In-store beer tastings a labor of love

For Chris Luken, a four-year veteran of Brennan's Country Market & Wine Shop on Madison's far southwest side, the in-store beer tastings he organizes are a labor of love.

Michael Muckian

Special to The Capital Times — 3/24/2008 6:35 am

Original Article

Although too young to drink alcohol, Chris Luken at age 12 had an extensive beer can collection. That may have set the wheels in motion, turning the South Dakota native, who never drank during his high school and college football careers, into the "beer evangelist" for Brennan's Country Market & Wine Shop on Madison's far southwest side.

My wife and I were innocently shopping there one recent Saturday, the usual clatter of a UW Badgers basketball broadcast filling the store, when an even louder voice over the public address system invited us to a beer tasting. We weren't the only invitees, of course, and by the time Luken ended his 20-minute beer-and-food pairing presentation, 13 shoppers were sipping from 2-ounce sample cups and noshing on everything from goat cheese to baked beans.

The store's strategy, of course, is to get more shoppers to spend more time on premise, thereby purchasing more merchandise. The Saturday beer and wine tastings follow Brennan's overall sampling policy that allows those shoppers to taste everything from Chilean black plums to Wisconsin smoked gouda. However for Luken, a four-year Brennan's veteran, the tasting was clearly a labor of love, one that for us helped take the sting out of fighting Saturday afternoon food store crowds.

"I talk too much, so please ask questions," Luken said at least three times during his presentation. However, the exposure to the beer evangelist's preferences and the little lessons he taught about beer in general were worth the time spent. We had heretofore tasted none of the brands he sampled, walking away with several new favorites and some food pairing ideas.

First up was the Brennan's Golden Pils, the house label contract-brewed for owner Skip Brennan by Middleton's Capital Brewery. The lager-style beer was bright and crisp with a snappy hops presence, a good example of the style from Capital brewmaster Kirby Nelson.

"See that large, rocky head?" Luken asked of the sample he had poured into his demonstration pilsner glass. "It's designed to keep the flavors contained until you actually sip it." We sipped it first by itself, then again following a bite-sized segment of the large Bavarian-style pretzel Luken had just heated in a nearby toaster oven. The food muted the beer's sharp report, matching the effervescence in the tiny cups with a filling bite of lightly salted, somewhat inert pretzel dough.

Next up was the El Toro Oro, a golden ale from El Toro Brewing Co. in Morgan Hill, Calif. It was crisper and a little less balanced than the previous brew, but still making a strong statement in the glass.

Our host served it with a spreadable goat cheese that itself had a subdued piquancy, on a neutral cracker. He also advised us to run over to the register and try it with a handful of Oogie's Romano & Pesto Gourmet Popcorn, a bag of which was open for sampling. Both food items were moderately flavored, and each did a remarkable job subduing the beer hoppiness, resulting in a better-balanced combined presentation on the palate.

The next beer was a real find. Millstream Schild Brau, a dark Vienna-style lager brewed in Amana, Iowa, has earned honors at the last four Great American Beer Festivals. The dark beer brewed with imported German Hallertau hops had a bitter edge that gives it complexity and depth balanced against the brew's sweet maltiness, yet remained light in body and buoyant in spirit.

Luken matched the beer to a cold sample of Jacobsen Brothers' baked beans, which had its own sweet darkness. The pairing worked well, although those who didn't want the beans' small meat content were sent to sample it against some smoked gouda currently open elsewhere in the store. According to reports, that pairing worked equally well.

We ended our lesson with Out of Bounds Stout, brewed by Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, Colo. The multiple-award-winning dry stout, made with Bullion and Fuggles hops, presented a dark roasty color and character, skating lightly across the palate before disappearing from the mouth.

Luken saw the beer as a perfect match with smoked oysters, a traditional pairing that has international precedent. The oyster's strong flavor addressed the stout very nicely, although the beer was never quite robust enough to cleanse the palate of the seafood's character. However, there was no denying the balance of flavors. At that point our lesson ended, but not before I asked Luken what his three favorite beers were. None of them had been present during the tasting, and two were new introductions to us, acquaintances my palate was glad to make.

First on Luken's list is Salvation Belgian-Style Golden Ale, also from Avery Brewing Co. Available in 22-ounce bottles and bedecked with label art resembling something lifted from an illuminated religious text, Salvation is a big beer weighing in at 9 percent alcohol. The apricot and peach nose gives way to a richly spicy and complex palate. Fans of Pranqster from California's North Coast Brewing Co. will immediately recognize and appreciate similar characteristics in brewmaster Adam Avery's handiwork.

The second choice was Satin Solstice Imperial Stout from Central Waters Brewing Co. Brewed in Amherst, Wis., Satin Solstice is well-balanced stout with a disarmingly light character that belies a higher, although unidentified alcoholic content. (We're guessing 7 percent to 8 percent.) The smooth brew with the retiring character is not big in the sense of mouth-feel, but that doesn't negate brewer Paul Graham's skill.

Luken's third choice, also a Wisconsin beer, was an easy hit. New Glarus Brewing Co.'s Wisconsin Belgian Red has earned international awards for brewmaster Dan Carey. More than a pound of Montmorency cherries from Door County go into each 22-ounce bottle, augmenting the Wisconsin-grown wheat, Belgian roasted barley malt and Hallertau hops. The beer, aged for a year in oak casks, has a rich fruit quality and smooth character that puts it into a class by itself.

"Before time expires, each of these beers should go into your belly at least once," Luken said.