Does it have citron and a hint of sage? Craft be damned. Give me a real beer that’s not hopped up and doesn’t require me calling Uber after one 7.5% pint. They’re making beer for non beer drinkers or new beer drinkers. HOLD THE FRUIT.
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I grew up on in a house on a terrace between Wright Street and Smith Terrace, both dead end streets. The Piels Brewery was two blocks from our house. When the wind was blowing out of the east we could smell the hops and grain cooking. The grain car were parked in the Tompkinsville switch yard. On our way to Lyons Pool we'd walk the tracks and after the vacuum tanker truck would leave we climb into the grain car and dive into the grain.
When Public Law 95-458 (H.R. 1337) was passed in 1978 I lived on a farm in Nebraska. I bought a carboy, Munton Fison canned malt and Hallertauer hops and made some of the best beer of my life. Thanks to the Ogallala Aquifer.
The next time I visit Staten Island I plan to check out the microbreweries.
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I found an R & H beer bottle in good shape years ago in the mountains of West Virginia. Still have it.
I remember my father referring to R&H as "Rotten and Horrible"!
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Umm, re the 7 minute pour, see here
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/dining/drinks/beer-foam-head.html
Cheers also to the recently closed Staten Island Beer Company. It required a bus ride from the ferry but good beer and good times.
I would hope that one of the knowledgeable beer drinkers/commenters would enlighten me about this: I love German pubs, and a pleasant sunny afternoon in a beer garden is a grand experience. But I also really love German beer, and have never really “gotten into” craft beers. Sometimes too “hoppy” for me, perhaps. But I asked a friend/brewer why no craft brewers make German type beer and he said because it took too long, that they could turn out the craft beers in such a shorter period of time that it wasn’t as profitable. I understand that the term “craft beer” can refer to many different styles, but still, my question “why do I usually not love “ craft beers” but love German, Czech, Belgian, beer, always from the tap, which is how good beer should be drunk. In the U.S. I often drink Stella Artois, which is the closest here.
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@Wan, It sounds like you enjoy lagers but perhaps not ales. The difference in brewing them is the yeasts involved. Ales use top brewing yeasts and lagers use bottom brewing yeasts, and take a bit more time as I understand it. Other differences can come into play as well. You probably don't care for the varieties of hops in ales and prefer the standard European types, simple as that.
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Yes, but how’s the beer? No review?
I’m curious in part because American craft brewers focus on ales, not lagers.
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I hope Mr. Quinn brings back the "7 minute pilsener". This is a way of pouring the beer, from a tap, that takes 7 minutes but results in the perfect beer. It is a dying art, even in Germany, where you only find it in "old man's bars". In these bars - fast disappearing - you only have two choices, an "alt" or a "pils", both from a local brewery. The bartender (always a woman) is pouring dozens of beers, pouring straight into the glass (no tipping to reduce the foam) which is either 0.2 or 0.3 liter size, NEVER a pint or half liter, that's Britain or Bavaria. The result, when the keg is fresh, is an aerated beer - no bubbles - with a stiff, almost meringue-like head of foam at the perfect temperature. There's no other beer experience like it.
So please, if you're making and serving pilsener on tap, do it the right way, you'll be glad!
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@mijosc please tell me where I can get this. I want one! (Or five)
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@DH: In Germany, you can still always ask for one: "sieben minuten Pils, bitte".
But most of the smaller breweries have been bought by the big ones. If you're in a place like Duisburg, industrial areas, try a working man's bar; they can be hostile but you can always walk out! Look for König Pils, big brewery but still pretty good.
A good place in Berlin is KaDeWe, there's a food mall on one of the floors. Again, if you ask specifically for the 7 minute beer, they will be happy to serve you and much friendlier than the worker's bars. ;-)
Also, a decent alternative is Koelsch, only available in Cologne. A famous place is Paeffgen's. Nico, of the Velvet Underground, was a Paeffgen, it's her family's brewery.
I've actually, since writing the above, researched this a bit and apparently the 7 minute paradigm had something to do with the type of tap they used to use, which has since been replaced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAdLwMKeE9g
But I can say from first hand experience, that I've had incredible, memorable beers in the past and find the current method lacking.
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Until I read this article, I'd never heard the term "Promiscuous Beer Drinker".
That totally describes me. I love beer, and I love to try different beers that I haven't had before.
Thanks for the article.
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@Jason
Promiscuous or adventurous..or maybe just a hunter of tasty suds with or without sex. Gee..I dunno what I am.. best ask my wife. All this talk about beer and no mention of real ale or casks?
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