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Updated: January 27, 2001 |
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Updated: January 27, 2001 |
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The Tasting Notebook contains reviews of commercial beers, primarily from the United States, which I first started posting to Usenet in the newsgroup rec.food.drink.beer as soon as we broke off from alt.beer in March, 1994. Originally, the reviews were written with only that audience in mind, which may explain some of the obscure references to concepts or individuals found in some of the older reviews. Since Mark Stevens approached me in November of 1994 with the intention of placing these reviews permanently at The Brewery, I have been writing knowing that they will have a somewhat broader audience and will be standing alone here in addition to their run in rec.food.drink.beer.
Reviews are still initially posted to rec.food.drink.beer, and it may be several days before a new review gets put up on this site. In order to make it easier for frequent visitors to The Brewery to find new reviews, there is an index containing only those reviews which have been posted in the past two months or so. This index is in addition to the main index; new reviews will be referenced from both.
I hope you enjoy this particular manifestation of my ongoing interest in beer appreciation and brewing. Please, if you have any comments or critiques on the reviews, do not hesitate to send me email via the link at the bottom of each full review. Since I receive around a dozen such comments a week, I cannot guarantee that I will respond, but I do enjoy the email and I occasionally incorporate suggestions and feedback into the reviews.
In July of 1996, I decided to include a collection of "short notes" on this site in addition to the standard full reviews. While the collection is still fairly small, with all the notes I have sitting around it is slated to grow considerably. Remember, the Full Reviews only numbered around 20 when The Brewery opened in the fall of 1994; now there are plenty more.
The Short Notes serve as a companion to the full reviews in the Tasting Notebook. The differences should be apparent. While the full reviews feature lengthy write-ups on the beer in question, including some limited background information on the brewery or the style, the short notes are limited to brief sentences on the flavor of the beer and a rating. Additionally, while the full reviews still originate on the Usenet newsgroup rec.food.drink.beer, the short notes are directly marked up in html for the Tasting Notebook.
I began thinking about creating a collection of short notes in the summer of 1995. I have feared that in diluting the high standards I have set for myself with the full reviews would detract from their overall quality and usefulness. On the other hand, I sample many different beers and have slowly realized that, considering the amount of work that goes into a full review (from tasting to writing), there is no possible way that I could translate every single tasting note into a full length review. Taking comprehensive notes on a brewpub's full range of beers is also difficult; it generally takes me about half a pint to acquire the data I need to write a full review (and to sample a beer as its flavor profile changes over the short time that it resides in my pint glass). Hence, the short notes serve two purposes: first, I can finally tabulate all of my back notes into published, if brief, reviews on the web, and second, it is easier to cover the full range that a given brewpub or microbrewery has to offer. I hope you enjoy the short notes as much as you enjoy (or deride, whatever the case may be) the full reviews.
Finally, if a given beer is highlighted as a link in the short notes, that means that beer has a full review of it in the main notebook section.
In the 'credit-where-credit-is-due' department, I have to admit that the format for presenting the short notes was originally inspired by John Locke's "Beer Ratings List". I have since revamped the Short Notes considerably, moving away from John's model, but the inspiration was there in the beginning.
I earned my Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington in December, 2000. In January, I left Seattle, my home for the last 12 years, to begin a three-year appointment to the faculty of the Department of Political Science at the University of Twente, in Enschede, The Netherlands. When I lived in Seattle and not busy poring over voting and survey data or teaching, I could generally be found at the Big Time Brewpub in downing a batch of their beer. As I believe in replacing what I've extracted from the environment, when not sitting at the bar at the Big Time, I was probably at home in the kitchen brewing up a batch of my beer.
I've been homebrewing since the beginning of 1990, and my beers have won over 35 awards at sanctioned competitions since I started competing in 1992, including an IPA which took Best of Show at the 1993 CAMRA/Victoria competition and a Stout which earned First Place at the 1993 National Homebrew Competition. My most recent award was a second place at the 1999 Dixie Cup in Barleywine. I've also been on the judging end of competitions several times, including a couple best-of-show rounds. If you suspect I damaged my credibility by scoring your beer unreasonably low at the BOS round, you probably entered the 1995 Mill Creek Classic in Salem, Oregon or the 1996 Brew Debut in Fall City, Washington. Sadly, my homebrewery is in storage or scattered throughout Seattle on loan while I reside in the Netherlands.
Finally, I've also written a few things, including two articles that have appeared in the highly-regarded "Brewing in Styles" column of Brewing Techniques. West Coast Amber Ales appeared in the November/December 1995 (3:6) issue, and the frightfully long Evolution and Contemporary Brewing of American IPA appeared in the September/October 1996 (4:5) issue. I used to serve on the steering committee of the Seattle-based Microbrew Appreciation Society, but sadly the MAS is no mas.
If you're still bored, check out my Home Page at the University of Washington.
I would like to thank the following individuals who, knowingly or unknowingly, have contributed in some form to the reviews:
William Abernathy, John Bates, Larry Baush, Jon Binkley, Melinda Brockington, Nick Bruels, Jim Busch, Dave Carroll, Marvin Crippen, Charlie Gow, Michelle Hefflin, Clark Hubbard, Steve Jackson, Joseph Jupille, Jaime Jurado, Martin Lodahl, Ken Papai, Mary Alice Pickert, Don Scheidt, Steve Stroud, Glenn Tinseth, Craig Verver & beersnobs everywhere.
And, of course, to Karl Lutzen and Mark Stevens, for establishing The Brewery.