Magic Hat's new Participation Lager

If you’re (a geek) like some of us, watching a political debate can be as much of a kick as some people get from their Sunday afternoon NFL.  And as we romp into the final stretch of the presidential campaign, it’s time to start thinking about Friday night debate-watching libations.  I vote (pun intended) for Participation Lager.  Magic Hat has unveiled this election-season treat to “bring democracy back to its roots” by taking it to “the neighborhood taverns where America was born. It’s here that the Magic Hat staff intends to reach out to unregistered citizens of all starts and stripes and get each and every one excited about pouring some political action of a personal kind into the ballot box.”  Fun, though one hopes enthused beer drinkers take at least part of the message metaphorically (or is it just me for whom that last bit painted an odd mental picture?).   Magic Hat is partnered up with HeadCount.org to encourage and facilitate voter registration.  I found the beer big, spicy and crisp — perfect for autumn and the perfect accompaniment for an October debate in front of a roaring fire…  I’m looking forward to sharing a couple of twelve packs among an equal mix of Republican and Democrat friends and see well lubricated conversation ensue.  And all kidding aside, hats off to Magic Hat for killing two birds with one stone – encouraging civic participation and making a darn tasty beer!

In my search to find new tasty beers, I’ve been heading to the Strange Brew in Manchester a lot lately.

I can’t think of another bar in the area that has the selection of the Strange Brew. In fact, any place that has a beer menu is OK in my book. (I actually feel I need to take one of these menus with me so I can make it into my checklist. Wouldn’t it be fabulous to try every beer available?) I have yet to make a bad choice with my beer selection.

In recent outings there, the first beer I got on tap was Dogfish Head. It’s on tap in the 60-minute IPA version. I had had another variety of Dogfish Head at a beer tasting back in February at the Wine Society. This is one of Dogfish Head’s brews that I could drink on a more regular basis, not just at a tasting. I had a few more, but then the Strange Brew ran out. (Anyone know if it’s back yet?)

Another week, I went local with the Smuttynose IPA. A few others at the table raved about it, and I had to agree that it was another IPA that I would order again.

I’ve also ordered Stella Artois. Sure, it’s something I can order at lots of places. But it’s a nice, easy-to-drink beer.

On another recommendation, I ordered a Purple Haze. At first glance, the drink itself looks a little hazy, and while I wasn’t as crazy about the taste of it as opposed to some of the other beers, I wouldn’t mind going back to it once in a while. I’m not quite sure I tasted the raspberries, but it might have been too subtle for my taste.

Last week, everyone was in an Oktoberfest mood, so we went with Harpoon’s version of it. I ended up having a few of these — a perfect way to welcome fall.

With the Strange Brew’s fantastic beer selection (the Web site seems to be missing quite a few on the list), there’s so much to try. And if you come by the table where my friends and I are sitting, you might get made fun of if you show up with your Bud Light. Really? You can have that anywhere. The Strange Brew is like one big beer tasting — find out what you like and don’t like, and then narrow it down to a few favorites.

So what’s your favorite bar with a great brew selection? What rivals the Strange Brew in New Hampshire? New England? I’m up for a field trip this fall!

So what was this all about, this loggerheads over liquor? Well, it’s an endless debate over which is better, scotch or bourbon. Very difficult to answer, but the contenders, brought to us by Beam Global Spirits & Wine, which in addition to its eponymous Jim Beam bourbon distillery and several others, owns scotch labels, as well, do a good, humorous job of it.

First, there was Bernie Lubbers, of Kentucky, a “whiskey professor” introduced as a man who “sweats bourbon.”

“Bourbon is in our blood in Kentucky,” said Lubbers, who wore a giant gold belt buckle and dark blue jeans and swirled a healthy shot of amber liquid in a tumbler as he spoke of his mother and many uses for the local whiskey. “When we got sick, she’d give us whiskey and honey lemon.”

Then Simon Brooking, of Scotland, took the stage, but only after running through the audience with a Scottish flag held flapping behind him like a cape. Brooking is Beam’s “master ambassador” of Laphroiag and Ardmore scotches. After his colorful entry, Brooking first discussed his kilt, addressing long-held bawdy rumors, and then went right into his life’s mission, “spreading world peace through Scotch.”

So, as if it were any mystery by now, these men like their liquor.

The debate, a lighthearted affair moderated by Steve Cole, another whiskey professor, kicked off with a question inspired by the rebate checks mailed out to taxpayers to give the economy a good kick in the pants.

“How would you stimulate the economy?” Cole asked Lubbers.

“Bourbon,” Lubbers said. “Bourbon is a very stimulating drink. I’ve been drinking it for an hour now.”

Brooking said it was the American people that would stimulate the economy, and not the drink itself, but they would do it with the help of scotch.

The humor in the debate was palpable, and some of the stories apocryphal at best, but some were true-blue facts about the two whiskeys. Bourbon, for instance, was first distilled in the 18th century by Kentucky settlers. And it is bourbon only if it is made in the United States, (not, as the story goes, in Bourbon County, Kentucky) contains at least 51 percent corn, is aged in charred oak barrels and cut only with water.

Scotch, much older than its American cousin, is made of pure malted barely (and only in Scotland), distilled in copper stills and aged in, oddly enough, Bourbon barrels. And while Kentucky has 10 distilleries, Scotland has 93.

But the debate was as interactive, and intoxicating, as it was informative. As the two men made their arguments, the audience joined in, tasting four whiskeys before the night was through. Two scotches were toted by Brooking, the smoky, peat Laphroiag Quarter Cask, and elegant, creamy Ardmore. Lubbers walked the crowd through tastings of woody, sweetish Knob Creek bourbon and light, peppery Basil Hayden’s.

And whether the audience, comfortable at their tables full of whiskey, truly couldn’t side with one or the other or was too happy to care will probably not be known anytime soon. And so the debate, unanswered, will burn on.

It was a battle of the booze in Bedford—the Great Whisk[e]y Debate ‘08. Two of the world’s great drinks were represented—Bourbon, for which Kentucky is famous, and Scotch, signature drink of Scotland. Whiskey versus Whisky, or, as a large-as-life banner cleverly put it, “to [e] or not to [e]“. Mr. Bourbon, with his genteel cowboy swagger and home country advantage, stirred patriotic leanings in the audience at the Bedford Village Inn on Monday, while Mr. Scotch had a cool accent, yelled “Go, Scawtch!” and wore kilt. For the audience, the deciders, would it be native son or exotic foreigner? Pride in homeland craftsmanship or the allure of a far-flung elixir?

It was neither. As the votes were taken—you waved a tiny American or Scottish flags in the air and, apparently, shouted “whoo”—a tie was declared, and disaster was diverted. Nevertheless, a victor’s party will be thrown tonight, 7-9 p.m. at The Barley House at 132 N. Main St. in Concord. And with complimentary bourbon and single-malt scotch, plus the chance to chat about whiskey (or whisky) with contenders Bernie Lubbers, of Kentucky, and Simon Brooking, of Scotland, it’s well worth the drive.