Adjunct Adventures

I wrote about the pluses of corn in beer earlier this week. Once I finished the blog post, I posed a quick question on Twitter asking if anyone knew any brewers in Western Pa. that had or still use corn in any of their brews. I was surprised at the response I got. Here are some of the informative tweets I received.

@BurghBeerSnob Straub does. Technically, it's part of the American lager style.
— Craft Pittsburgh Mag (@CraftPittsburgh) November 5, 2013

@CraftPittsburgh @BurghBeerSnob yuengling uses corn syrup....
— Jake Johnson (@jacobecody) November 5, 2013

@CraftPittsburgh @BurghBeerSnob @StraubBeer uses flaked corn in Amer. Lagers as per their 140 yr. tradition. They also brew craft styles w/o
— Michelle Reid (@Pourthing) November 5, 2013

. @BurghBeerSnob @CraftPittsburgh We've also brewed w/corn: Pennsyltucky Uncommon, Classic American Pilsner, and S.W.I.L.L. all had it.
— Scott at EastEnd (@EastEndBrewing) November 5, 2013

Craft Pittsburgh and an old college friend were the first to note that Straub has and always used corn in the American Lager. So, I went ahead and double-checked. They both were correct. Flaked corn was on the malt bill in St. Mary's. As for the East End brews, I did recall uncovering that the Pennsyltucky Uncommon that was made for Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week included corn in some capacity. I just didn't recall it being used until that tweet jogged my memory, so to speak. The thing that stands out to me about the East End response is that none of those beers (or the brewery) was vilified or outcast for using corn.

Douglas from Baltimore commented on the post that initiated all of this corn stuff and mentioned that as long as the beer is well-crafted it shouldn't really matter. He has a strong point.

In case you haven't noticed, I don't care for the way the word adjunct gets thrown around. Or maybe that it's the way certain beer ingredients have been logged under that category. What I hate the most is that if a brewery uses it, there are some out there that don't consider said beer or brewer "craft" or "crafty enough."

Still, I don't feel as if I'm done on this subject. Adjuncts in beer might be a great topic for my usual Monday post. Eventually I might do a post on some beer's I;ve tried and enjoyed with corn in them in some form. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Craft Beer Impossible

Like most humans, my intellectual side s sometimes stimulated when skimming through articles on the internet. I was a journalism student in college. Surprise, right?

An article via CNBC had the typical headline you see about how craft beer is booming and that the sky is the limit for the industry. Yes, it sounds like your typical puff piece before you click on it. This article was a bit different though.

Us journalism kids were always about the sources and quotes used within our stories. Sometimes they make of break your story. For the one I read, a quote is what made this story stick out in my mind.

The quote in question said that it's quite possible that the craft beer industry can one day be very similar to the restaurant industry with many new breweries jumping in and leaving just as fast.

That's amazing when you think about. That's some amazing speed in terms of growth. Also, the thought of such a diverse selection might pose a chance of dissolution of the overall product. That product, in short, is one of the things we all love. Beer.

Monday Rant: Definitions, Definitions

As I'm a well-known cynic, I take exception many things in both life and society.I complain like an old man. Everyone tells me that I'm pretty much a 60-year-old man in the body of a what is now a 25-year-old. Many issues irk me within the beer community. I threw a fit when there was a big push to exile the English Shaker Pint. I did much the same when everyone drooled at the thought of purchasing the Dogfish/Spiegelau hop-forward glass which we eventually found out was simply an updated wine glass.

One issue that makes me have to remind myself to breathe, as comedian Lewis Black would say, is the craft vs. craft debate and defining of craft beer, craft brewers etc.

I came across a CNBC article that kind of pointed out that the definition of a craft brewer has been expanded to cater the growth of certain brewers such as Boston Brewing Co. At least, that's what I took from reading it.

I'm just tired of the Brewer's Association laying down it's own law. It's all just beer. Who cares how many barrels a brewery produces per-year? Why does it matter if a brewery like August Schell uses corn as an adjunct in some of its offerings?

The Brewer's Association says that you can't be considered a craft brewer if you use corn or rice. The major American companies use corn and rice, but most of the beer that comes from said companies simply is repulsive. I've had beer with corn that tastes great. Craft beer should be a very loose term. A personal definition for each of us that drinks beer we like. That's what craft should be.