Iceland Beer Saga: Borg Brugghus Interview Part 3 - Updated

Before we dive into the final part of the interview I want to take another moment to say thanks to Stulli and Valli for taking the time out of their busy schedules to talk to me and share some of their tasty beer. It was a privilege. Now onto the thrilling conclusion!

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3

What particular beer do you feel best represents what you are doing here at Borg? What has been your best success to date?

Valli: I think it is no question that it is Úlfur, the IPA, it put Borg on the map. 

Stulli: Yes, it is definitely best all around sales. It really surprised the marketing department. 

Valli: Ulfar is the first IPA in Iceland much to my dislike because I wanted to be the first one to bring it at Ölvisholt. 

Stulli: I had this goal, this dream for many years to produce the first IPA in Iceland. I had told you a couple of years before that I was going to bring it. (laughs)

Valli: It is the first IPA and it came out in 2010.

Stulli: Early 2010

Valli: It is the first American style IPA on the market in Iceland. We had a couple of imported English IPAs, more like bitter ales.

Stulli: And really beat up Liberty Ale. 

Valli: Yes, just a couple months ago some guys started importing BrewDog and Mikkeller and you can now get those down at Micro Bar. 

We talked a little bit about how you are walking that fine line between craft brewing and that you have an industrial brewery backing you. How do manage that and still be able to produce these diverse, for Iceland, brews? 

Valli: It has been a process really. 

Stulli: It has been a steep uphill battle and getting the right people in the right places has really helped. 

Valli: We have managed to build up a reputation and people have finally realized that it is best to allow us to do what we want. 

Stulli: What we want is to introduce consumers to the wonders of beer and what the top floor sees is that we are increasing the positive reputation of the company.

Valli: We are building up the name Egils and that is one of the many roles of Borg. For example we came out with a 12% imperial stout and it sold out in one day. 

Stulli: The beer culture being the state that it is, it is a prime opportunity to introduce to the people fresh beer in the style it is being approached in American and Europe. The small breweries, interesting styles, high gravity beers, and doing that in the best way possible so that the consumers get the best quality product as possible. 

How collegial is the craft beer community around here or are you all still just a small band of rebels?

Stulli: Uh, I don't know (laughs).

Valli: For example Einstok is actually not intended for the Icelandic market. It is actually a brand owned by Americans. So it is basically just contract brewed up north in Iceland...

Stulli: …and we are lucky enough to get some of it in the market here because it is brewed here.

Valli: There are four types of Einstok being made and we can't get one of them on a regular basis. 

Stulli: Yes, it is a contract brewing gig, Americans approached the people at Viking about contract brewing for them. 

Valli: But this actually also shows the quality of the brewmaster they have. He is working a very big system, well in comparison, and manages to pull out these beers with no experience producing anything like this before, so they can do it domestically if they want it. 

Stulli: Well they just marketed it in cans as their summer ale. 

Valli: Right, the white ale, he apparently made two different types of batches of it and the one that the Americans didn't pick Viking sold as their summer beer. 

This is where the magic happens!

What do you want people to know about Borg?

Valli: Basically that we are making different types of beer.

Stulli: We are trying to brew the best beer we can make, trying to make honest products, having fun.

Valli: The big goal is to introduce different types of flavors. Get people to try new stuff. Essentially the easiest thing in Iceland is to be on the forefront of this movement because no one has done anything.

Stulli: So it sort of makes it easy for us to introduce a lot of things because people just don't know any better, so when I say make things as honest as possible I mean we are trying to make proper styles, proper beers, proper flavors, and not necessarily to style but make interesting things and be honest about them. It's about quality. 

Iceland Beer Saga: Borg Brugghús interview part 2

Part 1

Part 2

How has the reception been for Borg?

Valli: Being part of a big company there is a tension between sales people and brewers. So basically we haven't really been able to keep up with demand. It's a good thing, but it does hold back our creative abilities. 

Stulli: This is to make the owners happy. When I was starting I had to make a compromise. I got to brew an IPA if I made something they would like. So what I was going for was a lager with a twist. What I was thinking at the time was a sort of blend of a Munich Helles beer and something Belgian. It is a full time production beer. 

They get bolder as you move from left to right. 

Stulli: Our first beer was Brio, it was a 4.5 ABV German style pilsner, our second beer was a 4.5% brown ale [ed. note Austur] that I made for a bar downtown, the third was Úlfur which was the odd man out because I got to make it but it was a compromise because I would have wanted to make a 9% IPA. Then Bjartur a 5% lager like beer, a 4.5% amber lager, then when things changed you see Stekkjarstaur a 6% brown ale, Surtur, our imperial stout which is 12%, Benedikt, a belgian which is 7%, and so forth. 

Stulli: On Surtur, our imperial stout we ended up changing our final pretty drastically. 

Valli: It became a totally different beer. 

Stulli:  I had this goal, this dream for many years to produce the first IPA in Iceland. 

Valli: I was head brewer at Ölvisholt when it started, but because I live here in Reykjavik I basically couldn't afford to work there anymore. [ed. note Olvisholt is about an hour drive from Reykjavik and gas is very expensive on the island] So that is why I came over here. When we started at Ölvisholt I had promised to myself that I would never make a lager because that was all there was available in Iceland so I wanted to bring some change in. The only demand the owners had was to make a pale lager, but I made a steam beer so technically a lager. That was Skalftji. I didn't know I was making a steam beer, I had a lager but I wanted to brew it at a higher temperature to get more flavors to it and stuff. It wasn't when we started to export to Sweden that someone pointed out that this is steam beer then. It wasn't intentional, after that I tried to create beers that hadn't been produced in Iceland before which wasn't really hard though. All the things I made in Ölvisholt had never been produced here before. 

That is a cool opportunity to break new ground.

Valli: Well the brewers have actually been ahead of of the public. We are pushing out the new stuff, it is not because of the demand but because we want to do it. 

Stulli: Of course there is a small group of beer fanatic nerds, Haukur being one of them. The majority of people here just sort of tag along, they either love what we are doing, not necessarily every beer we make, but the creative things and new things at a small scale, or they hate it and just keep on drinking their regular beer. 

Valli: Well both groups keep on drinking their regular beer and that actually has been a problem. When Ölvisholt actually started we had a lot of good feedback to just bring something new and something different and we will pay whatever for it. We had huge amounts of people telling us that and we had great hopes and we were planning to expand the brewery before we even began brewing but when it came down to it people who had promised to buy nothing else didn't buy a single bottle of it. There is a lot of conservatism, people pick their brand, 'this is what I drink, this is my favorite.' People are starting to try different flavors and try different beers. 

Does that work in your favor when Icelanders go abroad? 

Valli: The thing is when Icelanders go abroad they go to a bar and ask for a cold beer. They get a Tuborg or a Heineken, and that is great for them because they are abroad, drinking, and that is enough. Although beer culture is better in most countries you still have to look for the quality and craft beers. 

Are you planning on exporting?

Stulli: Quality-wise, being Russian River alum, I'm not going to export anything I am worried about like my IPA. Don Feinberg has put in an order for our imperial stout which we are hoping to ship out to him, but we have to try and find time to produce it. 

What is the status of home brewing in Iceland?

Stulli: It is illegal in here, technically…

Valli: …you can't produce anything about 2.5%, that's the limit. 

How much of anything you brew is import? 

Valli: The raw materials? 

Stulli: Everything is imported.

Valli: Actually we are bringing out another beer, Snorri,  which we will bottle next week, [ed. note: this is now available at the duty free in Keflavik International Airport] made with Icelandic barley which is unmalted but with added enzyme. 

Stulli: It is no secret that the only way to make the raw barley usable is with added enzymes. It is just to get through the same process that is done in malting but in the kettle or mash tun. It is something we inherited from upstairs. 

Will there come a day when you can actually get malt? 

Stulli: In Iceland? 

Valli: I doubt it, just putting up a malting facility would be so expensive. 

Stulli: To make it profitable you would have to make so much malt and I doubt that enough malt is grown in Iceland. 

Valli: To make this beer a little more interesting we decided because it is so light to get some kick out of it we used english al and it's spiced with an Icelandic herb called arctic thyme. You can make it sound great, but then of course I think it is commercially acceptable. We run what we call beer school here and we had a trial version of it on tap and apparently the reception of the beer was very good. 

Stulli: We are going to bottle it unfiltered and try to make a new type of style, Icelandic barley beer. (laughs)

Valli: We boosted the spices in the next batch. 

Stulli: It is an exclusive beer for the duty free. 

It feels like you are doing research and development for Egils. Will something come out with their brand name on it that was your creation?

Valli: That is one of the many parts of Borg, we are the research brewery for the big brewery.  In the long run the goal is to produce beers that can move over to the big brewery for mass production. What we produce is on such small scale that in sales for the company it really doesn't matter on the books. The value for them is more marketing than anything else. Of course we produce beers that I know will move over to the big brewery. 

What was your inspiration to come back to Iceland and brew beer?

Stulli:  Having an Icelandic wife, kids on the way. It is great to live here other than beer, but I came to try and change that. 

***

Come back tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion where Stulli and Valli discuss what's next for Borg, maintaining their creativity in the shadow of a giant, and what's been their best success to date. 

Iceland Beer Saga: Borg Brugghús interview part 1

One of the coolest things I was able to do while in Iceland was sit down with the brewers of Borg Brugghús , Sturlaugur Jón Björnsson and Valgeiri Valgeirssyni. They had a lot to say about Icelandic beer culture, the challenges and opportunities, and how they are brewing a craft beer revolution on the island. 

The interview doesn't follow the standard pattern, we started at the bottom, worked to the middle, went from the top and ended up off script. So while I could organize it a bit I chose not to and went with the conversation as it occurred over tastings of Borg's excellent brews.  

Part 1

Valgeiri Valgeirssyni (Valli)

and Sturlaugur Jón Björnsson (Stulli) are

brewing up an Icelandic beer revolution.

So let's talk about your beer, what is your current line up, what is the current production you have going?

Current production is Brio Beer #1, though it has been moved over to the big brewery to keep up with demand. It is a pilsner, what we are drinking now. 

You didn't go with a pale ale?

Stulli: I'm sure that you realize that the beer culture in Iceland is so young, so it is pretty understandable that people just don't know any better. What Valli started with Ölvisholt Brugghús and when I came home what we had on our agendas was to introduce what beer is about, more than what most people think it is.

Has the community been receptive to the new beers?

Stulli: Yes, I would say it has really been going well, a lot of young people of our generation are getting into smaller scale production things and actually wanting to know what they are drinking and thinking about what they are consuming. They are looking for more interesting flavors and stuff like that. 

Has the jump for beer and food really taken off here yet?

Stulli: It is something that we are working on. Valli was sort of the trailblazer for beer and food when he was working with a restaurant downtown where they offered a menu paired with beers. 

Valli: There has been a big rise in Scandinavia food culture, but the drinks have been a little bit slower taking off, but because there is a high demand for Icelandic food, specialized Icelandic food spiced with Icelandic herbs, naturally they wanted to have Icelandic beverages available with them. 

Was there an Icelandic beer before prohibition? 

Valli: People say there was a special type before what we call Jólabland. That is an Icelandic Christmas drink mixed with orange soda.

Stulli: I would say if there was it was the maltextrakt, similar to what they have in Germany. Other than that, farther back in the past there wasn't really much of a beer culture anyways. Being such an isolated country with trade routes that weren't very active, only the bare necessities made it here. There really wasn't much demand for the raw ingredients for beer making or for importing beer either. 

You can't grow hops here either can you?

Valli: No, and we are barely growing barley as well and that is just a recent thing as well. 

Stulli: So the drinking culture here for centuries has been mainly strong liquor when available. Thinking about economics it is much cheaper per alcoholic unit to ship in a barrel of gin or akvavit than a barrel of beer. It would be a waste of space in the ship for cargo. 

Prohibition is repealed in 1989, though restrictions on liquor and wine had been lifted much earlier. Why?

Stulli: That's a good question.

Valli: They forgot about it basically.

Stulli: No, I think it was stubbornness, like in politics. It is a serious problem here in Icelandic politics, always has been. Prohibition started in 1915 and a couple of years later because we were refusing to take wine in trade of salt cod the Spaniards and Portuguese said they won't trade with us anymore if you aren't going to be buying our wine. So they allowed the sale and consumption of wine, shortly thereafter because of all sorts of corruption issues with doctor and such they allowed spirits. Spirits were technically legal but you had to get a prescription. So they allowed strong liquor, but probably as a compromise within the Alþingi, the minority would allow that if they did not allow beer. Which is hard to imagine but very likely with how politics are here in Iceland. So it was a very hard stubborn issue of minority that the ban would not allow beer. There were brief discussions in the 80s and finally they allowed it. All of the beer knowledge that Icelanders knew back then was just from going abroad. That was a lot of students going to Denmark and sailors going to Germany. That was mainly what they knew of beer. Of course at the time light lagers where the norm everywhere. It was the high point of light lagers. 

So what is the state of beer in Iceland now?

Stulli: I would say, compared to how short of time it has been since beer has been allowed we have come a fairly decent way. 

Valli: Compared to that there was absolutely nothing.

It is fascinating that you are located in one of the major producers of beer on the island and they do all the soda.

Stulli: Actually this company was started as a brewery.

Valli: When they started they thought prohibition would go away sooner rather than later. They had two years to produce beer

Stulli: Yes, they then produced non-alcoholic or 'light' beer which is 2.5%ABV, and maltextrakt, and soda. Through various deals this company expanded around the year 2000 and got into wholesale and importing. 

It is fascinating that they have taken the chance with Borg to be creative and mad scientists.

Valli: It is a very big step when they decided to do that, personally I don't think they had any idea what they were really going into. 

Stulli: No, not at all. When I came here they didn't even know about the things I was talking about, that beer is available in different shades of color and there are different flavors of beer. I don't think that anybody here actually knew how diverse beer could be. 

You should have sent them on a field trip to Belgium.

Valli: They would have just drank Stella and found it amazing. 

What are your favorite styles? 

Valli: Well that varies of course. For me it is the more the merrier. At the moment imperial stouts and double IPAs. The beer geeks favorites.

Stulli: Yes, I really like pretty much everything if it is well done and conditioned. The right atmosphere and right people. If I sit down to enjoy a beer definitely reach for a nice sour Belgian. Back in the day Orval is what got me into loving beer and still is my favorite. 

***

Look for Part 2 tomorrow where Stulli and Valli talk about Borg's reception, if they will be exporting, and other challenges they face. 

Going south - Our Brewvival weekend.

We lived the brand this weekend. 

By the time it was all over we drove 4 times longer than we drank.

On the last weekend of February, Jolly Good Fellows attended the 3^rd annual Brewvival hosted by Coast Brewing Company and the Charleston Beer Exchange. It was our first time at this festival in South Carolina and we had been looking forward to it for the last few weeks. 

In that glass is a delicious
bacon porter

The Jolly Good Fellows team for this outing was Brett, my brother Cody and his girlfriend Amanda, I and Dan (the other voice of the JGF Beercast.) We departed from Fayetteville, NC around 10 AM and after a relatively uneventful road trip arrived at North Charleston around 1 PM. Parking was a breeze with plenty of spots available. As we approached the festival we were greeted with a line stretching out from entry gate, around the corner and across the bridge. While it was long, it moved quickly, which would be a reoccurring theme throughout the day.

Having forgotten the printed tickets at my house in Virginia I had to find a workaround. I downloaded the EventBrite app to my iPhone which provided me with digital tickets that could be easily scanned. Even this proved to be unnecessary as the friendly event staff at the gates were able to check us in on a digital roster. This was a very nice touch. As we passed through security our IDs and bags were checked and we were handed our four ounce tasting glass and a roster of attending breweries and their beers.

Under those tents was liquid excellence

While crowded, the event was not over packed. A lot of folks followed the recommendation of the hosts and brought their own lawn chairs. We set up a little area near the back of the beer tents against the chain-linked fence. At that point we turned to the reason we had came: to taste and try many great and different ales and beers.

Two large beer tents sat parallel to each other in the center of the field. Underneath the canopies were the 30 plus breweries with their finely crafted brews ready and willing to provide. The lines moved pretty quickly but it was evident which stands had the in demand ales. Not dissuaded I jumped around the lesser populated stands with ease opting trying out new and original beers. It was like being a kid in a candy store.

One of the breweries
I unfortunately missed.

When I attend beer festivals I like to try beers that I have never had before. Here I was overwhelmed by the diversity and I didn’t plan my taste attack as well as I should have. That said, I truly enjoyed the beers I tried. The highlights for me were the Westbrook Mexican Coffee Cake and Saint Somewhere’s Fierte du Sud. The Mexican Coffee Cake in particular struck me as the ideal for beer as dessert. The casked Fierte du Sud was flat out one of the best sours I have had in awhile. I also enjoyed Palmetto’s Espresso Porter on Nitro and I had my first ever oyster stout. 

The Duck-Rabbit brought a
solid lineup

The real drawing attraction for Brewvival is the rarities and specials that the attending brewers bring with them and the focus on emerging southern brewers. There were beers I tried that I may never have an opportunity to try again. I applaud the brewers for bringing these exotics and letting people enjoy them.

The Coleman Public House crew worked
nonstop serving up burgers

On the food side of things the lines moved a bit slower. The highlight appeared to by Diggity Doughnuts, which had a line stretching back across the field. I opted for a Notch’s green chili burger from the Coleman Public House stand which hit the spot for me. There was also D’Allesandro’s Pizza, Roti Rolls, and Ted’s Butcherblock to choose from.

I didn’t pay much attention to the band’s that played, the music wrapping itself into the ambiance of the festival. At the far end of the festival any live tunes were drowned out by crowd noise.

Rob Tod, founder of
Allagash Brewing Company
talks to folks about beer.

That said, at the far edge away from the tents was another small tent and benches. Here is where several master brewers were giving presentations and talks. As one attendee said, “The beer is great, but here is much more interesting.” 

 Compared to the festivals I have attended in NOVA this was a pleasant and fun experience, yes there were a lot of people and it got a bit crowded at times, but the lines moved fast and the everybody was in good humor and polite. A few areas for improvement would be a slightly larger space next year or rearranging the tents for better traffic flow. In particular the center aisle was very crowded. Another recommendation would be a bit more beer. Many stands were reaching exhaustion by the time we hit 4 PM and the event was to run to 6 PM.

Coast Brewing puts on a great show!

Brewvival wouldn't
have happened
without these guys 

All in all, Brewvival was a lot of fun and kudos to Coast Brewing and the Charleston Beer Exchange for planning and hosting a great event. The JGF team was glad it made the trip and we look forward to coming back next year and trying even more delicious and exotic beers. 

If you want to see all the picture from Brewvival, check out the Jolly Good Fellows Facebook page. 

“Racing” and Tasting: The Crystal City 1K Beer Walk

Before we launch into our recap of the "race", let’s very quickly talk about beer, particularly beer in a can. It is beer can appreciation day. In 1935 this became a reality. Truth is though we need to spend a little more time on the topic than I am allotting here so I am postponing a more detailed discussion of the beer can and its impact till Thursday.

Best race number I have ever had. 

Instead we are going to recap the Crystal City 1K Beer Walk that I, my friend Brett, and his wife Amy participated in this last Sunday. The Crystal City 1K Beer Walk is the sister event to the Crystal City Wine Walk, both of which are hosted by the Washington Wine Academy. The concept is pretty simple, walk from station to station trying different beers. To add to the “race” atmosphere and to control traffic flow there were heats throughout the day. Ours was the second heat starting at 2:30 PM. Check in went very smoothly and we quickly had our race numbers, tasting glasses, and our 20 drink tickets.

The course snaked through the Crystal City Underground, a collection of shops and eateries that exist beneath the “tall” buildings of Crystal City*, starting at the 2200 block street entrance and finishing in the old food court by the 17th street entrance. We were able to enjoy an array of beer, everything from Ommegang and Spaten to Old Milwaukee and Shiner.  

For friends of the grape, interspersed in with the beer were various wines. It was a nice touch, but my attention was wholly focused on the grain. In addition there were also complimentary snacks along the route to include barbeque sandwiches and slaw, pita bread and hummus, and cheeses.

We hit all the tasting stations except for the first where the line was out the door. The set up for each station was rather novel. They used the unoccupied retail space along the route which also brought along with it the advantage of security. Each stop had a person in a security shirt monitoring it to ensure no underage drinking or race bandits. It made sense though I am sure most of them would have rather been imbibing than watching. Everyone affiliated with the event that I encountered was courteous and helpful.

On the beer side there were several standout breweries on display, the first was Port City Brewing, the local on display. (Being the second stop ensured that they received a good deal of traffic, they also benefited from the overwhelmed New Belgium station next door which only had one pourer) They brought their full range of year round beer for folks to taste, a good idea as they continue to grow awareness in the DC metro and Northern Virginia region. Bill Butcher, their founder and head brewer, was there and happily answered questions and spoke about his beer. (As I have stated before, I am biased for them, Port City is my local and I do want to see those folks succeed.) The fine folks from Flying Dog also had a standout selection showcasing their year round selections but unfortunately they didn’t bring their winter seasonal K-9 Kruiser, a favorite of mine.

As I think of it, only a few breweries did have a winter seasonal, Harpoon with their Winter Warmer, Leinenkugel’s with their Fireside Nut Brown, Blue Moon with their Winter Abbey, and the most notorious beer of the event, the brilliant black chocolate stout by Brooklyn Brewery. Brooklyn also brought an IPA, a classic lager, and their excellent brown.

Other highlights were the previously mentioned Ommegang Brewery pouring both their BPA (Belgian Pale Ale) and Witte Ale, and as a bonus, Duvel. I must admit I did do a tasting of Old Milwaukee, after all, it was my grandfather’s favorite beer.

While the Sam Adams beer selection was weak,
Brett (R) and I (L) did have fun hanging
with him (M). Photo by Amy Evenstad.

I can’t comment on how the event went on Saturday, but I can say that certain stands suffered on our day, in particular the New Belgium and the Samuel Adams stations being the most obvious. The New Belgium station, as previously mentioned, simply for the wait to be served; it was a bit of bad planning on the event’s part. Samuel Adams for a different reason, they were originally supposed to be serving Black Lager, Mighty Oak, Alpine Spring, Whitewater IPA, but were down and out of most selections, substituting their Latitude 48, and Coastal Wheat. The Latitude 48 isn’t too shabby as far as a substitute goes, on the other hand I don’t think I will ever care for the Coastal Wheat, it is the poor man’s version of their Summer Ale which frankly is a pretty solid summertime beer. I find the Coastal Wheat to be lacking in taste and body. They weren't alone though, other breweries had also run out of various beers, Sam Adams was just the most noticeable. 

As we crossed the finish line we were treated to music and more beer selections and from my view everyone looked to be having a festive time. This was the first edition of the beer walk, and it was pretty solid. They had a good selection of beer, and while I would have liked to have seen more locals, such as Lost Rhino, Blue and Gray, or Alewerks out of Williamsburg, the selection provided was very decent. For $20 I felt I got my value both with beer diversity and snacks. I would recommend one server per beer to help move the lines along, particularly at the first station where it is almost a given that everyone will stop at. Overall though, for the first year the Washington Wine Academy did a fine job as host, it was a cool event, and I look forward to next year.

Hope to see you there!

(*Before you think that Crystal City is some fairy tale, Wizard of Oz type place let me break it to you gently and tell that it is not. The first building developed here was The Crystal House and it had a big chandelier in its entrance, the rest of the buildings followed suit with that naming convention, hence Crystal City.)

Don't look now, but here comes the Jolly Good Fellows podcast!

UPDATE!


You can now subscribe to us on iTunes. Find the podcast here!



The year might be almost over, but new things are still happening here! That's right folks, we have recorded our first podcast. The "we" in question is your hosts Skye Marthaler and Dan Maiella. In this our very 1st edition, we discuss beer in the news, how rock bands are paid in NYC,  bad explanations about glassware, and other random bits of information.

If you like it, have suggestions for improvement, recommendations for other topics then please let us know down in the comments.


*Be forewarned we do work a bit blue*

You can find the podcast here or copy and paste the link below.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54968204/beerfellows01.mp3

Cellaring Beers or the creation of “Skye’s Special Reserve Selection”…in three parts (Part 2)

Maybe we really can "drink 'em all" (original here)

Part 2:  Why I do this now, to what ends, & the perfect bottle.

So now I am cellaring beer, slowly building up my stocks in the basement but, as stated in the subtitle above, to what end? As discussed in part 1, the reasons I started this were not necessarily the reasons people do it. To be frank, my reasons were more driven by “necessity” than any overarching goal or purpose; I don’t drink fast enough, I get bored, and my compulsion to try new styles runs over my good sense. (An apt comparison for my beer consumption is Pokemon (Gotta Drink’em all!)) Toss into the mix that I give beer second chances and you end up with a nice bit of disorganized cellaring.

So I find myself in a bit of a cycle. My little completionist obsession to “drink ‘em all,” mixed with disposable income, stirred by the knowledge that I have the space to do this puts me in my present predicament...which isn’t quite right. I enjoy the position I find myself in. I get to satisfy my compulsion, drink beer at my pace, and the best part, if I don’t like something or I get bored I take the remaining bottles and put them in the “special reserve selection” to temper their perceived deficiencies or enjoy them at my convenience. It’s a win-win!

All those puzzle pieces have organized themselves into something bigger and expanded the answer of “to what end?”  At present if asked my answer is twofold, the first being I find myself purchasing differently now. I find myself buying beer more like folks buy wine. I’m purchasing more and more beer in bombers or larger bottles. Once upon a time it was a rare occurrence when I would buy them, not because of the beer inside but because of the quantity that needed to be consumed after cracking it open. A not impossible task to enjoy by yourself, but better enjoyed by friends. Similar in size to a wine bottle, it makes for easy cellaring and more often than not the contents in these bottles are the big, bold, complex styles that can be aged.  

The other answer is a little more esoteric. I have become captivated by the idea of “the perfect bottle” and let’s be honest here, it borders on the pretentious and ridiculous side of things. Here is a personal example of beer perfection.

Several weeks ago I was drinking Spotted Cow in the stands of Lambeau Field while my Green Bay Packers played football below with friends to my right and left. For me it is a perfect memory. At that time and place I don’t know if a better beer would have fit the situation for me. (Yes, there are better beers out there but at that time and place for Skye Marthaler Spotted Cow was the best beer) Remember folks, beer is subjective and our so are our experiences with it.

So what does that example have to do with my still nascent idea of “the perfect bottle?” First off this concept is built on two tenets this blog promotes.

• Beer should always be approachable
• There is a time and place for every beer.

Simply put the “perfect bottle” is having the right beer at the right time for the right people. Here is where cellaring comes in, it gives you the luxury of time and allows you to plan for your beer future because sometimes you have to wait for the the right beer and drinkers to show up.

Next time I’ll discuss a bit more of what is currently living in my special reserves and how I decide what goes and what stays.

Part 1 can be found here.