Is Spring in the Air?
Salutations my Friends in Beer,
Here in Brooklyn, NY USA, the packed brown earth has a thin green stubble of new blades of grass and the forsythia bask, already in full bloom, in the warm sunshine. I feel an almost primeval urge to feast on fish and Bavarian style wheat beer. I have read that this seasonal urge is not unique to my psyche or gender. In Bavaria, wheat beer weds with the local fresh spring meats and produce that come on the spring markets. It seems this phenomenon has been going on since the area became known for the style.
I for one relish the seasonal tug on my epicurean strings. It is the same with hot crossed buns, still warm in the box after being carried only a block and a half from an actual bakery, not a posturing, imitation, mass produced confection that can be found year round in Costco. Hot crossed buns are made at only one time of the year and should be consumed only at that time of the year. Check with your local German or Czech bakery and they will tell you what time of the year they bake them.
Here in the United States, particularly in what is called the New York Metropolitan area, the beer calendar is becoming useless. I have seen groups seated in the shade of a warm summer afternoon quaffing Russian Imperial Stouts. On the other hand, there was the more sedate group of beer “geeks” who were “tasting” a selection of Bavarian wheat beers a week after one New Year began. The incredible range of imported beers available to the most astute and tenacious shoppers’ makes “seasonal beers” available the entire year round. There is big profitability driving this increase in what are called in the lingo – “shelf keeping units” – In other words, the brand-facing-forward individual item as it appears on the shelf in the store. The numbers of SKU’s in the “snack” section in a local mega store has driven two folks I know back to the local bodega. There they knew where the "half and half" was and that the Sam Adams was on the bottom left side of the cold box.
I understand the economics of mega marketing and the almost unfathomable numbers of choices that tempt the consumer. Nevertheless, I demand four seasons in a year and expect those seasons to come with that which is unique to that season in cuisine and beverages. And that’s the way it is this fine spring day…
Cheers!
Peter LaFrance
