Beer

Last night Chicago Craft Beer Week kicked off with one of the best events of the week, or rather 10 days. The event was Beer Under Glass at the Garfield Park Conservatory. I love beer events when they are in locations that you aren’t typically allowed to drink. Its what makes the opening ceremony of the Craft Brewers Conference great every year and its another thing that makes Chicago Craft Beer Week so much fun. This years event was even bigger and more spread out than last years. Which made it less crowded feeling but harder to get around to all the beers. Although it did cut down on lines, it took awhile to walk from one end to the other. The entire night I was only able to walk around the place twice. But no complaints here about that because the Conservatory is a beautiful place to wander around, especially when you have a beer in your hand. With around 50 breweries pouring beer, you never had an empty glass, or if you did it was your own fault. As you walked around from one area to the next it became hard not to run into someone you knew; either a brewer, a blogger or a craft beer enthusiast. Every area you wandered into, you were greeted with a new set of breweries that were pouring two or three different beers. If you looked to one side you’d find something delicious to eat that likely paired wonderfully with one of the beers. One of the most serendipitous moments of the night was right outside where Perennial was pouring their beers. They were pouring their Black Walnut Dunkel and growing right by them was a Black Walnut tree. Not sure if that was planned or not but either way, pretty awesome. Once again, Beer Under Glass was a fun night and I hope they continue to put it on as Chicago Craft Beer Week continues to grow every year.

The Texas House of Representatives just voted to approve a 5-pack of bills that would make significant changes in the way beer is sold across the state. More >> Houston Chronicle.

I will admit it.  I graduated in the Class of ’88 when North Coast, Deschutes and Rogue started their breweries.  So I was drawn to this beer the moment I heard about it.  So, expectations were high from a brewery reputation standpoint and a sentimental viewpoint too. ’88 pours a bright and clear orange color.  The head is bubbly and then fades.  It is 10% abv after all.  Initial aroma is reminiscent of many a barleywine before.  With some orange notes at the back too.  Good sparkly and carbonation to this that fades into an orange zest and alcohol taste.  The top of the mouth is coated with hops of a medium/high bitterness.  That orange taste could be amped up some to combat the slickness and the alcohol but a damn fine sippin’ beer.

It is upon us once again.  Saturday, May 18th, is officially Ballast Point Day in the great city of San Diego!  It has been three y…The post Celebrate The Official Ballast Point Day Tomorrow! appeared first on thefullpint.com.

In ten years of writing about beer, I have to admit the reaction to the article "Against Hoppy Beer" in Slate yesterday by author Adrienne So is one of the oddest over reactions to something written about beer that I think I have ever seen. As others have done to make each of their own cases for a proper reading of So's article, here is my list of key points made in the short fourteen paragraph piece:"In addition to their bittering properties, hops impart strong piney, spicy, or fruity flavors and aromas." "...hops command the vast majority of the industry’s passion." " America’s independent breweries make beers to suit every palate, not just the ones that revel in bitterness.""Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a beautiful beer with an aggressive edge, and it’s the beer that put me, and so many others, on the path to craft beer enthusiasm." "Maximizing hops is a good way for craft brewers to distinguish their creations from mass-market brands." "...unfortunately hops are a quick way for beginning brewers to disguise flaws in their beer..." "Craft brewers’ obsession with hops has overshadowed so many other wonderful aspects of beer." Based on those observation, So concludes that other elements of beer like yeasts and malts deserve to be raised in terms of the greater discussion. A reasonable and not very challenging suggestion. Stan then Jeff then Jay and Craig responded on their blogs as well as Facebook inviting a further collection of comments. Good ripe chit chat of the sort social media generates. Yet, the responsive discussion is not particularly satisfactory as there is something of the Calvinist's hegemony over the underlying principles. Perhaps the article's author intended that. If so and even if not, the overall results are not very gratifying. Why? Because there is that doctrinal aspect to it all. Someone has offended the unwritten law. Stan, as always, is measured. He simply does not accept that craft beer people have become so "addicted to hops that we don’t even notice them anymore." Jeff focuses on a headline to the article, notes that most craft beers sold are not overly bitter and reviews the relativity of the effects of hops. Jay calls the article provocative and bait. He suggests the author 'blames Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for starting it all." Craig in turn finds:Someone is, yet again, telling me why I should, or why I should not drink one beer over another—be it hop-bombs of craft versus krafty, or whatever. I have grown tired of this tactic. What to make of this? It's like a panic has broken out. Over what? A very innocuous proposal to the effect that an imbalance has been identified and, therefore, a rebalancing is required. You would think from the strength of reaction that we were dealing with something along the lines of Swift's 1729 essay "A Modest Proposal..." in which it was offered that society would be better off were the poor children of Ireland sold off as meat for the rich. Swift's use of harsh black humour conveys the deep sarcasm at the true plight the poor face and, as a result, the moral point was made.Here, what do we have? Someone pointing out the obvious, that strong hoppy beer is the standard bearer for US craft beer and, as a result, has become in part a liability to the understanding of the sector's actual diversity. The point is the opposite side of the coin of last week's mini-crisis founded upon this story about US craft beer nerds seeking to teach Germany a thing or two about beer by introducing beers "in flavorful styles that are popular among craft brewers in the United States but rare in Germany, such as hoppy ales and zesty lagers." Reaction against the initiative included "...American beer can be great—with all of its piney, bitterness and potency..." and "German drinkers sure are lucky those guys showed up." Last week being critical of imperialism of US hoppy hegemony, this week not so much. OK, here's the thing. I don't really care. The article could have benefitted from a w

(Holland, MI) – Clean water is an essential ingredient in making great beer, which is something New Holland Brewing Co. know…The post New Holland Brewing Co. Collaborates with Dirty Water Beer to Provide Clean Water appeared first on thefullpint.com.

(Alpine, CA) – The latest from Alpine Beer Company, courtesy of the company’s email newsletter… — The good people from “City Beer Store” in San Francisco are celebrating their 7th anniversary this weekend. For the occasion, we made a Double IPA called “Magnificent Seven” which uses seven different malts, seven different hops with seven different additions and is 7.7% abv. Most of the beer was shipped to San Francisco but we managed to hang onto 3 kegs. We will be selling it at the Pub in samples, pints and pitchers only. There will be a special beer released in the pub as soon as “Magnificent Seven” is gone. “Keene Idea” is making its way to our Pub when the anniversary beer is exhausted. This beer was first made for Toronado San Francisco’s 25th Anniversary and appears to have made a distinct impression. It may be our most requested beer we have made to date. Remember, no growler fills, only available in the Pub and only after “Magnificent Seven” is depleted. New Sunday hours in the Pub started last week. Yes, we will open earlier to accommodate the tired mountain bikers and thirsty travelers enjoying their weekends as much as they can. We will open at 11AM Sundays and may readdress the time again once football season is upon us. Another release we have to announce is the most celebrated beer in the world. “Hoppy Birthday” will be released on Thursday May 30th for growler fills and on draught in the pub. This wonderfully popular beer is really a Pale Ale at 5.25% abv, but we make it like an IPA. One of the three beers we will be ramping up production late this year. More info on the increased production of Nelson, Duet and Hoppy Birthday, it appears on track for when the hop crops are harvested, plucked, pulverized and pelletized and ready to ship. Nelson uses hops from the southern hemisphere and should be available after mid-year sometime. The North American hop crop is ready to use very late in the year, look for Duet and “Hoppy Birthday” early next year, most likely. A recent development has made it possible for us to make the extra keg beer locally and the bottle and can beer made in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Bottles will be our current 22 oz. amber beer bottles and cans will be the Alumi-Tek 16 oz. can with a large screw cap. “ELEVEN PLUS TWO” can be rearranged to “TWELVE PLUS ONE” (and it’s still unlucky) Now I’d like to say a few things about contract brewing. There has been much ado made about contract brewing and not in a positive way. Most consider contract brewing to be inferior, cheating or unethical. I would like to point out that our collaboration with New Belgium Brewing, where we made nearly our annual production at one time, turned out to be a fantastic beer that really resembled an Alpine IPA, for sure. That is very much what contracting for us would be like, hands on utilizing our unique techniques and ingredients. Yes, I will be in Minnesota directing the brewing and packaging of our precious beer. Much like we will be doing when we can jump through enough hoops to get our own production brewery built. Another major consideration with Minnesota is the fact they have an incredible abundance of phenomenal water. Their “glacial melt” water leaps from a spring at the brewery and has an almost identical composition as our brewery water, which is awesome. So, fear not that we are contracting to have more beer made for you, our thirsty friends, embrace it and I promise you will not be disappointed. Some of the negative publicity surrounding contract brewing was warranted. Some breweries tried to hide the fact they were contracting out of the area yet advertising things like they were “the first local brewery” or something equally deceptive. Plus, they weren’t putting in their own techniques and quality control, something we won’t have a problem with. For us, it will be like borrowing your favorite Uncle’s awesome, modern brewery of size and racing it down the craft beer highway

He’s back, because he always comes back. Scott Morrison will be the brewer at Barren Hill Tavern & Brewery, the new venture which is replacing the General Lafayette Inn in Lafayette Hill. I’ve been sitting on this one for a while because I was asked to and now am regretting that a bit, mostly because I wasn’t able to use the news in columns I wrote for print publication which will not appear until early June. Ah well…

#bbpBox_335497846780473344 a { text-decoration:none; color:#0084B4; }#bbpBox_335497846780473344 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } @Idesofmarch89 Joel Bigler 5pm today Splinter Gold available in both the Tasting Room (on-premise consumption) and the General Store (to-go).$22.95 + tax for a 750. about 1 hour agoReplyRetweetFavorite

#bbpBox_335476261893836800 a { text-decoration:none; color:#0084B4; }#bbpBox_335476261893836800 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } @StoneBrewingCo Stone Brewing Co. Former home of 2013 Stone Imperial Russian Stout aged in @TempletonRye #Whiskey Barrels-12.7%, smooth w/spice+vanilla http://t.co/UiIXCQ8gEI about 2 hours agoReplyRetweetFavorite