As a brewer, many of the same questions come up quite frequently.\u00a0 One of the most seemingly straightforward questions often causes me the most difficulty is: “What kind of beers do you brew?”<\/p>\n
Why, you may ask, is this such a difficult question?\u00a0 Surely you can just say “Belgian-style” or “Super Hoppy” or “Double Barrel Aged Imperial Nonsense Beers”, right?\u00a0 The real answer for me is probably the most honest, and least informative, answer that I can give, “I brew the beers that I enjoy, the beers that my community and friends enjoy.”\u00a0 Much like a band that might not fit into the mold of rock, pop, jazz, rap or whatever I feel like some of the most interesting beers that I have sampled defy simple categorization, and it does not do these beers justice to try and cram them into a certain “style” box.<\/p>\n
So, in the manner that you might gain more insight into a band by listing its musical influences, I present a top 5 list of beer influences!\u00a0 (This list is in no particular order, and does not denote any sort of recommendation, endorsement or seal of approval.\u00a0 Taste them yourself!)<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 “Unknown Pilsner”\u00a0<\/strong> The first beer that I really drank, and enjoyed, was a 50 cent glass of pilsner at a smoky underground club called “The Bunker” in Prague, circa 1993.\u00a0 For those of you doing the math, I was well underage at the time but there didn’t seem to be any particular rules in Eastern Europe.\u00a0 The club had two choices of beer, light and dark.\u00a0 I stuck with the light, and I will never forget the musty, spicy aroma and the round full taste of this beer.\u00a0 It was refreshing, and enjoyed in the remarkable atmosphere of a newly post-communist country, seemed perfect at the time.\u00a0 This was my starting point for beer, which meant when I returned to the US I didn’t find much to interest me for quite a while.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 “Fuller’s London Pride”<\/strong> on CASK.\u00a0 I was familiar with the bottled version, but drinking this from the cask was an entirely new experience.\u00a0 The beer was alive!\u00a0 Rich and nuanced, with just enough carbonation to keep it lively, the lower alcohol content certainly did not detract from the taste.\u00a0 This experience fueled a trip to England just to explore the variety and tradition of cask ale.\u00a0 London’s pubs provide an excellent laboratory for the study of these beers, as well as demonstrating what can make a pub the gathering place for a community.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 “Sierra Nevada Celebration”\u00a0<\/strong> This is sort of an odd inclusion.\u00a0 The first time I drank this beer, both my drinking partner and I poured it down the drain.\u00a0 We declared it “undrinkable!”\u00a0 It was bitter, piney and resinous, and to us at the time, disgusting.\u00a0 Many years later I have a love for hops in general and this beer particularly.\u00a0 I like to keep this in mind to show how tastes can change, and to remind myself that the exploration of beer is really a journey.\u00a0 Next time somebody says they don’t like “hoppy” beers, cut them some slack.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 “Cantillon Geuze”<\/strong>\u00a0 The first time I tried this beer, I’m pretty sure that my face imploded.\u00a0 Sour, tart, funky and strange were the thoughts that ran through my head.\u00a0 I couldn’t understand how anyone could make a beer like this.\u00a0 This experience led me delve into the art of lambic production, blending and the world of spontaneous and mixed fermentation.\u00a0 Through this process I gained a much greater interest in these beers, and came to appreciate both the taste and the historical production methods used to produce them.\u00a0 If ever there was a beer that was unique to a single time and location, it is this.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 “Hoptimus Pryme”<\/strong>\u00a0 This was a rye IPA that I brewed for my wedding.\u00a0 It was deliciously hoppy and well-balanced, and deceptively strong.\u00a0 The reason for it’s inclusion is fairly simple, this is one of the beers that had all of our guests talking and it was one of the beers that helped to start me on the journey to opening a brewery.\u00a0 It’s good to remember ones friends and family all enjoying a cold mug under a tent on a summer’s day.<\/p>\n -Steve Sanderson<\/p>\n Riverwalk Brewing Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a brewer, many of the same questions come up quite frequently.\u00a0 One of the most seemingly straightforward questions often causes me the most difficulty is: “What kind of beers do you brew?” Why, you may ask, is this such a difficult question?\u00a0 Surely you can just say “Belgian-style” or “Super Hoppy” or “Double Barrel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5388"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5388"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5402,"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5388\/revisions\/5402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2beerguys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}