Why are we waiting to drink good beer?

Ou qu'est ce qu'on attend pour boire de la bonne bière?

The French have nothing holding them back from drinking great craft beer, so what are they waiting for?

More beer bars.

More craft beer outlets.

 François Moutou the réalisateur of this mini documentary about the rising French craft beer is on a mission to show France and the rest of the world, that there IS a craft beer culture brewing in the land of wine and cheese.

Moutou is looking to progress his 3 minute long short film into a full length documentary with English subtitles and commentary for non French speakers.

With a beautiful marina view, fantastic bagel sandwiches from one of the best places in Paris and, of course beer from my new favorite cave à bière, the two of us hatched out ideas for the full project.

Completely beer geeking out!

Luckily Moutou is a beer geek with a fancy phone, so he was checking in on Untappd (add me!) and we have evidence of our productivity.

 Started out with a Danish 'American Pale Ale' called Fanø Vestkyst from Fanø Bryghus that paired beautifully with our roast beef, avocado and other amazing ness bagel-wiches.

Yeast on the nose, but clean and fresh on the palate, finishes with a nice citrus hop bite that is mild and delightful.

Rooie Dop was pushed on us by St. Bière owner as one of his newest most loved beers and, although very interesting, I continue to have problems with this brewery. A pungent over ripe fruit smell persists throughout and the watery finish is less than desirable.

"Something is keeping me from liking it..."

I can see why many would rank this as a fantastic beer, seeing as how it's bold use of hops is striking, but there is a touch of unbalance that keeps me from loving it.

Hemel & Aarde or Heaven & Hell started us down the track of destruction. The after taste is better than the beer. Lingering smokey, woody and boozy notes hang on with delicious grace. One of those beers that is more fun to smell and savor than actually drink.

Vanilla, rye, roasty malts, dry wood and whiskey.

Pick this one up if you love William Blake and sipping beers.

Estraomnes Donker Imperial Stout.

What better way to finish a lunch meeting than to completely melt one's face off with a blast of peppery spice and coffee. Pulling back from Heaven & Hell's 9.8% abv to Donker's 8.5% just shows that alcohol content does not the beer make because although lower in alcohol Donker's boozy punch was much more evident.

Business is a pleasure!

Bike helmet in hand, France's beer culture documentarian set off to the office while I am the proud owner of four empty bottles and a head full of new ideas. Keep checking back for more updates on the growth of a beer nation!

XOXO

 

The Art and Culture of Craft Beer with Chad Henderson

Standing waist deep in the excavated floor of a building, prying eroded 67 year old plumbing up that smelled rusted sewage, Chad Henderson was grimacing through sweat and smiling on the inside. A big smile. He was upgrading to his dream job, working hard to make it happen- paying the bills and living the beer culture. Home brewer with a degree in Psychology, Biology and Physiology from Appalachian State turned professional brewer. A dream come true in more ways then one.

They sat me down and said, "would you like to be our brewer" and I screamed "Yes!"

Chad Henderson is head brewer at NoDa brewing in Charlotte NC, USA and says that "we are using craft beer as a vehicle to express ourselves."

TEDxCharlotte-

http://youtu.be/gwa7vACB0X8

It wasn't just the discovery of beer in his college years that inspired him begin following the home brewing hobby:

“This was beer that had a story, this was beer that had a purpose”

“...tucked in under the alcohol production and distribution industry, an industry in itself that really was more of a community, more of a culture. And I became obsessed with it. And that culture was craft beer.”

“The diversity and detail and the amount of history that went into craft beer blew my mind.”

Not only was Chad able to eventually switch from the medical field to professional brewing but he found himself conversing with one of his beer idols: Sam Calagione. Sam was the "beer-lebrity" Chad had always wanted to meet and later found homself exchanging more then words of encouragement and thanks with the beer culture icon when a packaged arrived for Chad containing cards, swag and his favorite beer: Olde School Barleywine.

Sam himself is a veteran of the TED stage:

http://youtu.be/XAvE61JqkQs

Both speeches are inspirational and comedic- referencing the on going movement of the beer cultured. 

XOXO

 

Beer Culture Hopumentary

http://youtu.be/x1bGPqBjtHM

This hour long flick runs us through the beer culture of the North American state of Colorado. Featuring great music, well handled camera shots, beautiful editing and some in dept conversation about the craft beer society in Colorado. Show casing Upslope brewery, New Belgium, Equinox, Avery, Left hand, Oskar Blues and Wynkoop (the guys who made good on their April Fools joke).

[caption id="attachment_633" align="alignright" width="290"] Charlie Papazian, King of Craft Beer[/caption]

You learn some fun facts and see some familiar faces, Charlie Papazian being the required beer ambassador to any hopumentary.

Most are hunky dory with success stories, jokes on how stupid yet determined they were on fledgeling micro brewery start ups and how through all odds they were able to pull together their love of community with a few bubbly brews.

The down sloping aspect of the film was the Upslope guys. Call it my yeasty sense but I didn't give a hoot about the guy backing the brewery because I felt like he was one of those people who had seen beer culture pop up and figured it was a sure thing investment. After his wife looked him in the eye, pen to the paper of their second mortgage and told him that he had better make this thing work, the guy seems to have lost all connection to the joy of the brew. His Argintian brewer looks like a dedicated, honest bloke with the American Dream stamped on his back, while the backer was just that- the money and the idea on back of another's dream dust.

[caption id="attachment_635" align="alignleft" width="300"] Manly or Boring?[/caption]

Two things that closed the door to Nitch's love of Upslope: the labeling of the beer (on cans, because that is the cool thing to do now) which was reminiscent of the silver bullet advertising from Coors and an odd joke about alien immigrants. When setting up their new China made fermenter the owner joked about there being a Chinese person stashed away in the delivery truck. Does beer culture need to be part of comedy about how horrible the work conditions are in a country that people would hide themselves in the manufactured items simply to escape? Perhaps it is one of those "need to be there to get it" kinda things or my dislike for all things made in china got in the way. Can one buy a new fermenter made in America? Upslope seems like a business that takes cues from it's competitors and cuts moral corners to make ends meet.

Equinox had the right of way with talking almost entirely on how they use local products as much as possible. Not all the time, but to the best possible degree. Beer culture is more then just money and beer. This concept of keeping it local was driven home by the finalizing debate over the Colorado liquor store changes.

"The consumer thinks beer is beer. We think beer is beer," Jason Hopfer in an attempt to lobby for the equal right of chain markets to sell higher alcohol.

[caption id="attachment_634" align="alignleft" width="300"] New Belgium Brewery[/caption]

Beer Culture isn't beer is beer or boring as plain. It displays the passion involved in the beer society surrounding Colorado and the diversity of the time. As with all these films, I await future installments to determine rather or not craft beer bubble burst, breweries get stucked into Macro world or if dopple gangers saturate the once blissful world of brotherly beer love. Time will tell.

XOXO