Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

So maybe it’s the day after Valentine’s Day but I know many couples who, when it lands in the middle of the week, choose to celebrate over the weekend. While it may be more traditional to have a nice bottle of Champagne or to pair some wine with a romantic dinner, there are some beers out there that I think would be appropriate for a nice romantic evening.

Biere Brut: Beers modeled after Champagne can fit right in, especially for those who have some issues with the acidity of Champagne or get too dried-out from the carbonation. Not every Biere Brut is a no-brainer, however; as much as I enjoy Mikkeller’s Nelson Sauvin Brut IPA, it’s a little funky with wild yeast character to just throw out there. I’d recommend the cidery floral notes of Deus or the Rose Champagne-styled l’Equilibrista from Italy’s Birra del Borgo. l’Equilibrista, in particular, would work quite well with a chocolate and fruit plate dessert. Speaking of chocolate:

Chocolate Stouts: Snag a 12 or 22oz bottle of a rich, chocolaty Stout and split it over dessert. Heavy Seas Siren Noire is currently available and carries a nice balance of cocoa flavor and dry Stout character. Southern Tier Choklat is outstanding poured over ice cream, if you’re making dessert at home. Evil Twin Aun Mas a Jesus would be a nice small-bottle replacement for a Ruby Port, and I’ve recommended it in the past as just that.

Blatant Pandering: The recently (in bottles anyway) released Lost Rhino Pretty In Pink sports a bright pink label containing a Saison-style Ale using pomegranates. A collaboration of local female beer pro’s (Lost Rhino’s Becky Jordan, Hardywood’s Rachael Cardwell, Kristi Mathews Griner—at the time of Vintage 50 but soon to be head brewer at Capitol City Brewing Company, and Megan Parisi of the soon-to-open Bluejacket in DC), proceeds from Pretty In Pink go toward breast cancer research. Not only is the beer for a good cause, but its blend of bright, Saison character and fruitiness is fun and refreshing. Another beer that comes to mind is Lower Dens from Stillwater Artisanal Ales; another Saison, Lower Dens uses spelt malt and hibiscus flowers to create a Farmhouse-style Ale that has a clean palate with rustic, grainy notes and a present but not overwhelming influence from the flowers.

Whatever you end up drinking this Valentine’s Day, I hope you enjoy it with the one you love. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

As mentioned in the comments section of last week’s column, the biggest news story in the beer industry involved the U.S. Justice Department filing suit to stop the purchase of Grupo Modelo (makers of Corona, among other brands) by AB InBev (Budweiser, Stella Artois), the biggest of the big beer companies. It’s funny which stories have ‘legs’ where others don’t; I remember the InBev purchase of Anheuser-Busch gaining quite a bit of attention, but I never got any phone calls from reporters then — and I did this week when the big guys got told “no”.

During the conversation I had with a reporter who had reached out for some perspective from the retail side, I was asked if I thought the competition between Big Beer and Craft Beer was more or less intense than a few years ago. What I think is that where once Big Beer fought to keep small breweries off the shelves because they saw a potential long-term threat, now Craft Beer is established itself.

The Sierra Nevadas and Dogfish Heads of the world aren’t going anywhere; Craft Beer is only 6% of U.S. beer sales, but that number is growing every year while the biggest names keep seeing their market share decline. Big Beer’s plan was to keep growing to the point where it would become, forgive the phrase, too big to fail. With the Grupo Modelo deal dead, or at the very least significantly delayed, I’m looking for the big beer companies to deploy a classic strategy: if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.

Once upon a time it was the smaller, regional brewers who would get bought out by the big guys. Today it’s Craft Breweries in the sights. The sale of Goose Island to Budweiser a few years back was just the start, if AB InBev has its way — just recently Lagunitas founder Tony Magee mentioned meeting the AB InBev employee who made the Goose Island deal happen, and insinuated that Bud was sniffing around for a potential deal for Lagunitas as well (have no fears — Tony isn’t going anywhere anytime soon). As more drinkers opt out of the ‘faux craft’ labels created by Big Beer and offerings like Bud’s new Black Crown come and go, look for more small breweries to get bought up.

No matter what, keep in mind that it’s your support that has brought America’s small brewers to this point. InBev and MillerCoors can run all the ads and buy all the breweries they want; America is discovering its craft breweries, and every day more of us learn the difference between the real thing and a line we’re being sold. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Without a doubt the event of the week in our area was the yearly release of Bell’s HopSlam. We received our 25 cases at Arrowine on Monday and they sold out in under an hour, way faster than I had anticipated. Considering the madness surrounding its release, I thought of making this week’s column more an open forum where folks could discuss it, as it seems to be all anyone wants to talk about right now — but I thought that would be lazy even by my standards.

So instead I’m going to take a moment to talk about perception, trends, and realities. Because while trophy hunters have been calling incessantly about HopSlam, I’ve had to restock classic, more balanced brews from Bell’s itself, along with some from Devils Backbone, Great Lakes, and more. In my retail experience it seems as if there is always at least one Great Contradiction at play no matter what the business might be: currently the greatest of these in craft beer is between the amount of hype and media attention the big rare beers garner, and the maturing palates of craft beer drinkers, many of whom are looking for less volume and more subtlety.

Great Lakes in particular has been on the upswing lately: coming up on the first anniversary of its entering the Virginia market, the Cleveland brewery has built a following in our area by offering flavorful, well-made beers that stay true to their styles without bowing to the pressures so many breweries face in terms of making high-ABV, in-your-face, stupid rare offerings. Yes, their Christmas Ale was in very short supply this past holiday season, but I think that had more to do with demand in Ohio and other, more tenured markets than anything. The point is that even the biggest of the Great Lakes beer that I’ve had — the ‘Imperial’ beers that from most brewers tend to cut your evening short after a bottle — are enjoyable in feel while providing the depth of flavor that is expected from bigger beers.

It is easy to think being a beer geek is all about finding the rarest of the rare, the biggest of the big, and flaunting one’s finds in the faces of those mere mortals who missed out. When craft beer gets big media coverage, it tends to be related to something like a HopSlam or Founder’s KBS — so I understand the perception. What is more interesting to me is the shift toward great everyday beer, and the broader audience that can be gained through such beers. Neither can exist without the other, nor should one overshadow the other; the everyday and the extraordinary reaching out to a world still only beginning to wake up from the bland stupor that the big conglomerate breweries had kept them under for decades.

Don’t worry if you miss out on the crazy-rare beer that’s just been released; the next one’s right around the corner, and in the meantime there are more truly great beers available than ever before. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Most of the time, it works like this: I get word of an upcoming release from a brewery; the brewery starts getting word out through the press, the beer is released, and then within a certain number of weeks/months a distributor clears it for Virginia and then I get it for stock. Some of the time, a beer from a brewery popular in Virginia is made in small enough quantities that it never makes it here. Then there’s the case of Left Hand’s Milk Stout Nitro.

In early 2011 I started hearing about a project Left Hand Brewing of Longmont, Colorado was working on. The rumor was Left Hand was developing a new version of its popular Milk Stout, and over that summer word got out; Left Hand had been spending a lot of money in an effort to impart a nitro-tap feel into the bottles of Milk Stout, a la Guinness Draught. In September 2011, Milk Stout Nitro officially arrived with the bold proclamation of Left Hand’s intentions to “take America back” from Guinness’ popularity.

Milk Stout Nitro made its way to Chicago and Boston while I kept my ear to the ground. As a long-time Guinness fan and someone who’s always enjoyed Left Hand Milk Stout, my excitement grew as I read review after review of Nitro — yet none was arriving for us in Virginia. In all honesty I had reached the point of giving up when earlier this week I was woken up by a text from my representative of Left Hand’s distributor in Virginia: “Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro bottles have arrived!!!”

By the time this column runs, Milk Stout Nitro will be in stock at retailers around Virginia, including Arrowine. I still will have not tried it by then, so I can’t speak to its greatness personally but from what I’ve read the Nitro indeed has the thick head and creaminess of a true nitro-tap Stout. Also, most reports have the sweet vanilla notes from the lactose used a bit muted in comparison to the standard Left Hand Milk Stout.

So yes, I’ve devoted a good chunk of my week and this column space to a beer I haven’t even tried yet. But I trust the crew at Left Hand, and am looking forward to the first of what I hope will be many Milk Stout Nitro bottles this weekend. If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Arrowine this Friday night, you might just be able to check it out yourself.

Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

We’ve looked at Belgian Trappist Ales here before, but I wanted to take a quick moment this week to consider the newest member to the ranks of the official Trappist brewers. News of the addition of Austrian monastery Stift Engelszell to the list of approved Trappist breweries got a little lost last year in the wave of excitement over the impending release of Westvleteren 12. However, while Westy 12 has already come and gone (with none allocated for the District or Virginia) the first of Engelszell’s beers is reaching us now.

Engelszell’s Trappist brewery status was an overnight success story that took just north of 700 years: Founded in 1293, the Abbey was dissolved in the late 18th Century and stood abandoned until Alsatian monks expelled from France during World War I took up residence in 1925. Engelszell Abbey is the only Trappist monastery in Austria; it sustains itself, as all other Trappist orders do, with the sales of their wares. While becoming well-known for their cheese and liqueurs, the International Trappist Association recognized Engelszell with the bestowing of their trademark “Authentic Trappist Product” seal upon Engelszell’s liquor products in 2009. In May of last year, as Engelszell was working to get their brewery operation up and running, the ITA approved of the use of its seal on Engelszell’s beers. This makes Engelszell the eight Trappist brewery, and only the second located outside of Belgium.

That first beer from Engelszell is Gregorious, a strong dark Ale made with local hops and honey. Seeking to avoid the classic styles of Trappist brewing, Gregorious is very smooth, with dark fruit and cocoa notes from its roasted malts along with plenty of sweetness from the honey and mild carbonation. The sweet, smooth feel of Gregorious belies its 9.7% ABV; this is without a doubt a rich beer — a meal unto itself, though I can see it paired with earthy cheeses, nuts, and smoked meats of all kinds. There won’t be a lot of Engelszell beer available at first, as its operation is very small. I’ll only be receiving a couple of cases for Arrowine, with no clue at this point as to how often I should expect to see it. If you happen by some, though, don’t hesitate to try it out. You can be an early-adopter; that’s what people do these days, right?

Until next time.

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Now that we’re into winter, Stouts are fully in season. Every week right now there are great new and returning Stouts on the market. Just this week we will see the return of Founder’s Imperial Stout (in quantities we’ve never seen in Virginia), Southern Tier Choklat Stout, and Left Hand Barrel-Aged Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout (for the first time in a couple years); this after having received the excellent new Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout, Dogfish Head Bitches Brew, Terrapin’s W-n-B Imperial Coffee Oatmeal Stout and Moo Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout, and Evil Twin Aun Mas A Jesus Imperial Stout over the past couple of months. For this week, I’m not going to look at the biggest, high-ABV monster Stouts out there—I’m going to look at one of my favorite styles out there: Oyster Stout.

Oyster Stout is one of the best and earliest examples of food’s beer pairing ability, not to mention a style that sounds strange but in fact is quite practical. In Victorian England, oysters were plentiful and cheap enough to be the common bar snacks of the day. The smooth, roasty, dark malt notes of Stout were a perfect match for the briny, sharp oysters and thus the common man’s beer was paired with the common man’s snack. The term Oyster Stout originally was only meant to suggest a beer that pair well with oysters. If you look up old Guinness advertising a lot of it was based on how well it went with oysters — and if you haven’t been looking up old Guinness advertising… well, you’re just wasting your weekends, people.

The next logical (?) step was using oysters in the beer itself. The late 19th Century saw brewers discovering that the calcium carbonate in oyster shells not only clarified their Stout, but also accentuated the bitter flavors of their beers. The first usage of oyster meat in Oyster Stout is commonly accepted to have taken place in New Zealand in 1929. The great beer writer Michael Jackson, who was himself a big Oyster Stout fan, wrote this great piece tracing the use of oysters from New Zealand to the Hammerton brewery in London in 1938, to its period of scarcity before a mid-80s reemergence.

The expectation of many who haven’t tried Oyster Stout is that it will be overtly briny, or redolent with the flavors of oyster meat. While that sounds delicious, it isn’t exactly the case; even in beers where whole oysters are used, most of the liquor (the liquid inside an oyster’s shell—but being from the Mid-Atlantic you knew that, right?) cooks off during the boil. Some Oyster Stouts have salinity to them, but more often than not what tasters perceive as ‘briny’ is a combination of the shells having brought out more of the sharpness in the ingredients and the power of suggestion. While there aren’t a great number of Oyster Stouts on the market, they’re becoming more common. Here are some I suggest trying:

21st Amendment Marooned On Hog Island: This canned Oyster Stout is new to our area from San Francisco. Using Hog Island oyster shells, Marooned has a smooth malty body and just an extra touch of that salinity I’ve always wanted in an Oyster Stout.

Port City Revival: This one is draft only, so either find a bar or restaurant with it on tap or go visit the brewery in Alexandria for a pint or growler—or if you’re like me, both. Revival is just slightly on the maltier side of traditional, and plays well with food though it tends to go pretty quickly on its own in my house. If enough of us bug them, maybe they’ll do a bottle run someday. Please?

Flying Dog Pearl Necklace: Yes, that’s what they call it. At 5.5% Pearl Necklace is a classic Oyster Stout, with a mild feel and an almost smoky roasted malt character. Flying Dog’s Oyster Stout has a sharpness to it that makes it a classic food pairing for anything salty or briny.

Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

I hope everyone had an enjoyable New Year’s Eve. My wife and I celebrated with a small group of friends and while a good number of Champagne bottles were consumed, I was encouraged to see the quality of brews brought over by friends who aren’t necessarily what you’d call beer geeks. It’s always fun to talk to those folks who are just discovering a love for beer and share in their journey just a little.

Being someone who doesn’t make resolutions, I can’t exactly write a column about what I’m resolved to do this year beer-wise. My wife suggested writing about the beers I’m looking forward to the most this year, but the unpredictable nature of both the schedule of special releases and the emergence of new breweries in the market makes that impossible.

Not to go ‘behind the curtain,’ but most weeks I’m tweaking orders and my section of Arrowine’s newsletter until literally the last minute as I’m finding out about new releases and re-organizing my Saturday tastings. Instead, here are some broader things I’m looking forward to in 2013:

Emerging stars: 2012 was a huge year for breweries new to the Virginia market. From the more everyday breakthroughs of Maui Brewing and Great Lakes to the esoteric wonder of BFM, and Italy’s LoverBeer, there seemed to be great new beers popping up every week. BFM in particular seemed to just explode as more of the Swiss brewery’s offerings hit shelves. I’m also looking forward to seeing what we get from Maine Brewing; the young brewery’s move into a new facility this spring should translate to more great beer for us here in Virginia.

Gypsy brewing comes of age: The great variety of beers from Mikkeller established a template for others to follow, and 2013 is poised to be the year “gypsy brewers” breakthrough to the mainstream in a big way. We’ll be experiencing a greater availability of Evil Twin brews in 2013, and the great Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales was recently featured in a New York Times piece on brewers using Brettanomyces yeast. The sheer spectrum of styles and recipes made by gypsy brewers nearly ensures that there will be a beer for everyone within their lines, and the ‘celebrity chef’ aspect of brewer fandom gives beer geeks everywhere a constant source of debate and conversation.

The rise of local beer: I couldn’t ignore the boom in the amount of local/regional beer sales and availability last year. Not only is Port City a go-to everyday brand for many of my customers, but Devils Backbone and Blue Mountain beers have become items I must have in stock every week. DC Brau is still doing great work and growing (even if it’s not always readily available), and Maryland’s Flying Dog and DuClaw breweries are making noise. Look for more local beers on retail shelves and on tap this year.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

We’ve gone over what beers to get for the beer geek in your life, and we’ve taken a look at some of the standout holiday beers available this season. At this point I don’t know what other ground there is to cover where holiday beers are concerned, and in light of the horrific events in Connecticut last week I’m pretty sure I’d be uncomfortable writing about it even if there were.

I considered writing about what I would want for Christmas; not only specific beers but what I’d like to do in my capacity as the beer buyer at Arrowine, but that seemed particularly selfish and navel-gazey even for me. While writing to a friend this week I touched on something that if you’ll indulge me I’d like to explore a bit, as I think in its own little way it means something.

Lights, please…

When a tragedy strikes with the magnitude of what happened last week, our screwed-up priorities and concerns always have some sense slapped into them and we see them for their true pettiness and insignificance, as we take a moment to consider our own pettiness and insignificance. Any of us with a hobby — be it beer, wine, books, cars, sports, all of the above (guilty party here) — push our interests to the back burner because in the face of such suffering and pure evil they have no relevance.

But life moves along. Day by day, we take small steps back into our normal routines and time salves our wounds as it always does. We go back to our lives and back to those things that we love. All too often that’s that; we do what we do and then wait for the next awful occurrence to shake us from our little worlds, because what can we do?

As the debate and politics of that question swirl about, my wish is that we take the most basic steps we can. This being a column ostensibly about beer, I wish all of us as beer fans simply appreciated that connection a little bit more. There are many of you out there reading this, as there are many customers of mine, with whom the only thing I have in common is a love of beer. Why can’t we just focus on that one thing a little more, rather than all of the other things? Why can’t we raise our glasses of Dogfish Head, or Port City, and nod a toast to the guy at the end of the bar with a Bud? In the end, we’re all just having a beer, and that commonality should be an anchor to a better relationship with each other as fellow passengers on this insanely fast-spinning ball of water and rock.

That’s my wish. Not even that we be nicer to each other — I can’t speak for you, but that is certainly not my nature — but that we simply appreciate what we have in common just a little bit more, leaving us open to the possibility of something greater. I don’t want us to join hands and sing the old spirituals (I’m not saying I’m not open, though); simply to strive a little bit more to attain the quiet love for each other that comes with the unconscious recognition that we all exist here, and we all have to be aware of each other at the very least to the extent that we can all share this space — for the pitifully small fraction of all that is-and-ever-will-be that we are privileged to — and attain whatever happiness we can while we’re here.

That is far too many words for a simple idea, but that is my way. Forgive me. I only wish we would all reach out just a little bit more when we discover something in common with each other, no matter what that is. We can’t eliminate violence or mental illness from existence by sharing a beer or chatting about the last book you read with the guy you see on the Metro nose-deep in his Kindle, but we might just make a friend. At the very least, we may just be able to make the world a little smaller in the ways that really matter, and there’s no telling how many lives we can turn around doing that. Maybe even our own.

I wish all of my friends here a Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you back here next week — hopefully with some inane fluff about cool beery things. Take care of each other.

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

I don’t always focus on one specific brewery in these columns (though I may start doing so more often in the coming year), but I feel like I should point out one which has been on a roll lately: Southern California’s The Bruery. Only in business since 2008, The Bruery has already established a reputation as one of the more fearless and uncompromising craft breweries in America. Their range of styles is testament to the creativity of the Rue brothers who founded The Bruery, along with their team.

Year-round offering from The Bruery include the excellent Mischief, a hoppy Belgian-style Golden Ale and Saison Rue, an excellent rye malt Farmhouse Ale. If you get the chance, I definitely recommend trying both but today I want to talk about some of the seasonal and special releases you can find in the area now from The Bruery. Supplies are limited on these beers, but they’re worth seeking out if you’re feeling a bit adventurous:

5 Golden Rings: This is the latest in The Bruery’s 12 beers of Christmas series, which are released every holiday season. The 5 Golden Rings is a Belgian-style Golden Ale with cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and fresh pineapple. The fruit is a little rich now, but is enjoyable and should age very well.

Rugbrød: Released every winter, Rugbrød is a dark rye malt Ale that is smooth while showing off the full spectrum of flavors rye malt can bring to a beer. With three types of rye malt used, Rugbrød presents the case for rye as it is malty without being overly sweet, and spicy without being overbearing. I’m a big fan of rye, so this works out quite well for me.

Rueuze: The Bruery’s take on the classic Belgian Gueuze style, Rueuze is a blend of young Sour Blonde Ales that have been aging in oak barrels at the brewery for differing periods of years. The result is rife with funky wild yeast notes, citrus, and intense acidity.

Smoking Wood: This limited run is made from a base of an Imperial Smoked Rye Malt Porter that is aged in a different type of barrel for each run. The batch that we have now in Virginia is aged in rye whiskey barrels and it is fantastic if you’re a scotch fan. The combination of the smoked malt and the rye barrel gives off a very peaty aroma, and because the beer is a Porter rather than a Stout the mouthfeel is approachable and not too rich or heavy.

Anyone try any Bruery beers? Let us know in the comments. Have a great week. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

As we approach the end of 2012, end-of-year retrospectives and best-of lists saturate all forms of media across all subjects, and your humble Beermonger is here to throw one more onto the pile. Through an intensely scientific process involving me thinking about beers I tried this year and deciding my favorites, I’ve narrowed down a list of the five beers that made the biggest impression on me this year. Please bear in mind – -this is not necessarily a list of the best beers available right now, though a couple on this list are — I’m just throwing my favorites out there. Without further adieu or qualification:

5. Mother Earth Window Pane Series Pinot Noir Barrel Aged Double Wit Blackberry: I didn’t need to run the whole name out there like that — I just kind of wanted to. I got to try this at SAVOR earlier this year and found it a harmonious, elegant expression of fruit, spice, and wood. What could’ve easily been a sweet or oaky mess instead was light in body for its 9% ABV, with expressive blackberry fruit and hints of the wine coming through from the barrel aging. This beer should have been ‘too much’; instead it was merely my introduction to the wonderful Mother Earth Brewery of Kinston, North Carolina.

4. Firestone-Walker Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA: Every trend breaches its watershed eventually, hitting a critical mass and becoming an annoyance on the whole rather than the charming distraction it once was. Such has been the case for the Black IPA over the past 2-3 years: with blinding speed the style went from innovative new expression of hops to an over-saturated market sector inspiring little more than a pedantic debate over what the style should be called. Then Firestone-Walker’s Wookey Jack came along. Wookey Jack isn’t just one of the best beers of 2012 — it may be the best Black IPA I’ve ever had. At the very least it’s the most cleverly though-out: by using the less sweet rye malt instead of the more cloying barley, the big hop character of Wookey Jack is allowed to shine through more while still adding the subtle dark malty touches that are the hallmark of the style. I brought in as many cases as I could of Wookey Jack while it was available; I’m hoping to see it again sometime in 2013.

3. Maine Beer Company MO Pale Ale: Two brothers running a tiny brewery in Portland, Maine have gotten me worked up in the span of weeks like few brewers have been able to do in years. I’ve selected MO because it’s been my favorite Maine Beer offering so far, but the brewery’s entire lineup earned itself the number three spot on this list. From the clean, classic Peeper Pale Ale to the fantastic Lunch IPA, the earthy hops of the Zoe Amber, and the roasty sweetness of the Mean Old Tom Stout, I’ve come away from every new Maine Beer I’ve tasting with a greater appreciation for their ability. I can’t say I’ve experienced a beer this year with the same level of clarity, structure, and boldness of its hops that MO presents. Dedicated to freshness above all else, supply of Maine Beers is low but slowly increasing; if you see any of them, don’t pass up the opportunity to try them.

2. Port City Downright Pils: With one variety of hop and one type of malt, Alexandria’s Port City Brewing Company created an instant classic that has the important distinction of being a great ambassador for craft beer. With the general public’s awareness of craft beer growing, it’s beers like Downright Pils that can bring people into the fold who aren’t necessarily fans of hoppier stuff. I can’t tell you how many people came to me this year asking for a craft beer that everyone could enjoy, but more often than not I’d end up sending them home with some Downright. With its familiar style and unfamiliar level of craftsmanship, Downright Pils is the craft beer for those who think craft beer is nothing but Double- and Triple-IPAs. It also played a great role in saving my sanity during the process of buying and moving into my new home. With any luck, Downright Pils will join Port City’s year-round lineup sometime next year.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

First off, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I’m writing this before the holiday, so I’m going to be positive and say mine went well and hope that by the time this is posted I’ll be sufficiently recovered from the festivities to feel human again. Now that we’re past Thanksgiving, thoughts turn to holiday shopping. One of the true perks of my job is helping folks find the right beer to give to friends, family, and loved ones during the holiday season. It can also be one of the most difficult parts of my job.

A bit of advice for those shopping for beer geeks:

If you’re looking to wow someone with a special beer, you need some basic knowledge of what it is they like. This can be as simple as knowing what some of their go-to beers are or as complex as asking them to make a list of beers they’d like to receive as a gift. Yes, I know asking someone for a wish list doesn’t sound complex, but trust me here — ask a beer geek for one and it will become complex. That’s just our nature; we can’t help ourselves.

Because of the fact that buying a beer gift is literally a matter of taste, knowledge is power. The most important thing may be your level of knowledge regarding craft beer; the less you know, the more guidance you should seek from the gift’s recipient. I can say personally that I much prefer someone to ask me directly what I may like to get as a gift if they’re planning on gifting me beer or wine. This helps to alleviate confusion for the gift giver and lets the person getting the gift know how much “getting it right” means to them. That kind of regard is the real gift anyway.

This brings me to my bigger point, which is something I try to say as much as possible every holiday season to those shoppers who fret and over-think their gift purchases: If you’re getting a beer geek some beer as a gift, they shouldn’t care what it is as much as they should appreciate that someone went to the trouble in the first place. If someone gets me a sixer of something they know I haven’t had before and I happen to be intimately familiar with it, I don’t get disappointed — I have a couple beers with my friend and enjoy the moment. If anyone ever disapproves of your gift to them or makes you feel anything less than appreciated for it that should tell you as much about them as you need to know.

Enough preachy, I want to know what you all out there would like someone to get you as a gift this year. I’ve got a few beers I’d love to get as stocking stuffers and I bet a lot of you out there do too. Also, if you have any advice for those buying beer gifts let’s hear it. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. A whole day dedicated to hanging out with people you love, eating amazing food, and a beverage or three? Oh yes, I am a Thanksgiving guy. Thanksgiving is also the busiest time of year for folks in my business, with most people coming by the store looking for advice on what to serve their guests for the holiday.

Picking out the right beers to enjoy and serve your guests at Thanksgiving is not all that dissimilar to working out wine pairings for the holiday. In some ways, it can actually be much easier. Here are a couple of tips for selecting your beers for the Thanksgiving table, and a couple of suggestions that I think will work well:

Don’t over-think it: This is a trap I used to fall into regularly when choosing wine for Thanksgiving, or any meal for that matter. You want so badly to find the perfect match; to blow everyone at the table away with your harmony of food and beverage. We all want to be seen as gurus of all things food and wine (and beer), especially during the food holiday.

The problem comes when we take time to consider the insane spectrum of flavors, textures, levels of sweetness, etc. in the dishes seen in the average Thanksgiving spread. What if the bacon in the green bean dish is a tick charred? What if Aunt Jenny brings that thing with the marshmallows and pretzels again? What herbs will be used with the turkey?

There are a million variables with Thanksgiving dinner, and unless you’re obsessively planning every aspect of the meal (not that some of us aren’t) it is nigh impossible to 100% nail it with either a wine or a beer pairing. Take the time to consider, but realize that there is likely a point where you’ve done the best you can. If you hit a wall, find something you know will work for the most part and is easily enjoyable.

This brings me to the next tip:

Know your audience: I brought a really nice bottle of wine to my family’s Thanksgiving get-together once. Once. The Barolo I thought was safe in a decanter in the dining room while everything was being prepared ended up being consumed hours before it was ready, let alone before dinner was. You have to bear in mind the level of appreciation that your folks have for these things: there’s nothing inherently wrong with dropping a couple ice cubes in your glass of White Zinfandel (tastes being subjective and all), but it should be a heads up to you that Grand Cru Pinot Noir from Burgundy may be bringing a cannon to a knife fight.

Finding a balance between food-pairing ability and pure enjoyment is the key for Thanksgiving.  Some thought to how a beverage will match up is smart and encouraged, but have a care for the experience levels of those around you. I’ve come around to a “keep it simple, stupid” way of thinking for the most part, where I want to play to the broader palate. As always, your mileage may vary. Here are some beers I think would work at your Thanksgiving table:

Schlafly Kolsch: With a smooth, clean mouthfeel not unlike a classic Lager and the bright, fruity notes of an Ale, Schlafly’s Kolsch is the definition of everything I’ve talked about in this column. If you’re looking for a beer with broad appeal that can play off of various dishes, Schalfly Kolsch merits serious consideration.

Maine Beer Co. Peeper Pale Ale: A recent arrival to our area, Maine Beer Company is a small outfit making some extraordinary beers. The hops in Peeper Pale emphasize clarity rather than aggressiveness, and a fine carbonation accentuates this Pale Ale’s refreshing nature. An elegant way to get your hop fix this holiday.

Stillwater Autumnal: This one’s a bit of a dark horse as it may be hard to find, but I think this beer makes a ton of sense for Thanksgiving. Essential an Oktoberfest recipe, Brian Strumke ferments Autumnal with his farmhouse yeast strain to create a smooth, malty Ale (rather than a Lager as a traditional Oktoberfest would be) with fruit and spice notes from the yeast. There is just enough sweetness for Autumnal to handle sweet potato casserole, but crisp and complex enough to play with turkey and stuffing.

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