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Augurs of Spring: Wheat Beers Belgian, German, and American

Van Gogh - Wheat-Fields-at-Auvers-Under-Clouded-Sky_July_1890 (WikiCommons)

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

The quintessential beer for your rites of spring, be they seeding the garden or cleaning the cobwebs out of the grill, is one that’ll quench your thirst on a sunny afternoon yet stand up to an evening chill. You won’t go wrong with a hoppy and refreshing American brown ale, and nor would a porter be out of place on a cooler day. For this Saturday’s six-pack, though, I’m going to suggest a selection of beers that stays within one (admittedly broad) family, a family of beers that hits all the registers of spring in its arc between winter and summer: wheat beers.

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The Culture of EXTREME Beer

Courtesy stripes.com
extrembeer

Written by Tom Becham

Let me put this out there immediately: I like extreme beer. I enjoy the spirit of experimentation that results in high levels of alcohol, extremely bitter, sweet or sour flavors, unusual ingredients, or anything else that stretches the definition of beer. It shows the ingenuity and versatility of a brewer, and can be an adventure.

That being said, I also feel that Americans being who we are, extreme beer has the potential to get way out of hand. This is, after all, the land of “bigger, better, faster, louder, more”. One can walk into a grocery store, and find several dozen products which have artificial strawberry flavoring that is easily 40 times more intense than actual strawberries. The danger in this country is that extreme beer could relegate some subtler, yet quite delicious, older beer styles to the scrap heap of history. Continue reading “The Culture of EXTREME Beer”

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18 Overrated Beers

18 Overrated Beers

I take very seriously my role as the Lone Listicler, keeping my own counsel and avoiding the corrupting influences of scuttlebutt and daylight to provide the Beer Internet with its only fair and accurate source of rankings, slander, and bullshit. But I was nervous about this compilation of overrated beers, so I broke down and sought nominations from Twitter, my wife’s coworkers, and various other rubes and rummies who may or may not know the first goddamn thing about the listicular arts.

My cowardice was duly punished, because although I got a lot of good ideas, I also noticed a lot of consensus, which is antithetical to the very concept of overrated-ness. If everyone thinks a certain beer gets more credit than it deserves, then who’s doling out this phantom credit? So we need to arrive at some rough definition of “overrated,” which means this is going to be an abject shitshow.

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Flow Hive: Honey on Tap Directly From Your Beehive

It’s the beekeeepers dream…

Turn the tap and watch as pure, fresh, clean honey flows right out of the hive and into your jar. No mess, no fuss, no expensive processing equipment and without disturbing the bees.

We are excited to introduce our new invention that allows you to enjoy fresh honey straight out of your beehive without opening it. It’s far less stress for the bees and much, much easier for the beekeeper.

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Augurs of Spring: Wheat Beers Belgian, German, and American

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

Van-Gogh-Wheat-Fields-at-Auvers-Under-Clouded-Sky_July_1890-WikiCommons-300x240Warmer days and cool nights. April showers on the horizon. The occasional spring frost following upon a stretch of summer-like days.

Time to lay those warming Russian Stouts and barley wines down to rest for another season.

The quintessential beer for your rites of spring, be they seeding the garden or cleaning the cobwebs out of the grill, is one that’ll quench your thirst on a sunny afternoon yet stand up to an evening chill. You won’t go wrong with a hoppy and refreshing American brown ale, and nor would a porter be out of place on a cooler day. For this Saturday’s six-pack, though, I’m going to suggest a selection of beers that stays within one (admittedly broad) family, a family of beers that hits all the registers of spring in its arc between winter and summer: wheat beers.

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

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Austin: Twenty Beers and Breweries You Won’t Want to Miss

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Another edition of SXSW is upon us. If you’re from out of town, or even if you live in Austin, the plethora of excellent craft beer possibilities can make drink decisions a little daunting. But fear not. I’ve put together a list of some of my favourites so you can easily find both the finest beers and purveyors of those brews.

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

Tankards, Tankards, and More Tankards

How does it all shake out? Three tankards are up for grabs, and Tempest’s Tankards has all the details on how I approach evaluating beer.

A few notes:
•Austin is awash with some fine beverages…

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Beer Profile: Prairie Limo Tint

PAle

Profiled by Maria Devan

pgaprofilePours a mocha head of creamy thick foam that lasts on an opaque burnt caramel, dark brown body. Leaves sheets of shimmering lace as you drink.

Nose is roasty, milky. Sweet cream on roasted malts. Leather. Cocoa powder a nice light chocolate scent.

Taste is smooth and creamy. A big roasty malt that is so smooth and luscious. It tiptoes up to a touch of bitterness in that roast but stays shy. A silken caramel seems to come out of nowhere and glide over the back palate.

The mouthfeel is silken, creamy, soft, medium full and a touch chewy at times. Finish is sweet cream and roasted grains with chocolate on top.

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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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mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY, atop a steep hill that would be great for sledding, if not for traffic. Roller skates would probably have to out of the question. She has been reviewing beer for many years, even with many homebrewers and other beer critics across the nation, on the web. We are very lucky to have her here at PGA.

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Five Reasons Your Homebrew Doesn’t Suck

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Recently, Esquire published an online article titled, “Why Nobody Wants to Drink Your Home-Brewed Beer.” In it, the author — a chef named Chris Dudley — gave five reasons that (according to him) your beer sucks. What the article exuded in in-your-face attitude, it lacked in understanding of how beer is brewed or knowledge of the actual problems most commonly detected in homebrews.

Dudley’s article is so dumb, I’m not even going to bother to go through it point by point and demolish it. If you’re reading this website, you likely don’t need my help understanding what a steaming pile of dung his article is. But I would like to issue this rebuttal.

One of the overarching mistakes Dudley makes is to paint all homebrew with a single brush stroke. I’ll begin my article by making the same mistake — albeit by assuming all homebrew is wonderful. (I’ll fix that at the end.) My point will be that I can write a far superior (and technically sound) article praising homebrew than he can write damning it. With that in mind, here are my five reasons your homebrew doesn’t suck.

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