Author: StephenBeaumont

I’m actually hesitant to travel down this road for the simple reason of not wanting to publicize idiotic ideas, but since it has become almost epidemic these days, I feel the need to call out our current wave of beer regionalism for what it really is: unmitigated and utterly unnecessary bombast.

First off, we have Charlie Papazian running a poll on which city in the United States is “Beer City USA.” (Link not provided because I’d rather you not run off and cast your vote.) “Specious” is the word which comes to mind for that one. Then we have some insular journalist from Baltimore dissing Canadian beer without really having the faintest clue about what is available north of the border – here’s a hint, Rob: You have to come here to drink it! – and Alan McLeod shamefully offering him some validity. And that’s all followed by some twit on the beer chat boards opining that there has been more innovation in the last 25 years of American brewing than in 250 years of European beer, never mind such things as pasteurization and the hydrometer, as Ron Pattinson so accurately observes.

Really, folks, it’s all beer. Some of it is good and some of it is bad and some of it may not be to your or my tastes, but does it really matter where it comes from? During Philly Beer Week, they hosted brewers and their beers from across the country and around the world, in venues that traditionally have great beer programs and other which do not. And one of the finest beer events I’ve attended in the last two or three years was the European Beer Festival in Copenhagen, which featured not only European beers, as the name might indicate, but also ales and lagers from the States, Canada and elsewhere.

It’s a big world out there and it’s one that is filled with a lot of different beers, so let’s not get bogged down by petty regionalism. As Stan notes so succinctly, bravado is seldom becoming.

In Seattle for the Hard Liver Fest at Brouwer’s Cafe, Maggie and I met up with an old friend of mine and, after a cocktail in the outstanding Polar Bar at the Arctic Club Hotel, went for dinner at Elysian Fields, one of three locations of the Elysian Brewing Company. The experience provided two important lessons for present and prospective brewpub owners.

Lesson Number One concerns the special ale presented on cask in honour of the nascent Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer team, who were that night marking their home debut against the New York Red Bulls – a 3-0 victory for the newcomers, by the way. Said beer is called Golden Boot and, appropriately, it is a golden ale. And the key to the lesson is the kind of golden ale it is.

All too often, I find, populist ales at brewpubs reside in one of two categories: lame and lifeless or non-existent. The reasoning presented for those in the former class is “It’s for the Bud-Miller-Coors drinkers and that’s all they’ll drink, while the excuse for the latter is all-too-often “This is a brewpub; drink our beer or go elsewhere.”

Golden Boot Ale craftily skirts both categories by being an interesting yet approachable ale, full-flavoured but not overwhelming, of moderate strength, and possessed of hop complexity without straying into hop bomb territory. In short, it’s a very good beer, and one which should please both the average non-craft drinker and all but the most snobbish beer geek. In short, flavourful, friendly and fun, which is exactly what the vast majority of beer drinkers want in their glass.

Check back for Part II tomorrow.