The Bud post below reminds me: I had a positive encounter with an Anheuser-Busch brew at a different world cup -- the 2006 World Beer Cup, held recently in Seattle.

At the pre-gala dinner awards tasting, a staggering international selection of beer sat picked over and popped open.

Mostly.

An unmolested magnum caught my eye. I asked the guy in the tux manning one of the iced-down beer tubs to break the seal and unlock the cage on Budweiser's big black bottle.

At 8.5 percent alcohol by volume, I envisioned a bottleful of Beethoven ... in a beater.

I took a cold slug.

It beat Bud.

It almost tasted like some of the craft brews that surrounded it.

I'll wager that Brew Masters Private Reserve wouldn't please a German, but channel-surfing NASCAR fans may dig it.

Last Wednesday, I enjoyed a seven-course beer dinner at Union Restaurant in Seattle. It was one of a handful of food-and-beer events served up in conjunction with the Craft Brewers Conference.

Chef-owner Ethan Stowell's menu was paired with Belgian-style ales from Quebec's Unibroue brewery. All bottle-conditioned, Unibroue's effervescent ales complemented Stowell's light touch, with an odd exception.

Here are my tasting notes:

=> Read more!

Several questions were raised at the Craft Brewers Conference last week regarding beer-and-food pairings and what restaurants do by way of beer.

I posed some of the same questions to South Sound chefs and restaurateurs, all of whom own or work at places that have good selections of craft beers.

Have you ever been approached by any craft brewers regarding beer dinners or beer-and-food pairings?

Gordon Naccarato, chef/owner Pacific Grill, Tacoma; and The Beach House at Purdy: I have not ... but I would enjoy the challenge.

Mark Gaimster, owner Il Fiasco, Tacoma: No.

Jeff Bishop, chef, Sound Food Cafe, Vashon Island: No.

=> Read more!

Here are some MP3 audio excerpts from a mock judging held for the media during last week's Craft Brewers Conference. Scroll down to read more about the mock judging, or click here.

"A medium-bodied category" (0:17)

"Reduce six down to three" (0:33)

"Like sour cheesiness" (0:50)

"I just can't get past the nail polish" (2:09)

"It just kind of lingered there and sat on your tongue" (1:48)

"That was an easy one" (0:26)

The appertif, Orval Trappist Ale, had the boozy flush of a wet horse. Not a bad beer to get a diner out of the starting gate at the 2006 World Beer Cup awards dinner at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle on Friday night.

All of the beers served were previous World Beer Cup medalists. Here are my beer-and-food tasting notes:

=> Read more!

Judging by the gasps, chuckles and cheers, Japanese breweries did surprisingly well at the 2006 World Beer Cup.

When the winners of the biennial "beer Olympics" were announced in Seattle on Friday night, Japanese breweries earned nine medals.

Haru Urara (Iganosato Mokumoku of Iga, Japan) won the gold medal in the American-style Hefeweizen category. Swan Lake Beer Porter, from Hyouko Yashiki No Mori Berwery in Agano, Japan, won a gold medal in the Robust Porter category.

But the biggest surprises, at least culturally drinking, were Japanese medals in German-style categories.

=> Read more!

Washington breweries won 12 awards, including three gold medals, in the 2006 World Beer Cup, the biennial "Olympics of beer."

Medalists, including silver winners from Olympia's Fish Brewing Co. and Silverdale's Silver City Brewing Co., were among 530 brewers from 55 countries competing in 85 categories.

Judging was held over two days this week at the Craft Brewers Conference at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. In all, 109 judges from 17 countries considered 2,221 beers.

Winners were announced Friday night.

Here's the complete list of winners. Washington medalists include:

=> Read more!

It wasn't all suds and trade-show fun at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center. Other groups were holding their own meetings. Teenagers belonging to the The Future Business Leaders of America were meeting on the same floor as the craft brewers.

In respect for other convention-goers, beer-makers and beer-drinkers were reminded only to drink in designated areas. Here's a helpful sign:

Ed Murrieta/The News Tribune

Sam Calagione's keynote address at the Craft Brewers conference today rocked. The president of Deleware's Dogfish Head Craft Brewery compared the craft brewing revolution to Bob Dylan going electric.

Dylan plugged in and shocked the folkies in '65. Craft brewers hopped it up and shocked beer out of its blandness a couple of decades later.

"What is more punk rock than saying: how does it feel to be on your own?" Calagione asked a room of men and women who bucked the Budweiser establishment. "I think everyone in this room knows. It feels pretty exhilarating.

"A small group of passionate individuals who were reinvigorated by Dylan's audacity to color outside the lines were present as well. The bands that took the stage that weekend in Newport included the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, who presented a very polished, very innocuous and a very popular form of folk music -- the easy-listening equivalent of easy drinking."

And then Calagione, who also invoked Charlie Parker, Ralph Ellison and Tacoma's Neko Case, kicked out the jams. Here's a transcript from his prepared remarks:

"So flash forward a couple of decades or so after Dylan took the stage in Newport. A certain faction of us were experiencing a bad case of deja vu from living in a world that didn't represent us very well.

"Like our immigrant ancestors there was a longing for an alternative. There was a feeling that we deserved more. Not more quantity but more quality and more diversity. There's more to America than glamorized Hollywood freaks and fetishized weapons of mass destruction -- more than McDonald's, shopping malls, volume, delirium and hype. There were millions of different people with millions of different tastes and their tastes weren't being reflected by the choices they had in the kinds of beer that were readily available.

"So another generation rose to the challenge. They created the American Craft Brewing renaissance by the seats of their pants, and consumers saw what they were doing and supported it. Because they recognized their own struggle for integrity and independence in the struggle that these brewers were facing. These brewers were telling their fellow Americans to wake up -- you have taste buds, you have a mind, you know what you want to drink more than your television or a billboard does."

Here's what Dylan had to say about his rock renaissance:

"There were a lot of old people there too. Lots of whole families had driven down from Vermont, lots of nurses with their parents, and, well, like, they just came to hear something relaxing -- hoedowns, you know, an Indian polka or two, and just when everything is going all right, here I come on, and the whole place turns into a beer factory."

Somewhere in there, Calagione led brewers in toast with his Brown IPA.

Judging of the 2006 World Beer Cup was held behind closed, and presumably locked, doors on Monday and Tuesday this week. In 16 hours of judging, each judge judged 52 beers. The winner of the bi-annual World Beer Cup will be announced Friday at the Craft Brewers dinner at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

Today, a mock judging was held for the media. The six judges who sniffed, snipped and described six American IPAs in terms such as "diesel" and "nail polish" included:

Chuck Hahn of Australia's Hahn Brewery

Sean Franklin of Rooster's Brewery in North Yorkshire, England

Carl Kins, a Belgian "beer fanatic, judge and writer, zythologue"

Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing in Colorado

Denise Jones of Albion Castle Brewery & Caves in San Francisco

Vinny Cilurzo of Northern California's Russian River Brewing

Here are some MP3 audio excerpts of the mock judging:

"A medium-bodied category" (0:17)


"Reduce six down to three" (0:33)


"Like sour cheesiness" (0:50)


"I just can't get past the nail polish" (2:09)

"It just kind of lingered there and sat on your tongue" (1:48)

"That was an easy one" (0:26)

Ed Murrieta/The News Tribune

Lauren Salazar of Colorado's New Belgium Brewing (home of Fat Tire beer and the Tour de Fat) considers an IPA in a mock blind judging held for the media at the Craft Brewers conference in Seattle on Wednesday.

Ed Murrieta/The News Tribune

Real beer and a real judge's tasting notes. Note sheets ask judges to rate things like color and appearance; aroma; bitterness; alcohol; style; flavor and aftertaste.; balance and drinkability; technical quality; and carbonation.

Ed Murrieta/The News Tribune

Six judges were each served small shots of beer. "You need only two sniffs and two sips," said Lauren Salazar of New Belgium.

Ed Murrieta/The News Tribune

Pouring out the dregs.

More than 1,800 craft brewers from around the world are in Seattle this week for the 23rd annual Craft Brewers Conference, BrewExpo America and the 2006 World Beer Cup.

I'll attend this week's events and report here on issues of interest to drinkers and diners.

Beginning Wednesday, look for updates on judging, tastings, pairings and something called Thanksgiving in April – the craft brewing industry’s campaign to get people to drink beer, not wine, with holiday meals.

More than 500 breweries are competing in the bi-annual Beer Cup, including 20 from Washington. Harmon of Tacoma, Fish of Olympia, Ram of Puyallup and Silver City of Silverdale represent the South Sound. Winners will be feted on Friday in a dinner at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.