Goodbye, beer

North Carolina recently passed a law that allowed beers of greater than 6% alcohol to be sold in the state. I was a big fan of this raising the limit as doing so would and did allow craft brews from small microbreweries to be sold in North Carolina that were previously off-limits.

The law was passed last year and a flood of new, wonderful beers started to appear in North Carolina. My favorites, in particular, have been the IPAs, or India Pale Ales. Excellent barley and malt, not to mention heavy hops that give the IPAs their distinctive bite, creates a tasteful explosion across the palate that just can't be beat. Most good IPAs are in the 7% to 10% range with some going to extremes. An extreme example would be Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA that clocks in at a whopping 20% alcohol! I have tried this particular beer both in the bottle (imported from PA) and on tap at the Dogfish Head restaurant in Delaware and, let me tell you, it packs a whallop. It actually drinks more like a brandy than a beer. But I digress.

Beer is considered by many to the be drink of the "common man", and more usually the "redneck man". Attitudes towards beer are changing, and that is a good thing. Beer is as complex as wine and as a person who makes wine I can say that making a good beer is more difficult than making a good wine, at least in my opinion.

Why am I droning on about beer? Well, I'm going to give it up for a while. All forms of alcohol in fact. Wine too (the good news there is we are out of red wine; we sent many bottles out as Christmas presents and went through the least of our red, my favorite wine type. We have six gallons bulk aging right now, but that same stuff will have to bottle age for another four month at least so I'm temptation-free there).

But giving up IPA, that's tough. Granted, I don't drink much of it but with strong IPAs you don't need a lot of beer to consume a lot of calories. Looking back at the Dogfish Head 120 that particular beer measures 362 calories - per PINT! Dogfish Head 90 Minute (9%) isn't far behind on the calorie count. This is a greater amount of calories than an equivalent amount of Coke. It doesn't take a mathematician to see how these can add up to extra pounds.

So, goodbye, IPAs. Goodbye Spanish Riojas, Pinot Noir, and other reds. We'll meet again when the waistline is where it should be. *SNIFF*.. I have *SNIFF* something.. *SNIFF* in.. my eye.. excuse me, I have to run to the restroom. *SNIFF*