Beer Radar

Anchor Brewing sold

I haven’t seen anything official on this, yet, but Beer Advocate has published a press release that says the founding brewery of the American brewing renaissance has been sold to an investment group.

Wow. Just wow.

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Philly Beer Week Featured Event

We’ve got just under six weeks till Opening Tap. Today I’ll start (what I hope will be) a daily posting of the best of Philly Beer Week.

• First Friday at the Chemical Heritage Foundation: Vital Ingredients
• Friday, June 4,  5-8 p.m.
• Ever wondered about the science behind the froth? Join the Chemical Heritage Foundation for an evening of tastings, talks, and demonstrations.

The CHF (315 Chestnut St., Old City) is a new participant in Beer Week this  year, and it’ll be interesting to hear their high-tech take on the science behind beer flavors and aroma. Bonus: this is just two blocks from the site of Opening Tap, so you can stroll over afterward and share everything you learned at the Independence Visitor Center.

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Correction

Yesterday’s column stated that all U.S. sake comes from the West - specifically Oregon and California. An alert reader from the Twin Cities sent along this link to moto-i, a sake brewpub in Minneapolis. Wow - that’s freaking cool, a definite must-visit.

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Stop in for a pop

Traffic around town is insane today (Friday). If you’re caught in a jam in the vicinity of I-95 at the Schuylkill Expressway, pull over for a cold one at Bell’s Beverage (Front Street, below Oregon, at the I-95 off ramp).

From 4-6 p.m., I’ll be pouring Wolaver’s & Otter Creek, including a couple specials. Like I tell everyone who stops in: It’s beer, it’s free. Do you need another reason?

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That $100 bottle of wine

If you buy it by the case, a great bottle of beer will set you back two, maybe three bucks a bottle. A one-off 750ml will run you $20, maybe $30 tops.

Compare that to the cost of wine. If you wanted a wine of, say, the quality of $15-a-case Yuengling, it would run you about $10 a bottle. A Saranac-level wine goes for about $20, and a wine in the class of Troeg’s Nugget Nectar or Stone Ruination  ($60/case range) will set you back at least $50.

Of course, a $50 wine is hardly the cream of the crop. For that, you’ve got to pay over a hundred bucks a bottle (or closer to $200 in a restaurant).

Now, I’ve heard some brewers lament the fact that they’re unable to charge more for some of their beers, that beer-drinkers are accustomed to enjoying great beer at a much lower price than that of wine. A brewery’s inability to charge $100 for a spectacular one-off, they gripe, is evidence that beer is a second-class beverage behind wine.

Not to diminish their hard work and product quality, but I absolutely cringe when I hear that talk, and not just because I can’t afford to peel off C-notes for the latest Belgian-influence West Coast hop monster. I shudder because that attitude gives up on beer’s unmatched asset of affordability. Like it or not, beer is the Everyman’s Beverage, and as a result it’s beer that they serve in ballparks and at NASCAR race tracks. It’s beer I’ll be drinking at my poker game tonight. It’s beer that’s the All-American beverage, that the President used to settle a racial quarrel, that Americans will be cracking open at Memorial Day picnics.

Wine?

It’ll never have that kind of standing in America, unless beer gives up that turf.

Why not? Because of horseshit like this, an insider’s acerbic account of what makes a $100 bottle of wine. Give it a read, but if you don’t have the time, the bottom line is that - even if the winery bought entirely new equipment every year and didn’t take a write-off - a $100 bottle costs the maker, at most, $28.25.

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On this rainy Saturday…

If you’re cooped up inside, trying to decide which of tonight’s Philly Beer Weekend events you’re going to go to, just think how nice the weather’s going to be on June 4th.

Specifically here.  (Shhh… the official announcement comes on Monday.)

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A simple, absolutely brilliant idea for the PLCB

It’s clear the Great Philly Beer Raid Fiasco was at least partly due to dimwits at the State Police being unable to extrapolate that, perhaps, Duvel Beer is precisely the same thing as Duvel Belgian Golden Ale. As I’ve conceded in earlier posts, some beer names are, indeed, confusing and inconsistent.

From BeerAdvocate.com:

The fact that it relies on the name on the label, and that it has to be exact, is ridiculous. Anyone at the PLBC ever hear of a barcode?

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About that registered brands list: It’s still useless

In the wake of the Great Philly Beer Raid Fiasco, brewers and importers have been hustling to add brands to the PLCB’s vaunted list of Registered Malt or Brewed Beverage Brands. By my count,  134 brands have been added to the list since the bust.

I had to laugh this morning when one local bar owner gave me the heads up on one of the latest to be added:

OUD BEERSEL DUDE GEUZE ALE

Dude! Someone stole my gueuze!

For the record, the correctly spelled name on the label is Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille. The brewery just calls it “Old Geuze” - “oude” and “vielle” are simply Flemish and French for “old” or “aged.” (Not that the state liquor cops give a shit.)

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6 great beers this week

I’m tired of writing about all that PLCB red tape. Let’s get back on track here…

1. Troegs Java Head Stout @ Johnny Brenda’s (Fishtown) Stout Brunch, Saturday (3/13), 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
2. Pliny the Younger @ The Blue Dog (Chalfont, Buxco) Haitian relief fundraiser, Sunday (3/14), 11:30 a.m.
3. Stone Guardian ‘07 @ Teresa’s Next Door (Wayne, Chesco) 3rd annual Stone Brunch, Sunday (3/14)
4. Dark Horse Blueberry Stout @ Hawthorne’s (Bella Vista) Beer Geek Brunch, Sunday (3/14)
5. Flying Fish Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA release @ McGillin’s Old Ale House (Center City), Monday (3/15), 6-8 p.m.
6. Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s @ pretty much every bar in town, St. Patrick’s Day, Wednesday (3/17).

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About that list of registered brands

If you’ve been following the infamous State Police beer raid, you’ve probably already bookmarked the PLCB’s online list of Registered Malt or Brewed Beverage Brands. This is the list that the cops cited when they busted three city bars last week, claiming they were selling brands whose breweries or importers had not paid the annually required $75 registration fee.

There’s one big problem with the list: It’s completely worthless.

As previously reported, the online list is rife with mistakes. Duvel, for example, was listed as “Duvel Beer,” when its label said “Duvel Belgian Golden Ale.” That discrepancy (since corrected) apparently led the police to confiscate bottles of Duvel from the bars and order its wholesale distributor to immediately cease shipments of the beer.But it gets worse: Disclaimers posted on the web sites of both the PLCB and the state of Pennsylvania clearly warn that the contents of the sites should not be used for any legal purposes.

PLCB disclaimer:

“With respect to documents available from this server, neither the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, nor any of its employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, including the warranties or merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

State of Pennsylvania privacy policy – information disclaimer

Information provided on the Commonwealth’s Web sites is intended to allow the public immediate access to public information.  While all attempts are made to provide accurate, current and reliable information we recognize the possibility of human and/or mechanical error.  Therefore, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, its employees, officers and agencies expressly deny any warranty of the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information.  Any person who relies upon such information obtained from this system does so at his or her own risk.

So, bar owners and distributors have been warned: Don’t depend on this list to determine if the beers you’re selling are legally registered.

Importantly, a beer industry attorney who turned me onto these disclaimers told me, that warning applies to the cops, too.

Yet, it’s now clear the entire raid was sparked when the cops, acting on a complaint, matched the beer menu at the three bars with the online list of registered brands. That’s how they determined the likes of Duvel and another 20 or so brands were not registered. More than half of the brands, it turns out, were in fact registered properly.

I asked PLCB attorney Rod Diaz several questions about the disclaimer and the registration list, including:

Q. Can you explain how the PLCB expects licensees to determine if a beer is properly registered when the web site’s disclaimer clearly warns that the online list should not be used for any legal purposes?

A. “If I were a retail licensee, I think I’d call the board first. It’s always prudent to double-check.”

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