Garrett Oliver on the Crimes Against Beer

I don't agree with this completely as some beer bars have been overzealous about tempreture ... serving an Imperial Stout @ 55*F is great and all but if the glassware is at room temp and the bartender / waitstaff don't get it to you with in a few mins of it being served then you are essentially being served warm beer. Much prefer a well run beer bar that serves the beer cold (not freezing) and then I can take my time with it.

 

Absolutely agree with everything he says and it is great to see this go more mainstream.

 

maybe there would be less crime against beer if interviewee's didn't come off so smug and elitist. these "crimes" are way oversimplified. it all starts with education. craft brewers should be proactive and start with educating and not finger pointing.

 

Nice article! Birch and Baley's Church's Key in DC is a pretty phenomenal craft-brew bar!

 

It is unfortunate when every other server and most bartenders at the restaurant where I work come to me to ask questions during their shift. I know there is a lot to know about beer (and I certainly don't know ALL of it, nowhere close) but it is our JOB in the restaurant industry to know our products. If you can describe every ingredient in every dish and how it is prepared, then why don't you take the time to learn a LITTLE about beer? Say, the difference between ale and lager.

Often I hear my co-workers say: "Ales are the dark ones." D'OH!!

I think the restaurant needs to seriously push beer knowledge.

 

I would like to see more press but specifically ones that aren't about the best beer in the world or something only 5% of the population has access to.

 

I agree. Several years ago, the Hartford Courant published a column by a local attorney and it was a great read. Think it was only once a month but he would review several beers, usually based on the season or around some other theme. This was actually prior to the craft bandwagon. Now I only see wine reviews in the paper.

 

Garrett can seem pompous at times, but He knows what he's talking about. I do take issue with one thing he said in # 5. There is no way "craft beer" is more popular than wine. Beer is more popular than wine but craft beer is at best only 10% of the beer market.

 

My dead pan response to that? "I'll have a 2006 Lou Pepe Kriek then..."

I have been met with many odd stares.

 

Pretty much agree with all of this.

I found it interesting that he blames the brewers (partial blame) for improper glassware at restaurants.

I can live with improper glassware if it's nothing too special.

What really gets me though, is dirty and chilled glassware. I was out last month and had a beer served to me ice cold in a frosted glass. No joke, it gave me a brain freeze. It's not helping craft beer gain any more fans if it's served to people too cold to enjoy.

I also would have liked if he offered what he thought might help fix these provlems

 

That is a good point.

 

Complete and concise, I like it.

Fixing the problem? Read what he's saying, do the opposite of what's being done now.

 

After he came on here and ridiculed the bullshit of Shelton Bros. and stood up to them, I got a new respect for Mr. Oliver. This article just underlines the sincere intelligence of one of our best brewers. Cheers! Garrett

 

I don't really care about glassware or temperature. Beer tastes great out of a shaker and if it's too cold, you can let it warm up for 2 minutes. I only ask that I get clean, non-chilled glasses of beer from clean tap lines, and that you at least have a cursory understanding of what you're dispensing. I don't need vivid descriptions and recommendations and food pairings, but at least know enough to not stare at me for 5 seconds wondering if I ordered a craft beer or an oddly named cocktail.

The craft beer explosion is a very recent occurrence. You can't expect people to treat it like wine when they were raised to think that wine is fancy and expensive and beer is cheap junk to get you drunk. As the younger generations turn 21, I think we will start to see a more dramatic shift in thinking.

 

While I don't consider it terribly recent, you're right that it even took good wine to become a little more accepted in the 'States -- recall the term "wino?" There was a time when cheap wine was the choice of the street bum.

That said, I don't think it took as long to turn many people around to the difference between good and bad wine as it seems to be taking to turn people on to good beer vs. bad.

I'm lucky that there are a few places around me that are embracing good beer and helping others to do the same, but there are twice as many places who read off the list of BMC on tap before they get to the "weird crap."

 

I wonder how he feels about Lagunitas serving their beers in custom mason jars if he has an issue with restaurants serving in "jelly jars". For most styles, it isn't going to hurt your drinking experience , but you won't be able to be as ostentatious as you might like.

 

I like the mason jar glasses, especially the Lagunitas ones, those are pretty nice.

 

The whole mason/jelly jar trend is a bit annoying to me even if some brewers are latching on to it. I dislike drinking out of them.

 

Bootlegger's Brewery uses mason jars at their brewery tap room and I quite enjoy drinking out of them as well. It allows me to appreciate beer as a social lubricant and not just an art to be dissected and presented in a myriad ways.

 

Amen to that