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Modern IPA (and “double” IPA）poses a conundrum to the beergeek with historicist inclinations. A style of beer that was historically meant to survive a long journey through tropical climates, is ironically today one which nearly everybody tries to consume as fresh as possible. Such is the way human tastes evolve over the generations. For an example from the wine world: most Champagne prior to the 20th century was quite sweet (and before the 17th century were intended to be non-carbonated still wines, devoid of bubbles), but today the fashion is for the crisp, dry acidity of Extra Brut or even Brut Nature Champagnes. What we assume as commonplace today can differ greatly from that which came before.
Concurrent with improved technology and transport, as well as the seemingly unceasing development of new hop varietals, nowadays the craving for freshness has some consumers literally chasing delivery trucks to get their unadulterated hop fix. Alas, this often means that for consumers in faraway locales such as China, procuring the putative “best in world” of these beer styles, while still in their supposed “optimum” state, proves a near impossibility.
But every so often, an opportunity arises for me to share the bounty with others… I recently had to make a quick trip back to the USA, and so tasked myself with the mission of bringing back the freshest samples I could obtain of among the most highly-rated IPA’s and Double IPA’s currently buzzing in the (alas, still largely) Americentric craft beer world.
As such, NBeer and I decided early on that this tasting should predominantly target Chinese consumers, since most Westerners can much more easily seek out fresh, top notch IPA’s in their home countries…
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Ok, I guess “extravaganza” makes this sound a little more grandiose and bigger in scale than it ended up being, but it was still a selection of beers within (and some without) the top 20 rankings of “best in world” lists at BeerAdvocate.com and/or the top 100 at Ratebeer.com (which is an alphabetical list, unranked). So indulge us for just a little, ok?
Kindly hosted by NBeer’s Sanlitun location thanks once again to Xiao Biar‘s magnanimity, I was joined by Jim Boyce (aka BeijingBoyce), Tom Gaestadius of Arrow Factory and Tracy W, executive editor of Beer Link Magazine. Unfortunately unable to attend were invitees from Slow Boat and Jing-A. We’ll try not to rub their noses in it for the rest of their lives – at least not TOO much… 😉
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(UPDATE: City Weekend article here)
(UPDATE 2: Beijing Today’s article, in PDF format. May 14 – 20, 2010 Issue, page 17)
In late April, I was proud to showcase a few select beers for several invitees from the English-language media in Beijing. Amongst them were Annie Wei from Beijing Today, Gabriel Monroe from Agenda, and Greg Williams from City Weekend. We were also joined again by Jim Boyce and by Frank Siegel, who graciously hosted the event at the new Kerry Center location of Sequoia Cafe.
There were six beers featured, with three of them available in Beijing and the other three which I hand-carried back from the states:
- Inedit, by Estrella Damm (Barcelona, Spain). A spiced, wheat ale designed in collaboration with three-star Michelin chef Ferran Adrià and his staff at El Bulli. Available in Beijing
- Chateau Jiahu, by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Delaware, USA). Inspired by a 9000 year old beverage found at a Neolithic archeological site in Jiahu, Henan Provice. NOT available in Beijing
- Dead Guy Ale, by Rogue Ales (Oregon, USA). Descended from the German Maibock style, a strong springtime lager, but brewed with Rogue’s house ale yeast. Available in Beijing
- John John Dead Guy Ale, by Rogue Ales (Oregon, USA). A special batch of Dead Guy Ale that was aged in Rogue’s own whiskey barrels. NOT available in Beijing
- Imperial Stout, by Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster, England). A classic Russian Imperial Stout. Available in Beijing
- Bourbon County Brand Stout, by Goose Island (Chicago, USA). An imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. NOT available in Beijing
(DISCLOSURE: I am currently a sales representative for DXCEL, the importers and distributors of Estrella Inedit and Rogue Dead Guy into mainland China.)
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In mid-April, I conducted a tasting flight of saisons, and finished with some barleywines paired with Stilton cheese. We were hosted at Sequoia Cafe (Guanghua Lu shop), and attended by the same participants of my holiday beer dinner, as well as Alain Leroux of the Taillan winery in Hebei.
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Just prior to Christmas 2009, I organized a holiday-themed beer dinner at the Astor Grill, with the immense help of the F&B Director of the St. Regis Hotel, Oscar Martinez. In attendance were: Jim Boyce (aka Beiijing Boyce), Frank Siegel (of Sequoia Cafe), Brandon Trowbridge (executive chef at NOLA), and David Gray (photojournalist on assignment with Reuters, and wine enthusiast). The goal of the tasting was to introduce some of the food-pairing potential of beer with a turkey-centric holiday dinner.
   
Menu:
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Just before Thanksgiving 2009 [US edition, Nov], I held a private tasting at my apartment in Haidian with two blog readers and also joined by my flatmate, Dan Rosen. Nan Chen (USA) and Chris Kolbu (Norway) were both in Beijing studying Chinese for the fall/autumn semester, and came across my blog. Unfortunately, Shannon (from my previous tasting) had to cancel at the last minute. We of course did what we could to enjoy ourselves in his honor…
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(UPDATE 10/1/09 : Boyce has posted a small write-up of this event as well, with links to this entry.) Back in Mid-July, Jim Boyce aka Beijing Boyce graciously hosted a beer tasting led and supplied by yours truly. It was a broad sampling of beers within what can be called the “pale ale family”. Nearly half of them are actually available in China, while the rest were personally brought back from the US for the purposes of tasting events like this. The goal was to introduce people to the range and diversity within just one branch in the grand family of beer, even amongst those that are available in Beijing. As a side-benefit, Jim also provided both a sharp cheddar cheese and a blue cheese, to help me offer a glimpse into some of the food pairing potential of these beers. Besides Boyce and myself, attending were beer enthusiast Shannon Roy (a “software/investment guy” by day) and chef Zach Lewison of Beijing’s Union Bar and Grill. Read more…
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