Tag Archives: Lager

Ozarks Famous BBQ

A new southern BBQ restaurant name Ozarks Famous BBQ recently opened in Langley. This is the first authentic BBQ restaurant in Langley, although Boonies BBQ & Soul Food sits right next door in the neighboring Cloverdale area. After waiting a few weeks for the restaurant to get past the typical problems that most restaurants experience in the first few weeks of operation, I decided to stop buy and give it a try.

I am a huge fan of real BBQ cooking and am happy to see that people are finally beginning to realize the difference between high heat grilling and low heat barbecuing. Ozarks is a true BBQ restaurant following the time honoured traditions of slowly smoking inexpensive, tough-yet-flavourful cuts of meat until they become delicious and tender. BBQ also happens to pair excellently with a number of beer styles from IPA to robust porter. This should come as no surprise seeing that many local brewpubs serve BBQ influenced dishes.

Ozarks is a locally owned family business with a number of years experience in BBQ. Prior to opening this restaurant, the owners mastered the art of southern BBQ by offering an award winning selection of BBQ meat and sauces at Ozarks Country Meats in White Rock. There years spent perfecting slow smoked BBQ cookery is very apparent. Every piece of meat I tasted, including pork riblets, BBQ chicken and beef brisket were all barbecued to perfection. Nothing was overly sauced nor was it too dry – it was moist and tender with a noticeable but not overpowering hardwood smoke flavour.

The BBQ was great- no complaints about the food, but the selection of beer was clearly not well thought out. Only one of the beers available even has a chance of standing up to the bold flavours of southern BBQ. The restaurant’s draught beer selection is exclusively Granville Island Brewing – including two light lagers, a mild pale ale and the newly release Brockton IPA. The IPA fared relatively well alongside BBQ pork riblets, but did nothing to complement the other dishes we ordered. The two light lagers and the one pale ale are far too mild to match the restaurants southern food. Porters, Southern Brown Ales, Smoked Ale and other full flavored beer would complement the food much more than light lager. Such a great opportunity to match great food with great beer and again the opportunity was missed – such a tragedy.

I would like to encourage all the craft breweries with BBQ appropriate beers to contact Ozarks Famous BBQ. Perhaps all the restaurant needs is a nudge in the right direction.

Overall, Ozarks’ food is good and it is without a doubt worth a visit. If more appropriate beer was made available I would certainly become a regular customer.

Cheers,

Erik

České Budějovice & Anheuser Busch: The other bohemian

Chris touched on a really great topic in his previous post, Good beer is regional. I could not agree more – the best beer is usually local beer. This is not to say that we do not need diversity in our beer selection. I would not be very satisfied if I was limited to drinking only porters and pilsners for the rest of my life. I would miss my warming barely wines and Belgian dubbels. Most craft brewers regularly search for and sample new styles of beer that they can add to their expanding portfolio. For example, many craft brewers in the Pacific Northwest have begun brewing a wide variety of Belgian ales. I do not have to travel far to taste a world class Saison, Driftwood Brewery of Victoria BC brews a great Saison. It is true that a BC Saison may taste different than a Belgian Saison, but it is supposed to taste different. Brewing is a creative art form, and emulation is not very creative.

It is good to be inspired by other brewers, but to outright steal a regions style of beer and claim it as your own is crossing the line. This is how the Anheuser Busch Company created their popular, yet incredibly bland, Budweiser.

The American brewing industry got its start when German immigrants started to brew familiar Bavarian style lagers in their new homeland. Bavarian lager, with its clean taste, soon began to dominate the American beer market, but not for long. As American tastes began to change in preference of lighter food, Bavarian lagers, being malty and flavourful, began to fall out of favor. Anheuser Busch reacted to this change in what appeared to be a positive approach. Adolphus Busch, the then owner of Anheuser Busch, bought the rights to a light tasting bohemian style lager from fellow brewer Carl Conrad. This beer soon became the number one selling beer in America and was dubbed Budweiser, a trademark riddled with controversy to this day.

The Czech Republic (Bohemia) is known world wide for brewing the first Pilsner in a town called Pilsen – no surprise there. Most beer drinkers are familiar with a Pilsner style of beer, but are unaware that there is an equally tasty bohemian style lager brewed to the south of Pilsen in a city called České Budějovice or Budweis. Anheuser Busch’s bohemian lager was inspired by Bohemian budweiser and it is no surprise that this popular American brew was titled Budweiser. Anheuser Busch took things one step too far when they trademarked and defended their right to the Budweiser name, taking a style of beer, or at least a way of promoting that style, away from other brewers. From that point on no brewer other than Anheuser Busch was allowed to label their beer as a budweiser, even if it is a budweiser lager.

I can walk into almost any pub in Canada and ask for a porter, pale ale or hefeweizen and I will not be offered any particular brand of beer, but if I was to ask for a budweiser, a style of beer brewed since the 1400’s, I would be offered a boring old bottle of Bud. Thank you for killing a perfectly good style of beer Anheuser Busch. But not all hope is lost; Budweiser Budvar and Budějovický měšťanský, both located in České Budějovice (Budweis) are both still brewing a budweiser. Budweiser Budvar is available in Canada under the label Czechvar, but it is packaged in green bottles and is often exposed to the harsh lights found in BC liquor stores. As a result, the beer is skunked more often than not. Budějovický měšťanský, better known as Samson, is not easily tracked down in these parts, but I would love to try it. If anyone has a Samson budweiser on hand please let me know where you found it.

It would be great to see home brewers or local craft brewers recreate this lost style and take budweiser back from the grips of Anheuser Busch and put it into the hands of true beer lovers. It will be a good day when I can walk into a pub and order a budweiser only to be asked – which one?

Erik