It's All in the Attention to Detail
If you don't already know this already about me, I love BEER. Sure, when I say that you must envision someone who plays quarters and buys suitcases of Busch beer or Old Milwaukee. You may also envision a frat boy who wears a toga and whose favorite saying is "CHUG, CHUG, CHUG! "
So you certainly run the risk of misunderstanding the statement above because afterall it does sound so juvenile.
But, I'm not going to take it back. I do love beer. However, my interest in beer is much like the wine connoisseur's interest in wine. Brewing beer is a science, as well as an art that involves the creative and complex combination of tastes. So, imagine my pure delight with two developments in the last year that has strengthened my love affair with BEER, you hunky tempter!
1. The opening of Total Wine. It's like a candy, toy, and fireworks store all rolled into one - for adults. Aisles and aisles of wine and beer from all over the world carefully and methodically organized and labeled.
2. The passing of a law that now allows higher alcohol beer to be sold in NC. We were relegated to only having 6% alcohol by volume beers available to buy. Fortunately, thanks to the new law we can now enjoy beer that has 7, 8, 9, or even 10% alcohol by volume- if we so choose. The funny thing with this new law was that there were people opposed to it. Imagine that. Critics had visions of college kids and underage drinkers indulging in high alcohol beer and resulting in ugly and tragic consequences. I have to say though, the likelihood of high school and college drinkers buying high alcohol beer is very slim. They're on a budget for one thing-"Quantity over quality" is the motto. And for another, I think most are far too attached to the taste of PBR and Milwaukee's Best that they could never stomach some of the higher alcohol content beers.
So with these developments my weekends have include various samplings of beer from Total Wine. My husband makes a weekly trip and carefully chooses the beer for the weekend. This past weekend was no exception, and so now I will feature the beers that we tried-proving that packaging is very important to beer distribution.
First, we tried Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Ale, a late winter seasonal beer. It's a barleywine style ale with 9.6% alcohol by volume. I have to admit that I did not care for it as much as other beers I have tried. It was very dry (as I find Sierra Nevada beers to often be-especially the IPA) and very bitter/hoppy. It also had a grapefruity taste which may also have turned me off. But I have to give props to the marketing team that designed the packaging for this beer. It shows exemplary attention to detail. The package is a cartoonish drawing of an old coot looking for Bigfoot in wooded scene. He sees Bigfoot's foot prints in the mud and you can see Bigfoot hiding in the bushes off to the side. The old coot has a dog with him, who is terrified because although the old coot can't see Bigfoot, his donkey with his donkey senses can definitely tell Bigfoot is there in the bushes and the donkey is visibly shaking and petrified with fear. The funny thing is when you open the beer and look at the back of the bottle cap. There is a scene of the old coot, the donkey, and Bigfoot sitting around the campfire drinking Bigfoot beer. See, it's all in the attention to detail.
The other beer we tried this past weekend was Long Leg Ale brewed by Camerons. This brew is 4.8% alcohol by volume and is an English Fuggles Hop Style beer. Overall, a fine beer. A nice full taste with the right combination of malt and hops. Although I wondered what a Fuggle was. No, its not the effeminate men who sing children's songs on the Disney channel-that would be the Wiggles. And no, it's not a person who does not have witchcraft powers in a Harry Potter book-that would be a Muggle. A fuggle is simply a mild, aromatic hop with a slight fruitiness and woody character-according to Alternative Beverage company. Now the packaging for this beer is quite comic too. It includes two surly looking Englishmen on stilts-hence the LONG LEGS.
And finally the third beer sampled is from the Dogfish Head Brewery. I have tried their Indian Brown and Chicory Stout and both are exquisite beers. This time we tried the Raison D'Etre, "a deep mahogany ale brewed with beet sugar, green raisins, and Belgian-style yeast. As complex as a fine, red wine." YUM. I have liked all the beers out this brewery. Although the packaging wasn't as comical as the other two, it was the best of the three.
Well, another weekend is just around the corner. Where there will be more time for more sampling and critique. Of beers and packaging.
So you certainly run the risk of misunderstanding the statement above because afterall it does sound so juvenile.
But, I'm not going to take it back. I do love beer. However, my interest in beer is much like the wine connoisseur's interest in wine. Brewing beer is a science, as well as an art that involves the creative and complex combination of tastes. So, imagine my pure delight with two developments in the last year that has strengthened my love affair with BEER, you hunky tempter!
1. The opening of Total Wine. It's like a candy, toy, and fireworks store all rolled into one - for adults. Aisles and aisles of wine and beer from all over the world carefully and methodically organized and labeled.
2. The passing of a law that now allows higher alcohol beer to be sold in NC. We were relegated to only having 6% alcohol by volume beers available to buy. Fortunately, thanks to the new law we can now enjoy beer that has 7, 8, 9, or even 10% alcohol by volume- if we so choose. The funny thing with this new law was that there were people opposed to it. Imagine that. Critics had visions of college kids and underage drinkers indulging in high alcohol beer and resulting in ugly and tragic consequences. I have to say though, the likelihood of high school and college drinkers buying high alcohol beer is very slim. They're on a budget for one thing-"Quantity over quality" is the motto. And for another, I think most are far too attached to the taste of PBR and Milwaukee's Best that they could never stomach some of the higher alcohol content beers.
So with these developments my weekends have include various samplings of beer from Total Wine. My husband makes a weekly trip and carefully chooses the beer for the weekend. This past weekend was no exception, and so now I will feature the beers that we tried-proving that packaging is very important to beer distribution.
First, we tried Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Ale, a late winter seasonal beer. It's a barleywine style ale with 9.6% alcohol by volume. I have to admit that I did not care for it as much as other beers I have tried. It was very dry (as I find Sierra Nevada beers to often be-especially the IPA) and very bitter/hoppy. It also had a grapefruity taste which may also have turned me off. But I have to give props to the marketing team that designed the packaging for this beer. It shows exemplary attention to detail. The package is a cartoonish drawing of an old coot looking for Bigfoot in wooded scene. He sees Bigfoot's foot prints in the mud and you can see Bigfoot hiding in the bushes off to the side. The old coot has a dog with him, who is terrified because although the old coot can't see Bigfoot, his donkey with his donkey senses can definitely tell Bigfoot is there in the bushes and the donkey is visibly shaking and petrified with fear. The funny thing is when you open the beer and look at the back of the bottle cap. There is a scene of the old coot, the donkey, and Bigfoot sitting around the campfire drinking Bigfoot beer. See, it's all in the attention to detail.
The other beer we tried this past weekend was Long Leg Ale brewed by Camerons. This brew is 4.8% alcohol by volume and is an English Fuggles Hop Style beer. Overall, a fine beer. A nice full taste with the right combination of malt and hops. Although I wondered what a Fuggle was. No, its not the effeminate men who sing children's songs on the Disney channel-that would be the Wiggles. And no, it's not a person who does not have witchcraft powers in a Harry Potter book-that would be a Muggle. A fuggle is simply a mild, aromatic hop with a slight fruitiness and woody character-according to Alternative Beverage company. Now the packaging for this beer is quite comic too. It includes two surly looking Englishmen on stilts-hence the LONG LEGS.
And finally the third beer sampled is from the Dogfish Head Brewery. I have tried their Indian Brown and Chicory Stout and both are exquisite beers. This time we tried the Raison D'Etre, "a deep mahogany ale brewed with beet sugar, green raisins, and Belgian-style yeast. As complex as a fine, red wine." YUM. I have liked all the beers out this brewery. Although the packaging wasn't as comical as the other two, it was the best of the three.
Well, another weekend is just around the corner. Where there will be more time for more sampling and critique. Of beers and packaging.
posted by amyd | 5:30 PM
2 Comments:
Yes, you guys do find the good beer. YUm. When am I next coming to visit?
whenever you want!
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