OK, I’m not exactly going to meet Martha Herself. But if you tune into Martha Stewart Living on Sirius XM satellite radio Thursday morning (12/11) about 11 a.m., you can catch my chat about my Christmas beer book on “Everyday Food” with hostess Sandy Gluck.
I am totally looking forward to learning how to fold cocktail napkins!
Seen at the Portland Holiday Ale Festival.
The other night I stopped in at Oak Tree Discount Wine & Spirits in South Plainfield, N.J., to pick up a few Christmas beers that had escaped me so far this season:
Now it looks like I’m going to have to sprint down to D.C., where Greg Kitsock reports in the Washpost that Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits, one of the best beer stores on the east coast, stocks perhaps 200 Christmas beers.
(Of course, this is just a shameless ploy to link to the Post’s nice review of “Christmas Beer.”)
Just got off the phone with Urbain Coutteau, the head brewer at Belgium’s Struise brewery. I was chatting with him about Tsjeeses, his Christmas beer, which I’ll be writing about on Friday. But our conversation drifted to highly praised Black Albert imperial stout. The stout, brewed especially for Ebenezer’s Pub in Maine, has been a darling in beer freak circles this year, notching 13 percent ABV and 100 IBUs.
Turns out, Cotteau has been aging the stout for the past year in used Four Roses bourbon barrels. A few lucky Belgians managed to get a taste earlier this year when Struise released a keg’s worth of bottles; he plans to bottle the entire batch in mid-January for release later this winter.
Cotteau said his importer, Shelton Brothers of Massachusetts, hasn’t decided, yet, whether it’ll import the beer. I’m betting they will if only, as Dan Shelton once wrote of Struise’s most popular label, Pannepot, because it’s “about the easiest beer in the world to sell.”
The name of this new barrel-aged stout? Cuvée Delphine, in honor of (for those not versed in Belgian royalty) Delphine Boël, the illegitimate love child of King Albert II.
I’ve returned from Portland, but I’m right back out the door today, headed for the Spuyten Duyvil for a fun Chanukah vs. Christmas showdown with the folks from Shmaltz Brewing. If you’re anywhere near the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, drop in at 7 p.m. for samples of great holiday brews, including He’Brew Jewbelation 12 (12% alcohol, brewed with 12 malts and 12 hops).
Before “Christmas Beer” was published, my book agent, Clare Pelino, and I kicked around ideas for cover blurbs from celebrities. We tried to track down St. Nick himself, but his people (i.e. elves)Â told us he was too busy. Brooklyn Brewing’s Garrett Oliver was kind enough to do the job instead. (Sorry, Garrett, it’s true, Santa was my first choice.)
Anyway, I finally ran into the fat bastard Father Christmas this weekend in Portland and convinced him to pose with me. Better than that, I got him to actually buy the book!
When Philly declared itself America’s Best Beer-Drinking City last year during Philly Beer Week, it was Portland, Oregon, that gave us the most grief. Nicknamed “Beer Town,” its pretty much brewpub nirvana. There’s at least 34 of them, including a half dozen McMenamins.
One guy who passed my table at the Holiday Ale Fest this weekend picked up a Philly Beer Week postcard and scoffed, “Philly? You’re kidding - what do they drink, Old Milwaukee?” He wasn’t the only one, either. My response: “Have you ever been to Philadelphia?”
No.
And in that lies my biggest gripe with the Portland beer scene. It is almost completely inbred. Many of the beer freaks here live the comfortable life of ignorance in the confident belief that there is nothing worth knowing outside of their own little world. It reminds me of when I lived in Fishtown in the ’80s, and my neighbors proudly boasted they hadn’t visited Center City in 15 years.
So, Portland is very happy drinking its own beer, and nothing else. (One of the local beer clubs is called SNOB - Supporters of Native Oregon Beer.) It’s the same attitude I’ve found when traveling in Munich, where Germans stick up their noses at hoppy ales or Belgian beer; if it ain’t Helles, it ain’t beer.
Or, in Portland, if it ain’t full of hops, it ain’t ale.
Great example: Deschutes, a brand I always had high respect for, has a public house in Portland’s Pearl District - it’s a beautiful place, a bit yuppified, but bearable. The tap list the other night included six brews it described as “pub exclusives.” I ordered up the sampler and, outside of color, I was hard pressed to tell the difference between each. Every one of them, from the Mt. St. Helens Keller Bier to the Tamarack Gold, was a one-dimensional hop bomb. Even the Jubelale holiday ale, which I’ve enjoyed in bottles, was a dud - just lots of hops and no complexity.
The result in Portland is that, while you see many, many excellent Northwestern beers, you don’t see nearly the diversity of beer styles that we have in the east. Few lagers, few wild ales, very few high-end imports. There are 7 Belgian bars in Philly and the ‘burbs; there are none in Portland. Try to find Cantillon or Dupont on on tap, or even a bottle of Orval in Portland.
I don’t mean to sound so negative. Portland has so many outstanding beer joints - the Green Dragon Bistro, Belmont Station, the Horse Brass, the New Old Lompoc & Roots Organic can match anything Philly has to offer. Last night I had an outstanding dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s Riverplace restaurant, which houses a Full Sail brewery. Again, I ran through a sampler - not expecting much from the basic Amber, IPA and Pale Ale. Wrong. Each was beautifully crafted, distinctive and well-balanced. I wasn’t crazy about the over-sweetened Belgian dubbel, but Full Sail’s Wassail was a beautiful winter warmer, very enjoyable.
My point here is that, like every city, the beer scene in Portland has its good points and its bad. But it is not the only beer city in America.
A beer drinker who can’t see beyond his own border is no better than the guy who drinks Bud every day of his life. To Portland, I say this: I’ve traveled to your city 3 times in the past 10 years. How many times have you visited Philly?
I’m in Portland for the annual Holiday Ale Festival. Not surprisingly, I’ve been getting shit from locals about Philly’s claim as America’s Best Beer Drinking City. I’ll have more to write about that in a day or so, but in the interest of making you thirsty, I thought I’d share the beer list from the festival. A number of these are one-offs made especially for the fest, all draft.
My Christmas beer class Tuesday (12/2) at the Tria Fermentation School is long sold out, but they’ll be holding a pre-class happy hour starting at 4 p.m. at Tria Cafe’s 12th and Spruce location. I’m not sure what’s on tap, but you know it’s going to be dynamite. Erin at Tria emailed me last night with the details: tasting portions of Sly Fox Christmas Ale, De Struise Tsjeeses and Scaldis Prestige from bottles, plus Gouden Carolus Christmas and Brasserie Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux on draft. (Like I said… dynamite).
Join me - I’ll be hanging there till 6 or so.
For those who missed the cutoff, check out what we’re pouring in class:
I just did some math and discovered the menu averages 9.2 percent ABV. I’m thinking Prof. Sixpack might need a lectern to make it all the way through class without falling over.
Thanksgiving is a memory, December is upon us, and it’s time to get focused on Christmas beer. To celebrate the season, I’m counting down the top 25 holiday beers in my new book, “Christmas Beer.”
Each day ’til Dec. 25th, I’ll post a new beer and some great holiday labels I’ve collected. Just head over to my web site for the link.
No. 25? It’s 2° Below Winter Ale from New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins. It’s an ESB (sadly, not available in the east) that is chilled to two degrees below zero during the final stage of brewing to produce a brilliant clarity.
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