

I’m going to write more about City Beer if Craig accepts my request for an interview, but for now – highly recommended that you check this place out if you’re around town.

THE BLOGS WILL HAVE THEIR SAY

As mentioned yesterday, AP did an excellent story on the rise of beer blogs and highlighted some of the best out there, as well as ours. Thanks to Otis Hart for the boost - and you can read the whole thing right here.

A TALE OF TWO WHEATS

Summer is icomen in and that means the wheat beer's getting pushed like never before. I'm comfortable enough in my manhood to fess up that I've always loved this style, hot weather or no, and this past weekend I was able to try 2 new ones I'd never experimented with. First, and you'll laff at this one, but Hedonist Beer Jive was interviewed by the Associated Press (!!!) for a nationwide, syndicated article about beer blogs. I'm flattered, or course, and I guess this blog's going to be the centerpiece of the thing, as AP even sent a photographer out to snap my picture at my local pub last Friday. Who knows, it may even run today, so check your local paper (you know they buy all their content from the AP anyway, right?). So the guy asks me where we should meet and I chose the Valley Tavern in San Francisco's Noe Valley 'hood. He says, "you gotta order a beer, and you gotta pretend I'm not sitting here taking 700 fast-frame photos of you while you drink it". So I bellied up & picked something called BLUE MOON BELGIAN WHITE. That's "white" as in "wheat", I guess. The friendly lady behind the bar even threw a slice of orange in there, wasn't that nice? Well, as I was drinking it I found myself wondering about something I'd read about the Memphis-based BLUE MOON BREWING company, but I couldn't quite put my noggin around it - now, looking on the "World Wide Web", I remembered - they were bought by Coors (hisssss!!!). But I'm not a guy who lets externalities interfere with my beer consumption, so let's just cut to the quick. This beer was fantastic. So crisp, incredibly smooth, and just the right amount of citrus flavor to give the tongue a good ride. It's exactly what I want in a wheat beer, and it's definitely more on the beer conoisseur side of the great drinking pendulum than the "turn it loose with the Silver Bullet" side. Coors, I guess, didn't tamper with this fine brewery's wares, and it shows. Give me more of this any day. 8.5/10!

On the other hand, there's this SUNSHINE WHEAT beer from nationwide tastemakers NEW BELGIUM BREWING Co., yeah that's right, the Fat Tire guys. I didn't cotton to it, and I had three at a summer barbeque, ground friggin' zero for wheat beer appreciation. Totally bland, dry beer with maybe a little lemony bite to it, but long after you've given up on it after a couple of swigs. Well, that 6-pack was a sunk cost and someone had to drink it, but this is the first New Belgium product I can unequivocably say I didn't like. A dry, depressing 4.5/10. Tune in next time when we explore some real Belgians, not that pretend stuff, kids!

A SERVICEABLE RED ALE FROM DESCHUTES

I'm as big a partisan as they come for Bend, Oregon's DESCHUTES BREWERY. They are the ones who make probably the best porter in the US of A, Black Butte Porter, and I could also argue with trembling conviction that their Mirror Pond Pale Ale is first in its class as well. I enlivened many a day and evening with these when I lived in the Pacific Northwest in the late 90s, and they've proven to be so popular that they are now very easy to procure throughout Northern California & beyond. They certainly have earned the kudos. So naturally when a new product of theirs appears on the shelves, it's time to spend some sawbacks. I picked up a 6 of the new seasonal CINDER CONE RED ALE a few weeks back, and have slowly been making myself aquainted with it. I think it's fair to say that it's a step down from their lofty catbird seat atop the West Coast beer world, but it's still pretty solid. I like the deep red color and the smell - c'mon, they didn't really sneak a couple pine cones into the vats, did they? -- and it has a subtle malty taste that masks the alcohol pretty well. Bitter but still refreshing. It was a bit "thin" tasting, though, and sorta felt like an experiment, rather than something our friends at Deschutes want to truly make a regular part of the all-star lineup. I tried to imagine this next to a Boont Amber and it was clear - I'd grab the Boont every time. Do yourself a favor and let this one warm up a bit before you start sucking it down, as I found the colder it was the less the strong flavors were discernable, but after that it was pretty serviceable. Hedonist Beer Jive is giving the Cinder Cone Red Ale a decent 6/10. What's next, Deschutes??

WILLIAM BRAND ON BEER

Here's a brief but interesting take on Northern California brewing and the evolution of American beer culture in general by beer writer William Brand in this week's San Francisco Bay Guardian. I've been noticing Brand's name a bunch lately and I like his take on things. See if you do too by clicking here.

GOOD ON YA, MAGIC HAT!

So there I was in the JetBlue terminal at New York’s JFK airport last Friday, looking for a place to park my carcass & watch a little World Cup action. As a combination Polish/Ecuadorian, I was particularly intrigued with the Poland-Ecuador game going on at that moment, and wouldn’t you know it, right there in the terminal was the “New York Sports Bar” or something like that – showing the game live! Well I bellied up to the bar to order a nice Sam Adams, since of course that’s usually the best thing on tap in New York. Then I saw the “beer menu” – 40-some-odd beers on tap. Wow! I looked at the menu and identified the one I’d never heard of, and placed my order within seconds. My blind pick was MAGIC HAT BREWING’s “Blind Faith” IPA, which was a fine choice indeed. This IPA was a real balanced brew, with an attractive copper tone to it and just the right amount of sweetness vs. intense hop flavor. The bitterness was refreshing in the sense that these guys figured out exactly how to counteract that with the right concoction of malt and deep yeasty tastes. Nice. I gave it a 7.5/10, and felt like I was truly spelunking for the first time in the East Coast microbrew scene, just as I'd spent many hours obsessing about, getting to drink something that will likely never come to California, where I live. I subsequently learned from one East Coast beer enthusiast that Magic Hat is “overrated” – but that’s what he says, right? What I say is what counts.

By the way, is Magic Hat’s web site about the worst thing you’ve ever seen? Someone let “Flash” boy loose & he created the most unnavigatable site of all time. Can you crack its code??

THEY TELL ME IT’S MAIBOCK TIME

It’s May, and you know what that means, beer fans – wait a minute, it’s June 13th? Well stow me for a lubber, as the Katzenjammer Kids used to say. Well May meant Maibock time, and way back in late May I sampled an American brewery’s interpretation of this German style. Here, let’s surf on over to Beer Advocate and see how they define maibocks:

"The Maibock style of beer tends to be lighter in color than other Bock beers and often has a significant hop character with a noticeable alcohol around the same as a traditional Bock. Maibocks are customarily served in the spring and are oftentimes interrelated with spring festivals and celebrations more often in the month of May".

I got into the celebratory spirit of the season and had the girl pull me a pint of REDWOOD COAST BREWING's Tied House Maibock, and a few sips in I was kinda hoping she’d take it back. Flat and dull despite the shimmery orange color – and I mean orange, like a translucent glass of Anita Bryant-style Florida pulp-free. Its tartness & lack of inner fire just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t hard to render a verdict quickly -- 4/10, enough to see the liquid to the bottom of the glass one time out, and that’s about it. These guys are, to the best of my knowledge, a contract brewer for the Tied House chain of breweries in the SF Bay Area. The Tied House is the place one goes to in San Jose to quaff a pitcher before a Sharks (NHL) game, not to savor the rich, distinct brewing techniques of the olde country - so there you go. Better luck next May, fellas.

AN IPA WORTH THINKING ABOUT MAYBE DRINKING AGAIN SOMEDAY

Fairfax, California is the upscale hippie/bohemian epicenter of uber-wealthy (but a lil’ left-of-reality) Marin County, just north of San Francisco. Real live hippies and cult freaks roamed the hills of Fairfax back in the 1970s, including wacko personality cult Synanon – a former classmate of mine was a 70s child of 2 Synanon-addicted parents, and told me of long days hoeing fields in weird robes with a shaved head at the age of six. And mind you, this was a female. Nestled in this happy community in 2006 is the IRON SPRINGS BREWERY, and their IPA was on tap the other day at Barclay’s Pub in Oakland and may still be there as we speak. I found this one all a bit much. The hoppiness reached out and strangled my gullet & forced me to pay attention, and tasted so overhopped I was wondering if it wasn’t really one of those newfangled Triple IPAs the kids are getting so excited about. Or maybe someone simply forgot to stir the kettle. Conversation stopped as I worked this one down, and yet, I know something decent was lurking in that golden, hop-choked pint glass. I gave it a 5/10 and an extra good-on-ya “salud” for attempting to overwhelm rather than underwhelm. We’ll revisit this place’s beers in a future installment, when Hedonist Beer Jive takes to the road for the 35-minute drive to Fairfax and a lost afternoon at Iron Springs.

LAMBICS AREN’T REALLY BEERS, ARE THEY?

I’ve already blabbed on enough in this forum about this “beer class” I took last year that was the likely impetus for my deeper forays into the world of beer criticism – before that I had simply beer an active fan of good, strong beer. This class I took featured many a tasting of various style from around the globe, and was my first entrée into the crazy world of the Lambic ale. Now lambics have been gaining a great deal of attention of late – to wit, this New York Times article -- but I remain unconvinced that they are anything more than dressed-up 1980s-style wine coolers with beer properties. At least that’s what LINDEMANS FRAMBOISE LAMBIC, tasted last Sunday, reminded me of. (Please note that my ignoramus pose in this post is at least half just that – a pose). I mean, it’s good stuff, and I had mine with a mega slice of strawberry pie and heaping helping of vanilla ice cream – just that if you told me that it was a Rasberry Italian Soda I would not have argued. The girls – I mean the ladies – in the house were not complaining one bit, and this was one drink that everyone could definitely rally around. But what does it have to do with the world of specialty craft beer? Well, read the article linked above – it’s all there, I’m just not sure I buy it. Oh, and the Lindeman’s brand is said to artificially sweeten their lambics a bit, so it can rightly be argued that there’s no way I can base an opinion of lambic ales of just this one brand (my beer class served the Lindeman’s Cherry version, which the Belgians call “Kriek” for some reason). I’d love to hear from lambic lovers the world over about this style and whether or not it fits your personal definition of what “beer” is.

BEERS OF HAWAII, WITH EXPECTATIONS WAY LOWERED, BRAH

Naturally when one thinks about spending 7-10 days off in an island paradise, one’s thoughts turn to alcohol consumption as a necessary and needed salve for the wounds of the typical workweek. On Maui, where I spent eight days during the month of May, an entire town called Lahaina appears to be a shrine to wanton beverage consumption, a mini-Bourbon Street or Las Vegas strip perched on the deep Pacific. That’s not exactly my “style”, if you know what I mean, but I did take the time on my recent sojourn to seek out some of the Islands’ distinct local beers. They aren’t hard to find – virtually every restaurant we visited had at least one native beer on tap or in bottles, and said bottles were found in every liquor store rack I happened to gaze at. The most popular brand on Maui at least appears to be KONA BREWING, based on "the big Island". We didn’t have any of those, but we had a couple others. I must say for the record that I had a pretty healthy inkling that I wasn’t going to find any Hawaiian chocolate porters here, nor any local Dopplebocks nor Russian Imperial Stouts. This is sun country, folks, and that usually means the darkest shade you’ll find is a glassy golden-amber. I also kept my expectations low, as experience tells me that the world’s best beers tend not to be brewed in climates where the year-round temperature fluctuates between 70 and 85 degrees, be it December or July.

But enough of my yakkin’. First up was KEOKI SUNSET ISLAND STYLE, made by Keoki Brewing on the garden island of Kauai. It is an amber lager, with a big emphasis on"lager", trending more toward generic American frat party beer than anything you'd want to seek out a second time. It was, I’m afraid to say, a “pour-out”. Oh sure, the main reason I couldn’t finish it was because my 2-year-old son was disturbing the patrons of some hippie café in Pai’a with his toddler hijinks and shenanigans, but it was the only excuse I needed. I gave it a 3/10, and that’s probably with a generous point applied for the glorious weather outside. A must to avoid. Much more pleasing was WAIMEA LUAU LAGER made by Waimea Brewing, also from Kauai. This one was a light, golden lager, perfect with Thai food & really tailor-made for island drinking. Very refreshing, but with just enough snob appeal that I got to sit back and think about it a little before pouring it down my throat. I reckon that the 6.5/10 I gave it when it was done may have added a half point added due to greatly exceeded expectations, but I also know that I wouldn’t be afraid to have a barman pull the taps for this one if it ever shows up on the mainland. And it’s a dreaded lager, no less – and even tasted like one! How about that?

EUROPEAN BEER JAMBOREE

It was my wife’s birthday a few weeks ago & she made it clear she wanted to spend it with some friends at AZIZA, an outstanding Moroccan restaurant located in San Francisco. I assured her I’d take care of the arrangements, an assurance that was itself assured once I looked at Aziza’s beer list online. W-o-w. I’d never even heard of half of these, so I knew that some aggressive beer spelunking on my part would be taking place under the hooded guise of selflessly celebrating a new annum in her life. Upon arrival I immediately placed order #1 – the ERDINGER WEISSBIER PIKANTUS, brewed by Erdinger Weissbrau in, you guessed it, Germany. It came in a large bottle somewhere between a 12oz. and a 750ml – probably about a pint and a half’s worth here. It set the evening in the right direction for sure. This is a "Weizenbock", which Beer Advocate says is "A more powerful Dunkel Weizen (of "bock strength"), with a pronounced estery alcohol character, perhaps some spiciness from this, and bolder and more complex malt characters of dark fruits.". A more powerful Dunkel Weizen? Sign me up! Man, I have a lot to learn.

Anyway, I don't have my notes in front of me because I didn't take any, but I remember the deep chocolate-brown color, the rich malty taste, & the thick, almost "chewiness" of the thing. I scored it 7/10 and made my next move. This one didn't pan out as well. The AYINGER JAHRHUNDERT BIER is a "Munich Helles Lager", and I'm just not that into yellow European lagers with that sticky-sour taste. It was immediately regretted upon purchase, but it was also a sunk cost that I needed to finish. Once done, I furtively typed 4.5/10 into my cell phone when no one was looking & rejoined the party. This restaurant is amazing, folks - easily one of the two best restaurants I've been to in my hometown of San Francisco (Delfina is the other) - and with a beer selection that encourages deep dives into Euro beer culture, I predict a return visit as soon as I pay off the credit card bill form this last one.

THE BEER AGGREGATORS

Hey beer fans – you know, a few months ago when I started this site I reckoned that there might be 3 or 4 other blogs related to beer out there, tops. Wrong. Turns out there’s a whole host of them, some that simply regurgitate news and wacky stories from the “beer world”, others that review new beers and breweries, and still others that take a highly personal view of their drinking hobby, incorporating all manner of personal arcana into posts loosely centered around beer. One easy way to get as many of them as possible in one swooping web session is to go first to the beer blog aggregators, sites who take in RSS feeds from individual blogs like Hedonist Beer Jive & compile all the recent posts on a single page. Here are a few to check out:

THE BREWERY (our favorite so far)
A PLANET FULL OF BEER BLOGS
BEERINATOR BEER FEEDS

EUREKA - I HAVE FOUND BELGIUM'S BEST BEER

I've been dabbling in Belgian beers for a few short months looking for one that’ll knock the socks off my ass, if you know what I mean. One of the varieties I’ve been reading about is from one of the world’s famous authentic brewing monestaries, Brasserie de Rochefort (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy). (That’s easy for you to say). It has beckoned from the shelves for some time, this lovely TRAPPISTES ROCHFORT 8, and so I gave it a try on Memorial Day in honor of all the brave men who perished on Belgian soil in the two WW’s so that I could remain free. Thanks, fellas. This incredible beer instantly became the standard-bearing knockout Belgian beer for me, the one that everyone else’ll have to beat to win my ultimate love & affection. At $4.99 per, it’s not exactly a brewski I’ll be pounding with my buds during the ballgame, but it’s so delicious & smooth I’d reach for it every time if it was sitting in the cooler. Maybe this is what Belgians pack into the Coleman for backyard BBQs and trips to the beach – hey, Belgian college kids are beer-bongin’ this stuff in the dorms for all I know. In the US of A it’s a pricey import and it’s worth every nickel.

ROCHEFORT 8 – not to be confused with Rochefort 6 and Rochefort 10 – is a strong dark ale that packs a hearty 9.2% of alcohol into its formulation. It looks like a beautiful light amber/chocolate syrup, and it poured with a head at least two inches tall in a small glass. It has a medium carbonation and just a pleasing way of not overwhelming yer mouth, but is packed with all sorts of delicious flavors that a more imaginative person could probably describer very well. Here, go visit these guys – they’ll tell you what it tastes like. I was so blown away by this beer that I’m giving it the bullseye – that’s right, the 10/10, the full magoo! I wonder what the “10” tastes like – I saw that in the store and it was > 11% ABV. In any case, that’s the first 10 we’ve awarded here at Hedonist Beer Jive (though Black Butte Porter and Boont Amber already made that cut years ago), and if you have a speciality beer store carrying these, I implore you to give this one a try.

REVIEW : NORTH COAST BREWING’s PRANQSTER Belgian-Style Golden Ale

So I was in Maui for a week recently, and took a wife-less, kid-less drive out to the mini-mall in Kahului to find what looked to be a giant liquor store calling from the road when we passed it on the way in from the airport. Turned out it was a giant liquor store, a fine one, stocked with all sorts of high-end craft beer from around the globe. We’ll talk later in this forum about some of the Hawaiian varieties I was able to sample on this sojourn, but my “spend” at said store was on a 4-pack (a 4-pack!) of NORTH COAST BREWING’s “Pranqster Belgian-Style Golden Ale”. The place we were staying had one of those midget-sized (I mean little people-sized) fridges so I reckoned a sixer might not fit in there, plus I’d had pretty good luck with North Coast in the past, having visited the brewery in Fort Bragg, CA around the turn of the last century. Pranqster did not let me down in the least. It was smooth as silk, with a total citrus mouthfeel punch that was about perfect for the climate. Golden/orange color with a large foamy head. Carbonation was almost non-existent, and I found four different settings in which to drink this – on a deck, with lunch, before sleep, and with Thai Food. It was solid gold every time. After three I came up with my rating of 7.5/10, which is pretty healthy. As someone fairly new to the Belgian style(s), I’d have to say this is about as easy an introduction as possible & might be a good way to nudge oneself into the form.

18 BEERS LATER -- THE 2006 BOONVILLE BEER FESTIVAL

I regret taking three whole weeks to give the 411 on the 2006 BOONVILLE BEER FESTIVAL, a rapturous event that has got to rank as holy & as blessed for the beer snob as sex with the 14 virgins does for the insane suicide bomber. It will likely be the peak of my beer-drinking year, unless I can create & then erase new memories at another such event before the year is out. The festival took place on Saturday, May 6th at the Mendocino County fairgrounds in the absurdly tiny town of Boonville, California. Please note the picture above, taken with my telephone the dark, head-pounding morning after the fest. Now imagine this entrance with about 2,000-3,000 shorts-wearin', hat-sportin', mini beer-glass hoistin' beer dawgs ready to party & shout "woooooooo" every time someone dropped their glass (thus eliminating them from further beer drinking -- the rules are the rules!), and you'll get a general sense of the afternoon. My people! Actually my stereotype only fits a good half of the crowd -- I know based on blubbering 4pm-ish (three hours in!) conversations I had with several attendees that a good chunk of the festival patrons are players in the West Coast "beer scene", or consider themselves so -- brewers themselves, brewery employees, beer writers, beer aficianados and hopheads of all stripes.

This afternoon, which had the taps open for all-you-can-drink from 1-4:30pm, and which featured some musical accompaniment by the ROLLING BOIL BLUES BAND and a couple others of their dreadful ilk, was truly a place to put one's critical beer rating skills to the test. I took in 16 mini-glasses before time ran out - punctuated by some gristle-laden $10 "tri tip" (ouch!) and maybe one glass of water. That's roughly, I don't know -- 5 pints? So nothing too extreme, and I therefore kept my cool with the ladies if you know what I'm saying. Anyway, I just had to bring a notepad to write down what I was consuming, as I have a responsibility to you, my 20 average daily readers.....and you know how chicks gravitate to a guy with a notepad, a guy earnestly debating whether the last glass was a 7.5 or an 8 with pen in hand. In reviewing my notes later, I found that there was a distinct upward trend in the rankings, meaning that the early tastes were around the 6-9 range, whereas the later tastes all seemed to score above 8. It is very possible that alcohol interfered with this process. I have therefore eliminated my scores from the listing of beer that was consumed this day, and instead will simply enumerate the fine offerings available on tap this afternoon (among at least 6-7 dozen others I could have tried had there been more goddamn time!!):

-- MOYLAN’S -- DRY STOUT
-- RUSSIAN RIVER – BLIND PIG IPA
-- STONE BREWING – IPA
-- LAKE TAHOE BREWING – AMBER ALE
-- MOYLAN’S – HOPSICLE (Triple IPA)
-- RUBICON BREWING – IPA
-- SNOWSHOE BREWING – GRIZZLY BROWN
-- ALPINE BREWING – WILLY VANILLI
-- BEAR REPUBLIC – RED ROCKET
-- EEL RIVER BREWING – IPA
-- NEW BELGIUM BREWING – something “LEAF” that I didn't write down correctly -- it was a Peach Lambic (!)
-- EL TORO BREWING – DEUCE (Double IPA)
-- one that I missed noting & that was down my esophagus before I had a chance to “think” about it
-- DRAKE’S – BIERE ESPECIAL
-- MAD RIVER BREWING – DOUBLE IPA
-- MOONLIGHT BREWING – SPECIAL

Of these many outstanding beers, there was one clear winner and one clear l-o-s-e-r. MOYLAN'S Hopsicle, a Triple IPA (!!!) was just out of this world -- many thanks to Sven for tracking me down in the crowd with the frothing exhortation you must try this beer. I have never had a Triple IPA before (I've only heard of Dogfish Head's), but this was just amazing - like a million bubbling hops attacking the taste buds in unison with this intense, fruitful flavor. Like nothing I've ever downed before. Wow. The loser was from Sacramento's RUBICON BREWING. Their IPA was what we on the beer festival circuit like to call a "pour out" - so bad that the opportunity cost of continuing to drink it straight-up outweighed the innate, inborn hardwiring that told me to finish it; and it wasn't just me, future Hedonist Beer Jive correspondent CM dumped his on the lawn too - so there. In between were all these other fine elixers, until they blew the whistle at 4:30pm and we ran screaming from whatever boogie-blues band was murdering Rolling Stones songs from the stage.

O, there are many tales of post-festival hijinks, shennanigans, camaraderie, and adventures in extreme camping I could tell, my friends, but let's stick to the beer. We sauntered down Boonville's main drag - the highway - to the Anderson Valley Brewing Company to purchase some of their wares, which were thusly nursed throughout the evening. These I believe I was lucid enough to rate, though I'll refrain from commentary:

-- ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING – BROTHER DAVID’S DOUBLE BELGIAN-STYLE ALE (6.5/10)
-- ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING – WINTER SOLSTICE ALE (9/10)

To your left you'll observe aforementioned Hedonist Beer Jive future correspondent CM with his middle finger extended in revolutionary protest to the corporatization of the Anderson Valley organization. What you can't see in the picture are the gleaming new tanks and shiny metal beer-creating equipment in evidence at the brewery, which now resembles nothing so much as a St. Helena winery. Me, as long as the beer excels -- as it most certainly does -- I'll still be a believer (I feel the same way about Sam Adams, for what it's worth). So if anything, the 2006 Boonville Beer Fest gave me just "that much more" impetus to boldly seek out the wares of some of the participants, as if I or anyone else in attendance needed much prodding. Having been to other beer gatherings, this one continues to be the one with not only the best vibe but the no-doubt finest selection of California/Oregon/Washington microbrews - you're nobody if you're not showcasing here. Vague promises were made to make this a yearly pilgrimage, so please check this spot next May & see if those promises in the dark held.

REVIEW : MOYLAN’S “MOYLANDER” DOUBLE IPA

The MOYLAN’S crew of Novato, California continues to impress with yet another terrific beer, this one an enthusiastic 7.5 on the 10 scale. Their “Moylander” Double IPA is served up tall n’ proud in a 22-oz. bottle, and at only $3.99 per, man what a steal. It pours reddish-orange/amber, and is bursting with this real oily hop taste that might not be up the level of their incredible single IPA – which is flat-out amazing and which we reviewed right here – but which is still really intense and delicious nonetheless. If a beer can be said to be “floral” (and I know it’s said all the time), this one’s a strong candidate. Double IPAs are not for the meek, but I reckon you could sneak this into a picnic where girls are present and not ruin the party, you know what I mean? It’s just tame enough for universal applause. Are Moylan’s a candidate for Top 10 US brewers going right now? Based on the evidence, I think they’re a shoo-in. I’ve had their IPA, their Irish Red Ale and now this one – and still have never even hit their brewery that lies less than an hour north of my home. Anyone have a pick for what Moylan’s whopper to try next?

REVIEW: AUGUSTIJN ALE

This lil’ pepperpot of a bottle was calling to me from the shelves of Whole Foods in San Francisco, a store that has somehow become a beer mecca and then some. What a selection! This beer from BROUWERIJ VAN STEENBURGE N.V. in Belgium is the first example of a “Tripel” I’ve ever had, and based on the evidence, I sure hope there are many, many better Tripels waiting down the great beer highway for me to try. This was an almost sickly-sweet malty drink, full of flavors that just didn’t do a whole lot to excite & which just lingered on the tongue in a nearly foul way. My glass – a true Belgian beer glass, purchased that very day! – had a bunch of ungodly sediment at the bottom which made me pour the beer out with 3-4 swigs left to go. Never a good sign, and after being totally underwhelmed with the flavor, seeing that just made me knock off a point for style alone. 3/10 – Try to avoid this one and have a friggin’ Moosehead instead.

THE STONE BREWING CO. - BELIEVE THE HYPE

Since I started paying attention to the beers not regularly available on my local shelves, which is to say right around the time I got inspired enough to start this here "beer blog", there have been 3 non-nearby breweries that appear to get the lion's share of attention from true beer lovers nationwide. There's DOGFISH HEAD in Delaware (I'm dying to try this beer); AVERY BREWING in Colorado, and STONE BREWING down near San Diego. I found this "9th Anniversary Ale" from Stone Brewing a few weeks ago, and I pounced. It is truly a specialty, one-time-only selection from them, and if this is any indication of how great the rest of their beers are, well, let's load the luggage in the car and bomb on down to Escondido! As I poured it for a friend & I, I could not believe the massive foam head that grew as I poured - and stayed for almost the entire glass. I understand that that's a sign of a good beer, no? I guess that Beer Advocate classifies it as an "American Strong Ale", but with its golden/amber color and really biting hop taste, I'd almost call it a wheat IPA, if such a thing exists. What do I know, hunh? It really impressed me, this creamy, exceptionally drinkable and intensely flavorful 22-oz. beer. It made me regret pouring so much of it for my friend rather than for myself. I mean, there were year-old Newcastles in the fridge, he woulda loved those, right? 9/10, baby!

A TRIP TO THE ROGUE PUBLIC HOUSE

I lived in Seattle for two years, 1997-99, and up there I discovered three brewers that I patronized almost exclusively: DESCHUTES from Bend, Oregon, who thank god have terrific distribution in Northern California now that I live there again; ALASKAN; and the ROGUE BREWING CO. of Newport, Oregon. My wife and I became addicted to Rogue's Brown Ale and tried out their offerings with obsessive regularity, and upon our drive back to San Francisco, we made sure to take the Oregon Coast route so we could hit up the brewpub itself in Newport (a dumpy little fishing town, honestly, at least with the 2 hours' worth of experience I have with it). Once we came back I think we had a couple of mediocre Rogues like their flagship "Dead Guy Ale", and all of a sudden Rogue took a distinct backburner to other drink selections for a few years. The brewery appears to be the picture of health, though, as they've opened up satellite brewpubs in Washington and now this one in San Francisco. I find it hard to believe that it's actually been here calling for me since September 2003, and my sojourn there a couple weeks ago was my first visit.

So there were something like 20 different Rogue beers both on tap and available for "take-away" in large bottles. I was pretty friggin' excited if you know what I mean, but having tackled 4 big pints the night before, I kept my cool and kept it to two nervously-chosen beers. Very hard to choose, in fact, so I went with two I've never seen nor heard of. The hands-down winner, and the best beer I've had in weeks, man, is ROGUE IMPERIAL STOUT. Here's what the Rogue flacks have to say about it:

"Deserving the title "Emperor of Ales" (unlike the bourgeois "King of Beers"), Imperial is the strongest and fullest of all stouts. Imperials originally were brewed with large quantities of hops and a high alcohol content to withstand long, unrefrigerated journeys. Rogue Imperial Stout, considered the high end of stouts, is made of 2-row Great Western Harrington & Klages, Hugh Baird XLT-80, Black, Munich and Chocolate Malts; Willamette, Cascade and Chinook hops; rolled oats; and two secret ingredients. Unfiltered and unfined, Imperial Stout is best when aged for one year. Imperial Stout is available in a new 750-ml ceramic swing-top bottle (replacing the much older 7-ounce and more recent 12-ounce XS-line packaging) and on draft."

They only served it in a little half-pint glass, which I'm learning is the custom when something has as much alcohol as this one -- 11%! It was absolutely divine, a candy-tongued slurpee of beer, as thick as a chocolate swamp & about as fun to drink as that might be. Loved it. A whopping 9/10, and I'm getting some more of this as soon as I can find some. I might bump that rating up a digit with a little more practice drinking it. I then decided, after something so bold, that I'd go with something a little girlier and "refreshing". See, I don't have any insecurities with my manliness, so that's why I ordered ROGUE HONEY ORANGE WHEAT next. I probably should have stayed with the "gonzo", because while this was high-quality, it was also pretty straightforward flavored wheat beer. I guess this is actually made at Rogue's Eugene City, OR brewery, which made it more "rare" I suppose (I've never seen any of the Eugene City Brewery bottled beers in stores, just at this public house), but stone me if I can't remember a single thing about this beer, just that I called it a 6/10 after drinking it. Not bad, Rogue! I'll try the other 18 next time!

REVIEW : WESTMALLE TRAPPIST DUBBEL

Not sure why this semi-legendary Belgian Ale & its makers can't get it together and spell "double" correctly, but maybe they're just trying to be cool or something? Weird. It's high time I stepped away from the West Coast USA beers I tend to favor (for obvious reasons) and into the somewhat intimidating world of classic Belgians. I asked the fella at the Plumpjack beer/wine emporium in San Francisco to help me out on this one, and he told me that the "dubbels" were the dark ones and the "trippels" (there they go again!) were the lighter ones. Well pour me a dubbel, then, I said, and he sent me home with this one and a few others. I even busted out the correct glassware instead of my usual pint glass, and savored this one almost like a dessert during a ballgame. WESTMALLE TRAPPIST DUBBEL came on very thick, not a stout-like thick, but full of really contrary flavors like zingy fruits, roast chococate and caramel, I believe. While the aftertaste dissapated quickly, it was incredibly rich in both smell and taste. It poured a dark burgundy/amber, sort of like the label on the bottle of it to your left. And that looks beautiful in a glass, and it smelled as good as it looked. I checked to see if beer critic Michael Jackson had it in his 500 Best Beers book, and sure enough, there it was. I haven't even rated 500 different beers yet, but if I had to rate this one I'd give it a very respectable 7.5/10.