Author: Professor Good Ales

Written by Joshua Bernstein for oregonlive.com Photo by Ross William Hamilton

If Oregon had a state beer, it would be the India pale ale. Nearly every brewery in the state releases a riff on the bitter, aromatic IPA. And since brewers more or less have access to identical hop breeds (flowery and fragrant Cascade, citrusy Amarillo, pinelike Chinook), the beers can seem to coalesce into a piney, citric blur.

But Oregon craft brewing doesn’t adhere to the status quo for long. Responding to brewers’ desire to create singular quaffs, hop farmers in Oregon and Washington, as well as New Zealand, plant thousands of experimental hop breeds annually, most identified by numbers seemingly plucked from a lottery machine. These fledgling varieties are created by crossing existing strains in hopes of augmenting yields, increasing disease resistance or fashioning unique flavors. Each year, brewers examine these numbered hop breeds, hoping to answer a single question: Can this hop make a great new beer?

Over the next three years, Sidor brewed test batches with hop 394, growing to love its beguiling blend of citrus and tropical fruits such as mango and papaya. “It was absolutely a home run,” Sidor says.

Often, the answer is no, but every blue moon a hop shows promise. When this happens, the hop is named, it graduates from farm field to brew kettle and the experimentation starts. Lately, several new hop varieties have wound their way into local IPAs, bestowing them with curiously appealing notes of tropical fruit, berries or white wine that helps set them apart from the bitter pack.
Continue reading “Exotic New Hop Varieties Infuse Local Beers”

News from VT. No author listed. From benningtonbanner.com

BENNINGTON — There are so many brews being poured at this year’s Southern Vermont Homebrew Festival that they had to move the location.

The annual festival, now in its fifth year, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 24, from noon to 5 p.m., at 210 South Street (across the street from Town Hall).

Attendees will sample wonderful home brews, enjoy great food, listen to live music, watch brewing demonstrations, get brewing tips, and so much more. And some home brewer will walk away with the bragging rights of having their winning brew prepared and served at Madison Brewing Company. There will also be a People’s Choice Award, with a $200 prize.

The tastings throughout the afternoon will include more than 50 brews ranging from Boston Brewin’ Coffee Porter, a Robust Porter, and Husky Al’s Pumpkin Lager, a Spice, Herb, and Vegetable Beer to Vanilla Bourbon Imperial Porter, a Specialty Beer and Hoppy Grief Ale, an English IPA. And that just starts the list. There are Pilsners, English Ales, Stouts, and more.
Continue reading “Museum’s Homebrew Festival Makes a Move”

Hopefully that wasn’t Rare Vos he dumped.-The Professor

From www.wxow.com in La Crosse Wisconsin. Author Unattributed

MADISON (WKOW) — A Madison man turned himself in Thursday night for pouring a beer over the head of Republican state Rep. Robin Vos.

26-year-old Miles Kristan walked into the police department downtown around 5:30 p.m. He spoke with police officers, who gave him a ticket for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Officers say Kristan dumped the beer over Vos’ head Wednesday night while he was at the Inn on the Park with two other Republican lawmakers, Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder and Rep. John Nygren.

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HERE

Reported by Ken Carman for Professor Goodales

Continue reading “Big Bob’s Barley Wine Bash 2011”

Written by Anthony Orig for craftbeer.com

Funkwerks, a small brewery specializing in Saison-style beers brewed with organic ingredients, opened in December 2010 in Fort Collins, CO. This year, they only expect to brew 500 barrels—a small amount considering that the largest craft brewers brew over 500,000 each year.

Last Wednesday, Brad Lincoln and Gordon Schuck of Funkwerks received a call from The New Zealand Herald regarding the name of their Imperial Saison, Maori King. A few days later, they reported “Maori King ale leaves sour taste.” This article sparked outrage over the naming of Funkwerks’ beer and people demanded a response and a solution.

After several days of criticism, Funkwerks decided to change the name of the beer in question to Southern Tropic. Along with the new name, Funkwerks’ issued a response. Here’s an excerpt, or you can read the complete response.
Continue reading “Funkwerks Renames Controversial Beer”

Good news framed as bad news? Note craft beer is UP!- PGA

No Author Noted. From www.sacbee.com

NORWALK, Conn., Sept. 14, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — For the fourth year in a row, the beer industry has continued its declines and lost 1.9% to total 2.8 billion cases. According to the Beverage Information Group’s recently released 2011 Beer Handbook, continued declines in the Light segment continue to contribute to the overall losses in the industry. This segment has seen declines amongst its core brands and is only seeing pockets of growth from newly introduced line extensions.

Despite the struggling economy, growth was seen among the Craft segment as well as Imports. The higher-priced Craft segment continued to post solid gains due to consumers’ attraction to the interesting flavors craft brewers offer. Imports, which previously have been experiencing declines, gained 0.9% to 362-8 million cases last year, but that is still 11.1% lower than its pre-recessionary levels.
Continue reading “U.S. Beer Consumption Continues Decline”

Written by Douglas A. McIntyre for 247wallst.com

Some of America’s most famous beers have lost a tremendous amount of their national sales over the last five years. Mostly, they are full-calorie beers, and they have lost sales to lower-calorie products, as well as imports and craft beers. 24/7 Wall St. looked at the 23 largest selling beer products in America and found eight that have lost a staggering 30% or more of their sales between 2005 and 2010.

Most of the beers whose sales declined that much have one thing in common — they are “full-calorie” beers, or about 145 calories a can. Instead, beer drinkers have turned to “light beers,” which have 100 calories a can, and “ultra-lights,” which are closer to 90 calories.

Surprisingly, Budweiser, the best-selling beer in America for years has lost 30% of its sales over the five-year period. Given that Budweiser sold 18 million barrels last year, this is a massive loss – more than 7 million barrels less. Sales of Bud Light, on the other hand, held steady at just over 39 million barrels during the five year period. Six products on our list have lost half their sales since 2005.

Other than lighter-calorie beers, drinkers have also turned to imports, such as Corona, and to craft beers, which are produced, and usually also consumed, in relatively small regions, according to Eric Shepard of beer marketer’s INSIGHTS. Overall, sales of beer from 2005 to 2010 rose 1.9 million barrels to 208.4 million barrels. But sales of the top 20 brands dropped 10 million barrels to 149 million, a sign that Americans have turned to craft beers and imports.

24/7 Wall St. used two databases to do its analysis. One is kept by SymphonyIRI Group, one of the largest consumer research firms in the U.S. The other is from specialist research firm, beer marketer’s INSIGHTS, Inc.

These are 24/7 Wall St.’s “Beers Americans No Longer Love.”
Continue reading “Eight Beers Americans No Longer Drink”

Here’s to when craft beer becomes “the tradition.”-The Professor

Written by Leslie Small for delcotimes.com

Never fear, Cubs fans — no one’s going to take away your crappy beer.

OK, well they might after 2013, but until then, Pabst Brewing Co. will continue to craft Old Style for thirsty Chicagoans who should at least be able to get drunk as they continue to wait (and wait, and wait) for a World Series victory.

Continue reading “Punch Shots: Cheers to More Years of Weak Beers”

In line with Mr. Carman’s previous post, The Professor asks you to decide.-PGA

New occasional category here at PGA- The Professor

Beer offer rebuffed by courthouse deputies

From The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies said a drunken woman offered them beer from her open case at the county courthouse Thursday morning before they seized the suds and escorted her off the premises.

Deputies encountered the woman, whom they did not identify, carrying a case of Big City Ice beer and noticed her slurred speech as she offered them a drink, as long as she could keep the rest for herself, the sheriff’s department said. They determined she had no reason to be there, confiscated the beer and drained it in a sink.

The woman was not charged.