The Brew Guru tastes O'so Rusty Red, or, How I learned to stop worrying and love amber ales

Is there anything better than a snow day? They’re good enough when you’re a kid, but when you, Mr. or Ms. Non-essential Office Personnel Who Cannot Telecommute, are told by the boss to stay home, there’s no beating that. A snow day is never wasted, whether it’s spent building a snow fort with the kids, cocooning for an entire season of your favorite TV show on DVD, or even catching up on a bit of shut-eye. It’s a gift, straight from the heavens, a get-out-of-work free card presented once a year if it’s a good year. So let’s forget about the work piling up at the office and take a look at a beer that’s perfect for an unexpected snowbound day.

This week’s brew: O’so Rusty Red

Style: American amber ale

Brewed by: O'so Brewing Co. in Plover, just south of Stevens Point

Availability: Founded this year by a longtime homebrewer who first opened a homebrewing supply store, O’so is quickly coming into its own on the state brewing scene. Find it at finer liquor stores and bigger grocery stores including in Wisconsin. The Brew Guru predicts O’so’s beers will only get easier to find as more people try them.

What it’s like: A Samuel Adams Boston Lager with the malt revved up.

In the glass: Amber ales tend to be the airheaded beauties of the beer world. No beers look as downright gorgeous, all crimson and caramel, but they often disappoint in the flavor and personality departments. True to its name, Rusty Red is a bit browner – less spectacular, that is – than other reds that can drop a jaw from across the room. But it holds up nicely up close, with the spotlight on its sweet, slightly nutty malt. If you take it out of the fridge (or snowbank) early and let it warm up for five to 10 minutes, the flavor profile really blossoms.

Backwash: Perhaps The Brew Guru was unduly moved by this, but O’so’s flagship beers come with cleverly designed labels that free-associate words with the beer within. Rusty Red’s vocabulary: “smooth, malty, rich, bready, balanced, pleasant, harmonious.” The Brew Guru can’t disagree and is all the more impressed that with Rusty Red, O’so scored points on a style that he’d rather leave than take. Two of O’so’s other flagship beers – Hopdinger pale ale and, especially, Night Train porter – also win (as yet unpublished) high marks, making the 2009 Wisconsin brewing rookie of the year award no contest.

3 mugs (out of four)

The Brew Guru tastes Bud Light Golden Wheat

Psst, hey. Come here, wanna hear a confession? Closer; it’s a little embarassing. The Brew Guru loves the new Bud Light commercials.

You know, the ones with the smarmy, hyperactive pitchman prancing around and touting bizarre product mashups that are “tailgate tested, tailgate approved!” to a fake but captivated studio audience.




Now, the most recent spot, for the “Speakerbox,” is flat compared with the awesome first two featuring the “Grooler” and “Foozie.” And The Brew Guru fully understands that a probably small but significant part of the audience is not in on the joke, and others shrug them off as annoying. But therein lies their beauty: You have to respect the agency behind the campaign for pitching it and the brewing giant with its name on it for embracing an approach so simultaneously bitingly satirical and off the wall. Sure beats another doofus roommate gag or a “Transformers” tie-in.

When a funny-looking guy holds a footlong hot dog up to the side of his head and says “Ring ring, ring ring! It’s the future!” you’ve really tapped into the Bud Light-buying public.

Today’s brew: Bud Light Golden Wheat.

Style: Wheat ale.

Brewed by: Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis.

Availability: Ubiquitous. You don’t spend $30 million on marketing unless your product is easy to find.

What it’s like: It’s not the same style, but think a New Glarus Spotted Cow with about half the taste.

In the glass: Wheat beers can be so fascinating: delicate, subtle and complex, with layers of fruit and spice flavors sprouting from grains, wild yeasts and exotic additives like grains of paradise and coriander. It should surprise no one that something in a bottle labeled Bud Light fails to execute “subtle,” “delicate” and “complex.” Golden Wheat predictably takes the most obvious characteristics of the style – the funk, the citrus, the spice and even the hazy appearance – turns down the volume on them, and drapes them over a beer “with the personality of Bud Light.” (That last is straight from a press release, tongue not at all in cheek.) That personality, of course, is no personality. It’s bland, watery and – as long as you just want to drink your beer and not necessarily taste it – unobjectionable.

Backwash: Is Golden Wheat better than Bud Light? Yes. Does it even approach the quality of the craft brewery wheats that have driven a 300 percent growth in wheat beers since 2003? No. This is a defensive beer by A-B, one made to tap into that growth and allow brand loyalists to experiment with craft styles in their comfort zone, without jumping off the mothership. In that sense, Anheuser-Busch has a winner on its hands. From a beer enthusiast’s perspective ... well, just sit back and enjoy the commercials.

1½ mugs (out of four)

The Brew Guru tastes Goose Island Honker's Ale, or, How beer solved everything. Again.

After last week’s adept handling of a nationwide freak-out over police, race and politics, does anyone still think there isn’t a problem that can’t be solved – or at least buried – by beer?

The Brew Guru speaks, of course, about President Barack Obama’s stunt to turn the page on the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates and subsequent national debate about how blacks are viewed by the (white) boys in blue, in this case arresting officer James Crowley.

Obama’s plan, quickly seconded by The Brew Guru: Let’s all have a beer.

On the table or mid-quaff at last weeks’ “beer summit” at the White House: From left, Henry Louis Gates’ Sam Adams Light; Joe Biden’s Buckler nonalcoholic “beer,” with a lime slice; police Sgt. James Crowley’s Blue Moon, with citrus garnish; and Obama’s (sigh) Bud Light. And the nation’s finest silver, serving up salty snacks.

Political maneuvering aside, how could you not love the idea? The entire debate had shades of a barroom disagreement that escalated to the brink of fisticuffs: misunderstanding and pride (by both Crowley and Gates), speaking hastily (by Obama) and, finally, beer, camaraderie and an awkward, reluctant fist bump.

Yes, The Brew Guru thought, drink and discuss. Perfect, not just to put the issue to bed but also to hold up a mirror to the men involved to see just who they are.

Vice President Joe Biden wasn’t really involved in the dispute and wasn’t really involved in the “beer summit” either, although he was there. He doesn’t drink and had a Buckler, a nonalcoholic brew from the makers of Heineken. Biden half-drunk is a scary thought anyway, considering what comes out of his mouth when he’s apparently sober.

Gates had the best choice of the four: a Sam Adams Light, a beer previously endorsed by The Brew Guru that perfectly represents the Boston area from which he and Crowley hail.

Crowley went with a Blue Moon Belgian white, served with what The New York Times reported as an orange slice but The Brew Guru thought looked suspiciously like a lemon wedge.

The commander in chief, meanwhile, initially left The Brew Guru scratching his head by reaching for a Bud Light. Really? The most powerful man in the world chooses the least powerful beer in the world? Recoil from it if you will, but Obama has always positioned himself as a populist, and Bud Light is the most popular beer in America. His approval ratings declining, perhaps it was a calculated play to Joe Six Pack.

But Obama has always found small but significant ways to show the kind of man he is and pay homage to his roots – think the White Sox jacket he wore at the baseball All-Star Game a few weeks earlier. The Brew Guru was disappointed he didn’t see the beer summit in that light, so let’s suggest what Obama should have drunk in the Rose Garden last week.

This week’s brew: Honker’s Ale

Style: English-style ale

Brewed by: Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago.

Availability: Goose Island’s flagship beer is widely available at liquor and many larger grocery stores.

What it’s like: It’s a different style, but the Sam Adams of the Midwest is an apt comparison.

In the glass: A dignified but not intimidating amber, Honker’s looks the part of a presidential pour. The malt is grainy but the body light – clearly an Obama preference – and there’s gentle citrus and fruit notes underneath. It finishes with a mild hop character very different from the powerful bitterness that turns many people off the India and American pale ales.

Backwash: Indulge The Brew Guru in a though experiment for a moment. He’s a middle-class guy. Politically, he’s moderate but mostly disinterested. He voted for Obama mostly because of the persona and because McCain really scared him. He drinks MGD or Bud, whichever is on sale, about a 12-pack a week. He sees on the news that Obama drank a beer from Chicago called Goose Something so he thought he’d check that out. It was pretty good. Different. Not his kind of beer, and certainly not an every-day type beer. It’s a little too pricey for him to drink all the time, but it was from Chicago, like Obama, and he respected that Obama respected that. He could see the prez kicking back and drinking it at the end of a tough day wrangling over North Korea and health care and stuff. Yeah, that Obama, he’s OK.

3½ mugs (out of four)

The Brew Guru tastes New Glarus Crack'd Wheat, or, All hail alchemy

The Brew Guru has long told anyone who would listen that his stomping grounds is home to the best beer in the world. And while his credentials may not quite match such a sweeping assertion, Wisconsin’s brewers keep coming up with ways to make him more right with every new beer they bottle. Most impressive is the creativity and improvisation central to so many of these brews. Not only do these alchemists perfect the classic styles developed in the old world, they so aggressively tweak, push and bend them that they’re really creating new styles. The brewery that serves up today’s beer is at the forefront of that refinement and innovation. There’s no question a Swiss enclave in southern Wisconsin is home to The Brew Guru’s favorite beers.

This week’s brew: Crack’d Wheat

Style: Hefeweizen, technically and probably.

Brewed by: New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus.

Availability: Initially billed as a new addition to New Glarus’ year-round lineup, New Glarus' website now describes it as an April-to-July seasonal. It's a tier below Spotted Cow or Fat Squirrel on the easy-to-find scale, so your best bet is “finer” liquor stores. In Wisconsin.

What it’s like: Think two parts Hacker-Pschorr’s benchmark hefeweizen and one part a benchmark from our side of the pond: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

In the glass: Crack’d Wheat is a cloudy, yellowish-brown pour that’s sweetly aromatic – the familiar wheat notes of banana, clove and cinnamon are there. There’s also a little citrus nose to it, a character that explodes on the tongue thanks to dry-hopping with the lemony, orangey Amarillo hop. New Glarus brewmaster Daniel Carey bills Crack’d as “an international marriage” of a hefeweizen and an American pale ale, and it works as well as a couple celebrating its 60th anniversary. The pale ale husband does the heavy lifting on the front of the palate and the wheat wife carries the gentler characteristics: a delicate aroma and smooth, yeasty aftertaste. That smoothness and an alcohol content (5.95 percent) less than that of many hefeweizens make it easy to crack a few Crack’ds.

Backwash: You know how a hefeweizen is often garnished with a big lemon wedge? The Brew Guru doesn’t know if that unfortunate trend was the inspiration for this beer, but in hindsight it’s a beer that has been begging to be made. Take a potent, citrusy hop like Amarillo, dunk it in the beer during the brewing and dispense with the annoying (and overpowering) citrus wedges. Duh!

Bonus news you can use: The Brew Guru has recommended the New Glarus brewery tour before, and with the Careys' recently completed $20 million expansion, it’s even better now. It's a gleaming, fully functional temple to the art of making beer. Tours are available every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

3½ mugs (out of four)

The Brew Guru tastes Budweiser American Ale, or, This must be what they wanted but I can't imagine why

When it comes to up-front declarations of beer snobbery, it doesn’t get any less subtle than a non-twist-off cap. The beer you deign to drink declares, before it has even graced your palate, that you require help consuming it. “Find an implement, caveman. Evolve or remain parched.”
It’s a pomposity that can be tolerated for a beers above a certain threshold – for The Brew Guru, it’s about $6 a six-pack, maybe $7. Anything below that – except brews way below, i.e. returnable bottles – reeks of false airs.

Today’s featured beer puts on a lot of airs: atop, outside and inside the bottle.

This week’s brew: Budweiser American Ale

Style: The Budmasters claim they’ve created an entirely new style, but if it looks like an amber ale, swims like an amber ale and quacks like an amber ale...

Brewed by: Anheuser-Busch Inc., St. Louis.

Availability: It’s a Bud. If the answer here isn’t “everywhere,” someone isn’t doing his job.

What it’s like: Samuel Adams Boston Lager if it were brewed by Bud.

Inside the glass: This foray into a microbrew style by America’s biggest macrobrewer is a significant departure from its Bud labelmates. It’s all malt, meaning it lacks adjuncts like corn or rice, and it boasts Cascade hops – the backbone of many great American pale ales. And it toes the line, appearance-wise: a lovely rusty, caramel-malt amber and a creamy head. But get closer to the glass and it falls flat. A thin aroma foreshadows a similarly thin flavor. There’s a fleeting ale bitterness, but it’s gone before anything really registers because it’s riding on a flimsy grain chassis. The macrobrewers clearly believe the benefit of watering down the malt body is drinkability, in terms of “less filling.” Never mind whether anyone will actually want to drink more.

Backwash: The Brew Guru doesn’t believe that the beer minds at Anheuser-Busch couldn’t make this beer what it purports to be. They could craft and mass-produce a beer to please microbrew fans, but at some point a compromise was made. It may have been to keep costs down. Or perhaps because they don’t really want the microbrew drinker, but instead the macro drinker who aspires to micros. If the latter is the case, it’s a misguided decision – for that consumer, American Ale is just a gateway beer to similar but better choices like Sam Adams or Goose Island Honker’s Ale. Either way, American Ale won’t fool any real microbrew fans.

1 mug (out of four)

The Brew Guru tastes Left Hand Milk Stout, or, Sweet, dark surrender

Among the avalanche of information on the new prez to reach The Brew Guru last week was the tidbit that Barack Obama is a lefty. There he was, hunched over that little table, signing – and probably smudging – executive orders. That was news to the Guru because he, of course, is a boring old right-hander. Any proud lefty probably knew of his kinship with months ago. Southpaws, which comprise about 13 percent of the population, have a disproportionately prodigious record when it comes to inventions, art, leadership and other accomplishments. They also, apparently, adjust more quickly to seeing underwater. Very helpful.

This week’s brew: Left Hand Milk Stout

Style: Stout

Brewed by: Left Hand Brewing in Longmont, Colo., about a half-hour northwest of Boulder and about an hour north of Denver.

Availability: For this brew, as with most beers brewed outside the Central time zone, rely on bigger liquor stores or those that cater to craft tastes.

In the glass: No, it doesn’t taste like milk. It tastes like beer – specifically, a really, really good stout. Left Hand says the lactose (milk sugar) is added to balance the malt’s roastiness, which is present in spades, but it also gives the aroma a chocolatey sweetness that doesn’t necessarily gibe with the flavor. The chocolate malts (so named for their color, not necessarily their flavor) and other darker grains make Milk Stout as dark as a Northwoods night.

Backwash: The Brew Guru doesn’t put much stock in awards – if Miller Lite can boast of a World Beer Cup gold medal, what’s it worth? – but Left Hand has brought home a well-deserved gold for Milk Stout at two WBCs in a row. (It competed in the sweet stout category.) It’s a worthy addition to whatever hand you choose to hold it in.

3½ mugs (out of four)