Monday Rant: A Simple Equation

The general public keeps finding new ways to make life even more mind-numbing than it already is. I've always been for choosing to drink whatever beer you think tastes good. Still, there are those certain few out there that cause me to have that Lewis Black "remind myself to breathe moment.

My Beer is Skunked

I was at a bar just a few weeks ago with a cousin of mine and a friend. This guy next to me at the bar and kept ordering Coronas and also kept sending each of them back. He claimed that the third on was the third in a row that tasted skunked. Maybe I'm just a nosey prick, but this irked me. So, I leaned over to him and asked if I could give some advice on his current plight.

See, I've always been taught that when taking care of or storing beer you need to keep it out of the light as much as possible. This is why brewers have beer in dark brown or green bottles. This is in order to keep as much light as possible from getting in and possibly skunking your beer.

So, with that understood how can you possible be surprised that a beer brand whose entire marketing strategy is based on its clear glass bottle tasted skunked. Thus, I explained to this guy that the reason it tastes skunked is because of the bottle they put it in. His response was something dumbfounded. I remember it being something close to "Oh, I drink this all of the time man." It just didn't register with him. Suffice to say, I wanted the last 20 or so seconds of my life back.

My Beer is Too Warm

This past weekend I met some people out in Robinson at a place in which the beer selection was ultra disappointing for someone that's involved in the craft beer movement. I asked the waitress if anything fun was on draft. All I got back was Bud, Bud Light, Miller and Dos Equis. So exciting. I was forced to go with Dos Equis Amber. It was the least potent poison given what I had to choose from.

Someone in our group ordered the skunked special. You guessed it. The iconic Corona in the clear bottle. When it arrived the person claimed it was too warm. Now, getting a beer that's a little too warm isn't something that would bother me. Some beer's need to be at a higher temperature to accentuate the flavors in the beer. If a beer is too cold, you're covering up some of the flavors. You can't taste cold. You can only feel it! Now, think about this. If a beer can't even taste good when it's a bit warmer (when in theory a warmer beer should enable you to taste more of its flavors) then how can one claim it's good in any form? To me it's just a simple equation.

It's Come to This

I try to keep up with trends in the craft market as best I can. I seemed to have missed this one that I came across in a New York Times article pertaining to much bigger beer bottles than what consists most of the what's out there.

What this tells me is that we are pretty much snobbish wine drinkers. Now some of our brewers are trying to play it off as such. In my opinion a simple 12 oz. bottle of beer pairs exactly the same way with food as it would if you had one of the bigger bottles. I don't understand how the size of the bottle makes any kind of difference.

I do know two negative things about the bigger bottles. They're pricier and if the beer inside has a higher ABV, it can be a tough bottle to finish off. As the article states, you can't really save the rest for another session. I once bought two big bottles once and paid the same as I would have for a case of other beers.

I should have seen this coming a mile away. Breweries are coming out with glassware that they claim to be standards for styles and now this. For me, craft beer was all about freedom of drinking whatever the hell you wanted. Now I feel that certain breweries are trying to impose what it feels as the right course.

Sometimes it's a change of pace (in a nice way) to grab a big bottle of exotic beer. I just don't want it ending up one day as that being the only choice we have. Hope you are enjoying your new IPA glass. This is the business we've chosen.