As I’ve mentioned before, I subscribe to an unusual email newsletter. It’s paid for by Miller Brewing, done by a Milwaukee ad agency. They stalk other big brewers filings and make them public.

Anheuser-Busch Wild Blue. Mostly, I don’t give a damn, you’ve seen one standard lager, well, you know. But last week they came up with some GREAT NEWS. Anheuser-Busch (their obvious nemesis) has “filed a certificate of label approval application with the Treasure Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for WILD BLUE!”

The caps are mine.

Miller Brew Blog, goes on to say it’s an 8 percent lager and AB say it’s made by the “Beechwood Brewing Group.”

What Miller doesn’t know is this is a serious beer, made by A-B’s craft brewing section. I got to try it two years ago at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver and again last year at an A-B-arranged cheese and beer tasting in San Francisco.

I know all the criticism about alco-pops, the sugary, fruit-laden, malternatives. I’m sorry, Wild Blue’s none of that. Here’s an excerpt from my report on that beer and cheese event in September, 2006.

“Blue Dawg Wild Blue***+ and Wensleydale Cranberry****. Cheese comes from an artisian English cheesemaker with origins dating back to Cistercian monks who came to England with William the Conquerer. Blue Dawg is an Anheuser-Busch label; the beer’s made at an A-B brewery in Baldwinsville, NY. It’s being test marketed in Ohio and Michigan.

The beer rating websites hate this beer, but I think part of that’s because it’s A-B and brewed with rice and part because many American beer raters think fruit beers are effeminate. They should try a true, workingman’s Belgian lambic.

Wild Blue’s made with a blend of barley malts and a percentage of rice. Hops are Hallertau and Tettnang. Last year, the company said whole blueberries were added to the mash. Not sure if that’s still true. This is a big beer, 8 percent and it’s true blue. Indeed.

The cheese by itself is fabulous. Crumbly and buttery with a sweetness from the cranberries, offset by an underlying acidity.

The beer is a shock. Yes, there’s sweetness and a definite fruit flavor. But after an initial sweet hit, there’s a surprising dryness that lasts into a long finish. Reisch said they used rice to gain dryness. Without the rice, the beer would be way too sweet, he said.

Together the cheese and beer are spectacular. The taste of the two mingle and explode in the mouth.

Here’s a cheer for Wild Blue. Now, if they’d just skip the rice and use a wild yeast for a secondary foundation to create a bit of sourness to balance the berries…

I don’t usually send out anything except my column to my email list. But I think this one’s worthwhile. Read on:

SF Brewers Guild Beer & Bites Festival

I’m terribly late with this one. Sorry. Been checked out on vacation. But check this out: Saturday – tomorrow, March 24, 20076 – the San Francisco Brewer’s Guild is sponsoring “Beer & Bites”, more than 20 beers from San Francisco craft brewers, plus great food. Cost is $50, time is from Noon to 4 p.m. at 1 Fort Mason.

The event will benefit Slow Food San Francisco and help to support the School Garden Project at Sanchez Elementary School and other programs.

Here’s all the info, straight from the SF Brewer’s Guild:

“This event is the first of its kind in San Francisco and will focus on tasting and pairing a wide array of San Francisco-brewed beers (more than 20) with some of Northern California’s best artisan food. Participating breweries will include: Beach Chalet, Gordon Biersch, Magnolia Pub and Brewery, The San Francisco Brewing Company, Speakeasy Ales and Lagers, Thirsty Bear, and 21st Amendment. Our participating food producers include Cowgirl Creamery, The Fatted Calf, Acme Bread Company, Harley Farms Goat Dairy, and Hog Island Oyster Company.

“Beer & Bites will be a wonderful opportunity to sample a wide variety of San Francisco-brewed beer, learn about beer-food pairings, and socialize with devotees of good food.

“Tickets are still available online via InTicketing as well as at all particiating breweries while they last. Tickets are $50 for unlimited tasting of beer and food.”

Unfortunately, I’m working until 3:30 p.m., so there’s no way I can make it. Anyway. This one sounds very worthwhile.

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HI ALL. this site is acting hinky today. To see the photos, go to my other blog: What’s On Tap: The California Beer Blog. Sorry for the problem.

Maui beach
Don’t you love this tourist shot of a beac on Maui. It’s nowhere near Maui Brewing Co., but it sure is pretty. You can find the orginal at: http://www.visitmaui.com/

Regular readers of my blogs may wonder where I’ve been. I haven’t posted anything in more than a week.

There’s an easy answer: I’ve gone to Maui with my family for a brief vacation. First thing I did, of course, was check for beer. The first two guidebooks I looked at said there was one brewpub, Maui Brewing and they dumped on it.

The guides are dead wrong. If you like beer, Maui Brewing is the best stop on the island. Period. It’s easy to find, in a corner of a strip mall on Highway 30 on the way to West Maui. It’s right next to Outback Steaks. Not a promising location. After a couple of days wandering through grocery stores, which feature a good stock of mostly light lagers plus the usual imports, much like the mainland, and reading those guidebooks, I wasn’t expecting much.

Well, I was blown away. This is a spectacular brewpub with outstanding beer and excellent food.

maui-brewing-tom-kerns-garrett-marrero.jpg

Brewer Tom Kerns and Maui Brewing owner Garrett

Marrero in their brewery weariung their GABF Medals.

Below: the lineup of Maui Brewing canned beers: This

week only the IPA was available. maui-brewing-co-cans.jpg

The manager and assistant brewer Dave Cunningham explained Maui Brewing’s been through several manifestations since it opened 12 years ago. It had Fish & Game in its name for a while, and Rotisserie for a while. But a couple of years ago, a new owner, Garrett Marrero, took over and with head brewer Tom Kerns changed everything.

Kerns beers have won medals at both the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival in the last two years, including a gold for Coconut Porter last year at the GABF. There are big things ahead; they’re opening a new 20 barrel brew plant down the road, have a canning line in operation. The first three beers to be canned are: Bikini Blonde Lager, Big Swell IPA and Coconut Porter.

The top part of the beer list is light lager land, which one expects in the tropics – although with its constant trade winds and moderate temperatures, it’s hard for me – a onetime resident of coastal Mexico – to think of this as truly tropical. It is in fact: Paraiso tropical.

Anyway, back at the beer list, beyond Bikini Blonde Lager, Honolua Lager and Primo Pilsner, things get interesting indeed.

Over two hours I tasted six splendid beers and one, not-yet-released Coconut Porter aged for the last 100 days in a rum barrel.

The food matched the beer, I ordered French onion soup and Caesar salad, my wife ordered ribs, which were served in a spicy, beer-based sauce. (I’m going back and see if I can get the recipe, it was that good). My daughter and friend, split a plate of a calamari. Another friend had a thick, meaty hamburger with fries and once he got over the sticker shock – $14, this IS Hawaii – said it was excellent.

You have to expect to be somewhat gouged on this tourist island 2,100 ocean miles and three time zones west-southwest of the Bay Area.

So, here’s what I tasted:

Maui Pale Ale ***+. Creamy head, huge hop aroma. Taste is malty with big hoppy hit in the follow, aromatic hops, not bitter. Bittering hops faintly citrusy Galena, finishing, citrusy, piney Cascades, 5.7 percent ABV, 40 Internmational Bitterness Units. I loved this beer.

Double Overhead IPA****. Basically the same hop, malt bill as the Maui, just more malt, more hops. 8 percent ABV, guessing the IBUs around 60 or 70. Intense hop aroma, but restrained bitterness. Great hop-malt balance: Silky malt, aromatic hops.

Belgian Abbey Ale ***, 9.5% ABV, Silver Medal winner at the 2005 GABF in the Belgian-style, strong, speciality ale category. Served in a stemmed chalice.Big, spicy nose. Tastes of raisins and spice, leaves a tang of licorice and dark malt on the tongue. Malts,include Belgian Dark Crystal or Special B malt, which adds a rich, malt aroma and caramel and raisin taste.

Penquin Imperial Stout ***, 8 percent ABV, an opague, dark brown. Chocolate malt and licorice nose, nice balance. Licorice, ripe fruit. Intense.

Red Cock of the Walk Doppel Bock ***+ winner of the 2006 World Beer Cup Bronze in German-style strong bocks. Dark brown with reddish hues, great dark malt aroma. Sweet with lots of hops in the folo. Named after the “jungle fowl”, the wild chickens that populate the islands.

Coconut Porter***, 5.5% ABV,m 32 IBU, Gold Medal, 2006 World Beer Cup, Herb and Spice category. Spiced with dried coconut. An opague, black beer, with a sweet nose of coconut and roast malt. Carries through in the taste, crisp, gently hoppy follow. An island treat.

Black Pearl***+. This is an amazing, barrel aged beer. It’s Coconut Porter aged 100 days in a rum barrel from a local rum-maker. It’s a ramped up, 7 percent, Coconut Porter. It’s not finished yet, when it is, it’ll be served in a stemmed glass for $8. Thick, rocky head of tan foam and a real pirate nose: Rum! Taste is sweet, fading to dry with the taste of rum lingering on the tongue. Powerful, damned unusual.

Definitely a digestif. To be savored after a fine meal. I quit smoking years ago, thank God. But this is a beer that almost demands a cigar or some kind of rich chocolate desert. I’d love to have a jug of this one in my beer refrig back home.

Lots of great news this week about American craft beer and by craft beer, I mean the full-flavored products produced by brewers large and small across the country from tiny breweries like Bison in Berkeley, CA. to giant Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada.

In a sentence: Sales are booming.

Last month the Boulder, CO.-based Brewers Association reported craft beer sales jumped 11 percent in 2006, while the rest of the American beer world languished, with either falling or flat sales.

On Wednesday (March 7) Dan Wandel, of Information Resources Inc., a Chicago company that surveys sales at supermarkets, drugstores, liquor stores and other outlets where beer is sold at retail, told Brewers Association members in a conference call that we can truly call 2006 as “The Year of Craft Beer.”

“A year ago, we did a presentation showing sales growing and I called it `the march of the micros.’ Today, that march is more like a sprint,” Wandel said.

The IRI survey, which does not include sales in taverns, bars and restaurants, showed total beer sales were down about three-tenths of one percent, but in dollars, beer sales rose 2.5 percent, while wine sales were up 9.8 percent, mostly in higher priced wines, and spirits (hard liquor) sales rose 6.5 percent, with big seller being vodka – sales up 7 percent.

However, craft beer had a field day. Wandel said the IRI survey
showed that

Some statistics: Top craft beer brands:

–1:Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, up 6.9 percent to $52.8 million.
–2:Sam Adams Boston Lager, up 8.9% to $47.7 M
–3: Sam Adams Seasonals, up 38.2% to $28.5 M
–4: New Belgium Fat Tire, up 22.5% to $22.2 M
–5: Sam Adams Light, up 19.2% to $19.8 M
–6: Widmer Hefeweizen, up 16.3% to $18 M
–7: Shiner Bock, up 15.7% to $17.6 M
–8: Redhook ESB, down 1.1.% to $11.9 M
–9: Pyramid Hefeweizen, up 20.6% to $8.9 M
–10: Deschutes Mirror Pond IPA, up 16.8% to $8.4 M
–11: Alaskan Amber, up 11.6% to $7.,4 M
–12: Sam Adams Brewmaster Collection, up 77.7% to $9.1 M
–13: Redhook Bitter IPA, 19.4% to $6.6 M
–14: Deschutes Black Butte Porter, up 9% to $5.3 M
–15: Anchor Steam, 7.2% to $4.5 M

The report had a lot more info, which I’ll post later. One factoid: Top-selling import in U.S. supermarkets: Newcastle Brown Ale (Scottish & Newcastle, England). Also, six craft beers made the Top 30 list in sales:

Number 3: Sam Adams Seasonals; 17. New Belgium Fat Tire, 20: Sam Adams Boston Lager, 22. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, just behind Heineken. 23. Shiner Bock, 24: Widmer Hefeweizen.Craft Styles 06

Oh Americans of crappy palate. My heart aches.

Among the ton of beery email that crosses my desk every day, I got a missive from Brew Blog, a newsletter put out by an ad agency working for Miller Brewing.

Title: The fight for light.

Here’s a quote:

“It’s taken a few decades, but import and craft beer marketers are getting serious about light beer.

“The rollout of Heineken Premium Light last year was the biggest – and most successful – light beer launch yet by an importer. Reportedly backed with tens of millions in marketing support, the brand swiftly gained distribution and sales.”

“Now, the deluge. Tecate Light is rolling out. Boston Beer Company is increasing its support for Sam Adams Light. Labatt USA is emphasizing Labatt Blue Light. And that’s just for starters.

“This about-face by import and craft marketers underscores the central fact of the U.S. beer business: Light beer is the industry’s biggest category and it’s going to get bigger. And any brewer wanting to grow needs a piece of that business.

“Light is the biggest fight in the beer business.

* Light beer – including imports and crafts – represented half of all beer shipments in 2005, according to figures from Beer Marketer’s Insights.

* From 2000 to 2005, mainstream light beer was the biggest single source of growth in the beer industry, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights. Light added 14.2 million barrels of volume in that time – twice the incremental volume of imports and crafts.

* Bear Stearns estimates that, based on current trends, light beer should be 53 percent of the industry in five years and 55 percent in 10 years.”

Hell. The big brewers would be better off skipping the alcohol and selling boiled water (which is quite close to the taste of light beer).

Consider these statistics:

“In 1993, the U.S. absorbed the equivalent of 10.5 gallons for each person in the country. A decade later, per capita consumption grew to 22.6 gallons, almost equaling that of milk (22.7 gallons), coffee (22.1 gallons) and beer (21.8 gallons). Although carbonated soft drinks still hold the number one position (54.2 gallons) amongst beverages in the country, this category has experienced declines for four consecutive years.” Source: http://www.royalspringswater.com/sector_us.html

My opinion of light beer: Arrrrrgggggg. Personally, I’m going to crack open a bottle of Double IPA tonight.

Also, I’m having trouble uploading photos tonight. To see a good use for light beer (from New York University) go to my other blog: http://www.beernewsletter.com/blog .

Cruisin’ Beer Coolers

Are you someone whose idea of exercise is a long, downhill bike ride? Then the motorized beer cooler may be for you.

This Youtube video’s so stupid, it’s outrageous. Follow the link to “motorized” cruisin’ beer coolers.

Check it out here.

wordpress is screwing up tonight. To see a photo go to the link or my other blog at http://www.beernewsletter.com.

This minute, I’m taking part in a national stout tasting. Beer bloggers across the country are tasting a stout of their own choice today (March 2) and posting a link on Stan Hieronymus’s blog site. It’s been quite a day and the choice of stouts is amazing. Check it out here.

By my clock, it’s 11:47 p.m., so it’s still March 2 in the Pacific Time Zone, at least, if not in New Mexico where I’m posting this.

My stout for the tasting is Drake’s Imperial Stout, a dark, lucious, 8.75 percent alcohol by volumene beauty of a stout. It’s brewed in San Leandro, CA. at Drake’s Brewing Co. by head brewer Rodger Davis and his assistant, Melissa Myers.

They’re more famous for their uber-IPA beers like Denogganizer. But they also make a range of dark beers that are quite special.

Drake’s Imperial Stout, which comes in stubby, 17 oz. bottles with a swingtop like a Grolsch bottle, pours an opague brown with a moderate head of rocky tan foam. The aroma’s enticing, a bit like sherry, intense, a tang of alcohol and roast malt and a bit of fruit.

The taste is full and malty, but not overly sweet. It’s balanced by Chinook hops and the finish is drying with quite a bit of heat from the alcohol.

Really, a damn good stout. Eat your heart out Guinness. — William Brand.