"sierra nevada" news and stories

A great man -- MC Paul Barman -- once said of beer: "The liquid is ubiquitous and has such a hold; on all the strata, it's just got to be government-controlled. Behind the bottle and the throne sits an unknown man wiser and bigger for the liquor store the number one franchiser. Perhaps George Bush and his sons are relatives of Anheiser."

I'm not 100% sure what MC was talking about, but his gist is right: Sometimes you just feel like beer is everywhere. Television, sporting events, plastered on the side of a bus: It's seems like everyone wants us to be thinking beer. Which got me thinking, What beers do I encounter on an average day?

A far more accomplished lyricist -- John Lennon -- once wrote a song called "A Day in the Life," and from what I've heard Lennon liked to drink, so in his honor, here, after the jump, were my beer encounters on an average day... Tuesday.

Along with "organic" beers -- yesterday's topic du jour -- another phrase far more brewers have been throwing about recently is "wet hops."

Why wet? Well, the name is somewhat self-explanatory. Typically hops are dried before they are packed, shipped and stored to await the brewing process. Hops is a plant (the flower of a plant technically), and anyone who's ever forgotten a fern for too long knows plants become distinctly different when they're dead. The theory behind wet hops is that as soon as the flowers are picked oils, resins and flavors begin to dry up, so by going direct from the bine to the brew kettle, your hops will pack more punch.

The trick works -- beers brewed with wet hops hold more of their distinct flavors -- somewhat begging the question, Why doesn't everyone do it? Well, price is a factor. And unless your ale needs some serious hoppiness, a lot of that subtlety is going to be drowned in malts regardless. Also hop varietals can be pretty picky in where they will grow. But even when everything else works out, the schematics are a pain. Every hour those hops hang out, dryness sets in: They have to find their way to the brewery in a hurry. So brewers looking to use wet hops need a field nearby and the dedicated manpower to make it happen.

After the jump, hear about an accessible example of a beer brewed with wet hops: Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale.

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:

• Fuller's Vintage Ale - UK beer with "a wonderful yeasty character."
• Anchor Brewing's Our Special Ale - "the recipe changes annually"
• Sierra Nevada: Celebration - "expect a strong flavor of hops"
• Affligem Brewery: Affligem Noel - "strong, dark, spicy beer with a hint of fruit and raisins"
• Brooklyn Brewery: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - "deep brown imperial stout with complex flavors"
• Great Divide Brewing Company: Hibernation Ale - "caramel character, even a little bit of toffee"

For those of you swooning over Nicole's recent post about kitchen bling, maybe you can do a bit of penance here with this Pope John Paul II bottle opener ... a.k.a. "The Popener."

When my old roommate came back from a bit of work in Rome, she brought me a John Paul II bottle opener, straight from the Vatican. At the time, I was not happy. What kind of girlfriend brings a bottle opener back from Italy?

While I would have preferred something I could wear or eat or sell at a vast profit on eBay, I came to love this bottle opener with time. Every Sierra Nevada I cracked after a long day at the office became holy. Every Brooklyn Brown Ale became the equivalent of 20 "Hail Marys."

If you want one, you had better get cracking. While they're currently on sale at romegiftshop.com for $14.99 (free St. Peter postcard included!), can a Pope Benedict XVI bottle opener be that far off?

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