A New Beer Thread

[YankeeFan]

I'VE been a baseball fanatic most of my life. When I was a child I knew the starting lineup of every team in both leagues. Statistics slipped through my lips as easily as lies would through a politician's.

Those were simpler times, of course. While opening day still excites me, nowadays sabermetric terms beyond my ken like WHIP and Pecota have supplanted the simpler E.R.A. and R.B.I. as meaningful discussion points. Rather than debase myself arguing with teenage stat wizards, I've shifted my concern to other important baseball-related issues, like beer.

The relationship between beer and baseball still recalls those easy days before personal computers and steroids, when players spent entire careers with one team and you could actually afford to take your family to the ballpark and sit in the good seats. The only smudge in this rosy vision of yore is the beer itself.

Back then, the beer served at ballparks was awful, because American beer in general was awful. The Yankees were sponsored by Ballantine and the Mets by Rheingold, but you wouldn't actually want to drink either of those bygone beers. Then came the craft beer revolution. Today, world-class beers abound. You can buy them at your corner deli. But at the ballpark?

In New York, the situation has been dire. The selection has never been good at Yankee Stadium, where you were lucky to find a Guinness Stout among the mass-market brands sold at absurd prices. It was scarcely better at Citi Field, where the big breweries buried an initial effort to sell local craft beers.

That grim outlook is easily remedied at home, in front of the television set. No, it's not ideal. Nothing beats baseball live. But the beer is so much better, and cheaper. So, I've happily considered the alternatives. A snappy, bracingly bitter pilsner seems perfect for a day game. I'd be overjoyed as well with a Kölsch, the extraordinarily pleasant German ale from Cologne, or a zesty American pale ale. Each of these styles is refreshing, with plenty of character but mild enough to permit several servings over the long nine-inning haul.

Yet most games are played at night, which puts me in mind of dark beers. As I was daydreaming about the coming season I found myself craving porter, the classic British dark ale, which had largely died out in Britain until North American craft brewers revived the style.

What could be better than porter and a night game? I love the roasted grain flavors, the mild, chug-worthy weight and reddish-black color of a good English porter, like those from Samuel Smith's, Fuller's and St. Peter's. The beer world has a term for brews like that: sessionable, meaning they are generally low enough in alcohol, 4 to 6 percent, not to overpower you during a drinking session.

American versions are more varied, as inconsistent stylistically as a rookie pitcher. They range from close facsimiles of the English style to interpretations that anyone would be hard-pressed to identify as porter.

Still, it's an American game, so the beer panel decided to focus on American porters, 20 in all, at a recent tasting. Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Kirk Kelewae, the dining room manager at Eleven Madison Park, who oversees the restaurant's beer list, and Hayley Jensen, the beer sommelier at Taproom No. 307 in Kips Bay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/dining/reviews/beer-review-american-porters.html?pagewanted=all

 

[Chef2]

My favorite beer: One that's within reach.

 

[heyabbott]

Beer Store recommended these, just picked up a mixed 6.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Just had my first Goose Island "Matilda" last night. Very tasty. Thumbs up to the Windy City

 

[YankeeFan]

Matilda is a good one.

 

[JackReacher]

Abita Strawberry Harvest is now in the DC area. Awesome.

Also, I am a woman. I'm ok with that.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I can respect that. I am just finding myself wanting a little more bang for my buck, in more ways than one.

If you drink three or four La Fin du Mondes -- 9 percent ABV -- you're right at the happy place Tom Wolfe was talking about on the graph of drunkenness. No need to pound anything by that point.

I am sure you can find La Fin du Monde some where in New York City if you look for it. But I have had it twice in my life, and both were in the midwest, once in Columbus, Ohio and once in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Wish it was easier to find here. I love it.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

I can respect that. I am just finding myself wanting a little more bang for my buck, in more ways than one.

If you drink three or four La Fin du Mondes -- 9 percent ABV -- you're right at the happy place Tom Wolfe was talking about on the graph of drunkenness. No need to pound anything by that point.

I am sure you can find La Fin du Monde some where in New York City if you look for it. But I have had it twice in my life, and both were in the midwest, once in Columbus, Ohio and once in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Wish it was easier to find here. I love it.

Pretty easy to find here in CT, maybe it's where you're looking. Anything by Unibroue is pretty good

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

I love it, too. But I find it's way more of a winter beer. Or at least I find it more pleasing during winter. It's one of those rare brews that warms your insides.

I was able to find LFdM even in Florida.

 

[Shifty Squid]

In our state, our distribution keeps expanding, which is always welcome. We just started getting Blue Point out of Long Island, along with 8 Wired and Clown Shoes, with Green Flash, Boulevard and Goose Island on the way later this year. I've had some things from all of them, but definitely looking forward to having them on a more regular basis.

 

[Cosmo]

I'm a little too addicted to Breckenridge 471 IPA right now.

Had something from Terrapin called Hopzilla last Saturday. 10.8 percent ABV. That shirt'll smack you in the face.

 

[Shifty Squid]

I'm a little too addicted to Breckenridge 471 IPA right now.

Had something from Terrapin called Hopzilla last Saturday. 10.8 percent ABV. That shirt'll smack you in the face.

Yeah, Hopzilla's really good. Tried it alongside the new Sierra Nevada Hoptimum the other night, and I'll definitely take Hopzilla.