April 18, 2012
Editor’s Note: As mentioned on the first Drew’s Brews post, these posts are written by wild and witty Drew Webster, who is a beer expert and who you should listen to if you like A: beer, B: fun, and C: beer.
For a long time, it was widely known that cheap beer was served in cans and glass was saved for premium beers. In recent years, however, there has been a role reversal and seemingly something of a can revolution. Aluminum canning has improved with the aid of materials and technology, and the new canning process includes an internal water based coating which actually prevents the beer from ever touching the aluminum and keeps the beer from taking on a metallic taste. There are many benefits to canning craft beer to both the consumer and the brewer. Cans are eco-friendly, easy to pack and carry, they chill faster, and they don’t break in storage. Most important to the beer drinker, canning preserves the purity of taste. Notice how many beer companies will use brown glass bottles to prevent UV light from affecting their beer; canning eliminates the dangers of light damage or oxidation occurring in packaging which means you get a tasty beer–every time (see big can image below for more can info). Craft beer snobs frowned at first when seeing more cans. I suppose something like the way a wine connoisseur feels about a loss of romance with synthetic corks, but it’s caught on in a big way. I personally credit Oskar Blues Brewing Co. for leading the way when they decided to pack their flagship Dales Pale Ale in a can. The concept of putting a big flavorful beer in a can was unheard of before the millennium. Today everyone is getting on board, from coast to coast you can find gold medal winning beers surrounded by aluminum. Some breweries only do cans and draft now.
Craft beers are being canned in 44 states across the US. There are 178 breweries producing 551 brews currently—so many tasty brews, what should you try (Craft Can Count courtesy of craftcans.com). Well, most of my favorite are dark and dirty but seeing as the sun is out it is time for lighter fare. In typical Spiked Punch fashion, Mama’s Little Yellow Pils from Oskar Blues Brewery is what I’m drinking. I love the comedic value of this beer and it may just be the “little yellow pills” my Ma was popping–which would explain a lot about me. This golden yellow beer pours smooth with a thin white foam head. It smells crisp and fresh and tastes the same with an earthy citrus finish and holds a nice balance of bitter but stays smooth with a nice aftertaste. It’s perfect for sipping on a spring afternoon in the sunshine with your feet up. Most American versions of the popular Czech beer are watered down and made with corn and rice but this one is their signature pale malt mixed with special German malts and Saaz hops for a unique American/Czech hybrid you can drink any day of the week. So go try one and join the revolution, you CAN do it!
April 16, 2012
Sometimes, a picture tells a perfect story. Example A, sent to me by my pal Kristine (who is a jewelry maker, NYC charmer, and also a survivor of years spent in Kansas), is below. Violet Fizzes (with recipe from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, dontcha know, and made with the wonderful Rothman & Winter Crème De Violette) served up in their lovely effervescence-ness on Easter. I don’t even need to know any more to know that her Easter was amazing. And that I’m jealous I wasn’t there to share a few drinks and eats with her. But at least she sent me this fab photo:
April 13, 2012
Seattle is stocked like a good bar with good bartenders and mixologists and shake-em-up-ers, and ice-crackers, and sturdy stirrers, and bottle-top-twisters, and cocktail cuties, and powerful punchers, and ear-twisting-tipsy-story-telling tippler pourers. Lots of ‘em. I hate to even make a grouping, but if I have to pick a list, let it be one favoring those who both make great drinks and also make the whole bar happier by their presence and person. Which is what I did in my happiest happy hour bartender list (from the new issue of the Seattle Magazine). Because spending a happy hour or six with these five jolly drink slingers is sure to make the day better.
April 11, 2012
In the below post, I talk more about the recent Seattle Magazine Best Restaurant issue and the top happy hours I picked and more to make you thirsty and hungry. But, in the same issue, I also have an happy hour essay about their history, what makes a memorable one, and why they’re so crucial to the social construct. Well, not so much on the latter, but it is a fizzy piece to read while having a cocktail at a great bar. If I can say so without sounding too self-centered (or at least not so much so that you won’t buy me a drink). So, happy hour it up.
April 9, 2012
The scrumptious Seattle Magazine has made a recent mistake: they had a few cocktails and let me pick the current round of top happy hour cocktail hotspots for the recent Best Restaurant Issue. Also in the Best Restaurants issue the editors talk it up about their fav eateries, foodie playahs, and top hits for happy hour eats. The whole thing is smart and helpful cause these ladies know their eats. I’m not saying I know it all about cocktails in the same manner, but I have had a drink here and there and do have a bit of an opinion on what makes an ideal happy hour (I also wrote an essay on it, but more on that soon), but here I am going on and on about myself. What I really want to say is: go read the happy hour picks and then get in the car and go have a drink. You deserve it.
April 2, 2012
It’s now just about a year since the beginning of wife Nat and I’s last month of Italian pre-tirement (if that makes sense–we came back May of last year). Which is, if not tragic, at least personally sad. Luckily, there’s wine here–even if it does come packing a lot of markup. But it’s here, and brings some of Italy along with it. And luckily there’s Francesco Redi. Who was a physician (to some of those Medici dukes), scientist, and poet. Those days you could be more of everything (and by those days, I mean the 1600s). He was also from Arezzo (where I spent a few fun days when living there) and wrote the poem “The Mamelukes May Love,” all about wine (said poem translated in In Their Cups). The bottom is just the poem’s finale—hey, you can buy the book for the whole thing and help me get back to Italy.
Sweet ladies,
for a moment, do not drink,
but run your fingers like garlands
through my hair. I won’t crave your
sugary egg punch, or golden
sorbets, a thousand fragranced waters,
because these indolent drinks are only
for your sweet lips. Wine, wine
is for those desire euphoria,
to forget their fears. But be not shy about it–
I tip my glasses crazily, happily,
at least six times a year.
— Francesco Redi, The Mamelukes May Love
March 30, 2012
Sometimes, I’m almost too sad to write more than one sentence. Or six. This is one of those times, because we recently finished our last bottle of Bindolo, the wine from Donini we drank a fair amount of when we lived in Italy. You can read more about Bindolo and Donini in this past post, and then get on a plane and go pick some up (and tell Diego hello for us). Me, I’m going to look at the picture and tear up (though the sadness is partially offset by the fact that we shared that last bottle with pals Rebecca, who makes the great Deluxe jams and cocktail syrups, and Eric, who owns the best bike shop in Seattle, JRA. At least we had that last bottle with awesome folks).
March 28, 2012
Editor’s Note: Somehow, the Spiked Punch HQ was broken in to recently, and the whole staff was taken hostage by a thirsty beer-monger named Drew. He wasn’t looking for money, but did demand I let him write about beer on the site. Beer? I like beer! Really, not such a rough demand. The fact that Drew (Webster) knows a heaping hop-full about the beer, and writes in a way that will make you want to drink more (which is another thing Spiked Punch is all about) made relinkuishing some posts easy. And yes, I said “posts,” as the plan is for him to stop by to talk the beer with some regularity. So c’mon back.
My good friend and drinking companion A.J. Rathbun has decided to allow me a forum to vent my love of my drink of choice. Drew’s Brew will be a blog feature for beer news, drinking locations, beer reviews, and events. It may not be as glamorous or elegant as some of A.J.’s fine cocktails but beer has grown up a lot since the days of mass produced gallons of watered down knock off Pilsners and Lagers drowned this country in bland mediocre beverages.
Homebrew, craft breweries, and micro brews are growing faster than ever and we, the people, benefit. I want this blog to speak to you, for you, and with you, beer lover. Let your voice be heard! Post comments and leave suggestions and responses to the beers we discuss. Beer is truly the drink of the people (Editor’s Note: Drew does not speak for the editor). People love to drink cocktails and wine but unless they are well versed in mixology or have earned their Sommelier accreditation they are hesitant to tell you what they enjoy and why. Beer drinkers will happily tell you what they love to drink and why. Everyone’s opinion is valid in beer tasting, if you don’t believe me just go to Rate Beer where anyone can sign in and rate a store, beer or brewery based on their experience and pallet.
We are so fortunate to have so many great beers at our fingertips in the great Pacific Northwest. Because of this, I will offer up local digs in Seattle, but also (when I’m on the road) other locales, to point you toward bottle stores, breweries, or eateries with great taps. But I also want to hear your voice. And, in true Spiked Punch fashion, I will also include what I am drinking. A.J. turned me on to one of his favs, Hilliard’s, earlier this month but tonight I am in the mood for an “old reliable,” one of my all-time favorites: Old Rasputin. I enjoy this beer so much I stopped by the North Coast Brewery where it’s made in Fort Bragg, California on my road trip back from Big Sur last summer. Tucked in a sleepy coastal town outside Mendacino, this brewery makes some of best beers you have never heard of. Old Rasputin is an Imperial Stout that drinks smooth. It has a roasted malty flavor with hints of chocolate and coffee hidden in the aroma that rises into your nose as you take that first sip, breaking the surface tension that separates the dark black liquid and the tan creamy foam that sits thick on top. There is a great balance between sweet and bitterness in this complex but smooth sipping beer. A must try for anyone who loves a tasty stout on a cold dark night. You can find it at most quality bottle stores—in the Seattle area, for example, you can pick it up at Bottleworks in Wallingford, Beer Junction in West Seattle, or my favorite, Chuck’s on 85th (in the N. Ballard area).
–Drew Webster
