All posts by Sean Cooke

Sean is a Certified Cicerone® and restaurant consultant with the Better Beer Society. He has an expansive knowledge of beer styles, history, and pairings and advocates for support of local craft brewers. Follow Sean on twitter: @TCBeerDude for no reason at all!
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How Many Taps is Too Many? — The Paradox of Choice in Beer Lists

It’s no secret that since the beginning of the local craft beer boom, there has been major change in the bar business as well. Not long ago were the days that every apathetic part-time barkeep could list all four beers on tap without taking the Marlboro out of their mouth. Today, the standards are very different. Eight taps, which was once viewed as a pretty-decent selection is now drastically sub-par. 24 lines seems to be the restaurant average today. Meanwhile the nuclear arms race for the biggest beer lists wages on. 15 years ago, installing a hundred tap lines might have landed you in the loony bin. Today, it puts you in the same category as restaurants like Happy Gnome, Republic 7 Corners, Tamarack Tap Room, City Works, and the soon-to-open HopCat. While I love frequenting these places, particularly looking to these restaurants to supply me with a selection of sours, I also recently had a very different experience that I think is underappreciated.

A Lesson from Wine Country

Prosciutto, arugula, and mozzarella bruschetta with an amber lager at a cafe in Rome

Some call it passion and some call it Stockholm syndrome, but I will always be  restaurant industry person. There’s nothing like it. As such, I am always looking for new perspectives and small ways to change and improve the establishments where I work. Last summer, I spent a week in Rome, where I was enamored by the food and cafe culture. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t perfect. Italy has great hospitality, but underwhelming service across the board. At the same time, the food culture is fantastic. Italians are very proud of their cuisine and rightfully so. However, the one thing I took away from the experience that I think should at least be noted and considered was the beer selection, or lack thereof. Every cafe in Rome we sat down at, I would ask for a beer. They would respond simply with “White or Amber?” I loved that!

It brings me to an important principal that I first ran into long ago called “the paradox of choice.” Oversimplified, it states that everyone thinks they would like more options, but greater variety leads to more stress in choosing and higher likelihood that you will regret your choice. If I were to ask which ice cream place you wanted to go to between a shop with 4 flavors and a shop with 40 flavors, the obvious choice is the one with 40. The more options you have, the more likely you are to find the perfect one, right? Wrong! Many studies have shown that when selecting from a limited selection, the consumer is less likely to regret their choice.

Seafood Risotto

So, back to beer. The option between white or amber (a Belgian-style witbier or Vienna Lager) takes the pressure off of the decision. It also eliminates the chance of a bad pairing. The limited-release raspberry milk stout may sound great to you, but when you’re in the mood for the grilled salmon with a bearnaise sauce and asparagus, you may find yourself sorely regretting your choice. Amber lagers and witbiers are very versatile with food pairings and work very well with most Italian cuisine. I also have seen plenty of customers become flustered and stressed over choosing a beer. It would seem odd to bring up a fear of public speaking, but for some, a fear of mispronouncing the words Dunkelweizen or Gose, can trigger the same reactions.

Beauty in Simplicity

It may seem weird for a former chef and Certified Cicerone® to say this, but people don’t go out to eat for the food or the drinks. They go for the experience. So, while they may think they want lots of choices, what they may really want is for that pesky ordering part of the evening to be over so they can put the beer lists down and actually enjoy the atmosphere and catch up with their family and friends or conversely get back to their awkward Tinder date.

Restaurant experts all agree that smaller food menus are a great indicator of a good restaurant with a focused and experienced chef. There’s no reason that the wine, beer and cocktail lists shouldn’t say the same. Speaking of wine, why is the “house” wine always the worst? Why can’t wine be the same, “white or red,” question and then the restaurant will bring you a great bottle of wine that will surely compliment your food?

Now, I’m not trying to advocate for all restaurants to go back to 4 beers, nor am I suggesting that restaurants with 100 taps are bad. My point is that we should stop to consider what is actually best for the customer. Consider the paradox of choice. Any beer bar worth their salt will have staff trained well enough to narrow down your options to one or two beers anyway based on your preferences and food selection. Perhaps that’s the answer or perhaps we need to look further and explore the impact of decision making theories on our views of the service and hospitality industry. In the mean time, if you need me, I’ll be at the Happy Gnome drinking sours.

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The Taproom: The New Face of the Alcohol Industry

Despite having been in existence for nearly half a decade now (at least in MN), taprooms (and now tasting rooms for distilleries) are still new to a lot of people. We’ve seen a lot of variations on the taproom idea even within Minnesota so far. Surly –now  finally capitalizing on their own lobbying — has their megaplex, Harriet has their local destination music venue, and Lakes and Legends has their indoor/outdoor fusion. In fact, it seems unreal at this point that any new brewery would not include some sort of taproom into its business plan.

But what is a Taproom? Not in its definition; I think that part is clear. The question lies more in the social and cultural implications of the current state of the beer industry. Taprooms are not bars, they are not restaurants, they are not music venues. They are something entirely their own. I manage the taproom at Lake Monster Brewing Co in St. Paul and it never ceases to amaze me the differences between a taproom and every other form of bar found throughout the industry.

I should note that taprooms are inherently different than brewpubs. Taprooms are only allowed to sell what is made on site. The same goes for tasting rooms at distilleries. The strangest thing that I think I’ve found about taprooms is that despite only selling beer, there are plenty of people who “don’t drink beer” showing up throughout the week simply because it’s there. The drive to support small, local business supersedes their preferences on drinks. That would be like someone living in an apartment buying a snowblower from your local general store even though you didn’t need it simply out of solidarity against big business.

Tap rooms are also different than any other bar. There is an inherent understanding that taprooms are more family-friendly. Most taprooms have games, but many have games or toys aimed for children’s amusement while the parents have a few pints. Normally, a bar that didn’t serve food would be the last place you would find anyone under 21, but taprooms seem to have flown in the face of that stigma as well. To be frank, taprooms are not bars. For the most part, the alcohol consumption is not the goal, but more of the medium with which we are able to share our time with others.

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It all ties in with the anthropology of the bar as it relates to our country and culture. The bar has traditionally served as the most common meeting place. It was not a venue for drunken debauchery, but a forum for business, politics, socializing, and networking. The idea of the taproom seems to have finally overcome the stigma that has been put on the bar since the campaign for prohibition. I think the idea of “craft” not as just a buzz word in the phrase “craft beer,” but as the idea of our newly-found focus of artisan products has a lot to do with that.

I know personally that beer has helped me to appreciate the finer subtleties within food, wine, cocktails, and other aspects of life like music and art. That open-minded culture is almost directly defined by the people who drink craft beer. I think that ideal is what has finally swayed parents to bring their children into such an environment. One parent, who works in the beer industry, said that he would rather have his kids grow up with a knowledge, not a fear of alcohol. He would rather be the one to teach them than to prohibit booze and have them find out in high school or college in dangerous situations.

No other bars would promote the use of their spaces for yoga, craft fairs, or customers coming together to pick hops for the beer that they serve. Taprooms are unoficially the new neighborhood bar. Not FOR the people, but OF the people. As I’m just returning from a trip to Italy, I see many similarities between the ancient Roman Forum (a communal space for socializing, commerce, and politics) and the modern day place we call the “Taproom.”

 

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Better Beer Society Unveils New Classes for BBSU

After providing years of education on beer to craft beer fans who are thirsty for more knowledge (get it?), the Better Beer Society has unveiled a new format to their classes and have started enrollment into their new programs. The announcement came today with this message from BBS’ Founder and Certified Cicerone® Rob Shellman:12321467_1004799352895636_5234161014166230575_n

“We are excited to announce that beginning this spring term, Better Beer Society University is further expanding it’s program to include a new, 200 level advanced course, as well as a professional track for individuals considering a career in the hospitality, food and beverage industries.”

The well-known classes held in recent semesters at Republic 7 Corners have featured classes that explore different angles of the industry and brought in guests from across the country such as Ray Daniels of the Cicerone Certification Program and Sean Paxton, “The Homebrew Chef.” The program’s focus was originally designed to provide a variety of topics that would never repeat so as to continue education for their student base over multiple semesters. In the new format however, these classes will become a consistent beer 101 course. This course will consist of static core classes aimed at providing a good knowledge base upon which to build their knowledge in the advanced courses. This class is 9 weeks long. will repeat every semester.

11924972_956912434350995_2879725898963876749_nTo put the ‘U’ in BBSU, the program will now offer advanced courses, which will be shorter and more intensely focused on specific topics like homebrewing, Belgian beer, or food & beer pairing. These advanced courses will consist of three 90-minute classes at a variety of venues such as the Lake Monster taproom and Surly’s Beerhall.

Today’s announcement also refers to a “professional track” which has yet to be unveiled, but will serve as a more specific training program tailored for those who already work or are looking to start a new career in the beer or restaurant industry.

As usual, all of BBSU’s classes are taught be Certified Cicerone’s® as leading industry experts. This semester’s instructors include the long-standing instructor for the program, Michael Agnew (A Perfect Pint), as well as newer faces Frank Roy (Artisan Beer Co), Sean Cooke (Lake Monster Brewing Co), and Shaun Kopp (Better Beer Society).

For those interested in signing up, BBSU’s 100-level class is open for enrollment at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2522367

Advanced courses will be open for enrollment soon.

 

 

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Expertly Crafted Beer

This is not going to be one of my normal posts about news in the beer industry or an educational guide about how to do something. There are very few times in my beer drinking career (yes, career) where I am taken back by the truly inspirational qualities of such a simple product. I simply want to share with you the entire reason that I personally got into beer. We are surrounded by criticism of poor quality beers and beers lacking direction. It’s all too often that I hear consumers slam breweries for producing bad beer, dismissing the pursuit of an elusive and highly volatile art and science that is required by these professional breweries. Yes, there is a lot of room for improvement, especially in smaller breweries. But I would like to take a moment to forget all of that and remind everyone of the reason that we drink craft beer.

Beer is art. Beer is science. Beer is a product of a manufacturing plant that we romanticize because of its focus on something that has, in recent US history, been too pedestrian for any thought of having a culture based around it. Beer is an anomaly where a warehouse full of equipment becomes a centerpiece for a speakeasy. Beer is a forum where intellectuals, businessmen, artists, and service industry workers come together to cheers and play over-sized jenga.0219161742

I must congratulate Crooked Stave brewery for the inspirational beverage that spawned this article. I was at Butcher and the Boar and enjoyed a dry-hopped sour while discussing homebrewing. The bartender gave us a sample and we both ordered one as our next beer. This beer is one of very few that stand out as especially noteworthy over the last 5 years. Others in the list have been Ommegang Fleur de Houblon, Brau Bros Bancreagie Sour 26 on Raspberries, Destihl Kreik, and now Crooked Stave Progenitor.

Progenitor to me encompasses the subtle harmony of a perfectly balanced beer. It’s an intangible that can be experienced through any style of beer. I’ve had truly great pilsners and I’ve had truly great stouts. It’s not an ingredient or a style of beer. Rather, it’s the translation into flavor that comes from acute attention to detail, well-developed recipes from an experienced brewer, and a little luck from the natural variables that exist within this world of zymurgy.

The beer itself is a clear, pale gold with a white, lasting head. The aroma tantalizes your nose with sharp pineapple and white grape notes with a hint of sourness. As for the flavor, the acidity jumped out as a distinct tartness immediately upon your first sip. Primary flavors were white grape and lemon curd and a slightly lactic finish with a sweetness reminiscent of very lightly baked bread dough. Upon further consumption notes of soft wood, provencal herbs, oregano spice and subtle brett flavors came to life. Gill, my brewing partner, decided that the overall impression was like “sex in the woods on a rainy day.” I guess the enigmatic metaphor means that you should definitely try it should the opportunity present itself.

We couldn’t help but think of great pairings 0219161848awith this beer. It has a great diversity of options. It would be great with fatty foods (e.g. charcuterie board from Butcher and the Boar). Definitely would be a great pairing with grilled salmon, truffles, mushrooms, or caramelized onion. It worked well with most of our food, but was not a good pairing with the sweet and smokey barbecue sauce.. Bonus points if you get 3 out of 4 on a plate.

All in all, I write this not to promote the beer, but to promote beer itself. We all got into this great culture because of the great opportunity to experience expertly crafted beer. I feel as a culture, we have gotten away from that young and innocent outlook where everything was new and exciting. Instead, we’ve replaced it with harsh judgement and swift dismissal. I challenge you to open your mind once more and to approach your next beer with that child-like wonder that we once had as a beer-drinking community. Prost!

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The Truth About Glass Rinsers

There has been a lot of talk lately about glass rinsers.1209151615c2They are popping up all over the state in craft beer bars and have gained a lot of interest in the media as of late. I don’t mean to say they are bad or unnecessary. Rather, I would like to lay out the facts about them. The truth is that they should be unnecessary if your bar does everything correctly and that they are crucial of your bar does not.

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Glass Rinsers

For those who don’t know what these are, they are a small sprayer built into the bar, usually near the tap tower. Glasses are pushed down onto a small, perforated plate, which triggers a blast of water into your glass, giving it one final rinse before filled with your favorite craft beers. The rinser is designed to ensure that every pint of beer is served in the way that it was intended to be served. They accomplish three things:

  • Rinse out any dust particles or residual sanitizer that may leave a trace of soapy flavor in a glass
  • Accomplishes a better pour because the glass is already wet
  • Cooling down a glass that may be warm from the mechanical dishwasher

What your bar should be doing…

The arguments for last-second rinsing of your beer glass are all very compelling. We have all had a beer from a dirty glass at a bar or a beer that tasted funny, but you can’t really tell why. The truth is that all of these can be avoided due to proper 12091516162treatment of your glassware to begin with. I think everyone can agree that the best bars are the ones with a very high attention to detail. There are a lot of moving parts to running a bar and a lot of work that goes into a great craft beer program. There can be high turnover in the restaurant industry and training bartenders and barbacks on every minute detail is a colossal task.

1. Use a Three-Compartment Sink

There are many a bartender who will call this unreasonable. Mechanical dishwashers are fast, they’re easy, and they require very little attention. The problems with them are…they’re fast, they’re easy, and require very little attention.12091516172

In truth, a good bartender or barback can plow through glassware in a triple sink faster than a dishwasher could. With energy, rental, water, and chemical costs, it’s probably cheaper too; I haven’t done the math, though. On a busy night, I would prefer a triple sink when I’m in the figurative “weeds” than a dish machine. For those of you who came out to opening night at Lake Monster Brewing’s new taproom, we estimate we had about 800 people and we handled all glassware by hand. I would have had it no other way.

The triple sink if used properly gets glassware much cleaner than a machine with hot water. You can see the way the soap and the water clings to the glass once scrubbed intensely on the mounted brushes that the glass will be spotless when it comes out. In a triple sink, the rinse basin is room-temperature water and the sanitizer is cold, which prevents the problem with warm glassware.

1209151632a2

Proper use and then proper drying will ensure your glasses are proper temperature and spotless. A truly beer clean glass will show beautiful foamy residue clinging tightly to the side of the glass after it’s been drank, like the photo to the right. #mncleanpint

2. Use Proper Chemical

The chemicals you clean your glasses with are important, especially your sanitizer. Because sanitier is left on glassware as it dries, improper chemicals can make every single glass you use taste like soap. Not surprisingly, it will also transfer into and ruin your beers.

Not to sound like a broken record, but most commercial bar dishwashers use a chemical that leaves an odor and flavor on glassware. Another demerit for the dishwashers…and they’re loud! (Okay — my rant is over)

Beer Clean is a brand with powdered, pre-measured packets for three-compartment sink use, which I trust. I’ve also recently been introduced to a chemical that has dissolved Chlorine Dioxide, which I’m quite impressed with. Both of these leave your glasses without any residual flavors that may ruin beer.

3. Don’t Stack Pint Glasses

Every time I get a beer in a pint glass with a white, etched ring where the glass has been stacked over and over for years, a little piece of my soul cries. It pains me to see this, yet it’s an epidemic. I get that not every bar has enough space to avoid stacking pints 5 or 6 high, but if at all possible, pint glasses should not be stacked. It creates basically a ring of sandpaper on your glass upon which your fresh, delicious beer churns on the rough patch and creates foam, where an otherwise-perfect pour is ruined. Foamy beer causes wasted beer down the drain.

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To Use or Not To Use

Like I said, I’m not against the use of the glass rinser. I just find them unnecessary if your bar is doing everything correctly. The only problem with them is that sometimes they are used to quickly and water is not allowed to drain out of the glass, leaving half ounce to an ounce of water in the bottom of your glass before the beer is poured. This can be easily avoided by shaking the water out of the glass after it’s sprayed. If your bar is doing everything correctly, then they are not needed. However, I would much prefer someone taking the time to rinse my glass again than to drink a soapy beer or have a warm and foamy beer.

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Better Beer Society & Happy Gnome host Beer Trivia Night

fbcoverMN Beer Bowl 2016 at The Happy Gnome
Sunday Jan. 31st, 3:00-6:00pm

Do you think you’re beer savvy enough to win a game of beer trivia? Better Beer Society and the Happy Gnome are teaming up to bring you the second edition of the MN Beer Bowl. Teams of 4 will compete to win prizes from local breweries and other beer-related sponsors

The last MN Beer Bowl was hosted at Zeke’s Unchained Animal last year, where the ladies from Barley’s Angels took home the gold. This year, that team is back to defend 10153886_1434853963420777_843572067_ntheir title. Among last year’s 15 different sponsors were Summit, Surly, Harriet, Boom Island, Bad Weather, Hammerheart, Growler Magazine, 16oz society and lots more. Teams take home prizes from every round, giving each team lots of opportunity to win as well as bonus questions every other round for free beers from the Happy Gnome’s huge selection of craft beer.

Tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets at the link below:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2461141

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Schell’s Apparent Horizon

What do you do with a brewery that is over a century and a half old that does not want to deviate from its German heritage, but looks to stay relevant in a market saturated with craft breweries creating new styles every day? August Schell Brewing Company’s answer is to innovate one of the lesser-known beer styles with historic German roots, the Berliner Weisse, and they do a fantastic job with it.

With the Noble Star Series, Schell’s has brought a rare style to the forefront with grand slam successes such as Black Forest Cherry, Star of the North, and the first runner up in the Heavy Table taste off (beat out only by another Schell’s beer), the Starkeller Peach.

With the latest Noble Star release, Jace Marti, master brewer and sixth generation member of the August Schell family, brings rye to the mix in an interesting malt versus sour battle for your taste buds.

“With Apparent Horizon, we wanted to put a twist on the fruity acidity normally found in a Berliner Weisse. The Substantial addition of rye to the base of the beer creates a spicy dryness and an interesting aroma of sourdough, rye, and pumpernickel.” – Jace Marti

Apparent Horizon

The beer is a very-hazy, amber gold ale with high carbonation and a light, effervescent head that quickly dissipates. The aroma is surprisingly subtle with hints of over-ripened lemon and lime peel. There is a slightly sour and tart aroma with just a faint suggestion of a dusty, woodsy cellar flavor.

The flavor throws you a bright lemon and lemon peel tartness faster than you can see coming. This tart and sour flavor subsides almost as quickly as it came and leaves room for some sweeter, malty flavors. There is a good, lightly toasted bread flavor with a faint flavor of baking spices. The brew rounds the experience out with an off-dry, yogurt-like lactic finish and has lingering flavors of honey and graham cracker. Soft chamomile and floral notes compliment the lactic finish beautifully.

Overall, this is a very approachable sour with a great subtle complexity enough for even the most experienced of palates.

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History of Oktoberfest

Today is the greatest in beer drinking holidays. It’s the start of Oktoberfest in Munich and marks the beginning of the world’s biggest beer event. The season also brings out my favorite style of beer. Everyone knows about Oktoberfest and the great beers that it comes with, but where does it all come from? The answer may surprise you!s_o01_14560857

First things first, though:
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Horse Races?

The history of this beer and festival lies in the coincidence of the timing of the marriage of a Bavarian prince and the brewing calendar. In the mid 16th century, shortly after the implementation of Reinheitsgebot (German Purity Law), Bavaria implemented another impactful law, which stated that beer may only be brewed between September and April. This law prohibited brewers from making beer in the summer months. This meant that most brewers would stock up on a Vienna-Lager-based recipe that would hold for up to 6 months so that they had enough beer for the season. Most brewers at the time would then have a stock pile of the beer called Marzenbier or Marzen for “March Beer,” at the end of September and early October that they wanted to sell off quickly in order to fill it with new beer.Adam_Pferderennen_Oktoberfest_1823

On October 12, 1810, Prince Ludwig, the crown prince of Bavaria married Princess Therese of Saxe- Hildburghausen and wanted to share the celebration with the people of Bavaria. He called for a horse race to take place in the fields of a fairground, which are now called Theresienweise or Wiesn for short.

(note: Weisn is not to be confused with Weizen, the German word for wheat or wheat beers)

The timing of the wedding was a fantastic coincidence where the brewers saw an opportunity to bring their stockpiles of their Marzen beer to offload onto the people of Munich. The horse races became a tradition and so did the imbibing of the Marzen beer, which has evolved into the Munich Oktoberfest held on the same festival grounds today.

Why September?

Oktoberfest starts in September every year and ends on the first Sunday in October. It’s a 16-day festival…unless the first Sunday in October happens to be the 1st or 2nd, in which case, the festival goes until the 3rd, which is German Unity Day, celebrating the re-unification in 1990.

Oktoberfest Beer

oktoberfest-2013
Gimme!

There are only 6 breweries in Germany that are allowed to use the word Oktoberfest for their beers by law.

  • Paulaner
  • Hacker-Pschorr
  • Lowenbrau
  • Spaten
  • Hofbrau
  • Augustiner

Other German brewers use the terms Marzen or Festbier to denote that they are brewing the Oktoberfest-style beers. In the U.S. we do not have a law that dictates the use of the word, so most breweries use “Oktoberfest” as a name and style.

Most Americans will recognize Oktoberfest beers as a rich Amber colored beer with rich malty and caramel notes with Sam Adams Oktoberfest as our iconic benchmark. You’ll be surprised to find out that most beer served in Munich for the festival is much lighter in body and color with flavors we would more closely identify with a Helles or Pils.

Ironically, the rich caramel notes of the Oktoberfest from the American brewers is closer to the original recipe than modern German representations. Over time, the German beers have become lighter in body, perhaps as a means to allow more easy consumption in hot weather.

If you’re wondering which ones to buy, last year, I did a survey HOMEPC - WIN_20140812_151006with some other beer aficionados and ranked 30 Oktoberfest beers along with detailed descriptions. Take a look at http://mnbeeractivists.com/newsfeed/oktoberfest

Here’s to happy drinking for the next 16 days! Cheers!