See, there are these two bars in Rochester: Monty’s Krown and Monty’s Korner. They’re good bars, with friendly staff and an awareness of good beer. I’m friends with the ‘tenders and the managers. Bruce and I will even be restarting Beer School at the Korner within  a couple of weeks.

That said, the Monty’s bars are pulling a jack move, and I gotta call ‘em out on it.]

It was an axiom at the Krown and the Korner. Irish stout, such as Gunness or Murphys, was served in a 20 ounce Imperial pint. Just like in Ireland. A nice, weighty pint in your hand on a cold night is a wonderful thing, and Monty’s used to deliver.

Now, they’ve substituted in a glass that looks exactly like an Imperial pint, with its flares and curves, except for one minor detail: It’s four ounces smaller. No, dear reader, the price has not changed, but your drink shrank. Monty’s is getting 24 more imperial pints worth of saleable beer per keg, and you don’t save a dime on your considerably smaller beer.

It’s a fucking rip-off. And it doesn’t have to be.

Now before I get angry calls from you, Jen Clark, hear me out. Monty’s has been more than good to its regular patrons over the years, and this post is not meant to sound ungrateful. Times have definitely gotten tough, and places like the Krown need to buckle down, maybe track their bottom line with a bit more vigor. That’s totally understandable. But sneaking a smaller pint onto the shelf isn’t the way to do it. People feel cheated. They grumble. It’s an affront to the intelligence as well as the liver.

Just raise the damn price and keep the pint glass the same. Drinkers know that times are tough for small business owners too, not just for the customers. I, for one, would have been happy to pay an extra buck for my 20 oz Murphy’s instead of cradling the new “pint”, wondering if I had a growth spurt.

Monty’s is by no means the only bar to do this (for example, the “Little Paul” pints at the Tap and Mallet). But it’s a shame when penny-pinching hits that close to a longtime home.

-Mark

-Mark

Resolutions of beer
by Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish

Time for some self-reflection.

As we leave the steaming carcass of 2008 behind, and eye the looming New Year with a growing sense of unease, our thoughts turn to what we could do to improve ourselves. While some may resolve to trundle their butts into the gym or quit huffing down tobacco, we feel there’s stillroom for personal growth in our relationship with beer.

Let it be said. In 2009, Mark and Bruce will adhere to the following resolutions:

We resolve to drink more real (cask-conditioned) ale. Cask ale is unpasteurized and alive. It continues to ferment in the pub cellar, yeast gorging merrily under the customers’ feet. This is the original English ale archetype, carbonated solely by CO2 released by the yeast and served at cellar temperature (50-55 degrees).

Cask ale isn’t a style, but the expression of a philosophy of how beer should be treated and experienced. You’ll find all styles of English ale on cask: porter, IPA, brown ale, whatever. And the difference in a beer’s draft and cask incarnations can be startling.

We resolve to pay more attention to experimental beer. While we acknowledge the importance of American innovation to the growth of the craft beer industry, rare is the time we’ll choose the latest crazy experiment from a brewery like Dogfish Head over, say, a Victory Prima Pils, brewed in the traditional Czech style.

But the truth is American Brewers are changing beer, not always for the worse. New taste extremes, novel ingredients, and inventive brewing processes have created an American beerscape the average European would find strange and wonderful. The USA has the most exciting beer scene on Earth, and we should be reveling in that.

We resolve to drink more homebrew.
Many of the nation’s most innovative and skilled brewers got their start as homebrewers. In basements, garages and cramped kitchens, beer hobbyists fawned over their bubbling creations, perfecting recipes and trying new flavors. Without homebrewing, the independent beer scene would likely never have come of age, and we’d all be drinking depressing formaldehyde-colored mass-market lager from which the only pleasure would be merciful intoxication.

With this in mind we will make more of our own beer, and highlight the efforts of homebrew hobbyists (like the members of the Upstate New York Homebrew Association) whose beers may vascillate between triumph and tragedy, but exist as labors of love nonetheless.

By now you’re thinking “They slapped you with an early deadline for the Holidays, didn’t they?” And you’d be right. Nevertheless, we are reminded of how vast and complex the world of beer really is, and how easy it is to pigeonhole oneself by sticking with a few comfortable styles and brands.

That would be a disservice to us, our friends in the brewing world, and the readers who put up with our schtick for yet another year. Thank you and cheers!

In other beers
The Southern Tier Brewing Company’s winter seasonals are out. Grab a case of Choklat if you like, well, chocolate. It’s a big huge strong beer brewed with real Belgian chocolate that suffuses the senses with every sip. Come to think of it, grab two cases, one to drink now and one to cellar for a few months; this beer will mellow out nicely.

As long as you’re blowing your rent money on Choklat, grab a case of Southern Tier Oat as well. This imperial oatmeal stout is an iron hammer in a velvet sheath. Oat’s silky body and rich, slightly sweet flavor belie its enormous double-digit alcohol content. It’s a perfect delicious, glow-inducing nightcap.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.

And yet another night of New York State Beer. The Old Toad held a special sampling that showcased the product line of the 17th best brewery in history on the planet*

For a mere $6.75, lucky drinkers got to select four of seven big huge Southern Tier Brewing Company beers. But frankly, when confronted with a tapline consisting of Unearthly, Big Red, Javaah, Choklat, Creme Brulee and Oat, how the hell do you choose 4?

You could do what I did and order two samplers, filling the extra spaces in the second with more Choklat. But my recommendation for next time will be to not down all the sample glasses within an hour.

The problem with tasting seasonal releases is you’re operating purely from memory, unless you have the foresight to buy up a bunch each season and store it in your basement, which I do not. To me, the Choklat seemed less chocolatey and more restrained than last year’s. Beeradvocate.com beer guide John Schmitt, occupying the stool next to mine, thought exactly the opposite. Either way it’s excellent, I’m glad to have Choklat back in my life for a limited time

Thanks to the Toad’s manager, Jules Suplicki (pictured here), for another great night of fine beer and mediocre company. Her showcase nights cement The Old Toad as Rochester’s most eclectic beer bar.

-Mark

* According to Beer Advocate Magazine’s 2008 Best Of list

Rule #1 for a beer site writer: always have a camera handy. That way, when you get the owner and head brewer of New York State’s most up-and-coming brewery pouring you samples, you can  get a quick headshot for the next day’s post.

Actually that’s rule #3. I think rule #1 is “post every day.” Or is it “pay your DNS bill?”

At any rate, thanks to Dan, Jeff and Eric of the Ithaca Beer Company for coming up to the Tap & Mallet’s beer social last night. A packed house got to taste Apricot Wheat, Smoked Porter, Oaked Brown Ale, Casked Flower Power IPA, Brute, and Ithaca Ten. An awesome line up from what many consider to be New York’s best brewery.

And special thanks to Jeff for the heads-up that his Alphalpha “Double Honey Ale,” brewed with all New-York State hops and New York honey, should be available for retail at the brewery beginning this Friday.

-Mark

Jason and Todd Alstrom have given a lot to the beer community. Through their website, beeradvocate.com, and the monthly in-print Beer Advocate Magazine (a publication to which I aspire to contribute), the Bros have a tangible hand in the craft beer industry’s current growth and strength.  More than anyone else I can think of, the Alstroms unified America’s beer lovers into a single loud voice.

So what the fuck is up with their annual Beeradvocate Magazine top ten lists? Specifically, what’s up with the “all-time top breweries on planet Earth” list?

Before I get into it, take a moment to name some of the breweries you’d consider for a list like this, taking into account, as a worldly reader like you certainly would, that “all-time” implies a long chronological span and :”Planet Earth” implies the existence of multiple nations. Chances are the breweries you’re thinking of don’t appear on BA’s list.

In fact, virtually no breweries outside the good ol’ US of A make the cut. None from Germany, or the UK, or the Czech Republic or the Baltic states. Two Belgian breweries appear on the list: St. Bernardus at no. 11 (just beneath Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing Company) and Chimay at 16 (one notch inferior to Sierra Nevada). That’s it for world representation on this list. Whoda thunk it? The US beer industry is so awesome that American brewers are 23 of the 25 best in the world?

As for the American breweries they’ve included, those whose beer I’ve had before are all excellent, and some of my favorite USA indies rank well. Those I haven’t tried, I know by reputation and do not doubt their quality or worthiness. But as much as I love the Victory Brewing Company (3), they are not the 968-year-old Brauerei Weihenstephan. And rare would be the situation in which I’d choose a damn good Southern Tier Porter (17th) over a Samuel Smith Taddy porter.

There is, however, one category in which the American breweries are consistently superior to European stalwarts: innovation. American indie brewers unashamedly break new ground. Classic European breweries do not. The wild and wonderful inventions concocted by, among others, Dogfish Head (23rd) and Russian River (6th) have converted many people’s interest from fancy to passion. But in my mind, this is not a strong enough case to boldly claim for them this lofty status among the best breweries in history in the entire world.

By now you’re probably also asking, “what the fuck” (or you’re saying “shut the hell up Mark and get a day job that takes up more of your free time.”). The problem is in the rating method. The bros. heavily weighted the brewery ratings according to the number of reviews posted to beeradvocate.com readers, most of which seem to be American craft brewery fans with very distinct preferences. What this created is a list of very good American breweries, but it is no help when you’re in a beer bar looking at the menu and trying to decide if you can order a pint of world-class greatness.

-Mark

Landmark spans New York State
by Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish

It costs an awful lot of money to open an independent brewery. After arranging the real estate, purchasing the brewing equipment, and hiring staff, expenses could run upwards of a million dollars. Needless to say, the high capital investment is a barrier to many aspiring beer barons.

Syracuse’s Kiernan May, owner of Landmark Beer, circumvents the problem through old-fashioned capitalism. May’s beer is brewed under contract in an already established brewery.

Every few days, May finds himself motoring down I-90 to Buffalo’s Flying Bison Brewery to pick up batches of beer, cart them to his home market, and pound the ground selling them case by case and keg by keg.  It’s a lot of work for a guy who still works a full time day job, but the former homebrewer insists it’s a labor of, well, if not love, at least compulsion. “I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit,” he says.

May developed his beer recipes at home, and originally contracted with New Jersey’s River Horse Brewing Company to produce his India Red Ale. A desire to bring production closer to his adopted hometown, led him first to Wagner Brewing, and finally to Flying Bison, which produces Landmark Vanilla Bean Brown, Sunrise Amber, and IPA.

Now, May faces the challenge of growing his beer company amid some pretty tough competition. “I’m really trying to put an emphasis on on-premise draft sales,” he explains, adding that his beer is strong in Syracuse, Oswego, and is now finding distribution in New York City.

In addition to personally handling nearly all brewery-customer interaction, May reserves one weekend a month to host on-site tastings. During the summer he dutifully talks his beer up at festivals throughout the region.

Landmark’s Vanilla Bean Brown accounts for 75% of the company’s production. Fundamentally an English-style brown ale, May adds some spin with chocolate and carastan malts. Hop levels serve just to balance out the beer, without adding bitterness. The real kicker is the addition of pure Madagascar vanilla bean.

“We tested dozens of vanillas,” explains May, showing an obsessive streak that’s becoming in a craft brewer. “Madagascar has that classic, rounded, sweet nutty flavor.”

A whiff of the beer makes that evident. Vanilla aroma practically bursts out of the pint glass. A taste reveals the vanilla to be complex, a little buttery, and not so overwhelming that it masks the beer’s mellow malt flavor.

Landmark is also producing India Pale Ale. It’s strong at 6.8-6.9% alcohol by volume, and, for the most part, fits the now classic American IPA profile thanks to the use of warrior, centennial and cascade hops. May takes Landmark IPA of the well-worn path, however, with the addition of Munich malt, rounding out the beer and foiling the heavy hop harshness.

The third brew in Landmark’s lineup, Sunrise Amber, fits the bill for a reliable session beer. Biscuity and earthy, with a classically English taste imparted by Kent Goldings hops and a moderate 5% alcohol content by volume, the Amber is a handy gateway for craft beer newbies, as well as a solid choice if you’re planning to have several.

May’s contract-brewed beer is not without stigma; some snotty craft beer “purists” vocally question the legitimacy of a beer brewed by someone else’s brewery. May bristles when he hears this. “It’s no different than if I owned a brewery and hired a brewer to make my beer.”

Whether Landmark remains a contract-produced beer remains to be seen. Under the right circumstances, May envisions the founding of his own production brewery. “I’d like to. I’m always looking at real estate.”

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.

Lovin’ Cup is an asset to Rochester. A combination cafe slash bistro slash beer-wine bar, the Cup carries the easy conviviality and hipness of an urban joint, while actually located smack-bang in the depressing commercial brownfield of suburban Henrietta.

Most places like this treat beer kind of as an afterthought. They know it’s good business to have some craft or import bottles on hand, but happily stock whatever their distributors tell them. Lovin’ Cup’s owners differentiate their place by giving a shit about the beer they serve.

No surprise there. Proprietrix Leslie Zinck used to tend bar at the Tap & Mallet, under the wing of local beer pro Joe McBane. And her husband, Eric, was a fixture on his barstool. No way would this pair open a place without careful attention to the tapline.

So there’s 10 taps that rotate regularly. Well, 9 actually. The 10th is reserved for Lovin’ Cup Koelsch, made especially for the Cup by Rohrbach (specifically by Bruce Lish, my bandmate, occasional roomie, and grubby road-trip partner). An underrepresented style among indie brewers, The sweet, prickly Kölsch alone is worth the drive out to the Cup’s RIT campus location. Add 5 additional Rohrbach samples and you’ve got yourself a sweet evening.

-Mark

Eric from Lovin’ Cup, pouring his house Kölsch

The program for the evening

Larry, Rohrbach’s sales guy, doing what he does best

Bruce, Rohrbach’s brewer, caught in the moment

 My compadre Bruce Lish, Brewer for the Rohrbach Brewing Company, will be on hand at Lovin’ Cup tommorow night for a guided tasting of his current specialty beers.

Bruce’s beer is starting to take Western New York by storm, or at least by drizzle. Local restauranteurs are lining up to have a Rohrbach/Bruce Lish house beer. Among them is Lovin’ Cup, the new cafe/bistro/music bar in RIT’s Park point, for whom Bruce makes a Kölsch.

Lovin’ Cup also has a cool take on cafe food, with fresh ingredents and irreverent combinations. They should pair up nicely with the Rohrbach beer. Just don’t let yourself get stuck on the cutesy menu names.

If you appreiate good beer, spend your Wednesday night among folks of like mind.  If you’re nice to Bruce, he may even let you taste something special.

-mark

OK, not exactly, but some buddies and I did brew Doppelbock in a firehouse this weekend. Out came the kettle, a former beer keg with the top lasered off. Propane burners? Check. Mini-keg of Warsteiner to consume during the brewing process? Check.

This was the guys’ first attempt at a triple-decoction mash, so it’ll be interesting to see how it comes out. For the record, decoction is when you take a part of the mash out of the kettle, heat it to a specific temperature, then add it back in , with the desperate hope that you will thus bring the overall temperature up to a specific point. With a triple decoction, you gotta pull it off three times. This might work if you’re a scientist/mad brewer type, but for us, it’s a different ball game.

So results will be posted when we get our keg of sweet, biscuity alcoholic goodness. Until then, there’s more beer to discover.

In other news, the Brewer and General Manager of Royersford, PA’s  Sly Fox Brewing  were in town last night. I caught up to them at the Tap & Mallet. It was a good excuse to down a couple Sly Fox Rauchbiers and talk early ’90s alternative music.

Their distribution secure in downstate markets, Sly Fox is looking to increase its presence in Western New York. Believe me, this is a good thing.

-Mark

Warm yourself with holiday ale
by Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish

Well, the Earth made it to another December without getting clobbered by an asteroid or steaming all its life alive under an escalating cloud of greenhouse gas, and the Holidays are here once again. We think there’s plenty of reason to celebrate, and, as always, craft brewers agree.

Aside from year-round offerings, many breweries brew specialty ales for the Holiday season. Often, these beers evoke aromas and flavors traditional to Christmas. And since a beer is enjoyed by multiple senses at once, a brewed holiday ale can truly be a pint of Christmas cheer.

However, since there’s really no particular style guideline, brewers can also use their holiday ales as a chance to showcase their creativity. So (caution, Christmas cliche in this sentence) they’re beers even Grinches can enjoy.

One suggestion of ours would be Mad Elf, from Tröegs Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA. A consistent favorite among beer lovers, the Elf pours a rusty amber, with heady dark fruit notes wafting into the nose. Big in alcohol and body, the malt slams through on the swallow, bitterness caressing the sides of the tongue while honey, plums and cherries pop up in front, and gradually fade in a sweet, lingering finish.

Another classic favorite is Anchor Christmas Ale from San Fran’s Anchor Brewing Company. This beer is basically the epitome of Holiday beer spice. Spruce, pine and nutmeg spike out of a malty gingerbread base. We haven’t tried a beer that tastes more like Christmas than Anchor; the spices verge on overwhelming. However, this beer cellars really well. Buy a couple six packs in 2008 and crack ‘em open in December 2009, and you’ll have a real treat.

You also have a couple of options for a true Western New York Christmas. Custom Brewcrafters, in the distant metropolis of Honeoye Falls, brews their enormously popular Wee Heavy Winter ale, fashioned in the sweet Scotch ale style, with a subtle spicing that coyly reveals its components and yet defies definition. It’s slightly smoky, cinnamon-tinged character offsets the malt for a warming, complex body.

The Rohrbach Brewing Company also makes Kacey’s Kristmas Ale, a  darker ale that uses chocolate malt (the name is a description of the malt roast, there’s no actual cocoa added) to evoke a chocolate essence, with whole cherries added to the brewkettle, giving the finished beer a decadent praline quality that pairs well with Christmas desserts, such as, um, uh, figgy pudding.

Our personal favorite Holiday beer, however, eschews spices, fruit, and seasonal gimmickery. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale stands alone as a titan of beer. Instead of tilting toward malt sweetness, Celebration bursts out as a boldly-hopped amber colored American IPA. Its spicy notes come as a product of the hops. In fact, the only thing that makes this paragon of the strong IPA style a holiday beer at all is the label. Celebration would be excellent year round, but unfortunately, its availability is limited to October through December.
So plop your overfed, overshopped Holiday butt down in front of a roaring fire, or in a cozy corner of your favorite pub, windows steamed white against the cold. The holiday season is a hectic time, and there’s nothing like a holiday ale to take of that load.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.