Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Das Rheingold would have made more sense.

For those who get it, Das Rheingold is a better name than Götterdämmerung for Stone's anniversary offering.

Place

Stone Brewing Co.

1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido

San Diego’s Stone Brewery has issued a Götterdämmerung IPA. Those dudes must have stones if they’re going to name an India Pale Ale after a German opera which depicts the end of the world.

I mentioned this beer to a friend who is into craft beers and his response was, “How did they fit it into a bottle?”

The “it” he is talking about is the five hours of sheer epic-icity which is Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.

IPA was developed by British brewers to be exported to the empire. It was designed to hold up well as it was transported the 5,000 or so miles to India. California breweries have effectively usurped this variety of beer for the past few decades by adding hops, hops and more hops.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Hey, what have you got there? A German beer recipe? Let’s add some extra hops--boom--German IPA. What’s that? A nutty brown? Hops, hops, hops Nutty IPA. Hey what have you got there? Cranberry juice? Let’s add hops--boom--Cran IPA.

Götterdämmerung is an IPA that is, according to the Stone website, “...starring an all-German cast of malt and hops, is yet one more glorious example of a Stone IPA brewed outside the box...create this IPA entirely with pilsner malts.”

Excuse me for being closed-minded but if it’s outside the box of IPAs then how is it an IPA and if it’s made entirely of pilsner malts what does that mean? Is it a pilsner pale ale?

This reminds me of the four door coupe. That’s not a coupe a-holes it’s a sedan. Christ.

Have I tried this beer?

No.

Will I try it?

No.

Why?

Because I’m an Arrogant Bastard.

The use of Götterdämmerung for the name of an IPA appears to be cashing in on the cool looking umlauts and the perceived un-pronounce-ability for the average beer drinker thereby reinforcing the smug factor for the hippest of hipsters who can get their bearded mouths around the correct pronunciation.

I can hear them now, “Bro, it’s not Gahtterdammerung, it’s Götterdammerung. Dude it’s like an opera by Wagner it means Twilight of the Gods. I’m sure you haven’t heard of it.”

They might get the umlaut right on the “O” but they’ll never get the “A” umlaut or the uvular “R” and they’ll pronounce Wagner as if it’s Robert Wagner.

Piss.

Pliny the Elder

Don’t get me started on naming a beer Pliny the Elder.

Of course, that could be an instance of the hipster’s favorite idiom, irony. Pliny the Elder, one of the great Romans, is now a bottle of beer. Get it, it’s irony, just like my single gear bike, Sony Walkman, and dolphin shorts.

To wrap things up we have the apex of German opera now bottled as an IPA which is outside the IPA box and uses pilsner malts but isn’t a pilsner. It sounds like a pretender to me.

You might not agree with Wagner’s views but his Götterdämmerung is no wannabe and I dare any hipster to try to hang his ears on it.

So help me God if Stone follows this up with a complete Ring Cycle of beers.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Too $hort & DJ Symphony, Peppermint Beach Club, Holidays at the Zoo

Events December 19-December 21, 2024
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Place

Stone Brewing Co.

1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido

San Diego’s Stone Brewery has issued a Götterdämmerung IPA. Those dudes must have stones if they’re going to name an India Pale Ale after a German opera which depicts the end of the world.

I mentioned this beer to a friend who is into craft beers and his response was, “How did they fit it into a bottle?”

The “it” he is talking about is the five hours of sheer epic-icity which is Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.

IPA was developed by British brewers to be exported to the empire. It was designed to hold up well as it was transported the 5,000 or so miles to India. California breweries have effectively usurped this variety of beer for the past few decades by adding hops, hops and more hops.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Hey, what have you got there? A German beer recipe? Let’s add some extra hops--boom--German IPA. What’s that? A nutty brown? Hops, hops, hops Nutty IPA. Hey what have you got there? Cranberry juice? Let’s add hops--boom--Cran IPA.

Götterdämmerung is an IPA that is, according to the Stone website, “...starring an all-German cast of malt and hops, is yet one more glorious example of a Stone IPA brewed outside the box...create this IPA entirely with pilsner malts.”

Excuse me for being closed-minded but if it’s outside the box of IPAs then how is it an IPA and if it’s made entirely of pilsner malts what does that mean? Is it a pilsner pale ale?

This reminds me of the four door coupe. That’s not a coupe a-holes it’s a sedan. Christ.

Have I tried this beer?

No.

Will I try it?

No.

Why?

Because I’m an Arrogant Bastard.

The use of Götterdämmerung for the name of an IPA appears to be cashing in on the cool looking umlauts and the perceived un-pronounce-ability for the average beer drinker thereby reinforcing the smug factor for the hippest of hipsters who can get their bearded mouths around the correct pronunciation.

I can hear them now, “Bro, it’s not Gahtterdammerung, it’s Götterdammerung. Dude it’s like an opera by Wagner it means Twilight of the Gods. I’m sure you haven’t heard of it.”

They might get the umlaut right on the “O” but they’ll never get the “A” umlaut or the uvular “R” and they’ll pronounce Wagner as if it’s Robert Wagner.

Piss.

Pliny the Elder

Don’t get me started on naming a beer Pliny the Elder.

Of course, that could be an instance of the hipster’s favorite idiom, irony. Pliny the Elder, one of the great Romans, is now a bottle of beer. Get it, it’s irony, just like my single gear bike, Sony Walkman, and dolphin shorts.

To wrap things up we have the apex of German opera now bottled as an IPA which is outside the IPA box and uses pilsner malts but isn’t a pilsner. It sounds like a pretender to me.

You might not agree with Wagner’s views but his Götterdämmerung is no wannabe and I dare any hipster to try to hang his ears on it.

So help me God if Stone follows this up with a complete Ring Cycle of beers.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego beaches not that nice to dogs

Bacteria and seawater itself not that great
Next Article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader