Siciliano's Staff Party & Beer Tasting: The Aftermath

By Steve Siciliano

Occasionally the staff and I get our hands on highly sought after beers that are not distributed in the Grand Rapids market. While we acquire some on our travels, the majority are gifts from generous out-of-state folks who simply seem to want to share the products of their local breweries with us. We consider the windfalls to be community property so we stow them away until the stash grows big enough and then we throw a party. 

We threw one this past Saturday. Some of the notable beers we tasted were offerings from Cigar City, Three Floyds and Half Acre. The undisputed star of the show was a bottle of Westvleteren that was sent to us by a former homebrewing customer who now owns a brew pub in Spain. Of course there were other beverages besides the cache of special treats—a keg of New Belgian Shift Pale Lager, some nice single malt scotches and some very tasty small batch bourbons. A few customers caught wind of the get-together and showed up bearing gifts—a few growlers of Big Brew on the Calder Beer City IPA and some other well made homebrews. 

As store parties go, this one was quite reserved. There were the usual post party flotsam and jetsam that had to be dealt with but this time there was no loud music coming from the garage at four a.m. and on Sunday morning there were no sleeping bag bundled bodies on the deck. Maybe my employees are all just getting older.

Let's Lay Claim to the Title of Beer City USA

By Steve Siciliano

Like every Grand Rapidian who is passionate about craft beer,  I am hoping that our town retains the coveted designation of Beer City USA. I’m not going to present a litany of reasons as to why Grand Rapids is more deserving of this honor than the other cities in Charlie Papazian’s poll. Plenty of folks have already done that, sometimes with extreme jingoism and prejudice, in the comments section on the online polling website. While I certainly believe that our city deserves the Beer City USA designation, at the same time I have to admit that there are other cities around the country that are equally worthy of this moniker. Since this is the case, I see no reason why we have to wait to see if the title is once again bestowed on us—we should just simply claim it.

What I’m suggesting has precedents. Detroiters call their city Hockytown despite the fact that each of the other six original NHL cities can also lay claim to that moniker. Tampa is known as Cigar City even though Miami probably produces just as many stogies. There are many cities around the world that are known as “the city of churches.” The lesson is this—if we want our city to be known as Beer City USA we just need to begin calling it Beer City USA.

I believe that all we need to accomplish this is a coordinated marketing campaign. If a few of our more visible businesses and institutions begin changing their names there will be a trickle down effect. I think Beer City Arena has a nice ring to it, as does the Beer City Grand Hotel, Beer City State University and Beer City International Airport. It wouldn’t take long before we would be seeing Beer City Pizza, Beer City Tool and Die, the Beer City Café, etc. Maybe the last three options are more viable.

Let the other cities around the country slug it out each year for the arbitrary title. Grand Rapids will be the real Beer City USA, in part, because we say it is, and mostly, well, because we know it is.

Help render the bossman's argument unnecessary. Vote now for Grand Rapids as Beer City USA for 2013.

Monday Musings: Homebrewers Are a Hardy Bunch

The question is, what will
 this look like 10 days from now?

By Steve Siciliano

Yesterday I watched a pair of mallards happily paddling around on a pond in my backyard that wasn’t there just a week ago. In downtown Grand Rapids over the past few days the river has gotten dangerously close to the top of the flood walls, Riverside Park is now under water and swollen creeks in Kent County have washed roads and two-lane bridges away. We’ve certainly had a lot of rain lately.

I usually don’t take Michigan’s roller coaster weather personally. Normally I stoically cope with the breath-sapping humidity of summer, the grey gloom of late November and early December and the unrelenting, bone-chilling temperatures of winter. But I have been taking the incessant rain this spring personally because, you see, the Big Brew on the Calder is now less than two weeks away.

But so what if these ceaseless April monsoons continue into May? We west Michigan homebrewers are a hardy bunch. If it’s still raining two weeks from now we’ll don the appropriate gear and fire up the burners. We won’t let a little inclement weather deter us from gathering May 4 on the Calder Plaza to be part of the largest AHA Big Brew Day in history. And at one p.m. EST on that day, whether it’s raining or shining, we will join in a simultaneous, country-wide toast to the enriching hobby of homebrewing.

Recollections in Wine: A Short Course in Chianti

2007 San Leonino Castellina
Chianti Classico, $14.39/750ml

By Steve Siciliano

Sometimes I can’t remember where I put my car keys, but when it comes to a few select experiences from my distant past involving wine, I have wonderful recall. After thirty years I can still remember exactly where I was when I first tasted a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s been ten years since Barb and I had a wonderful dinner at Hattie’s Restaurant in Suttons Bay (now closed), yet I distinctly recollect the flavors and aromas of the velvety smooth Beaulieu Vineyards pinot noir that we drank with grilled pork chops smothered in a cherry barbecue sauce.

I can also vividly recall my first experience with Chianti. It was in the mid 1970s in a quaint Italian restaurant in the Bronx. Pictures of the Coliseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Michelangelo’s David were on the walls, Dean Martin was crooning on a cassette player and there were red and white checkered tablecloths. In the middle of our table sat an empty, straw-covered wine bottle holding a candle. I asked the old, broken-English-speaking waiter to bring out a full one. While the restaurant’s veal parmesan was magnificent, the wine that came in that whicker basket bottle was atrocious.

Twenty years later in an Italian restaurant on Rush Street in Chicago, another old waiter persuaded me to give Chianti another try. I remember being surprised that the bottle he brought to the table wasn’t one of those whicker fiascos. The gnocchi in that restaurant rivaled my grandmother’s, and that bottle of Ruffino Chianti Classico Reserva Ducale, with its flavors of dried orange, earth and dark chocolate, was so good that I ordered another.

For a wine to be legally called Chianti it must be produced in one of seven demarcated regions in Tuscany and consist of a blend that strictly adheres to Italian wine laws. The blend was once comprised solely of grapes indigenous to the Tuscan region—sangiovese and canailo for the reds, malvasi and/or trebianno for the whites. As Chianti became more popular after World War II, vineyards were planted in areas that produced inferior fruit and winemakers began using the maximum percentage allowed of the less expensive white grapes in the blend. As a result, the quality of Chianti gradually declined. By the late 1960s, it had become thin, unbalanced and acidic, and was probably purchased more for the quaint fiasco than for the wine inside.

Faced with tarnished reputations and declining sales, Tuscan winemakers began taking steps in the mid 1970s to improve the quality of Chianti—less white wine was used in the blend and inferior vineyards were torn up. A few of the more innovative makers even began experimenting with non-indigenous varietals such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc with impressive results. But since these new wines didn’t follow the traditional Chianti formula, they couldn’t legally be called Chianti. Wine writers nicknamed them the Super Tuscans, a moniker that is still used today. Prompted by the international success of the Super Tuscans, the Italian government revised the traditional formula and winemakers are now allowed to use non-indigenous grapes to produce Chianti.

Today Chianti has reclaimed its position as one of Italy’s most important wines. While it will probably always be associated with quaint Italian restaurants and traditional Italian cuisine, thankfully those once ubiquitous, straw-covered bottles, and the inferior wine they contained, no longer are producing unpleasant memories.

To start making your own memories with Chianti, try San Leonino Castellina Chianti Classico, pictured above and currently available at Siciliano's Market.

Dry Michigan No More

By Steve Siciliano

Beer tokens, 2013 MI Winter Beer Fest

Of the 6000 craft beer lovers who attended the Michigan Winter Beer Festival this past Saturday at Fifth Third Park, a good number of them traveled to Grand Rapids from areas outside of the state. Folks from as far away as Louisiana, Virginia, Connecticut and Colorado shopped at local stores, stayed at west Michigan hotels and visited the area’s breweries, pubs and restaurants. They paid lodging taxes, the six percent sales tax and when they filled up their gas tanks, they paid the 19 cents per gallon Michigan gasoline tax. They consumed and purchased a great deal of Michigan beer which will translate into more excise taxes when the state breweries replenish their inventories. In short, the craft beer industry has turned out to be a huge economic asset for the state.

That’s a good thing because the more tax dollars an industry pumps into government coffers. the less likely it is to be victimized by crippling legislation. Because of the potential for abuse, alcohol always has and always will be a political football, and short sighted politicians have always shown a propensity for siding with powerful self-serving interest groups. That was the case when Michigan banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages two years before the passage of National Prohibition. The current tag line for The Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s tourism advertising campaign is “Pure Michigan.” An apt slogan for our state back in the early years of the twentieth century would have been “Dry Michigan.”

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and The Anti-Saloon League at one time were extremely powerful political forces in Michigan and they were instrumental in getting our state to be one of the first to go dry. National Prohibition had, of course, a devastating effect on the entire country’s brewing industry but the destruction it wrought on a national level had a two-year head start in Michigan. That makes what’s happening with the incredible resurgence and growth of craft brewing in our state all the more remarkable.

Where Would We Be Without Winemakers?

Two generations, hard at work on the wine presses

By Steve Siciliano

Because we post many more articles in The Buzz about homebrewing than we do about home winemaking, someone not familiar with our store may be justified in thinking that, for us, the latter is an afterthough. That is not the case. Here at Siciliano’s, we love making wine as much as we love making beer, and we certainly enjoy consuming the end results of both life-enriching pursuits. Homebrewing is currently experiencing an incredible growth spurt and is garnering a great deal of national attention. But in all likelihood, its development and growth would have been postponed if not for the groundwork that was laid by its less charismatic sibling.

After Prohibition reared its ugly head in 1919, beer- and wine-loving Americans were forced into illicitly producing their own fruit- and malt-based alcoholic beverages. While it was easy for wine makers to obtain raw ingredients—fruits, vegetables and grapes were easily obtainable—for homebrewers it was an entirely different scenario. The vast majority of Americans did not have access to hops and barley so they turned to what was available—cans of malt based syrup, marketed as a baking ingredient, that a handful of former breweries were producing in an effort to stay afloat. By all accounts, the quality of the homebrewed beer made with those ingredients was quite nasty.

When the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition in 1933, it became legal once again to produce homemade wine. Because of a clerical oversight, however, the legislation failed to do the same for homebrewing. Since homebrewing remained illegal, quality ingredients remained unavailable; and when commercial breweries began producing and distributing beer again, the activity of brewing beer at home essentially vanished in this country. The legal activity of home winemaking, on the other hand, continued to grow and a network of wholesalers and retailers sprung up to service the home winemakers. When homebrewing again became a legal activity in 1978, the infrastructure to make available the quality homebrew ingredients that were being produced overseas was already in place.

The years between 1919 and 1978 were a dark time for beer in this country. The homebrewing community and, by extension, the craft beer community have home winemakers to thank for keeping a light on.

Becoming Enriched Through Homebrewing

A homebrewer weighs out grain at Siciliano's

By Steve Siciliano

Recently I’ve been reflecting about how inadequate the word “hobby” is when it is applied to the activity of homebrewing. Merriam-Webster defines a hobby as “a pursuit outside’s one’s normal occupation that is engaged in for relaxation.” While that may be a suitable definition for some leisurely pursuits, I would argue that activities such as homebrewing are practiced for much more substantial reasons and thus deserve to be defined in a much broader context.

In the daily grind of our lives there are things that we have to do and others that we choose to do. The things that we have to do—our jobs, our responsibilities, our commitments—tend to sap our energy and chip away at our essence. The process of constantly performing mundane duties denatures us in the same way that the processing of wheat into white flour results in the loss of essential nutrients. The things we choose to do on the other hand—our leisurely pursuits, our hobbies—add things back. They rebuild our psyches and feed our souls. They enrich us.

During my years of selling homebrew supplies, I have watched countless folks get consumed by the process of homebrewing. It becomes embedded in their psyches. They embrace it like a religion and it becomes an integral part of their being. They become passionate about brewing and are eager for others to share in that passion. The activity of brewing helps to define who they are. “I’m a homebrewer,” they proudly announce to anyone who will listen. Perhaps “enrichment” would be a more appropriate term for any activity that has the fundamental ability to accomplish that.

Craft Beer Community, Craft Beer Culture

Russ Smith & Sierra Nevada's Jim Macielak,
soon after Russ was presented the trophy
for 2012 Best of Show.

By Steve Siciliano

Lat Saturday, Barb and I joined Russ Smith and a group of his fellow Muskegon Ottawa Brewers at Vitale’s in Comstock Park to celebrate the tapping of a keg of On the Rocks Scotch Ale, the beer that Russ helped design and brew last August at a Sierra Nevada Beer Camp.

As I sipped my second pint, I reflected on how good it felt to have played a small part in the process that brought this beer to fruition. Russ was given the opportunity to attend the three-day camp at Sierra Nevada because his homebrewed beer won Best of Show last year at the Siciliano’s Homebrew Competition. But the ultimate credit goes to Sierra Nevada owner Ken Grossman for recognizing the importance of fostering and maintaining a relationship with the homebrewing community.

Ken, himself a former homebrewer, and the folks at Sierra Nevada get it. They realize the role that homebrewing played in the revival of craft beer in this country and they recognize that its continued growth is in no small part due to the growing number of homebrewers. There is a unique and wonderful synergy going on between the legion of passionate hobbyists and the ranks of the brewing professionals.

It is this synergy that lies at the heart of what is commonly referred to as the “craft beer community” and the corresponding concept of the “craft beer culture.” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, culture is the “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.” When applied to the craft beer scene in this country, this definition works perfectly.

After leaving Vitale’s, Barb and I stopped at Perrin where this year’s Best-of-Show winner will be given the opportunity to brew the winning recipe. I enjoyed a beer feeling happy that I was a member of a wonderful community, and also knowing that I was sharing in the values of a rather unique, rich and fulfilling culture.

From Hobby to Hired: Many Pro Brewers Begin with Siciliano's

Former Siciliano's employee,
current head brewer, Jacob Derylo

By Steve Siciliano

Over the past fifteen years I’ve had the pleasure of watching a handful of our homebrew customers make the transition from passionate hobbyist to brewing professional. Three of them also happen to be former employees. Jacob Derylo took up the hobby while working at Siciliano’s during the early years. Today he is producing highly acclaimed Belgian beers at Brewery Vivant. Matthew Blodgett and Alex Atkins both honed their brewing skills while employed at the store; today, each earns his living as an assistant brewer—Matt at Founders and Alex with Jacob at Vivant.

The first customer I watched make the leap to the pro brewing ranks was Tom Buchannan, who is now the head brewer at Jamesport Brewing Co. in Ludington. Tom was a loyal customer despite the fact that our inventory back then consisted only of cans of malt extract, a few one pound bags of specialty grains, one type of dry yeast, and a half dozen varieties of hops.

I have yet to make a trip up to Cranker’s in Big Rapids, but when I do, I’ll be sure to drink a pint with good friend and head brewer Adam Mills. Adam would often bring his four young children into the store and they would patiently sit on sacks of grain while he gathered up the ingredients for his homebrew recipes.

Max & Chris from the Mitt

Bill White, Chris Andrus, Max Trierweiler, and Jason Warnes are other customers who have turned their homebrewing avocation into a profession. Bill is the now the owner and head brewer at White Flame in Hudsonville. Chris and Max opened Mitten Brewing on the west side of Grand Rapids last year and just recently they hired Jason as a brewer. Another former customer, Seth Rivard, is a partner and brewer at Rockford Brewing.

One of the most iconic of our former homebrew customers to make brewing a profession is Nate Walser. Nate began his professional brewing career with a short stint at New Holland, later moved on to Founders, and then spent time as the head brewer at Perrin Brewing Company in Comstock Park. I’m quite sure that no one who knew Nate back when he was boiling five gallon batches on his kitchen stove had any idea that he would have such a tremendous impact on the West Michigan craft beer culture.

Last Saturday I took a minute to observe the buzz of activity in the store’s homebrew section. While I watched customers weigh and grind their grains, choose their yeast and gather their hops, I wondered if perhaps one of them would be the next to make the transition from passionate hobbyist to brewing professional. If history tells us anything, it's that the possibility is very real.

Who will be the next to go pro?
Is it you?

The Enchantment of Christmas

By Steve Siciliano

When I was very young I was afraid of the dark. Now, over fifty years later, I must admit that I can’t precisely remember why. Most likely the fear was generated by my unquestioned, irrational belief in an evil, hideously ugly entity called the devil. I had never seen Satan in the bright light of day but I had no doubt, nevertheless, that he was real. Every bit as real as goblins, bogeymen, ghosts and evil witches. 

And so before I developed a rational intellect, I lived in a world inhabited by unseen terrors. But while there were indeed horrible monsters in my five-year old world, there was also a good deal of enchantment and magic. There was a good fairy that slipped coins beneath my pillow while I slept. There were huge, colorful, hidden, candy-filled baskets on Easter mornings that were furtively delivered during the night by a giant rabbit. There were pots of gold at the end of rainbows and the miraculous ability to stop Tinker Bell from dying by affirming my belief in fairies by clapping my hands.  

One Christmas morning, I woke to find an electric train set spread out beneath the tree. Santa Claus had come during the night and somehow he had time to connect the tracks and position the little trees, bushes and buildings. Before leaving, Santa ate a plate of cookies and washed them down with a glass of milk. I wondered how he got in our house since there wasn't a chimney. Later that day I saw the big, empty train-set box in my parents’ bedroom. “Did Santa put it there?” I asked my mother.

“Yes,” she said and smiled.

“How did Santa get in?” I asked her.

“Santa is magical.”

Today I would gladly put up with hideous monsters lurking in the dark if I were somehow able to recapture that lost childlike wonder, and the magic and enchantment of Christmas. 

Interesting Note: The Santa and snowman gourds pictured above were painted by Anita Siciliano, who is also the mother in this story.

Monday Musings: B-Dubs Home Brew Commercial

By Steve Siciliano

If you watched any televised sports over the weekend chances are good that you saw the Buffalo Wild Wings commercial that lampoons the hobby of home brewing. Obviously the spot is meant to be humorous and I guess to some folks it probably is, but the portrayal of the home brewer as a mad (inept) scientist offering chunky, disgusting looking concoctions to wary guests sitting in a room full of foam-spewing carboys failed to tickle this writer’s funny bone.

The message I took from this ad is this—why go to your buddies’ house and drink nasty home brews when B-Dubs offers clean, clear, visually appealing beer made by brewing professionals. I can’t remember the last time I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings but the ad certainly isn’t making me want to go.

What are your thoughts on this advertisement? Watch it here, then please leave your response in the comment section below.

Pumpkin Beer: Long History, Developing Tradition

Timmermans Pumpkin Lambicus,
$11.99/750

By Steve Siciliano

In view of the current popularity of pumpkin beers in this country it should come as no surprise that a non-American brewery would want a piece of this seasonal marketing pie. With the appearance last week in the store of a “pumpkin” beer from Timmermans, a Belgian brewery that produces quality lambics, inevitability has turned into reality. While Timmermans Pumpkin Lambicus is the only pumpkin beer not produced in the states that I’m aware of, it’s probably safe to assume that others will follow. I’ll be giving my impression of the Timmermans’ offering after a few thoughts on the somewhat mystifying pumpkin beer phenomenon.

There are some craft beer purists who loathe these beers. Since the use of the eponymous gourd is negligible in some and is non-existent in others, they maintain that these beers should be simply called what they essentially are—spiced ales and lagers.

The use of pumpkins in the production of beer is uniquely American. Our colonial forefathers, including George Washington, occasionally added pumpkins to their beer recipes, not because they wanted to but because they had to. Good quality, inexpensive malt was hard to acquire back then and the indigenous gourd, with its requisite starches and sugars, provided a viable alternative. As malt became more readily available, the use of pumpkins in the production of beer became an historical footnote. It might have remained there if not for William (Buffalo Bill) Owens.

Back in the mid 1980’s Owens, who was at the time the owner of Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Haywood, California, was researching historical beer recipes when he came across one, allegedly formulated by George Washington, which used pumpkin flesh in the mash. Owens also happened to be a gardener. He took one of his prize 500 pound pumpkins, chunked it, baked it and then threw the pieces into a mash for his standard amber ale. After he fermented and carbonated the beer, Owens was disappointed that it had no discernible pumpkin flavor. But then he had a brewing epiphany—why not use pumpkin pie spices to achieve the flavor profile that he thought would be achieved from using the baked pumpkin? He brewed another batch, this time without pumpkin, and dumped a can of pumpkin pie spices into the bright tank. The first modern “pumpkin” beer was born.

Obviously it’s these spices, used in differing proprietary amounts and combinations, which are the main reason as to why pumpkin beers today are so popular. People equate the spicy flavors and aromas of these brews to those of pumpkin pie. And who doesn’t like pumpkin pie? But maybe there are other, perhaps subliminal, factors that are contributing to pumpkin beers’ wild popularity.

I would guess that most adults have fond memories of donning costumes and traipsing through neighborhoods collecting overflowing bags of treats on Halloween. Perhaps drinking a beer that exalts the most cherished and ubiquitous symbol of Halloween helps rekindle those memories and allows for a somewhat vicarious participation in a decidedly childlike activity. Then again, maybe the popularity of these brews is due to the fact that the pumpkin is such a photogenic fruit and its image looks so appetizing when plastered on a beer label. Other fruits are used in beer and make equally delicious pies—apples, cherries peaches and blueberries for instance—but they haven’t lent their names to a craft beer phenomenon. Can this be because they don’t have the same visually appealing impact and marketing panache of the pumpkin?

I have to admit that it was in part due to the appealing image of a plump pumpkin on the label that enticed me into trying the Pumpkin Lambicus. That and the fact that a lambic made with pumpkin sounded intriguing—so intriguing that I chose to ignore the words “beer with natural flavors added” that were clearly visible on the label. I poured the beer into two chalices and admired the dark orange hue and the creamy white head. It certainly looked the way I imagined that a pumpkin beer should look. But there was none of the familiar pumpkin-pie spiciness in the nose or the flavor, the beer smelling and tasting, in fact, more apple-like than pumpkin-like. It certainly wasn’t bad and both Barb and I enjoyed it, but in the end we agreed that an appealing image of a baked apple rather than the ubiquitous plump orange gourd should have been plastered on the label.

The Politics of Beer

By Steve Siciliano

Maybe it’s because I generally ignore politics that I only recently heard that President Obama had purchased homebrewing equipment—with his own money, staffers are eager to point out—and that a number of batches of White House Honey Ale, White House Honey Blond and White House Honey Porter have been brewed by the executive mansion’s chefs. (Allegedly, the honey in the recipes is sourced from a beehive in the First Lady’s kitchen garden.) Upon doing a little internet research I learned that Mr. Obama first served “his” home brew at a 2011 White House Super Bowl Party, that he recently gifted a case of the executive suds to firefighters at a station in Virginia, and that he keeps his campaign bus well stocked with the hand-crafted brew.

"Your first attempt at all grain? Not bad."

It’s a well-documented fact that the President’s affinity for beer is not a recent development. In July of 2009, a potentially nasty racial issue was diffused over a few mugs of beer when Obama invited Henry Gates, a black Harvard professor, and James Crowley, the white police officer who arrested Gates for disorderly conduct, to a “Beer Summit” at the White House. Do an internet image search for “Obama and beer” and you’ll get dozens of not so recent photos of the President clasping a cold one in pubs, pizza parlors, bowling alleys and state fairs. But what is a recent and, I might add, interesting development is that our beer-loving Chief Executive’s opponent in the upcoming presidential election is a teetotaler.

Now, I highly doubt (in fact I hope) that we haven’t gotten to the point where a president is elected in this country because he or she does or does not enjoy an occasional beer. But in a close race the perceived “likability” of a candidate just might be the difference between winning and losing, and the juxtaposition of a beer drinking Obama next to lemonade sipping Romney certainly isn’t helping the perception of the latter’s aristocratic, better-than-thou public image.

You can bet that the Romney camp is doing a little hand wringing over this. If Mitt was a drinker the solution would be easy—place a beer in his hand and have him quaff a few pints in the heartland with the common folks. Obviously that’s not going to happen, so it’s up to the vice-presidential candidate to pinch hit for his boss. If I was running the Republican campaign I would send Paul Ryan on a tour of the nation’s breweries. I would dress him in logoed T-shirts and hats and have him hang out in the pubs. I would have photo-ops with him wearing safety glasses and pouring a bucketful of hops into a kettle or stirring the mash. I would have Mitt end every speech with the words: “I may not drink beer, dammit, but I sure picked a running mate who does.” It just might make for an interesting campaign.

Another Year, Another Successful Homebrew Sale

By Steve Siciliano

It certainly was a busy week at Siciliano’s. Our week long sale on beer- and wine-making supplies kicked off last Monday with the proverbial bang, and throughout the week customers flocked into the store to take advantage of the across-the-board fifteen percent discount as well as the deeper still price reductions on select merchandise. We welcomed to the club dozens of new brewers and winemakers who purchased the heavily discounted equipment kits. Other popular, deeply discounted items during this year’s sale week were the mash tuns and the complete kegging systems.

On Saturday Barb served up hundreds of German wieners from Frank’s Market and many pounds of Grandpa Sam’s homemade sauerkraut. (In response to the many requests for Sam’s recipe we will soon be publishing it on The Buzz.) I would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to all our loyal customers. You are indeed much appreciated.

A toast to sale week! (with free root beer)

Greetings from Beer Camp

By Steve Siciliano

Last week Barb and I accompanied Siciliano’s Homebrew Contest 2012 Best-of-Show winner Russ Smith on a three-day visit to the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, California. Russ and fellow Muskegon Ottawa Brewers (MOB) member Tim Borreson participated in Sierra Nevada’s 87th Beer Camp during which they and fellow campers designed and brewed a beer that they named “On The Rocks Scotch Ale.” (Hot rocks were immersed in the boiling kettle.) We should be seeing a few kegs of this creation in our market within the coming months. While Barb and I did not attend Beer Camp we were given a tour the brewery’s state of the art facilities and were treated to exceptional food and outstanding beer in Sierra Nevada’s taproom and restaurant.

After flying into Sacramento, we set off on the hour and a half car ride up to Chico. We had time to kill so Tim used his phone to search for a brew pub and we found one in Yuba City. Sutter Buttes Brewing takes its name from the Sutter Buttes, a range of eroded volcanic lava domes that abruptly rise above the flat plains of the northern Sacramento Valley just west of Yuba City. We were all impressed with this little brewery’s solid beers and excellent sandwiches.

When we arrived in Chico, we checked into our hotel then immediately made the short drive to Sierra Nevada where we met up with Russ and Tim’s fellow brewers and the SN employees who run the two-day camp. While sipping a pint of Kellerweis in the pub portion of the taproom/restaurant I surveyed the large, high-ceilinged room. Elegant may be a word that seems incongruous when describing a brewery’s taproom; nevertheless it appropriately depicts the atmosphere created by the beveled stained glass, polished copper and dark oak.

But while the taproom and restaurant are indeed elegantly appointed the atmosphere is anything but stuffy. The casually dressed, eclectic crowd was a mix of tourists and locals and among the folks enjoying a pint in the pub were Sierran Nevada owner Ken Grossman, his brother Steve, and head brewer Steve Dresler. Later that evening we all gathered in the adjoining restaurant where we were treated to more Sierra Nevada taproom offerings and an excellent dinner.

The next day after lunch in the restaurant Barb and I along with Kent Beverage sales rep Jim Paauwe and his wife Vickie were given a tour of the brewery. Sierra Nevada is currently the sixth largest brewing company in the United Sates, a fact that was underscored by the two hours it took us to walk through the extensive facilities (stopping occasionally, of course, to sample from the bright tanks). Everything about the state of the art brewery was impressive—the huge mash tuns and the gleaming copper kettles, the immense stainless steel fermenters, the seemingly endless rows of bright tanks and the high-tech bottling and packaging lines. That evening we attended a concert in The Big Room, the brewery’s onsite live music venue, where we enjoyed another delicious meal and, of course, more pints of Sierra Nevada beer.

On Friday, while Russ and Tim were brewing with their fellow campers, we took a day trip with the Paauwes to LaRocca Vineyards, a family-run, totally organic winery (no chemicals, no added sulphites) located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. We were warmly greeted by patriarch Phil LaRocca who gave us a brief tour of his small facility and then brought us out to a high-sloping vineyard planted with cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. It is indeed a wonderful experience for a home winemaker to taste varietal grapes you pluck from the vine while listening to the winemaking philosophy of a twenty-five year professional. Afterwards we sat on Phil’s wooden front porch, looked out at the vineyards and tasted his excellent wines. Three hours later we were still looking, and still tasting the wine.

After These Messages

In which the bossman reflects on beer in advertising, then shares some of his favorite "commercials" (see below) with readers of The Buzz. 

By Steve Siciliano

Because I watch a fair amount of televised sports I’m subjected to a fair amount of mass marketed beer advertising. Perhaps “subjected” isn’t an entirely accurate expression since I certainly have the option to reach for the remote and switch to another channel during commercial breaks. But this I seldom do and maybe it’s simply because I’m lazy. On the other hand, perhaps it’s due to some weird, innate desire for self-flagellation—the sort of thing that makes you see how long you can hold your hand over a flame, or pick at a scab, or probe with your tongue at a toothache.

Before I go on I must state that I have an antipathy for a good percentage of television commercials in general. While some are creative productions that succeed at pitching their products without insulting the intelligence of the viewer, I feel the vast majority are silly, irritating, and/or just plain stupid. I want to further state that despite the fact that our store is primarily a purveyor of craft beer, I harbor no antagonism for the mass marketed brands and I’m not ashamed of the fact that I occasionally consume them. I just shake my head sometimes at the inane ways that the mega-corporate entities choose to promote their products.

What I’m referring to, of course, are commercials that tout supposedly unique brewing processes that are recognized as shams by anyone with a modicum of beer savvy. And then there are the ads that focus on packaging and the purported ways that cans and bottles can enhance the beer drinking experience.

I recognize, of course, that the purpose of advertising is to keep the brand in the minds of the consumers and this is even more important when there is little or no difference among the competing products. But when the ad campaigns sink to the level of ridiculousness that we of late have been seeing, it’s enough to force even the laziest man to reach for the remote.

Craft breweries do a miniscule amount of television advertising, but when they do it’s interesting to note the different approaches that are taken. The following TV commercials are for Breckenridge Brewery. Enjoy.

The Origin and Hopeful Return of "Highball" to Common Speak

Forget how much it sounds like a field sport for stoners, "highball" is a once-popular term for a tall mixed drink, also a word the boss believes should be returned to common parlance.

Bulleit Rye & Water

By Steve Siciliano

Recently I heard my father ask my mother if she would care for a highball. I found this amusing for a couple of reasons. For one, my mother rarely drinks except for an occasional glass of sweet wine or a tumbler of Baily’s on the rocks. For another, how many times do you hear a mixed drink referred to as a highball?

Because I was curious as to how this word become part of the lexicon, I visited the Online Etymology Dictionary and there found that highball dates from 1898 and was derived from the words ball, a drink of whiskey, and high, a reference to a tall glass. I also learned from Wikipedia that highball originally referred to a Scotch and soda but eventually became a catchword for any mixed drink comprised of a spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic mixer. During a recent visit to the Tip Top Deluxe I ordered a highball and Jackie, who has been bartending for almost eight years, looked at me like I had antennae sprouting from my head.

Obviously the word highball has, for whatever reason, faded into obscurity and that, I think, is unfortunate because highball is a fine word that deserves to be brought back into the mainstream vocabulary. I believe that this can be done if we all work together. Just be prepared for strange looks for a while from bartenders.

The Wisdom of Vito Brunelli

Fiction by Steve Siciliano

In exchange for the six hours he spent raking leaves at the Dominican convent Vito Brunelli got a ham sandwich, a twenty dollar bill and a holy card with Raphael’s crucifixion on the front and the Serenity Prayer on the back. He stuck the bill in his pants pocket, the holy card in his shirt pocket and tossed the half-eaten sandwich to a dog that was licking a Slim Jim wrapper on the sidewalk in front of C’s Convenience Store. He leaned on the five iron that he used for a cane and rubbed his aching right knee before going into the store for a package of Bugler cigarette tobacco and two fifths of Wild Irish Rose.

Two hours later he stumbled into a clearing next to a stretch of abandoned railroad tracks where three men were huddled around a camp fire passing a bottle. He sat at the base of a small tree, took a long, final swig of wine, tossed the empty bottle in a high arc towards the tracks, then took the pouch of tobacco out of his shirt pocket and began rolling a cigarette. “Hello you lousy, drunken bums,” he said.

“This here’s a private party,” said a man who was sitting on a ripped lawn chair and poking at the fire with a stick. “Ain’t no cheap ass wops allowed. Ain’t that right, Lennie?”

Lennie was standing next to the fire warming his hands. “He can stay if he got more wine. You got more wine there, Vito?”

“If I did I wouldn’t share it with you bums.”

“Look who’s calling us bums,” said another man sitting on a five-gallon bucket and looking at a Hustler.

“I think there ain’t nothing worse than a cheap ass wop,” the first man said. “I ever tell you guys about them cheap ass wop tires?”

“Shut up with that damn joke already, Dugan,” said Vito.

“Dago through mud, dago through snow…”

“Shut your trap,” Vito said again, “or I’ll run this here goddamn five iron down your throat.”

“…and when dago flat, dago wop, wop, wop.”

When Vito was trying to get up Lennie reached over and grabbed the five iron. “What you going to do now you cheap ass wop cripple?”

Vito knew it could have been worse. He felt lucky that he had gotten out of the fight with only bruised ribs, a sprained right hand and a swollen left eye. He felt lucky even though Lennie broke the shaft of his five iron against a tree trunk and now, leaning against the iron railing outside the Catholic church, he felt lucky that it was raining. He knew the rain would make him look even more forlorn and more forlorn meant more money in the tattered baseball cap he was holding. Vito waited for the people to file out after the Saturday evening Mass, and when he took the pouch of Bugler out of his shirt pocket the holy card came out along with it. Leaning against the iron railing in the cold, steady rain, he read the Serenity Prayer in the light of a flood lamp.

While he limped in the rain down Division Avenue, the change heavy in his pocket, his knee hurting, his ribs aching, Vito Brunelli prayed that God would give him the courage to change the things in his life that he could and the serenity to accept the things that he couldn’t. He knew that he had enough money in his pocket to get his cane back from the pawn shop. That would be a start. He imagined that if he tried real hard there were some things that he could change; other things it didn't much matter what he did, the change would never come. When he was in front of the house where he rented a room he stood on the sidewalk trying to decide which was which. Then he limped across the street to the convenience store, and thanked God for giving him the wisdom to know the difference.

Rye Whiskey - For All the Rye Reasons

By Steve Siciliano

In the Academy Award winning film The Lost Weekend (see trailer below), Ray Milan won an Oscar for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer who goes on a three-day drinking binge. Strictly from the perspective of a purveyor of packaged spirits, I find it interesting that the booze Milan’s character imbibed on his bender was cheap rye whiskey.

Until recently one would have a difficult time finding enough rye on liquor store shelves to get a good buzz on let alone fuel a weekend drinking spree. Rye at one time was the predominate whiskey in America, especially in the northeastern states, but after prohibition it gradually sank into obscurity. It is now being produced again by a small group of distillers and is making a small yet noticeable comeback.

In order for whiskey to be designated as “rye” in the United States it must be made from a mash consisting of at least 51% rye with corn and barley making up the remaining ingredients. It is distilled to no less than 80 proof and is aged in charred, new oak barrels. The preponderance of rye in the mash imparts distinctive, spicy notes to the whiskies that are noticeably drier than those made predominately from corn, wheat and barley. Siciliano’s currently has three rye whiskies from three different distilleries on the shelves: Jim Beam Rye ($19.97), Bulliet Rye ($25.95), and Redemption Rye, ($28.98). All come in 750ml sizes.

While it is doubtful that rye will ever replace Bourbon and blended American or Canadian whiskeys in popularity, its distinctive flavor offers a fine alternative, either as a straight sipper or as the main feature in a variety of classic cocktails.

Collaboration and symbiosis in the craft beer world

When it comes to selling, serving, or brewing craft beer, no one business can afford to be an island unto itself (a peninsula maybe).

By Steve Siciliano

The other day when Barb and I were at Founders one of the bartenders mentioned that he recently sent some folks our way who were looking for some Michigan beers. I thanked him and said that we in turn direct many out-of-towners to the brew pub.

I love having this type of rapport with Founders, Hop Cat and other local brew pubs and craft beer bars. We are always referring folks to these establishments and they constantly send customers to our store. Sharing the common denominator of craft beer, our businesses have formed mutually beneficial associations that I like calling symbiotic relationships.

Two ancient Greek words meaning “living” and “together” combine to form the word symbiosis. It is a term that was initially used by anthropologists to describe how people in a community have to cooperate to live together. The word has, however, been appropriated by biologists and today is most often used to describe the mutually beneficial relationships that exist between separate biological species. Because I feel that it’s an apt way to describe the cooperative attitude that exists within the craft beer industry as a whole, I’m appropriating it back.

There is a refreshing non-competitiveness amongst folks in the craft beer community. Unlike mega breweries that spend millions on advertising trying to snatch a bigger piece of the market, the vast majority of craft brewers seem more interested in spending their dollars on producing quality beer. And unlike the big boys, craft brewers are eager to share ideas, knowledge and resources. I highly doubt, for an example, that we’ll ever see a collaboration brew from MillerCoors and Anheuser Busch.

Doubtless this spirit of cooperation exists because craft brewers realize that the strength of the individual enhances the strength of the whole and that synergy rather than cut throat competitiveness is the key to the continued success of the craft beer community. I feel fortunate indeed to be part of a community that realizes that symbiotic relationships can be mutually beneficial and more productive than Machiavellian business tactics.