Beltway Beer

Early in my beer-drinking career, I discovered a brewery down in Atlanta called Sweetwater. They were one of the featured breweries in a “beer of the month” style club. That was my first exposure to a really great nut brown called “Sweet Georgia Brown” (now renamed to just “Georgia Brown”). Unfortunately they don’t distribute in these here parts; I’m told that they only go as far north as Raleigh, North Carolina, but that they have plans to expand up into Virginia soon. (Update: Sweetwater tells me that they hope to be distributing to Richmond, Charlottesville and Virginia Beach by summer.)

I found myself driving through Atlanta at Christmas time this year (long story, don’t ask) and decided to check a few convenience store freezers for some of their brews. No Georgia Brown, but I did pick up a 6-pack of their 420 Extra Pale Ale. It’s a nice, easy-drinking, well-designed beer. Very sessionable, and probably also what I’d call a “training wheel” beer — one that you could easily pull out to help someone interested in making the transition from drinking mass-produced beers to craft beers. Still craving that Georgia Brown, but kudos to Sweetwater for this light, crisp, well-done beer.

The short answer is: NO!

First, a confession. I am not a huge fan of IPAs. Stone, I can’t handle. Sierra Nevada, not my thing. Some people go nuts for those super-bitter, piney tongue-shredders like Ruination, but not I. For a while, I thought maybe it was a gender thing. Maltier is generally sweeter. Ladies like sweets. Or maybe IPAs just aren’t that into me. Then I discovered Victory’s HopDevil and fell in love.

Statistically speaking, HopDevil’s bitterness level is somewhere in the upper-middle of the pack, according to the amount of IBUs it has. (IBU = International Bitterness Unit, a unit of measurement that describes how bitter a beer is, based on the amount and quality of hops used.) Hopdevil has 68 IBUs. Compare this to Three Floyds’ Dreadnaught (100 IBUs), or your average American swill beer, which will have between 8 – 10 IBUs. I actually am a little surprised that HopDevil is this high in IBU counts considering my preferences, and I chalk that up to how incredibly well-balanced it is against its malt backbone.

At any rate, I love this beer. For years I didn’t think I’d find another IPA I could love quite as much. Then earlier this year, I discovered fresh hopped (or wet hopped) beers, which gave me some hope. These IPAs are full of super hop flavor, and yet not horribly bitter. See my post about my experience here.

Then, last night, I found a true contender for the HopDevil’s crown: Bell’s Hopslam, weighing in at 100 IBUs and 10 percent ABV. I’m actually shocked at the IBUs on this beer, considering how smoothly it went down last night. Great resiny, grapefruit hop aroma that’s echoed 100% in the taste, and yet… it wasn’t knock-your-teeth-out bitter (hence the answer to the question posed in the subject). Very clean, dangerously smooth-drinking beer that hides the bite of a 10% ABV very well.

Unfortunately what it won’t take out of your palate, it will claim from your wallet: It’s such a limited-release beer that a 6-pack will run you $25 here in the DC area. Extremely limited release. Bell’s will only distribute a set amount of cases per metro area (I heard last year St. Louis only got 6).

So far, Hopslam is expected to be carried at Whole Foods (P St & Clarendon), Rodman’s, Wine Specialist, DeVinos/D’Vines, Chevy Chase Wine and Pete’s New Haven.

HopDevil still holds my top IPA spot. But Hopslam gave it a run for its money.

(Update: Wine Specialist hasn’t gotten theirs yet, but hope to by Thursday.)

During the course of my day job, I see a lot of statistics, most of them sleep-inducing. But today I ran across a compilation of beer taxes by state put together by the Tax Foundation I thought you might find interesting.

(These statistics are given with the caveat that some states only sell certain kinds of alcohol in state-run stores, so an apples-to-apples calculation of taxes in those states is difficult.)

And the award for the highest beer tax goes to: Alaska, with a tax of $1.07 per gallon of beer. The lowest? Wyoming, with a per-gallon beer tax of just two cents.

So how do we here in the Washington, D.C. metro area stack up? Maryland and DC were close to the bottom, tied for #44 and #45 at nine cents per gallon. And Virginia held spot #19, with a tax of $.26 per gallon. (Take heart, Virginia dwellers, things could be worse: Virginia’s tax on spirits is $20.13 per gallon.) Looks like there was an attempt last year in Maryland to raise alcohol taxes: more here.

When it comes to spirits, Washington state took the #1 spot at $26.45 per gallon, with Vermont the least at $.68 per gallon. How about wine? Pennsylvania is highest at $2.50 per gallon, and Louisiana is lowest at $.11 per gallon.

Generally speaking, these kinds of vice taxes are gravy for state legislators, who use the revenue to shore up their budgets.

(The table from Tax Foundation can be found here.)