August 2005
Beer Is Big
Posted by on Wednesday, August 31, 2005 in - leave a comment
A while back I suggested that beer is bigger than a lot of things we think are big. The Beer Institute has determined the 2005 figures for the bigness of beer and the conclusion is...it is big: • “The industry today includes more than 2,400 brewers and beer importers, 1,908 beer wholesalers, and …
Three More Wolavers
Posted by on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 in - 2 comments
I reviewed Wolaver's oatmeal stout in early July after picking one up at a Wegman's in Ithaca in the organic produce section for something like 7.99 a six. This brewery, one of the great craft brewers of Vermont, makes both the the Wolaver's organic line as well as Otter Creek giving it a range of …
Canned Beer Taste
Posted by on Monday, August 29, 2005 in - 6 comments
I received a heads up from The Wall Street Journal's designated reader of A Good Beer Blog, Carl, that the paper has posted an interesting article on US craft brewers using cans rather than or in addition to bottles. A taste test ensued and I will spoil the ending for you: • “Details are in the …
Quick Note: Frostbite Ale, Lake Placid Craft Brewing, NY
Posted by on Sunday, August 28, 2005 in - leave a comment
A big old beer for a North Country winter. I have written about the two other bottled offerings by Lake Placid Craft Brewing of Plattsburg, NY here and here and the third offering, Frostbite Ale, continues the tradition of quality ales. It is a big winter ale with lots of chewy hops, a big body … read more »
Recommended Reading
Posted by on Sunday, August 28, 2005 in - leave a comment
I love a good beer book and I see from The Guardian that Tom Cannavan's pal Roger Protz has a new book for us to read called 300 Beers to Try Before You Die!. The reviewer says: • “OK, this is beer porn, in that many of the products are brewed on the other side of the world and are for most …
Quick Note: Headstrong Pale Ale, Guelph, ON, Canada
Posted by on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 in - 16 comments
This beer has been in the LCBO most of the summer, a US pale ale from Big Hole Brewing of Montana brewed under license here in Ontario at Wellington - but not listed on their web site. Why contract brew an obscure beer - at least in this market - and then not advertise it? Who knows. 24% of beer …
Protz and Cannavan
Posted by on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 in - leave a comment
I have come across an old pal from about ten years ago at Robin Garr's fantastically deep wine pages - where I used to write stuff like this. Tom Cannavan, has joined with Roger Protz, whose books on beer are in my collection to create a very comprehensive UK-based site on ales and lagers called …
Stouts: Mackeson Triple Stout, London, UK...err....Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Posted by on Monday, August 22, 2005 in - 16 comments
The contract brewed US version of a classic brewed under license from Whitbread from England. This is one of the great beers I have never gotten around to trying. • A sweet or even milk stout if lactose, milk sugar, was actually added by the good brewers of Ohio - a practice which may well be …
Repackaged Beer
Posted by on Saturday, August 20, 2005 in - leave a comment
I have noticed some reports concerning a Florida law suit between the family of baseball hero Roger Maris and the Anheuser-Busch company. You can follow the case by reading articles like this in the Gainesville Sun but this passage notes one of the key issues which came to me as a bit of a …
Great Divide Brewing, Denver, CO, USA
Posted by on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 in - 1 comment
I know very little about the beers of Great Divide Brewing of Denver, Colorado except the little active guy images worked into the font on each label are the first time that I have felt athletically intimidated by a beer. But I am going to suck it up - 'cause there is no gain with no pain - and …
Belgium: Six Lambics
Posted by on Monday, August 15, 2005 in - 14 comments
There are a few times my good wife is very pleased with this hobby. One is when there is Guinness in the house and one is when there are lambics. These historic vestiges of a Belgian need to capture summer fruit are made without added yeast...because the valley of the Senne is loaded with airborn …
Googleriffic
Posted by on Sunday, August 14, 2005 in - 1 comment
I haven't checked the ranking hereabouts on Google for the one word search "beer". We had been in the 80s and 90s for a while. Today we are #22. Knut must be the reason.
Köstritzer Schwarzbier -- black lager
Posted by on Sunday, August 14, 2005 in - 17 comments
I have a flaw — or perhaps it's a virtue — in that I feel unsettled around people or things that are indecisive. Don't get me wrong — I appreciate ambiguity, especially creative ambiguity that forces one to think and interpret. But there is ambiguity, and there is indecision. • I'm not entirely …
New York: Southern Tier Brewing, Lakewood
Posted by on Friday, August 12, 2005 in - 2 comments
I have written about Southern Tier's porter a couple of times and reviewed the IPA. All but the Hop Sun were in a variety twelve along with the porter that I picked up at the beginning of July - again obeying the golden rule of variety twelves (all ales and four styles please). I have enjoyed …
Lagers Compared
Posted by on Friday, August 12, 2005 in - 4 comments
Myrick in China has forwarded a very useful link to a Wall Street Journal blind test of lagers. I am no lover of lagers but there are some interesting results which I pretty much would agree with. • Update: Here is a bit of a surprise for a Friday morning. Not only did the good Myrick give me … read more »
Quick Note: Smuttynose Weisenheimer, NH, USA
Posted by on Thursday, August 11, 2005 in - leave a comment
A really nice seasonal hefeweizen from Smuttynose to add to the year of the hefes. I think this is my eleventh so far - nope, the worthy Paper City's makes twelve. While I do not have a side by side, I think this New Hampshire ale is up there for a state-side version ahead of the hefes of Rouge …
They Know Not What They Do
Posted by on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 in - leave a comment
“"It's a shame," said Zhao Shouzhi, a peasant farmer from Linkou county who witnessed the rehearsal when she was in Harbin to visit her relatives. "Obviously they have no idea how hard it is to grow the grain that is used to brew the beer they squander."” • Sadly, the beer fountain at the Fourth …
Monks Hit It Big
Posted by on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 in - leave a comment
An interesting read in The Independent today: • “For more than 160 years the Trappist monks at Saint Sixtus monastery in Flanders have been producing a rich, dark-brown, beer renowned for its exceptional flavour and strength. But an unexpected misfortune has befallen this reclusive community of …
The Stash
Posted by on Monday, August 8, 2005 in - 5 comments
The results of a trip south are often a slowly decreasing but merry little stash of singles in the closet and the fridge for the best part of a month as reviews get written. Sweet 1978 Rawlings, too. I am pretty sure I have only had two of the bottles previously, the McEwans Export and the …
Beer Rag
Posted by on Monday, August 8, 2005 in - 5 comments
Beer Rag is a great new beer blog written by two brothers in the New York area which I have come across through the comments page hereabouts. First, what is not to like with a blog that can come up with photoshoppery like this: • Second, it is sort of like Readers Digest with way more beer but …
Three Mid-Atlantic IPAs
Posted by on Saturday, August 6, 2005 in - 8 comments
Kind of an austire photo but click on it anyway. And I don't know of NY and PA are mid-Atlantic...but if not - what are they? • Anyway, I picked up a Victory Hop Devil from Downingtown in eastern Pennsylvania, Blue Point Brewing Company's Hoptical Illusion from Patchogue, Long Island and a bunch …
Quick Note: Butte Creek Organic Porter, Chico, CA
Posted by on Friday, August 5, 2005 in - leave a comment
I found this beer at Wild Oats in Portland, Maine last week. $8.99 US for a six and it comes with the "Pry Off" cap - click the photo for the details. Why twist when you can pry? • First, this is not an old school porter with the required sourness up front in the vein of, say, Grants or that …
Halifax's Earliest Boozeries
Posted by on Friday, August 5, 2005 in - 1 comment
Mike has done some excellent research with a map he has found showing the first places of libation in his hometown and my old stomping grounds of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Go read. If he'd scan the map we could put it up here as some interactive history with an edjificational twist. Just thinking of …
Road Note #4 - Cooperstown Brewing, Milford, NY
Posted by on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 in - leave a comment
Monday, we were in the Leatherstocking Region of central New York en route to Ithaca and the end of the vacation. Heading to the Baseball Hall of Fame, we stopped in at Cooperstown Brewing not actually in Cooperstown but in nearby Milford south on #28 about 7 miles...maybe. I reviewed their … read more »
