Beer In Print

I once subscribed to Paste magazine. I quite enjoyed it; not exactly sure why I didn’t renew my subscription. I recently came across a box of old issues and they look to have run from around 2005 to 2007. That was a tough and exhausting year, so likely I just didn’t have the time or money for the magazine.
But I do appreciate it for what it gave, which was reviews of movies, music and all things related. You got a free CD of new tunes in the pages. I recall uncovering Band of Horses, Neko Case, and similar groups from the publication. College rock, slightly jam-ish, modern, and even jazzy outfits, along with indie films, exciting reads, all this was to be found in the pages of Paste.
The magazine also, on a rare occasion, mentioned craft beer. Typically high gravity and hard to find items were what the editor stuck to, quick reviews, why to seek out and drink good beer, etc. He didn’t know much if anything more about the movement and the topic than I did, but it was good to see my favorite beverage getting a minimal hint of props.
Fast forward to 2015 and there are nearly a dozen publications dedicated to beer, bars, or the higher end of the booze spectrum, and some of them are quite good. I don’t subscribe to any of them. Several follow the elitist route, others are frankly just too much to read about. But stumbling across a recent Paste article online, it was nice to see they are still flying the good beer flag, even if it sits below music, movies, TV, games, and books on the totem pole.
Last week Paste online published “9 New Beers for January 2015.” Let’s take a look at what this happy little publication has to say about where we are at present, “from seasonal release favorites to brand new concoctions …”
Quite a few of the selections don’t make their way to our coast. Firestone Walker, one of my new favorite breweries’s blended barleywine, Sucuba would make for an excellent trade. As well, Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewing Company’s beers are only known to me from my left coast travels. Their Expo 58, a nod to the Brussels World Fair, is a twist on last year’s sessionable, low-alcohol by volume (ABV) IPA trend, replaced with a 5 percent ABV Belgian pale ale.
A brewery I’ve never come across, Breakside, presents Tropicalia, a saison brewed with Lychee fruit and Peruvian peppers. If that crazy combo weren’t enough for you, Funky Buddha releases Maple Bacon Porter. Less exotic but no less exciting.
On to the beers we can actually purchase here in the Carolinas. There are some expected suggestions: the obvious nod to Bell’s Hopslam as well as plaudits for Foothills Sexual Chocolate, both excellent beers displaying some of the best labels and artwork in the business.
That leaves us with three beers not to miss this January. First, it’s the 19th Anniversary beer from Victory Brewing, a super-hopped yet low gravity IPA. The other two proposed releases fall into the imperial stout category. Sweetwater resurrects its Happy Ending seasonal, a dry-hopped and super bitter version of the big dark ale. On the preferred sweeter, richer side is Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout from Great Lakes; a beer I love and highly recommend, it’s one of the best but unfortunately, you’ll still have to go across the border to North Carolina to find. Here’s to a New Year and great beer. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.