The $400 Beer.

With all the talk about beer pricing going on these days, I found this article in the Salt Lake Tribune quite interesting. It seems the Carlsberg brewery in Denmark has gone and outdid everyone, they've made a beer with a $398 price tag. Ouch!

Sure, I think for the effort that goes into making a premium beer that a decent price should be paid, but 400 bucks! This is a new realm, both, a marketing tool for the brewery, and even more sad, a status symbol for the consumer.

I'd love to hear the reviews on this beer, because I personally don't see the justification for this sort of pricing on any consumable good, whether it be wine, beer, caviar, or whatever.

Simple, educated beer explanations are the best.

Man, I'm always overdoing myself.

When I try to explain something, like beer for instance, I always try to be super thorough, explaining every last detail. I think it comes from my upbringing. When someone asks what an American pale ale is, they don't want to hear how hops effect ibu's, the perfect mash temperature, or the thermo-dynamics as they relate to beer flow through a hose.

People just want the basics.

Oh, a pale ale, that's a fruity beer with a nice caramel malt base typically balanced against citrus and floral aromatics. Simple, to the point.

Lately, my over extension has become more clear to me because of my new job. I'm training to be a bartender at a great beer bar in Santa Monica called Father's Office. They put all of their bartenders through a program called "beer school." Right now, I'm both going through beer school as a trainee and giving them feedback as to its accuracy and organization. The problem I keep falling into is this desire to fill in every stinking detail. Every time I feel like their material is too ambiguous and overgeneralized I go the opposite direction and get too in depth.

Father's Office does things right by keeping their explanations of beer simple.

This idea of explaining beer and food to people in a simple, straight forward manner is paramount to beers ongoing success. Not only is it great that Father's Office does this, but the fact that they actually have a training program so that their employees can give educated information about the beer they are serving is unreal. And they've been doing this for years. Most places I go, the servers can't even name the 3 beers they have on draft.

Recently, a new national beer education program organized by Ray Daniels was formed, the program is calling their newly trained beer experts Cicerones. You can read about it here. Though it's about 15 years late, it's great that we're putting more organization effort behind the service of beer. It's a munch needed missing link in the beer chain.

More training for people serving beer, such a novel idea.

The Marching Malted Beverages have sidetracked me.

The holidays have kept me busy and distracted. The hum of friends and family partnered with the credence of fermented malt beverage marching into my mouth has left me post less for a couple of weeks.

In reviewing my sight and the trends in my own writing, I realize the business and politics of beer fascinate me, but may be a bit dry in there overall appeal. Is this true?

I want to push my writing about beer to be more engaging, personal and filled with the joys I get from this great beverage. I would love to hear your feedback on the direction you would like to see my writings go. Suggestions, please?