When titans clash.
In the new issue of American Brewer shown to the right, America’s Most Beloved Beer Writer (© Jack Curtin’s Liquid Diet 2009) and I engage in a spirited debate about the Pros and Cons of Extreme Beers. Lew chose the Pro side (I gave him first choice) and it was left to me to defend session beers against his vicious attacks.
I can hear the gasps from here so allow me to assure you that I I would not make something like that up.
American Brewer is a craft brewing industry trade magazine for brewers, brewery owners and management. It’s available by mail only and not often seen by the general public, although you can subscribe at the AmBrew website. The focus, as expressed in the slug line under the logo in the image at right, is “The Business of Beer.”
AmBrew was founded by brewing legend Bill Owens and has been around a long time; this issue is Volume 25, Number 4 (the only major award I’ve won for beer-writing was for a story about the birth of the Philadelphia craft beer movement done for Owens back in 1997). The magazine is currently published and edited by Jim Dorsch, with a helping hand from Greg Kitsock.
Each issue has an editorial by Kitsock; general columns by industry vets Tom Schlafly (St. Louis Brewing) and Dick Cantwell (Elysian Brewing)* and a pair of beer writers, Alan Moen and your Humble Correspondent; a book review by Martin Morse Wooster; “New Products” coverage by Jeff Sparrow and a “Market Matters” column by long-time industry consultant Bump Williams, all wrapped around four to six features stories on a particular theme (I generally write at least one of those).
My guess is that craft beer aficionados would find something intriguing in most issues and in some instances, such as this current one, find a lot to chew on. The theme of the issue is “Extreme” and the four major stories are by Kitsock, Moen, Stan Hieronymus and The Brews Brothers (Steve Frank & Arnold Meltzer). Lew’s and my Point/Counter-Point confrontation was the fifth major feature in the issue (a sixth story, one I wrote about importers who helped introduce American drinkers to bigger, bolder beers was left out due to lack of space and will appear in the January issue).
The Big Fella’s decision to defend extreme beers, by the way, shouldn’t be any big shocker. Every writer likes to break out of whatever box some folks would put him in every now and then, plus it’s not a bad idea to zig rather than zag occasionally to keep readers on their toes.
Neither of us saw what the other had written until the magazine came out last week, of course. I’m hoping, with our kindly editor’s permission and Lew’s agreement, we can each put our pieces online and give you all a chance to decide how we did.
*Those of us who earn our livings in whole or in part by writing about beer should be grateful that Schlafly and Cantwell both chose the kettle rather than the pen as their life’s work. The columns they turn out issue after issue are that good and this gig is competitive enough already.
extreme beer is a huge cop out used by brewers to get noticed or somehow standout
What criteria determine whether a beer is “extreme”? Is an Imperial Stout or Barleywine considered extreme or does a beer have to go beyond that?
Right, I’ve had strawberry wheat beers that sure seemed “extreme” to me. Undrinkable, but also extreme.
That’s one of the points I made, Al (interestingly, so did Lew, although he spun it as a positive).
Made that point too, Joab and Glenn, suggesting that an extremely flavorful, really low alcohol session-style beer might arguably be called “extreme,” as part of a larger argument that the term is a marketing gimmick first and foremost.
well I think if brewers just focused on making good drinkable beer instead of trying to be different then we would all be better off. You are brewers for Pete’s sake you make beer which has been around thousands and thousands of years Do you really think somebody has not tried your “cutting edge” idea before? There is a reason your idea seems new (or new to you at least) it was no damn good 200 years ago that is why nobody is brewing you genius concoction today. Yes I know I am a curmudgeon but you are on the right side of this argument Jack and deep down Lew knows it as well he is a traditionalist at heart but cannot help himself when it comes to a good debate
A good debate was what it was all about, Al. Understand, if Lew had chosen to be “con” extreme beers, it would be him you’d be praising now and me you’d be arguing knew the truth deep down. To be honest, neither of us has anything against trying to push the envelope and cutting the edge. It’s the obsession with “extreme” that is the real issue.
well you two can have em (these extreme beers) almost all ( over 80%) the extreme beer I have tried through the years tastes like crap to me and believe it or not I am an open minded type who is not afraid to experiment.