Category: Front Page

Written by Sal Emma for BYO Magazine

The Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland, is a time machine. Cobblestone streets link the gray stone and red brick buildings — narrow thoroughfares where draft horses once clopped their way around the sprawling complex, hauling malt, hops, kegs, and men from job to job, batch to batch.

Today, diesel trucks and forklifts ply these time-worn paths of stone. Rubber tires roll over the iron tracks of the brewery’s narrow-gauge steam railway system, built in the late 1700s to supplant horse-drawn transport.

The brewery complex is a tapestry of old and new. Guinness brewers oversee 21st century computer-automated brewing in the shadow of Arthur Guinness’ original brewery and residence, for which he invested £100 (about $150 today) of inherited funds in 1759.

Guinness made a real estate deal that would make any modern businessman jealous: a 9,000-year lease at £45 per year, with water rights included.

Of course, at the time £45 was nothing to sneeze at. And the property was nothing to brag about. Only four acres, it was small, already 90 years old and broken down. It had been sitting idle for nearly 10 years when Guinness made his deal for one of dozens of nondescript breweries in Dublin’s industrial quarter, known as the Liberties. Located at St. James Gate, one of the gates in the old wall surrounding Dublin, the brewery Guinness bought consisted of a copper, a mash/lauter tun, two malt houses, a mill, stables for 12 horses, and a loft that could hold 200 tons of hay.

Guinness was an ale man. Ale was the true King of Beers in those days, and Guinness went about producing ale for Dublin. Later, a newfangled style caught his attention: porter from England.

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Note: Killian’s is a Miller/Coors product- PGA

(Chicago, IL) – To celebrate its Irish roots this St. Patrick’s Day, George Killian’s Irish Red is giving beer drinkers a chance to win a trip to the birthplace of the famous red lager. The popular pub beer invites legal-drinking-age consumers to raise a glass and take a shot at winning one of five trips to Ireland, where they’ll have a chance to enjoy a beer with Killian Lett, the great-great-great-great grandson of the beer’s creator, and other members of his family in their favorite pub.

“I had the opportunity to experience my first St. Patrick’s Day in America last March, and now I’m thrilled to be able to introduce our hometown to the lucky winners,” said 26-year-old Killian Lett. “My family is looking forward to showing beer drinkers how to have an authentic St. Patrick’s Day in the true spirit of George Killian’s Irish Red.”

Those ages 21 and up (void in CA) can enter the sweepstakes now through March 31 with an official entry code featured on specially marked packaging or a keyword on other promotional materials.
Continue reading “Killian’s Irish Red: Contest for Free Trip to Ireland”

Written by Matthew Daneman for the Democrat and Chronicle

The first sip from a fresh pint of Rogers Pale Ale hits the back of the tongue with a strong, hoppy punch.

A beer aficionado working in sales for CAR Engineering and Manufacturing, a Victor tool and die company, Al Rogers went into the beer business with his wife, Lauren, in late 2010. Their pale ale is permanently on tap at Lento Restaurant at Village Gate and has made rotations of taps at a variety of establishments around the Rochester region.

“I wanted my own business, and I love beer,” said Rogers, 31, of Penfield.

And the Rochester region is seemingly learning to love local craft beers.

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Written by Bob Townsend for the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Seasonal beers have been a part of brewing science and tradition for centuries. Think Christmas ale or May Bock. But to say one-off and specialty series products are the big thing in craft brewing right now would be a crazy understatement, as craft breweries release new and never-to-be-seen-again beers at a dizzying rate.

In Georgia, Athens’ Terrapin was an early instigator of the specialty beer game, starting with the Monster Beer Tour, featuring hefty seasonals such as Big Hoppy Monster. The Side Project series, begun in 2008, recently reached Volume 14 with Tomfoolery Black Saison.

Last year, Terrapin produced four beers in its Georgia Theatre Sessions series, plus the most recent Midnight Project collaboration with Left Hand Brewing and the annual Reunion beer for cancer research.
Continue reading “Beer Town: Limited Edition Beers are Fun Stuff”

Written by Greg Kitsock for The Washington Post

The gloves are off for Beer Madness, our annual tasteoff to determine the nation’s top brew. Last year, we went global in honor of the Olympics. This year, with a postProhibition record of more than 1,700 breweries perating in the United States, we doubled the field from 32 to 64 and decided to celebrate the glories of American craft brews. All 64 breweries represented meet the Brewers Association’s exacting standard of craft.” They’re small (even Boston Beer Co., with its 2 million barrels a year output, is a guppy compared with such barracudas as AnheuserBusch and MillerCoors). They’re independent (not specialty divisions of large corporate brewers). They’re traditional (no corn or rice adjuncts were used to water down these beers for the timid). By carefully rationing samples and spreading our tastings over two days, we were able to admit stronger styles that we had barred in the past out of sympathy for our livers.

 

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Danny Fullpint blogs about his feelings on the underdog of the craft beer movement, the craft lager. Buried underneath the barrel aged beers, sours, and monster IPA’s are some carefully crafted, bottom fermenting beers. Cheers! Note: if you wish to read more of Dan’s beer rants, please visit thefullpint.com

Written by Dan Fullpint for thefullpint.com

If you started your beer drinking journey roughly the same period of your life as I did, you probably sucked back many cans or bottles of lager during your late high school years and into college.  In this instance, I’m referring to the cheap, fizzy, yellow piss you buy in a 30 pack, most likely made by Bud, Miller or Coors.  Hovering between 4-5 percent, you could play and drink all night with your friends, while making a pyramid of empty cans, and most likely leaving that smelly 1/2 inch of warm beer at the bottom.

When you finally realized that stuff was junk and moved onto Samuel Adams or Newcastle, because you are now smarter and more sophisticated, you realized the stuff in those cans was crap.  Fast forward to the beer drinking times of today, and you’ll notice the craft beer market is flooded with ales.  There is almost a stigma that ales are good and lagers are crap.  In a sea of IPAs, Black IPAs, strong ales, and wheat ales, there is a perceived contrast of good and bad between ales and lagers.  I would bet if you asked someone to name a lager, they probably wouldn’t even name Samuel Adams Boston Lager, but rather Budweiser or Heineken.  From where I’m sitting, Samuel Adams Boston Lager is a decent  lager (when fresh and maintained), green bottle import lager and American macro canned lager is a horrible representation of lager. The problem is, the marketing and market domination of the latter have bored a hole in everyone’s mind that lager = fizzy yellow cheap beer. I’m here to help shed some light on the lost art of the long, cold, bottom fermented beer known as lager. In this case, craft lager. As a disclaimer, I think the cheap fizzy stuff has it’s place, I’ve been known to suck down some PBR in the warm weather, I just want people to know lager is not a bad word.

Craft Lager
Continue reading “Where’s The Lager Love?”