Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Take Note

Last night I was grilling burgers. The weather has broken (some what) in Albany, and one of my happy place is in front of my Weber cooking various and sundry meat, with a bottle of beer in my hands. Occasionally I read the jibber-jabber on the neck or back label of these bottles—there's not much else you can do in the 4 minutes between burger flips. Usually the tiny, five point type tells me how innovative a brewery is, or how their beer was inspired by pirates or their traditional methods of adding Valentines Day candy to their beer.

The label of the beer in my hand last night took a different approach. At this point, I suppose I should mention what was I was drinking—The Just Beer Project's Anytime IPA, a sessional, and quite quaffable, IPA-like brew. The JBP comes from the minds of Alan Newman and Stacey Steinmeitz (formerly of Magic Hat) now the big cheeses at Boston Beer Company's subsidiary Alchemy & Science, Burlington, Vermont.

So what caught my eye? This:
CONFUSED BY THE STORIES? OVERWHELMED BY THE VARIETY? JUST PLAIN THIRSTY? 
THE JUST BEER PROJECT is a craft-beer company located in Burlington, VT. Our mission is to deliver world-class craft-beer, expertly brewed, without all the complication. You drink it. It tastes great.
That sounds more like something coming from Miller Light or Corona, than a craft brewery, nowadays. So, I read it twice. Let me lay it down for you again, too.
CONFUSED BY THE STORIES? OVERWHELMED BY THE VARIETY?JUST PLAIN THIRSTY? 
THE JUST BEER PROJECT is a craft-beer company located in Burlington, VT. Our mission is to deliver world-class craft-beer, expertly brewed, without all the complication. You drink it. It tastes great.
No orchids from Africa? No essence of unicorn? No attempts to fuse a Belgian Sextuple with an American IPA, then spike it with Captain Crunch Crunch-berries and the sand from the tomb of Nebirau II, Pharaoh of the Sixteenth Dynasty? How can that be? You mean to tell me the plan is just to deliver expertly brewed, world-class beer?

Then what?

You drink it. It tastes great.

Mind. Blown.

2 comments:

  1. First, I detect several shots at Dogfish Head.

    Secondly, I agree that some beer stories reach into the atmosphere of the farcical. I'd rather see what brewers put in their beer: the hops, the malts, the yeasts, etc. I'd also like to see the ideal serving glass and temperature on every label.

    Is that too much to ask?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please don't limit your imagination to Dogfish Head.

      Delete