As for the beer itself, the 55% ABV Belgian ale is “…infused with nettles from the Scottish Highlands and Fresh juniper berries.” The packaging of the 11 — yes, 11 — bottle limited release are “…presented in a stuffed stoat or grey squirrel. The striking packaging was created by a very talented taxidermist and all the animals used were road kill.” Wow.

With a price starting at £500.00 (roughly $760) per bottle, this will truly be a one of a kind beer.

Update: And like that, all the bottles have been sold.

Receiving free beer every now and again is pretty damn cool, but this is the first time I’ve received beer-related literature to review.

In reading Brewing with Wheat by Stan Hieronymus, I struggled with my note taking. I mean, how was I supposed to note the color of the pages or the aroma that wafted from the paperback? And you can forget about mouthfeel. Ugh.

In all seriousness, however, this book may have been a bit over my head. While I’ve sat in on a couple of home brewing sessions, I am far from what you would call knowledgeable on brewing details. Much of the technical material in the book was a bit lost on me. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the back history to brewing with wheat and the many styles that existed and still thrive today — especially how it relates to the U.S. craft beer scene.

There’s a ton of research put into this book that’s been broken down into the following sections.

Part I: Wheat, The Other Brewing Grain

The first section of the book focuses on the origins of wheat in brewing and the effect that the Reinheisgebot (in 1516) has had on the grain. What I found particularly interesting was the explanation of why wheat beers tend to be cloudy. I had always presumed it was suspended yeast (and that can be the case in some products), but mostly it’s due to the higher amount of protein that wheat has over barley.

Part II: The White Beers of Belgium

Man, I never realized that there were so many varieties of beer that used wheat. This section details the various styles, the impact of Pierre Celis and even what effect Coors’ Blue Moon has had on wheat beer popularity in the U.S.

Part III: The Weiss Beers of Southern Germany

I didn’t point it out earlier, but in each section, Stan outlines a few basic recipes of some of the beers that are referenced throughout the book. I only mention this because Schneider Aventinus, one of my favorite brews (and subsequent recipe), is mentioned in this section. Schneider and several other brewers were interviewed for the section, sharing their own opinions of brewing with wheat.

Part IV: The Wheat Beers of America

Living in the U.S., this was obviously the section I was most anticipating. The story behind Widmer Brothers’ Hefeweizen was quite interesting. The history of the various American styles that came from brewing with wheat was informative as was the history of wheat wine and it’s creation by Rubicon Brewing in 1988. It’s a wonder I’ve only recently been seeing this particular style of beer show up on store shelves 20 years later.

Part V: Wheat Beers from the Past

For those looking to brew something that most folks haven’t touched in many years, this section provides recipes for four resurrected wheat styles: Traditional Berliner Weisse, Gose, Lichtenhainer and Gratzer.

Part VI: Putting It All Together

The final, and shortest, section of the book could very well be the most fun. Essentially, it’s a list of everything you should be aware of when brewing, tasting or judging a wheat beer — covering just about every style (flaws and misconceptions included). I think I’ll need to run to the store tonight and start practicing.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I haven’t read any of Stan’s previous writing (aside from his blog), so I can’t compare it to those, but from a first-timer’s point of view the book has a good flow to it and is quite informative. As a side note, in the hopes of having another point of view (that of a home brewer), I’ve passed the book along to my father-in-law who’s beer knowledge far surpasses may own ten fold.

2010 World Beer Cup® is Largest Commercial Competition Ever

BOULDER, Colo. — April 10, 2010, Brewers from six continents earned awards from an elite international panel of judges this week in the 2010 Brewers Association World Beer Cup—the world’s largest-ever commercial beer competition. The eighth bi-annual competition announced awards to brewers from 19 countries ranging from Australia and Italy to Iceland and Japan.

This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries and 47 U.S. states vied for awards with 3,330 beers entered in 90 beer style categories. The entries in each category were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards. Judges presented a total of 268 awards.

The 2010 World Beer Cup eclipsed the record of the Brewers Association’s own Great American Beer Festival (GABF) to become the largest commercial competition ever. There were 3,308 entries judged in the 2009 GABF, compared to the 2010 World Beer Cup’s 3,330 entries judged.

A detailed analysis of the entries and awards can be found in the 2010 Brewers Association World Beer Cup Fact Sheet (PDF). The 2010 winners list (PDF) can be viewed here.

AP Photo

On the left, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper receives his winnings (delivered via US ambassador) from his successful wager with President Barack Obama over the outcome of the Olympic men’s gold medal hockey game between the two countries. I’m so glad the administration didn’t fuck up and send along some Bud or Miller.

AP Photo

The above photo shows the Resurrection Ale House where an anonymous tip set into motion a series of events among several bars that resulted in the confiscation of a few kegs and about 300 bottles of beer that were not properly registered.

For those interested in more on the raids, check out beernews.org.

The results were pretty much where I expected them to be, but the number of you that had higher and 25% ABV in your beer was a surprise — not a huge surprise, mind you, but one nonetheless. No one had topped out their ABV at 5%, which is what I expected.

The Results

The results are in.

After reviewing the results, I quickly came to the conclusion that I had a couple of shortcomings in the poll itself. The final numbers are great, but I think I should have asked a couple of more questions. For instance, a geographic location or, at the very least, the name/brand of your highest ABV beer would have been quite interesting. I realized the name/brand issue almost immediately upon publishing the poll, but I couldn’t amend it as some of you are quick on the draw and I already had a couple of submissions within minutes of launching it.

Perhaps, I’ll run the poll again at a later date and include the omitted questions, as well. At any rate, thanks again for participating.

Now, it’s your turn.

I’ll report the results next week.