Like many of the world's finest epicurean delights, the secret ingredient in the microbrews from Quebec's À l'abri de la Tempête is salt. The brewery is located on Les Iles-de-la-Madeleine, a 50-mile-long archipelago of untamed beaches in the Atlantic Ocean. The sea breeze leaves its traces in the locally sourced barley, imparting a delicate salty profile.
"It's a signature for all our products," says head brewer Jean-Sébastien Bernier. Despite À l'abri de la Tempête's watery locale and diminutive size, it's made waves with its smoky, spicy Corps Mort barley wine and its standout, the Corne de Brume ("foghorn") Scottish ale. Unlike the average North American Scottish ale, which overdoses on sugar to even out a heavy booze load, Bernier naturally takes his cues from overseas.
"When you taste the classics from the Old World, they are more on the dry side," he says. "We put in lots of work to keep that dry, caramel-bitterness and alcohol well balanced."
We adore our double IPAs and super-charged Russian imperial stouts as much as the next craft-beer geek, but sometimes we like drinking a microbrew that doesn't hit us as hard as a right hook in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
So in lieu of quaffing another deliciously inebriating 18-percent ale like Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA, we instead look to the lower end of the alcoholic spectrum. Allow us to introduce the Berliner Weisse, a wheat beer that's barely boozier than water.
Sacrificing ABV need not mean sacrificing flavor. The Berliner -- which was, duh, born in Berlin -- is typically tart and straw-hued, with the lactobacillus culture providing a sour, citric edge that's as invigorating as just-squeezed lemonade. "The Berliner weisse is such a low-alcohol beer that it can appeal to the most hardcore beer geeks and to those who don't like beer," says Patrick Rue, head brewer and owner of Placenta, California's the Bruery.
While the Bruery specializes in unfiltered, Belgian-style ales such as the rustic, earthy Saison Rue and spiced Orchard White witbier, it channels Germany for its 3.1 percent ABV Hottenroth Berliner Weisse. It goes into the goblet a pale, hazy yellow, with rapid bubbles and a fast-diminishing head. The nose is all citrus, wheat and barnyard funk, while the Hottenroth drinks prickly and crisp -- if the tartness is too much, you can sweeten the beer with raspberry or woodruff syrup.
This is one beer you won't sour on too soon.
Do you like a nice Berliner Weisse? Come on, drop your thoughts in the comments.
A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
We all have our vices: Some live for libations while others pine for sweets. In St. Louis these two groups can merge in one ecstatic, sugar-fueled pit of sin at Bailey's Chocolate Bar. A lengthy menu of treats includes dramatic desserts, award-winning cocktails and sometimes the two in one beautiful bite (Irish Cream cheesecake, anyone?).
Beer is another of Chocolate Bar's specialties, as it boasts one of STL's most highly-regarded draft lists. A few selections seem obvious (such as Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Arcadia Cocoa Loco) but the bar also boasts a namesake brew, Bailey's Chocolate Bar Chocolate Ale. Of course, a great beer bar can't just stock stouts, and general manager Gene Bailey says they strive for "good enough variety where everyone can find something they like." Many of the current taps come from one brewery: "We're big fans of the New Belgium [Fat Tire] people," Gene admits. Beyond pure pints, Bailey's happily mingles sugar & suds: The Stout Beer Shake, blending chocolate stout and cinnamon ice cream, is a favorite.
Check out Bailey's Chocolate Bar's complete draft list after the jump, tell us if you've got a favorite chocolate beer and get your indulgence on in person next time you're in St. Louis.
The list of America's top 50 craft brewers is out and while big boys Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium (Fat Tire) are again on top, there is a newcomer to list.
After 20 years of brewing, the Saint Louis Brewery - makers of Schlafly - has joined the ranks of top craft brewers. (If you can find it, try their creamy Oatmeal Stout.)
Released by the Brewers Association, the industry arm of the craft-brew industry, the annual list of craft and overall brewers looked at sales for the year 2008. Compared to 35 last year, 37 of the top brewers are on this year's overall list were small independent companies producing less than 2 millions barrels a year.
Big Sky Brewing Co. from Missoula, Mont., and Mac & Jack's Brewery of Redmond, Wash., joined the overall list where the real Big Boys, including Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors Brewing Co., hold court.
A little consolidation, of course, helped. The merger of Miller and Coors - Nos. 2 and 3 last year - opened up a slot as did the union of Widmer Brothers and Redhook Craft Brewers into what is now Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.
As it's one of the few industries growing in this economy - 5.8 percent in 2008 - as we head into happy hour, time to cozy up to the bar and skip the Bud for a local draft.
A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
The city of Milwaukee has long been known as Beer Town USA. Considered "the beer capital of the world" at the turn of the 20th century, it was home to four of the world's largest breweries (Blatz, Miller, Pabst and Schlitz).
Nowadays less than 1 percent of Milwaukee's workforce is employed by the brewing industry, but as long as Miller stays in business, Old Milwaukee remains on store shelves and the city keeps calling their baseball team the Brewers, it will continue to earn its moniker. Like many cities, the area is seeing a boom in craft-beer culture. Smaller brewers like Lakefront and Sprecher have national followings and the city is home to a number of brewpubs.
One of Milwaukee's most highly regarded watering holes is Romans' Pub, which DRAFT and Imbibe Magazines have called among the best beer bars in the nation. Indeed, 30 selections grace today's tap list. Sounds like Wisconsinites like to stay relatively local when they booze, though: Owner Mike Romans informed us that Goose Island IPA from nearby Chicago is their most popular brew. Locals craving a beer can simply check the list: "As soon as one gets changed out, it goes up on our site."
A sampling of suds on tap is after the jump. Got a favorite microbrew? Let us know in the comments.
To me, it is. But I also don't care one iota about sports (though I can make exceptions for women's rugby and any sort of obstacle course competition on Animal Planet).
On that note, The Washington Post is currently featuring a fun alternative (or addition) to March Madness. The lucky participants started taste-testing 32 beers and have so far gotten the contenders down to a precious 16. But three rounds remain - the quarterfinals, semis, and finals on April 6 - before a champion is named.
Tasters downed their fair share of beers, which ranged from Miller Chill to Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout, and represent the mainstream to the microbrew; the wheat-y to the hoppy; the ale to the stout, and back again.
A few of my personal favorites in the bunch include the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (deliciously full of hops) and the Sea Dog Blue Paw Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale for those summer nights down the shore, but the Post really did choose a fine array (including a few classics - or duds, depending on your taste in beer - Schlitz, Michelob Lager, and the aforementioned new Miller Chill).
Head over to the site now to track your favorite, er, player.
If you've ever been in a bar with micro-brews on tap, you've no doubt noticed a trend towards the ornamental, baseball-bat-sized tap handles that accompany some beers. A recent AP story charts this trend and includes a little history on tap handles. Apparently they were a product of a post-prohibition regulation requiring bars to identify which beers they were pouring. I still don't know how that kept bars from putting a different keg on the tap. At any rate, the story highlights the niche that ornate tap handles have become, pointing to companies like Tap Handles, Inc., which cranks out about 200,000 handles a year. Their site has a pretty impressive portfolio of their creations. BeerCollections.com also has a pretty nice gallery of tap handles. I've always been fond of this tap for Rogue's Dead Guy Ale. The AP story also gets extra points for using the term "breweriana."
It's time for autumn, so that must mean it's...Miller Time?
Well, sure, you could go for any one of your usual six-packs off the grocery store shelf, but according to beer buff Stan Hieronymous, author of "Brew Like a Monk" and the editor of Realbeer.com, autumn is the time to drink outside the box, when brewers offer limited edition "seasonal" brews. He selects a few favorites:
I recently came across a review of The Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands, 2nd Edition (right), a nearly 350-page guide to American breweries and the beers they produce. Conveniently known as the DBBB, the book offers an alphabetical list, a guide to beer styles, state-by-state availability, brewer profiles and product lists. There's also an online companion, provided via the DBBB's publisher, MC Basset. A .pdf sample of the book is also available on the site. The DBBB doesn't rate the beers, and actually, much of the individual brewery information is provided by the brewers themselves. According to the aforementioned review, the DBBB isn't widely available in stores. It sells for around $50 on its website.
If you've ever been in a bar with micro-brews on tap, you've no doubt noticed a trend towards the ornamental, baseball-bat-sized tap handles that accompany some beers. A recent 
It's time for autumn, so that must mean it's...Miller Time?
I recently came across a 
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