I was asked the other day what I thought of Saranac beer by the Matt Brewing Company of Utica New York, a small regional or big micro which has survived a number of cats lives. When I pop over the river and go shopping in the USA, I am stunned that shopkeepers know nothing of Middle Ages brewing just an hour down I-81 but they have all sorts of Saranac amongst the Bud the Coors and, horrors, the Labatts Blue. In fact, I have to go to Hannifords, a New England grocery chain to fine either Lake Placid '49er or Ubu Ale or even the local Sackets Harbour 1812. So, rightly or wrongly, I am a little sour with Saranac as its availability tells me something I do not want to hear - that the market is access controlled through the local wholesale distributors. That is maybe not the wholesaling distributors' fault. Other brewers may just not sell to them. But given one of the USA's biggest army bases is near by, the idea that all you can get is the mass producers and a few locals grates.

None of this is the fault of those who brewing the beer. Last spring or summer I brought a mixed 12-pack which had quite a good selection of their brews. For me the problem was their use of metallic German hops in all but one of their brews. It was also a heavily lager focused selection, and German-style lagers are simply not my favorite thing. That being said, the IPA really stood out as a tribute to hops. It is highly grapefruity but also has green and twig - making me think there is Cascade, Goldings and Fuggles all in the brew. The brewer says it is all achieved with Cascade which is something of a tribute in itself given all the levels of flavour they have gotten into this green labeled bottle. The beer it reminds me of is actually Sgt. Major's IPA from the Scotch Irish Brewing Co. of Fitzroy Harbour, Ontario. Both are fairly light bodied for an IPA and celebrate the complex combination of hops that can be made. I would love to do a side by side which may be possible for next weekend if I can keep my hands off the two bottles of this brew I have left. Interesting to note that Saranac IPA is a lighter USA IPA at 5.8% while at 5.5% the Sgt. Major's is touted as one of Canada's strongest and biggest IPAs. Here is what the beer advocated say of this ale.

Here is a odd bit of local bureaucracy from Portland Tennessee:

This action would require an ordinance change involving two readings and a public hearing. At issue is whether the beverage board acted illegally when they granted a permit to D & B Enterprises, a new market located on College Street, even though the distances from the nearest churches was under the 1,000 foot requirement.

The Board maintains that they made their decision based on some distance violations in the past. According to the Tennessee Code Annotated, once the established distance ordinance has been violated, it cannot be used again as a basis to grant a permit. However, the beverage board had been warned prior to their meeting by City Attorney David Amonette in a letter, not to issue the permit until the distance issue was resolved.

Several local churches have become involved in the controversy and some have considered litigation. David Andrews, pastor of Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church, says their conference is definitely going to pursue the issue if the city council doesn't act in time to make changes. "Our church falls within the 1,000 foot boundary and I don't understand why the Board issued the permit knowing they had done wrong," Andrews said.

Lambic. Natural yeasted wheat ales from Belgium left to go thin and sour. Sounds foul but it is like drinking fresh wine the small champagne corked bottles of usually fruit brewed ale. Fruit brewed as the freshness of the harvest is added to the fermentation in the best of these real ales not as some syrup later in the process. This raspberry lambic is the colour of homemade wild strawberry jam, blush with a brown edge under a pure white rocky head that dissipates to seafoam. The scent is earthy twig berry and the sharp tang of the beer. A long lingering true fruit flavour mixes with the bite of the fine carbonation. Like many Belgian ales, the hops are a fine delicate aged presence almost deprived of all their acid before being added to the boil. Not cheap at $4.15 CND at the LCBO for 375 ml. Try topping up a can of draft Guinness with another 20% of this ale. A better black and tan.

This is a bit of a work in progress, having put a few feelers out there on the network of ale fans. I will be there in the next couple of weeks and would like to bring home a couple of months worth of good...postings. Yea, that's it. Good postings for you the reader. The best candidates so far appear to be:

• Downtown Wine and Spirits, 225 Elm Street, Somerville, Mass. One beer advocatonian says:

  OK so basically I consider this place my candy store, as I feel like a kid in a candy store whenever I go here. Even if I know what I want when I go in, I still wander around the store for a good 45 minutes. Basically we've got 2 15-20 foot shelves, one with 4 or 5 shelves and the other with 2. These are all singles and packs from faraway places...

  [...faraway places...faraway places...]
• Bread and Circus Whole Food Market, 340 River Street, Cambridge, Mass. We are told that it has more than 300 beers in stock, many organic, but not much else.

Recommendations? Requests?

Rogue is offering a job which would be pretty attractive to me half a life ago:

Job Posting, March 11: Sales Assistant, Portland, OR. Responsibilities include reporting, tracking, phoning, follow-up, filing, typing, answering phones, coordinating, ordering, shipping, mailing, filling forms, communicating, note taking...and occasionally drinking the world's greatest beer. Must be proficient in Excel, Word, internet, and written communication. Experience with Access or SQL a plus. Long hours, rough conditions, and lousy pay. Why not? Applicants must be willing to survive without company cars, stock options, a living wage, employee manuals, HR departments, political correctness, 2-5 year plans, praise or recognition, job security or guarantees, BS, competent management, or Mom. Requirements: passion, highest level of integrity, driven to succeed, a need to contribute to a team, a commitment to creating value, a history of failure in a multi-tasking guerilla context preferred. Mail your resume to: Rogue Ales, 1339 NW Flanders, Portland, OR, 97209, or e-mail to molly@rogue.com.