Friday night when I was getting the ingredients to make some beer boiled sausages I saw something that gave me a chuckle. On a bottle of German beer, prominently displayed, were the words brewed according to German purity law. The German purity law, or Reinheitsgebot was created 1516 to protect grain supplies for bread, and was struck down in 1987. The ironic part of beers brewed in a way to qualify is that they don’t even meet the original purity law. So how much better is purity law beer? Well like with all things it depends on the quality of ingredients, and the skill of the brewer. I could easily brew a “pure” beer using only hops, barley, water, and yeast and still make a really crappy beer. In fact the beer I tried during my layover in Germany wasn’t even comparable to some of the top notch micro beers from the States. So why do we have this fascination with purity, and automatically assume it makes a better beer? Well partly it’s because Germany believes their beer is better, and insist on telling the world that every chance they get, the other reason is we have a fetish for all things European. Just look at all the people who drank Heineken in the 80’s and 90’s all the while insisting that it was a far superior beer. I love watching people in the beer isle hovering around the imports as they search for the perfect beer when there’s several amazing selections right in front of them. I could continue to go into all the reasons that the Reinheitsgebot is a worthless piece of junk, but someone already did it for me. If you want more info on the German Purity Law check out this article.
Thanks alot to all you people who bought up every last tub of light and amber malt extract yesterday. I really am gonna try to get this gruit brewed though, and even will try to make a video of it.
Hops are an herb related to cannibis that is used to bitter the beer and help preserve the liquid with it’s antiseptic qualities. Hops however didn’t grow everywhere. People throughout the world though made their beverages anyway using bitter antiseptic herbs that grew locally. The main candidates that were used that have survived to modern recipes are Yarrow, Sweet Gale, Marsh Rosemary, Mugwort, and Labrador Tea. The problem with early gruits is a lot of the herbs brewers were adding to their beer were narcotics, and they knew it. As the church spread throughout Europe there were ways they came up with to remove some of the narcotic qualities, but people ignored them. Although the decline of gruit is really complex it’s probably not a stretch to believe that as hops made their way into brewing the narcotic effects of herbs like Sweet Gale gave gruit a bad name in some circles. Although many areas in Northern Europe managed to hold out against the change to hops for a long time change was inevitable as it became possible to get fresh hops in areas where they couldn’t be grown. Nowadays gruit has been relegated to a specialty beer brewed by people who are curious about history, and the tastes of early beers. Gruits have all the body and malt flavors of a well brewed beer, but have an herbal aroma, and a unique taste that I happen to like. With the availability of a lot of these herbs though it can be a pain to procure the supplies to make one. Since the history bit turned out to be long I’ll just toss up the recipe tomorrow. Hopefully Doug gets better so I can procure my grains
A year ago I would have asserted there was no such thing as a bad beer. I would gladly take a Killian’s or a Blue Moon at a local watering hole without lamenting at the lack of a good beer selection. So as I work my way through Michelob’s attempts at craft beer why am I disappointed? It all started with their Jacks Pumpkin Ale back in October. I’d had some really good pumpkin ales in the past, and was brewing my own when I ran across it, so I decided to try a few. I couldn’t have been more disappointed. It was like someone had taken one of my favorite holiday beers and watered down the flavor. I pressed on though and tried their other offerings like Hop Hound, and Shock Top. Ok, the shock top wasn’t too bad, but it had the same issues that Michelob’s other beers did, it lacked the full flavor of the styles they were brewing. So I decided to sit down and write out a post detailing how horrible Michelob’s beers were, and that in their attempts to cash in on the seasonal and craft beer departments they were ruining good beer as we know it. My sister changed all that though. My sister absolutely cannot stand the taste of beer, even the pale watery American lagers disagree with her. So when she told me that she’d not only tried a shock top, but that she liked it I started looking at it differently. Could Michelob’s attempts into the market actually draw non beer drinkers into the fold and help them experience great beer? Then to further humble me and my beer snobbishness I started reading a book written by the guy whose grandfather had brought Heineken to America. Reading his view of how ridiculous beer culture has become in the US brought me back to my roots. Just because someone doesn’t enjoy a full flavored stout, or a hoppy APA doesn’t make them wrong, because there really is no such thing as a bad beer.
I know the names not very creative today, but I decided to let my friend Dan choose the title today. In fact that’s not the only thing that went different then planned today. I was supposed to be updating today from Venti’s Bento in downtown Salem, but apparently all 15 wireless networks downtown are locked now. Even with the inability to get online though Venti’s is definitely a great place to go for a meal and an awesome beer. Venti’s is unique in the fact that the owner doesn’t drink, yet they always have a really good and unique selection of beers both on tap, and in 22oz bombers. The reason for this is that customers and employees get to recommend the beer. This makes it difficult to say what will be tap or in bottle from week to week. Right now they may have tricerihops on tap, but next week it could be the newest seasonal release from Bison Brewing. I asked Dino how often they run a tap and he told me it can be a run of anywhere from one to three kegs, and occasionally more. Not only does this keep things fresh in terms of selection, but it means that the tap lines are cleaned out fairly often. That’s a great thing in terms of selection since not all places clean their tap lines as often then they need to. Today I purchased their lunch special and a bomber of Winter Warmer from Bison Brewing, and it cost me less then $10, which is pretty good for a micro brew from a downtown restaurant. Although Venti’s will remain an occaisional treat for me, rather then a daily thing, it is definitely a must for beer lovers. After all, whats better then a business that lets you choose what you drink? For more info check out their website at 
I have no clue where this post is going to go. It’s Monday, I’m tired, and thanks to Saturday night i’m currently not so fond of alcohol. The strange part about today though is how much I have to deal with beer. I have to rack my wheat beer to the bright tank, clean up the new additions to my bottle collection, attempt a fruit beer tincture, and finish making my lunch for the week which is cooked with beer. It’s weird how much of this Monday revolves around beer. Here’s some random beer thoughts from this last week.
I had the most amazing desert last Saturday, or was it the most amazing beer? Anyway, regardless of what it was it was awesome. Ready to find out what it was? Okay, it was an ice cream float…. made with beer. I’ll let that sink in. If your familiar with the Guinness float, then this won’t seem so far fetched, but it definitely seemed strange to me. All you need to make a stout float is a mug of your favorite stout, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I’m curious as to who first invented this drink, and why they did so. Were they a light beer lover who wanted to make their deep roasty stout more palatable? Maybe they were a beer connoisseur who thought the two sounded tasty together. Perhaps it was an overworked parent who was seeking an escape while making the kids root beer floats. I think however, that like many great culinary inventions it was a result of small changes over time, combined with happy accidents. This was for sure a happy accident though as it has survived the years, and is still apparently a popular drink in some circles. Here are some stouts that would go extremely well in this concoction.
scratching your head. Well at least I wasn’t the only one who missed it. In fact I wouldn’t even know still if it hadn’t been for the good people over at Rogue, and their Sesquicentennial Ale. Rogue has long and involved history with Oregon, and decided to honor that. So to commemorate this special month they released a beer made with only ingredients from Oregon. The barley was grown in the Klamath Basin, the hops at their own hop farms, Pacman yeast from Hood River, and free range coastal waters. What a fitting way to honor a state known for it’s micro brew industry. The beer is apparently on tap for a limited time, but outside of Portland your best bet for finding it would be at Rogues brew houses and pubs. This beer is also available in 22oz bombers, which is how I tried it. Definitely a beer to check out due to it’s uniqueness. For more info on Rogue and it’s drinks check out their website 
I’ll be honest, when I first decided to start cooking with my spoiled beer I was nervous. I was worried that whatever I cooked would taste nasty. But after yesterday I feel empowered to cook with it. Welsh Rabbit is one of my favorite dishes, and this batch was one of my best. For those of you who don’t know what it is, Welsh Rabbit is the best cheese sandwich you’ll ever have, served open faced.
I should have thought about this before I committed to it. Although a tap report sounds easy, going around to every pub and buying beer isn’t a great way to stay sober. So I think what I’ll do for tap reports is do a few local pubs, and just recommend a good beer from them. Also if there’s a bar or pub you’d be interested in knowing more about the selection at let me know in the comments. So without further whining on my part here’s what’s on tap in Salem/Keizer.