HICKORY HOPS, By Suds Brewer (Focus 494) Hickory Hops, Hickory NC’s first ever beer festival, takes place on Union Square on Saturday, April 12. Although Asheville and Charlotte have had fests for years, this is a new event for our humble burg. Hickory Hops is being planned and organized by the Hickory Downtown Development Association and hosted by Olde Hickory Brewery. As a participant at over 50 beer festivals, I’d like to provide festers with insight and recommendations. Whatever you may be thinking, a beer festival is not a chugging marathon. It’s not a drunken frat party. It’s not an excuse to get smashed and act stupid. The only award given for public drunkenness comes with handcuffs. Please line up a designated driver before the festival or take a taxi home. Used in moderation, beer, the most commonly consumed of all alcoholic beverages, is a social drink, inspiring conversation and camaraderie. And what better way to enjoy beer than at an outdoor festival with 1,000+ like-minded souls? A beer festival is a celebration of beer, a gathering of the brewing clans. With brewers on hand to answer questions, it’s an opportunity for the beer neophytes and curious to learn and enjoy. A variety of beer, spanning almost every style, will be available. Don’t let the selection overwhelm you. There can be a method to this tasting madness. Hickory Hops' tasting glasses are sized, at 2.5 ounces, to encourage variety. Take advantage of the fest environment to try different beers. Sample as many as you’re comfortable with. In order to try more beers, ask for half a glass. You can always get another. Taste a beer by taking at least two sips. Then decide whether it’s a flavor profile that you like. If it doesn’t make your taste buds sing, determine what flavor in that beer was objectionable. If you don’t feel like drinking more of that beer, empty your glass into the nearest dump bucket. Make note of the distasteful style of beer (usually provided as part of the beer’s name, such as Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Stout, etc). When you try another of that same style, look for the same unwelcome tastes. You may just not care for a particular style of beer. That’s okay - there are over 56 different styles to choose from. To increase your stamina, plan to sit and relax without a beer at least 15 minutes of every hour you are at the festival. Water and food, available from several vendors, will dull the alcohol effect, as will time. And the music - The Sons of Ralph (featuring Ralph), Cigar Store Indians and The Bob Sinclair Band - will be worthy of your attention as well. As for tasting method? I suggest starting light and working toward the darker beers. Generally speaking, light colored beers such as Pilsners, Hefe-weizens (wheat beers), Blondes, fruit beers and anything with the word Light in its name tend to be lower in body, alcohol and flavor. There will be no budmillercoors products at Hickory Hops. Move from table to table sampling Light Beers for a while. Then move to the next shade of beer. Ambers, Reds, Pale Ales, Extra Special Bitters (ESBs) and other similarly copper hued beers comprise that progression. Then look for Brown Ales, Scottish Ale, India Pale Ales (IPAs) in the deep copper and brown color/flavor tones. Last on your tasting chart should be Porters and the Stouts- Oatmeal, Cream, Dry and Russian Imperial. Even when you cleanse your mouth between beers with water, your taste buds have a memory of the last thing you tasted kind of like drinking orange juice right after you brush your teeth. If you start with a big bitter IPA and follow it with a light, lilting Blonde Ale, the latter beer will taste like water in comparison. Allow yourself to really experience the taste. Take a pen and make notes of your favorites. That way you’ll have a list of beers to search for at retail stores and to ask for at your neighborhood tavern. Make plans to visit brewpubs to see where your newfound favorites are made. The Catawba Lager & Ale Sampling Society plans to stage a brewing demonstration. Stop by their booth to learn about the club and how easy homebrewing is. Enjoy the music. Be responsible. Enjoy the beer. Further Reading: Watch www.BeerSouth.com for information about upcoming festivals. In the Spring and Summer months, there’s almost one every weekend somewhere in the South. And for the list of beer styles and their characteristics, see www.beertown.org THE ART OF TASTING, By Suds Brewer (Focus 496) Hickory Hops, Hickory’s first beer festival, is just around the corner. This is the first of two articles for beer drinkers and fest goers. Cheers! Just throw your head back, open up your yapper and pour that cold, clear, tasteless beer right down your parched throat. That’s all there is to drinking beer, right Bubba? Without being an effete, pointing-pinky snob, there is a proper method to tasting beer. But, of course, it must be beer with flavor to start with. Drink beer for pleasure however you wish, but if you’re in search of the subtle tastes and nuisances of a particular beer, the BJCP has developed a system for your use. The Beer Judge Certification Program, which dates back to 1985, is "a non-profit organization which encourages the advancement of education of people who are concerned with the evaluation of beer." Judge certification is a long, formal and tedious process involving intense education covering nearly every aspect of beer characteristics, from style definitions to actual flavor components and off-flavor recognition. Judges take their beer drinking seriously. So where does a fledgling beer drinker began in this all-of-a-sudden complicated tasting process? The BJCP has established a five category, 50 point scale for beer evaluation. In competition, homebrew or professional, beer is judged blind, that is, judges know the style but have no clue who brewed each beer. Aroma is the first checkpoint on the list. Does the beer have an aroma? Most do, but is it appropriate for style. India Pale Ales, for instance, should practically have hop clouds overhead raining pungent floral hops on everyone within a nose or two. Pilsners, less blunt in hops presentation, may waft a slight hop breeze while English Brown Ale may emit a brown sugar aura. Aroma accounts for as many as 12 points in the 50 point scale. Appearance weighs in with only three points. Beers should be of proper color, clarity and head. A Cream Stout should sport a frothy tan foam cap and be opaque black in hue. A Bavarian Hefeweizen, an unfiltered wheat beer, must be cloudy gold and topped with a frothy white head. How many times have you ordered a Red beer that wasn’t red? The biggest component of the Beer Score Sheet is Flavor. With 20 points on the table, beer judges labor diligently to compare the beer at hand to very specific stylistic characteristics. With over 56 different categories and subcategories, some of which overlap, this is not an easy task. Judges make note of malt, hops, fermentation characteristics, balance, finish/aftertaste and other flavor characteristics appropriate for the style. Further information on style specifications and the Beer Score Sheet can be found at www.bjcp.org. With five points, Mouthfeel is given lower priority but remains an important function in the art of tasting. Mouthfeel is simply the body of the beer. Is it thin, like a Hefeweizen, medium like a Pale Ale or heavy like Porter and Stout? Does the beer have proper carbonation, creaminess, astringency or other palate sensations? Like a melted milkshake, Stout with thin mouthfeel just wouldn’t taste right. Finishing out the count, Overall Impression chips in with 10 points. This is the most subjective part of the judging and often separates the winners from the runner-ups. Judges comment on overall drinking pleasure and make suggestions for improvement to the beer. Unlike wine tasting judges, beer judges swallow their tastes. Between beers, water and bland crackers or bread are used to cleanse palates. Beers are awarded a numerical grade by averaging the judges’ scores. A Very Good Beer rates 30-37 points. Excellent hits the 38-44 range, with Outstanding, a rare feat, at the top of the chart, 45-50. You don’t have to drink like a judge to enjoy the myriad flavors of craft brewed beer. Tastings and comparisons are fun. So are beer festivals. Make the most of your time at Hickory Hops. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn more about the art of tasting craft brewed beer.