Guest Article: Drink Properly
Where would cycling be without the malted recovery beverage? Does El Pistolero crush a few pints after the Giro? A cold Spanish white wine just does not do it. That notion makes me angry just thinking about it. A good beer in a proper glass; it’s like a clean chain whizzing through the drivetrain, magic. Cheers to @SamV for his wisdom.
VLVV, Gianni
When the suffering stops, it’s time for recovery to begin. So too, as spring has finally bloomed in New England, I’ve once again renewed my tradition of enjoying a beer or three after my rides, as opposed to my winter regimen of a bidon filled with bourbon during/after roller sessions. And since Belgium is home both to the hardest hardmen and some of the world’s finest beer, it seems an appropriate time to consider that beverage because anything worth doing is worth doing right
First, glassware: Just as every Velominatus must know the right tool for the job, there are proper glasses for the varying styles of beer. The shape of the glass impacts the taste and olfactory sensation of ales and lagers as they’re delivered to one’s face. A snifter concentrates aromatics and is especially good for strong, dark American and English ales like Imperial Stouts. A tulip glass has a similar effect, but it bulbous base and flanged lip encourage a naturally tumultuous flow that projects flavors across the palate and is very useful for hoppy ales like IPAs. Then, there’s the chalice and/or goblet. These are the traditional vessels for Trappist and Abby ales. Their broad bases allow the heat of the drinker’s hand to warm the beer, releasing aromatics from the broad surface area of ale atop and make you look fancy as hell. Finally, the shaker pint, even one with a handsome ‘V’ on it, does the least to improve nuanced appreciation of any malt beverage experience. They don’t concentrate aromas and flavors, they offer no flow enhancements, it may as well be a little bucket full of beer. However, buckets are great for moving large quantities of fluid relatively quickly, and a shaker pint is an adequate, if unexciting, vessel for most pale ales, bitters, lagers and the like. Which, in my experience are a much easier tipple to quaff when recovering from getting dropped once again.
Second, temperature: Ice cold is generally bad, especially for high-test trippels and quads that are essential for warming one’s insides after a raw, windy day of vicious jostling on the pavé. Beers that are served too cold maintain a higher amount of CO2 in solution, dulling scents and flavors. By drinking a beer at the proper temperature, the dissolved CO2 is able to escape more readily, assisting with the delivery of the molecules that make beer taste so damn good. Often times a Trappist ale (or barley wine, imperial stout, other strong beer) that’s served too cold will taste overwhelmingly of alcohol because all the goodness is basically held hostage. It’s for these reasons that a frosted glass is also the wrong glass. Most of these beers are best enjoyed around 10C (50F).
Third, don’t drink from the bottle: You might as well be drinking wine from the bottle. When was the last time you did that and looked good? And there’s going to be a lot less flavor, too. The act of pouring stirs things up, similar to decanting wine into a carafe. Beer doesn’t need to breathe like wine does, but by pouring it into the appropriate glass, you are again releasing carbon dioxide and aroma compounds, thus enhancing the flavor.
Finally, drink something actually made the hard way: During some recent sporting event that wasn’t cycling related so I didn’t watch it, Budweiser aired a commercial touting the lack of merit their beer has, yet still proclaimed it was made the hard way. I’m fortunate to live in an area with several breweries within a few kilometers. I can say from conversations I’ve had with the owners/brewers that the beers coming out of their facilities are actually made the hard way – putting in 90+ hour weeks to take home a salary that can hover around the poverty line. As Velominati, craft matters. Just like we buy frames and parts from builders and people who do what they do because they love it, drink beer made by people put their soul into it. It doesn’t have to be local, but it does have to be good.
@Oli
damn spell check. But on the other hand, that would be a good show…
I just love beer. I’ve drunk too much of it this weekend. But next weekend I am riding the South Wales Velothon (with 15,000) others, so am pretty sure I’ll need to lift a glass afterwards.
Although, I’ve had a bit of a thirst for some fine Weston’s cider recently…
@asyax
The man is a monster!
@wilburrox
Which was apparently the original source of the term “Break neck speed” on account of it all too often turning out that way when they raced them on the poor roads of the era.
@brett
A monster with fearsome legs.
@markb
Good for Herne Hill for finding imaginative ways to raise funds, but can a beer that colour be described as an IPA? As long as it tastes good I guess…
Having recently just come back from Melbourne with my 18 year old son I took him into a nice pub in Fitzroy with a list of locally produced craft beers, whereupon the little philistine ordered a VB.
Once the barman had re-attached his eyebrows I had to apologise on my son’s behalf and ask them to bring him something lager-like.
At least he then had the good taste to agree that the Nightwatchman I had ordered was much tastier – just a dark beer, similar colour to that FHHV. I think the maker was Cricketers or something like that. Very nice.
@ChrisO
Chris, you are right, I would describe it as a brown ale.
Duck & Birdie know better…
“We’re not going to ride a bike!” “You’ll get a beer belly”
This weekends Grand Fondo (Tour of Cambridgeshire) wasn’t quite as well organised as I’d hoped. I had to wait until I’d got home for my malted recovery drink. I’ll be suggesting they provide something along the lines of this:
@Teocalli
Well I had a nice Duvel last night(in a Mort Subite gueuze glass sorry) and that was over 24 hours after Saturdays club ride but it definitely seemed to aid my recovery.
This is my favourite beer, no question. Perfect for drinking in any conditions, cold or hot.
@johnnysmooth
So basically Shandy then? A lot of major brewers are releasing Radlers style beers in the UK (Fosters and Carling spring to mind) and to be fair they probably taste shit compared to the Austrian versions.
@Nate
Make sure you do that in Step #9 of the recipe.
@Owen
Ah, Northern AZ… I lived in Flag for a few years, fantastic area for cycling. The breweries are more numerous since I’ve left – both are great reasons for weekend summer trips.
@MangoDave
Better mountain riding than road, but then one has to stop shaving the guns and probably ought to smell like crappy beer and patchouli. Can’t win ’em all.
When you go back, hit up Mother Road brewing and tell them I sent you. The owners are friends of mine – they’ll either throw you a discount or throw you out. Could go either way. But living on the edge is the way of the Velominatus.
@SamV You must have seen the Ninkasi come back to the Bud commercial. The unfortunate thing is that AB-Inbev owns a rather large portion of the global beer market… even though they are head quartered in Belgium they have long since strayed from the path.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEKqLxtjwDQ
Although it would be completely absurd to put this on your race bike, it would be effective for carrying large quantities of fresh beer from your local brewer on a commuter or purpose-built beer carrying bike. http://growlercage.com/
Recovery Ale of choice for mine.
@piwakawaka
This place just opened near me (Kent, England):https://www.facebook.com/thefreewheelgraveney
They don’t actually brew their own beer, but get it from a local microbrewery.
@Owen
Mango Dave, My wife and I visited Mother Road on our honeymoon a couple of summers ago after camping up at the Grand Canyon for a handful of days. That is mayhaps my favorite brewery taproom. They were pouring White IPA/Black IPA and Black IPA/Kolsch mixes and we were downing them. Still have a bomber of their first anniversary imperial porter tucked away in my collection. Flag is a cool f’ing town
I have tended towards cheap beer 1) to save money for bikes 2) until the beer gets really good, I don’t notice the taste difference that much. However, I think my guts have finally told me enough with the cheap brews. Seem to get all out of sorts with much at all from the lower end of ‘Merican beers.
That’s okay. As with food, the more I pay the more I appreciate it and the more I moderate the consumption. Still, with summer here, nothing like a beer after a ride. I was just traveling and hadn’t been on a bike in five days. The commute this morning had my body feeling like it had never been in a saddle. Amazing how quickly deviating from a routine discombobulates the body and mind.
@jaja
love it, best of luck to ’em!
@RobSandy
As part of trip to Cornwall VMH insisted we go to Port Isaac (aka Port Wenn). Dinner at the Old School House wasn’t so bad.
This is a great beer, hard to find though. Stores around here get three cases every three weeks or so. Made by the Russian River Brewing Company.
Hapsmo you sir have good taste. I’m also a huge fan of RR’s sour beers. Although living in Arkansas I rarely get to sample them. You ever have any of Almanac’s beer?
@markpa
Proper job. I find Doom tastes best drunk at the end of the day in a Cornish fishing village like Cadgwith or Coverack, or on one of the Isles of Scilly. I’m surprised that’s not on the tasting notes.
I’m not drinking til after Sunday and this isn’t helpful.
@PantaniForever
No I have not tried that brewer YET. The stouts look good. Horchata stout sounds odd but I would like to give that a try. What do you recommend?
One week to the end of my preparatory abstinence and sampling this year’s special from Thornbridge Brewery. Last year’s was a dashed fine tipple.
I don’t think there is anything better than a nice cold saison after a hot ride. Something from Dupont, or my favorite semi-local example of the genre: Red Barn Ale from Lost Abbey down in San Marcos.
Fire brewed local drop in the appropriate apparatus
this is what you need after a hot day in the alps
mountain king
@SamV
Coming back to this thread after a long while, but wanted to say that I finally got the color right in my most recent batch of my Hinault ’80 Strong Ale! Went into bottle conditioning the other day. It’s now within the style guidelines for a golden strong ale, and just in time for the return of cold weather riding. (It’s been Rule #9 weather for a week or, so I figure that will impart it with some special recovery powers.)
@LawnCzar
Lovely color indeed! I’ve wanted to brew a Golden Strong Ale since the beginning, and perhaps it’s time for me to make it happen. Assuming it’s at least 8% that’ll definitely restore the blood flow after a 9 Ride.
Would you go a Chimay Red with Blue Cheese?
i like all varieties of crafty booze, but i can’t drink any of this stuff after a ride. of course, i’ve been known to dump 3oz of pickle juice into a Miller Lite for recovery, so there’s that.
@Cary
I just threw up in my mouth. That’s disgusting.
Miller Lite…
@Cary
Stick to the pickle juice!
You can save your thankses.
@RobSandy
Does it have Citrus flavours?
Mmmmm – handmade salami and a 2012 Coonawarra Merlot!
@sthilzy
Are you going to eat that or have you been eating too many nuts/corn……………
@Chris
Penny Farthing racing was apparently the origin of the term Break Neck Speed for fairly obvious – and presumably sad – reasons. Which does rather beg the question as to the shape of those handlebars, though it may well just be for clearance at the top of the stroke.
@Cary
Well, putting pickle juice in Miller Lite certainly can’t be regarded as adulteration! I’ll stick to Lakefront or New Glarus products. Had some Spaten Optimator at the weekend. Damn, that’s smooth stuff.
@sthilzy
It has subtle beer flavours.
@sthilzy
Yes. Without hesitation!
@sthilzy
I hope that is not made with Spanish Beef – looks like Sammy Sanchez has been eating too much of it.
@wiscot
i like Spaten lager. Opti is a little too thick for me. my favorite German lager commonly available in the US is Warsteiner. the best i’ve had is Bischoff, which i enoyed at a festival @ Millenium Park in Chicago a few years ago. it was REALLY fresh, kegged less than a week before the event. i’d not seen it before, and haven’t seen it since. German lagers are really my wheelhouse, as far as recreational beer.
@wiscot
@Cary
i found it on Beer Advocate. i have operated a couple taprooms for the last twelve years on Bourbon St in New Orleans. in that time, i have had every commericially available German Pils, Lager, Dopple, Dunkel, and Weßbier in and out of rotation. i’ve always got at least three of the Munich Six on tap. but Bischoff is really something else. if i could get it on a regular, i’d have it:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/921/2936/
@RobSandy
i find this article and the comments very instructive, actually, but there are some common misconceptions about mass produced American lagers that have really gathered steam since the dawn of the craft beer era. first of which is that American lagers are “bad”. they’re not, they’re just not crafty.
i grew up with a Pabst brewery in my hometown. modern Pabst is surely trash, but it bears little resemblance to the beer i drank as a kid. (i started drinking beer at 7 years old) the Pabst sold in my hometown was FRESH, kegged or canned no more than a week prior to consumption, and since the brewery sold almost all of it to my hometown, pasteurization was unnecessary. this made for a very light, fruity lager, with a very short sell by. when i say fruity, i’m not joking, it was SWEET and FRESH as a peach in a paper bag on your mom’s windowsill. this is REAL American lager, and it tastes best ICE COLD. Inbev/Miller/Molson Coors obviously don’t do things this way anymore. also, the beer frequently overheats in transit and storage,
which damages the flavor further, to an extent even pasteurization cannot fully mitigate.even now, when Continental Eurpoeans, especially Germans, visit my bars, the number one requested beer is Budweiser, of all things, outselling Coors, Miller, and Bud Lt combined. that it is held in esteem is puzzling to me, but it is what it is.
there are a few craft operations that are brewing “session beers” now that seem to be trying to replicate the original American lager formula and taste, but i’ve not tried one that has it nailed yet. i think they’re all trying too hard, tbh. the idea that the old ways require equipment and techniques lost to history has occured to me, as well.
Lads, lassies, where’s the urgency? Talking about recreational beer while tomorrow the Vuelta starts and there’s no VSP yet? Have we resigned to the lack of activity and accept the dwindling down of the V-site? KEEEEEPEEERSSSSS get ya act together, please!
@KogaLover
VSP or no VSP, beer is a serious matter worthy of continuous, thorough investigation and discussion! lolz