Author: Professor Good Ales

Hops from Jordan Family Farms

Posted by pb Rick at pacificbrewnews.com

It’s been three years now since the beer world became familiar with the term Hop Crisis and a lot has been said about the causes and consequences of it since then. On one hand we remember the initial reports blaming the crisis on a perfect storm of catastrophes in the hop world: the warehouse fire in Washington; a devastating hail storm in Europe; growing demand; fewer acres. What followed this storm was a controversial and mostly ignored period where brewers were strongly persuaded into long term contracts with farmers at astronomical prices, creating a miniature boom in hop farms in the United States. With the wonders of hind-sight we can now rationally look back at the crisis that was and hopefully learn to avoid the crisis that is coming.

The Perfect Storm
Continue reading “The “Hop Crisis” Revisited”

Logo courtesy guidebookamerica.com

Reported by Ken Carman for Professorgoodales.net

One of the most sacred rules as a homebrewer, as set by the States, is that you can’t sell you’re homebrew. It’s a “hobby.” North Dakota, however, may just be about to be an exception.
Continue reading “Selling Homebrew”

Written by Fraendy Clervaud for midlandsconnect.com

COLUMBIA (WACH) – Today, Saturday, hundreds of beer lovers flocked to the Columbia Convention Center (South Carolina) to take part in the 2011 World Beer Festival.

The festival was hosted by “All About Beer Magazine.”

Organizers said the event was all about the culture of beer.

“We are excited to bring our World Beer Festival to Columbia, where there is a burgeoning beer culture,” said Daniel Bradford, Publisher of All About Beer Magazine. “Columbia has an excited beer community that is eager to share the new beer experiences our World Beer Festival provides.”

The festival featured featured 200 varities of craft brews made by more than 80 brewers.

Food from a variety of local restaurants was also available.

“Some of the most unimpressive beers I’ve had are from those who only graduated from professional brewing schools, and have done little else.”

-Todd Hicks: brewer and vintner, McGuires, Cannon, Santa Rosa and many others. Presently brewing professionally for Tin Roof Brewery in Baton Rouge.

Written Danner Kline for bhamweekly.com

“‘Blue ribbon’ USED to mean first place!”

I’m going to change gears and cover a few different items of interest this week, some related.

First up, I’d like to offer some comments on an excerpt of an interview recently highlighted at BeerNews.org. The interview was with Nate Heck, head brewer at Salem Beer Works in Massachussetts. Online readers have an advantage in that you can follow the link and get the full context of Nate’s commentary, but I’ll summarize a few points for our print readers.
Continue reading “Mixed Beer News and Commentary”

Story from Drinkcraftbeer.com. Shane Welch, below, is the owner of Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn NY. Scottish Ale yeast, 3 Pacific hops, 5 types of European grains. Sounds fascinating, such a shame to see it go for what appears to be no reason. What follows is a rather strange story, mostly in the owner’s own words, regarding the Feds and their reaction to Hop Obama.- Prof. GA

“Sixpoint was raided by the Feds and they put the kabosh on our Hop Obama. Naturally, I was infuriated by the censorship so I decided to do what I’ve done from the start – turn it into a story and allow the company to serve as a platform for delivering the story. However, this was quickly squashed by the Feds as well. Apparently, they did not want us making the beer NOR did they want me to create a story out of it.”
Continue reading “Sixpoint Craft Ale’s Hop Obama: The Fate & Story”

Written by Matt Frassica for The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY

Jerry Gnagy has been brewing his own beer since he was in high school. That’s one way to get invited to parties, but now as the brewmaster for the Bluegrass Brewing Co., Gnagy caters to craft beer aficionados across the city. In the seven years since he started working in the St. Matthews brew pub, BBC has vastly expanded its offerings. He offered some reflections on a life lived in close proximity to hops and yeast.

When you start home brewing, you usually fall into recipes. I got to a point where I didn’t care for any of those, and I decided I’m just going to make what I like. There’s some trial and error throughout that. I think that’s when you really start turning the corner as a home brewer, when you start understanding your ingredients and you can start replicating things.
Continue reading “Life Lessons: Jerry Gnagy, Bluegrass Brewing Brewmaster”

At Hill Farmstead Brewery, Shaun Hill, the brewer, offers a visitor a sample. (Joe Ray for The Boston Globe)

Written by Joe Ray for boston.com

Hill Farmstead Brewery
403 Hill Road
Greensboro Bend, Vt.
802-533-7450
www.hillfarmstead.com
The tasting bar-retail shop is open Wed-Sat noon-5.

GREENSBORO BEND — To find the brewing world’s whiz kid, I drive the can’t-get-there-from-here east-west trek from New Hampshire to Vermont, with dubious cellphone service and dwindling roads that get smaller and narrower like a ball of unraveling string: interstate, state highway, county road, dirt road.

As a New Hampshire boy, I remember childhood trips into Vermont’s calmer rolling hills and deeper greens, and I like finding the Northeast Kingdom as I remember it.
Continue reading “Following Your Nose to a Man of His Craft”

Written by Ben Anderson for Alaskadispatch.com Photo Chan Anderson

The first time I tried to brew my own beer, I went down on a basic beer brewing kit from Arctic Brewing Supply with my roommates. For weeks, we diligently saved our beer bottles — this was before glass recycling was discontinued in Anchorage — in anticipation of enjoying 12 frosty ounces of our own homemade suds.

We spent one night thoroughly hand-washing about 60 bottles in preparation for our brewing session the next day. We bought a capper and plenty of bottle caps. Finally, we were ready to transfer the beer from the primary fermentation carboy into the bottles. We transferred the liquid gold into the first bottle, placed it under the capper, and pressed hard.
Continue reading “Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival Offers Something for Everyone (over 21)”

Written by Claire Connell for The Marlborough Express

The team at Moa Brewery reckon a cold beer will be just as satisfying in the freezing Antarctic as it is on a hot summer day.

Their beer will get the ultimate test this year when 2000 bottles leave on a ship today for Antarctica, destined for New Zealand’s Scott Base.

Organisers of the shipment say it will be the first craft beer to hit the fridges in the base bar, called The Tatty Flag, which sells mass-produced beer including Tui, Speight’s and Heineken.

Continue reading “Craft Beer Heads to Antarctica”