Author: Professor Good Ales

Brad Alford

Written by Maria Devan for Professor Goodales

The SJPorr challenge is the hottest ticket in home brewing right now. Several years ago some home brewers from youtube created the SJPorr Experiment. It was meant to be an educational and fun way to discover the attributes of different ingredients with everyone brewing the same basic beer only with slight variations. Then they would trade beers and compare. The challenge has evolved over the years and this year they have the biggest participation ever and on an international scale. I spoke with a terrific home brewer and youtuber Brad Alford about what it’s like to be a home brewer and to be involved in this years SJPorr challenge.

Continue reading “The SJPorr Challenge: a Home Brewer’s Chance at International Acclaim”

BrewDog has issued a ‘formal apology’ to The Portman Group after the independent complaints panel found that the craft brewer had encouraged anti-social behaviour and binge drinking with its Dead Pony Club ale advertising – in breach of the alcohol marketing code.

Expressing ‘indifference and nonchalance’ at the ruling BrewDog went on to attack double standards in the industry which protect ‘gigantic faceless brands’ and stymie ‘creativity and competition’.

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Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Hi everyone today I have a a very special beer. This is Mikkel Borg Bjergsø ‘s collaboration with Grassroots, Wheat is the New Hops. Grassroots is a subsidiary of Hill Farmstead and Mikkeller is a phantom or a gypsy brewer who despite the fact he does not operate a brewery has won the title best Danish brewery twice and fifth best brewery in the world twice also. This is my first beer from Mikkeller ever.

Grassroots/Mikkeller Wheat is the New Hops

The beer pours with stately and pristine beauty to the glass. A lightly hazed and pastel lemon straw color with a crown of pillowy white foam that is slow to fall and clings to the glass leaving plenty of lace.

Nose is airy. The wheat is golden and subtly sweet grain. A bit of yeast that is powdery and silken on the nose. Instead of funky it’s more of a light dry scent and the brett is as light as a feather. There is a brilliant hop floral on this nose. Rose petals. For fruit a delicious ripe peach.

Taste is refined and demure. These flavors are all perfectly balanced and mysteriously complex. For an IPA that is rare. The malt is soft and gently sweet. The hops have the lightness of fresh rose petals. The yeast is shy and a bit sultry. The bitter on this one is perfection. It’s also gentle and somehow proper. The mouthfeel is creamy.

Rather than run roughshod over your palate like so many of today’s IPA’s this one is exquisite. It has polish and elegance. It’s a like a pretty bird that you have to stand far away to see or you might scare it away.

One of the best beers I have ever had. Cheers!

4.5

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

___________________________________________Beer HERE

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday the state will spend $6 million to market New York’s wine and beer industry and seek to reform laws to expand distilleries in the state.

Cuomo held the second Beer, Wine, Spirits and Cider summit near the Capitol to tout the booming industry and hear recommendations on how to add new businesses.

He said he will introduce the Craft New York Act to simplify distilling manufacturing licenses and lower fees, expand marketing opportunities and modernize shipping laws. It would have to be approved by the Legislature.

Distillers have been on the rise in New York after laws were loosened in 2012 — when the first summit was held

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Beer: Interlopers
Brewery: Bear Flavored
Style: Strong Ale / Wild Ale
Brewed: 10.25.2013
Bottled: 2.6.2014
ABV: 7.8%

Appearance: hazy ruby brown, thin head, very little retention, fading to dark copper at edges
Smell: cherry cordial, tart grapes, plum, fruity funk, oak, vanilla, woodsy, Cantillon-esque
Taste: tart fruit, cherry, dry grape skin, plum, mild oak, tart finish / rich malt contrast, slight acidity
Mouthfeel: medium body, medium carbonation, dry finish, vinous

For the last couple years, I’ve noticed an interesting trend in my brewing: the more experimental the beer, the more I’m going out on a limb from tradition, the more consistently enjoyable my results seem to be. I’m talking a small margin here, but considering that you’d expect experimental brews to be the most hit-or-miss, it’s a rather strange discrepancy. Not that I’m brewing each of these beers repeatedly just yet — maybe they’ll all prove be impossible to replicate successfully and I’m just a lucky hack — but it seems bizarre to me that my Brett beers always seem to emerge free of off-flavors, while I’ve had plenty of batches of stuff as simple as a porter come out mediocre.

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