To drink. Talk about being spoiled. My first immersion into the world of beer came in high school. At that time, the drink du jour was Bud. Cold, iced, warm, whatever, Bud. Then came Coors, Mich, and soon after: Heineken, Becks, Sol, and the usual import varieties that are considered second-rate shlock at home. Much like Kryptonite back on Krypton. Can’t sell enough at home? Sell it to the Amerikaners. They’ll drink anything with a fancy label and a fancy name. We’re a nation of crap-swilling fools.
When did I come to that conclusion? 1997 in Boston, Mass. I attended the Autodesk University conference with two friends from a vendor we worked with (and I drank with often). Both happend to be beer connoisseurs. I mean that with utmost sincerity. Not only did they brew at home, they attended brew conferences, breweries around the U.S. and Europe (Holland, Belgium, Germany, England), and could recite beer processes and recipes from memory based upon the type of beer, category, class, country, and so on.
After chasing leads found on PubCrawler.com most of the time, we ended up at a few that really knocked my socks off. An authentic Irish pub (barely spoke legible American English), the Sunset Bar and Grill (119 beers on tap, no kidding). Man was I ever in for an education on Ales, Bocks, Stouts and Lagers. My head was spinning from the names and the alchohol. I come back to progressive Virginia (yes, that is sarcasm) and I begin my search for sophisticated beers. Very few. VERY few.
After watching Beerfest (see my review here), I again revisited RealBeer.com and Michael Jackson’s Beer sites for some inspiration. If I can’t taste it, I can dream about it right?
My favorite Heffeweizen, hands-down, is Hoegaarden. One of the finest unfiltered white wheat ales from Belgium. Close in taste, but in a different class, and another favorite are the Trappist Ale’s, also from Belgium. My particular favorites are Triple and Duple types. I’m actually tasting an American heffeweizen made by Shiner Brewery (Shiner, TX) which is pretty good when chilled. My other favorites are Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, and a fantastic heavy stout that is great warm or cold is Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout, which is only brewed in the Winter season. Hard to find, but worth every drop.
Some people can drink beer for the social aspects or the perennial backdrop of outdoor work in hot seasons (Bud, Coors, the usual weedkiller variety). I can appreciate that and I also drink those. I usually lean towards Yeungling’s however, but Bud is pretty good when the brew is cold and the weather is hot.
I digress. Heffeweizen does that to me. On my third right now. Big tall ale glass, finally put to use. Ahhh, tis the season indeed!
