IPA Day!

Thursday, August 2, 2012 is my happy day.

Why? It’s the 2nd annual IPA day! India Pale Ale has now become the fastest growing beer style in America. My thoughts on that statistic? It’s about damn time. I have loved hoppy beers for years. Back in the mid 90’s, very few full flavored beers were available in the SE. I tried my best to share the ones I found with my friends (Rogue I2PA comes to mind), but I eventually realized I was wasting my time and effort. So I kept all the beer for myself. (Hey, I tried.) But now it seems everyone is coming around to my way of thinking.

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Beer and Food – Part 1 of many

Day two of the Cicerone Beer Education class was even better than the first. After a morning of sampling more off flavors (ugh!), discussion turned to one of my favorite subjects – beer and food.  This is a topic I will likely come back to many times in future blog posts. Hence the title.

When I first started in the craft beer industry in 1995, beer was seen as the “kick back after work and relax” beverage. Yes, craft brewers were making better beers in the mid 90’s, but the occasion to enjoy those great beers beer had not really changed in the mind of the general public. I vividly recall many times walking into restaurants in Atlanta that carried a large and varied wine list and only offered a few mass-produced beers. The wine list obviously had thought behind it and was meant to pair with the food, while the beer list was only an afterthought.  Craft brewers across the country have been fighting to change this for a long time. And it finally seems to be working!

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