Don't Support Small Business

Yep, you read that title right.  Don’t support House of 1000 Beers.  Don’t support the small, local, independent retailers & services that build our communities.  Don’t support the mom-&-pop hardware store.  Don’t support the little family-run bakery.  Don’t support the single-screen movie theater that shows indie films & old school horror flicks every October.

If you think I have a problem with small businesses, you’re wrong.  I love small businesses.  I have a problem with the word “support”, at least in this context.  To me, the word has the connotation of charity, that it’s somehow an act of kindness & altruism to patronize a small business.  We support charities.  We support our loved ones, our friends & families.  We support the less fortunate.  In a free economy, you shouldn’t be “supporting” a business whose raison d’etre is providing something in exchange for you forking over your cash.  We don’t ask for donations, & expect that, if we are not able to live by trading what we have to offer you, our dear customer, we would not be around.

I get why the sentiment “support small business” exists.  In our current economy, the big players are getting bigger & each year it seems harder for small businesses to compete.  It seems, though, that too much of marketing for small business appeals to emotion - specifically a neighborly kind of love, or, more cynically, fear & guilt.  On the positive, consumers are promised a warm, fuzzy feeling by buying from the little guy with a friendly face who knows you by name.  We think that’s an awesome part of being a small business; we love chatting up regulars, or showing the new guy around.  The sneaky inverse of that, though, is the guilt, that you’re somehow hurting the small business’s feelings by not going there – after all, they’re only human, & how else will they survive?  They’re also a business, with an obligation to give the customer what they want if they expect to get their money.  

And fear is used to caution folks from buying from “the big chain stores”, foreshadowing threats of monopoly & a dystopian society controlled by corporations, devoid of choice, character, or variety. 

Like I said, I get those points, & while they’re not totally without validity, marketing to emotions like those seems intellectually dishonest & manipulative.  We at The House shop at big stores, too, like every other average American.  We also love doing business with the little guys.  The point I want to get across is not why you shouldn’t patronize big stores, or why we feel you should “support” us, but what being a small business allows us to offer you.  We want to appeal to the emotion of awesomeness!

Here’s how:

We call the shots.  We are not beholden to anyone except what our tastes & the tastes of our customers dictate.  We have no shareholders holding our feet to the bottom line.  Sure, we need to make money, but we can decide exactly how we do that, & what we think our customers will think is cool & get into.  Founders Brewing’s motto used to be something like “We brew what we like to drink”.  That’s an awesome business plan, & each day we run the kind of store we want to run, with the faith & confidence that other people will dig it, too.  That control gives us the freedom to do what we want.  If we decide we’re going to have seven tripels on tap at the same time, we can.  If we want to throw western Pennsylvania’s first sour beer festival, we do it.  If we decide to offer a three year, four release vertical of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA for our Christmas party, it’s a go.  If we decide to build a kitchen after a decade on location, who’s going to stop us?  As long as the PLCB doesn’t prohibit it, we can do it.

Our selection kicks ass.  We’re not tethered to only the moneymakers, & our biggest point of pride is having a huge variety, including a lot of beers that you won’t find at other places nearby.  Being small allows us the attention to detail & creativity in our inventory that the hardcore beer geek appreciates.  We have something for everyone, from someone just starting to venture outside the mainstream to connoisseurs looking for those hard-to-find gems.  Those rare birds are not really moneymakers for us, we just get a kick out of being able to carry specialty beers from small, artisanal brewers.  Again, it’s the kind of stuff we get excited about, & are sure someone else is going to geek out over, too.

Good customer service.  Being small, we make sure that the people who work here are cool, friendly &, just as importantly, know their shit.  Every person on our small staff knows & is passionate about beer.  We can help you find what you need, recommend a good draft or bottle, or just bullshit about whether we think Westy 12 is overrated.  We remember faces & tastes, & get a smile when someone plops a bottle of something awesome on the counter.

Good customers & a relaxed atmosphere.  One of the things I’ve always been impressed by is the conversation at the bar.  People come here who know & love beer, & are just as passionate about it as we are.  I’ve seen strangers get to know each other & carry on long conversations over what’s in the glass.  I think our atmosphere is laid back enough that people don’t feel uptight, or that they have to impress someone.  Some might find it a little too relaxed, but again, we’re all about doing things our way.  People just let their hair down & have a good time, & the beer does its job as social lubricant. 

Man, I really didn’t expect this to run so long.  But there you have it: I hope I laid out a case as to why we, & by association why so many small businesses, have a lot to offer by virtue of being small & independent.  So I’ll reiterate: don’t support small business.  Patronize?  Yeah.  Frequent?  Sure.  But do business with small business because of what they have to offer you.  That’s what small business is all about, & we’re proud & excited to be part of that.

Almost forgot!  Small Business Saturday is this Saturday, November 30^th.  

Top Shelf Thursday, November 2013: Embrace the Darkness

Winter’s on its way.  It’s getting colder, the daylight is shriveling, forcing people to seek warmth & comfort.  I can’t think of any beers that embody those qualities more than the porter/stout family: dark, rich, sweet, roasty, warming.  The Snuggie of beers.  This month’s Top Shelf Thursday (subtitled “Embrace the Darkness”) focused on these dark comfort brews, highlighting variation while staying grounded by a common feel.

What’s the difference between porter & stout?  Good question, with a simple answer: not much.  These days, the talking points are that porters are sweeter & lighter-bodied, while stouts are dryer & more robust.  Or that porters rely on chocolate malt whereas stouts use roasted barley & black patent.  These distinctions appear to be relatively recent evolutions.  Historically, “stout” meant just that: bigger, heartier.  Stout was just a variation of porter, & was originally called “stout porter”, without clear formal differences.  Nowadays you’ve got close to a dozen variations of the two: brown porter, robust porter, imperial porter (?), even Baltic porter, which often uses lager yeast.  And don’t get me started on stouts: Irish dry stout, milk stout, foreign export stout, Russian imperial stout, American double stout, oatmeal, et al.  The family tree of the porter/stout clan branches off, veers back & seemingly gets tangled in its own limbs.  One thing’s clear, though: these beers are some of the most beloved out there.

Stouts & porters are a great vehicle for barrel-aging, so it’s no coincidence that barrel-aged beers were prevalent at this tasting.  From Foothills Brewing came our kick-off: People’s Barrel-Aged Porter, their English-style porter aged in wet Kentucky bourbon barrels.  At a “mere” 6% ABV, this porter faced a challenge standing up to the intense flavors of the barrels, but rose to the task with chocolate & caramel notes. 

Things got smoky with the next offering: The Big Smoke, a smoked porter from Danish-cum-Kiwi brewer 8 Wired.  Whereas smoked malt (in this case Bamberg rauchmalt) can sometimes be overwhelming, most agreed that here it was more subdued but still delivered that savory quality folks look for in a smoked brew. 

Victory threw folks a curveball with Red Thunder, their Baltic porter aged in red wine barrels from California vineyard Wente.  The Baltic porter was already anomalous in this line-up with its use of lager yeast instead of ale yeast, & the wine barrels gave it a darkly fruity, woody, & tannic twist.

Next, we dropped our first stout of the evening with Cryptical, an imperial from Starr Hill Brewing’s All Access series (its name a Grateful Dead reference).  The tasting’s most hop-forward beer, Cryptical packed some bite from dry-hopping with Apollo, Simcoe, & Centennial.

Two of the evening’s most eccentric brews followed.  Stone Brewing collaborated with Oregon’s 10 Barrel & DC brewpub Bluejacket to concoct Suede imperial porter.  A recipe including avocado honey, jasmine, & calendula flowers gave it a uniquely floral & sweet profile, wrapped up in a smooth porter jacket.  One of the original imperial stouts – Le Coq’s Imperial Double Extra Stout – disappeared for years until its resurrection by British brewer Harvey & Sons.  Many in attendance were surprised by its tart nose, followed by a body with strong notes of licorice, dark fruit, & tobacco, really throwing for a loop those who expected a more conventional stout flavor.

Evil Twin’s Soft DK had a background that raised some eyebrows: the brewer was inspired by the sweet smell he got while changing his newborn son’s diapers & set out to brew a stout evocative of that aroma.  Soft Dookie, as it was christened before its name change in the US market, gives off notes of vanilla that complement its light body.

We book-ended the night with barrel-aged offerings, wrapping up with a trio of big, dark beers from the wood.  Laughing Dog Brewing didn’t mess around, taking their 11% imperial stout, The Dogfather, & aging it in bourbon barrels for a rich, warming brew with oaky notes backing it up firmly.  DuClaw Brewing draws each bottle of Retribution from a single barrel after aging for six months, allowing for some variation bottle to bottle.  Retribution delivered strong smells & flavors of coconut & banana, marrying deliciously with the base stout’s coffee & dark chocolate character.  And at a formidable 12% ABV, Arcadia’s Shipwreck Porter crowned the night beautifully.  Not being satisfied with aging this imperial porter in ten-year-old bourbon barrels for a year, Arcadia goes so far as to put the beer-filled barrels in Michigan mines to maintain a consistent temperature.  How cool is that?

Things like big, indulgent beers remind us that there are some things about a long, dark winter to look forward to.  This was a fun tasting to organize & host, & hopefully all in attendance left a little more prepared to embrace the darkness.  And I’m sure everyone left feeling a little warmer, too.

Want Some Cheese with That Barleywine?

In my last blog I cast my own doubts on the success of pairing beer with food.  I don’t mean drinking beer with food – beer & food go side by side great.  I’m talking about pairing in the transcendental foodie kind of way that, supposedly, would achieve some sort of celestial state & send one’s taste buds into thralls of ecstasy.  I just don’t think it’s happening, & my general rule is that beer is best left unto itself.

Now there exists one BIG exception to this soft “rule”, & that’s wine’s alleged “best buddy”: cheese.  Maybe it’s because I’m also a big fan of cheese, but for me, these two foodstuffs just click.  I think it’s Garrett Oliver who qualifies cheese & beer’s affinity thusly: at their most fundamental, they’re both just grass converted by enzymes & organisms.  In the case of beer, it’s enzymes & yeast.  In the case of cheese, it’s a cow & then enzymes.  He also goes into depth about the shortcomings of wine with cheese, as well as beer’s secret weapon: the “scrubbing bubbles” of carbonation.  I think the two work together so well because they are both simple yet so complex, in ways that complement fantastically.  Cheese is always salty & creamy to varying levels, flavors & textures that can catalyze & be catalyzed by the taste & mouthfeel of beer.  There aren’t layers upon layers of ingredients to overwhelm or negate one another, but the flavors can unfold & unlock one another in the right pairing. 

Next to beer, blue cheeses are probably my favorite basic foodstuffs, so there’s plenty of pairing potential with this rank, sharp, salty family.  I can remember trying Anchor’s Old Foghorn Barleywine with a sweaty, room temperature Stilton & having each of them transformed, going through movements as the sweet, caramelized barleywine opened up the funky Stilton.  I love blues with a good, dank IPA – some of my favorite double IPAs, like Green Flash’s or Dogfish Head’s Burton Baton, express blue cheese notes in & of themselves (to me, anyway), making for a natural match.  I was becoming disillusioned with farmhouse ales for a while, until one night when I tried one with brie & saw it in a whole new light – the rustic, earthy qualities of each really shone through & renewed my liking for saisions.  Flanders red (my favorite beer style) goes great with the buttery, slightly sweet notes of a triple crème like Saint Andre.  A nutty, aged cheddar works well with the nutty, chocolate, roasty notes of a porter or stout, or the citric & piney bite of an IPA.  Some of the Trappists make their own cheese, naturally pairing well with their world class Belgian dubbels, tripels, & quads.  And back to blues – great with traditional lambics.  If you’re feeling really adventurous, try a runny, washed rind cheese (French Muenster?) with a lambic or other wild ale & prepare to open a Pandora’s box of gustatory experience.

Just a few suggestions, but if you ask me, cheese is the only surefire food for beer pairing - but therein lies a slew of possibilities.  Find a good cheese seller (hey, you already know of a great beer store) & go to town.  This may be one area where I agree the beer literati: when it comes pairing with cheese, it’s all about the beer.  Wine just doesn’t cut it.

The Beer Stands Alone

I think the beer world has a bit of an inferiority complex, at least when it compares itself to wine.  When beer’s evangelists talk about placing beer on a pedestal, they always measure it by wine’s standards: wine’s got a sophisticated, refined image; wine’s price points can run a lot higher than beer’s; fine dining menus have long included wine lists, but beer lists are still pretty scarce at the fancy joints.  Beer’s made some real strides in each of these areas, but even as more people come to recognize that, hey, there’s some quality beer out there, beer’s still got a long road ahead of it to catch up.  Oenophiles will drop $40 or more on a good bottle of wine without flinching, but show people a $40 bottle of beer & watch their heads fall off. 

Beer’s got some real plusses that wine doesn’t, but I think its cheerleaders have to reflect on whether they want to measure beer by the same standards.  One of the biggest talking points when trying to polish beer’s comparison to wine is in pairing with food.  Wine has long been viewed as the companion to serious food (read: “not pub grub”), & a tactic in the campaign to elevate beer’s image has been to knock wine off this pedestal.  Sam Calagione wrote a book with sommelier Marnie Olds debating different wine & beer pairings with food.  Garrett Oliver has hosted tons of tastings to the same effect, basically: pairing food courses with both beer & wine & having people vote on their favorite accompaniment.  The party line tends to be that, because beer has at least four, & often more, ingredients to play with, its variation & complexity are head-&-shoulders above wine, which typically uses one ingredient (maybe two, in the case of fortified wines).  They point to holes in wine’s compatibility resume (cited from Garrett Oliver’s The Brewmaster’s Table): “eggs, cheeses, chilies, smoked meats, smoked fish, tomatoes, ginger, curry, chocolate, avocados, garlic, vinaigrette dressings, spinach, artichokes, asparagus, cumin, and dozens of other tasty things”.  That’s right, folks – according to the party line, wine is not the best companion to cheese (more on that later).

I’ve read The Brewmaster’s Table, He Said Beer, She Said Wine, Lucy Saunders’ The Best of American Beer & Food, Randy Mosher’s Tasting Beer, complete with taste & aroma charts.  Thanks to local podcasters Craft Beer Radio, I’ve listened to every salon from SAVOR, a high-end beer festival aimed at promoting beer with haute cuisine.  The idea of pairing beer with food excites me, & I can’t think of a better companion to good food than good beer. 

Let me reiterate: the idea of pairing beer with food excites me.  Sadly, I’ve often found the practice underwhelming.  Call me a plebe, or tell me I have a stunted palate, but I haven’t found the magic, the fireworks that are supposed to happen when good beer & good beer rendezvous on your taste buds.  To me, beer is complex - & delicious – enough to stand on its own, occupy its own course in the meal.  Typically when I go out to dinner, I’ll have one, maybe two beers before eating.  It allows me to appreciate the beer unaccompanied, untainted, & literally can serve as an appetizer, whetting my appetite enough before the food arrives.  I like tasting each without interference from the other, & I seldom feel that drinking beer with food elevates either one.  If I do end up eating & drinking at the same time, the best that can happen is that they don’t mess with each other, but remain no more than the sum of parts; the worst is that they muddle each other & get in the way.  So I’m sorry to say that I’m not a fan of beer/food pairing, just not on board.  Maybe I haven’t found the right combination yet, but there have been many swings & misses so far.

That said, we at The House realize that not everybody feels this way.  Up to now, The House has pretty much focused solely on the essentials – the beer - & left the cuisine to other restaurants.  BUT, we realize that people like good food to eat with good beer, & for a few weeks now our kitchen has been in full swing.  A real kitchen, serving real food – it boggles the mind, right?  And we’re encouraged that the feedback so far has been positive.  With that & Thanksgiving right around the corner, folks’ minds will be turning to what brews to pair with their harvest smorgasbord.  I’ll, of course, have some good stuff on hand during my family’s celebration, but whatever my guests decide to do, I’ll most likely prefer to sip my beer & just listen to it speak alone, without forcing it into conversation.