The Beauty of Craft Beer Cans

Yummmm

I was running errands Friday evening and just happened to be passing by Tipsy’s in Merriam (or is that Mission?) and stopped in. I love that there are more can selections in the craft beer section every time I stop at a bottle shop these days. If anything, the choice is getting tougher, but that’s a good thing! We have a pool day/evening at our friend’s house on Saturday, so I needed a couple 6′ers or a 12 (there are always those good folks who come and like to “share” yet never bring anything with them…)

I was eyeing the Anderson Valley 6-packs… thinking long and hard about one of IPA and one of Barney Flatts stout (one of my favorite stouts… SO GOOD!), but the idea of stout, even from a can, at the pool on a humid day… nah, probably not a great idea.

Last summer I was a big fan of the Tallgrass Halcyon Wheat, which is a nice beer and was hard to pass up this time. The Avery cans looked great, but a little heavy for the pool, the Ska Brewing cans are nice but not that inspiring… then I spotted my friends in green!

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I know, either Pale Ale or Fat Tire is every beer geek’s gateway beer into obsession, but still. Great beer is great beer. I almost ALWAYS avoid this beer in the rare occurrences we go out these days because it’s so readily available. I never have it at home. It’s a great beer and it just seemed RIGHT when I saw it! The tallboys of Torpedo looked pretty inviting, too, but a 12-er of Pale Ale it is.

Hello, summer!

What is that Beer Doing to Your Waistline?

I was reading The Wort Hog’s blog today and, like me, she has been cutting back on her beer intake as part of her plan to maintain a healthy weight (or, in my case, to get back in the general vicinity of healthy weight!). Her post got me thinking about just how much our beer may affect us in this regard.

Now, before I start my little calculations, spare me the “but beer is so healthy…” stuff and links to articles about how good beer is for you. A little alcohol may be OK for us, and there are possibly some beneficial compounds in beer, but let’s be realistic… beer is no health food. Sure, it can be part of relaxation and stress reduction, but please don’t kid yourself by trying to convince yourself that a few beers every night after work is actually good for you, OK?

Now that that’s out of the way…

It’s tough to get a handle on how many calories “average” beer has. A bottle of Amstel Light is about 95 calories, whereas a bottle of Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot has 330! A lot of non-imperial styles have in the neighborhood of 170-200 calories. So, let’s say the average beer a craft beer aficionado drinks is 200 calories, for the sake of this argument.

Let’s say you’re a “One-beer-per-night” guy during the week as part of your unwinding ritual. That’s 1,000 calories per week and let’s say you do that 50 weeks out of the year, that’s 50,000 calories. To put this in perspective, this is close to a month of extra food if you eat an average diet!

Now, let’s say you drink a “few” beers on weekends with friends. It’s not hard to put away 2-3 beers just going out at happy hour, or quite a few more if you’re tailgating, working in the yard, watching sports, etc. So, let’s say you down an additional 6 beers on the weekends, and you do that 50 times per year. That’s 1,200 calories for the weekend, or another 60,000 calories for the year (a second entire month of eating!).

You could fairly easily be drinking an extra two months worth of food for the year.

Let’s look at this in terms of body fat. One pound of fat is 3,500 calories. If you’re not exercising all that beer off, and your drinking schedule is like what was written above, you could be adding 31 pounds of fat for the year.

So, let’s say that mammoth drinking schedule is ridiculous, and maybe you only drink an average of a six pack per week. That’s 1,200 calories per week, let’s 50 weeks of the year, which is 60,000 calories or 17 pounds of fat.

Maybe you’re a binge drinker and almost never touch beer during the week, but you have 5-6 beers on Friday night, another 8-9 on Saturday and maybe 2 on Sunday. Let’s say, 16 beers, for a weekend. I guess it’s possible. That’s 3,200 calories per week, almost a pound of fat every week.

Maybe my estimates are nuts, and you only drink, say, 3 beers per week. Let’s say one of those is a “big” beer, so you are averaging about 700 calories in beer per week. In 52 weeks, that comes to a little over 36,000 calories for the year, which is still 10 pounds of fat if you don’t work it off.

Now, keep in mind, these calculations don’t take into account how alcohol is metabolized, etc. Drinking a lot of beer may lead to additional weight gain, over and above the caloric content, by messing up your metabolism in other ways. Plus, very few people just drink a beer by itself. Chips, fries, onion rings, a 1,500 calorie meal at a restaurant with a few beers… you get the picture.

After years of relatively clean living before moving to Kansas City I found myself going out twice a weekend, having a beer almost every night of the week and a few every night I’d go out. Our friends like to do all-day get togethers, too, so putting away a six pack of craft beers over an entire day isn’t that ridiculous of a concept. No wonder I’m in the position of having to restrict my diet these days, and, unfortunately, beer consumption is a big part of that plan.

Something to think about, for sure, especially if you find yourself with an expanding waistline.

Beer & Cheese, Part Two

After hitting Lukas (like I need any more beer in my house) and Whole Foods yesterday, I ended up with some decent things to eat and drink. We’ll see how they go down. First off, Shatto was there doing a cheese tasting. I’d had their cheddar cheese curds before, and they’re good, but nothing special other than being yummy. Matt (?) Shatto was at the store giving samples of 6 or 7 of their new cheeses and they were all fantastic. I LOVED the Havarti, which we bought two of, as well as one of the goudas, but the choices were tough. Actually, the Havarti was out of this world and the others were “just” great! A little pricy, but that’s life.

I was in a smoked mood for some reason, so I got a block of smoked gouda and one of smoked black pepper white cheddar, too. My GF picked up a few others.

We also picked up a cheap brie to melt in the oven, some stuff like dried sour cherries and candied pecans, etc. All good pairs for cheese, wine and beer, in my opinion.

For beers, I got a single Old Rasputin for a pittance that will go great with chocolate dessert and I think will pair awesome with the sour cherries, as well as any really hard aged cheese that may be around. I’m going to take an Avery IPA, which is a little more English style, a German Marzen (think Oktoberfest) rauchbier (smoked, which could be overkill or could be AWESOME with the smoked cheeses, we’ll find out in a little while) and I’ll take a couple cans of Moose Drool, as browns and food of almost any type, especially cheese, are usually a match made in heaven. Nothing like freaking people out at a WINE party with some CANNED BEER, too! lol

2nd Annual Wine (Beer) & Cheese Party

Try as I might, getting friends to understand that beer pairs well with food has been tough. I may need to bite the bullet and have an actual beer/food party someday (I loathe the idea of hosting a party at my house), but in the meantime, we have an annual “wine & cheese” party and I always make it a beer & cheese party for myself.

It’s the classic dilemma… marketing has programmed us to think that when “adults” have a party that wine is THE drink, especially if it’s with food, yet the foods being enjoyed (cheese, chocolate, desserts) all pair much better with beer, on average, than wine! But, programmed we are, so while I see the Matrix and know how to break free, my friends will still be trying to pair things that really just don’t go all that well together! Sheesh!

Since good cheese is on the pricy side and I am a seasoned beer buyer, I generally head to Whole Foods first to buy my cheese, then select some beers. It’s so easy with beer it’s almost ridiculous! lol If I can find a nice gouda, which WF often has, I will try to find a good rye or brown. I did Goose Island Nut Brown ale last year and it went great with dang near everything, so hopefully I can try a rye that isn’t Hop Rod Rye (more of an IPA).

The sliceable hard cheeses like cheddar will go with practically anything, so I could take a few bottles and see what strikes me… IPA, any Belgians, doppelbocks and pilsners all pair well with these cheeses.

I’m generally not into smoked beers all that much, but I might try a traditional rauchbier with a gouda, too. I wonder if smoked beer with smoked cheese would be overkill? Probably.

After I’ve done my pairings and enjoyed them, I’ll give a full review of the event and the beers and the cheeses. I really wish I had been able to bring a bottle or two of the New Glarus Tart Raspberry home with me from Wisconsin, though, as that beer would KILL with chocolate!

Michigan Beer Run: Disappointing

I was pumped for my trip to Michigan because I thought I would return with tons of great beers that I can’t get around here, but unfortunately, the bottle shop I had planned to hit has gone in the wrong direction with its selection since I was last there. I could have made an epic run to Grand Rapids, about an hour north of where I was, but my focus was being on vacation, not driving all over the state looking for a good beer store, so I made due with what I had access to. All I decided to buy was a mixed 6-pack. Lame, I know, but I wasn’t going to spend money on stuff I can get right here in KC! My selections:

• Short’s Brewing Company Soft Parade – a high gravity ale made with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries
• Short’s Brewing Company Huma Lupa Licious – “a complex malt and hop theme park in your mouth.”
• Bell’s Cherry Stout – I know, you can get that here, but not for $1.99
• Lagunitas Maximus IPA – 72 IBU’s and 7.5%ABV
• Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold – probably the only Great Lakes beer I haven’t had yet, I was hoping to score a 6-pack but this is all they had left

I also got the chance to sit at New Holland Brewing Company for a little while, but the weather was cold and pouring sheets of rain, so I found myself not really in the mood to drink much. I had a smoked lager and a glass of Night Tripper, their imperial stout, both of which I will review later. My GF had a $16 mint julep (more on that later, too) and I was highly tempted to try their cucumber-infused gin, but I was a little gun shy because of previous bad experiences with their gin, so I passed.

Beer Steals @ Gomer’s Midtown

I went into Gomer’s in Midtown today and found a fantastic beer deal: 750mL caged & corked bottles of what I thought was Belgian beer (turns out it was French) for $4/bottle (or $3.48 each for 6+). Usually $9/ea.

I picked up two each of the wit, amber and blonde. The guy who rang me up said it was really good beer, so I figured it was worth the risk. It probably won’t last long!

Schlafly Coffee Stout

Several Kansas City area beer bloggers are not big fans of Schlafly beers. I think it’s because Schlafly is a St. Louis brewery, and there is that whole St. Louis-Kansas City-East-West conundrum because I think Schlafly has a great lineup and I have yet to drink a beer from them that hasn’t been better than average.

Today I’m trying Schlafly’s Coffee Stout, a beer I have had a few times before. This is a great beer for winter time. A friend brought these tailgating to a Royals game one time in the heat, and that was a big mistake! Duh. Anyway, the Schlafly site says that Coffee Stout is a regular seasonal that becomes available every year on October 24. According to Schlafly, this is a collaboration with St. Louis coffee roaster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Company and that they “use the cold toddy method of extraction for the coffee.” I don’t know what that means, but as both a coffee lover and a beer geek, it works!

The website lists Coffee Stout as having 5.7% ABV and 40 IBU’s. There is very little bitterness in this beer, either from the hops used or the malts, which can sometimes leave a roasty-type of bitterness. The beer pours a nice dark brown, almost black color. At the very bottom of my New Belgium modified tulip glass I can see a hint of red highlight, but the beer is pretty much opaque. The head comes out a nice tan color typical of a stout and dissipates quickly.

There is a lot of pleasant coffee aroma and maybe a little roast, but it’s hard to separate out from the coffee. This pretty much smells like cold coffee, but without any unpleasant odors you might get with just an old, cold cup of joe. In the initial flavor there is a little bitter bite, and now that the beer is warming up I get a little bit of hop bitterness way back in the finish, but the aftertaste is all coffee.

This is a pretty straightforward beer and more or less a vehicle for the coffee flavor. There is very little in the stout itself that competes with the coffee flavor and aroma, and it works exceedingly well for this beer. I’ve had other coffee stouts that are like a fight between the stout itself and the coffee flavoring. At the same time, even though Schlafly’s Coffee Stout is more or less all about the coffee, it isn’t like it hits me in the head as other coffee beers have. This is just a nice all-around drinker with a nice balance between the roasty bitterness of a stout and the flavors of coffee. This is one of my favorite coffee stouts…. just a great beer top to bottom.

Fort Collins Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat

Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat is another offering in the Fort Collins Brewery Brewer’s Lunchbox sampler and a regular in the FCB lineup of beers. Major Tom’s is a filtered wheat beer with pomegranate juice concentrate added.

I must admit, I don’t know what a pomegranate tastes like and, unlike most people, I haven’t jumped on the pomegranate drink kick that is sweeping the nation. That said, there is a fruity undertone in this beer, but it seems to be more in the aftertaste for me, quite far back in the aftertaste, actually, than the usual in-yer-face fruit tone that a lot of fruit beers take. I do have a bit of a stuffed up nose tonight, though, so that could be part of it, too. 

The beer pours a fairly clear orange-yellow color that takes on some of its character from the pomegranate juice. The juice gives the beer a slight tartness at the front of a sip. The immediate finish is slight bitterness, maybe from a light hopping, and then the aftertaste of pomegranate. The beer has a nice mouthfeel and good carbonation.

The tartness character seems to be accentuated a little as the beer warms up. It leaves a slightly sticky feeling on the very back of the tongue and throat, but the beer is not cloying or overly sweet in any way. The pomegranate gives it a tinge of tartness and, overall, makes this a nicely drinkable beer. Overall this is a nice variation on the fruit/wheat beer combination. Nothing striking, but this would make a great thirst quencher in the summertime and would be a perfectly fine gateway beer for the American Lite Lager crowd.

Update: As I drink more of this beer, and it gets a little warmer, the tartness has given way to hop bitterness. This is more of a fruity American pale ale than a wheat beer, in my opinion. It’s still good, but the hoppier character is unexpected.

New Belgium Brewing Company Frambozen

New Belgium Brewing Company is a very popular brewery in Fort Collins, CO, with wide distribution throughout the country. This cool company is environmentally conscious and makes great beers to boot. What’s not to like?

One of their seasonal beers is Frambozen, a raspberry-flavored brown ale. If you’re like me and generally not a big fan of fruit flavored beers, you should keep an open mind and try out the Frambozen before writing it off. It is a great beer and has none of the things (sticky sweetness, synthetic fake flavors) that usually turn “real beer drinkers” off from fruit beers. Frambozen is a good, solid drinker.

Frambozen is released by New Belgium every autumn and it seems to sell pretty fast, so it must be popular. The brewery obtains fresh raspberry juice from the Pacific Northwest and adds it to a brown ale recipe to brew this fruity concoction. I get a lot of the same flavors from this beer as I do from Fat Tire, so I’ve often wondered if they simply add the raspberry juice to Fat Tire and call it good… it definitely seems to have a lot of Fat Tire character in it, for sure the same yeast.

What sets Frambozen apart from so many other fruit beers is its tartness. I have been into the sour Belgian beers lately, and I wouldn’t go so far to say it ranks as a true sour beer, but it is definitely tart, not sweet or cloying in any way. With a nice malt backbone to ride on and a good amount of carbonation, Frambozen has tons of raspberry flavor while still retaining real beer notes.

Frambozen pairs well with gouda cheese and also chocolate desserts and even dark chocolate. The tartness, raspberry and carbonation make it able to handle the fats in these foods. Frambozen is definitely my favorite fruit beer. While I don’t think it makes for a good “session beer,” it is good to keep a sixer or two in the fridge this time of year to enjoy when you need something a little different on your palate. Try Frambozen, you won’t be disappointed.

If you like the tartness of it, it could make for a good gateway beer to the Belgian sours. I’d suggest Rodenbach or Rodenbach Grand Cru as a follow-up for an affordable, available sour beer, then make your way on to the more complex beers like New Belgium’s La Folie.

O’Fallon Cherry Chocolate Beer

I spotted O’Fallon’s Cherry Chocolate seasonal beer at Gomer’s in Westport the other day. I don’t know much about the brewery other than it is over by St. Louis. I think the only other O’Fallon I’ve had was their Smoke beer, and I just am finding out that I’m not the hugest smoked beer fan as none of them seem to hit me just right.

Anyway, this was more of a purchase for my girlfriend than myself, but I don’t mind a fruity, flavored beer from time to time. In my mind I was thinking this beer was probably going to be a stout made from chocolate malts and with some tart cherry in it, along the lines of Bell’s excellent Cherry Stout, a beer I enjoy very much on the few occasions I get to have it.

To my dismay, the O’Fallon’s Cherry Chocolate is definitely not a stout and definitely not in the league with Bell’s beer. It is a wheat beer with chocolate and cherry extracts dumped in to give it a very synthetic flavor. I can drink it, but it’s not something I really want nor will I ever buy it again. Thankfully my girlfriend really likes it, so the money was not wasted on it, but I would steer clear of this beer if I were you! If you’re in the mood for a cherry beer, go with cherry Lambic, Bell’s Cherry Stout, or something like Three Philosophers from Ommegang, all of which are top notch and wonderful beers.