Category: Front Page

Posted on

Burgers and Booze: Beer on Tap at Burger King?


Do you REALLY want this guy pouring beer for you?

Posted @SodaHead.com. Author not credited

As if there are not enough places to drink in New York City. Now Burger King is opening a Whopper Bar in Times Square.

The express-type concept, meant to combat the growth of McDonald’s McCafes, was first introduced in 2008 and is slowly expanding around the world with spots open already in Miami, Orlando and Memphis, Tenn.

Though the Times Square location’s liquor license is still pending, officials tell The New York Times that they hope to start pouring brewskis by mid-August.

No word yet if you get a bottle opener with your kid’s Happy Meal.

Posted on

What the Colonists Might Have Quaffed

Written by Greg Kitsock for The Washington Post

Yards Brewing Co.’s Ales of the Revolution are beers with a history chaser. The Philadelphia microbrewery, which opened in 1995 in a building the size of a toolshed and now occupies a former skateboard rink, has attempted to replicate the brews our Colonial forefathers would have downed while talking sedition in wayside taverns.

General Washington’s Tavern Porter takes its cue from a home-brew recipe, preserved in the New York Public Library, that Washington jotted down while he was serving in the Continental Army. It calls for fermenting a “small beer” from molasses, evidently a more common ingredient than barley in that era.

Yards President Tom Kehoe compromised, beginning with a base rich in dark, heavily roasted malts, then adding four pounds per barrel of baking molasses during the second fermentation. The sugar-rich molasses kicks up the alcohol to 7 percent by volume, but enough residual sweetness remains in the beer to balance the sharper, coffeelike flavors.

Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale presented a bit of a dilemma, Kehoe says. Jefferson brewed extensively at Monticello, but in his voluminous records he never recorded a complete beer recipe. Rather, he left the fine details to a slave named Peter Hemings, brother of the more famous Sally Hemings.

Kehoe scoured our third president’s farm records and “used whatever was available at Monticello in formulating the beer.” In addition to barley, Tavern Ale is brewed from 30 percent wheat (a major crop at Monticello), plus small amounts of corn, oats, rye and honey. At 8 percent alcohol, it’s more potent than the porter. “They made them strong back then to hide their mistakes,” Kehoe says with a laugh.
Continue reading “What the Colonists Might Have Quaffed”

Posted on

Free Beer Tastings: Beaver River Station, NY

Ready for an adventure in beer tasting? Two chances! August 21st and September 4th: 2010; 2pm

How do I get to Beaver River for the FREE beer tastings???



Important: for further information call Ken at 315 376 6625 or Millie at 615 255 4848. For reservoir transportation/reservations/accommodations: 315 376 6200 and speak with Ginger or Scott, or 315 376 7035 and speak with George.

There are NO roads to Beaver River. But you CAN get there for this year’s free beer tastings hosted by two BJCP judges. Millie and Ken Carman’s 6th annual beer tastings are scheduled for August 21st and September 4th: both at 2pm. A special warm invite to the Saratoga Throughbrews this year, with the hope by next year we can have a competition and a homebrew demonstration in the Old Forge/Beaver River area. All those 21 and older are welcome.

How do I get there?


Route 28 to Eagle Bay, NY. Take the Big Moose Road all the way until it turns into dirt. When you reach a “T” in the road, take a right. Stop at BIG lake, unless you have an amphicar. (If you need to ask then you obviously don’t.)

But NOW what do I do?


At Beaver River Station the adventure is getting there. Imagine yourself of a River Boat floating 7 miles down a scenic reservoir, or riding a barge, or traveling by railcar…
You can take the barge (The only way to drive into Beaver River… 315 376 6200), meet the River Boat (same number) or call ahead for a boat taxi. (There are two boat taxis: use the same number or call George at 315 376 7035, who also has a railcar and can pick you up in Big Moose.)

What Kind of Beer?

Stouts, Porters, Barley Wines, Fruit Beer, Wheat, Weird Beer of ALL Kinds, Homebrew and maybe even some wine and some Peycer. (Find out at the tasting!) Ken and Millie gather beer from all over the country all year long.

Just get there by 2!

Where do I stay?


Accommodations are available at Noridgewock (315 376 6200) or The Beaver River Hotel (315 376 3010) And Millie and Ken have limited free room for members of Saratoga Thoroughbrews (315 376 6625 or 615 255 4848). We may be able to make one trip each way to pick up members of Saratoga Thoroughbrews with our boat, if we all come up with a mutual time. It’s quite the trip down Stillwater!

The free tasting on the 21st will be at Norridgewock, the tasting on September 4th will be in front of the hotel.

Don’t forget… 2pm. August 21st, 2010 and September 21st 2010

This year’s tastings are sponsored by Professor Good Ales and hosted by Millie and Ken Carman, Beaver River Hotel and Norridgewock. Thanks in advance for another successful year!

Posted on

From the Bottle Collection

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.

Since I first started writing for Professor Good Ales I have frequently provided one column called “From the Bottle Collection.” I thought I’d share some pictures of the collection I have: over 2,000 bottles. This is, by no means, the full collection…


Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection”

Posted on

Big Brew Day

Although this was written by the food forum staff dailygazette.com out of Schenectady, NY, Brew Day will be everywhere. In Nashville they will brew in the back parking lot of the Nashville Boscos. In Pensacola they will be brewing American Wheat Beer on The Weaver Brewing System, and another batch on the mini Weaver. We have yet to hear from Saratoga Thoroughbrews, but one can be sure they will be brewing. Update will be posted when it comes in. Want to learn more from the AHA? Click here– Prof. GA

Saturday, May 1, is National Homebrew Day when thousands of home brewers of beer and ale will join in making homebrew simultaneously.

This is the 13th year for the day, known as “Big Brew Day,” and it will be marked internationally. More than 3,000 homebrewers in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, South america and Australia are expected to participate.

In the Capital Region, Hennessy Homebrew Emporium at 470 N. Greenbush Road (Route 4) in North Greenbush will be observing the day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Anyone interested in homebrew and homebrewing is invited to visit.

Friends and family will gather to brew a 1991 80 shilling Ale in memory of Greg Noonan, who was known as the Godfather of Vermont brewing and a pioneer in the craft brewing movement in the United States.

Hennessy will provide free grains to anyone who comes and joins in brewing the 1991 80 Shilling Ale on Big Brew Day. Hennessy also will provide food, including its version of the Bacon Explosion, and other freebies for all participants.

At 1 p.m., homebrewers around the globe will raise their glasses of homebrew ales and lagers for a simultaneous toast to homebrewing.

The event is sponsored by the American Homebrewers Association. Find out more about Big Brew Day by clicking HERE.

Posted on

Full Sail Brewing Wassail

Written by Peter Genovese for The Star-Ledger

The label on Full Sail’s Wassail says it’s “concocted by our massive brewforce of 47.”

Like that part.

The label describes it as “a ridiculously tasty winter ale.”

Not so fast.

This winter warmer (7% ABV) from the Hood River, Ore.-based “specialists in the liquid refreshment arts since 1987” pours a deep coppery brown.
Continue reading “Full Sail Brewing Wassail”