A Six Beer Fantasy

Someone recently asked me if I could have any six beers on tap which would I choose? Seems like such a simple question. It is and it's not.

The simplest answer based on readily available product that I like to drink:

NABC Beaks Best (cask when available)
Flat 12 Half Cycle IPA
Rivertown Roebling Porter
Three Floyds Scottish Ale
Brooklyn Lager
BBC American Wheat

If I were setting up taps and I was going to be dealing with distributors; I would likely not be able to choose every beer I might prefer. No problem, there are plenty of great alternates. Six beers is plenty. If I wanted to appeal to the largest number of customers I would break it down like this.

1 Pilsner – This type of beer is the most similar to the typical American Lager. It has a very light flavor that doesn't get in the way of food flavors. It is a good transition beer when switching from mass produced to craft beers. It is usually mildly flavored low ABV and lots will find it acceptable.

1 Bitter Ale (Mild) – Hoppy is the term you'll hear most often describing this type of beer. It should be no more the 7% ABV and lower would be much better. I want one session strength beer in this category so my customers can likely drink two or three and still drive legally.

1 Porter/Stout – This is a very dark beer and usually has a sweet profile. Many people who like this type of beer will always order it regardless of what else is on the menu.

1 Wheat Beer – This is a refreshing beer that has more flavor than the Pilsner and is sometimes unfiltered (cloudy). Most popular in summer but has winter variants.

1 Amber Ale – Often the only difference between this and other ales is the color. The Scottish ale is usually a balanced beer that isn't too hoppy (bitter) or malty (sweet). It has wide appeal and goes well with many foods.

1 Belgian Ale – There is a recent segment of beer drinkers that associate serious beer with the Belgian types. These are usually strong in flavor and often high ABV and often incorporate fruit in the fermentation. I think of it as a dessert beer or alternative to wine at times.

Now my strong preference is for beers that are 6% ABV or below. I like to drink beer but don't wish to become drunk. The lower the alcohol by volume (ABV) the better really so I can buy/drink more. There is little down side to drinking weak beer unless your main aim is to get drunk quickly or you just like the taste of alcohol. You can sell me more beer and I can drink more before there are serious consequences when it's weak.

Another issue is the size of the pour and how it's poured. I prefer at least 16oz pours and love 20oz pours. This works well in my opinion as the 12/14oz pour means I'm having to order more often and your staff are having to pour more often. Every time someone has to wait for service it is potentially a bad thing.

****Charge me what you need to for the beer. I rarely even notice the cost. JUST PLEASE pour me a full beer every time. Recently I've run into the situation where the bars are pouring the beer and intentionally leaving a two inch head. I hate this more than anything. I feel like I've been cheated. When this happens I will ask the server to pour my next one full (½ inch or less head). They will usually comply. If they don't it will affect the tip and may actually influence my decision to return or order another beer.

Hoppy Beers (IPAs and Pale Ales)
Beaks Best, my favorite local, is a mildly bitter low ABV beer that has very wide appeal. It is not glamorous but I'm telling you that you can't go wrong with this beer. It's best on cask but aren't they all?

BBC – American Pale Ale has wide appeal and is a tasty beer.
Bell's Two Hearted Ale – Very popular beer in this area and is often discounted on Tuesdays.
Rivertown'sHop Bomber – Fantastic bitter beer with low ABV. I love this beer from Cincinnati.
Dark Horse Crooked Tree – Michigan Brewery, great hoppy beer.
Upland Dragonfly IPA – Well balanced bitter beer.
Flat 12 Half Cycle IPA – This a very bitter beer with low ABV. The best of both worlds.
Three Floyds Pride and Joy – One of my favorites. Similar to Beaks and it's also an Indiana Brewer.

Brooklyn Brewing, Schlafly, Goose Island Brewing, Victory Brewing, Barley Island, and Great Lakes Brewing all have excellent selections in this and the other categories. Keep the ABV at 7% or below and you'll likely have a beer that makes me happy.

Porters/Stouts
These come in all kinds of varieties. From the least aggressive and most popular forms like Guinness, Murphys, and Beamish to delicious chocolate, oatmeal, and coffee'd varieties from Young's, Samuel Smith. All of the local breweries have variations that are good like NABC's Community Dark and 15B. I want to try the new coffee'd one from Cumberland. I stay away from the Imperial Stouts as they are very strong.

Wheat Beer
Upland in Bloomington makes a very popular wheat beer. Bell's Oberon, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams also make wheat beers with wide appeal. BBC's is quite good. I'm not too picky with this category. When I'm in the mood for a wheat beer most any will do. Some taste a bit like orange, lemon, or other spices. The German's do lots of them but I prefer the American versions.

Pilsners can come from American micros like Brooklyn, Great Lakes, and Schlafly but are just as likely to be imported European beers like Urquell, Warsteiner, Paulaner, etc. Not much here for me.

Belgians come in so many varieties, from Stella Artois (lager) to brown ales and kriek (cherry) beers. Doubles/triples are all the rage these days. American brewers including the locals are all doing them. They are the latest thing but don't usually appeal to me as they are often 8% ABV or more.

I really enjoyed reading your perspective on this!

As you know, I just finished the first installment of a beer program and am finding myself wanting to know more, not less of the subject. And more importantly- to gain a certain insight into the mind of a beer geek consumer.

Your premise fits exactly into my conundrum- How best to do this with limited slots. Indeed, we will always be a bottle-only establishment. It's simply the style of the bar. That should never mean that the beers get second billing, though.

(One simply has to listen to those with more knoweledge or passion on the subject)

I'm a cocktail guy, but it doesn't mean I don't love-love-love craft brewing or fine wines. Quite the opposite- at Bank Street, I drink beer. At L & N, it's wine. I wouldn't know if they could produce a textbook Negroni on command!

Thanks again for this, you did me a great justice mate.

I really enjoyed reading your perspective on this!

As you know, I just finished the first installment of a beer program and am finding myself wanting to know more, not less of the subject. And more importantly- to gain a certain insight into the mind of a beer geek consumer.

Your premise fits exactly into my conundrum- How best to do this with limited slots. Indeed, we will always be a bottle-only establishment. It's simply the style of the bar. That should never mean that the beers get second billing, though.

(One simply has to listen to those with more knoweledge or passion on the subject)

I'm a cocktail guy, but it doesn't mean I don't love-love-love craft brewing or fine wines. Quite the opposite- at Bank Street, I drink beer. At L & N, it's wine. I wouldn't know if they could produce a textbook Negroni on command!

Thanks again for this, you did me a great justice mate.

Stephen,

I am less attuned to the pulse of beer geekdom these days, but I will note what seemed a rather frustrating fad that developed a few years back (or maybe more recent than that). A number of places with limited taps seemed to use all but one on big, hoppy beers. Starting around 6% and going up from there.

I think Shane has the right idea here. Try to hit as many slots as one can within the space they have. Maybe I wasn't the right customer for the establishment, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why there were 3 pretty similar IPAs on tap. Just seemed like duplication to me. Maybe some people get fixated by what's "hot" at the moment and lose connection with the broader spectrum?

When my gf and I dine/drink out, she tends to go for the Pilsner or Wheat. For me, it's the Bitter, Amber, or IPA. Always nice to end up somewhere that tries to cover the spectrum. Granted, if there's a nice brown on tap, we both go for that.

When my gf and I dine/drink out, she tends to go for the Pilsner or Wheat. For me, it's the Bitter, Amber, or IPA. Always nice to end up somewhere that tries to cover the spectrum. Granted, if there's a nice brown on tap, we both go for that.

It's so funny that you say that!

Last night, New Year's Eve, the beers got thier first serious test. The big sellers by far were the River City Pale Ale and the Upland Wheat. Hoptimus did nicely, but the Double Bock didn't move. Or the Chokolat Stout.

Not that big of a deal to me, as I believe some selections should have less of a mass appeal and be more attuned to those who want to try something a little more exotic.

It should be noted, btw, that the River City isn't the normal one- this is thier pre-prohibition recipe, just recently rereleased. I was told only Silver Dollar has this bottling.

All-in-all, the list was very well recieved- indeed people were chatting it up.

And excitement/enthusiasm is the name of the game, the way I play it...

Very thoughtful digression, Shane, and an excellent style teaching moment.

Porters/Stouts
These come in all kinds of varieties. From the least aggressive and most popular forms like Guinness, Murphys, and Beamish to delicious chocolate, oatmeal, and coffee'd varieties from Young's, Samuel Smith. All of the local breweries have variations that are good like NABC's Community Dark and 15B. I want to try the new coffee'd one from Cumberland. I stay away from the Imperial Stouts as they are very strong.

Community Dark is neither a Porter nor a Stout. It is a Mild -- session strength, usually brown/black, malt accented, not much hop, English brewing heritage. Mild actually is a sub-style of Brown Ale. .

Wheat Beer
Upland in Bloomington makes a very popular wheat beer. Bell's Oberon, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams also make wheat beers with wide appeal. BBC's is quite good. I'm not too picky with this category. When I'm in the mood for a wheat beer most any will do. Some taste a bit like orange, lemon, or other spices. The German's do lots of them but I prefer the American versions.

Strictly speaking, American-style wheats tend to be both tasteless and senselessly tortured with fruit slices.

FRUIT BELONGS IN WALDORF SALAD, NOT ON YOUR BEER GLASS. EVER.

Upland and Blue Moon are representative of Belgian-style Wit (white/wheat) and have the orange/citrus character. German wheat ales have fermentation by products reminiscent of banana, apple and clove. Oberon, while "American," is a hybrid with elements of different wheat traditions.

Belgians come in so many varieties, from Stella Artois (lager) to brown ales and kriek (cherry) beers. Doubles/triples are all the rage these days. American brewers including the locals are all doing them. They are the latest thing but don't usually appeal to me as they are often 8% ABV or more.

Stella is an example of Pilsner,a style not native to Belgium. Stella is about as much "Belgian" as I am Republican. Of ales exhibiting genuine Belgian heritage and flavor, quite a few are not 8% or higher. Wit beers (above) are sub-5%, as are pale ales like De Koninck. Most lambics and many sours are less than 6%. NABC's Tafelbier, which we jokingly refer to as "Imperial" Table Beer, is 4%

Learning about beer while we drink beer is fun and instructive. Thanks, Shane.

And...

That's why I love me some Roger Baylor- he's a walking encylopedia on the subject. Just absolutely impressive.

By the way, Roger, I followed through on not putting an orange slice on my wheats. I now express orange rind, religiously. Won't have it any other way and people really do enjoy the end-product.

I'll toss this out in the forum...

The Whisky Roulette simply begged for more. A monthly event where people could come and really develop thier knoweledge of beverages in a fun and collaborative environment- for a great price.

Would you or Dave be game to come and speak at next month's event? You knocked it out of the park at the Bartender's Guild, so I know you'd absolutely shine in this format.

Thank you for kind words on a drying-out day.

Strictly speaking, American-style wheats tend to be both tasteless and senselessly tortured with fruit slices.

FRUIT BELONGS IN WALDORF SALAD, NOT ON YOUR BEER GLASS. EVER.

<sniff> Thank you Roger, I'm tearie-eyed having one of my long held opinions validated by a true beer geek. You are indeed the man.

Very thoughtful digression, Shane, and an excellent style teaching moment.

Thanks Roger, while I would never challenge a fellow who teaches classes about beer regarding beer facts, I would however discuss beer with such a fellow if given a chance. I can use style pointers.

Porters/Stouts
These come in all kinds of varieties. From the least aggressive and most popular forms like Guinness, Murphys, and Beamish to delicious chocolate, oatmeal, and coffee'd varieties from Young's, Samuel Smith. All of the local breweries have variations that are good like NABC's Community Dark and 15B. I want to try the new coffee'd one from Cumberland. I stay away from the Imperial Stouts as they are very strong.

Community Dark is neither a Porter nor a Stout. It is a Mild -- session strength, usually brown/black, malt accented, not much hop, English brewing heritage. Mild actually is a sub-style of Brown Ale.

Oops, no intent to mislead/mis-inform. I knew this at one time but somehow forgot. Mis-identifying beers is becoming easier these days. Community Dark – a dark mild ale, session strength. The description of Community Dark also applies well to typical porters. Its not a porter but I think it drinks like one. Most of us drink beer without really knowing the makeup of the malt, hops, or yeast. I have to admit, the recent appearance of black IPA's and lagers has really darkend the waters so to speak for me. If you're making a brown ale, make it brown for goodness sakes. If your making a pale ale make it pale. It's hard to keep up with and I'm not sure it's worth trying. What's the difference between a beer lover and a beer geek? Buy me a beer and I'll tell you.

Wheat Beer
Upland in Bloomington makes a very popular wheat beer. Bell's Oberon, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams also make wheat beers with wide appeal. BBC's is quite good. I'm not too picky with this category. When I'm in the mood for a wheat beer most any will do. Some taste a bit like orange, lemon, or other spices. The German's do lots of them but I prefer the American versions.

Strictly speaking, American-style wheats tend to be both tasteless and senselessly tortured with fruit slices.

FRUIT BELONGS IN WALDORF SALAD, NOT ON YOUR BEER GLASS. EVER.

Here is that “style” thing again. I should have said American brewed? Since your speaking strictly, I'll respectfully ask you which American brewed wheats you think are not tasteless? I do agree that the fruit garnish is a bad idea and I always ask the server to leave it off. It often comes with it anyway.

Upland and Blue Moon are representative of Belgian-style Wit (white/wheat) and have the orange/citrus character. German wheat ales have fermentation by products reminiscent of banana, apple and clove. Oberon, while "American," is a hybrid with elements of different wheat traditions.

You mention Upland and Blue Moon as tasting citrusy and I agree. Who brews the tasteless ones? I've heard of them but I've never had a beer that tasted of bananas. I'm getting a headache. Need another beer.

Belgians come in so many varieties, from Stella Artois (lager) to brown ales and kriek (cherry) beers. Doubles/triples are all the rage these days. American brewers including the locals are all doing them. They are the latest thing but don't usually appeal to me as they are often 8% ABV or more.

Stella is an example of Pilsner,a style not native to Belgium. Stella is about as much "Belgian" as I am Republican. Of ales exhibiting genuine Belgian heritage and flavor, quite a few are not 8% or higher. Wit beers (above) are sub-5%, as are pale ales like De Koninck. Most lambics and many sours are less than 6%. NABC's Tafelbier, which we jokingly refer to as "Imperial" Table Beer, is 4%

Hey professor, this time I didn't even say “style” I only meant Stella Artois was a Belgian lager in the sense that it is a lager brewed by a Belgian brewer in Belgium since 1926. Otherwise, you a re "publican" meaning a tavernkeeper (the licensed landlord of a public house), and by extension a slang term for a pimp. (Wikipedia) Face it, you're mostly a republican Roger. A licensed beer pimp. The best I might add.

Learning about beer while we drink beer is fun and instructive. Thanks, Shane.

I agree, I just finished a 20oz pint of bitter ale, consumed from a glass purchased from a pub supply store in Shefford England. The glass has the queen's crown emblem at the top, a ½ pint mark on the side, and some kind of bird imprinted on the bottom. The ale was a Wadworth 6X, a classic Wiltshire beer handmade in Devizes for over 80 years. The head brewer, Brian Yorston describes this beer as having a “Rich copper colour, vibrant fruit and malt aromas, combined with tempting hop flavours: an easy drinking beer. Its says so right on the can! This has been my favorite beer in the world since 1991. I've never bothered to read the description or look up the ingredients in all that time. Hard to believe I know!

I really hope you and David consider Stephen's suggestion to guest host an event at Majids place. I will say that my strong preference is for fresh tap beer which leads me to hope this can be done with kegs vs bottles. However, I will be there and as usual will have something to say. Probably get the style wrong too. Cheers Roger!

'Beer Pimp' = funniest thing I've heard all week!



Yep, Shane, we're doing it on Jan 29th! I'm excited about this- wait till you meet Roger, he's brilliant.

The real work here is on me- he sneezes these instructional sessions. Majid's has to rise to the occasion and do the brewing community justice. The Keg thing won't happen, but whatever. I'll make sure there's plenty of items-of-interest floating around.

Since you were the man that started this all with the Whisky Roulette, I think it only apropos that we adopt your next title 'Six Beer Fantasy.' We're gonna run on that format and premise- you've done well here, mate!

$35 works, but we will change the format up, and maybe spend a little more time on the food this time. I'll spend every last penny we have (within an acceptable profit margin) on making this the best event possible.

Promise!

Hey Stephen,
Christmas is coming way early this year with that news! I will certainly be there and will likely bring a friend or two. You provided us with the most memorable event of 2011 and I have no doubt that the Beer Fantasy will be just as good. I think Roger is pretty cool and look forward to meeting him. I hope David comes too.

I think you are quite an amazing guy yourself. Justin Hammond and Jackie could not say enough about you when I met them at the Dollar. I have no doubt I will be making reservations at Stephen's or Mollie's one day soon. I would love to have a beer with you when your not on the clock one day. Jackie and I are talking about the Four Pegs sometime soon. I would love for you to be there. Are you in? Thanks Stephen. Cheers!

Shane

FRUIT BELONGS IN WALDORF SALAD, NOT ON YOUR BEER GLASS. EVER.

Get stuck in a whorehouse in Nuevo Laredo sometime with nothing but Cerveza Superiore and you'll be trying to stuff bananas in the bottle.

FRUIT BELONGS IN WALDORF SALAD, NOT ON YOUR BEER GLASS. EVER.

Get stuck in a whorehouse in Nuevo Laredo sometime with nothing but Cerveza Superiore and you'll be trying to stuff bananas in the bottle.

There's always Mezcal.

FRUIT BELONGS IN WALDORF SALAD, NOT ON YOUR BEER GLASS. EVER.

Get stuck in a whorehouse in Nuevo Laredo sometime with nothing but Cerveza Superiore and you'll be trying to stuff bananas in the bottle.

Just how many cervezas did you have in that Mexican whorehouse Dan? Those Mexican dancers are famous for removing things far more impressive than a Conchita from a bottle! So I'm told.

More importantly, how many cervezas will you require to tell the rest of the story?

It was '86 so my memory's fading. FWIW I'm about to make beef stew with a bottle of Duchesse de Bourgogne. Hope I don't offend the beer Gods.