A toast to 10
Drinking beer for a decade of deadlines
Published: June 15, 2006
Last Modified: October 19, 2006 at 05:52 AM
I just cracked the last of 10 beers at 20 past noon, better known as happy hour in brewing circles. I also happen to be past deadline on my 10th anniversary beer column. After a decade of making, tasting and writing about beer, I'm still days late and dollars short.
To commemorate my 10th year of filling this space, I sampled 10 beers I've never tried before.
Free beer rarely comes my way, so I selected beers that wouldn't put me in debt. Even so, my beer purchases ate up my wages, but who cares? I've been doing this for 10 years, and I'm going to celebrate it, even if some of the writing has been awful, the topics questionable, the grammar sloppy.
With so many things to fret over and spend money on, I sometimes wonder if I should buy -- and write about -- beer at all. But mostly I justify my purchases by alluding to my job.
Because of all that, I want to for once live up to my occupation as a beer writer and actually say something about the new, exotic, overlooked beers in the stores. To do it, I gave myself a week to drink 10 new ones, which turns into a difficult task for a sleep-deprived, unkempt, perpetually untogether mom.
So I went to Yukon Spirits and bought 10 beers that run the gamut from everyday IPA to dark lager and Belgian ale, none more than $8 a bottle. You can find most of them at the Brown Jug Warehouse and Gold Rush Liquors as well.
I started my odyssey with Midnight Sun 11th Anniversary Double IPA. If I've learned one thing in my 10 years of doing this, it's that local beer surpasses almost everything else in terms of price, freshness, personality and quality. The anniversary ale proves this adage true, for though I expected to like the beer, I didn't expect to get knocked to nirvana through hop flavor to the nth degree.
In a way, I drank the best beer first, which bums me out. But I stuck with the plan the next night by opening Ellie's Brown Ale from the Avery Brewing Co. I adore Avery's IPA and found this one just as lovable. It looks every bit as rich and hairy as the chocolate lab on the label. The dense chocolate bottom notes resonated through even the nutty flavors.
After those two, Broken Halo IPA didn't have a chance. Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. makes pretty good beer, but Broken Halo ends up seeming utilitarian rather than anything worth screaming about. It tastes too sweet at the finish and too sharp at the beginning, like a forgettable dream.
My mouth fared much better the next night because of Isle of Arran Dark Premium Beer from the Arran Brewery in Scotland. Though fairly mild in strength, the beer has a boggy, smoky, almost scotchlike quality that feels pleasing and mysterious at the same time.
The grainy depth of the Arran made it hard to sink my teeth into XX Bitter Belgian Golden Ale from the Brewery De Ranke of Belgium. Though the stronger of the two, this one tastes airy and listless.
A day later, I took a few swigs of Long Leg English Fuggles Hop Ale from the Camerons Brewery in England during intermission at the Arlo Guthrie concert. Like many English pale ales, this one lacks hop flavor and pizzazz but holds a bitter note throughout. I may never buy this beer again, but I drank it while full of Guthrie humor, humility and joy, and will think generously because of that.
After the show, I went to Humpy's for a pint of Deschutes Buzzsaw Brown and a plate of white king salmon marinated in ginger, saki, garlic and miso, pan-seared with sweet chili coconut cream sauce. The beer went down like any old brown ale, but it was perfectly satisfying when paired with spicy fish.
The Buzzsaw prepared me for my eighth beer, Full Sail Rip Curl ale, an orange-hued English style pale ale. Rip Curl fails to live up to its claim as "ridiculously tasty" since it tastes more tired than anything. But I might be unfair. Few things taste remarkable when exhaustion takes over.
Except Nostradamus Belgian brown ale, a murky brew that accurately sees the future: you are sleepy, need sleep, will now sleep. Fortunately, this beer is an extravaganza of ripe fruit, sweet roots, tart carbonation and alcoholic warmth.
Which brings me to the 10th and last of my beers, a noon libation called Ducassis, a Belgian ale made with black currants. Like a good pastry, it tastes sweet and tart but not overly so. The beer's body holds through several hours of typing, and that's worth its weight in gold.
Going into my 11th year of writing about beer, I bought 11 bottles for a reason, but this last one, Chambly Noire from the Unibroue brewery in Canada, will have to wait. I need fresh air, freedom from deadlines, a moment to catch my breath. It might take a decade, but I can wait. Any good beer is worth drinking free of obligations.
• Daily News reporter Dawnell Smith can be reached at dsmith@adn.com.
Hoppy anniversary
1. Midnight Sun 11th Anni-versary Double IPA, about $5
2. Avery Brewing Co.'s Ellie's Brown Ale, $1.60
3. Widmer Brothers Brewing Co.'s Broken Halo IPA, $1.75
4. Isle of Arran Dark Premium Beer, Arran Brewery, $5.95
5. XX Bitter Belgian Golden Ale, Brewery De Ranke, $4.25
6. Long Leg English Fuggles Hop Ale, Camerons Brewery, $2.50
7. Deschutes Buzzsaw Brown, $4.25, per pint, Humpy's
8. Full Sail Rip Curl ale, $1.50
9. Caracole Nostradamus Belgian brown ale, $4.50
10. Geants Belgian Ducassis ale, $3.70
And one to grow on: Chambly Noire, Unibroue brewery, $7.70
