Maybe Rice Ain't So Bad

NEW YORK. We all know that Budweiser is brewed with rice to mellow it. But maybe rice can be a constituent of real beer after all. The 183-year-old Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki, Japan, makes an ale with a blend of specialty rice strains and sake yeasts, following it's tradition of making fine sake.

The NY Times noted that the beer is being served in upscale, jackets-required places like NYC's Per Se.

We sampled three beers from the market leader, Hitachino Nest (Kiuchi Brewery): Red Rice Ale, White Ale, and their Weitzen, just to understand the new craze.

The Red Rice Ale's origin is interesting. The U.S. importer of the brand convinced the brewery to use the same red rice the brewer used in rare sake. It's a very cloudy, reddish colored ale, with a massive, beautiful, reddish head that lasts forever. (And you know what we're talking about, men.) Lovely, fruit-plus-rice aroma. Very interesting. Nice, full mouthfeel. It's got a crisp, sweet bite to it, with a nice, sweet, fruity finish. Well done.

Not too surprising that it's caught on. The owner/chef of NYC's Momofuku says it's his best selling beer.

The Weizen is a cloudy, but much lighter beer, that has the most "normal beer" taste of the three. Mild aroma, sweet finish, good mouthfeel. This beer would make Belgians proud: it's very close to their white beers (although the brewery claims it's a German-style beer).

The White Ale was the strangest-tasting, and our least favorite, although the brewery claims it's a best-seller. It has the strongest aroma, but it's hard to place what the fruity aroma is. Sour cherries? Orange? Like the others, it's cloudy, but nicely colored. The head vanishes almost immediately. Like the others, it has a good mouthfeel and is crisp tasting. But the strangeness of the aroma didn't thrill us.

All of these are well worth trying, and we're searching for their other types, such their Pale Ale, Stout, and Classic Ale.

More N.A. Taste Testing

Prague. With the Czech Republic being the home of the pilsner beer, it's not too surprising that they've been experimenting with non-alcoholic beers. We've been impressed at the number you can find here.

Today, we found a couple of imported n.a. beers to try (interestingly enough, at a hospital convenient store).

First, one we'd never seen before: Oranjeboom ("orange tree"), from a Dutch brewery, which originated back as far as 1671 in one form or another, and is now owned by InBev. This has the lowest alcohol of anything we've seen: 0.1%. They call it a "non-alcoholic malt beverage." The word "beer" appears nowhere on the label.

Excitement rose as it poured: beautiful, rich, golden color, and frothy head. The look of this n.a. beer would fool anybody. As expected, no aroma to speak of. The taste? Hard to place. It has hints of caramel and...orange, believe it or not. The faintest of beer taste lingering in there somewhere. It's a chimera on the tongue, very hard to place. But, good mouth feel and very refreshing and drinkable. We'll definitely pick this one up again for a taste.

Next, we picked up a big name: Clausthaler "Extra Herb". This is probably the granddaddy of n.a. brews, dating back to 1979! Ok: it pours well, with a tall head, and the color is really light. It's got the aroma of a light beer. And the taste and mouthfeel? Light beer. Maybe we picked up really fresh bottles but, man, we'd be hard pressed to distinguish this from a real, light American beer. It's got a tiny tangy finish that might give it away, but a blindfold taste-test might fool us. If you like light American beers, this is a great alternative for you.

The company says it uses a special yeast in a patented process that doesn't produce as much fermentable sugar (maltose), rather than the other methods of n.a production. They even offer 5 other varieties of n.a. beers!

Brewing Non-alcoholic Beers

NEW YORK-PRAGUE. We're fascinated by the brewing process. A bigger mystery to us, however, was how n.a. beers are brewed.

It turns out that there are several techniques to 'get the lead out' of beer. First, we've seen a suggestion to use high heat to remove the alcohol from regular beer, but we'd assume this would hurt taste. Second, you can freeze regular beer and pour off the alcohol. Most brewers use filtering (dialysis or reverse osmosis) to filter out the alcohol.

Biologically, you might interrupt the fermentation by quick pasteurization, once the desired alcohol level is reached. Fifth, you can, apparently, use certain strains of yeast that ferment only simple sugars. Finally, the yeast might be filtered out early to prevent full fermentation.

A serious, technical explanation of this process can be found here, posted by home-brewer Nicholas Franke, who tried some methods.

N.a. beers might be good to drink for the health benefits. Here's an explanation.

And some athletes swear by the drink, including at least one ironman triathlete.

Drinkin' and Drivin': Non-alcoholic Beers

NEW YORK. Increased awareness over the hazards inherent in alcohol consumption and operating heavy machinery has led to a surge in the amount of non-alcoholic beers on the market. We're thankful for this trend, and we'll be sampling these periodically and reporting back on this page.

While stuck for four-and-a-half hours at JFK airport yesterday (making a total of 12+ hours of airline delays for me in one 24-hour period, but who's counting), I thought I'd start the tastings.

The restaurant offered St. Pauli N.A. in bottles (we've yet to see a non-alcoholic brew on tap, but we're looking). The company claims it's the #1 imported N.A. beer in the U.S. It sports an alcohol content of 0.5%, so it's not for everyone.

There is no aroma to speak of, but the color is golden and pleasant. The head is somewhat flat but real enough. The taste is quite good, but very light. The finish is a pretty strong caramel. Not bad, but maybe a little too strong. Overall, quite drinkable, and recommended.

Another interesting mention is that the St. Pauli girl on the bottle a) has let her hair down, b) wears a thinner red choker, c) has gotten a little younger, and d) carries smaller mugs. The significance of all this in unknown.

Moving along, half a world away, on the same day, we tested Radegast Birell, brought to us by the same folks as Pilsner Urquell. This beer is probably the biggest Czech n.a. beer. A tad less alcohol: 0.49%. It's named after a slavic god of hospitality and crops.



The color is very light. But the head on this beer is for real. It's gorgeous, frothy, and white. We wish the taste was as bold. Alas, it's whisper-light. We'd call the taste "beer-like." It's got almost no finish and little mouth-feel. That's not to say that it might have it's place in the pantheon of drinks, but it's just not beer.

Czech Micro-Micro-Brewery: Vendelin

PRAGUE. Our travel schedule is filling up. Added to our ever-growing list of beer-cursions is Vendelin Krkoska's tiny micro-brewery in Vratislavice (near Liberec, northeast of Prague).

Mr. Krkoska has been brewing "Vendelin" since 1999, when he built his backyard pivovar (brewery) for about $4000 USD. His production maxes out at 100 liters a day. Only one pub has it on tap, but you can drive up yourself and buy a 50 liter keg ($41 USD), or sit and drink in his barn.

While we haven't yet had the pleasure of sampling the beer, his unpasteurised masterpiece is said to taste slightly sweet. One secret? All water used is from a spring on his property, with pure water coming from deep inside the Jizerske Mountains. Another? Rather than the steam process used by bigger breweries, he boils his beer using an open fire.

Word of his beer has traveled, and he's been approached to build breweries for others. He's already completed one for a Czech-run microbrewery in Honduras.

Hittin' the Night Train at Subway Inn

NEW YORK. Subway Inn, is a classic, seedy, NY drinking establishment lurking in the unlikely shadow of Bloomingdales, that upscale fashion house. Walking over to the Subway Inn across Lexington Ave., you are immediately struck by the red neon curves of the bar sign that seems completely out of place with the uppity stores that surround it. Once inside, you are immediately transported to another world, one where you might expect to run into Mike Hammer sitting on a stool, or any host of unsavory characters from a noir film like Hans Beckert, and quite a few drunks stooped over their drinks. The place dates back to the 1930s and is proud to broadcast its age and dinginess in the form of a dust-encrusted deco veneer and the blackened mirrors of the bar. But what strikes you most are the red neon lights which bathe the place in a brothel-like glow. It's a dive bar, pure and simple, and thus the perfect place for a beer. As you might expect, drinks are cheap, ranging from Corona, Brooklyn Lager, Yuengling, Budweiser to Bud Lite. Yuengling and Brooklyn Lager are the picks of the bunch. Years ago, drinks were served in perfectly chilled mugs, but regrettably times have changed and today you can only buy beer in bottles. We recently hunkered down in one of the vinyl booths to toss back a few brews and soak up the bad amateur art, the ubiquitous photos of Marilyn Monroe and the curios that line the top of the bar-- including a Godzilla figure and a number of boats. Be sure to stop by the juke box which features an eclectic selection of musical styles and tastes. Another unique feature, and a rare treat, is trying to navigate the bathroom after a few shots-- it seems someone thought it would be funny if the bathroom floor sloped dramatically making some "activities" more challenging than normal. We encourage you to visit the Inn soon because this landmark's days are numbered. Like so many other places in New York, the building where it's housed has been sold for $6.3 million doubtless to be replaced by some characterless storefront. Subway Inn, 143 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022. Tel. (212) 223-8929

Lance Loves Us

NEW YORK. We don't confine ourselves to just beer and golf here. We're also runners. So, we were heartened at Lance Armstrong's comments after his (excellent) finish in yesterday's NYC Marathon.

There were two choice quotes. Today's Metro newspaper said that, after he "shuffled into" the press conference, he said, "In 20 years of pro sports and endurance sports, even the worst days on the Tour, nothing felt like that or left me the way I feel now." And when asked if he'd do another marathon, he said, "I don't know how these guys do it."

Because we love it, Lance. It's kind of like the old biker bumpersticker: "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand."

Community of Beer

Here's an interesting site we stumbled across a while back: www.ratebeer.com. Essentially, it's an online community that you can join to rate beers and chat. They claim to have thousands of members.

Their overall ratings are good, but slanted toward American ales. Not surprising, considering the overwhelming majority of the members are Americans, and the membership is heavily slanted toward Californians, which might explain California's big showing in the rankings.

That said, individual reviews are heartfelt and earnest. A tip of the frosty mug goes out to the reviewers!

Beering it up at Ole Miss

Tailgating at Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. – Tailgating in the United States, especially in the South, is a recognized art form. No where is this more apparent than during crisp fall days on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. where tailgating in The Grove is a renowned football tradition. I had the great fortune to head down there last weekend to catch the Ole Miss – Auburn game and throw back lots of beer.

On game day thousands collect in The Grove, an area of about 10 acres of thick oak, elm and magnolia. Festivities begin around 6 a.m. when the men head over to their tents to set up and prepare for the day’s festivities. It’s a massive party – part cocktail party with the men dressed up in blazers and rep ties and the ladies in dresses – part frat party with prodigious amounts of drinking – even though technically, drinking is not allowed in The Grove.

Tables dressed to perfection struggle under the weight of all sorts of homemade food from fried chicken, sausage balls, pimento cheese dips, chips, sandwiches, brownies, cookies, cakes and pies. A recent addition to many of the tents is a flat screen TV making tracking the day’s football games a breeze and helping to extend the partymaking well beyond the end of the game. This past weekend, many had their tables decked out in pumpkins and other Halloween finery.

Of course, the critical ingredient for me and many of my fellow tailgaters actually lies underneath the tables. That’s where you’ll get access to the coolers holding the beer. My friend’s tent decided to keep it simple – sticking to all-American beverages – MGD, Miller Lite and Budweiser.

I sat there thinking about Bud and why one in every two beers consumed in America is a Bud. It’s always been known as a pounding beer – which I still think it is. I poured my Bud out being careful to get lots of air in it and noticed that the head dissipated quickly. It smelled a bit of rice and almost not at all of hops. It’s a very pale yellow color. Going down it’s a little bitter, watery and I feel like a can also taste some of the beechwood chips that they use in the aging process and that supposedly contributes to its smoothness. The beer is way too carbonated as it goes down the throat. One thing that it does have going for it is its nice clean finish – this is probably the biggest reason for its drinkability. It’s a beer that’s got to be very cold to be enjoyable.

Thus passed my perfectly enjoyable Fall afternoon -- amid the throngs of fans and reverberations of the Rebel battle cry, “Hotty Totty” drinking beer after cold refreshing beer watching the games on TV, chatting up the locals, and eyeing up the Ole Miss football team as they march through along the Walk of Champions, the brick path that runs through the Grove, to the Vaught Hemingway Stadium.

Although Ole Miss did wind up losing to Auburn 24 – 17, from scene of revelry in the Grove, you’d never know it.

Battle of the Titans: Cheap Beers Go Head-to-Head

PRAGUE. In the neverending quest for more, better, different, we decided to go bottom of the barrel to sample three of the cheapest bottled beers we could get our hands on.

Now, this being the Czech Republic, we expected that even the cheapest brews would rank higher than some of the major-label cheap beers we grew up on. (Reminds us of the description Sid Vicious was rumored to have given of his "girlfriend" Nancy Spungen: 'the kind of girl who licks out toilets.' Which might lead some to think she enjoyed the taste of Bud Lite.)

We were not disappointed. They blow away the American competition, hands down.

The three were Klasik, from the folks that bring you Pilsner Urquell, Měšt'an (which roughly translates as "townie" or "bourgeois"), from the Staropramen brewery in Prague (owned by big InBev), and a grocery-store generic called Lahváč (slang, which means, literally, "bottled beer"), from the Holba brewery (in Hanušovice in northern Moravia, near the Polish border).

Klasik is the priciest of our three, weighing in a budget-breaking 7 Czech crowns (that's 32 U.S. cents, plus bottle deposit, even in these days of rock-bottom dollar exchange rates) for a half liter bottle (that's basically a pint, folks). At 3.8% alcohol, it's a light beer.

Měšt'an was our former cheap-o champ, at 5.90 crowns (27 U.S. cents, plus deposit). It now even comes in the handy 1.5 liter plastic bottle too! At 3.2% alcohol, it's the lowest of the three.

Lahváč was one we hadn't seen before. It cost a budget-busting 4.30 crowns (19.5 cents, plus a deposit that was only 1 crown less than the full bottle itself). It's got 3.5% alcohol. A true "lawnmower beer" in the truest sense (that is, nothing better to drink on a hot summer day while pushing around the mower--an American tradition).

First, in beers this light, forget aroma. There isn't any. Second, as to appearance, none has the beautiful, golden color of a great pilsner (but neither does any big American so-called "pilsner"). So skip these tasting points.

Drum roll, please. The cheap bottled beer November 2nd 2006 award goes to Měšt'an. Out of the three, it has the biggest taste. It's remarkably drinkable (although we'd avoid the plastic bottle--it's not bourgeois enough for us). Klasik has a poor mouthfeel and a funny, sweet finish that we couldn't place: wood? Lahváč, while it had the best foamy, white head, and the best color, is just a plain, old light beer; simple, nothing to write home about. But buy it when your budget is tight. Měšt'an, while being the flattest (unfortunately), actually has a little bit of complexity to it.

After conducting this non-scientific taste-testing, we weren't surprised to find that Měšt'an actually won Czech beer of the year in 1996 (the PIVEX Golden Cup award).

We'd spend our 27 cents on Měšt'an. Save up your 8 cents to buy it instead of Lahváč, and save your 5 cents over Klasik. And, of course, return the bottle.

Zingerone Gingerol Beer

NEW YORK. Did you find drinking Ginger Beer as a kid gave you the sense that you were drinking a somewhat better soft drink/soda/pop/coke?

The stuff simply has more gravitas; in flavour, packaging, and it's very nature of being brewed. Like real beer.

Was reminded of this whilst ripping into a superb Fentimans Botanically Brewed Ginger Beer with a tremendous cheese sandwich from the nonpareil Murray's Cheese. Wonderful balance of sweetness and ginger burn, to wash down a classic parkbench lunch in Greenwich Village.

Of particular interest, was the disclosure that this zesty elixir had "not more than 0.5% alcohol by volume". Clearly brewed, and proud of it.

Reminded me of the selection not too long ago of a Hitachino Nest Ginger Ale to go with some sushi, carted back for a desk lunch. Packaging looked innocent enough, it's just the soft stuff, right ? POW ! First sip revealed a real punch; not just of ginger, but of ... actual booze. It's a magnificent concoction with the richness of 4 malts AND 3 hops goodness, from the exceedingly high quality Kiuchi Brewery.

At 7% a/v it would have been great to finish right there. But you'd agree, tucking into beers at work, is great if you work at a brewery, but in a cube farm, somewhat career limiting. So, sadly down the sink it went.

By the way. The heading, whilst sounding like a great new album title for a ironic postmodern 80's synthesizer-guitar revival band, is actually two of the active components in ginger, before and during the brewing process.