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From foxnews.com

• Blue Mountain Dark Hollow – Afton, VA

  

  Learn more about Blue Mountain Brewery

  This imperial stout aged in oak bourbon barrels has an interesting aroma, reminiscent of coffee grinds and a hint of chili pepper.  The velvety smooth beer is 10 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), but you wouldn’t know it by its taste; and that’s a good thing.  We’d enjoy this as a nightcapper beer.  It’s a bit rich for more than one or two glasses, with its chocolate flavor, but it’s got a nice, not-too-sweet, dry finish.

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Being a mid-west native, I really didn’t know what to expect from Florida Craft Beer. I had heard of Cigar City (see interview/tour #1), but that’s about it. So you can imagine my thrill when I was able to touch base with 7venth Sun brewing in beautiful Dunedin, Florida.

It was 11am and I had maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before, but as we pulled up to 7venth Sun, I was immediately jolted with the awesome fact that I would be spending my day, experiencing some of the best craft beer that Florida has to offer. As I gazed upon the home of 7venth Sun, I wasn’t sure if I was looking at the brewery, or possibly a nearby coffee shop (and I dig coffee shops). When we entered the brewery, we were greeted by Co-Owner and Founder, Devon Kreps. This woman is as warm as the entire state; welcoming, funny, a bright soul that knows a TON about beer. While tasting the diverse selection of original brews, Devon and I discussed the growing industry of craft beer in Florida, what it takes to run a nano brewery, Umphrey’s McGee, sweet potato beers, and why 7venth Sun kicks so much ass (my words).

The Beginning – Now:

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Written by Patrick Manning for foxnews.com

The craft brew craze is exploding in the U.S. and small brewers are popping up in towns across the country.  But keeping track of the newcomers and knowing if any brewer is worth the trip can be hard to figure out.

Now, you can jump on one of the hoppiest, most tasteful road trips that cuts all the confusion – and best of all, you don’t need to worry about doing the driving. Beer Tours USA takes people on personalized tours of breweries around the country.

Beer tours operate like winery tours and they’re gaining in popularity as Americans discover their love for craft beers.

Today was a huge day for homebrewers in the state of Mississippi, as the state’s House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 2183, which authorizes the making of “homemade beer” for personal uses.

The measure was approved by a margin of 73 to 37, and now heads to Gov. Phil Bryant for his signature. The state’s Senate approved the bill on Feb. 7.

Mississippi and Alabama remain the only two U.S. states that still don’t allow residents to make beer in their own homes, but the Magnolia State is poised to shed that distinction.

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Author Not Credited

At some point this year, there will be over 3,000 breweries either operating or in development in the US (the most our nation…or ANY nation has had since the days when households stopped being breweries). It’s bad enough trying to come up with a catchy beer name to make your product stand out…but with THAT many breweries in America, you also have to think long and hard about what to name your ale factory. You could go with the tried and true method and just name your brewery after local geography (Russian River, Fire Mountain, French Broad). Or you could name the brewery after yourself (Bell’s, F.X. Matt). But those names don’t always “pop”.

Now I know what you’re thinking…who gives a shit? Fair point. But just like beer names and beer labels, your brewery’s name IS an important marketing tool. Picture yourself sitting in a bar with a choice of two IPAs on tap. Which are you more likely to order? The “Stellar Brewing Supernova IPA” or the “Bird Poop Brewery’s Cloaca IPA“. The Cloaca might be head and shoulders above the Supernova, but there’s the embarrassment factor to consider. In that vein, I sifted through the thousands of American brewery names and culled out my favorite 50 (and, of course, my least favorite 50). It should go without saying that the name on the bottle has absolutely ZERO impact on the quality of the beer. In fact, my #1 least favorite brewery name is considered one of the great American ale factories. On the flipside, having a killer brewery name does not guarantee that you’re cranking out super suds. It’s just marketing. But since you’ve come to depend on the Aleheads to make superficial judgements AND to create utterly useless lists, I’d hate to let you down.

So with that preamble, let’s jump into the the 50 Best and 50 Least Best American Brewery Names:

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50 Best American Brewery Names…

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Written by Nora McGunnigle for bestofneworleans.com

 

Louisiana was once known as the beer capital of the South, but it’s now better known for go-cups and legal drinking on the street. While Louisiana ranks 11th in the country for beer consumption per capita, it’s 47th in number of breweries. The state only had six production breweries and two operational brewpubs at the end of 2012, but 2013 may see the opening of at least five more breweries and a new brewpub.

Josh and Jamie Erickson began pursuing their dream of opening a brewery back in 2010 after brewing at home for several years while raising a family of four boys. “Compared to many other states, we are behind when it comes to the number of craft breweries in existence, so we wanted to be a part of changing that here, helping the Louisiana craft beer scene grow,” Josh says. The Ericksons created their flagship beers, Voo Ka Ray IPA and Old 504 coffee-infused vanilla robust porter, and acquired a small industrial space in Mandeville to brew commercially. Last month, the Ericksons’ Chafunkta Brewing Company was approved by the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) to begin brewing and selling its beer commercially.

When San Diego transplant Scott Wood met Louisiana native Lindsay Hellwig in New Orleans, not only did they begin a family, but also a craft beer partnership called The Courtyard Brewery that would merge West Coast craft beer sensibilities with the rich culture of Louisiana and New Orleans. Wood’s great-uncle was a pre-Prohibition commercial brewer. “Brewing is in my genetic code,” he says. They’ve acquired brewing space in Bywater, and once the space has been configured for brewing and the equipment is in place, they hope to be licensed to brew and serve by the middle of the year.

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Written by Brandon Jones for embracethefunk.com

I’ve been looking forward to the day when I had the chance to write this blog entry…the day I get to talk about brewing a full size batch of sour goodness for the Embrace The Funk series at Yazoo. Yep on March 2nd Linus Hall and I brewed a full 40bbl batch on the big system! What an awesome experience it was to plan and gather up everything we needed to brew a Lambic style ale.

One of the first items on the list was to figure out which yeast/wild yeast/bacteria blend to go with. We already have a single barrel batch (59 gallons) of Lambic style beer fermenting which we have been very happy with it’s progress since early Fall. That batch was fermented with a few goodies from my stockpile of funk and Bug Farm 5. So in what has been one of the coolest moments of my sour brewing adventure I worked with the Brewing Science Institute (BSI) on building up a proprietary sour blend based on our first batch. Working out the proportions of the different microbes to make up our ETF1 blend and actually seeing 40bbl pitch of it was one of those brewing moments I’ll always remember.
Continue reading “Big Batch Brew Day!”

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

Ale Smith Brewing
9366 Cabot Drive
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 549-9888
www.alesmith.com
San Diego, CA

A Belgian Strong Ale from Ale Smith. Belgian candi sugar, Trappist yeast, coriander: what’s not to like? Seems to me we rated this beer high when I offered it to my guests at Ken’s summer beer tastings.

Here’s more information on Ale Smith…

Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Horny Devil”

Written by Lindsay Snyder for American Craft Beer

The second stop on my hoppy tour through the dairy land was Madison’s first and only nanobrewery: One Barrel Brewing Company. With literally one barrel running at full capacity churning out 10 barrels a week, the supply doesn’t quite meet the demand for this new and exciting operation. One or two lucky bars in Madison boast having this stuff on tap, and the rest is consumed on the spot at One Barrel, just as fast as they can brew it. The sense of community is strong in this little start-up, as is the sense of adventure. Madison’s only nanobreweryPeter Gentry logged several years of homebrewing experience before he opened his doors to the public last July. With the help of his family and the strong craft beer community in Madison, he’s turned a tiny space into a fully functioning brewery. The bar was made by his dad, the curtains by his mom, and kegs are washed at one larger brewery while supplies are borrowed from another. A few lively investors even paid $5,000 for their own engraved bar stools (which comes with a lifetime of free beer, of course).

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