Author: Professor Good Ales

 

The Reverend Andrew O’Connor of Holy Family Church in Castle Hill has a new endeavor: growing hops in the churchyard to make a Bronx beer. He is in the churchyard displaying growler bottles, which seal in carbonation.

Written by Corinne Lestch for The New York Daily News

A Bronx priest known for creating his own clothing line has a new trick up his sleeve: Artisanal beer crafter.

The recently opened Bronx Brewery has found an unlikely partner in Rev. Andrew O’Connor of Holy Family Church in Castle Hill, who is reserving space in the church garden to grow hops, a seed that flavors beer.

“One hops yard takes three years to grow, so if we get wet hops that go directly into the brew, it will make a nice fresh beer, which is prized,” said O’Connor, head of the parish for nearly five years. “So that’s the advantage of growing locally. People like things that are made in the Bronx.”
Continue reading “A Bronx Priest Walks Into a Local Brewery…and Decides to Grow Hops for Them in His Parish Garden”

Written by Abram Goldman-Armstrong for Ale Street News. Ommegang picture courtesy media.cleveland.com

Located on 147 acres in rural New York, Brewery Ommegang, makes fine Belgian-inspired ales with water from three wells on their land. It’s an idyllic, pastoral, setting in which to brew beers reminiscent of the Belgian abbey tradition. Soon, however, the brewery’s water supply may be under the threat of contamination.
Continue reading “Green Report: Don’t Frack with Our Beer”

Has been described by some as a vegetal green pea like taste. Could be DMS? Something about those bottles and sanitation that failed? We had a story on this beer a few days ago here at PGA. Since there’s such a demand this has got to hurt them financially, but the approach seems wise.

Written by Scott Canon for The Kansas City Star

Maybe the reason you didn’t care for the much-hyped Boulevard Chocolate Ale had nothing to do with your palate. And everything to do with the beer.

Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Co. decided to offer refunds on a limited number of batches — up to a third of the bottles of chocolate ale sold — that the brewery said didn’t meet its standards.

“Some of the batches of Chocolate Ale have an unwanted flavor that we really did not anticipate to have in the beer,” Boulevard’s brewmaster Steven Pauwels said in a YouTube clip posted Wednesday.
Continue reading “Chocolate Fail: Some Boulevard Brew Has ‘Unwanted Flavor’”

Written by the Staff at German-American Committee of Greater New York

Note: interesting trip offer, with a few errors in the text. For example: Schwartzbier is NOT “dark Stout,” but a lager that is more closely related to Munich Dunkel. Stout normally IS “dark.”

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2012 – /PRNewswire-iReach/ — With more than 1,300 active breweries, Germany is arguably the greatest beer country in the world. Millions of beer drinkers travel to Munich´s legendary Oktoberfest every year, and many monasteries in Bavaria have been brewing for hundreds of years. Passionate imbibers appreciate Germany for its revered purity laws, its traditional brews as well as the multitude of brewing styles resulting in distinct flavors in different regions all over the country. In May, the “German Beer Trip” will take beer lovers on a two-week-trip through many of these regions.

Continue reading “A Beer Lover’s Trip of a Lifetime”

Written by Beerista for CraftBeer.com

(Just in time for Valentine’s day!-PGA)

Difficulty: Moderate

Time: 1 hour

Beer Style: Other

Seasonality: Other

Serves: Makes about 1 quart

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The Beerista busts out the ice cream maker for a delicious boozy treat. This to die for chocolate ice cream has espresso, walnut, brownie bits and coconut mixed in. It would make a perfect ending to a Valentine’s Day dinner… hint, hint!
Continue reading “Ale Ice Cream with Espresso, Walnut, Brownies and Coconut”

Posted at latimesblogs.latimes.com Post credited to Matt Peacre

 

It was the beer that drove Kansas City crazy.

The storefront signs, plastered all over town on handwritten scraps of notebook paper or on sidewalk chalkboards, came in two stages this week. First was: WE DO NOT HAVE ANY BOULEVARD CHOCOLATE ALE YET. In most cases, they were followed hours later by: WE ARE OUT OF BOULEVARD CHOCOLATE ALE.

The Boulevard Brewing Co., whose famous smokestack-topped brewery is in Kansas City, Mo., teamed up with local chocolatier Christopher Elbow to create the Chocolate Ale specially for Valentine’s Day. Although it’s not unusual for beer companies to be closely tied to the cities in which they’re based, the ensuing mania seems to be a phenomenon bred purely out of the nature of today’s smaller-scale era of beer-making.

Continue reading “Chocolate Beer for Valentine’s Day: Kansas City Falls in Love”

For the first time ever, consumers can discover and purchase brewery-fresh craft beer online and have it shipped from the brewery to their doorstep – or to the doorstep of someone they love.

Posted by “beerjobber”/Sarah Weedler at The Sacramento Bee

 

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 9, 2012 – /PRNewswire/ — Beerjobber (www.beerjobber.com), the first and only online craft beer market to deliver brewery-fresh craft beer straight to the consumer’s door, today announced that its site will launch to the public on February 13th – just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Beerjobber focuses on providing craft beer lovers with convenient access to quality craft beer from around the country. The Company carefully selects the breweries it works with, focusing on brewers that offer excellent, unique brews its members will enjoy. Currently, Beerjobber works with more than 30 hand-selected breweries, and is continuing to expand its brewer relationships and beer selection.

“Beerjobber is a first, and we’re very excited about opening our doors to the public in time for Valentine’s Day in support of those who truly love and enjoy craft beer,” said Sean Nevins, President of Beerjobber. “As a new company, we’re committed to featuring all varieties of craft breweries seeking to reach an expanded audience, as well as exposing craft beer lovers to new tastes. We are continually seeking out new brewery partners and encourage consumers to reach out and let us know what breweries they’d like to see on our site.”

Continue reading “Beerjobber “Spreads the Love” with Launch of the First and Only Online Brewery-Fresh Craft Beer Market in Time for Valentine’s Day”

Official says some laws ‘just silly’

Written by Jennifer Feals for seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH — While the Redhook Ale Brewery has seen tremendous growth and only expects it to continue in the city, company officials filled in state representatives Saturday on ways the state is hampering that growth.

About a dozen state representatives from around the Seacoast — including Tim Copeland, R-Stratham, Joanne Ward, R-Stratham, Amy and Larry Perkins, both Seabrook Republicans, and Fred Rice, R-Hampton — were given a look into the brewery’s operation, its continued growth and the obstacles the company faces related to state regulations.

“This is a pretty impactful state in our industry, in the craft brewing industry,” said Redhook brewer Andy Schwartz. “There are going to be some things that we could use your help with. They are just silly.”
Continue reading “Brewery Officials Say N.H. Regulations Hinder Growth”

Think only the U.S. has problems when it comes to this kind of big brewer driven nonsense? Think again-PGA

It’s hard to reconcile the ad world of beer – the snow-capped mountains, parties and hockey – with the utilitarian factory-like outlets where most Ontarians actually buy the stuff.
Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail

Written by Barrie McKenna for theglobeandmail.com

As Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty mused recently, there are features of the province’s beer regime that make you “shake your head.”

The latest head-spinner is a December decision by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario – later reversed – to block a tiny eastern Ontario brewery from offering home delivery of its beer in conjunction with a prominent Ottawa charity for homeless teens.

Following a complaint from an unnamed brewery, the commission ruled the home-delivery venture must buy its beer from the provincially owned outlets of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario or the Beer Store, jointly owned by three foreign multinationals.

Continue reading “Ontario’s Dated Beer Store Model Benefits No One but the Big Three”

Written by Tiffany Hsu for The Los Angeles Times. From chicagotribune.com

Super Bowl Sunday promises to be another epic day in the annals of gluttony, with Americans consuming 1.3 billion chicken wings, 2,000 tons of popcorn and enough avocados to cover the floor of the Indianapolis stadium 28 feet deep.

But there will probably be a bit less beer to wash it all down because of changing tastes and the growing appeal of wine and cocktails as alternatives.

Beer sales have been on the decline in the U.S., with shipments dipping 1.4% last year to 210 million barrels, an eight-year low, according to trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights. Anheuser-Busch, whose brands include Budweiser and Bud Light, slipped below the 100 million-barrel benchmark for the first time in a decade.

Brewers are fighting back, introducing craft beers and other spins on the classic beverage in a bid to recapture straying customers. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is spending at least $30 million on Super Bowl ads, will devote two of its six game-time spots to one of those products, its new higher-alcohol Bud Light Platinum.
Continue reading “Beer Brewers Revise Playbooks to Win Back Lost Customers”