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Beer: Best Sipped Cool, Not Cold

by Tom Henkenius (RSS feed) — Aug 18th 2010 8:31AM

If it has to be served "ice cold" it probably isn't a good beer.

Instead Daniel Kahn, brew master for Buckbean Brewing Company, a microbrewery in Reno, Nevada, says all beer should be served at 55-degrees Fahrenheit. "Because when it's too cold it numbs your taste buds, which in turn affects how you taste the flavors - or really, how you don't taste them," he explains.

So throw out what you know about a frosty mug of beer, to completely appreciate the vast array of brews being produced today let them warm a couple of degrees.

The Brewers Association classifies beers into two categories: ales - where the yeast ferments on top examples include IPA, pale ale, porter, stout - and lagers - where the yeast ferments on the bottom as in pilsners, Bocks or dark lagers.

Kahn knows a lot about both types. His two-year-old brewery began by producing one of each: a Bavarian Schwarz bier Lager called Black Noddy Lager and zesty ale called Original Orange Blossom Ale. These are beers that offer huge flavors; they're meant to be sipped, not chugged. Chilling them too much does more than numb your taste buds, "If you serve your beer too cold the gases don't release and you miss out on the aromas, which also affects taste." He says the next time you have a beer - or eat anything for that matter - plug your nose. You'll find your sense of smell is responsible for a lot of the flavor.

Investing In Wine: Turning $3,000 Into $198,635

by Tom Henkenius (RSS feed) — Mar 4th 2010 10:01AM

While the broader economy tanked in 2008, then struggled through 2009, Michael Wigley's investment fund earned 32.6%. In the same period Wigley made investors money, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 10% and the median home price dropped 4.1%, according to the National Association of Realtors. Wigley doesn't run a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme. He buys and sells wine.

Is wine a good investment? "Yes is the short answer," exclaims Wigley. Wigley runs Bacchus Partners, LLC, the first and only wine investment fund in the U.S. He calls wine, "a complicated asset class that's knowledge based like art and other collectibles."

But Wigley thinks he's taken something complicated and made it simple, by developing a system to grade each wine. Developed over 25 years, the system looks at 25 different variables to forecast the likelihood of any bottle of wine increasing in value, maintaining its price or decreasing. So, for example, Wigley's grading system gives a bottle of 1982 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild an A+. Wigley says it's currently in its drinking window and he predicts it has 20 to 30 years life left in it.

When it first became available Wigley bought a bottle of 1982 Lafite for $29.77 a bottle. At the end of January 2010 he invested in more at $3,000 a bottle. He says it's still a great investment because the 50-year average for fine wine appreciation is 15% per year. That means if that $3,000 bottle of Lafite is still drinking well in 30 years it could sell for $198,635.

It's a shockingly large sum, and other wine aficionados say it's not likely to cost that much. But consider this: those bottles Wigley bought in 1983 have appreciated at 18.6% annually. As he looks for the next 1982 Lafite, Wigley's rating system considers the quality, quantity and distribution of the wine. "A wine can be great but if no one's ever had it, it's not a good investment," he says.

He points to Kitchak Cellars' 2005 Adagio, it won the Double Gold Medal at the 2008 San Francisco International Wine Competition. But it was made in small quantities. So even though it's a great wine, Wigley would not call it a good investment because only a few people have tried it and it's hard to get. Still he says, "I'll pick up a few cases for the fund on the hope it gains value."