Professor Good Ales

Written by Jack Curtin for Craftbeer.com

If there is a tide in the affairs of men, it seems fitting that its currents made 2010 the year in which craft brewers packaging their brews in cans moved from oddity to trend. After all, 2010 marked the 200th anniversary of the can as a food and beverage container and the 75th anniversary of the beer can, which was introduced on January 24, 1935 with the test-market release of Krueger’s Cream Ale in steel cans.
Continue reading “It’s in the Can”

SAM, HOOK, TAP
Companies Sell Less Beer as Ingredient Prices Rise.

Written by Dennis Askew for smallcapnetwork.com

U.S. Brewers really have to be imaginative these days. They are facing the paradox that while sales are dropping, the costs to produce products is increasing in the form of commodity ingredients. Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) reported yesterday its Q4 net income fell by more than half partially because of ingredient costs.

Other U.S. Brewers like Boston Beer Company (NYSE:SAM) and Craft Brewers Alliance (NASDAQ:HOOK) are also feeling the pinch.
Continue reading “U.S. Beverage Brewers Face Cost Increases”

(States approach home brewing in many ways. It’s still illegal in Mississippi as far as The Professor knows, for example. States like Ole Miss could follow the example set here and include input from home brewers when they write home brew related bills- PGA)

Written by David Steves for the Register Guard

SALEM — Oregon homebrewers may have been barred by a legal quirk from entering their beers and ales in contests, but that hasn’t stopped them from enjoying a lively competition.

The one that played out came to a head, so to speak, Thursday, when a Senate panel approved one of the several bills aimed at restoring homebrewers’ rights to transport homemade beer to contests, festivals and other gatherings.

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From Centredaily.com and AP. Picture from fair website.

MEADVILLE, Pa. — The largest agricultural county fair in Pennsylvania will judge home-brewed beer for the first time in its 66-year history.

The Crawford County Fair Board voted 7-2 on Thursday to add beer to the roster of food and beverages judged at the fair. The fair began judging homemade wines in the mid-1990s.
Continue reading “For Our NW Pa. Readers and Beer Judges”

Posted by Eddie Gehman Kohan at obamafoodorama.blogspot.com

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have joined the home brewing beer trend that’s swept the US, and will be serving a very special White House brew tonight when they welcome guests for the annual Super Bowl party, to watch as the Packers take on the Steelers.

In a special turn of events in the history of White House food creations, one of the White House chefs has brewed White House Honey Ale, a White House aide exclusively tipped ObFo. It uses one pound of honey from this year’s 160-pound harvest of honey from the White House Bee Hive, which sits beside Mrs. Obama’s South Lawn Kitchen Garden.

The President, First Lady, and their guests will be sampling the special suds for the first time this evening. And the Obamas paid for the micro-brewing equipment, the aide noted, so there’s no impact on the national debt.
Continue reading “For Super Bowl Party, Obamas Serve Home-Brewed White House Honey Ale”

Upchucked by Ye Old Scribe after being force fed a can of…

Miller/Coors, one of the last tasteless beer mega-whores left in the USA has a “new” idea. A slogan! Scribe is impressed. Impressed there are actually idiots out there that might think this is something “new.”

The slogan is “The Official Beer of EWE!” OK, it’s “you,” not “EWE,” but don’t you think “EWE” more apt?

And get this! They’re willing to bribe you into agreeing with the slogan. You might get to be pictured on their Facebook page or appear in one of their ads if you sign up; attempt to add some respect to this slogan that means NOTHING.

Now Scribe will briefly say something positive about Miller/Coors. At least, if you believe them, they’re going to donate some money to Iraq and Afghan Vets for everyone who does something or other. A little vague. One hopes someone is monitoring those donations, other than the “brewery” making the offer: the one with a history of deceptive marketing. And what has that got to do with the “you” in the EWE?
Continue reading “Ye Olde Scribe Presents the Wouldn’t You Rather Puke? Beer Report’”

The Beer Expert is among the programs that can help users make sense of all the beers on the market. Second picture: the “Find Craft Beer” iPhone app.

Written by Bob Tedeschi for The NYT

My attention was elsewhere when the craft beer craze started, so I was caught off guard when my friends started talking about ales with a kind of snootiness one normally finds at a Grand Cru wine tasting.

I still lack the time, budget and liver to keep pace with those guys. But with an iPhone or a Droid, I can definitely fake it.

Spend a little beer money loading a handful of apps onto your smartphone, and the wretchedly complex world of brews becomes as clear as a Belgian wheat ale.
Continue reading “Checking Out a Lot of Beers, Without the Hangover”