Beer is a balm in so many ways. A good beer refreshes the palate and soothes the soul. Everyone recognizes the sentence “Let’s go have a beer!” as words of friendship. Beer drunk in moderation by temperate people brings pleasure and camaraderie.

Sometimes beer can even change the world.

Beer has helped many Oshkosh area women and families change their worlds since 1996 when the Oshkosh Jaycees began the annual Brews and Blues Festival to raise funds for Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services.

OK, cue the chorus: Isn’t beer consumed by intemperate partners to blame for some of that abuse?

Sure, we can blame beer or brown liquor or crystal meth or talk radio or reality TV or economic hard times for stimulating the abuser into action against the abused, but those things are certainly not the root cause of the abuse. Millions of people drink beer without smacking their partners around.

So don’t blame beer. Get those ugly, negative thoughts out of your head.

The Oshkosh Jaycees, their friends and families, and Christine Ann Center volunteers will pour beer from state and national craft beer makers from 3-7 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, for the 15^th annual Brews & Blues Festival at the Leach Amphitheater in Oshkosh.

“We can actually use more volunteers. Since we have a lot of distributors coming, we need people to actually pour the beer,” said Melissa Pezzuto, an Oshkosh Jaycee who co-chairs the festival.

If you’d like to pour beer at Brews & Blues, send an e-mail b& This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or check out the Jaycees’ Facebook page.

 But know this before volunteering: There’s nothing worse than attending a beer fest where the pourers don’t have a clue about the beer they’re pouring, or, worse yet, they tell you, “I don’t even drink beer.” It happens, but not at Brews & Blues.

“We like the volunteers to come a little early and find out about the beer you’re pouring because people usually do have questions about the beer, so we like them to know about the beer they’re serving,” Pezzuto said.

For the Blues portion of B&B, the Jaycees have tapped local guitar slinger Donnie Pick and his band The Unit, and the popular Greg Waters and the Broad Street Boogie Band.

“It’s our 15^th anniversary, so we really wanted to make this 15^th year a great year and spotlight some local acts,” Pezzuto said.

Like the great Oshkosh summer concert series Waterfest, Brews & Blues began its life on the grounds behind the Oshkosh Convention Center just off Main Street. Both events now call the Leach Amphitheater home.

“The Leach is really great for us,” Pezzuto said. “It’s a really good venue for our bands, plus there’s a lot of rooms for the brewers. People can watch the band or hang out on the ill.”

Speaking of that hill, my old homebrew crew will be there to flex their malty and hoppy muscles.

“The Society of Oshkosh Brewers – the SOBs – are going to be doing a homebrew school,” Pezzuto said. “They’ll be on the hill. People can go up and learn how they brew beer with different systems, from small to larger systems.”

Glass Nickel Pizza is making its first appearance at the fest. There are benches at the Leach, but if you want to sit comfortably, bring your own chair. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Find them in Oshkosh at O’Marro’s Public House, Barley & Hops, Festival Foods; in Menasha at the Redliner Bar; and Festival Foods in Appleton and Fond du Lac.

Brews & Blues is a rain or shine event.

“Nothings going to stop us,” Pezzuto said. “We have tents in case it rains, but we’ve had really good weather the past seven years or so.”

See you there.

* * *

And just to emphasize that beer can do good in this world, keep your eye out for 22-ounce bottles of Reunion 2010, A Brew for Hope.

This is the fourth year for Reunion, a collaborative brewing adventure that raises awareness and money for The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. This year’s brew is a Belgian-style Scotch ale.

Reunion Beer is a collaboration between Alan Shapiro, president
of classy West Coast importer SBS Imports, Pete Slosberg, creator of Pete's Wicked Ale, and Virginia MacLean, a friend and colleague of both men. The three met during the early days of Pete's Brewing Company. Virginia died from complications from Multiple Myeloma in June 2007, four months after the initial release of Reunion.

"Virginia emphasized the importance of continuing our support of IMBCR," Shapiro said in a press release announcing Reunion 2010. "She believed wholeheartedly in the
work of The Institute and understood the value of bringing hope to others. Every dollar raised helps us honor Virginia's memory."

To date REUNION has raised more than $130,000 for The Institute (imbcr.org) via profits from beer sales, retailer fundraising events and private donations. 

"Every dollar we raise goes directly to IMBCR to fund research," Slosberg said. "We hope beer lovers everywhere will consider making a small donation via the REUNION site, Facebook cause page or directly at IMBCR's site."
 
This year's beer was developed in by brewmasters Spike Buckowski of Terrapin Beer Co. of Georgia, Dan Del Grande of Bison Brewing in California, and Pete Slosberg. Brewed to an original gravity of 1078 with five different malts and hopped with East Kent Goldings to 35 IBUs, it’s fermented with a high gravity Trappist yeast and is 7% alcohol by volume.

Fourteen lucky states will have Reunion 2010 on tap (Minnesota is the closest to us).

Free beer tomorrow!

For the past couple years we’ve been doing this monthly thing called Scene Society for Beer Enjoyment. It’s held at a different bar every month, where anyone who shows up can sample a beer for two hours, courtesy of our partner in this monthly endeavor, Wisconsin Distributors of Appleton.

Last month we met at a popular downtown Appleton spot cleverly called The Bar. I’d never been to The Bar before. It was fun to see the interesting view of the College Avenue corner where The Bar sits. Lotsa stuff to see – pimped up cars driven by wiggers from Hooterville, two tired chefs in toques, people walking funny dogs, dogs walking funny people, gesticulating smokers. Stuff like that.

While I’m enjoying the view, I’m sipping on draft Drifter Pale Ale from Widmer Brothers of Portland, Ore.

It’s a new beer to me. Since it’s a West Coast pale ale, my mouth is expecting to be assaulted by the grapefruit citrus of cascade hops. But, surprise! There is a very distinct citrus flavor to Drifter, but it’s more orange than grapefruit.

For bittering, the Widmer Brothers brewers use what they say they use for all their beers, a proprietary blend of hops they call Alchemy.

They used two different and relatively new hops for aroma and dry hopping. One of those has a distinct orange flavor profile.

Summit hops were first produced in 2003 by the American Dwarf Hop Association. This is not a group of hop-growing American dwarves, but a group of American hop growers who prefer dwarf varieties. Summit appears to be the first dwarf hop variety grown for commercial use in the U.S.

Like many American varieties, Summit is high on the alpha scale (alpha acids in hops give beer its bitterness). European hops average 5% to 9% alpha. Summit hops range from a whopping 17.5% to 19.5%. 

The other aroma/dry hop variety used in Drifter is also a recent addition to the arsenal of brewing. Nelson Sauvin hops were developed in 2000 in New Zealand. They are said to impart a white wine-like flavor, hence the name Nelson Sauvin, a Kiwi homage to the wine world’s Cabernet Sauvignon.

Luckily, that purported winey flavor did not assert itself in Drifter.

I enjoyed this new take on pale ale, and so did most every sampler I talked to. Several said they don’t usually like pale ales, but would buy this one. That’s part of the fun of Scene Society for Beer Enjoyment, getting other takes on beer. Plus, it’s free.

This month’s sampling is 6-8 p.m. June 16 at Peabody’s Ale House in Oshkosh. The beer is New Belgium’s Skinny Dip, and I understand there will be some giveaways. Peabody’s has a nice outdoor area. So, come skinny dippin’!

***

May 2010: Adventures in Beer

I have an overdue review of an end-of-the-world beer, but, first, a story of a young man’s planned adventure of a lifetime, an adventure in beer.

I asked Ilan Klages-Mundt to tell the story of his coming adventure as guest columnist this month. Ilan, apparently, is an illeist, or one who refers to himself in the third person. Here is his narrrative:

Beginning this August, Ilan Klages-Mundt, a recent graduate of Lawrence University, will travel around the globe studying the vast world of brewing cultures. The journey will encompass a full year of study ranging from cultural, historical and traditional aspects.

April 2010: Freestyle Brewin' at O'so

Last time we checked in with Marc Buttera in late winter of 2008, he had recently opened the doors to Wisconsin’s newest craft brewery, O’so Brewing Co. of Plover. His idea from the start was to wow people with freestyle brewing.

We don’t need no stinkin’ BJCP!

In just two years Oso’s out-of-the-box beers – which include the popular Night Train oatmeal porter, the hop-cone-in-every bottle Lupulin Maximus, and current seasonal The Dominator Doppelbock – have made an impression on craft beer drinkers.

“This thing has progressed a lot faster than I thought it would,” Buttera said. “We’ve learned a ton. It’s getting tough to keep up.”

“Once you get over the hump, you breathe a lot easier,” he said.

And then you start looking for a larger space to brew.

“There’s nothing definite yet, but we are actively seeking a larger brewing space,” Buttera said. “Our first year we did about 350 barrels (10,850 gallons). If we stay at the pace we’re at right now, we’ll be at 1,500 barrels (46,500 gallons). That’s in our current location. If we go into a new location, I’m hoping to be over the 2,000 mark this year. We won’t be into a new location probably until end of summer, I would guess, but we’re trying to fast track it.”

The current location is next to Point Homebrew Supply, also owned and operated by Buttera and his wife Katina. They went into the brewery with a partner, but philosophical differences about the brewery caused a buyout of the partner, which added to the size of the hump the brewery had to overcome.

“It was an amicable parting. We’re still friends,” Buttera said. “I made the decision to go to distribution (through an established beer distributor) and he didn’t see that same philosophy.”

You can find O’so in 40 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, thanks to the decision to go through a distributor.

“We’ve had tremendous growth because of the distribution,” Buttera said.

But it hasn’t happened by itself. Buttera goes out and works it, helping to put a face to his beer.

“I personally ride with all the salesman,” he said. “We keep a pretty close eye on what’s going on with tap accounts. They’ll call me when they score a tap and it thrills me to death. As time permits, I get out there and work with every one of these guys. It’s been a good philosophy that’s paid off for me.”

Buttera, his wife and their two full-time brewery employees also like to get the word out through beer festivals. They’ll be at the Fox Cities Beer Fest at the Bar on Lynndale in Appleton on April 24, and will make their first appearance at the Wisconsin Microbrewers Beer Fest in Chilton on May 23.

“Festivals are very important. We hit every festival,” Buttera said. “Katina and I like to get out and shake hands and let people know we appreciate everybody’s support. The festivals are huge for us. And we’ve won a lot of awards at festivals.”

Buttera attributes part of the growth of the O’so Brewery to having a good set of ears, especially when it comes to comments about the beer.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of listening and learning. It’s served us well, so far,” he said, giving for example the brewery’s Hopdinger.

“The Hopdinger, it’s like an IPA. Everybody calls it an IPA, but it’s only 5%,” he said. “It’s dry-hopped like an IPA. Very pungent, very West Coast. It’s just way different than when we started. When we started that thing was an English-style pale ale. We started looking at reviews. They see the word hop in there and they want something with hops. So now we give them hops, and lots of them.”

Being a freestyle brewer means taking chances, knowing you’re not going to please everyone. Besides the four flagship beers brewed year-round – The Big O, Hopdinger, Rusty Red and Night Train – Buttera and company have four seasonals

“We made a beer called Jack’s Lantern that was just so off the hook. It was done with Briess smoked malt and pumpkin slurry and Belgian yeast and rye malt. It was just obscure as hell. We had people either love or hate it,” Buttera said.

Lupulin Maximus was another hit for the brewery. Each bottle contained a hop cone handpicked from Buttera’s own hop vines.

“We’re going to have to make four times more next year. It was a huge hit for us,” he said. “We have a ton of fun with our specialties, and all of them have been a huge hit for us.”

Look for the brewery’s latest specialty on tap, an annual spring offering in tribute to Buttera’s grandfather Spike.

“We just brewed our Spike’s,” he said. “It’s a beer made with maple sap instead of water, first-running sap, so good stuff. It’s a 9% golden pancake ale. It’s got about 15% wheat and we’re going to age it on maple wood, which is something I haven’t done. We’ve done it with oak, but I don’t know how it’s going to work with maple. It’s burbling away right now. If we had any complaints last year, there just wasn’t enough maple for people. So we gave them maple this year with a gallon maple syrup and infused with maple chips.”

Buttera has visions of growth for the brewery that includes room for as many as 15 employees within three years. He’s also hoping a collaboration with a professor of microbiology at UW-Stevens Point helps build O’so’s reputation.

“We’re building a program that will test our yeasts,” he said. “This is all in hopes that we get into our new location and actually have an honest to goodness lab where we can bring stuff in and look at it under a microscope and take it to the next level. I know there are some breweries doing that. We want to play with those big dogs. And I’ll just sleep better at night knowing that we are microbiologically sound.”

Big ideas for a little brewery just entering its third year of business, but that’s what you do when you’re freestyling it.

“It’s been a ride. We’ve met a ton of awesome people,” Buttera said. “We’re ready to break this thing out and bring it to the next level.”