Show 30: Heffin’ Every Minute of It
Prebeer Preamble: Today I’m joined by a record number of co-drinkers: Michael R.Mennenga and Brian Brown from Michael and Evo’s Wingin’ It! podcast (and others), Kris Mayo and Tim Adamec from the Food Geeking podcast (and others), and certifed beer judge Thomas Vincent from the great city of Flagstaff, Arizona. What’s all the fuss about? Why German wheat beers, of course! The plan was to channel all of our experience with beer and podcasting to give you this, the definitive hefe-cast. Let’s see how it went…
Beer #1 The crowd first tries a classic from the “world’s oldest brewery”: Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier. Lots of opinions fly around the room, and Thomas gives us a lesson in German pronunciation. Also, I throw out the whole “lemon” question for general discussion.
Interbeer Interlude: Beer As Folk “Jay Phral of Sudwerk Privatbrauerei Hübsch” Tucked away in the small college town of Davis, California is an anomaly: a West Coast brewery that eschews massive hops and high alcohol content in favor of brewing authentic Bavarian-style beer. I spoke with the manager of brewery operations about Sudwerk’s history and what it’s like to be so different from the local brew zeitgeist.
Beer #2: Next up for the sampling crew: Ayinger Ur-Weisse. This is a dunkelweizen, a dark hefe, from another classic German brewery. Both of today’s beers had to endure the rigors of importation to reach our thirsty maws. Did both survive intact? Thomas definitely has an opinion on this one…
Beer Geek Moment: “Yeast” What’s invisibly tiny and excretes pure bliss? Today we cover the basics of micro-fungus and how it impacts beer well beyond adding bubbles.
Postbeer Postscript: Duck! Here come numbers! Everyone chimes in on what they think of these beers, quantitatively speaking. Does today’s epic show end up in harmony or conflict? Tune in and find out!
May 29th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Thanks for having me on Charlie. I hope you were able to deal with my enthusiasm on the topic once I get started it’s hard to stop. Love me some beer.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Thanks right back atcha, Thomas. We have to do it again real soon. Say, at the Wingin’ It Pool Party East Coast/West Coast Smackdown Show that I haven’t yet told Mike he’s going to record for me, fr’instance?
May 29th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
My taste buds are at your command, lead on
May 30th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Question to Thomas:
How do you score a gig being a beer judge?
May 30th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I really like the show, but…
Well, I know that Mike M is the Grand Poobah of the Farpoint media family, but I find him … less than entertaining.
Great timing on this cast Just got hot here in Baltimore!
May 30th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Michael, glad to hear you like the show (sorry you didn’t like *all* of it, but I guess taste in personalities is like taste in beer–it varies from person to person).
I’m glad the weather is in line with the style…that was the plan. I totally recommend the Weihenstephaner, it’s hefe-er-iffic. I’m pretty sure that’s an acceptable technical term…
May 31st, 2007 at 7:27 am
Yeah, wow went from balmy to boiling here.
One question, do you know what is the availability nation-wide for these beers?
Thanks!
-M
May 31st, 2007 at 11:09 am
Both beers are distributed world-wide, including what looks to be all 50 US states. (here’s Weihenstephaner’s distribution list at ratebeer dot com:
http://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/beer/beer-Distribution.asp?BeerID=1156)
I’d suggest looking in the high-end liquor stores or gourmet supermarkets first. Or better yet, call around. I’m guessing that it won’t take you long to track them down in the Baltimore area. Good luck!
May 31st, 2007 at 11:16 am
Wow, on closer examination, I don’t see Maryland on the distribution list. D’Oh! Still, it’s worth calling around for,,,you never know!
June 4th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Thanks again for letting me sit in Charlie! Always a pleasure…
And THANK YOU for sparing me the Chili beer tasting…
June 6th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Brian, if you knew how good the Rogue Chipotle is you wouldn’t be uttering such a phrase, granted the Cave Creek isn’t drinking pleasure but Rogue more than makes up with it. On tap it’s an amazing experience.
Carrie 3 hour long exam after weeks of study research beer styles, it is more true work than one might think. One question as example “Compare and contrast South English Brown Porter, Muinch Dunkles, and Vienna Lager, describe using color, style, flavor, ingredients, history, etc.” It had about 10 essay questions and 4 taste judges and some of the beers were delibrately soured and we had to know what was the cause.
If you are a beer geek, it’s a tremendous learning experience, but frankly it’s not an easy one. That said I think it was worth the work.
June 7th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Oh wasn’t swinging at Rogue and I wasn’t INVITED to tasting that. I was offered the DREGS of the Cave Creek Chili Beer. SO NYAH!
Do I really seem to be the sort of fella that’d turn my nose up at Rogue beers??? Pshah! You sir need to obviously come around more often, bringing beer and chatting with me.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Thanks for the info Thomas. It actually sounds like fun. I’ve got a great palatte, and a quasi-academic background. Maybe this is something I will look into…it would be too much to hope that beer judges get paid, wouldn’t it?
June 7th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Swinging? Swigging. Swilling… ya.. and stuff.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Carrie if you have the palatte range it’s a great learning experience, but it’s not always good. Judging at competitions you sometimes get not very nice things that you still have to try to judge. A recent example that comes to mind I tasted a beer that I wrote “it tastes like bandaid fading into roast beef.” But on the other hand you get some really amazing beers occasionally.
The only compensation most events offer is breakfast and lunch during tastings. On rare occasions lodging like for the Sam Adams Longshot I know they will put you up at a hotel.
The best way to get started is contact your local homebrew shop or club and see if they have an exam prep class. Or you can always go to http://www.bjcp.org for more details.