by Putnam Weekley

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 ately I've been craving malty beer.  I'm not talking about the syrupy sweet confections that pass for Scotch Ale or Double IPA. I still find those obnoxious and impossible to pair with any food less assertive than Maytag Blue Cheese.

I'm talking about beer that is fermented dry but in which the alluring perfume of sprouted grain dominates. In these beers hops are used only for bitterness, not minty, citrus and cannabis aromas. You also won't find in these beers any notes of cocoa, coffee, brown spices and roasted nuts. Those come not from malt but from "specialty grains" added to the boil.

The malty beers I'm referring to are stylistically dangerous to brew. It is easy for malt-derived flavors to come off as too sweet and heavy. It is a balancing act to get the mineral and hop bitterness in perfect proportion to the malt's "fruit." When it is done properly, when malt is allowed to stand naked, it is as close to wine as beer gets: pure, fruity and dry.

Not long ago I thought such masterpieces of malt were only to be found in French Flanders. Brasserie Castelain Blond and anything from La Choulette as prime examples are as thrilling as they are unique. Drunk alongside fresh wilted organic greens doused with Moris Farms olive oil they outclass about 97.6% of wine options on the market.

Then I encountered Mahr's Bock.

Say "Bavarian Bock" to a connoisseur and the first thing she will think is "brown and sweet." Mahr's Bock on the other hand is as pale as a bundle of wheat and as dry as a chalkboard. Not even the French Flemish Bieres de Garde are this daring and abundant in their pure, pale malt expression.

As expected, Mahr's Bock is a dream with food. I can't think of any other beverage in the world that will go so well with baked winter squash, turkey stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans and buttery mashed potatoes.

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Wine v. Beer

There is approximately ten times more variety among white wines as red and there is ten times more variety among beers as wines.

The one thing wine has (over beer) is the fact that it is unpasteurized from spring bud break to glass. There is no cooking to denature the complex strands of organic chemistry built into it by the sun and earth. Wine is the delight of the romantic purist.

I thought wine might also have more mineralogical differences, i.e. grapes grown in clay vs. grapes grown in slate, but water used in beer is highly variable in this way too.

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Michigan Harvest Report: 2005

I don't ordinarily go to bat for the Michigan wine industry. Growing competitive vinifera products here is a daunting project. As good as some Michigan wines are most of them struggle mightily to offer value comparable to wines from other parts of the world.

I'd like to see us spend those financial and intellectual resources to resurrect the honorable culinary and agricultural tradition of artisan, unpasteurized hard cider. There lies the Michigan advantage. Michigan can make better cider by accident than California, Italy, Spain or Australia ever can on purpose. And if you've never had grilled Michigan walleye or brook trout with a cold, pale, bone-dry glass of fermented Michigan cider, well you haven't lived.

Normandy figured this out centuries ago.

Still, I can't help but get a little excited about the potential for Michigan wine in 2005. Like elsewhere in the Midwest we had a freakishly hot summer. There should be lots of sweet, dehydrated little berries to make wines of good extract. I'll be anxious to drink this year's wines from Chateau Fontaine, Bel Lago, L. Mawby and Wyncroft.

Even the apples were sweeter than usual in 2005. Last year the standard blend from Erwin Orchards barely topped 5% potential alcohol on Labor Day. This year it was 6.6%!

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Letter to the Wine Importer

Dear Mr. Louis/Dressner,

I realize you are busy this week but I must share a story. This past weekend a couple who I had never seen before came to our store for 2003 Montesecondo Rosso. They were demonstrably disappointed to find only 2 bottles. Apparently they had enjoyed it at a friend's house (who in turn must have gotten it from us) and were so delighted that they drove across two counties to find the hidden storefront of Cloverleaf FW&S. As a proud schnook, anecdotes like this make me want to fill my store up not only with more Montesecondo Rosso but with any Louis/Dressner wine I can get my mitts on.

So if the truck for Detroit hasn't left yet, and you can reshuffle inventory commitments, I would love to get 10-21 cases more of 2003 Montesecondo in time for the holidays.

Why I didn't think of mentioning this earlier I'm not sure. Montesecondo Rosso has been one of my favorite drinks all summer. Maybe it helped to see evidence of the same passionate thirst in the eyes of a perfect stranger.

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Chenin Chic

"The other day, I heard a radio ad pitching chenin blanc as an ideal alternative to chardonnay, and the thought occurred to me: What a trend-savvy and ironic marketing twist! It wasn't long ago -- fifteen years at the most -- that chardonnay was being hailed as an ideal alternative to chenin blanc.

The world of wine can be a fashion hustle where today's stylin' square-tipped shoes can quickly become yesterday's chunky clogs ... or is it the other way around?"
From this column by Chris Kassel.

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Gingerly Loyal

"Our Nation's oldest soda is Vernor's Ginger Ale, and it was created over 130 years ago. Many of today's soft drinks take an understandable pride in their histories, but they all must bow to Vernor's."
So says this Harvard society.

I live in Detroit. I was taught as a child to take pride in Vernor's. If I had been born on the banks of the Loire I would take pride in Chevrot and Cheverny.

So it is with a sense of stunned recognition that I must now confirm there is another great ginger ale: Blenheim from South Carolina.

No. Nothing can displace the unique, barrel-aged flavor of Vernor's. Vernor's is the soda equivalent of a buttery all-malo Chardonnay/Gewurztraminer; I'm not sure there isn't even a trace of brettanomyces in there. Blenheim by contrast is racy, hot, clean and a little raw. It is the Sercial Madeira of sodas, so loaded with ginger that I found it impossible not to cough violently when sniffing it.

Previously in Putnam's Monthly:

Diverse Bourgogne

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