Author: Professor Good Ales

SAM, HOOK, TAP
Companies Sell Less Beer as Ingredient Prices Rise.

Written by Dennis Askew for smallcapnetwork.com

U.S. Brewers really have to be imaginative these days. They are facing the paradox that while sales are dropping, the costs to produce products is increasing in the form of commodity ingredients. Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) reported yesterday its Q4 net income fell by more than half partially because of ingredient costs.

Other U.S. Brewers like Boston Beer Company (NYSE:SAM) and Craft Brewers Alliance (NASDAQ:HOOK) are also feeling the pinch.
Continue reading “U.S. Beverage Brewers Face Cost Increases”

(States approach home brewing in many ways. It’s still illegal in Mississippi as far as The Professor knows, for example. States like Ole Miss could follow the example set here and include input from home brewers when they write home brew related bills- PGA)

Written by David Steves for the Register Guard

SALEM — Oregon homebrewers may have been barred by a legal quirk from entering their beers and ales in contests, but that hasn’t stopped them from enjoying a lively competition.

The one that played out came to a head, so to speak, Thursday, when a Senate panel approved one of the several bills aimed at restoring homebrewers’ rights to transport homemade beer to contests, festivals and other gatherings.

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From Centredaily.com and AP. Picture from fair website.

MEADVILLE, Pa. — The largest agricultural county fair in Pennsylvania will judge home-brewed beer for the first time in its 66-year history.

The Crawford County Fair Board voted 7-2 on Thursday to add beer to the roster of food and beverages judged at the fair. The fair began judging homemade wines in the mid-1990s.
Continue reading “For Our NW Pa. Readers and Beer Judges”

Posted by Eddie Gehman Kohan at obamafoodorama.blogspot.com

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have joined the home brewing beer trend that’s swept the US, and will be serving a very special White House brew tonight when they welcome guests for the annual Super Bowl party, to watch as the Packers take on the Steelers.

In a special turn of events in the history of White House food creations, one of the White House chefs has brewed White House Honey Ale, a White House aide exclusively tipped ObFo. It uses one pound of honey from this year’s 160-pound harvest of honey from the White House Bee Hive, which sits beside Mrs. Obama’s South Lawn Kitchen Garden.

The President, First Lady, and their guests will be sampling the special suds for the first time this evening. And the Obamas paid for the micro-brewing equipment, the aide noted, so there’s no impact on the national debt.
Continue reading “For Super Bowl Party, Obamas Serve Home-Brewed White House Honey Ale”

The Beer Expert is among the programs that can help users make sense of all the beers on the market. Second picture: the “Find Craft Beer” iPhone app.

Written by Bob Tedeschi for The NYT

My attention was elsewhere when the craft beer craze started, so I was caught off guard when my friends started talking about ales with a kind of snootiness one normally finds at a Grand Cru wine tasting.

I still lack the time, budget and liver to keep pace with those guys. But with an iPhone or a Droid, I can definitely fake it.

Spend a little beer money loading a handful of apps onto your smartphone, and the wretchedly complex world of brews becomes as clear as a Belgian wheat ale.
Continue reading “Checking Out a Lot of Beers, Without the Hangover”

Picture courtesy JakeParrillo.com

Profiled by Ken Carman

First impression: a corn nose. Not unexpected in this style. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if they used corn in the brewing, since Miller uses it too. Bud is made with rice as an adjunct.

This is Walgreen’s generic brand, sold for a whopping 3.68 a six. Made by Brewmasters out of Rochester. They have pretty much become a hired gun brewer, which is not an insult at all. Someone has to do it. Just depends on how well it’s done. I’d be curious to taste the west coast version, if there is one. According to one site: “brewed by Winery Exchange Inc., a brewery in Novato, California.” I suspect not. Not only do the same sources conflate it with “Genessee Brewing,” but Winery Exchange’s site says nothing about brewing, only that they are a “company that sources beer.” And Genessee Brewing isn’t quite an accurate descriptive either. Brewmasters may brew the version of Genessee now on the market, but the original Genessee Brewery died a long time ago. If you saw the water in the Genessee River that they use fr brewing, you’d be thankful. Let’s just say you’d be all set for St. Patty’s Day before brewing begins, and it might double as a natural fertilizer-colored brown too. There are more colors, but why make you even more thirsty?

I’ve read a lot of nasty bouncing around the web in regard to Big Flats, but honestly I don’t see where this is all that different, or off, when considering the style: American Lager. A pale urine yellow, which is also normal. Clarity is good. Head doesn’t last as long as it should, but that’s minor and the head at first was, well, I hate to keep typing this but “as expected for the style.” Just about the right carbonation in the mouthfeel. Yes, Big Flats when it comes to long lasting head is a little “flat.”

The taste is light corn, light malt, the slightest hint of hops… German/Noble? Hallertauer? There’s really not a lot more. I suggest getting it real cold and use it whenever you would use what some call a “lawnmower beer.” And putting on my future telling hat let me predict, if you mow and drink you might find out you’re just not an idiot, but possibly a toe-less, eye-less or finger-less idiot.

Reminds me a bit of Matt’s: a past tense brew from Matt Brewing who makes mostly their own craft brand, Saranac, now. Yes, “Matt’s,” actually a slightly superior brew brewed back then, well superior to what damn near every brewery in America was putting out: almost exclusively, up until 30-40 years ago.
Continue reading “Beer Profile: Big Flats”

Oval Office: Steeling itself from Pittsburgh beer. (Photo by David J. Phillip of the AP)

Written by Greg Kitsock for The Washington Post

Sometimes, you just can’t give beer away.

That’s the dilemma of Scott Smith, founder of East End Brewing Co. in Pittsburgh. His microbrewery will turn out perhaps 2,000 barrels in 2011, and Smith is content to sell most of that in his hometown. But when he heard that the White House had ordered a special shipment of beer from Hinterland Brewing Co. in Green Bay, Wis. for President Obama’s Superbowl party this Sunday, he figured the celebration, in the spirit of bipartisanship, should include a Pittsburgh brew, too.
Continue reading “Beer Extra: East End meets West Wing?”