Dirty South Beer Club

Benton the Younger

2012-01-26T11:34:00.001-08:00

Parallel posting at vargocity.com

Recently the Dirty South Beer Club pursued its second home brew project, again with the help of the pros at East Atlanta Brewery. The first one was a Russian Imperial Stout that was named for the arrival of the the Breed's first child, Frederick. The making of that brew was freezing and arduous, but the results were delicious. We enjoyed that beer for over a year and it kept getting better.

This time we sought to recreate what has often been referred to as one the best beers in the world: Russian River's Pliny the Elder. We got the recipe from this site which published a Russin River recipe for a home brew Pliny clone. We brewed it on Nov. 19th and were able to enjoy it in the first few weeks of the new year. This time, the group once again decided to mark the arrival of a new member by naming the beer in his honor. The beer is great, but still probably a runner -up to the original. However, I think the new label knocks the original out of the park.

Brew Gooders

2011-10-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a repost from Bloomberg of a recent interview with the Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer for Molson Coors - a huge beer distributor - about environmental stewardship

Bart Alexander is Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer for Molson Coors, the product of a 2005 merger between the two North American brewers. He spoke recently with Eric Roston, sustainability editor.

ER: Many people are still getting used to the notion, sometimes through caricature, of the “carbon footprint.” What’s a “beer print”?

BA: When you put a bottle of beer down you leave a water mark on the coaster. Our company leaves a mark on the world and its people. The challenge of the “beer print” to our employees is grow our “positive beer print” and shrink our “negative beer print.”That idea came out of a bit of a crisis we had. We rolled out a very typical corporate responsibility agenda and people’s eyes glazed over. The company’s leadership team said this isn’t getting through to employees. It needs to, so fix it. A group of us went off to a little mini-retreat. After a day and a half we came up with an idea that we all looked at and said, Yeah. It’s all right. I’ll live with that if I have to…

ER: What was it?

BA: “Connecting for Good.”

ER: Yeah… That’s an issue with this whole space: It all sounds like do-gooder pablum. But really, how does this affect the stock price?

BA: Financial stakeholders ask if a company is looking at risks and opportunities in a qualitative way. At the start, we really couldn’t show our return on investment for our company itself. We did some benchmarking and had generic data. There’s some evidence that companies with corporate responsibility programs outperform the wider market.People care about whether we’re sustaining the availability of water around our facilities or we’re creating community problems. Those are business issues. That’s why we bring together the water stakeholders wherever we do business. We just had a forum in Tadcaster, a water-stressed area in the U.K.

ER: So did Molson Coors go into this with just a sense, or was there a discrete event or study?

BA: I’m looking at our 2006 business case for corporate responsibility. It had about four pieces. A huge piece of it wasn’t driven by external metrics. It was driven by recognizing what we already felt was a part of our DNA at that point as a new company.Part of it was the no-brainer: all of the eco-efficiency measures.Employee engagement drove part of it. We had some evidence that companies with a high corporate responsibility performance have more engaged work forces.Also, we just looked at the trends: This is what’s expected of well-run companies.

ER: What’s all this look like on the ground?

BA: Here’s an example. There’s a fairly complicated system of reservoirs and pumps that deliver water to our Golden, Colo., facility. It used to run all the time, but didn’t need to. The water resources team said this is ridiculous. They requested capital expenditures to automate the whole thing, but got turned down that year.So they did manual charts to plot out by hand what the usage looked like and started turning pumps on and off. They came up with a significant reduction in both energy and water cost, just by using a back-of-the-envelope method.

ER: Is the management lesson to decline first-time requests for expensive capital?

BA: It’s to not let the lack of a sophisticated solution get in the way of a good and effective simple solution.ER: So how do you quantify fuzzy things that might affect reputation and standing?BA: This year we partnered with several organizations, including WWF in Canada to do what’s called the Red Leaf program. People can do shoreline clean-up or plant trees or event plant virtual trees through social media.Eventually we’ll be able to say how the Red Leaf program affects sales of Molson Canadian. It’s a little early right now to know that. It’s on our agenda for 2012.

ER: What peers have you learned the most from?

BA: When we started asking what guiding principles look like, we pulled a lot from the Cokes and Pepsi’s and the others of the world.Our head of supply chain had come from Campbell’s. I got to know the people at Campbell’s. I thought they were doing a fabulous job so we used them as a model. I particularly appreciated that they were reporting not just to the corporate social responsibility world but to the consumer.

ER: What are you reading?

BA: The Watchman’s Rattle. It’s a wake-up call book about what political, economic, and social challenges the world may be facing.

ER: Commodity prices are trending up globally. There are more consumers, but also staples cost more. How does that long-term trend factor into long-range planning?

BA: The beer business has fairly low profit margins, so the cost of goods is a huge driver of whether we have a good year or bad year. Not only in grains but aluminum and glass and other things.Risks in our supply of commodities are important. You look beyond just potential price and quality variations, and ask: What are some of the underlying factors that tell us a supplier has a handle on the future?

A recap from Grist can also be found here.

Saccharomyces eubayanus

2011-08-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

The source of a previously mysterious wild yeast has been discovered. Although we're not the biggest lager fans this cold-loving yeast is something to smile about. It was found in Patagonia, a region not known for its brew. And all this on the heels of an interesting piece on political attacks at funding for science. More research in the name of beer!!!!

Placebrewing

2011-06-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

A recent story (part 1 | part 2) by Dave Roberts at Grist, he has examined how food across the country has, in general, become boring, monotonous, and potentially dangerous as it has been supplied by a few large companies. His bigger goal is to detail what makes places great and to give us an idea of what we should be focusing on to make places better. In this recent section he uses food to lay out a plan for improving places: saying great food is an important part of great places. As an example of one 'food' that has overcome the domination and homogenization of large corporate domination is beer.

As recently as 1980, fewer than 50 gigantic brew facilities produced all of the beer consumed in the United States. Nearly all of it was horrible. Lovers of good beer were relegated to the tiny import section of the beer case, or to making their own. Today, there are more than 1,700 breweries in operation -- we've returned to the pre-Prohibition peak (granted, when the U.S. population was much smaller).

Roberts says the beer's example can teach us about the importance of regionality and economic diversity, not to mention how beer helps bring people together in public spots.

Beyonce

2011-05-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

You can't tell me that it's not Beyonce on the 16oz High Life cans. You need only tell me why?

BCBC

2010-10-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

The first thing I started to look for on a recent trip to Vancouver was a place to get a craft beer. I dreaded biding my time in the northwest with Molson and Labatts. While it was difficult to find many establishments with extensive beer selections we were able to find at least one local beers at most Thankfully, British Columbia had a variety of its own more interesting brews. After walking to a popular BBQ and Brewery place that appeared closed we finally found a little boutique whiskey bar in the up and coing Gastown neighborhood. The place was called Shebeen. I'm pretty sure it is housed in the Irish Heather Gastropub which would fit right in around the Decatur Square. I had an IPA on cask but don't recall the name.

Right across the street from our hotel was a liquor store. It, of course was very modern, attached to a trendy coffee shop, fitted with a vegetative roof, and had steady stream of live musicians performing on the street outside. Their selection was decent and they had several local brews so we stopped in often to pick up a bottle. The first one we tried was the Howe Sound Devil's Elbow IPA. Their beers come in these big bottles that were perfect for us to re-seal and keep in the hotel fridge for a day.

Next was Russel's A Wee Angry Scotch Ale. There are a surprising number of people with Scottish heritage in Vancouver. We met one while doing a hike at Grouse Mountain north of Vancouver. He talked with us all the way down the mountain and then gave us a ride back to our hotel and some dinner recommendations. He was not the wee-est bit angry.

Next was Mt. Begbie's Tall Timber Ale. This was a brown also and not my favorite of the trip but not bad. The guy who co-started the brewery has a PhD in Nuclear Physics, like my college roommate. The website says he prefers to make beer, not war. My old roommate does not drink.

Finally we bought ourselves Driftwood Brewery's Driftwood Ale. This brewery has only been around for two years but it looks like they have some interesting varietal IPAs, like the Santori Harvest IPA - featuring BC hops - and their one-a-year wet-hopped Fat Tug IPA.

On the last day we headed to Granville Island - a little haven for artists and boutique crafty types. The is also a brewery on the island called, appropriately, Granville Island Brewery. We each sampled three different brews which were only mildly impressive. All -in-all though we were surprised by the amount of BC-crewed beer there was to be had (in the liquor store, at least). It was not as easy to find all of these interesting local brews at restaurants and bars. Also I was impressed with the quality of many of these small operation beers that we found at the liquor store. It seems that the region's rapidly increasing interest in craft beer is just another reason to head there for vacation.

the king of beer(s) club in, um "wine" country!?

2010-10-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

King of Beer(s) Club says hello from California! Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, that is.

Pop quiz: name all the awesome breweries in these two counties:

Answer (off the top of my head):
Russian River (Santa Rosa)
Lagunitas (Petaluma)
Bear Republic (Healdsburg)
Anderson Valley (Boonville)
Mendocino (middle of nowhere nearish to Mendocino)
North Coast (Fort Bragg)

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN.

OK, so now name all the awesome wineries in these two counties.

Sike. That is a silly question. There are so many. I experienced a couple today. Didn't think I'd appreciate them, but, um, I did. Shhhhhhhhh. This one and this one in particular.

But enough about wine. Snobs.

BEEEEEEEER!

So far soooooooo good. Sleeping Brewty and I have hit up Lagunitas, Russian River, and Anderson Valley. Each had its unique charm.

Lagunitas beers tasted:

Maximus (Imp IPA: Thumb UP
Wet Hop Pale Ale (on cask): Thumb DOWN, nice try guys.
Spicy IPA: Thumb confused (habenero in my IPA!?) but upish!
A Little Sumpin' Wild: Thumb UP UP UP!
Bourbon Barrel Aged Cappuccino Stout: Thumb UP (Katy's was WAY UP!)
Fusion 2 (Black IPA) : Thumb SIDEWAYS

Russian River beers we done slurped up:

Pliny the (freakin) Elder!!!!: Thumbs UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP. Maybe the beer I'd choose to drink for the rest of my life, if I had just one choice.
After a pint o' Pliny, I decided to push my limits and asked for a sample of all the Belgian style beers they had on hand. I received the following (to the best of my memory)
Temptation
Supplication
Redemption
Salvation
Sanctification
Damnation
Consecration
Compunction
And a couple others
Four sours were among the bunch. Though I'm still warming to sours, I could tell that these were superb (especially for an 'merican brewery).

Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Beers that got drunked into my mouth:

Imperial IPA: For real thumb up.
Mendo Mellow Fresh Hop IPA: Thumb UPPPPPPPPP!
Bahl Hornin' Imperial Boont Amber Ale: Thumb Sideways
3-Way: Imperial ESB aged in whiskey barrels and mixed with the Imperial IPA and Amber. Whoa. Thumb up.
Brother David's Belgian-style Double Ale: Thumb sideways
Brother David's Triple Abbey Style Ale: Thumb sideways
Somethin else.

More to come.

PS: We were totally blown away to meet a serious foodie and wine head (the son of the French Laundry owners) who grew up a stones throw from Santa Rosa and hadn't even heard of Russian River. WTF. WTF!?

Does This Beer Make Me Look Fat?

2010-10-13T11:01:00.001-07:00

The Daily Beast has gathered the 50 most fattening beers and put them together into an annoying little slide show.

Don't let that stop you from counting calories though! And while you're counting, please go ahead and create a cost-benefit analysis based on caloric intake, alcohol content, deliciousness and session-ability.

Which beer is the best bang for the belly? I'll be waiting.

(h/t Amelia for the link)

A Drinking Club with an Arm Wrestling Problem

2010-10-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

Mixing Business and Pleasure...

2010-09-16T07:14:00.001-07:00

I don't often get to talk about beer at work. But here you go, a great article about how those ancient Israelites loved the heck out of the bubbly brew:

Ancient Israelites, with the possible exception of a few teetotaling Nazirites and their moms, proudly drank beer—and lots of it. Men, women and even children of all social classes drank it. Its consumption in ancient Israel was encouraged, sanctioned and intimately linked with their religion. Even Yahweh, according to the Hebrew Bible, consumed at least half a hin of beer (approximately 2 liters, or a six-pack) per day through the cultic ritual of libation, and he drank even more on the Sabbath (Numbers 28:7–10). People who were sad were advised to drink beer to temporarily erase their troubles (Proverbs 31:6).

Now all those rowdy kids can just tell their parents that they were "studying biblical times."

Decatur's Newest Beer Baby

2010-09-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

Big news! A new craft brewery, Wild Heaven, has set up shop in Decatur. Brickstore will have them on tap as of next week. Exciting!

They've got two beers ready to launch --

Invocation – Belgian Golden Ale, 8.5% ABV. Sweet candi sugar nose, with a light malt body.
Ode To Mercy – Imperial Brown, 8.2% ABV. Brewed with a special blend of coffee from 1,000 faces in Athens, GA.

Best of all? Their tagline is "Serve Your Neighbor." I hope we can all help them live up to it.

Really, I do.

2010-08-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had fun bottling beer.
Sorry we couldn't make it.

Was it good?

This list is not right.

2010-08-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

(Does this place look like beer city?)

Huffington Post lists their top 13 beer cities, and while some of them are on target, some are way off. I mean, Burlington at number 3? What could they be thinking? Magic Hat over Portland, Asheville, Montreal, or the drrrrtydrrrrty?

What would you put in your top 10 beer cities?
Any dark horses?
What about Holland, Michigan?

Pictures of the Beast

2010-08-31T12:37:00.001-07:00

Here it is; a picture of fried beer that I mentioned a couple days ago:

(via the Telegraph)

DFHTV

2010-08-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

Guess I missed this (or maybe I just missed somebody else posting it), but I guess the new DFH Sam TV show starts soon. At least they are not calling it something dumb like "DFH 60 Minute India Pale T-ALE-evision Show."

Could it get any better?

2010-08-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Now beer + state fair = disaster, but beer + robot = good times.

Now, I did try to warn you, via the blog.

2010-08-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

Breaking news: Italy getting better at making beer.

I still think this was a great beer when I had it over there, and DFH was supposed to put it out in the states this spring, but I haven't seen it anywheres. Apparently it's at DFH brewpubs.

State fair + beer = mistake.

2010-08-27T06:19:00.001-07:00

I wonder what Michael Pollan would say.

Beer Club Needs You

2010-08-21T09:29:00.001-07:00

Well folks, we just can't do this alone. Beer club is a team effort, and as a blog reader, you are part of the team. We have been stalling out lately. Yet everyone is surely aching a little bit in their hearts from a lack of regular Beer Club meetings. In fact as I sat doing something on this past Thursday I thought--wow, today is the Third Thursday and we are not doing Beer Club. Something is really wrong.

Some clubs naturally die or phase out, but I am quite confident that Beer Club is not one of them. Simply put, we are too committed. To each other. To All that is Right. To Love. To Life. To Good Beer.

And we do have some ideas. In fact today during my apartment clean up, here a number of beer club ideas I found.

Here are a few:

Cheese & Beer: This is not pleasing to Ariel--our resident cheese hater
Barrel & Oak-aged varieties: However, as Brick Store employees pointed out to us, this is really just a trend right now. But hey--we are nothing if not trend seekers.
BBQ & Beer: This sounds like a great idea and pretty easy to arrange. We did something like this semi-recently with a quorum of us but was unofficial. So that means we reserve the right to do it again.
Cans and camping: We already did this, sort of of, without the camping.
Imperial beers: We've long discussed this, and as good patriotic Americans, most of us really love the imperials more than anything else. But this would be hard because we'd be able to consume so very little--imperial beers are simply too high in gravity!
International beers: Obviously we know Mikkeller and a lot of the Belgians, but this would be a compromise between the Tet-Offensive idea and the Below the Border idea. This would give us more room for finding special international beers. Personally, I do not think this would be a good one.
Macro beers: Well, you can't win 'em all, and speaking of theme ideas I'm not crazy about, this one just won't go away. The King of Beers Club has long wanted to a taste testing of the macros, or "Buy what you can get as a gas station." I would have to fake sick this day.
Beer Prom: No idea.
Beer Babies: WHAT?!?! Why did I even write this one down on my scrap of paper? Is this in honor of the Founders beer with the baby on it?
Lawn games & Beer Club: This is not a theme.
Fatty night: Um...someone help me out here!
Five Seasons: This is an idea Sam has been long cooking up, and we will be ready to jump when she says the word. How high, Sam?
Japanese: A riff on some other themes. I think it would just feature Hitachino. Yawn!
Single Hop: Wouldn't be too vast, I think Mikkeller would be one of the only (??)
Restaurant Beer Club: Idea is to take over a BYOB place like Lunacy Black Market. Fun!
Beers You Crave:
Special Stash: This is a GREAT idea, whoever came up with it--we all bring someone super special and delicious. Kinda a "best of" night!
Non-Beer Night: We've often talked about bourbon tastings, wine tastings, etc. And taken no action.
Southern European/Mediterranean night: Nothing comes to mind. Blank slate!
Best Name: Like it sounds.
Best Looking: Like I said.
North Cakalacky: How could we not?
Pies, cakes, and beers: Yum.

Friends, those are our brainstormed ideas, generated a few beers in. Let's see where we can go from here.

Beer Club: Reignited

2010-08-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hi to all of our faithful readers! I'm sure both of you have been eagerly awaiting a post from Sleeping Brewty.

Well wait no more, here I am to quench your brewsky thirst.

First, an important item that all of you (and us) should run out and get. Someone has forwarded this wonderful beer journal my way. Check this out:As you all surely know, Beer Club always works hard to document all of our witty and hilarious comments. In fact we used to regularly post our beer comments, more for our amusement than anything else. But this journal?! Daaaaaayam, how perfect is it for us DSBC folk? Whoever gets it for us will win a one-time membership to our exclusive club.

Where have we been, you ask? Like the Unitarians, we seem to have been taking the summer off. Except not really, as we had an amazing CANS beer club. Thank goodness we had Oskar Blues and 21st Amendment. And Vargo's delightful porch. Summertime beer club is low key. Yet still pretty fun and delicious.

In other exciting news, DSBC will soon be bottling its brew. And getting more famous-er with its world-class beer.

Someone post a comment to inspire us to keep blogging!

The End of History Ale -- Do You Know Where Your Pets Are?

2010-07-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

BrewDog's The End of History Ale is 55% ABV. If that's not enough, you can drink it out of a dead squirrel. If that's not enough, your squirrel might just have a top hat. What?

(h/t clusterflock)

Potential Friends, Frenemies, or Enemies?

2010-05-22T08:44:00.001-07:00

We like beer.

We are friends.

Does that make us The Beer Friends?

I wish. Unfortunately, that title has already been taken by these four gentlemen, whom we either need to befriend or destroy, as I see it.

It appears they compare a couple beers, or at least review one, every month or so. They put those updates, as well as other beer-related content, on their blog. And then they enjoy one another's company and get a little drunk. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Hopefully we don't need to kill these dudes, because I think I like them.

In fact, I'm even a little inspired by them. Could video be next for the DSBC? A yet-to-be-released arm wrestling video says yes!

EARTH DAY Beer Club

2010-04-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

My friends, the official meeting minutes are coming. But we want to make sure you are enjoying this beautiful spring as much as we are.

About half of DSBC made it to Northern Georgia to the Mountain House where we are officially celebrating Earth Day a little early. We have now consumed several earth-related beers, including SARA, FORET, Consecration, Midas Touch, Unearthly IPa, and more coming. Organic beers are delicious, and so are all the other beers we've tried!

So please, do yourselves a favor, and celebrate earth day with us by selecting a tasty beer and enjoying it.

Cheers!

Landfill Beer: Worth It?

2010-04-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

After watching 700 cases of beer be destroyed (cue this memorable scene) in a Columbia, Missouri landfill, two brave city employees took matters into their own hands.

Literally. They took/rescued 50 cases of beer.

Problem is, apparently once anything enters a landfill, it becomes city property. Now these two completely level-headed, beer-loving men are in hot water for theft. Boo.

Thankfully, Treehugger has taken their cause to heart, and BoingBoing picked up on the story. I hope this leads to some amazing, pro-bono legal counsel because: come on. No one should lose their job for Michelob Ultra.

Glassware Can Be Fun!

2010-04-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

If you drink a fine beer -- say, the Founder's Centennial IPA we enjoyed the other night -- out of a Mickey's glass, do you think they fight?

Either way, I think these recycled glasses are a great idea. I'm particularly keen on the Red Stripe set.

BREAKING NEWS

2010-03-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Really, really shocking stuff. Some cutting edge journamalism (via the Onion).

How to make a beer tasting party look boring - 101

2010-03-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

How To Throw a Beer-Tasting Party on Howcast

I'd like to share a few responses to some tips and quotes contained in this masterpiece.

Tip: Invite friends who drink beer. King of Beers(Club) [KoB(C)] Response: Friends who don't drink beer? Shit, as far as I'm concerned, friends don't let friends have friends who don't drink beer.
Tip: Don't wear perfume to a beer tasting party. KoB(C) Response: Here is the Dirty South, we take that very seriously.
Tip: Meet in a room with cursive "laugh" and "love" wall hangings. KoB(C) Response: I don't really have anything to say about that, but found it amusing.
Best line: "If the party is a success discussion of beer debates may be unfocused." KoB(C) Response: Huh? What is a "discussion of beer debate?" Clearly they were "successed" when they made the video.

This video has inspired me to want to make a "how-to host a dirty south beer tasting" video. Might take a year or so, but we'll knock your beer goggles off.

Bars v. Grocery Stores in the United States

2010-03-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

We have our work cut out for us. Floating Sheep has more on the beer belly of America.

(h/t Clusterflock)

A Bintang for me and a Bintang for you

2010-03-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

I've always been particularly unkind to (especially Southeast) Asian beers. Probably because I hate pilsners, and I've not yet met a Southeast Asian beer I haven't hated. (Read: I hate Asian beer)

So what was I to do in Indonesia? I've been in that spot before...nothing around except tons of the local brew in some hot and sweaty country, where cocktails and wine are not of interest at all, and really nothing can beat bottled water.

Indonesia was no exception. Nothing but pilsners. Watery, sour, stinky pilsners. In a world where Heineken is a "luxury" you can believe I will take anything but.

BeerAdvocate gave it a generous C-.

In spite of all of the above, I will admit to enjoying a Bintang on a hot Indonesian night along with my nasi goreng...mmm...don't get me started on Indonesian food!

20 Things Worth Knowing About Beer

2010-02-23T05:53:00.000-08:00

From The Oatmeal
(I have posted and reposted this a couple times but can't get the images to line up perfectly - to see this as it is meant to be seen, you can visit the website The Oatmeal where it originally appeared...)

Just when you thought this was totally random, you saw the ad for the "Cozy" that I won in our Dirty South Dirty Santa...it always comes back to the Dirty South Beer Club...

Tickle my Hotmouth: February Beer Club

2010-02-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

Tickle my Hotmouth: February Beer Club

We assemble en masse chez Melrose Place, Decatur. We await Vargo (and sidekick Lauren), Lain & Amelia, and Christa but we choose not to wait…with the goods ahead! Because, after all, it’s February.

And February means one things: PAIRINGS.

Pairings is actually a repeat for this DSBC, but we felt since it was probably our favorite event last year (save the Mountain beers at the Mountain house…nothing tops that!), we should repeat.

So repeat we did.

Here’s how it works: You bring a pairing of beer with whatever it pairs best with. Last year, for instance, there was a classic and award winning funky blue cheese with a St Peters English Porter. Or a pretzel with a German beer. There was an epic chocolate stout and Brooklyn Black Chocolate—an epic failure, that is.

Soft cow’s cheese, radish, micro greens crostini.

• Damn, dude, that is so good!
• Spice of the beer and the creaminess of the cheese. It’s very French to go with the Belgian.
• Damn, I’m in love with that beer! Yeasty and tasty divine-ness!
• Double it all, mouths off Rupesh! Triple that!
• That’s gonna be hard to beat, says the scribe, in my mouth at least!
• My new favorite beer! Shouts the scribe, again.

Now we turn to a story about Improv Everywhere…(insert link to Best Buy Improv Everywhere video) in an attempt to label…wait, I shouldn’t admit to our upcoming prank.

And we move on…to Vichtenaar, a red Flemish ale. Paired with scotch-infused chocolate covered bacon. OH MY!

• That’s a crazy combo!
• I get raspberry and cola, Brennan says, not too “funky.” I note a total absense of horse blanket.
• The acid in the Flemish cuts through the fatty bacon, explains Sam (who treated us to this)
• This is all I want to eat now!
• Can we have a chocolate covered bacon night?
• The sour in the beer complements the sweet.
• Sweet finish, Ajay chimes in, not too much.
• OH MY GOD.

Amelia shares that Lain once said “chocolate covered bacon is gross. I will never eat that.” Time will tell if that is true!

Third pairing: Ommegang Abbey Ale with sweet and spicy pecans.

• Toasty!
• I like that!
• The flavor profile is similar to the bacon fatty. The Ommegang is sharp and jumpy.
• The nuts become the top notes of flavor. And you get a sharper bass note that you don’t normally get to enjoy on its own.
• You get a nice thingy, says Ajay, quite the technical term
• It makes the beer taste fuller
• I like it!
• Bitter finish…may not be salvageable with these amazing nuts.
• Delicious homemade pralines!
• Tickle my hopmouth! Says the King of Beers Club.

We discuss how Rupesh likes Budweiser. And whether Guinness is vegan! It is not. (but please feel free to prove us wrong!) Then we discuss why you would ever want to drink Guinness anyway. The word Guinness is starting to look really weird to me. Gweeeeee-ness.

Our fourth pairing identified us all through Katy return address stickers. Stuck on our persons, we all felt united in a singular personhood. And our beer? Thatcher’s Katy Cider!

But the presentation didn’t stop there, oh no. It’s was time to get multimedia on our asses. Katy movie time! SERVED WITH GUMMI EGGS (over easy I MEAN SUNNY SIDE UP).

• The cider is disgusting – Katy, re: herself
• Smack smack smack
• This tastes like cheese
• This kinda tastes like meat in a weird way
• The eggs are probably gross, but not as bad as the beer
• Cloying sweet, salt
• How can we discuss the funk that is this cider?
• I kinda like it in a real weird way
• It’s just really, really sweet
• It tastes like something that it’s not
• Tastes like it could be a hooch – a fruit hooch at home
• Skunked? Nah, it might just taste that way.
• Where’s the discharge?

The next pairing came from the brain of Chad Bonner. It’s performance themed. We aren’t allowed to drink once served. The beer: Raison d’Atrearewoivawerfmaw by Dogfish Head.

Then, Chad unfurled a sheet of paper. We raised our glasses to Chad, hesitantly. Chad read aloud a poem “suited to the beer.”

• My favorite Dogish. Better than 90? Oh, I really liked 120.
• All of Dogfish’s heavy stuff.. ohhhhh, that’s the best.
• Dogish Head has recently quadrupled their production (oh wow!)
• It’s on Netflix, apparently. Ariel didn’t watch it because she was wirting her dissertation.
• Chad’s poem, by W.B. Yeats, was about liars, and sitting back and letting everyone else vote. It was from “The Old Stone Cross.” Chad chickened out on the love poem.
• Discussion of the Dogfish Head article in either the New York Times or the New Yorker.
• Another article in the New York Times discusses the Vietnamese, who have some pretty crazy stuff.
• Ariel’s cousin Tacos lives in Dubai. He loves it there.
• Katy likened Dubai to Mall of America. Ha! I doubt there is an American Girl Store in Dubai, thankyouverymuch.
• Discussion of women’s rights in Dubai and blah blah blah.
• Brennan talks about Dubai. It’s captivating so far. Still good. Talking about ex-pats in credit card debt who get stuck there. They won’t let the wives leave, who are rich but homeless. Where is the justice? Where is the furor? Brennan: like whoa, crazy. The rest of us concur.
• Ariel suggested that Brennan and Catherine name their baby Zamboni.
• Katy is going to Jakarta for a week. Sounds bonkers. Delta miles: booya!
• Winnie stepped on my foot.
• Lain is “rolling with it.” It being the computer.
• Ariel is embarrassed to blog because Chad shamed her once.
• There are a lot of candy eggs left. Ajay is saving his for later in his mouth.
• Talk of “licking before sticking.” Will explore later.
• Discussion of Lain and Amelia’s life. It is the most interesting thing that anyone has ever heard.
• Ben put the gummy eggs in his eyes, confusing and delighting everyone but Winnie, who didn’t care.
• Lain went on and on about his work. Eyes glazed over except Winnie’s. She was entranced.
• Sam asked me about my progress. I’m typing pretty good. 80 wpm (adjusted).

Christa’s offering: goat cheese and brandy honey. Bieken ale. It’s belgian. Blond honey, like the ladies called me in junior high. Christa spoke highly of Divine’s, her local beer store. The proprieter of the store stated that this is his favorite beer.
• Amelia was reading over my shoulder and I lost a lot of discussion.
• More beer stores in DC. YAWN! Some of us have never left Decatur, okay?
• Honey is phenomenal. Brennan’s mom brought it from a monestary in VA.
• The goat cheese is from Publix, and is not just whatever!
• The beer is perhaps too subtle for the honey.
• Beer is awesome. Great. I’d guzzle it in the middle of the summer. I’d drink the hell out of it right now.
• Discussion of the fucking weather. Amen. Unreasonable. Undying. Don’t want to talk about it.
• Talk of the South’s inability to deal with snow. Taco Mac is swimming in sand. Folks are still trapped in there. It snowed, like two weeks ago.
• Sam mentioned this crazy CD where the dogs and the babies listen to the same music. Nobody knows why.
• Reminiscing about the chocolate covered bacon, and rightfully so.
• Sent an email. Awesome.

Amelia and Lane’s pairing
Collaboration of Stone and Cambridge Brewdog, black pilsner
Highland Tap black bread
Whoa, that is a rye bread!
I love this pairing
This beer is phenomenal alone!
Nicely done!

It was sort of like, I read a little bit about the beer and it seemed like it might make sense,
You think of a pilsner you think of a light beer, not like this
The dark side of pilsners
The bitter citrus peel goes well with the bitterness of the beer
Parallel tasting – “Pair-a-llel tasting?”
Two finishes to the beer – first pilsner finish, then a stout finish
On the bottle “We hope this beer will be like a punch in the face”
Least predictable pairing, dark horse entry, random sports metaphor here
Chad’s luge ride in my mouth
We finally found a pilsner we like!

Katy and Ben’s pairing II
Independent craft brewery Trogue’s JavaHead
Ben’s famous salted cowboy cookies

The first thing I noticed was the mouthfeel – it’s velvety!
I love the way the beer smells
Chocolate and coffee stout can never go wrong
Fizzy slickness
Thin, no finish
Feels like a slip n slide on my mouth, I need to [put board shorts on my tongue
The cookie brings out the nuttiness of the beer, it mellows out the beer
Acidic beer
Which onsies are we making for the Breed[er]’s baby
Great head on the beer

Discussion of nude men and superbowl beer politics. In fact, I don’t even remember the game being on.
Girls in wet t-shirts. Guy gets hit in the balls. Beer, oh wait never mind.
Wouldn’t order the beer on its own, but would use it as the “milk” over cowboy cookies “Cookie Crisp cereal” style

Brennan walks in with challah and Nutella
Katy tries to capture it on her camera phone but goes to sit in Ben’s lap instead.
Hoppin Frog, barrel-aged Boris oatmeal imperial stout
Bodacious Russian blah blah
It’s from Akron?
You can’t get it here but they sell it in NC, just happened to be in Durham.
Brennan threatened the store owner with physical violence and promised to exchange his firstborn for the stout – oh, sorry.

There’s Nutella in it, but put it on it.
Brennan explains how to braid your hair. He has practiced on Catherine.

Talk of a beer club progressive

Vanilla, bourbon strong,
Pairing brings out boozy
Boozy but amazing
Bread is good
Challah back girl
Beer is boozy but bread balances it out
I tries the beer and it was like alcohol and then the bread and it was like good
Response: nice story
Decadent dessert
Talk of a gefilte fish beer

YUM!!!!!

So in third place is THE FLEMISH SOUR AND BACON!!!!!!!!!!

In second place is….THE NUTELLA STUFFED CHALLAH AND STOUT!!!!!!!

AND IN FIRST PLACE IS AJAY!!!!!!!!!!! With the crostini and Bruery Mischief Ale.

Congrats to all participants. Nicely done!!!

How to Explain It to My Parents -- Beer as Art

2010-02-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

Artist and brewer Arno Coenen has brewed his own beer that "everyone will like" and created a branding campaign surrounding it. The trickiest part -- how do you explain to your dad that your beer is art?

(h/t Stewart Haddock)

Big Beer just got Bigger

2010-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Maybe you already know Avery's slogan, "small brewery, big beers" but they're walking the walk by producing beers like the Mephistopheles' Stout. This Imperial comes in at over 16% ABV (Denver Post, 15.1% at Avery Website). It is a part of the Demons of Ale Series.

Not surprisingly it is among the highest ABVs in beer; in the top 25 (according to beertutor.com). This raises the question of how high they should go and if, at some point, it stops being beer for most people. I'm not even sure how you drink something like that. Naming the beer after one of the seven princes of hell may not be the best way to win over those more conservative beer drinkers. The brewer's description for the second highest ABV beer - the wonderfully named Tactical Nuclear Penguin -states "This is an extremely strong beer, it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance."

Aging Beer with Style

2010-02-04T11:53:00.001-08:00

We should check this guy out - he's got a blog called the "Brew Basement" about cellaring beer, full of helpful tips and interesting tasting notes. We need to put our Stout down for a while, so read up.

Are You Ready For Some Beer Commercials?

2010-02-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

Oh, yes, ladies and gents, it's almost time for that magical night of football that gets in the way of beer ads: yes, the Super Bowl. From the halcyon days of the "Bud Bowl" to the amazing body of Will Ferrell, the Super Bowl has brought us, year in and year out, mildly amusing 30-second spots hawking tasteless fermented corn-water. What will it be this year? I can't wait.

And catch this: not only the worst-written article ever (seriously, your standards have fallen, Chicago Tribune), but the headline sums up the poor content, to match: "Purdue Professor Says Alcohol Ads Are Confusing." A professor (yes, someone who supposedly wrote a dissertation, etc.) says that beer ads are weird, because they always tell you to drink responsibly but they are trying to sell beer, so if you got drunk they would be richer. See the problem? Geez, Chicago Tribune, you don't need to teach at Purdue to know that beer ads are full of contradictions, the least of which is their "drink responsibly" message. How about the "guy who drinks lots of beer all the time gets the hot model to go out with him" motif for a more confusing one?

Hmm, That Gets Me Thinking...

2010-02-03T08:09:00.001-08:00

...but the end of the story makes me think twice about the ruse. The kid's going to have to get his beer some other way.

Green Beer: Two Ways

2010-02-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

St. Patty's and the Environment meet in Goose Island's Green Beer.

Drink Generously -- Today Only!

2010-02-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

For today (Monday, February 1st) only, various Decatur businesses will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the American Red Cross for earthquake relief in Haiti. You can see the full list of participants here.

Included are several of my favorite places to enjoy a beer:

Brick Store Pub -- duh.
The Marlay House -- formerly The Grange, they're donating not only tonight's proceeds, but those from this past Saturday's renaming party. Awesome.
Twain's Billiards and Tap -- our closest brewpub -- plus they have trivia tonight at 8pm!
Universal Joint -- sometimes I forget about them outside of patio season. I shouldn't.

Even more heartening for fans of beer (and Decatur)? All of the proceeds raised today will be matched by the Decatur Beer Festival. Impressive, no?

I hope everyone will take this opportunity not only to support the American Red Cross, but to encourage the generosity and kindness of our local businesses. Cheers!

HopSlam--not as elusive as we thought!

2010-01-30T07:38:00.000-08:00

How does this story start? It starts out a year ago when Ben returned from Western North Carolina after a trip to our favorite Bruisin' Ales (yup, the third rated beer retailer in the world!) with one bottle of HopSlam (yup, the 16th best beer in the world) that Ben had saved to share with me. Lucky me! He told me that one tiny little bottle of beer cost about $4. I was almost Hoppin' mad at how much a dinky beer cost, that is, til I tried it. The floweriness of it, the crispness, oh mouth delight; a Midwestern IPA at it's very best. Something to compete with those big boys on the West Coast. In sum, I loved it.

But Bell's, and the HopSlam in particular, remained totally out of grasp. That is, until Bell's came to Georgia just a few weeks ago. No longer did we have to wait to go to Minnesota, Illinois, or even NC to get us some good Bells. Bells had finally come to us. Indeed, soon we wuz sippin on Java Stout, Cherry Stout, an occasional Expedition Stout, the Winter Wheat, and the beloved 2 Hearted Ale. Change was in the air.

In fact just last week Larry Bell was at the BSP and was supposed to bring the Hopslam, but something about it got stuck in I don't know where for what no good reason. Grrr...!

One night this week at the BSP, we saw bar tenders acting a bit sneaky. They kept pouring out of a tap that had some fake-a$$ sign on it into Bell's glasses. After a delicious Founders (also new to GA, and a very welcome addition!) Double Trouble, we finally asked our favorite bar tender (Brian( what was going into those cups. I said "It's not the HopSlam, right?!" and Brian lowered his voice and leaned into me and said "yes....shhhhh....! I would have told you but I just got here."

And there you go. The story of how we got screwed at the BSP. Luckily Brian spilled the beans and we came back another night they had it on tap, but apparently they aren't advertising it at all, you have to be in the know. Well we are now considering ourselves IN THE KNOW. They are due to tap another keg of it on Monday...but you will have to ask for it!

Regardless, I found HopSlam at Green's last weekend (at a pretty penny of $15 a 6 pack) and then we had it on tap at Octane, where it also wasn't on the menu yet but very clearly being served. The HopSlam won't be around for long, so drink it while you can, and make sure you ASK at your favorite bar establishment if they are serving it! Moral of the story: where there is a will, there is a way.

RateBeer Best of 2009

2010-01-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Though they call it "Best 2010", it seems better to think of this as a Best of 2009 list. I don't really get how they think they know the future, or whatever, but RateBeer's best of the year is now online.

Best Beers in the World: Imperial Stouts again dominate. How will ours stack up? Also, best beers by style. Founder's porter is the 5th best porter in the world? Wouldn't have guessed. Also, I feel vindicated that the best porter in the world was that one Matt Vivian brought to beer club last spring that I liked a lot (but it was a solid thumbs-sideways all around. Maybe we don't like porters as a group?)

Best Beer Stores in the World: Bruisin Ales is third, and Hop City is 23rd! Also, the Five Points Bottle Shop in Athens is 24th. I bet that stings when you lose out to a local newcomer by one point in a worldwide competition.

Viva Decatur: BrickStore gets #6 in the world for bars; not bad. The best in the world is Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa, which across the street from Bir & Fud - which I happened to blog about a couple of weeks ago. So, if you want to read about the bar across the street from the best bar in the world, check it out. (I thought they were like Leon's and Brickstore, actually - same owners - but to tell you the truth we went to Bir & Fud because it looked better). And check out the top 50 US beers - we need to get out hands on some AleSmith, Cigar City and more Three Floyds. WHere does your favorite beer rank?

Chad's Take on Cans

2010-01-26T06:52:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting article about the anniversary of the beer can - from someone who wishes they hadn't been born. Their basic point is that the beer can has been bad for beer and the environment. One interesting question is why Americans are the only ones in the world drinking from cans. Excerpt:

Seventy five years is a good retirement age. It is time to retire the beer can and the disposable bottle and switch to good local beer in returnable bottles. It is not only the green thing to do, but it tastes better. As Pablo noted in Eat Local, Drink Local Beer:
The best solution for keeping your eco-impact low is to drink local beer. Not only does this support your local economy, and support the art of craft beer making, but it is also a great way to enjoy creative and innovative new recipes and techniques.

So I happened to be at the Brick Store...

2010-01-25T18:51:00.001-08:00

...and it was the night that Brasserie des Franches Montagnes was in town. I had posted about it earlier, forgot, and then showed up with a couple of friends just in time for them to tap the special keg brought over from Switzerland. The brewmaster, Jerome Rebetez wasn't in the main bar (he was upstairs), but I wasn't in the mood for awkward beer conversation anyway - mainly because I've never tried their beers before. (Imagined dialogue: Brennan: Hey, so, what kind of beers do you, um, make? Jerome: I came across the Atlantic and you didn't even try my beer yet?) After trying a beer, I said hello and thanks for bringing the cask. He's nice.

So of course I got the beer on cask - the Tarry Suchong, a smoked beer brewed with Lapsang Souchong tea leaves, the really smoky kind. It was a rusty orange/brown color, cloudy, no head. Very odd but intriguing appearance. Smelled faintly smoky and lemony. The mouthfeel was very light, and the taste was very much like tea with lemon or orange, and a sweet smoky flavor filled in behind. Not nearly as smoky as the tea, and the taste wasn't as strong as the smell. Honestly, you could have told me it was a fermented strong tea and I might have believed you. But you know, it was good, in a very strange sort of way. I most definitely ordered another round, since I figured it would be a while until I tasted anything this good and unusual at the same time. Dogfish Head, move over - there's another crazy beer brewer in town. Highly recommended, even if just for a taste.

Ummm...

2010-01-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

...Who wants to try it first?

Freshly shucked oysters and beer go hand-in-hand like milk and cookies - but a beer actually brewed with the slimy, salty delicacies and their liquor?
It was a go yesterday for Harpoon Brewery and Island Creek Oysters. The Boston beer maker teamed with the Duxbury oyster farm to produce the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Island Creek Oyster Stout.

Sounds like this was dreamed up by boys in a middle school cafeteria in an attempt to gross out some girls, but Harpoon swears that it won't taste Oyster-y - they claim that it simply boosts the protein and thus pumps up the body of the beer. I'll believe it when I see it...

Burger King Bar... Sets the Bar Low

2010-01-24T10:14:00.001-08:00

Well, if you're the kind of person that hangs out at Burger King, things just got a whole lot better:

Gimme a Whopper, fries — and a beer.
Those words are no longer wishful thinking. Friday, Burger King (BKC) will unveil plans to sell beer and burgers at a Whopper Bar — a new BK concept to compete with casual dining restaurants — in Miami Beach's tourist-heavy South Beach. The South Beach Whopper Bar is scheduled to open in mid-February.

I actually really like the trend that more casual, "family" type places are serving alcohol. I mean, I haven't eaten at a Burger King in about a decade, but it's this kind of change that might help folks of all stripes loosen up about alcohol. To bad they're just serving MillerCoors.

Beer Blinded Me with Science

2010-01-20T05:49:00.000-08:00

I recently came across this categorically exhaustive graphic of the beer spectrum. Does it look like anything else you've seen before? Yeah, that's right. The periodic table of elements! If, like me, you loved 9th grade Chemistry, then this will be right up your alley.

As a visualization for beer education and appreciation, I also think it's genius. Each column represents a distinct variety of beer (e.g. Belgian ales, pale ales, Scottish ales) within one of the two major brewing styles (lagers vs. ales). And, within every column, sub-varieties are organized vertically by A.B.V., with the lowest-alcohol styles appearing at the top and highest-alcohol styles appearing at the bottom.

In case you were wondering, you can also see how common and even obscure beers compare to one another by original and final gravity, bitterness (as measured by International Bitterness Units, or IBUs), and color intensity (as measured by Standard Reference Method, or SRM). Yes, someone actually used a spectrometer to calculate how light passes through a brown porter as compared to a robust porter. And, I appreciate that. Very much.

Winter Beer Carnival at the Contemporary

2010-01-19T13:35:00.000-08:00

Did you miss the Great Decatur Craft Beer Festival? Or that circus that sometimes appears across the freeway from Turner Field?

Well, fear not. The Winter Beer Carnival will roll into The Contemporary on February 27th from 3 to 7, carnival games and all. Mmmmmh, carnies.

Advance tickets are $30 and go on sale January 22nd at 10 am. The Contemporary isn't near a MARTA station, but the mighty #1 and #113 buses will get you within about a block of the place.

(h/t Inside Access)

There's an App for That

2010-01-18T16:46:00.001-08:00

Katy, ask and you shall receive. I came across this today after (or during) a visit to the Monday Night Brewery page. Find Craft Beer is an app that finds craft beer locations near your body (provided your body is near your phone). It even features new change city lookup algorithm with version 1.6. It is supplemented by the, perhaps, even cooler Beer Mapping Project: they find beer, you drink the beer. If the project has a photo of the location on file it will pull it up for you. If not, no worries. The app will show locations on a map and provided that Goolge's Street View is available for the area you can likely see the bar that way.

One question remains. When will you get an iPhone?

For the Dogs

2010-01-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my sister-in-law sent us gifts to open at my mom and dad's house in Detroit. Among them were a few packages for the dog. Interesting, I thought; likely some rubber toy or maybe even a gourmet biscuit (aka cookie aka treat). One of them was a bag of fancy NYC-themed dog cookies. To my surprise, the other one was beer. Beer for dogs. It's called Bowser Beer and is billed as a nutritous and fun non-alcoholic alternative to beer. That description is not winning me over but the concept is appealing: beer for dogs. 3 Busy Dogs is out of AZ and will make you a custom labeled brew with a picture of your dog on the front. We got a bottle of The Salty Paw's Blue Dane Ale. From the picture it doesn't look like it's winning over Mali either. It's fortified with glucosamine to promote healthy joints!! I couldn't find much on how it is made or if it is actually brewed. However, I think the company is pretty cool because, in addition to providing a way for your dog to responsibly drink with you, they are out to educate people on the dangers on giving real alcholic beverages to dogs (though I had no idea this was a problem serious or widespread enough to merit committed advocacy).

I thought that was cool enough but then a coupld days ago this came across the Twitter expanses. Dogfish Head has partnered with a local bakery to make use of their spent grain to produce a new dog treat they're calling Dog Bark.With all the spent grain we have from our Brew Day I want the recipe. We did have some success making loaves of spent grain bread. However, I ate it and later became sick, though not, we think, from the bread and the essence of so many DSBC members. Beer? I'm not sure, but being sick is definitely for the dogs.

The Beer Can: Happy Birthday

2010-01-13T19:56:00.001-08:00

Remember those Mad Men episodes when Don Draper opens his beer with a church key? Ah, those were the days before all that technology cluttered up our beautiful beer cans. Well, it's time to wax nostalgic, because the beer can was invented by Gottfried Krueger Brewery 75 years ago this month, and this is an anniversary I'd like to celebrate by indulging in a beer - one in a can, of course. Several great microbreweries have begun to sell great beer in cans, including Oskar Blues and Ska Brewery (for the hiker types). Anybody see any other good beers in cans?

So if you want to see a ridiculous collection of old school beer cans, including the first ever (pictured above), just head to Flint, Michigan to check out the "Brewery Collectibles Club of America." Vargo, next time you're going home for the holidays? If for some reason you don't want to go to Flint, the video embedded below gives you a nice tour of the place. Or, you can check out their annual convention, called (I kid you not) CANvention. Check this out for some great pictures from the 1998 convention - excuse me, CANvention. Seriously, look here. Oh, and don't forget your BCCA gear. Dibs on the lanyard.

Beer Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

2010-01-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

The other day I was listening to one of my favorite public radio programs, Marketplace, and heard an interesting story about recent shake ups in the beer market. Apparently, amidst declining U.S. beer sales in 2009, there have been a number of mergers and acquisitions involving macro breweries (i.e. the Goliaths in the David v. Goliath beer wars).

We've all heard about Belgium-based InBev buying up Anheuser-Busch, but there appears to be a trend emerging. Dutch brewer Heineken announced recently that it has negotiated the purchase of Mexican beer conglomerate FEMSA, maker of Dos Equis, Tecate and Sol.

I'm no economist, but it seems like some macro breweries have weathered the recession better than others, and they are using cash, debt, and/or stock equity to buy up some of those companies that haven't been doing as well. This could be a big boon to the InBevs and Heineken's of the world, because it gives them wider distribution outside of Europe, and will likely increase their global market share, at least in the short term.

But, I also think something else might be happening, and it's an issue that Marketplace reporter Amy Scott barely touched upon in her segment. There has been an undeniable trend over the past 5-10 years of micro-breweries gaining market share in the U.S. as American beer tastes skew increasingly towards more flavorful, more full-bodied, and yes, higher A.B.V. beers. True, craft breweries still have a very small piece of the pie, but it's getting bigger.

What if the big guys are starting to get scared of the little guy? And instead of improving the quality and flavor of their own beers, what if they are gobbling up each other in the hope that they can bully the micro-breweries around, without improving their product?

Here's a remarkable statistic: In the middle of the biggest recession the U.S. has ever experienced, what is typically considered a "recession-proof" market--alcohol sales, and more specifically, beer sales--slumped 2 percent overall in 2009, but craft brews were up 5%.

As statistician Nate Silver noted in his blog, it's difficult to understand what is driving this divergence--and whether it's a one off thing, or part of a larger trend--but he thinks it may have something to do with more Americans "substituting Michelob and Coors for more expensive micro-brews like Alpha King and Dogfish Head." Presumably, Americans are drinking more craft beer, even while total beer consumption is declining.

All of this begs the question: What would you do if you were the executive of a big, macro-brewery with loads of cash to spend?

Would you 1) buy a Mexican beer company that mass-produces poor quality beer that Mexicans themselves don't like to drink, and Americans are increasingly dubious of? Or, would you 2) acquire a well respected craft brewery that is making really good quality stuff, and gain a foothold in the fastest growing segment of the beer market? Hmm...

Don't Give Me Ideas...

2010-01-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

...or I may act on them.

Another Revolution 'Round the Sun

2010-01-13T13:09:00.001-08:00

Things to look forward to in 2010...

An excerpt:

Founders Brewing Company of Grand Rapids, Mich., has a mysterious new beer planned called Nemesis.
"It isn't actually a beer, it's a series of beers," said Founders' Dave Engbers. "Every year, we're going to be releasing a new style, or a new beer. It's going to be a beer never brewed before and it'll never be brewed again."
Engbers would not say what the first Nemesis will be, but said it will be in stores in a couple of months.
Another beer to watch out for will be from the Brooklyn Brewery. The Cookie Jar Porter will be the next entry in the Brewmaster's Reserve series, and will be available in the middle of the month.

Cookie Jar Porter... sounds delicious.

Brew Day

2010-01-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend the DSBC embarked on its first brewing endeavor. We (most of us supremely unexperienced) were guided by the wonderful Dave of East Atlanta Brewery. We began our journey a little over a month ago when we held a monthly meeting at Rupesh's house and tried a collection of Stouts. Dave came to talk to us about making a beer and gave us a run down of various resources like The Homebrewers Association and their Zymurgy magazine as well as the Beer Judge Certification Program and style guidelines. Dave takes his exam in less than 2 weeks.

Good luck Dave!!!

Since we were in a stout-y mood we all thought it would be cool to brew the style that we liked the best that night, the Russian Imperial Stout. This was to be the biggest beer that Dave and EAB had ever put together. This past Saturday Dave, Brennan and I headed down to Just Brew It! south of Atlanta in Fayetteville, GA. The experience was pretty cool. We got to measure out and mill the ingredients for the beer. We left with 50lbs of grain and a mash tun of great expectations. Brennan and I headed back to Daves to sample EAB's excellent Wee Heavy Scotch Ale and familiarize ourselves with the operation.

Sunday morning was the actual brewing and the temperature at the beginning of the day was around 18. This was to be not only the biggest beer EAB ever made but also the coldest they'd ever brewed. Dave and I fired up a turkey-frier burner to thaw the water line outside. Once that was working, the dog got out and everyone who was there got into a car and scanned the neighborhood til we found her. Luckily that only took about 10 minutes. Then Dave had to run to the store to buy some other parts so that we could connect the water purifier to the hose. We sprayed the lawn (ice) in the meantime to make sure that the hoses didn't freeze again. Once the water was flowing and heated we began to dump in the grain and thisis when the trouble-shooting really began. After getting all of the grain into the mash tun we realized just how much we were pushing the limits of EAB's system with this brew. We kept trying to let some of the wort out so that we could have more room to mix but the filter at the bottom of the tun was getting stopped up. Numerous methods were employed to get it to work. Extra barrels were brought in, the screen at the bottom was taken off (it had to be bent back to its original shape), a cooler full of wort was also used as an intermediary, and rice hulls were procured. This kind of all-hands-on-deck brewing added a lot of our group's essence to the wort, and took much longer than expected. By around 4:30 we were getting our boil on and sometime later that night everything made it into the fermenters. The whole day was a sight to see and quite an experience. Thanks to everyone, including Ben's entire family, for coming out to help and be a part of it. Now we just wait and then drink.

To quote Dave on the progress thusfar:
We have a good fermentation! I just got back from congratulating our little yeasties for getting off to a good start. They seem happy and although a few of them had a case of the Mondays, they promise to get the job done. After speaking with their union rep, Dr Zymy McBubbles, I can report that they plan on getting our malted barley hop water to around 10% ABV. Dr. McBubbles reports that about 30 billion yeast cells are currently at work in each fermentor and by the time the job is finished we may well have over 100 billion workers. The Dr and I are planning on starting an army after our workers are finished and taking over the world. Resistance (to good beer) is futile!

May I Suggest an Outing

2010-01-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

Some exciting events happening soon at the Brick Store:

Larry Bell Meet & Greet!

Tuesday, January 19th 2010
Join us on Tuesday January 19th and meet Owner/Brewer of Bells Brewery Larry Bell. Larry will be shaking hands,kissing babies, and talking about all of the wonderful beers brewed at Bells. We will be featuring Bells HOPSLAM and some tasty food pairings. See you at the pub!

Meet The Brewer from B.F.M.

Thursday, January 21st 2010
Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes, also known by the abbreviation BFM is a small artisanal brewery in Jura, Switzerland whose products, including barrel-aged beers, have drawn international acclaim.Founded in 1997 by Jerome Rebetez, who had formerly been trained as an oenologist, this tiny brewery has rapdibly become known for making beers that stretch traditional beer style guidelines and use unorthodox ingredients. Come on down to the pub and meet owner Jerome Rebetez and taste the rare cask offering He is bringing along! Food pairings as well as some vintage B.F.M. stuff will be available!

Meet The Bruerys Patrick Rue

Monday, February 22nd 2010
We will be hosting Owner/ Brewer Patrick Rue for a special meet and greet session. Food pairings and special rare beers will be available. See you at the pub!

Wow, count me in for the Bell's and BFM dates, for sure. Let's hope BFM brings the good stuff.

And, for old times' sake, here's an email conversation between Vargo and some dude who runs a blog called "This Peanut Looks Like a Duck."

First, Vargo wrote:

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 4:01 PM, vargo wrote:
Awesome blog! Wondered if you had seen this brewery from NC.

Cool logo and great beer

http://www.duckrabbitbrewery.com/index.html

So the guy responded:

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 11:11 PM, Marc H wrote:
This is interesting - how did I get this email? Where did you send it to?
Cheers,
Marc

Vargo wrote back:

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 11:44 PM, vargo wrote:
hmmmm.? I sent it to beerfoam@thispeanutlookslikeaduck.com

I got it at this post on the blog

http://www.thispeanutlookslikeaduck.com/quack/2008/01/08/this-beer-foam-looks-like-a-duck/

Vargo, did the guy ever respond to that?

Our Dumb Country

2010-01-12T06:57:00.001-08:00

Any of you who know my jeremiads against bizarre state liquor laws will know that one question generally follows: "Who are these people who actively support these laws - spending lots of money to lobby for their preservation - and what do they want?" When I read my morning blog-papers over coffee today, I noticed this strange story about a ban on the "Boilermaker" drink in Nebraska. Ok, the back story: as if Sunday sale bans weren't dumb enough, Nebraska is considering revoking a law that bans the mixture of beer and hard liquor. And there are people who are spending time and money trying very hard to fight this. Yes. The story names one of the main groups lobbying to keep this ban in place, so I thought it would be a good time to look hard at their philosophy, goals and methods:

Project Extra Mile, which fights underage drinking, is one of several plaintiffs in a pending lawsuit that challenges the state Liquor Control Commission's decision to allow flavored alcoholic beverages, or so-called "alcopops" to be classified as beer instead of hard liquor. Flavored alcoholic beverages start out as brewed malt beverages but are flavored with distilled spirits. The plaintiffs use the current law banning the mixture of booze and beer in its lawsuit challenging the state rule that classifies the drinks as beer.

So, this Omaha chapter of "Project Extra Mile" is most interested in trying to classify Mike's Hard Lemonade as a liquor, not a beer, so that it would be taxed at a higher level (a few pennies more on each bottle). And this is because they think a few pennies extra will deter the "8th grade girls" (who they claim are the main drinkers of hard lemonade and the like) from buying the stuff and drinking it. Really. They are fighting in the courts and lobbying state officials to keep bartenders from putting a shot of whiskey into a glass of beer (not my thing, but that's a matter of taste) so that they can make 8th grade girls use a higher percentage of their allowance to pay their older siblings to get hard lemonade. Really. It's like a bizarre Rube Goldberg contraption where the chicken lays an egg, and the egg rolls down a ramp and hits a match that lights a candle, etc., until the mouse hits the alarm clock and the guy wakes up. Except their end game seems to me like the egg rolls off the table and doesn't go anywhere, because the 8th grade girls are already breaking the law to get hard lemonade; they will probably find a few extra pennies to do it. This is far easier than actually finding a way to get the alcohol. To me, this is yet another example of the crazy American attitude towards liquor politics, which has very little common sense involved and much wasted effort.

Now, if you want to try to curb underage binge-drinking, there are plenty of ways to do it. How about helping parents instill healthy attitudes towards alcohol from a young age, even letting children drink at the home (a small glass of wine mixed with some water for adolescents, like they do in many parts of the globe)? Teens who drink with their parents experience far fewer alcohol-related problems than teens whose parents follow a "total ban" of alcohol. This is different, however, from teens whose parents buy alcohol for parties that their kids throw; this does seem to lead to binge drinking. As Science Daily writes:

A previous study in 2004 by Kristie Foley of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina showed that teenagers who received alcohol from their parents for parties were up to three times more likely to binge drink within a month, while those who drank only with the family were less likely to binge. So the context in which a parent provides alcohol may be key.

So what context does Project Extra Mile want to create? This: "Underage drinking is not merely illegal and unhealthy, it's unacceptable. We change laws and policies to reduce youth access to alcohol."

Well, good luck with that mission. Oh, wait, their rebuttal to that is affixed to their web site:

"ExtraMile Motto: If you don't think it and dream it today, it will never become reality ten years from now."

Or, maybe the dream of kids not touching alcohol isn't ever going to become reality, and maybe that's a good thing. At some point, like a washed-up minor league baseball player, you have to start asking yourself if the dream itself needs some retooling.

This Little Light of Mine...

2010-01-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

In the year-end wrap up of beer news in the City Paper (that also mentions a great article in the Atlantic about a new Allagash Lambic that is actually brewed with natural -i.e. random airborne - yeast), a link leads to the most ridiculous trend in beers - the "Light Beer Arms Race." Apparently, MGD 64 calorie beer wasn't enough; now Bud is making "Select 55," with only 55 calories. As the City Paper says: "At a certain point, you've got to just call it water." Well, that's true, because to make it this "light" they have to just add a lot of water, making the alcohol level around 2%.

And how is the taste? Let's just say that the RateBeer reviews have elevated hating on this beer to an art form. A sampling:

"Oh sweet Jesus this is bad. Total lack of anything resembling a beer flavor. Makes Michelob Ultra seem like Guiness Stout. Only redeeming factor is the calorie count because it sure ain’t the taste."

"I don’t know who shared this, but I hate them now. Looks like a dull nasty pisswater, light coppery hay straw with a thinning soda-like head. Aroma is nasty acetaldehyde- green apple skin, rice/corn adjunctiness, pisswater. Crackery dull rice paper flavor with more apple skin and almost as if you can taste some chemical that will give you a hangover- terrible."

"Skunky, light corn and very sweet smelling. Tastes like water that a beer came by and dipped its balls in. No flavor at all, finishing up the same way. Not undrinkable and not super offensive, but there’s really nothing going on here."

"official rating #1800 . . so why not with the lightest beer in the world!! light skunky hay aromas .. . medium head which disappears quickly .. . very watery, light metallic and water-like flavours..?? .. . has this weird slight fizz .. . i put it in your coat pocket .. . clean finish .. . transparent. .. . I’m not drunk! I just have speech impediment... and a stomach virus... and an inner ear infection."

"No flavor whatsoever. I suspect they skunk this beer on purpose just so it tastes like something. Blech. Only thing has going for it is that you can pound them back without getting drunk... tho I bet you’d get a hangover anyway just from all the chemicals."

"Not worth pouring into a glass, but you can see that its a pee yellow through the clear bottle. Not worth the money. But hey its another rating. Is this beer?"

"The only thing I can think of using this so-called colored soda water is, "A little song, a little dance, a little BS-55 down your pants."

"At colder temps, it was somewhat drinkable and not overly adjuncty or offensive. At warmer temps, it all fell apart and tasted like cum-stained bed sheets."

"my grandpa used to piss better brew than this."

"It initially does a good job of masking its castration, but quickly gives in, due to the dry, papery, barley malt water taste."

"Only 50¢ at Binny’s DG singles rack. Wow, less than a penny per calorie! That’s the sign of a great beer! Pop the cap and… Skunk Bomb! Lot of bad smells from being so light struck! Folks, I am trying to be nice, but even while pouring it’s armpit. Bubbly with color of a urine sample. Soda pop bubbles make for a thin, low powered head. This is in a Sam Adams glass, I’m giving it every chance I can. Unlike that homeopathic preparation called MGD 64, this actually shows a little body. Slight note of hops, a flavor that suggests it once went to kindergarten with some malts. There is a small ring of foam around the edge of what’s left in the bottle, so it’s at least a step above Zima. But reason they put this under the Bud Select moniker is probably similar to why Coca-Cola called its diet soda Tab: don’t want to taint the flagship Budweiser beer by association. I admit to liking a Bud on draft on a hot day, but this makes O’Doul’s taste like Orval."

Everything That Rises Must Converge

2010-01-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

In the "odd parallax" category, the day I finally post about my Italian beersperience is the same day that Dogfish Head announces, surprisingly, that they will be brewing the 'My Antonia' beer that Sam brewed with Birra del Borgo, but this time for US release. I will be looking forward to getting my hands on some in April. How about Italian beers for the April meeting?

In other DFH news, we may be able to find Squall IPA.

On an unrelated note: I have some work set out for me.

Also...

2010-01-04T20:44:00.001-08:00

Matthew McConaughey's brother (himself named "Rooster," I kid you not) named his two children Miller Lite McConaughey and Margarita Olympia McConaughey because he likes those beers.

Seriously.

Check out this quote:

Rooster, who is also the father of a son and a daughter, claims he isn't surprised that Matthew, 40, and Camila decided not to name their newborn after a booze, as their children's cousins are.

"I think I ruined it for him because I've already taken up that territory," Rooster says laughing. "I named my [3½-year-old] boy Miller Lyte because that's my favorite beer. And my [11-month-old] little girl is named Margarita Olympia ... I liked that beer, too, even though they don't even make it anymore."

Oak-Aged-Yeti Breed, anybody?

TCOB: Unfinished Posts, 2009 Edition

2010-01-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

I know the new year baby has kicked old man time out of the picture for the time being, but for the life of me I can't let 2009 go quite yet - mostly because I have a handful of blog posts I wanted to put up, and just never got around to it. So... here goes.

Embarrassingly, I never finished posting about my trip to France and Italy. So... Here goes, lightning round edition. I think I got through telling you all about France. (Though check the name of this French lemonade: Psssschit. I think it is supposed to be onomatopoeia for opening a can, but it looks like something else.)

So as I remember, I petered out just about the time I got to St. Peter's home (Rome, of course). Catherine and I took a flight from Paris to Rome, and after landing, I decided to get on the good foot immediately: while waiting for the bus to the city, I picked up the best I could find - Peroni's Gran Riserva Doppio Malta, which is supposed to be a kind of bock, I think (at 6.6% abv). To be honest: I was surprised that Peroni could make anything this tasty. Not that it was great, by any means; just surprising... for an Italian beer. I'd give it a thumbs-sideways, though perhaps the heat (it was over 100 degrees) and the hours of travel made it seem better than it was. I remember it being really malty, with decent hops, but being rather thin.

Ok, so Rome seemed a bit more beer-tastic than Paris, actually, because you could find relatively local stuff quite regularly, whereas in Paris you were generally restricted to the big brewers. Even the well-known "beer joints" in Paris only served stuff you could find at Greene's liquor. But Rome offered several stores within a few blocks of our hotel that at least had Italian microbrews - though stuff you might be able to find over here if you look hard. I grabbed a couple of beers from Birrificio del Ducato (brewed in a small town north of Parma, which is north of Tuscany), which makes some good (not amazing) stuff. I tried their Strong Ale "Chimera" first (6.5%), and thought it was midway between a thumbs sideways and a thumbs up. Creamy, toffee-like sweetness, and spices made for a good beer - but on a hot, hot, hot day this was perhaps a bit too sweet. The light lagers were beckoning, but I kept my head down and powered through the more interesting brews.

So the next day I picked up another beer (I love how in Europe you can buy a beer and walk around with it - a beautiful thing): L'Orso Verde (Green Bear)'s Vertigo. Orso Verde is from Busto Arsizio, outside of Milan, and they seem to make some pretty interesting beers. Vertigo is a double lager (7% abv) that was surprisingly hoppy and refreshing, and spicy, as I remember (lost my notes for this one). I loved it, especially on another blistering day. I had this one while walking to a monastery to have a peek at some epitaphs; the brothers there seemed to recognize it as a good beer when I put the empty bottle in my bag. Thumbs up, for sure.

I next sampled AFO, a pale ale also from Birrificio del Ducato. Hoppy, fruity, flowery - this is a good beer. They call it "Ale for the Obsessed" - and I was seriously impressed; it was a genuine and uncompromising thumbs up. It didn't hurt that I ate this along with a lunch from one of my favorite eateries ever - Pizza Art, the amazing and not-to-miss artisanal pizza joint in the Centro Storico (and a block from our hotel, thank God). This beer is probably available in the US. It's a good one (think Dale's Pale Ale but coppery and with a subtler hop profile).

Ok, but this all paled in comparison to the place you CANNOT MISS if you ever go to Rome: namely, Bir & Fud (Beer and Food). Catherine and I walked in, and the dude at the helm let us sample every beer on tap (15 of them) and then we had two delicious pints. The bartender knewthe abv, ibus, and stories of every beer on tap, and was glad to struggle through all of them in broken English. Good food, too. It's like the Brick Store with exclusively Italian beers. Go there, seriously. Go.

So while there, my favorites were generally those on tap from Birra del Borgo, a fantastic brewery due east of Rome, about halfway across the "leg". From them, we got to taste the good Re Porter (7% Porter, smoky and delicious, bitter chocolate taste, smooth mouthfeel), the absolutely amazing Re Ale Extra (a 6.4% IPA style, delicious hop bite, a pineapple-bread flavor, and a nice finish), the not-that-different but still amazing Re Ale Anniversario (8%, supposedly Belgian but huge hops), and the delicious My Antonia, a collaboration with Dogfish Head (7.5% Imperial Pilsner, huge hops, pine needles and sage). We also had a couple of beers from Montegioco, which I highly recommend, and Panil sour, which you can get in the states (but damn is it a good sour). Also, strangely, beers from Port, which you can't even get in Atlanta. We sat down with a pint of the Re Ale Extra and the My Antonia (which is actually brewed with sage leaves, and just smells like a hop-and-sage bomb sitting there on the table). For the next hour or so we sipped beers and stared at each other in the streets of Rome. That, my friends, is the definition of a well-spent afternoon. Let me give you a taste:

Then, we simply had to leave the scorching temperatures of Rome to find solace in the cooler climates of Venice. While I love Venice so much (and am thankful that I have research to do there), it is most decidedly not a beer town. Nothing like Rome; the best I could do was a Birra Venezia, and even that wasn't good. It's brewed nearby, at least. Not really awful, I mean I enjoyed drinking it, but I certainly wouldn't saddle up to a bar and say, "man, I need one of those Birra Venezias." That's like saying, "I sure need a Corona." If you're playing volleyball, fine. But I wasn't, so I stuck to drinking wine and delicious Spritz, the Venetian drink of choice. Basically Prosecco and Campari. Mmmm. But take a look at the view:

So you have to give it to Venetians: they like their awful beer, but at least they don't go to ridiculous lengths to get it there. Oh, wait:

Ok, so that's our trip - and my Italian beer rundown. I think Italian beers would make a great beer club, since there are quite a few one can get at Greene's and Hop City.

Alright, I think I exorcised the blog demons. Let's try to get the flow back for 2010 (twenty-ten, right?)

Merry Beer Club Christmas

2009-12-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

The Dirty South Beer Club has been spending a lot of time together recently (check out post on Chattanooga trip - HERE). Last week the Dirty South Beer Club celebrated the holidays as you might have expected; with a sampling of seasonal brews. But we also upped the ante by holding a beer-themed white elephant. The combination of the two resulted in a fantastic time had by all, though I regret to say that we did not get around to rating any of the beers we drank.

We started with a magnum of Anchor's Special Ale 2009. In ordering this at bars and bringing it to parties I have not heard rave reviews. Since we had no ship to christen, we embarked on drinking it. Birthday boy, Ajay, who brought the beer remarked that "we are never gonna finish this thing," and we did have a hard time getting through the huge bottle. This slight departure from our normal habits resulted in uneven pours for this first, and the next few rounds. Amelia was heard saying that she had, "a lot of the that," as she tried to share a large pour with others.

Second was Bruery's 2 Turtle Doves, provided by our hosts Brennan and Catherine. Someone was quoted saying that it "tastes like raunch beer." But I think it was generally well received. I also sampled their Autumn Maple on Thanksgiving and remember being satisfied.

Next was Weyerbacher's Merry Monks'Ale. It was described by the group as "fresh" and a "little bitter." Or as a "light seasonal ale" that was "more carbonated than normal."

The Heavy Seas Yule Tide followed that. This is part of their 'Mutiny Fleet' of imperials. Its Belgian Triple styling did not win the group over. One person said that "it smells like my towel when I need to wash it." Similarly the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale disappointed the group. The Special Holiday Ale Stone, Nogne-O, Jolly Pumpkin collaboration effort smelled great and received better reviews. The alcohol content was apparent as some mentioned cough syrup.

The next three all featured Santa and brewers that begin with the letter 'R': Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve and the Pickled Santa and Santa's Butt from Ridgeway Brewing in the UK. Santa's Private Reserve faired well last year when we tried it. Comments usually reflect its spruce flavors. The Pickled Santa sounds gross, but it was not special enough to merit much attention for being especially bad or good. Santa's Butt is a porter "so big it won't fit down the chimney." It was also said to taste like the reindeer's butt. Keeping with the santa theme, Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper 2009 was next. This beer was hands down the favorite of the night. "It tastes like Christmas," said one secular sipper after a sample. Another (with a computer head) said, "crazy different wild conifers." (applejuice) Get this one while you can.

Next was the X-mas Zinnebir from Brasserie De La Senne / De Zenne Brouwerij. Despite its "funky surreal label" it could not stand up to the tastes left in our mouth by Santa's Little Helper. On person said it had a, "high traffic carpet aftertaste." There was also some frozen margarita in a bag purchased solely because it read "ALCOHOL is IN IT!" and a rather delicious barleywine (Uinta, from Utah) that appeared serendipitously. Finally, the night was capped with some Sparkling Ale from Bell's.

During all this beer drinking there was also the white elephant taking place. Some of the gifts included a Decatur bottle opener, a knitted DSBC coozie, a six-pack of Beck's NA, BSP t-shirt and Guinness Bell, St. Bernardus 4 pack and glass, bottle of Life and Limb, signed copy of Love at the Pub, pack of Burton Baton and glass, matching tuxedo pint coozies, glass made from old Stone bottle, a bottle of Ola Dubh Special 40 Reserve, and a box of beer themed and flavored NUNU Chocolates. The first 7 people opted for wrapped gifts but then the stealing began. The Ola Dubh bottle was highly sought after. The Beck's was not.

The whole thing was presided over by a polyester suit-wearing, martini-wielding, Will-Ferrel-impersonating-Robert-Goulet-impersonator played by Brennan. Additionally, the King of Beers(Club)--Ben--made 'Dirty Awards' for all of us. They included titles like the Best Baking, Beer Bringing, and Baby-Making Award. The whole night unwound into a mini Thursday night party, exacerbated by some whiskey tasting. This is common for DSBC. I think a new tagline for the group could be "Dirty South Beer Club: The third Friday of the month just got a lot less productive." This picture even appeared in the notebook to acknowledge the steady stream of hip hop bumping in the background. At some point, it was switched from Christmas music, the unofficial new anthem of DSBC, Fur in my Cap. Needless to say, DSBC is one of my favorite things.

Happy Holidays from Dirty South Beer Club

Chattanooga Beer Weekend

2009-12-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

Just over a week ago the DSBC had an outing in Chattanooga. We rented a cabin just north of town where we spent Friday and Saturday night. We also made it out into town to sample the local brewery's offerings.

On the way up to Chattanooga we stopped off on the north side of the river to sample the city's finest hot dogs at Good Dog. They offer a variety of hot dogs including one topped with frites. I (vargo) opted for the Chicago Dog and a separate order of frites. For dipping they offer the traditional Heinz ketchup, as well as a wasabi and a curry ketchup, a spiced mustard, and mayonnaise. We got a second dinner down the road at Greenlife: the grocery store nobody doesn't love.

Upon arriving to our dear slightly suburban abode, we were quite impressed by the extensive variety of styles featured in decor. But the house became more and more special the more full it became as DSBC members trickled in. As we cranked the Lady Gaga and commenced a low-key beer tasting, we all sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed. We sampled the delicious (but unbalanced, as Ben says) Rogue Yellow Snow IPA, Anchor Christmas (many people enjoyed the spiciness--Katy thought it to be mediocre), Mt Carmel IPA from Cincinnati (Lauren enjoyed, some found it too malty and not hoppy much), Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, and perennial favorite Dale Pale Ale. Among others.

Saturday activities were kicked off with a fabulous breakfast and a lunch buffet to pack--so we could get on and do our thang. At that point, we split--one group went hiking up in the Chickamuga river bluffs, one to climb at Little Rock City, and one to urban hike in Chattanooga.

Fun was had.

Returning to our 'Nooga home was made sweeter by a quick dip in the hottub. Well, not exactly, as Katy started cooking her body in that hot whirly pool of hell. But eventually it cooled down and we dipped before spiffying up to check out BEA'S! Bea's is a great southern diner with circular tables and a simple menu. You pay one price and it is all you can eat. Servers constantly bring out plates of fried chicker, okra, peach cobbler, chicken and dumplings, pulled pork, and mashed potatoes, which are placed on a lazy susan and shared by everyone at the table. There is almost no waiting for food; you sit down and eat.

After dinner we headed over to the Terminal Brewhouse. This is a new local brewery in Chattanooga next to the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We battled the big crowd to find spots at the bar and stayed for a drink before heading back to the Sudworth residence. There we drank more beers like the Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale, Avery's DuganA, and the new Georgia favorite Bell's Two Hearted Ale. We also played games and talked about Jersey Shore and The Situation, but ironically we did not get in the hot tub that night.

Sunday morning was a busy one, as our check out time was 10:00. The kitchen was buzzing as Sam and Amelia prepared a bintl of latkes for us. We ate more breakfast and took our time cleaning up, and then headed in to town with packed lunches. We landed on the south side of Chattanooga's Riverfont in the Bluff View Arts District. We strolled around in the misty rain and took some pictures before getting back in to the cars and rolling down to Atlanta. All in all a successful DSBC outing.

Skull Crushing Power

2009-12-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

Check out this story (link) in the The Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. It examines the structural integrity of the beer bottle and asks whether or not it is stronger than a human skull. Both full and empty bottles were examined. Here is an excerpt of a recap of the study by Pat Walters.

Bolliger, who is head of forensic pathology at the University of Bern, went to the store and picked up 10 half-liter bottles of Feldschlösschen Original — his nation's most popular brew. He emptied six of them, left four full and, using a precisely calibrated energy-measuring device, started dropping a steel ball on the bottles from various heights. Bolliger's conclusion: Full bottles shatter at 30 joules, empties at 40, meaning both are capable of cracking open your skull. But empties are a third sturdier.

I'd be interested to see how different bottle shapes and sizes affect this. But here at DSBC we, in no way, advocate using beer bottles as weapons. Beer is for drinking.

The Allegory of the Beer Cave

2009-12-13T19:12:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've read Plato, but this McSweeney's piece -- THE ALLEGORY OF THE BEER CAVE by Craig Klein -- is still pretty funny.

I'm gonna go ahead and pretend that the author wrote it during his Introduction to Political Philosophy class.

In Anticipation

2009-12-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm just back from my first beer in 5 days. Vargo convinced me (he didn't really have to twist my arm) to go to the book signing for Love at the Pub. Vargo asked me if I a) wanted to bid on a BSP table, and B) if I wanted some Sweetwater IPA. Well, Ben wouldn't let me bid on a table (but Vargo did!) so that left me with one option. And I don't really like Sweetwater beers very much, so I wasn't very excited about it. But Vargo told me this was a special Sweetwater, made with Centennial Hops. I was skeptical at first, too, but it was delicious!! Sweetwater CAN make good beers afterall! (Though I am still slightly skeptical that it was a Sweetwater beer--it tasted a lot like Bell's 2 Hearted Ale)

Anyway, we are off to Chattanooga tomorrow. That's right, the dirty south beer club is taking over Chattanooga. We've got lots to do there and lots o' plans. Between the excellent hiking/bouldering/rock climbing/swimming (wait--too cold to swim--it will be in the 20s!) options, coupled with the historic city with a wonderful Riverview Bluffs arts district and cool sculpture gardens plus the art museum and aquarium, the start of the Trail of Tears, yummy pizza/home made ice cream/gourmet hot dogs/southern style joints, we are so set. We are certainly going to be holding court and doing some major beer samplings!

Plus, we're descending, en masse, to Terminal Brewhouse. They won't know what's hit em.

Any suggestions?!

Montreal - Biere!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

I went to Montreal. I don't speak french. But, I speak beer, so I figured I'd be ok. I was right.

First, let me say that I was a bit skeptical of Canadian beer. A few years ago we Lovehardsteins went to British Columbia and Seattle and found the stateside beer far superior. But, I had heard and read good things about Montreal beer scene so I went through customs (slowly) with an open palette. Good thing.

The beer in Montreal is off the hops!

I was there for two nights - and Basserie Dieu Du Ciel got my patronage both nights. I knew this brewery was well-respected, but it wasn't until I put their Peche Mortel Imperial Stout (au Cafe) to my lips that I understood. This beer was big, bold, and balanced. Just about perfect - especially with the chill Canadian autumn weather nipping at me. I have this thing when I drink an amazing beer where I'll sip, and then remove the glass from my lips and just kinda stare at the glass in awe. And I did that twice before I could even say anything about this one. My buddy got the Chaman Imperial IPA - risky business when you aren't in the US - land of big IPAs, but it too was excellent!

Upon returning home (with a couple Peche Mortel's in my bag) I learned that this beer gets Beer Advocate's #19 best beer in the world, making it the highest rated beer I've ever tasted. I also saw that I can get it here in the Dirty South - albeit at twice the price.

The other great exbeerience was a midday flight of beers at Le Saint Bock (and here). I remember the baltic porter being particularly good, as well as a Saison, but all five were solid and a couple were their own.

On the culinary side, I ate Poutine = french fries, cheese curds, and gravy) at 3:30am. Not good.

Can you beat Hop City?!

2009-12-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Ben and I finally made it over to Antico Pizza in the West Side. Yes, it was a pain to make the trek from the perfect city of Decatur. But the West Side was worth the trip. The pizza--though I'm not here to talk about the pizza--was perfection! I won't go into it, but we brought our own (because they literally only make Neapolitan style pizza and calzones, oh and a few canolli. Our pizza was enjoyed even more because we had the Founders Centennial IPA and the Great Divide Hercules (Double IPA). The Founders can't be got here in GA and was lovingly brought in from TN or NC or something. They both truly deserve their A rating on Beeradvocate, but I prefered the Centennial along with the pizza (Hercules was too sweet).

But hither dither, we used the opportunity to go into Hop City. Mama mia, what a beer store! Of course the staff were super knowledgeable (even if they didn't swoon when we talked about DSBC) We skipped the Belgian section entirely and hunted around for the best possible Yankee Swap Beer Club gift ever. The only requirements (besides being beer related) is it must cost around $15.

[Yes, our beer club is engaging in a "White elephant gift exchange" also known as a yankee swap (watch the Office episode on this subject). No, we didn't purchase an iPod.]

We bought lots of stuff we hadn't seen in GA before, a six pack of random brews (Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Hop Wallop, Hop Infusion) and the Clipper City Yule Tide (it has a Santa on it) and the Oskar Blues Old Chubb (no Xmas relation but it Red & Green. Plus, we never have scotch ales!) for our Beer Club holiday themed beer.

We got a Thomas Creek Extreme IPA for our upcoming Beer Club getaway to Chaaaaat-a-Nooga , which Ben will complement with his Cincinnati feature of Mt Carmel Nut Brown Ale and the Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Be excited, this is rated an "A" both by the bros and by the general masses on BA! Lots of good beers to look forward to in our lil' club.

Decatur, up your game...watch out Sherlocks, Hop City is in town!

Howling Monkey -- Great Design for a Defunct Beer

2009-11-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

One of the stupid things about beer is that it often seems like the same person who brewed it also designed the unpleasant labels or wrote the mind-numbing copy.

Clearly, that is not the case with Howling Monkey.

Look at that magnificent monkey! He is hilarious! And quite dashing.

Beer should always be this handsome.

Word on the street is that Howling Monkey is no longer a beer. Instead, its an energy drink with an inexplicably confusing website. Oh well.

(h/t bad banana blog, who also happens to be the best person to follow on Twitter.)

Brooklyn: A Beer Maven in a Beer Haven

2009-11-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

New York, New York...Frank Sinatra sings in the background.

Not sure Sinatra knew much about beer, but I'll tell you what, Brooklyn is where it's at for beer lovers! Although surely all beeroughs (get it? Burroughs?) have excellent beer options, BK knocked my socks off.

Started out on Friday night with my friends Ateesh & Jeremy at Lucali, quite possible the best pizza I had had on this earth, and a jaunt to Brooklyn Social (a neat bar in the style of a speakeasy). Where I ordered nary a beer, but rather a fancy ole cocktail with some well cut ice. After being simply shellshocked by the quality of food and drink Shideh and Ateesh at High Dive. Yes, it sounds lame. But it is on the contrary! Because there I got one of my favorites (not to be found in Atlanta): Bear Republic Race 5 IPA. A delightful experience with wonderful friends, I left totally satiated.

And all around Park Slope I saw cute bars with great beers on tap--4th St Pub, Pacific something something, I was amazed.

Saturday afternoon my friend Jenny and I found BierKraft after stopping in Nunu Chocolates for what was definitely the best chocolate I have ever had in my life. When I say found, I mean we were trying to get there all along, because I had heard rave reviews about this specialty cheese, chocolate and beer place. They have 22 or so beers on tap, and I got a pint of the delicious Blue Piont Brewing Co. Hoptical Illusion on cask (in these genius homemade casks!--see left). Yum yum. From Long Island. Then some boutique window shopping and a few hours later, it was dinner time again.

Justine and I then headed out to an amazing bar on her corner called Washington Commons where I got the delicious, delicious Otter Creek Imperial IPA. So perfect! And later a Cape Ann Fisherman's IPA- more normal but still good.

But it's not all Shangri-la in Brooklyn--our beloved Avery Maharaja that sells for about $7 or $8 in ATL was on sale for $14! Wow.

All weekend and I didn't even drink a Brooklyn Brewery Beer! Suffice to say: I found my gift for our Beer Club Secret Santa in BK!!

Love at the Pub Book Trailer

2009-11-23T05:45:00.000-08:00

One of the best bars around here (or around anywhere, really) is the Brick Store Pub. It's much more than a watering hole -- it was a catalyst for the renaissance of Decatur and the inspiration for a book, Love at the Pub.

Brick Store is hosting a block party for Love at the Pub on December 10th from 5 - 10. Apparently you get a free pint when you buy the book. Sold!

h/t Decatur Metro

Paste Magazine Rates the Top 25 Breweries of the Decade

2009-11-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

Our neighbors, friends, and fellow Brick Store Pub enthusiasts over at Paste Magazine have compiled the top 25 breweries of the decade.

Where did they get it right? Where did they get it wrong?

I'll tell you where they got it waaaaaay wrong -- Samuel Adams Imperial White as their favorite beer from the 15th best brewery. It's the worst beer I've tasted.

Boy, does this guy do some good PR

2009-11-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

If you need to get a message out, talk to our own Lain Shakespeare. Just yesterday, as I was preparing for a lecture and listening to the local NPR station, guess whose mellifluous voice comes over the airwaves: yes, that's right, our own Lain Shakespeare. Have a listen as he discusses the controversial Disney movie, "The Song of the South," on City Cafe with John Lemley.

It's been a while, but this was so on point...

2009-11-11T05:55:00.000-08:00

So I've been buried under a stack of papers to grade (and am getting another stack this afternoon), but I surfaced just in time to find this amazing post...

And I'll actually get on that post about Italian beer sometime soon.

How 'bout that Cusqueña?

2009-11-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

I feel an obligation to do a post about Peruvian beer situation. First of all, you know, they do a lot of chicha here--but I have yet to experience the alcoholic version, I have only consumed a fruit style version which was delicious. HOWEVER, lucky for this readership (??), I have had Peruvian Cusqueña beer, skipping the lager and going straight to Cusqueña Negra (BA describes it as "Premium Dark Beer").

Well it gets a "C" rating, which is maybe even a little generous. Since I think it is pretty nasty (and very very malty and sweet), I'll be on a beer respite for the few weeks I am here.

Here are some of the comments people give it "Unfortunately, the head fades quickly." "Smells like beer, kind of a chemical smell with a little lemon." "This thing is far too sugary to be appetizing, with sickly-rich notes of high fructose corn syrup and a hint of dark roasted barley" and I have to agree. This is a pretty rotten beer.

But hey, we don't come to Cusco and Peru to drink beer do we? There's a reason why Pisco Sours are much more famous than Cusqueña beer. As they say in Costa Rica, "Huacala!!" (as in "Nasty!")!

One last BrewHaHa in Maltimore / Brewtimore / Baltimalt

2009-10-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

Returning to Baltimore I wanted one last TASTE-a-roo of the Baltimore beer scene. I tried to get my team plus one humanitarian dude slash navy seal to go to WharfRat (yes, a horrible sounding name, but a place that came highly recommended by BeerAdvocate). But alas, it was closed.

But this beergirl does not easily dissuaded become! A dinner at a a very new & nice (but kinda just decent, I now think in retrospect) PanAsian (mostly Thai) place whose name I can't remember ensued. But that is not important. And is neither here nor there.

Let's cut to the chase: MAX'S in Baltimore is the Bomb. And that, my friends, is simply that. The vibe is...a rowdy college sports bar. Totally clashing with the laidback pub style of the BrickStore, this place did not inspire. But good thing we stuck around...

OH MY GOD! Beer fans, delight and rejoice, check out the beer list: http://www.maxs.com/beerlist.php (though this was most definitely not what we had). I have never seen the 120 minute on tap, plus pangea, theobroma, Sah'tea, and many more. Avery Grand Cru (14%?) on tap? Oh mama! I did not indulge.

I got the Boulder Oblivion or Obilon or something that I can't be bothered to look up. I also had the ... OH BUGGER as my English compatriots would say, I simply can't remember! I guess the point is, Max's is the best place to check out PLUS Brewer's Art of course. But Max's has MUCH Better beer and MUCH worse atmosphere.

Stouts get their fifteen minutes

2009-10-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

I pledge allegiance to the beer...

This fabulous picture is from a piece the New York Times published today on North American Stouts. While I do not concur with the writer's taste for "classic" stouts over Russian Imperial and other mega-stouts, I am a fan of several of the beers that made their top list: the McAuslan, Anderson Valley, and Bear Republic stouts are all bomb.

DC Beer Search

2009-10-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be proper for DSBC member "Sleeping Brewty" to visit B'more and not make a stop-over in DC. So one was made. (This story will be written in the third person. For dramatic affect).

Katy and her friends, Gen & Emmy, met up at the new and spiffy Birch & Barley where the mediocre grill Dakota Cowboy was previously sitting. A swanky feel and a beautiful "beer organ" with 50 beers on tap. Katy ordered the Harpoon Glacier Harvest Wet Hop though I must admit I am not sure if they served me that or the Green Flash Hop Head Red. It is embarrassing that I don't know which it was that was served as I should have known (and I am, by the way, giving up on writing in the third person!). But regardless, yum yum! One annoying note was the level of noise. My throat hurt from talking too loud when we left. But I was satisfied and happy nonetheless with another wonderful beer contribution to the DC scene!

Then I got Otter Creek Imperial Russian Stout. It gets an A- on beeradvocate (I'll save you the drama of clicking) and it was indeed delicious, but a bit sour compared to Great Divide's Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. They deservedly get an A. And it is chocolatey and only slightly oak-agey and mostly just the best part of a chocolate milkshake. In a beer. Wow--that is a nasty sounding description.

Life was good. Da end.

Baltimore Brewsky

2009-10-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

I can be quite snobby about beer. I guess we all can be. Well some of us can let our guard down and imbibe a Miller High Life (no names) or a PBR occasionally. But sometimes I also really hate it. In Atlanta/Decatur, I know my turf. I pretty much know the places ahead of time. But I was in Baltimore, out of my league. Other than Clipper City Brewing, I didn't know much about the beer scene.

I had the wonderful luck of checking out the Brewer's Art--a very funky and beautiful brewery in the lovely slash trendy Mount Vernon neighborhood. Well, not exactly luck. It had been featured in the NYTimes. And I had come there based on that. They had a good selection of bottles and their own brews on tap. Which were mostly Belgian styles, my favorite being the Saison/farmhouse style beer. And rosemary garlic frites---delightful!

My stint at the 13th floor of the Belvedere Hotel was different. It was also another cool old and lovingly restored building in the same area of town. Taking the creaky elevator to the top floor, I expected a lovely view and a classy bar. The view was nice, though no windows, but the bar was not classy at all. And it made me depressed when the best beer they had was a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. That one beer confirmed that I do not like that beer very much. But the company was fun and exciting that I hardly noticed.

Last night back in my old 'hood of DC, my dear friend Magda & I checked out Bread and Brew, a nice lil' bar + restaurant. Good beers on tap of course, including BREW FREE OR DIE! IPA. Actually quite fruity and delicious!

The Real "Mallternative" -- Decatur, GA or Mike's Hard Lemonade?

2009-10-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I stumbled across the Wikipedia page for Mike's Hard Lemonade. I was checking to see if God's gift to fifteen year-olds was classified as a beer or a "malt beverage" or alcopop or what.

The answer was shocking! ...especially to this law-abiding Decatur, GA resident. Mike's Hard Lemonade is actually a "malternative."

You heard me! Malternative. Sound familiar?

Unconscionable!

First, there's the brazen thievery of The Grange, a Decatur watering hole, and their attempt to steal the identity of The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry -- now this!

Decatur, have you no shame? Were we really to believe you wanted to establish yourself as a "mallternative" as in an alternative to mall shopping!?! Please.

This sneaky marketing campaign -- right under our noses! -- has all along been an attempt to lure 15 year-old lushes out of the basements of unsuspecting, out-of-town parents and onto our city streets! Stumbling about no less, in search of their precious malternatives.

I won't stand for this, just as you wouldn't stand our motto being "Decatur: A City of Homes, Schools, Places of Worship, and Underage Imbibers of Sweet, Sweet Malt Beverages." Somebody do something. I am disgusted.

Beer #7: Terrapin Depth Charge

2009-10-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, you've undoubtedly read about Beer Club's innovative communications strategy: SOCIAL MEDIA, here we come! With Lain and Amelia and their expertise in blogging how on earth could we go wrong? That's right, we couldn't.

So we come to beer #7...and it is a real hit. People were ready to ditch that funky barleywine (WTF, Green Flash?!) and we are onto coffee stouts!

OK, not the world's best photo. But gives you an idea of the color.

Words that come to folks' mind:

Bright Rwandan coffee
Instead of Wake & Bake, it's Wake & Burn, no...Wake & Churn.
a real breakfast beer
coffee coffee coffee!
Burnt? ! No...Dunkin Donuts...no!
Chocolate covered espresso beans!

We are currently debating our theme for November (in honor of Catherine's baby)...and...we've got it! Girly beers or manly beers! ! ! LOVE IT? LOVE IT!

Back to the beer at hand.

VOTING TIME!

SCORE: 5

Green Flash Brewing Company, Barleywine, 2008 Vintage

2009-10-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hoppiest barleywine ever
alcohol foamieness
barlipa
ipa/barleywine combo
technical
no depth of flavor
i can like you if I try hard
maybe some dirty socks going on
amelia smells pizza
challenging
one of the more bitter beers ever
nothing subtle about this beer
hits and sits
less harsh as it warms

VOTE: 1

Imperial Iniquity Black Ale

2009-10-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

I like the smell
-Christa
I love htis beer, it's my favorite so far
-Katy

"Some may consider it an immoral act to blacken an ale, but it's an ale black as night so it's the antithesis of unearthly"

Better balance than the Dogzilla, not as hoppy, more refined, very smooth, tastier finish
Taste chocolate or chocolate-flavored, somewhat astringent, taste the hops at the end and sort of chemical taste.
a little dark fruit flavor in the middle

7 points, thumbs up all around!

Beer #4: Dogzilla Black IPA -- Laughing Dog Brewing

2009-10-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

So sayeth the Beer Club Crew of Laughing Dog Brewing's Dogzilla Black IPA:

"This aroma is crrrrazy."

"[This aroma is] So interesting."

"Doing a lot [olfactoraly]!"

Amelia made a face like a dog licking peanut butter: "I thought it was done making tastes, but oh I was wrong."

[Discussion about how neither Idaho nor Pittsburgh nor Buffalo is in the midwest. Someone posits Buffalo is "mid-Atlantic" (ed. note: untrue)]

"I'm not from Kansas anymore, Toto." - Katy

"Tastes like it's been aged in my grandmother's trunk." - Christa

[Discussion about how color affects expectations of taste.]

"Tastes musty."

"There's a nutty flavor, with a little chocolate."

"Complex, and it really makes you think."

"Long and bitter finish."

Ben reads from the bottle: pure poetry. How many times can you rhyme with the word "down?" Too many, according to Laughing Dog's copy-editor.

Suggestion: "Everyone should create a haiku about each beer." (Groans)

Final Score: 0 (7 voters)

(picture courtesy of Ben McCleod)

Live Blog! Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy IPA

2009-10-15T17:56:00.001-07:00

It's from Boulder, CO, in case you were interested.

"That was good, Christa/out"

"Orange oil -- zest! It takes me a while to find it, but once I do -- BOOM!"

"Piney" (the label told us as much, to be fair) "Pine Sol!"

"Lemon!"

"Easy finish -- not as bitter and pinching as some"

"Good malt backbone" -- attributed to Ben

"Slight metallic finish ... may be due to olives"

There's a man somewhere who knows Don Henley. And now, Brennan known that man.

Vote: 6 (with 7 folks voting)

numero tres: Lake Louise Corn Rock Cream Ale

2009-10-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently this beer is one of Christa's family friend's favorite beer.

We are now sidetracked by Christa's stories from the Great American Beer Festival. We are all so jealous that she got to sample so many beers that we can't access down here in the dirtay dirtay.

The Corn Rock Cream Ale is on the sweet side - but also hits you with some funk. Somebody commented: "like a dessert you would have at a holiday party." I find that good beers demand attention from our crew though, and this beer is NOT the center of attention right now. So, perhaps the B- grade on Beer Advocate is on target.

Sam thinks this is "for a more delicate palate" - and there are not very many delicate palates in our group, so we are "prejudiced" against the light beers. Sam: "smooth buttery mouthfeel."

Count: 1!

Liveblog of Beer Club: Beer #2

2009-10-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

Alright, this is a Great Divide Hoss.
"Lain matches the beer in style"
"lunberjacky"
"does anybody taste cherry?" - "Yeah, Luden's, like candy cherry."
"great divide: great brewery, but..."
"subtle rye bread flavor"
"dark beers are coming..."
"it's Christa!"
"slightly sweet"
"for a lager..."
"not undrinkable, but..."
"grows on you"
"that is what a squirrel looks like" (?)
vote: 1 out of 8

First Beer: Flying Dog Kerberos Triple

2009-10-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

We just had the genius idea to liveblog beerclub. Ben is in the kitchen baking his stellar cookies, adding that to the popcorn, okra, olives, delicious cheese and more he prepared us. (Go on Ben!) Oh, and of course, Catherine brought her famous baked goods...pumpkin cake.

So live blogging...here we go!

I (Katy) really like the Kerberos...very malty. But Brennan is not so hot into it. "Has a strong taste of rubbing alcohol in the middle!" he says. "Tasty" is Amelia's (very uninspired) comment. "awww...that's not a lame comment, she's just getting started" says Catherine.

"This does not look like a three headed monster in my mouth." Ben writes.

This beer be trippel fermented. Aftertaste is questionable to some. Some nice spices prevail like pepper..."a lil' too sweet?"

"mmmMMMmmmm" we exclaim.

SCORE: 3

Oktoberfest with Palestine's Only Brewery

2009-10-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

TIME magazine recently published an article on Taybeh Beer, the very first brewery in Palestine, and their well attended (10,000 people!) Oktoberfest.

The bonus video is pretty great (please note how many cups deep that festival attendee is):

They've struggled a bit -- being surrounded by Muslim communities that completely abstain from alcohol doesn't exactly boost sales -- but they've found their niche and are turning a profit.

It looks like London may be the closest place to try Taybeh Beer, though the article mentions that there are more Taybeh natives living in Michigan than in Taybeh itself. Hopefully it's just a matter of time before Vargo gifts us a sixer from Detroit.

Finest Beer I Ever Tasted -- Schaefer!

2009-10-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna have to take Hedy Lamarr's word for it on this one. I do like that glass.

(picture courtesy if of the indefatigably fascinating If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats)

Wedge, Asheville

2009-10-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

During our Beer Club envoy to Boone this past weekend, we were able to make a stop at the ralatively new Wedge Brewing Company in Asheville's River Arts District. We sampled the newly tapped porter, the Golem (strong Belgian), and a few others and then sat down with a pitcher ($10) of the Iron Rail IPA. The patio is varied, with seats arranged at different heights, spacing and orientation, making it versitile and dynamic for great socializing. It also featured live music. Next time you're in Asheville be sure to check it out.

Other notes from the weekend included a comeback for the fallen Breckenridge Brewery with its small batch 471 IPA. We also sampled the Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin Ale. This one is as spicy as a seasonal cider and fitting for the fall. At dinner we sampled a great Ska Decadent Imperial IPA (only a B!!?!?!??). But the best came from OR, by way of Christ(P)a(in). It was Deschutes Mirror Mirror American Barley Wine. This is a winner. Another scary-good bottle also made it from Oregon to Boone. It was McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Whiskey. Delicious. If you're fortunate enough to get a glass I would.

All of these extras made an already pleasant North Carolina mountain trip all the more enjoyable. And, of course, it goes without saying that we brought a bunch of that NC goodness back home with us for the rest of our DSBC mates.

Oktoberfest Courtesy of Boston Globe's Big Picture

2009-09-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

The reliably amazing Big Picture photo blog at the Boston Globe covers Oktoberfest this week. Here's my favorite. Or maybe it's this one.

(Photo: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Climate Change Affects Quality of Pilsners

2009-09-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

From the New Scientist:

Climatologist Martin Mozny of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and colleagues say that the quality of Saaz hops -- the delicate variety used to make pilsner lager -- has been decreasing in recent years. They say the culprit is climate change in the form of increased air temperature.

No wonder I don't really like Pilsners. Do you think climate change accounts for the tinny flavor in lower quality pilsners or is that something else entirely?

(h/t kottke.org)

Georgia's Sunday Alcohol Ban -- Turning Beer Buyers into Felons

2009-09-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

Robert Keefer Dell, guy who wanted to by beer in Georgia on a Sunday, was arrested on charges of DUI, fleeing police, and aggravated assault.

Dell walked into a convenience store, ignored the orange tape indicating "no Sunday alcohol sales," and put $6 on the counter. When the clerk followed him out the door Dell showed off his handgun. He then led deputies in a car chase, attempted to run over an officer, and struck a police car.

Obviously this guy is already a few cereal box tops short of a secret decoder ring, but Lord knows what would've happened had he actually been able to buy beer on Sunday. Thank you, State of Georgia, for keeping everyone safe on the Sabbath.

beer graphic

2009-09-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

found somewhere on the interwebs. check it in its full glory.

edit: click here for the link to full/high-res graphic

Not today, fella. I've got my Beer Gauge.

2009-09-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

You love beer. You're also the type of person who tells it like it is, doesn't take sass from anyone, and who knows the truth is better than lying -- even if it would have spared Grandma's feelings. She'll be fine.

Here you are at your favorite local brewpub, enjoying a draft. What's this?! Your pint glass isn't filled to the brim? Son of a bitch. In fact, there's almost half an inch of vacant space -- space that should be filled by beer you paid hard-earned money for, dammit. And lord knows that because of the idiotic design of the pint glass, that vacant space up top could account for upwards of 15% of your beer. Unacceptable.

What does that jerk behind the bar think you are -- some kind of sucker?! Looks like he tried to swindle the wrong guy this time. Nice try, but no dice, chief.

Why will justice be served today? Because you have your beer gauge with you. Now you have evidence that you deserve -- nay, require -- a full pour.

No doubt that when you show your harried barkeep your pitiful pour, chart in place and evidence undeniable, s/he will graciously amend the issue. And definitely not mutter "jackass" under his or her breath. No, that was probably just a menu rustling or something.

Would it be going too far to call the beer gauge part of the arsenal in the fight against malfeasance worldwide? Probably not. Weird that it's so hard to get the bartender's attention for your next beer, though.

The Beer Gauge. Perfect for:
Beer drinkers
Douchebags

(Thanks, Consumerist.)

This is Spinal Tap...Drunk

2009-08-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

I knew rock had a lot of weird sub-genres, but I wasn't aware that "death metal drinking music" was one of them.

Well, leave it to the folks at NPR to enlighten us in this recent story. Apparently there are bands out there with names like Tankard and Alestrom that specialize in writing songs that are angry and loud, while also offering dubious advice on such matters as resisting the urge to remain sober, and pretending you are a pirate so you can go "looting" for beer.

While it's somewhat entertaining to listen to this stuff, I think I'll choose Yo La Tengo and moderation.

Fast Company Interviews Jim Koch, Founder of Boston Beer Company

2009-08-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat little interview with Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Beer Company, better known as the brewers of Sam Adams:

I love how the brewery's location came about -- through a nonprofit development corporation dedicated to creating jobs for the local community of immigrants.

I also love Sam Adams. I'm not a dad yet, but I think it's the quintessential "Dad Beer."

Going to your kid's annoying friend's birthday party? Bring Sam Adams. Thirsty after jogging with a stroller? You need a Sam Adams. Watching a baseball game and listening to it on the radio? Sam Adams is already in hand.

Finally, I like following Fast Company writer (and author of this FC article) Ellen McGirt on Twitter. She knows what's up.

Hey, Ladies...It's Not Beer, It's Medicine

2009-08-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hey, Ladies ... It's Not Beer, It's Medicine
By: Tom Jacobs August 11, 2009 05:05 PM (PDT) Comments
Recent studies found habitual beer drinkers had higher bone density than habitual wine drinkers or teetotalers. This discovery suggests that "other beer components besides alcohol" are likely at play.stockxpert.com
New full-bodied research finds beer drinking increases bone mass in older women.
We at Miller-McCune carefully track countless lines of scientific research, but we keep a particularly close eye on the ongoing inquiry into whether drinking beer is good for you. Well, a newly published study suggests that if you’re an older woman concerned about bone fractures, you might want to pop into the pub for a pint.
In February, a Tufts University research report revealed that, among older adults, regular, moderate alcohol intake is associated with greater bone mineral density. Now, a Spanish study in the journal Nutrition finds that the specific type of alcoholic beverage makes a significant difference, at least for females.
Researchers from the University of Extremadura in Cacerus, led by Dr. Juan D. Pedrera-Zamorano, examined the health records of nearly 1,700 healthy women living in their region. The mean age of participants was 48.4; approximately half were premenopausal and half postmenopausal.
They found habitual beer drinkers had higher bone density than habitual wine drinkers or teetotalers. This discovery, they write, suggests that "other beer components besides alcohol" are likely at play.
While it’s unclear exactly what those components are, the researchers point to beer’s "phytoestrogen content." (Funny – that never gets mentioned in those high-testosterone television ads during sporting events.) It turns out beer contains two phytoestrogens, apparently because "the female flowers of the hop plant have long been used as a preservative and flavoring agent." Previous research has suggested these compounds have "a protective effect on bone."
"Beer is also a major source of silicon," the researchers add. "It has been demonstrated that dietary silicon intake may have salutary effects on skeletal health, especially cortical bone health in premenopausal women."
The researchers do not recommend drinking beer to strengthen one’s bones, presumably due to the numerous health problems caused or exacerbated by excessive alcohol intake. But maintaining bone density into old age is certainly a good thing, especially given the prevalence of osteoporosis among the elderly.
The study concludes with the caveat that further research is needed to refine these results. (Will the subjects be known as Guinness pigs?). But if the benefits of beer are confirmed, the phrase "six-pack abs" may someday be replaced by "six-pack bones."

DC Beer Week -- the Best Thing Until ATL Beer Fortnight

2009-08-08T12:43:00.001-07:00

It has come to my attention that our nation's capitol is starting a beer week.

Sounds good, y'all.

However, as a native Atlantan, pompous civic boosterism and one-up-manship course through my veins.

I read about DC Beer Week and my first thought was not, "Good for the citizens of that fair city." Nor, "Ah, I wish I could attend." Folks, my first instinct said: "We need a beer week in Atlanta! And it shall be bigger and better than that of DC!"

And thus, I humbly submit: the Inaugural ATL Beer Fortnight.

Someone: call Hop City and Sweetwater and ABC and Monday Night Brewery and those guys who were in Creative Loafing. Someone else: figure out the details. Then let me know when the greatest fortnight of our lives begins, and I will gladly take credit for the idea.

What does your beer say about you?

2009-07-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

With all the media circus over yesterday's "make up" beer session between Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley, it's obviously a question on everyone's minds.

Apparently, among things, the beer you drink is a signifier for whether you are a self-syled elite or working class Joe, a patriot or a traitor to the Constitution.

According to New York Times columnist Eric Asimov, Obama chose Bud Light because, "like every Ivy League Democrat must battle the public impression that he’s an effete snob, [he] made the sensible political decision to go for an American everyman’s beer." But, Asimov (an effete snob himself, if there ever was one) goes on to explain that he should have picked a plain ole' Bud, lest he wanted to be perceived as "fussy" about his weight.

Well, folks, clearly this is one of those issues that Obama can't possibly win on. If he chooses a an All-American beer, like Bud or Bud Light, people accuse him of political theater and trying to appear to be blue collar. If he chooses, heaven forbid, a craft beer or a Belgian import, he risks Fox News calling him an East Coast liberal elite, or worse, some Benedict Arnold.

The irony in all of this, of course, is that Bud is now owned by InBev, the European beer conglomerate...

Which brings us to other interesting revelations that have come about from this weird episode in our nation's history:

1. U.S. Congressmen-especially ones you've never heard of--will seize upon any media opportunity to promote their local interests.

U.S. Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts actually wrote a formal letter to President Obama today, chiding him for not drinking an American-owned beer, and offering the friendly suggestion that, next time, he choose a Sam Adams (coincidentally brewed in his district of Boston).

2. Craft beer aficionados are equally opportunistic and, dare I say it, shameless. One NPR commentator is reporting that many a hipster bartender shed a tear over Obama's "wasted opportunity" to champion the David vs. Goliath cause of micro-brews by choosing a small batch brewery's product.

3. Nerds will always find a way to make a nerdy graphic--in this case, a venn diagram--explaining the news, even if the news is about the role beer plays in political discourse.

Beer Summit

2009-07-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Uniting enemies and diffusing the Nation's collective racial tensions... how are we still lacking a post on this monumental occasion for beer tonight at the White House. Not that I want to divert any more attention to the incident in Cambridge but I had to get a word in about the prominence of beer in the latest twists of what is turning into a larger discourse on race.

On the menu are Bud Light (Obama), Blue Moon (Crowley) and Red Stripe (Gates). Obama should have selected Allagash White to complete the Stars and Stripes trifecta. More than that an American craft brewery could have received a shout out here since they we're handed any bailouts in the stimulus package.

Read or listen to more in this story on NPR.

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