DEDRICK: Beer gains cachet as wine turns to the screw top

By Jay Dedrick, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 1, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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I'm not sure whether it's more akin to cats and dogs living together, as Bill Murray ranted in Ghostbusters, or to Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse sharing screen time in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but beer and wine are coming together in new, unexpected ways.

They'll always be rivals, of course. But it's an increasingly friendly rivalry, perhaps best-personified by Sam Calagione and Marnie Old, co-authors of He Said Beer, She Said Wine (DK Publishing, $25).

Calagione is founder and owner of Dogfish Head, the Delaware brewer known for outrageously extreme beers. Its Palo Santo Marron, for example, is a malty brown ale aged in wood from Paraguay. Old is a sommelier and wine educator who has a healthy appreciation for beer.

At Savor, an upscale beer-and-food event held in May in Washington, D.C., the pair's seminar was the most entertaining of the weekend, with both making the case for their beloved beverage while playfully skewering the other.

Ray Isle took part that weekend, too, and also led a seminar on craft beer at last month's Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. And he's the deputy wine editor at Food & Wine magazine. What's going on here?

"There's a dual trend," Isle said during a phone call. "One, you've got the elevation of craft beer. Tastewise, more people are realizing, it is special. At the same time, there are more attempts to make wine more approachable and less pretentious - screw tops, for example, and sommeliers who are trying to defuse all the ceremony."

He added with a laugh, "When the two trends collide, I don't know what will happen."

Savor was "by far the most expensive beer event I've ever been at," Isle noted. "People dropping 80 bucks to taste beer was a new thing."

We're enjoying a golden age of experimentation and ambition in the craft-beer world, Isle says. The rise of the celebrity chef led to growing interest in wine; that's now spreading into craft beer.

And it's an affordable world to explore. "With the economy being a little weird at the moment," Isle said, "I pointed out at the seminar that you can buy and taste five of the best beers in America for 25 bucks. If you were to do that with five wines, it would cost you $500 to $600. So there's really an open door to whoever's interested in exploring beer - it's very democratic."

Isle said he expects more beer seminars at future Food & Wine Classics, even if Beer never quite makes it into the name of the event - or magazine.

"It's a nice shift," he said. "Aspen during the festival is populated by serious foodies and wine fanatics. So for them to be thinking of craft beer in the same way is a terrific transition."

* Nearly 20 years ago, Tom Dargen was a busboy at the fledgling Wynkoop Brewing Co., the state's first brewpub. Today he's in charge of brewing for Gordon Biersch, one of the country's top brewpub chains. That's a very vertical career path.

In between, he's brewed a whole lot of beer, which is the work he enjoys most. Though he oversees brewing for all of the 20-year-old chain's 27 restaurants, he's based at the lone Colorado location, at Broomfield's FlatIron Crossing (you'll also find Gordon Biersch beers at the Colorado Springs airport). Before jetting to New Orleans for a checkup at the GB there, Dargen spent last Tuesday night proudly serving draws of SommerGold, the latest seasonal on tap.

It's a Kolsch-style ale made from Tettnang hops and yeast imported from Germany, origin of the inspiration for all of Gordon Biersch's in- house brews. SommerGold - a medium-bodied golden ale that's very dry and crisp - paired terrifically with the Shrimp and Crab Tower, an appetizer that boasts fresh avocado and a tangy lemon mayonnaise.

While ales rule at most brewpubs, Gordon Biersch's German focus means lagers are the mainstays. Home brewers know the challenges of tending to lagers: Their light color won't hide imperfections and inconsistencies the way darker ales do, and batches of lager generally take more than twice as long to brew as ales.

Dargen is a big fan of the Czech Pilsner he makes, but the Marzen is the biggest seller in Broomfield and throughout the chain.

"It's a very smooth, malty lager that's accessible," he said, comparing it to Paulaner's Oktoberfest. It's definitely worth trying, but don't miss out on the SommerGold, which will go away once fall rolls around. If you're making a long trip to get there, keep in mind that growlers are available to go.

* Silverback Smoked Porter is a brute of a brew that helps some brutes in need, the endangered mountain gorillas of Africa. Wynkoop Brewing Co. is contributing 25 percent of sales from the Imperial porter to the Denver-based Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund.

Through October, you'll find the smoky selection on tap at the Wynkoop and its sister establishments: the Cherry Cricket, the Wazee Supper Club, the Pearl Street Grill, Phantom Canyon Brewing Co., Gaetano's Italian and Goosetown Tavern.

* The best thing about the Colorado Brewers' Festival in Fort Collins this past weekend? Beer temperature. On a hot summer afternoon, the draft beers were served seriously cold. Many purists would scoff at the idea of having an English-style brown ale so chilled, but the Boxcar Brown, from Greeley's Crabtree Brewing, refreshed perfectly at the low temperature.

* Go to RockyMountainNews.com to vote in this month's What's on Tap poll, where you can pick a favorite summer seasonal beer. We'll compare notes next month.

What's on Tap appears the first Wednesday of the month.

BEER OF THE MONTH

Blue Moon Pale Moon

* The story: Being test-marketed in several cities across the country, including Denver, this year-round offering is brewed with Cascade hop oil and, surprisingly, hibiscus.

* The taste: Dubbed a Belgian-style pale ale, it might be the most complex brew yet from Blue Moon, Coors' craft-minded branch. The amber-colored ale boasts dueling hoppiness and sweetness, with a floral aroma and hints of spice and even raisin in the taste.

* Food pairings: spicy cuisine, seafood

* On sale: on tap and in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles, $7.49

* Alcohol by volume: 5.4 percent

• July 2, 2008

  2:09 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  CoLoradoCitizen writes:

  re: BLue Moon.

  C'mon. For endless decades, Bud, Coors, Michelob, the ONLY thing they brewed was heavily watered down beer. The ONLY REASON they have a 'craft brew' branch is for sales. They are sales-motivated and nothing else. They started losing sales to micro-brews as people across America realized that beeR could be brewed to taste Great. It doesn't have to be garbage for mass-alcohol-consumption like bud, coors, miller, etc.

  Folks, SUPPORT your local Craft Brewer. New Belgium and O'dells Brewery have a line of beers that are simply delicious. I've done the '110 beer tour' and then far beyond that, and I always come back to 90 Schilling, Fat Tire, and numerous other locally brewed beers that are as good as any, and far better than most beers brewed anywhere in the world.

  The big breweries are cash motivated, not interested in brewing good beer. If they were, they would've done it 30 years ago.

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