Finding the perfect beer in unexpected places

All About Beer Magazine - Volume 33, Issue 3
July 1, 2012 By

Adrian Tierney-Jones is a British beer writer who is responsible for several books including serving as editor for 1001 Beers You Should Taste Before You Die. He recalls a trip 20 years ago when he was driving back to London from Tuscany with a girlfriend that he can only describe as “mad,” in an unpredictable sort of way. “We got into the Lyons area on the Saturday night and we went for a meal,” Tierney-Jones says. “I hadn’t had a beer all week while I was in Italy—it was all wine. The Kronenbourg 1664 went down like a dream and I remember my then girlfriend explaining in French to the patrons that I was English—hence the love of beer.”

Tom Phelan who works in the marketing department of Northern Brewer, the Minnesota-based homebrew supply company, plays in a band—The People’s Revolutionary Jug Band. “My band gets to tour infrequently, so when we’ve got the chance to play a gig out of town, we jump at it,” Phelan says. “This one was way out of town: the Neighborhood Tavern in Effie, Minnesota. Population of Effie: 123. We showed up a bit early to get situated and I smiled at the hitching posts outside the bar, which I assumed were an attempt at ambience, or maybe even a relic of a bygone time. I came out a bit later and there were three horses hitched up to them. During a set break I stepped to the wooden bar, expecting to find limited choices. Instead one of the two taps they had coming out of the wall was Summit EPA. I got a glass, and it was some of the freshest hop flavor of any Summit EPA I’ve had.”

According to Ralph Woodall, director of sales at Hopunion in Yakima, WA, nature is often the best place to enjoy craft beers. “In 1983 I was on the top of Darland Mountain in central Washington state about an hour jeep ride west into and on top of the Cascade Range,” Woodall says. “From the Darland Mountain Look Out you can see south to Mount Bachelor and Mount Hood In Oregon and into Washington State to Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, with the view in wide span encompassing the Goat Rock, Mount Rainier and then to the north to Old Snowy, Mount Stuart and then east to the Yakima Valley.”  He was with Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Ken Grossman and Steve Dressler, and then Hopunion colleague Ralph Olson. The beers were Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Porter, Stout and Bigfoot. “Seriously that is the best way to do it.  Get the beer you like, the hill you can climb and the scene that makes you shine and you have all that is divine. I have been back many a time in the past 30 years and it always brings a chill to my spine and the memory of times. It can be Pikes Peak, Mount Shasta, Mount Katahdin, the Smokey Mountains or even the top of Canyon De Chelly.”

Keith Schlabs is general manager of Eight O Management in Dallas, which runs the 15-location Flying Saucer Draught Emporium chain and other restaurants. His beer moment came on a fly fishing expedition near Placenia, Belize. “Our flight was delayed and we missed our connecting plane, so we had to take a three hour taxi ride to get there in time for the morning’s fishing excursion. With lack of space in the taxi, I took the trunk in the station wagon which was a rough ride on some unstable roadways,” Schlabs says. “The next morning, we boated over massive swells to a series of islands near Lime Cay, a deserted island owned by our guide’s mother. We fished all day in the scorching sun and caught plenty of bonefish. A friend and I decided to stay the night on the island with our guide so we could fish nearby the next morning without the long trip back and forth to Belize. His mother, Bernice, boated to the island to cook for us since it was last minute and we had no electricity or food. I asked Bernice if she had by chance brought any beer with her to the island. With a smile she produced a Belikin Red which at that time was the best beer on the planet.”

Max Bahnson, a Czech beer writer and producer of the Pivní Filosof (Beer Philosopher) blog, says he found beer joy after a 16-kilometer hike at the Samaria Gorge National Park on Crete. He is not exactly sure which brand was involved, but the kiosk selling snacks and fast food at the exit of the park was serving draught beer. “The hike was over some rough terrain on a rather warm day. The place is stunningly gorgeous and I was very pleasantly tired, but not thirsty because there are fountains with spring water everywhere along the trail,” Bahnson recalls. “I wasn’t thinking about beer, but I was really, really happy when I saw they had some on tap that was served the Greek way—tooth-shattering cold in a frozen mug. In another place and time I would have sure considered that beer to be rubbish, but there and then it was the loveliest drop of heaven. To this day, I rank that pint as the best beer I’ve ever drunk in my life.”