Category: Front Page

Posted by Steve Greenlee at boston.com

Say this for the Scottish beer maker BrewDog: These guys know how to attract attention.

Last summer BrewDog released a 55-percent-alcohol-by-volume Belgian ale called The End of History. But the extreme alcohol content wasn’t the absurd part. The absurd part was that the bottles were sold inside dead squirrels. For $765 a pop. BrewDog also sells a 41 percent ABV India pale called Sink the Bismarck. I saw a bottle on the shelf at Julio’s Liquors in Westborough last week, priced around $150. (Apparently the beer is nothing special; the users of BeerAdvocate collectively rate it only a B.)

How to top these beers?
Continue reading “Who’s UP for a Beer with Viagra?”

Written by Tony Montague for straight.com

Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of a Cascadian Dark Ale. The style—a strong, well-hopped, and robust Brown Ale—is a new one, created in the Pacific Northwest. A group of B.C. brewmasters got together to produce a unique local recipe for the official bevy of the second annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week.

The celebration of artisanal, high-quality beer takes place in dozens of pubs, bars, restaurants, and other venues around town from May 6 to 14, with events from a wacky pub crawl to a tasting festival that incorporates the B.C. Beer Awards. Iain Hill, who helms the pipes and kettles at Yaletown Brewing Company, won three top prizes last year’s VCBW. All three of his champion beers are on the menu at the Yaletown Gold Medal Brewmaster’s Dinner on May 12—a highlight of the nine-day event and one of several food-and-beer pairing events.
Continue reading “Vancouver Craft Beer Week Brews Frothy Fun”

Written by Robin Wheeler for blogs.riverfronttimes.com

Few craft brewers have arrived in St. Louis with as much anticipation and fanfare as Escondido, California’s Stone Brewing. But they arrive here this week, bringing all the Arrogant Bastard Ale and Stone Ruination IPA we’ve been longing for.

The beer hits store shelves and bar taps on Tuesday, but Thursday’s actually the big day for Stone Brewing events around town. The company’s collaborating with a host of St. Louis’ best beverage locales for events with Stone Brewing Co-Founder and CEO Greg Koch, including a tasting at the Clayton location of the Wine and Cheese Place from 4 to 5 p.m.

Store manager Paul Hayden’s been pushing for Stone Brewing to come here for a long time. In fact, in a blog entry two years ago, Hayden gave St. Louis beer lovers instructions on how to get Stone Brewing to town.

“The customer reaction has been ecstatic,” he says. “I cannot tell you how excited people are, and how excited we are to get the beers. We got tired of people coming into the store and asking if we carry Arrogant Bastard [Ale] or [Stone] Ruination [IPA]. Many people don’t understand beer laws and wonder why we just don’t order [it] and put it on our shelves. They don’t know about the red tape, and that Stone Brewing has to want to come to your state.”

Greg Koch’s coming to town, and he’s bringing beer!
Continue reading “Get Ready, Arrogant Bastards! Stone Week Starts Tomorrow”

Posted by Jason Alström at Beer Advocate

CHICAGO, IL (April 7, 2011) – In 1842, Josef Groll brewed the world’s first golden beer and revolutionized an entire industry. Pilsner Urquell, translated as “original source,” remains a revered beer, both for its importance in beer history, as well as its intricate brewing process, including use of soft water, Saaz hops, pale malts and triple decoction.

Pilsner Urquell is inviting home brewers throughout the U.S. to take their shot at brewing a Czech-style pilsner, aiming for the standard Groll first brewed nearly 170 years ago. Three winners have the chance to earn trips for two to Plzen, Czech Republic this fall to tour the historic brewery, as well as attend the International Master Bartender Competition in Prague.

Continue reading “Pilsner Urquell Unveils Master Home Brewer Competition”

Written by Jennifer Moline for feedgrids.com

We have already covered some cool examples of beer label branding here at FeedGrids and are now offering an interesting follow-up: a great sampling of creative and unique beer label branding by Lost Coast Brewery – a pure source of graphic design inspiration.

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HERE

 

Written by Craig LaBan for The Philadelphia Inquirer

PORTLAND, Ore. – Philadelphia has already staked its

claim as a player in the national craft beer movement, with dozens of local brewers producing top-notch beer.

 

Could the newest wave in artisan drink rolling our way from the West Coast – the craft spirit movement – be the next obsession to slake Philly’s thirst with potent shots of white corn “Shine” and “Petty’s Island Rum”?

It just might, if Rob Cassell of Philadelphia Distilling and James Yoakum of Cooper River Distillers realize their dreams.

They are among the few so far in our region to enter this relatively young industry, but they’re hardly alone on the national stage. That was as clear as strong moonshine this week in Portland, where an annual conference organized by the American Distilling Institute (ADI) drew more than 500 people. They gathered to network and educate themselves on everything from Portland’s thriving local spirit scene to the fine points of apple brandy, and to attend lectures like “The Magic of Enzymes.”

“We’re at the beginning of a national renaissance in artisan spirits,” said ADI founder Bill Owens, who has watched the number of small craft distillers grow nationwide over the last eight years from 68 to 264 in 38 states, with 25 percent growth each year. Such companies produce fewer than 65,000 proof gallons a year, and, despite the uptick in distillers, they still account for less than 1 percent of the multibillion-dollar liquor industry.

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Want to read a Professor GA story from one of our writers on local distilling? Click…

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Written by Steve Raabe for The Denver Post

Too many beer drinkers, not enough beer.

That’s the problem — or perhaps the dubious benefit — confronting several of Colorado’s most popular craft brewers.

They’ve had to suspend shipments to some out-of-state markets because demand from consumers has outstripped supplies.

Denver-based Great Divide Brewing Co. recently notified distributors that it is pulling out of five states and the nation’s capital on top of a consolidation late last year in all or parts of seven other states.

Oskar Blues Brewery and Left Hand Brewing, both based in Longmont, also have exited out-of-state markets over the past year.

If you want to read more, click…

HERE

Some analysts are predicting that craft beer’s share of the beer market could jump from 5 percent in 2010 to 20 percent by 2020.

CHICAGO – Craft beer continues to grow in popularity, with double-digit growth across the board, the Chicago Tribune reports. Even the big brewers are taking notice, as with the recent transaction of Anheuser-Busch buying Goose Island craft brewery for $38.8 million.

In Chicago, craft beer is just coming into its own, with Half Acre, Two Brothers and Three Floyds struggling to keep up with demand. “We just can’t make enough beer,” said Gabriel Magliaro of Half Acre Beer Co. “Our goal every week is just to try not to run out of beer.”
Continue reading “Popularity of Craft Beers Soars”

Profiled by Ken Carman

This is a cooperative brew: Sierra Nevada and the Abbey of New Clairvaux. A trendy thing to do in craft beer world these days; two brewers merging talents for one or more brewskis we then get to admire or yawn at. Sometimes good, occasionally grand and too often, “So what? Didn’t make it better. May have made it worse.” But Oliva is far more than that: stone from an old monastery in Spain that have carefully been removed and brought over to California, a project started by Howard Hughes. Now monks are continuing the work, but with a, perhaps, more traditional goal: rebuilding it on the grounds of their own monastery.

The beer? Has a rocky head and the bottle wanted to spill all over the damn place as opened but faded to almost nothing as if traveling at light speed in the glass. Head smooths out to pillow as bottle empties and beer warms. A foggy redish brown in the glass.

From first smell you get that abbey yeast smell that dominates beer competitions so much, last time I judged Belgian it started to help me feel ill. But, to be honest, I do enjoy it and I have brewed and sampled many beers with this yeast: it has a tendency to dominate everything. This does not. Kudos. Sweet malt balances the aroma out. No hops sensed, except maybe an extremely background use of aged hops? Stryrian? So slight hard to tell. The aroma does not match the taste: yeast dominates more. Mild brown malt under foundation with Belgian Abbey yeast dominating slightly. A bit fruity from both malt and yeast. No, I won’t tell you what fruits, that’s a disservice to beer with fruit and never the same. Besides: the fruit is very background, in my opinion. Mouthfeel is surprisingly light, for the style. A very delicate quaffe’ for a Dubbel. Fits very well into the lighter side of the style, though if you only consider abv, abv puts it on the high side. You’d never know. Kudos again.

This should please most seeking to experience true Belgian, but not be overwhelmed.

A Mix of Two Articles from Sierra Nevada and Beernews.org …No Author Mentioned

For nearly 1000 years, monks have been brewing ales behind monastery walls. Their closely guarded traditions and techniques produced styles of beer unlike anything else in the world. These unique Abbey ales are known for their uncompromising quality and compelling flavor. In 2011, Sierra Nevada and Cistercian Abbey of New Clairvaux are working to bring this centuries-old tradition to America with Ovila.

This series of three Belgian -style Abbey ales is made in accordance with the centuries-old tradition of the monks. Each beer will be only be available for a limited time and will rotate through the seasons. The first beer in the series is a Belgian-style Dubbel. The second beer in the series, scheduled for release in July, will be a Saison, the traditional Belgian-style farmhouse ale made in honor of the Monk’s dedication to labor in the fields surrounding their abbey. The third will be released in time for the holidays. It will be a Quadrupel rich with dark fruit flavors and the unique wine-like characters of these strong Abbey ales. Cistercian monks lived, prayed, and worked there for nearly 800 years.

Proceeds from this project will benefit the monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux in their efforts to rebuild an architectural marvel—a 12th century, early-gothic Cistercian chapter house—on their grounds in Vina, California a few miles north of Sierra Nevada’s home in Chico. The medieval chapterhouse—Santa Maria de Ovila—was begun in 1190, near the village of Trillo, Spain.

In 1931, California newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst purchased the abbey and shipped it to Northern California. Hearst’s plans were never realized, and the stones fell into disrepair. In 1994, the Cistercian monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux, gained possession of the ruins, and began the painstaking stone-by-stone reconstruction of the historic abbey.
Continue reading “Ovila Abbey Ales: Sierra Nevada”