Day 194 – The Power of PI and Hops

Well, I hit another milestone...sort of. 314 different beers.

For math geeks, 314 are the first three digits of PI. So Ratebeer serenaded me with a music video of some women singing the digits of PI. It lasted about a minute and a half, which was about 80 seconds longer than it needed to be. Truly, after the first ten seconds, I'd gotten the joke and was ready to move on.

In the past week I've sampled 16 different beers, well above my average (what can I say? I'm an overachiever). Sadly, not many are worth writing about. Only one was truly bad, however. Pyramid's Juggernaut Red Ale was nearly as bitter as an IPA. If you like IPAs, then try this because you'll like it. Otherwise skip it. I wish I had. It's like that song from Janet Jackson. "Nasty...nasty beer!"

You know, I'm getting really tired of writing "with a bitter finish" in the tasting notes. 10 out of 16 had that characterization. What is it with breweries and their devotees who think hops are the answer? Eat a frickin' pine cone, if that's what you want!

Beer is made of two ingredients - malt and hops. Malt is sweet and hops are bitter. One balances the other. Ying and yang. I don't want sweet any more than I want bitter. I want beer taste that is balanced. As in not sweet OR bitter. That takes skill. It takes knowledge of how sweet the malt is and knowing just how much of a certain hop it takes to counter that. Any moron can throw a bunch of hops into the mix. It doesn't make them a brewmaster.

It has to be an American thing. I encounter bitterness far more often in American craft brews than I do in beers from other countries. Strong and flavorful doesn't mean bitter in spite of what Starbucks says. A pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. Give me an Adnams any day. Beats the shit out of that Pyramid crap I had to choke down today.

It's not the style, either. Amber ale is well represented in my book by New Belgium's Fat Tire, Lost Coast's Alleycat, Oak Creek's Amber Ale, Eel River's Amber Ale, Bell's Amber Ale, Widmer's Drop Top Amber Ale, Sam Adams Boston Ale, and Prescott's Liquid Amber Ale. Hello? Anyone listening? There's a hop shortage because too many so-called breweries have adopted the philosophy that if some hops are good, a bunch are better. Isn't beer sometimes referred to as liquid bread? Hey! When grapefruit bread becomes popular, you let me know, okay?

Beer snob or voice of the people? Connoisseur or unsophisticate? Whichever, I definitely know what I like and dislike and bitter beer is in the latter category.

To paraphrase Warsteiner, life is too short to drink bitter beer.

"Pohjanmaan kautta " is either Finnish for "Bottoms up" or the noise one makes when drinking some of the horse pee that passes for beer in this country.

Not that I'm bitter, mind you.


Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........317.....194
Remaining......207.....171