Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference 2015 and Inspiration for Tomorrow

I love beer. And I relish the peace writing brings to my life. So why have I had such a difficult time putting these two things together the past few months? In the early days of this blog I felt like I could write three posts a week on the subject and read thirty others, but just like an IPA that sits on the shelf a little too long, slowly losing its’ hoppy potency, I’m not the blogger I once was.

I’m content with the change, but before I decided which direction to take on my blogging journey I decided to make a trip to Asheville, NC for the Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference hoping to discover anew that which made me want to write about beer in the first place.

Debates about Macro vs Craft, discussing metaphorical bubbles, tracking brewery growth…all of these things intrigue me in their own way, but they are dreadfully boring to talk about on a weekly basis and only serve to take me further away from what I truly love about beer. I found myself trying to write popular posts I’d find elsewhere on the web. You know the posts I’m talking about. The ever more popular amateur hour analysis of marketing in beer, artwork dissection of labels, or market saturation of certain beer styles (select IPA if you’re seeking out the hot take). And why not? It makes sense to insert myself in the hot and relevant conversations. I’m just a blogger looking for page views like the next guy or gal. However, focusing on the business side of things, I forgot what I loved about beer and began trying to fit my circle into the larger beer blogging square.

And you know what?  I can’t trick myself into having fun writing about these tangential topics and it shows in my work when I’ve tried. You guys deserve better than that and I owe it to myself to stay true to what makes me tick. Beer isn’t the label on the bottle, ingredients (okay, maybe it is), market share, or philosophical argument about the appropriate size of a company for me. Beer is the rocket ship that takes me to places I’ve yet to discover and helps me get to the places I want to go. I might have taken a trip to Germany once upon a time in hopes of finding Heaven at the bottom of a Helles, but sitting next to Lake Titisee in the Black Forest witnessing the world’s most perfect sunset is the experience I’ll never forget.  And yes, the Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference was filled with awesome trips to Oskar Blues and an Oktoberfest in July at Sierra Nevada. I could break down a brewery tour for you or describe the flavors in Sierra Nevada’s Oktoberfest, but it was furthering friendships and starting a few more that made the trip worth it in the end. The beer got me to Asheville. My friends will take me into tomorrow.

These are the things that matter to me and the stories I want to tell the most. I know that now thanks to the Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference. When you visit Baltimore Bistros & Beer in the future, you might not always walk away with a technical understanding of what beer is or where the industry could be going, but I hope that every once in a while you’ll find a story here that will help you slow down and remember why we all love beer in the first place.

Time to crack a beer and see where we’ll take off to next.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2013

A few weeks ago I wrote about Beer Balance. In that post, I mentioned that I do my best to hop from beer style to beer style. One style that I have neglected over the years has been Barleywine. It's not that I had anything against them. For whatever reason, they just never found their way at the top of my to drink list. I decided to put an end to that and drink a few recently. I had 21st Amendment Lower Da Boom a few weeks ago, but today I'm going to be reviewing Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot 2013.

Style: Barleywine

ABV: 9.6%

IBU: 90

Appearance: I really liked the way this bad boy poured. You know what they say about Bigfoot....when you pour it into a glass you get a big fluffy head. Amber brown in color, Bigfoot was looking much more attractive than I expected. The picture above isn't my own, but it might as well be and as you can tell Bigfoot is rather attractive. You have to wonder why he's been avoiding the limelight all these years.

Nose: I didn't find this beer to be incredibly complex in the aroma department. Try as I might, I could only sniff out a few different notes. The majority of what came through was caramel and a really heavy malty presence. I was expecting the hop notes to be quite a bit bigger given that this is an American Barleywine but there was just a little bit of grassy hops making their way through.

Taste: Bigfoot is full of sweet malt up front, but be careful not to take too big of a swig. The alcohol in this one will hit you. At 9.6% it's pretty high in alcohol, but not so high that the alcohol should be burning quite the way it was. The end of the sip was where I finally got some of the hops I was expecting as it finished slightly spicy and dry.

Final Verdict: I like the heavy malt of Bigfoot. It's a little too late to be drinking something as heavy as this in my neck of the woods, but given a cold night I know I'd love to have a beer like this sitting next to me as I read up on all the interesting news of the day. In my opinion, some Barleywines get a little too hoppy and end up feeling more like DIPA's than Barleywine. I have to give them props in not going overboard here. As I mentioned before, I could definitely see myself sitting down with one of these in the future, but this isn't a beer I could ever see myself drinking more than one of at a time. The alcohol burn is just too much to stick with for longer than one beer.

On a side note,  I read that  that Bigfoot apparently ages well in the cellar. If I see a 6 pack of them sitting around in the future, I think I'd like to age a few of them and see how that works out for me. Does anybody have any experience with aged Bigfoot's?

Beer Tastings: Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale

Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale is one beer (among many) I'm looking forward to picking up this fall. It's been a year since I've had a taste, but from what I can remember this is a beer I always looked forward to simply to mix up the pumpkin overload I (happily) put myself through.

Tumbler is a very malt heavy Brown Ale. It's sweet, but there is an earthiness to it that makes for a very prominent fall vibe in both flavor and presence. One taste of the chocolate and smokey malt flavor can easily place you outside in a yard full of leaves and crisp air no matter what time of year it is. Most importantly, this beer goes down extremely smooth.

You'll see down below that this Brown Ale has a decent IBU presence. While reading other reviews of Tumbler I noticed that a lot of people thought there was a bit too much bitterness for a brown ale. Personally, I didn't think there were enough. You'll have to make that decision for yourself. As for me, I'm counting down the days until I see a 6 pack of these beauties sitting in my local distributor's aisles. Be sure to put this on your fall beer shopping to buy list.

Style: American Brown Ale

ABV: 5.5
IBU:  37