Hub-bub. That is what is going on. There is hub-bub afoot these days about "extreme" beer. Here is what I know, though things may be changing on the fly, minute-by-minute as it were:

• The Independent in England goes all yikes over BrewDog and other new strong beers even categorizing their article under the "health news" beat. Best 'fraidy cat panicky quote: "alcohol campaigners have complained that drinkers may be unaware of the strength of the new products, a single 330ml bottle of which is enough to make an adult exceed their daily recommended alcohol intake." Deary deary. Let's hope know one in England under 40 has heard of gin either because I understand that, too, can get you tipsy.
• Then Pete Brown goes yikey-doodles in response laying it on thick and hearty in return, due to the article's reliance on his own work to create the "health news" in question. Best Pete-flips-lid quote: "[the article] creates a master class in hypocrisy that would be funny if it wasn't for the fact that it might damage brewers I care about who spoke to me in good faith." Look, I know as a good North American I am supposed to think the residents of any EU nation are nothing but big daft socialist softies but I still find it hard to believe that anyone who might actually have chosen to try an extreme beer would be deterred by this "health news" - and suspect, for that matter, that many more would take it as an opportunity to explore the big brews mentioned.
• And, then, Stan asks the musical question - with a lot less of the yikes - as to what "extreme beer" actually means to you... and to me. Specifically, he asks:

  What I’d like to know is if the term “extreme beer” means something specific to real live beer drinkers. I’ve never heard a customer at a bar say, “I’d like an extreme beer, please.

  Good point but since the advent of extreme beers I have also never heard a customer say "I'd like to try a few more of all these wonderful new experimental session beers you offer, good publican." That's because extreme beer has had this Vulcan Mind Meld on so many craft brewers that all their explorations are based on turning to the volume to eleven, too often to focus on quantity of taste as opposed to quality. There is no room for modest balance (or modest price for that matter) where all on offer is extreme.

What's it all mean? My comment at Stan's begins extreme beer means nothing to me and that is as honest as I can put it. Mainly because it is really nothing new. Experimentation with very strong beers like Samichlaus or Thomas Hardy Ale well predate the X-TR-M label. Experimentation with odd and intense ingredients has been going on in home brewing well before Papazian's first book. While you are at it, just consider the simple fact of Belgian brewing history or even only the sour branch of it. But besides all that - aside from the claims to new and exciting - for too much of the time extreme beers simply disappoint because they taste like you've just sprayed aerosol furniture polish in your mouth or because you really didn't want to revisit the undergrad skull splitting headache the next day. Yet it has been latched upon as a means to market, to increase price and perhaps forgo value in a way that ignores that the adjective "extreme" has become a bit of a joke in other areas of pop culture.

X3M09? One year later and I still feel now as I did a year ago - the push for more ends up feeling like nothing so much as branding and hyping and inflating of a particularly tedious sort. A little like those ads aimed at "off-centered" people, I really look forward to the day that we look back at "extreme" brewing as we do the song stylings of Rick Astley. Must I quote the Scottish play? Has it come to that? Extreme beers are...

...but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

None of which speaks to the quality of any particular beer. Some are wonderful and lovely. But for all the US strong beers I have enjoyed I have disliked more... and more than once felt a bit ripped off. And I suspect most feel this way - though both the panicky health nuts on one hand and the craft marketing hype machine on the other might not like to admit it. The trend is not for death by ale, is not for beer that could sterilize surgical instruments while tasting like steak sauce or shoe leather, is not for the 25 dollar bottle that captures the essence of a thousand hop blossoms. And, because of that, it does a disservice to the bulk of more moderate craft beers and the vast majority of beer sales and buyers.

Were there that North American beer consumer lobbying group, I would expect that a backlash against the focus on extreme might have started some time ago. But we have none so it's not begun. Maybe it should.

I have thought about this off and on. Making beer requires a farmer. It requires a facility which, at any economic scale, has always required a certain level of capital investment. It requires time. Time for the grain to grow and time for the yeast to do it's work. It requires safe transportation routes. It takes people safe enough to relax and even share an hour with people not exactly like themselves. Southern Sudan is maybe returning to peace because there is now a brewery there:

More than two million people died and about four million were forced from their homes after rebels from the largely Christian or animist south rose up against the Arab-dominated and Muslim government in the north. Now, four years after a US-brokered peace deal, a giant 37 million dollar (27 million euro) brewery is ready to begin operations, with a daily packing capacity of 150,000 bottles. "We have developed a dry, crisp, thirst-quenching beer -- especially to match the climate here," said Ian Alsworth-Elvey, managing director of Southern Sudan Beverages, a subsidiary of global brewing giant SAB Miller.

This brewery clearly also speaks to greater geo-political tensions, too, as the powers of teetotalism come in many forms and are not necessarily divided by simply allocating points of view by politics, faith group or national identity. But when those things become associated with suffixes like "-ism" or "-istic" perhaps rather than "-ic" or "-al" watch how the breweries are affected and be concerned for the state of peace.

A thirteen hour day. John Stewart rather than the evening news as I shake off the tie and suit jacket. What to do? Have a beer from Whitehorse, of course. Wouldn't you? Don't you?? This beer from the Yukon Brewing Company came my way through one of the beer fans I have been cultivating locally who had a relative in the far off Yukon Territory. Like Australia, we still have Territories in Canada. All very days of Empire, I know.

The beer pours black with a mahogany rim under a mocha head that resolves to light foam an rim. A great aroma with espresso, dark chocolate. In the mouth there is more of the same with a great blend of mint and twig hops cutting through the rich cream yeast, the roasted and blacked malts and the silky smoothness of oats. The brewery says it was made in concert with a local coffee roaster which I can believe. So, I like it. BAers say "yes, indeed-a-lee-do" - Yukoners would never say that but BAers would.

A while ago, we were all concerned. We were talking at a manic pace about craft beer prices going through the roof due to the rising cost of hops, malt and fuel. It was the talk of the town a year and a half ago. In October 2007, I asked the musical question "Are Craft Beer Prices Too Low?" and answered "No, They Are Not Too Low" much to the amusement of some who read the post and the comments that it triggered. And I've been exploring the question off and on since that time. There is still much talk about the rising cost of beer but not so much about why. Jay at Hedonist Beer Jive has met the ceiling of his willingness to spend on craft beer when he found himself facing with a $24 bottle of Russian River Consecration. And Stan notes push back related to the rise of six packs to the heady nose-bleedy price of nine bucks.

Clearly people are still concerned about price and may well be more so given the global recession - and they should be. Sure, brewers need to be paid for all their efforts but we, the tipplers, want to know we are getting value for money. I think it's safe to say that fossil fuels should not be part of the price hike justification at this time. We all know that the price of oil and gas is down worldwide with the price of a barrel of oil down almost 65% and retail gasoline selling at about the same price it was in 2005. But what of malt and hops?

• In the Czech Republic, grains were up a bit from a year ago but hops were up a whopping 15.2% from March 2008.
• In Belgium, the makers of Duval state that both hops and malt prices are high but not so high that a 25% hike in dividends isn't planned.
• Earlier this month, Jim Koch of Boston Beer announced in the Fourth Quarter 2008 Earnings Results Conference Call that...well, I can't really figure out what he announced.
• The Australian malt market is trending down...trending...down
• The Canadian Wheat Board says that malting barley prices are expected to be lower in 2009-10 due to increased supplies of malting barley with prices now down from $320 a tonne for two-row to a projection of $263.

What does this all mean? Well, for one thing, the sky did not fall as was feared in 2007. For another, with craft beer sales up and some but not all significant input costs reduced these should be relatively good times for craft brewers as long as their customers have not all lost their jobs. Which does beg the question as to the $24 bottle of beer...the question still being "why?"

The brewery aimed at creating plenty of hop aroma for this 8% ale and on the first pour there is a lot of creamy yeast with bright grassy herbal tones. Reminds me a bit of Poperings Hommel Ale.

Active golden ale with a thick cream dollop of of a head. In the mouth, an initial dry followed by a wave of hop bitters broken up by strong carbonation and mixing with a pear or golden delicious apple juiciness. The long finish ends with a bite like ginger root. The use of Goldings along with the three Teutons Spalt, Hallertau and Saaz makes for very complex bitterness. You could poach sole in this.

Plenty of BAer love.

I've celebrated the beer law hero of the day before so I suppose it is only fair from time to time that we point out those exceptional individuals who go beyond the call of duty and reinforce the stereotype of the beer drinking dingbat. To that end, I give you Mr. "I Have No Idea How It Got There, Officer...Honest":

The man told police that he had not been drinking however he was unable to explain the half-consumed bottle of beer in his coffee-cup holder. The driver...was arrested and returned to the police office where he blew well over the legal limit.

Unable to explain it? It's a beer. It's next to you. You are driving. It's half gone - as are you. We step lightly around the beer drinking dingbat as craft beer lovers and, from my point of view, a little too lightly. We are sometimes to quick to complain about the efforts of groups like MADD but yet not call out people who give beer a bad name. We question legislators who would place controls on society but not those who clearly lack self-control. People like Mr. "I.H.N.I.H.I.G.T.O...H." If we evangelists for good beer are going to reach the point we desire in terms of changes in the law and society, we probably have to realize there will be things which will not change or which will perhaps get stricter. Like making sure dingbats like this are kept off the road one way or another.

I got a call from Vlado of Roland and Russell a few weeks ago with a plan: he wanted to get me to Toronto on April 15th, get me to Beerbistro and pour great Scandinavian beers into me as I eat wonderful food. Sadly (or rather happily) the life of the family man in the county town rarely provides for such big city events - even if they look as good as this one does - so I probably will not be able to attend despite the siren song of the press release:

Each dish will be perfectly matched with one of eight spectacular beers being specially brought in for this event. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to taste beers from two of Denmark’s finest breweries – Norrebro Bryghus and Mikkeller. One of the world’s leading beer experts, Canada’s own Stephen Beaumont will provide an unbiased and passionate sketch of Denmark’s vibrant craft beer landscape. Tentatively confirmed for this evening is Anders Kissmeyer, the man behind Nørrebro Bryghus and one of Denmark’s most recognized artisanal brewers. Featured beers are: Mikkeller’s Warrior IPA, Jackie Brown, Beer Geek Brunch, Stone Alesmith and Nørrebro’s La Granja, Skargaards Porter, Paske Bock and Old Odense.

Not a bad line up at all and there is even a mystery nightcap. Tickets go on sale March 27th and are available by calling Kathleen or Cheri at 416.861.9872. Cost is $120 plus tax/tips. Fortunately, I have a Nørrebro Bryghus La Granja Stout which I might pull out on the night and have with, you know, eight peanut butter sandwiches in a sad desperate attempt to recreate the moment at home. Maybe with different jellies. By the way, does anyone else not know why Mikkeller's logo looks like 1870 mug shots in woodcut? I had no idea that 1870's mug shots were done in woodcut - which would require some pretty fast woodcutting if, you know, the James Gang¹ had just left town and you needed to get the word out.

¹As opposed to this one.

I like Rob Kasper's beer column in the Baltimore Sun, "Kasper on Tap." It is to the point, is written from the consumer's point of view and often asks questions of the readership - like these in response to new data that shows Canadians are buying more and more US craft beer:

I think I understand why Canadians are drinking our beer. It is better than theirs. Other than Unibroue from Quebec, I can't think of a Canadian beer I crave. Is this unfair? Another example of narrow thinking? Or it is accurate? Do you have a Canadian you crave?

I expect that sentiment reflects both a lack of awareness about Canadian beer as well as the lack of adventure when it comes to a lot of Canadian craft brewing. Certainly a McAuslan Oatmeal Stout is one of the best for the style I have tried and the beers of Dieu du Ciel are worth hunting down. And there are others but the point is still valid that for many Canadian small brewers the challenge is to just crack the marketplace as opposed to making the sort of statements with their beers that could stand out in the vibrant US market. Plus, we are simply a smaller market though I think it is fair to say that there may be more quality craft brewers in Oregon or Michigan than in the whole Great White North.

But is that what is really happening here or is the real change that government monopolies like Ontario's LCBO have just expanded their range of US craft beer from the former minuscule list all the way to what can called a tiny selection? Canada has had a cultural chip on its shoulder for decades about its beer and is only now finding out that the myth isn't all that valid. It may hurt or confuse us to hear an American say such things but for the most part, I have to admit it's true.

An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this morning setting out how there is a distinction between how brewpubs and microbreweries in the US are doing in the recession. While only nine microbreweries closed in the US in 2008, 42 brewpubs closed. Yet 114 microbreweries and brewpubs opened. It will be worth paying attention to whether these trends continue in 2009 given that the recession really only took off in the latter half of the year. But you look at what is happening with innovators like Oskar Blues and growth seems to be continuing. Where you sit in the market may well be key as imports at the wholesale level are taking a nosedive in early 2009.

Maybe it is all about beer from home and beer at home.