Barley wine is, despite the name, an old style of making a very traditional strong "big" beer. It's traditionally an English beer, though the name has antecedents and relatives in the works of Classical era Greek poets who favored strongly brewed beers. It's called "barley wine" largely because the ABV can reach those usually associated with wine—8% ABV to 12% ABV is fairly standard for a barley wine style beer. Similarly brewed ales are sometimes called "old ales," but they're generally considered the same thing as barley wine. Micro breweries and craft brewers in the U.S. have begun to bring back barley wine beers.

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Last Sunday in Chicago, a panel of 179 international beer judges who sampled 3,330 beers from 642 breweries and 44 countries delivered their verdicts about the best beers in the world in 90 different categories. The World Beer Cup is probably the most important craft beer festival and competition all year. Winning one of these medals is no small accomplishment.

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This seasonal Bohemian Pilsner style beer is, as its name suggests, a hoppy beer. It's made with all five of the Noble hops (all of which are traditional Bavarian hops), which are responsible for the noticeably hoppy flavor, as well as the distinct citrus notes. I actually thought at first that my beer had a lemon wedge on it. I say beer, wincing a little, because technically, this is a lager, inspired by the medieval style of Bavarian lagering, a long and cooler temperature fermentation stage. Plus, Sam Adams uses Bohemian spring barley and medieval style floor malting, both crucial in terms of creating a traditional golden, clear Pilsner. It's also a fabulous cusp-of-spring beer seasonal, available from January to March. and at 5.2% ABV, just a whisper away from being a session brew. I note that serving temp is especially important for this brew; not warm, but not icy cold, either.

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I'm more than a little chagrined that I haven't written about Pyramid Haywire before. I've yet to have a Pyramid beer I didn't like, and this one is no exception, though I'll admit a certain prejudicial fondness for Hefeweizen. Pyramid's Haywire is a slightly cloudy lovely golden yellow in the glass, with a decent head. Slightly sweet "wheat" aroma, and a fabulous taste. A gentle 5.2% ABV, Haywire is made with 2 Row Pale Barley, Malted Wheat (60%) and Caramel malts, and Nugget, Liberty and Mt. Hood hops, it's incredibly subtle and very smooth. This is, by the way, the more mellow, nutty rather than fruity or spicy American hefe style of beer, by which I mean it wasn't made with the special weizen yeast's used in more traditional Bavarian styles.

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About a half-hour from Missoula, Montana you'll find Snowbowl. I don't know if it's still there, because it's been a few years, but there used to be a warming-hut partway down from the top runs, where you could ski or snowboard right up to the deck, kick off your gear, wedge your skis or board in the banked snow, then tromp in and buy pre-made sandwiches and have a hot cocoa or a cold beer.

Powder Hound Winter Ale tastes exactly like sitting out on that deck in the Montana winter sunshine, sucking down icy cold beer, goggles perched on top of your head, and laughing with friends.

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While Stateside micro and craft breweries concentrating on lower ABV session beers, Scottish brewer BrewDog of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire have produced a limited release ale called Tactical Nuclear Penguin. At 32 %ABV it is the world's strongest beer. The beer began life as a 10% ABV Imperial Stout. Then the beer was aged for 16 months in two different whisky cases, and then aged at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) for three weeks to reach the final heights of 32% ABV. The freezing serves to do much the same thing as distilling does for spirits; it removes water. The alcohol in the beer doesn't freeze, but the water does, which means you can neatly remove the ice, and then freeze the beer again. This raises the percentage of alcohol, and yes, it also changes the flavor and texture; it's more like whisky at the end than a beer.

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Spring is beginning to, well, spring, and it's a good time to start thinking about seasonal brews for Spring. Personally, I plan on enjoying as much of Kona Brewing's Pipeline Porter as I can before it disappears in March, but in the meantime, Pyramid Brewing's seasonal Spring Fling will be appearing on shelves in the first week of February, and there have already been sightings of this hoppy pale ale made with Two-row and Caramel malts, and hops that include Nugget, Willamette, and a new-to-me Cascade/Fuggle hybrid. This one goes away in March too, so I suggest grabbing it while you can; it's a bit sweeter (the Caramel malt?) than some Pale Ales, so some folks are being very pleasantly surprised by it. At 5.2% ABV, this one almost qualifies as a session brew.

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Beer Tasting PartyWhen I was a kid, my mom gave us the Pepsi challenge. I was sure that I would pick Pepsi since I was a member of the Pepsi generation, but strangely  and embarrassingly enough, picked RC cola over either Pepsi or Coke.

In preparation for an upcoming party, I decided that I definitely needed to have another challenge. Since most of my friends prefer beer to pop, I thought a beer challenge would definitely be the way to go.

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Beer bread is one of those things that are so easy to make that people think that there's got to be a trick. It's the easiest bread you'll ever make, and it's so easy that it's one of the things I suggest people who have never baked anything, bake. Plus, it's really fun, and it makes incredible bread. It's enormously fun to see what a particular brew does to the same recipe for bread. Plus, you can add herbs, or dried fruit, or even chocolate, to make the bread a bit special. There really are endless variations.

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Hale's Ales is a Seattle brewery (and brew pub) right on the border between Fremont and Ballard. Hale's Ale has been making their seasonal Wee Heavy Winter Ale since 1985. Their winter ale is a "wee heavy," in traditional Scottish Brewing Speak, because it's ABV of 6.8% is a wee bit on the "heavy" side. This is a lovely dark, deep brown, though not Porter deep, with reddish highlights. It's a good choice for Winter since it's definitely a hearty, hoppy, malty brew that can stand up to rich stews and roasts, and still not be overwhelmed. In fact, this is one of those food-enhancing sorts of beers.

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