The Perils of Monoculture - Diversity in the Blogosphere

Whether it's a lawn, a forest, a farm, or indeed beer styles, the conceit from ecology seems to apply across a broad set of domains: monoculture is bad. Innovation and healthy resilience thrive best when our systems are diverse.

Over at The Weekly Brew, Jared writes an impassioned plea for beer diversity.

And Capital Taps welcomes another Salem beer blog! The Weekly Brew has a special interest in home brewing. And in fact at the Oregon Garden Brewfest, Jared won the spice/herb/vegetable category for his Rose Red. Congratulations!

The Weekly Brew also has a different palate, including a different take on chili beers. About Calapooia's the Brew says:

There’s not alot of malt flavor, nor bitterness. In fact there’s not alot of beer flavor at all except at the front. The thing that makes this beer awesome is that at the back is a strong taste of chili peppers and a good warming sensation accompanied by a mild burn. If you like the taste of chili’s then you’ll love it, but even if your not the biggest fan the warmth this beer has to it is just awesome.

I haven't tasted Calapooia's, but I've tasted some other chili beers, and this description reads exactly right to me. Except I don't like them. The "mild burn" isn't what I look for in a beer. For Capital Taps such beers are interesting, but not pleasant: I might want a couple of ounces to taste, but never a full glass. In fact, a burn is pretty much the opposite of what I look for in a beer. A burn is what excessively woody or resinous hopping also gives me.

Anyway, I cite this not to pick a fight over whether chili beers are good or bad - since indeed the chili beer was perhaps the most popular beer at the brewfest - but in praise of diversity. Salem needs more beer, more different kinds of beer, more different kinds of people writing about beer!

Cheers to the Weekly Brew! Head on over and check it out for a different take on beer and brewing!