Month: February 2010

From etiquettesystems.com

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” –Dave Barry

If there’s one universal constant in human society, it has to be alcohol. Rare indeed is the culture that hasn’t worked out the tricksy process of fermenting and/or distilling some type of vegetable matter — be it malted barley, potatoes, honey or grape juice — into a brew containing a significant percentage, as the dictionary puts it, of an “organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group.” In other words, booze.

Among the mildest and most variable of these alcoholic beverages is that fine elixir known as beer. A true beer connoisseur would never pass up an opportunity to try the local brew, no matter where on Earth where they found themselves, and so it behooves the serious beerologist to know how to order a beer in as many languages as possible. That’s why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to provide you with a handy guide on how to order a beer in 50 different languages. Where the pronunciation isn’t obvious, or in which the term is normally written in non-Roman characters, we’ve rendered it phonetically. Cheers!

One beer, please!

Afrikaans… A beer, ah-suh-bleef!
American… Brewski here, please!
Arabic… Waheed beera, meen fadleek!
Basque… Garagardo bat, mesedez!
Belarusian… Ad-no pee-vah ka-lee lah-ska!
Continue reading “How to Order a Beer in Fifty Languages”

Beer hall at Cannstatter-volksfest: festival on the Neckar in the part of Stuttgart known as Bad Cannstatt.

By Ken Carman

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

The Topic: Homebrew-based Special Events

One of the advantages of this odd life I carved out for myself over 20 years ago is that as an entertainer and an educational service provider I tour Mississippi to New England. That has allowed me to sit in Federal Jacks: Kennebunkport, while sipping beer styles first brewed and designed by Alan Pugsley: bottled by Shipyard, as I watch high priced sailboats float with the breeze in and out of the inner bay. I’ve also done a review on a brewpub in the French Quarter and become a member of Escambia Bay Brewers in Pensacola, made friends with some of the best brewers in that area, and sat with Greg Noonan at 7 Barrels while he bought me beer and asked my opinions.

I have never felt worthy but, hey, what the hell. What was I going to say, “Hell, no?”

But sometimes ignorance is indeed as grand as the grandest Cru, or Barleywine, if you prefer. Sometimes I’d almost rather not know. Almost. Yes, there’s always payback: finding out about events I have no way of attending, specially brewed one-off beers I’m told about but will never get to sample and homebrew events I’ll never, ever, get to attend.

Like an upcoming affair at Albany Pump House in, well, Albany, NY.
Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Belgian Cafe quaffers, concerned about InBev, cry, “STELLA!!!”

By John W. Miller, for online.wsj.com

Source: AHA Forum

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV workers protesting job cuts on the picket lines last month had mixed feelings about their employer, the world’s biggest brewer. “We’re proud,” said 46-year-old Laurent Sacré. “Proud, and also disgusted.” Beer is a religion in Belgium, and like Catholics toward their church, feelings here toward the brewing giant combine a mixture of a love, fear and doubt. Contrary to some reports, Belgium didn’t run out of Stella, a light lager that is the company’s most popular brew in Europe, but many bars and drinkers decided they didn’t want any more. “There was a psychological reaction against InBev,” says Jean-Marie Dewandeleer, president of the association of Belgian café owners. “The Belgian beer community is outraged by the idea that even though you’re making profits, you want to lay people off,” said Joris Pattyn, author of “100 Belgian Beers To Try Before You Die. There is a bright side, he adds. “This is an opportunity for small brewers.”

Prof. GA: There is more to this article, but you need to subscribe. They do offer free two weeks access. If interested CLICK HERE.

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

Eaglebrook Saloon
258 Dedham Street
Norfolk, MA 02056

Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection”

Written by Casey Phillips for Chattanooga Times

Pictures by Ken Carman from 2009 Fugetaboutit 2009

(Tony was part of a previous article last December here at Professor Good Ales- Prof. GA)

After one look in the garage of his Signal Mountain home, it’s clear Tony Giannasi has a bit of a thing for brewing beer.

Even if the six-tap system built into his refrigerator and a freezer stuffed with different kinds of hops didn’t raise a red flag, the massive custom-built brewery taking up half a wall might.

“I’m a big beer nerd,” Mr. Giannasi said, laughing. “When you see my garage, it’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, you have a problem, sir.’ ”

Continue reading “Mr. Tony”

From Potsdam College: part of SUNY and home to many frats and sororities.  No drinking going on there! (Also home to one of the greatest pizzas ever: Sergis. A pizza NO ONE ever orders under the influence. Do you hear that SUNY and Clarkson? NO ONE.)

Myth

A “beer belly” is caused by drinking beer.

Fact

A “beer belly” is caused by eating too much food. No beer or other alcohol beverage is necessary.

Myth

Switching between beer, wine and spirits will lead to intoxication more quickly than sticking to one type of alcohol beverage.

Fact

The level of blood alcohol content (BAC) is what determines sobriety or intoxication. 4 Remember that a standard drink of beer, wine, or spirits contain equivalent amounts of alcohol. Alcohol is alcohol and a drink is a drink.

Myth

Drinking coffee will help a drunk person sober up.

Fact

Only time can sober up a person…not black coffee, cold showers, exercise, or any other common “cures.” Alcohol leaves the body of virtually everyone at a constant rate of about .015 percent of blood alcohol content (BAC) per hour. Thus, a person with a BAC of .015 would be completely sober in an hour while a person with a BAC of ten times that (.15) would require 10 hours to become completely sober. This is true regardless of sex, age, weight, and similar factors.

Myth

The US has very lenient underage drinking laws.

Fact

The US has the most strict youth drinking laws in the Western world, including the highest minimum drinking age in the entire world. 17 And this is buttressed by a public policy of Zero Tolerance.

Myth

Alcohol is the cause of alcoholism.

Fact

As a governmental alcohol agency has explained, “Alcohol no more causes alcoholism than sugar causes diabetes.” The agency points out that if alcohol caused alcoholism then all drinkers would be alcoholics.  In fact, a belief common among members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is that people are born alcoholic and are not caused to be alcoholic by alcohol or anything in their experience. They argue that many people are born and die alcoholic without ever having had a sip of alcohol. Of course, a person can’t be a drinking or practicing alcoholic without alcohol.

SOURCE

The latest update on the homebrew bill in Alabama…

We are hoping that the Senate Rules Committee will schedule SB 153 for a vote tomorrow (Tuesday). We urge Alabama residents to contact the members of the Rules committee and politely ask that SB 153 be scheduled for a Senate vote. Alabama residents should also contact the Senator for their district to encourage them to vote for SB 153 when it comes up for a vote.

More details can be found in the action alert we sent earlier

Cheers!
Gary

Gary Glass
Director
American Homebrewers Association

“‘Rub JUST the bottle,’ the genie in a bottle said, ‘JUST THE BOTTLE.'”

She lit her cigarette and said, “That all ya got baby?” Scribe smiled and said, “Yeah, I think you were inadequate too.”

Her name: Glissade. Sierra Nevada calls it a “golden Bock.” There ain’t no such category. Maybe a Helles Bock?

Scribe had anticipated her arrival with baited breath. He just couldn’t decide whether to try to swallow a fishing plug or worms to get that “baited breath” sense. Sierra has a sexy name in the craft brew world. But when Scribe curled up with the bottle she was everything she was supposed to be but nothing more, and not enough of that “everything” to be all that interesting.

Golden it was. Foam? Copious, nutso and ever lasting. Crystal clear and a light urine color. (KINKY!!!) Bock nose: melanioidins: light. Slight lager sense. Coats the glass. Fills the mouth with white, creamy carbonation. (Even more KINKY!!!) Taste: no hops: somewhat expected for the style, but should have just a bit more than this: a bit more of everything. Malt: probably pale or pilsener. A “cling to roof of mouth” kind of malt; but by no means “gag,” sense.

In short, enjoyable but not worth all the hype, or as good as other Sierra brew-based sexpots. Kind of bland, blase’. Wouldn’t kick her out of bed, but might fall asleep on her. Actually: Scribe did.

You can do better than this, Ms. Nevada.