Category: Front Page

Profiled by Maria Devan

Saranac Oktoberfest. Original and quite to style. Color is perfect. Bright clear beer with a cream colored head that was on the fast side to fall but left some spots and streaks of lace. Clean nose with a slight malty aroma. Taste it soft creamy malt. The hops in this one show only a swift cool breath of herbal as they finish the beer . On the nose though the perle shows off a hint of spice. There is a tiny balancing bitterness. A touch thinner than some other oktoberfests in the finish. Saphir hops show you a pleasant moment of citrus juiciness in the swallow but they do not outdo themselves or the beer with it.

The reason I was a bit stingy in the taste category and overall is because there is a touch of hops bitter that finishes this beer. It’s not that much but it does make it appear thinner. Also that citrus taste brought the rating a touch lower.

3.5

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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MAAAAAAARIA……………. THERE ONCE WAS A BEER REVIEWER NAMED “Maria!”

Kroger is, of course, the BIG boy on the block in the south. Question being: “Will this make it to Nashville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, southern KY, etc. As residents well know, Kroger takes a while to compete seriously with trends like this, and seems quite reluctant. They finally gave in Nashville when Publix didn’t just go away, like previous attempts to go up against the big boy. In the Dayton/Cinci area, part of this articles commentary, they have long had to compete with the likes of Meijers and local beloved: Dorothy Lane -PGA

Kroger is tapping in-store beer stations and tastings in the supermarket chain’s latest push to drive customer traffic.

This fall, customers will be able to buy or bring in their own growlers to fill with craft beers fresh from in-store taps at the new Kroger Marketplace in Oakley as well as the Harper’s Point Kroger store in Montgomery. The stores will establish busy schedules of weekday and weekend tastings for craft beer aficionado as well as the curious and thirsty.

More stores in the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky-Dayton market are also on tap to get the taps, including the Corryville replacement store next year and the Anderson Township Marketplace by 2017 as part of a remodel. Kroger also plans to serve wine at the beer taps stations.

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Finding a craft beer is easy. Finding an organic craft beer? Well, that’s another matter entirely.

Despite the artisanal nature of the craft beer industry, the majority of brewers have opted to forego obtaining organic certification. But those who have embraced the concept of organic brewing are quite passionate about it.

“What organic represents is the absence of carcinogenic pesticides on the ingredients,” says Arthur Lucas, founder of Charleston, SC’s Freehouse Brewery. “Getting the label lets me communicate with people. It’s about informing the public.”

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To the novice, Belgian beers are thought to be by turns “heavy” or “rich” and “full-bodied”, but such descriptors believe the fact that Belgium’s beer tradition—in addition to many a very big brew—includes super-refreshing, lighter styles, too. Miguel Silva, Beverage Director of Villains Chicago, a soon-to-be-opened craft-focused beer bar in the Windy City’s Printer’s Row area with 40. handles and deep bottle list, got into these full-flavored brews (among others) in the 1990s, exploring the famous lists at places like The Map Room. Ditching his career as a mortgage lender in June 2007, he was soon working in craft beer around the clock and taking trips into Michigan’s brewery- and beer bar-dotted Upper Peninsula. Smart moves.

What’s your favorite summer beer style? Tell us below.

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Slight over statement at one point. Yes, Genny Cream was the “standard” but with many new Creams, or even just Sleeman’s, saying “THE” and “all others” is a tad far in the professor’s opinion- PGA

Gary Geminn was in high school and just approaching the old New York state drinking age of 18 when his father, Clarence Geminn, is said to have declared on the floor of the Genesee Brewing Co.’s brewhouse, “I think we have a winner here.”

The winning beer in question? Genesee Cream Ale, which debuted in 1960 and became for a time the best-selling ale in the United States, with some 1 million barrels annually rolling out of the Rochester-based regional brewery—no small feat, given it was then barely distributed beyond the Northeast. The elder Geminn, Genesee’s brewmaster since 1959 and an assistant brewmaster there for eight years before that, had spearheaded the beer’s creation.

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Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

Twelve years off and on in Ithaca, NY, has given me plenty of time to observe the beer, wine, and food scene of the Finger Lakes region change and evolve. Wine has been going strong for the past few decades, craft beer has enjoyed an impressive growth in popularity, and the occasional craft distillery graces the landscape. Add to that all the local honey, fruit, bread, meats, cheese, and the like, and you have a veritable moveable feast to take with you as you explore the lakes of the region.

And now we have something new to add to our picnic baskets: artisanal cider. Or should I say new again. Cider was a staple of the early U.S. colonies, and enjoyed a three-hundred year run before Prohibition put a cork in the jug. Sound familiar?

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Beer yeast courtesy wiki. Article from a press release via EurekaAlert and University Wisconsin-Madison

 

MADISON, Wis. — The crucial genetic mashup that spawned the yeast that brews the vast majority of beer occurred at least twice — and both times without human help — according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study published Aug. 11 in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Lager yeast, a hybrid that thrives in cold temperatures, is used in lager beer production, which accounts for about 94 percent of the world’s beer Continue reading “More Details on Origin of America ‘s Favorite Beer Making Microbe”

Image courtesy http://wnycraftbeer.com, the rest is a press release-PGA

Continue reading “Governor Cuomo Signs Legislation to Lift Burdens on Craft Breweries, Distilleries & Cideries”

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

Wine has been going strong in the Finger Lakes for the past few decades, and craft beer has enjoyed an impressive growth in popularity. Add to that all the local honey, fruit, meats, and cheese, and you have a veritable moveable feast to take with you as you explore the lakes of the region.

That, and fish ’n chips –– or, as they call it in the region, fish fry. The most famous of them all is Doug’s Fish Fry, and we finally got a chance to make the pilgrimage to this seafood shrine in Skaneateles. With its stately boulevard and lakeside mansions, Skaneateles is also one of the most beautiful of the Finger Lakes towns.

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