beerguyjim

Coincidentally, just the other day I asked Matthias Neidhart at B United about how a filtered beer might benefit from aging. He forwarded my question to head brewer Giles Dennis at JW Lees, and this is his response: Where does one start, never mind finish! Ageing is so complex and not fully understood. Yes, the beer is filtered, but the alcohol reacts with the many flavour compounds, mostly derived from the yeast during fermentation, present in the beer. A fitting subject for a mature student with nothing better to do than gaze melancholically into glasses of beer. Perhaps a project for my retirement!

That hasn't stopped Anheuser-Busch from increasing its dominance.

I believe that's correct.

I believe there are a few exceptions, such as Berliner Weisse and lambics. Saison de Pipaix is sold in several vintages, which leads me to wonder if sourness somehow lends itself to aging.

I don't know where you live, but in my area (northern Virginia) there are several white beers available. (Wit means white, btw.) Allagash, Hoegaarden, Blanche de Chambly, Blue Moon, for starters, and a number of seasonal witbiers in the summer.

The Dortmund beers sold in the US are usually pilsner beers, rather than the Dortmunder Export style for which the city is known.

The Ngoma Brewery in Togo makes some nice, European-style lager beers. Used to be sold in the US; haven't seen it in a long time.

The owner of United Breweries, which makes Kingfisher in India, is involved with the Mendocino Brewing Co. Through him, MBC acquired a brewery in New York that makes Kingfisher for the US.

some states require the 'malt liquor' label if a beer exceeds a certain percentage of alcohol. you see the ML label on some German beers as well, for the same reason.

Actually, it's Shmaltz, and it's not bad, brewed at Anderson Valley Brewing Co in Boonville, CA.

Perhaps you could be a bit more specific about what you don't like about Singha.

Victory has not entered the GABF competition, to my knowledge, and I have never seen them at GABF. I am surprised that Dogfish HEad didnt win any medals, but that's just how it goes, I guess. Stoudt's hasn't competed at GABF for the last 3 or 4 years, after being shut out of any medals a few years back. Some breweries like DFH don't fare so well because so many of their beers don't conform to style guidelines.

You probably know that in the north of France one can find some tasty bieres de garde, which have some resemblance to Belgian beers. I don't know geography well, and suspect Alsace ain't there!

Tripel is really much different than white beer. Higher gravity, for starters, and generally not so overtly spicy.

Blue Moon has always been a Coors product. Coors brewer Keith Villa studied brewing in Belgium, incidentally. Coors has used its SandLot Brewery at Coors Field to test recipes for the Blue Moon line, which has included a raspberry beer and a brown ale, and still features a seasonal pumpkin ale. (Not sure if that one disappeared for a time, but it's being sold this year IAC.)

You said the US doesn't allow their importation. I said it will. I wouldn't argue that it would taste as it does at the source. But that's not the point you were making, until now.

You are correct. The laws don't "prevent" importation, but the local (state) laws make it a real pain in the ass. For example: any beer over 4.0% abv sold in the state of Texas... If I recall correctly, several Czech beers get up to and over 5% abv A typical Czech beer sold in the US is about 5% abv. But this is true of many, many beers that are successfully imported to and sold in the United States. And the 'real' Czech beer of which you speak is probably the same strength, or less. Perhaps you can confirm this. There is nothing in the laws or regulations of the United States, or of many US states, that prevents or discourages the importation of a 5% abv beer into the US, nor would those laws or regs make it particularly difficult to import it. Yes, there are goofy laws in many states, but nothing that hundreds of other beers haven't already dealt with successfully.

I really doubt that any laws or regs prevent the importation of 'real' Czech beer.

Thomas Hardy's Ale will reappear this fall. Visit http://mythbirdbeer.com/whatsnew.shtml for info.

Fred Eckhardt lives in Portland, Oregon.

Singha bears no resemblance to Budweiser. To start off, it has 40 bitterness units, compared to about 10 for Bud. It has 6% abv, while Bud has probably 4.7 or so. Michael Jackson gives it three stars (worth seeking out), vs one star for Bud. And I can show you beers that cost much more.

I think you refer to New Belgium Brewing Co. A few weeks ago we had Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch from New Belgium at a beer class we put on for Smithsonian in Washington, DC. And of course they brought beer! Anchor Liberty Ale is a wonderful beer, quite stunning in its hoppiness way back when, although surpassed by many superhoppy brews today. If you like Fat Tire, look for De Konninck from Antwerp. Also Allagash Summer Ale. Rare Vos, from Brewery Ommegang in NY, is a bit bigger, but similar in style.

There are generally no restrictions on can size. Until pretty recently, Florida restricted beer bottles (not sure about cans) to a few common sizes, which meant, among other things, that almost every Belgian beer was barred from the state.

I haven't attended since the festival moved next door from Currigan. I used to always have breakfast nearby at Vic's Yankee Dollar, an old breakfast/lunch joint (can't recall street offhand), but I hear it disappeared a couple years ago. Don't know where I'd get my sausage and eggs now.

They don't have tents; it's indoors.