On its 80th Birthday, Beer Can Back in Style

image courtesy Matt Rourke AP

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly 80 years ago Richmond revolutionized the beer world. For it was in this Southern city in 1935 that canned beer — complete with how-to instructions — was first sold.

Krueger’s Cream Ale and its punch-top can became an instant hit, propelling the humble beer can to iconic status. That is, until Americans returned to bottles and the beloved craft brews they contained, a cultural turn that left canned beer looking decidedly low-brow.

But more recently craft brewers rediscovered cans, realizing they weren’t just retro-cool, but with a few tweaks might even be able to kick bottles in the can.

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Brew Biz: Werts and All

The Topic: Entering Competition

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

 I will not tell you which competition I entered. My object here is not to dis the club, or those who volunteer hours of time setting up web sites, or decide the rules. My object is to make you understand decisions have consequences.
  Recently I entered a competition that had been on hiatus for a while, then started up again. Looking through scheduled BJCP competitions I found one just right for what I wanted to enter. Since I brew “odd” I contacted the organizer and asked a few questions.
  Good to go!
  So I went to the web site to enter.
  Nice web site! Or so I thought, until started to click: links didn’t work: one which told me where to ship to, another how to prepare and ship the bottles and the registration form didn’t work for my set up at home; no printer. I knew we were getting close to a deadline that was mid-4th of July weekend, so I contacted the organizer. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

36 Cheap American Beers, Ranked

36 Cheap American Beers, Ranked

 

I realize you’re going to spend Independence Day happily drinking whatever cold adult beverage you’re served, because you’re polite and you’re an alcoholic. And I trust you’ll have a fine old time no matter what you drink. But that doesn’t mean America’s shitbrews are all the same. The list below breaks down 36 of them, from worst to least-worst.

36. Keystone. This is the worst beer currently sold on American soil. It sits behind chilled glass in a convenience-store fridge like a dumb rebuke to the explosion of American beer variety all around it. In 1978 there were 89 breweries in the U.S.; today there are more than 2,400, and most of the new ones are better than most of the old ones. In 2013 craft beer is no longer the exclusive domain of West Coast weirdos and psychotic woodsmen. These fine days you can score Samuel Adams or Sierra Nevada at the least ambitious of convenience stores and Dogfish Head 90 Minute on the least reliable of trains. And then there is Keystone, which first appeared to the world in 1989, in Chico, Calif., home of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Keystone separates itself from the rest of the crap pack by augmenting the typical stale/sour flavor profile with notes of brown bananas and green armpits. Keystone is worse than Heineken and murder.

35. Bud Light Lime. When Anheuser-Busch spit this one out a few years ago it seemed like a pretty good idea, as terrible ideas go. The world never needs more flavors of Bud Light, but the popularity of the otherwise worthless Corona proves that folks love to limen up their beers. Barroom fruit is repulsive—ever think about where your lime’s been before it lands in your drink? Nowhere nice—so if Bud Light Lime were any good at all, it would be a little leap forward. But alas, the alleged lime flavoring in no way resembles people food. Bud Light Lime tastes like green Fruit Loops soaked in thigh sweat.


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Fox News host: Not Using God to Sell Beer Means “the Terrorists Have Won”

Fox News producer Jesse Watters

beer-news10(Politically correct idiocy in the name of beer.-PGA)

A Fox News guest host asserted on Friday that “the terrorists have won” because brewer Samuel Adams was not in invoking God in its television commercials to sell beer.

In the “Independence” television spot that began airing last month, an actor in a Samuel Adams Boston Lager commercial quotes from the Declaration of Independence.

“Why name a beer after Samuel Adams? Because Samuel Adams signed the Declaration of Independence,” the actor says. “He believed there was a better way to live: all men are created equal. They are endowed with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Smooth, flavorful, we bow to no kings. Samuel Adams Boston lager: declare your independence.”

On Friday, the three Fox & Friends guest hosts expressed outrage that the brewer had not included the phrase “endowed by their Creator” in the commercial.

“When political correctness takes over the beer advertising industry, the terrorists have won,” said Watters, who is better known for his job as a producer on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News show. “I mean, this is absolutely outrageous!”

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In Urban Revival Beer Creates Small Business Hubs

beer-news10NEW YORK — To see how a small business can transform a neighborhood, just follow the barrels.

About 30 years ago, beer lovers wanting to create their own drinks started taking over abandoned old buildings in rundown city districts, refitted them with tanks, kettles and casks, and started churning out beer. The byproduct was a boom in craft beer drinkers: Barrels shipped have more than doubled in the past decade, according to trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights. Craft beer now makes up nearly 7 percent of the slow-growing U.S. beer market.

But beer drinkers weren’t the only beneficiaries. The arrival of a craft brewery was also often one of the first signs that a neighborhood was changing. From New England to the West Coast, new businesses bubbled up around breweries, drawing young people and creating a vibrant community where families could plant roots and small businesses could thrive.

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From the Bottle Collection: Schmidts Bock

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. Label courtesy Bruguru.com

schmidts bock In the early 70s I headed off to college, having wet my whistle long before I was of age.
Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned.
Or just help me find more great craft beer.
I thought I hated beer. Well, let’s rephrase that. Let’s just just say beer was a cheap: somewhat tolerable, and a way to have a break between my Stingers, Lime Collins, Harvey Wallbangers and anything else someone would recommend. Like with beer, mixed drinks were an adventure. I didn’t like hard liquor, except really, really expensive Scotch: and I didn’t know that yet. Wine drove my stomach crazy. So mixed drinks were all that was left to get a buzz on.
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