UPDATE - "Mug Shots": Another compendium of my essays in LEO.

It's time for another "Mug Shots" update.

For those just tuning in, every two weeks the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) publishes a 300-word essay about beer written by the Curmudgeon.

Although I had my doubts at first (my topic sentences have tended to run 300 words), it has proven to be great fun and good practice in self-discipline, something for which I'm not universally noted.

Here are the links to recent articles:

Mug Shots – Share the hops
(July 23, 2008)

Mug Shots - Venting the chug
(July 9, 2008)

Mug Shots - Train station brews
(June 25, 2008)

Mug Shots - Your beer is The Man
(June 11, 2008)

Mug Shots: Catch the Buzz
(May 28, 2008)

Mug Shots: A fair price?
(May 14, 2008)

Previously: UPDATE - "Mug Shots": A compendium of my essays in LEO.

Take me out to the ballgame: More about sports concessionaires, blatant extortion and non-competition.

A month or so ago, I reported on my experience at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati:

Sports concessionaires, blatant extortion, non-competition … but a good beer, anyway.

I edited the preceding into a "Mug Shots" column for LEO: Mug Shots: A fair price? (May 14, 2008).

The follow-up appeared this week: Mug Shots - Your beer is The Man (June 11, 2008).

In it, my parentage is questioned by an angry Anheuser-Busch representative. He should consider reading the book about the Busch family before impugning my origins, but no matter; he'll soon be taking orders in Flemish and taking his fries with mayo.

On Sunday, we're headed back to the Queen City to see the Red Sox play the homestanding Reds in interleague play. There should be time to visit the Hofbrauhaus in Newport before settling into the right field seats and cradling a few $7.75 IPAs ... assuming they're still there.

Happy Hudy time, anyone?

UPDATE - "Mug Shots": A compendium of my essays in LEO.

It's time for another "Mug Shots" update.

For those just tuning in, every two weeks the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) publishes a 300-word essay about beer written by the Curmudgeon.

Although I had my doubts at first (my topic sentences tend to run 300 words), it has proven to be great fun and good practice in self-discipline, something for which I'm not universally noted.

Here are the links to recent articles:

Mug Shots: The hypocrisies of drinking and voting
(April 30, 2008)

Mug Shots: Expand your horizons
(April 16, 2008)

Mug Shots: Pabst tense (ask for the original)
(April 2, 2008)

Mug Shots: Craft brews are up!
March 19, 2008)

Mug Shots: Meg Ryan would approve
(March 5, 2008)

Mug Shots: Gravityheads, unite
(February 20, 2008)

Mug Shots: Oysters and stout go hand-in-hand
(February 6, 2008)

Mug Shots: Ben Franklin was a beer man
(January 23, 2008)

Mug Shots: A manifesto for 2008
(January 9, 2008)

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Mug Shots: The Year in Beer
(December 26, 2007)

Mug Shots: Swap Santa for Saturnalia
(December 12, 2007)

Mug Shots: Behold beer sommeliers
(November 28, 2007)

Mug Shots: Sacrilege and mass merger
(November 14, 2007)

Miller High Life: "Sweat-sock juice, burnt popcorn-flavored beer."

Disclaimer: I don't know Anthony Ash, but his letter in this week's Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is both funny and perceptive. As he points out, the intrinsic cluelessness of hip has never been so painfully -- and tastelessly -- obvious.

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Champagne of Beers?

I couldn’t help but notice in Sara Havens’ Bar Belle Christmas List (LEO, Dec. 19) an expressed desire for PBR not to be hip. I won’t spend any time defending Pabst — after all, they are still milking that one blue ribbon they won in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

However, Sara, I think your comment about PBR is what I would call misdirected animosity.

So let me bring to light the real perpetrator of undeserved hipness and the bane of logic … Miller High Life. I recently returned to the glorious world of fine drinking after a year of liquor hiatus (guys do the dumbest things for a woman), and as I walked into a local watering hole for the first time, what did I see but a sea of bar patrons drinking Miller High Life. I see this phenomenon everywhere I go now.

Did I miss something during my year off? Did Buckaroo Banzai send me beyond the 8th dimension?

After all, the last time I saw someone drinking this sweat-sock juice, burnt popcorn-flavored beer in the past 20 years was my basement-dwelling neighbor who spent his days sniffing glue and watching reruns of “Petticoat Junction.” So I came to the depressing conclusion that somehow, somewhere, someone seriously in need of therapy decided that it is “hip” to drink the Champagne of Beers (giggle), and much like the African Anteater Ritual dance, it is undeserving of its popularity.

Now, somebody get me a Kostritzer before I die.

Anthony Ash, Louisville

UPDATE - "Mug Shots": From Finland to the zoo, and more.

It's time for another "Mug Shots" update.

For those just tuning in, every two weeks the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) publishes a 300-word essay about beer written by the Curmudgeon.

Although I had my doubts at first (my topic sentences tend to run 300 words), it has proven to be great fun and good practice in self-discipline, something for which I'm not universally noted.

Here are the links to recent articles:

Mug Shots: Finnish beer and subtlety
(October 31, 2007)

Mug Shots: Lupulus eroticus
(October 17, 2007)

Mug Shots: A case of the DTs in Belgium
(October 3, 2007)

Mug Shots: Germany’s Oktoberfest — once bitten, twice shy
(September 19, 2007)

Mug Shots: Madison’s got game
(September 5, 2007)

Mug Shots: Gulp with the gators, slurp with the sloths
(August 22, 2007)

Charlestown Pizza Company in LEO.

There's good press for the Charlestown Pizza Company in this week's Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO). The last third of Robin Garr's piece pertains to CPC.

Eat 'n' Blog: Launch your gondola in a river of red

Indeed, these folks are very serious about their beer, and the selection is exceptional, featuring about 18 bottled beers, all extremely interesting artisan brews with a strong focus on Southern Indiana and the Louisville area.

Mug Shots: Beer for Bastille Day.

Usually I don't reprint the "Mug Shots" pieces that appear in the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO), although I link to them periodically.

There'll be an exception today owing to extenuating circumstances.

First, the subject matter is appropriate for Sunday's much anticipated Bastille Day Biere de Garde Dinner at Bistro New Albany. Second, owing to an unfortunate mix-up, the publication dates for the two most recent "Mug Shots" became reversed. The Biere de Garde story below was to have appeared yesterday, and the lambic article on June 27. Here's how they actually appeared:

Mug Shots: Retro lambic
(July 11, 2007)

Mug Shots: Beer for Bastille Day
(June 27, 2007)

That's fine; accidents happen. Now, to France ...

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Beer for Bastille Day

From the time just after 9-11, when it became the stated policy of every illiterate bumpkin in the American hinterlands to demean all things French without understanding any of them, I’ve resolved to buy and drink beer from France as often as possible.

Contrary to what you may have heard, this political statement requires no sacrifice whatsoever, because no other brewing nation in Europe is as underrated as France – and we’re not speaking here of Alsace’s producers of German-tinged Euro-lager like Kronenbourg. Rather, France’s prime brewing region lies to the north of Paris, alongside Belgium.

It is indicative of the imprecision with which beer styles are codified that aficionados tend to group the ales of Northern France into a catch-all category, Bieres de Garde (or, “beers that have been kept”). As with the Saison style of French-speaking Belgium, these originally were individualistic farmhouse ales brewed in cooler weather, bottled, and stored for later use. This period of aging rounded the edges and contributed a cellar character to ales that were little known outside the region until relatively recently.

In general terms, today’s Bieres de Garde have in common glorious layers of rich malt complexity, with hop-accented offerings tasty, but less common. They can be golden, amber or brown, with the latter being particular good alongside dinner.

While the bulk of received wisdom pertaining to food and drink concentrates on the oenophile’s vision of the correct jug of wine for a particular loaf of bread, France’s Bieres de Garde are an ideal accompaniment to the finest multi-course meal – or to a wheel of stinky cheese, rough country pate and a crusty baguette.

Be adventurous and look for 750 ml bottles, some corked and other crown capped, of Jenlain, Trois Monts, La Choulette, St. Amand and Castelain.

A Mug Shots dialogue in LEO.

When I learned that a Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) reader had written to the editor of the alternative weekly newspaper to take me to task for a viewpoint expressed in my twice-monthly Mug Shots column, I was absolutely ecstatic.

It meant that someone was reading. You should know that writers are vain that way; we like to be read, as opposed to unread. If any of us tell you differently, don't believe it.

Following is the original letter and the response that I was asked to compose. Since then, I've thought at some length about the perspective expressed by Mr. Knisely, and while I'm sticking with my answer -- rather diplomatic by my usual standards (thanks, Cary) -- it seems to me that his complaint is analogous to that of Harpo Marx, as explained by his brother Chico, who watched as the silent comic angrily tore a book to shreds:

“He gets mad because he can’t read.”

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Not Hoppy

Frequently in Roger Baylor’s Mug Shots column, we readers receive lessons about why we should drink delicious local craft beer, and why we should never waste our time or money on mass-produced and mass-marketed megabrewery beer.

I can relate to the sentiment. Seriously. Being a fan of independent restaurants and music and movies, I naturally see the good reasons for avoiding McBeer or Wal*Beer. But I am consistently frustrated by Baylor and the microbreweries in town for taking such a good idea and making it almost completely inaccessible to those of us who do not enjoy heavy, hoppy beer.

Some of us who do love beer just so happen to honestly prefer a light-tasting (if not low-cal), smooth lager that doesn’t taste like a glass full of hops. What are we to do? Does Baylor’s NABC (New Albanian Brewing Co.) offer us the quality craft beer that we want? There’s BBC, and sure, they rarely have Darby on tap, but it’s never bottled and sold in stores like their other brews. Cumberland Brews? Nope.

If we can’t go to one of the local brewing establishments and get a non-hoppy smooth lager, let alone go home with a couple six-packs to put in the fridge for at-home enjoyment on a Sunday afternoon, is it any wonder that we’ll end up just going to the liquor store on the corner to obtain a light lager that we can afford and whose taste and availability we can rely on? Please, Mr. Baylor & Co., scolding us into drinking beer we don’t like doesn’t help us. We sincerely want to frequent your establishments and stock your local brews in our refrigerators. Please consider crafting a lager that isn’t all humulus, and we’ll gladly consider swearing off the McBeer.

--Derek Knisely, Louisville

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***Editor’s Note: LEO ran this letter by Roger Baylor to see if he had any comments or recommendations. Here’s what he had to say:

I sincerely regret that Mr. Knisely isn’t into Humulus lupulus, but fortunately there are less hoppy styles of beer to suit every prospective beer advocate like him. As these pertain to Louisville’s craft brewers, it should first be remembered that apart from the downtown BBC brewing and bottling facility (Main & Clay), they deal primarily in draft beer, not bottles. Finding a locally brewed “light-tasting … smooth lager” that is both golden and bottled and coming to you at a price point similar to regional and multinational brewers won’t always be easy, because economies of scale differ when it comes to production and distribution.

Furthermore, small craft brewers generally don’t aim to fill stylistic niches like light lager because industrial brewers do them benignly and cheaply. That said, BBC (Shelbyville Road) brews Kolsch; BBC (Main & Clay) has Gold; Browning’s has a Helles; Cumberland Brews makes Cream Ale; and NABC does the dark but very light flavored Community Dark. All of them fit Mr. Knisely’s description, albeit it on tap. Growlers, anyone? —Roger Baylor

LEO on the "import invasion," and another "Mug Shots" archive addition.

Last week’s Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) included its annual “Nightlife” insert. Local free lancer Kevin Gibson, who over the years has contributed a number of worthy articles on the local beer scene, wrote this piece:

Nightlife 2007 - Does the import invasion mean farewell to ‘fizzy yellow beer’?

That high-quality, high-priced import you’re drinking? It might actually be more high-priced than high-quality — nevertheless, it carries an important connotation: The public, looking for something different, is drinking more imports and craft brews than ever. Craft beer sales rose nearly 12 percent in 2006, according to the Oregon-based non-profit Brewers Association, and data from a MindBranch.com market research study suggests that beer drinkers are “trading up” because they see import and craft beers as an affordable luxury.

Kevin gives due props to Maido Essential Japanese owner Jim Huie and “Beer Dave” Gausepohl of Kentucky’s Bryant Distributing. Of course, the Curmudgeon is quoted, too. He adores the press.

Here’s the roundup on my recently published “Mug Shots” articles in LEO:

Mug Shots: 5 spots to get your brew on.
(May 2, 2007)

Mug Shots: Simple times called for Phoenix Kommon.
(April 18, 2007)

Mug Shots: Good beer isn’t hard to find.
(April 4, 2007)

More entries in the "Mug Shots" archive.

For daily Gravity Head 2007 lineupdates, go here.

Here's the current archive for my 300-word mini-columns in the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO). The next four have been submitted: April 4's topic is the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition; April 18 (pre-Thunder Over Louisville) contrasts the clamor of Thunder with the bygone, quiet tact of Kentucky Kommon beer; and May 2 (pre-Derby) offers a consideration of Louisville's five fine breweries.

On May 16, the second Ohio River Valley Folk Festival (May 18 & 19) along the Ohio River in downtown Madison, Indiana, will be previewed.

Mug Shots: Don’t judge Belgium by its Stella
(March 21, 2007)

Mug Shots: All hopped up
(March 7, 2007)

Mug Shots: Bulk up better beer lists
(February 20, 2007)

Mug Shots: From me to brew
(February 6, 2007)

Mug Shots: Beer list should equal wine list
(January 23, 2007)

Mug Shots: A beer by any other name
(January 9, 2007)

Mug Shots: New year, new beer
(December 26, 2006)

From Beer to Eternity: Merry Christmas Ale
(December 12, 2006)

Beer in today's LEO.

(For a current Gravity Head 2007 update, go here)

Beer takes center stage in the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) today. First up is Robin Garr, who attended last week's Extreme Belgian beer dinner at the Bistro New Albany and reports on the pairings.

Critic yells ‘beer me’ as suds go upscale, by Robin Garr.

If you don’t think there’s any class distinction between wine and beer, you might consider whether you’ve even seen a drunk slouch into a bar and yell, “Wine me!” Beer, let’s face it, owns a downscale, blue-collar image that contrasts with wine’s perceived position as the drink the beautiful people sip.

But need this be so? In an age when artisanal brewpubs and microbreweries abound and the term “quality American beer” is no longer an oxymoron, it’s arguable that beer — fine, crafted beer made in a wide variety of styles — deserves as much connoisseurish attention as wine enthusiasts are accustomed to lavishing on their grape juice.

Also, Sara Havens takes a righteous stand against green beer even as elsewhere in the newspaper, regular advertisers like Fourth Street Live shamelessly tout algae-colored clueless lotion for the yokels to consume on St. Patrick's Day.

The Bar Belle: The tragedy that is green beer, by Sara Havens.

Friends don’t let friends drink green beer. Seriously. Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it. If you have to, order a bottle … or a Guinness … or a Harp … to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day. Just don’t walk around with a goofy grin and a pint of syrupy green sludge that leaves stains all over your face. It looks like you just blew a leprechaun. Or had a threesome with Papa Smurf and Homer Simpson.