A Good Beer Blog

April 2007

Bit Hop Bombs: 120 Minutes IPA, Dogfish Head, Del., USA

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 5 comments
So I give the tickets away, come hope to find them, end up having have to dig through the recycling to find the envelope and there it is - and it is not for the Jays against the Tigers...it's for the Thursday night game next week against the Sox. I am so there.  •  Good reason to break out the …

What Is That? There, Behind That Policy Behind The Law?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
From time to time in my line of work, I have to read discussions on the policies that underlie law. While it is not the stuff you might first think to pick up before a long flight, it can be interesting as an elemental examination of what any given policy options are really about. Sometimes …

Belgian Ommegangs

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 4 comments
Gary popped up north last weekend and was good enough to bring me a few quarts of Ommegang and Hennepin. Other than trading one for venison (how Canuck of me), we noticed that the label said "Product of Belgium." I figured I had been a dope and missed the point that all along none of it was …

CAMWA: The Campaign For Watery Ale

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 6 comments
Two Nations Joined By Water  •  Why can't we admit it? We are all sitting around drinking flavoured water. We craft beer lovers like to pretend it is like wine, an art based on the manipulation fruit juice - but it ain't so. In a very real sense, fine beer is a far more crafted product than fine …

Quick Note: Pranqster, North Coast, California, USA

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
This is the fourth anniversary of the blog from which this blog spawned. My first beer post will be four years old next month. That has nothing in particular to do with North Coast's Pranqster except that I feel like a treat.  •  A gorgeous glowing orange amber ale clouded by a fine suspension of …

Three New Czech Brews

Posted by Evan Rail on in , - 2 comments
The launch of two new beers from Pilsner Urquell  •  It's great news for beer fans (and tough breaks for beer writers): so many new brewpubs and new  •  beers are showing up here in the Czech Republic that keeping track is an almost impossible task. When researching my Czech beer guide, I tasted …

The Wynkoop in Denver

Posted by Donavan Hall on in , - 3 comments
A couple of weeks back I started telling you about my Denver pubcrawl. I got about as far as my first day in Denver and my realization that I wasn't going to have any problem finding Fat Tire. The second day of my trip was spent almost exclusively at what turned out to be my favorite Denver pub …

Quick Note: Pendle Witches Brew, Moorhouse's, England

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
Infinitely more-ish slightly clouded and slightly oranged amber ale under a thick frothy light orange cream head. Somewhat herbed candyish on the sniffer. In the mouth woody hops. [Ed.: I'd say Fuggles but who knows anymore what with all these hybrids.] Masses of fruit - russet apple, fresh date …
Evan Rail on New Czech brews.
Posted by Alan McLeod on

Your Real Ale Is In The Mail

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 1 comment
...or really in the back of a courier's van if you opt to buy your beer in the UK from a new firm called Cellarmandirect:  •  “Cellarmandirect's beer is sold in nine pint barrels which cost from around £20, making it competitive with premium beer in off licences. The company has a distribution …

Being Elsewhere

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 12 comments
This weekend seems to be quiet on the North American beer blogging scene, perhaps with good reason - and a reason beyond the change in weather that saw a blizzard move though a week ago and the low 20's C here at the east end of Lake Ontario that might drive any sensible person away from the …

France Loves British Beer

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
Some interesting stats from this article at the BBC's website today:  •  exports of British beer rose 21.2% in 2006.exports to France represent 41.4% of British beer exports.beer was the UK's third biggest food export in 2006 at 402 million pounds.  •  These stats are from a report by Food in …

Quick Note: Wraspberry Ale, Wild Rose, Alberta, Canada

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
This one slipped through the lines care of the National Beer Policy (NBP) in which the free amongst us share beer without regard to inter-provincial borders. Wild Rose Brewery of Calgary is rebuilding its website but, according to the BAers, they have a pretty strong line up.  •  It pours a smart …

Is This The Greatest Convenience Store In the Universe?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 6 comments
Other smarter and nicer beer bloggers have highlighted this post already but I think it is well worth mentioning here:  •  “The shock comes in the beer locker. One side of the store is occupied by your average 7-11 fridges: energy drinks, Gatorade, bottled water and sparkling water, sodas followed …

Sixpoint Craft Ales in Redhook, Brooklyn

Posted by Donavan Hall on in , , , - 2 comments
For the last year I've been seeing and sampling a new brand of beers on tap -- Sixpoint Craft Ales in Redhook, Brooklyn is turning out enough beer in their 15 barrel system to supply around 400 accounts from Manhattan out to one of my favorite places on Long Island, Bobbique in Patchogue.  •  Last …

Quick Note: Wheat Wine Ale, Smuttynose, NH, USA

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
Why do the rude Dutchmen laugh behind her back? I am quite taken by the label, a charming and not at all disease-ridden 19th century agricultural worker lady bringing in the sheaves. Laugh? They should be all rejoicing as this is a really nice beer - a hybrid of American wheat meeting barleywine …

In The Good Beer Blog Mailbag And Around The Internet

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , , - leave a comment
Is this the best place to have a beer?  •  I get lots of email. Sure there is a lot of spam but some of it, like the picture above from Paul, is from the writers and plenty is from readers. Paul wrote to send me a bit of the trip he and herself to the village of which included a B+B and a pub …

Beer Blog Poetry Contest Winners

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
I sat down to have a proper read of these entries and was quite surprised by a couple of things. First, you did your work. While some of the entries are clearly by people who write poems more than others, the effort was clearly there. Second - and perhaps more interesting - was the thematic …

"Gourmet Beer" In Alabama

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
Alabama seems to be leading the world in the call for "gourmet beer." It even made the floor of the state legislature:  •  “Jackson, an associate pastor in the Church of God in Christ and an Upward Bound teacher at Alabama Southern Community College in Thomasville, said the bill would allow the …

Belgium: Bruin Bier, Brouwerij der Sint-Benedictusabdij de Achelse Kluis

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 3 comments
After dumping two very weird beers (who knew a beer could remind me of Old Spice pit wax?) I needed a break - something I could trust and what can you trust more than a dubbel with the Trappist logo on the label...unless one without the label, if you know what I mean. This 8% brew from the …

Good Beer Blog Poetry Entries And 24 Hours To Comment

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
Ok, now it is the readers turn. Here are the entries for the beer blog contest. Let me know what you thing:  •  Haiku by "mallace" - April 12. He came up with the idea for the poetry contest in the first place. He also won a prize in the last contest."Beer Run - An Epic Tale" by Captain Hops - 12 …

Last Call...For Beer Poems

Posted by Alan McLeod on - 8 comments
Today is the day, 4 pm this afternoon is the hour. Get your poems in today to be eligible for the free tickets for free craft beer at TAP NY 2007. We are looking for 50 words or three connected stanzas of haiku. I will announce the champ and champ-in-waiting quickly so I can get the tickets in the …

Holland: Double Hopped Bier, Christoffel

Posted by Gary Rith on in - leave a comment
Having received a rather interesting box of exotic brews from Amsterdam - like Knut did but without paying Norwegian tax - I am diving in here with the beer in the cute bottle first, labeled "Double Hopped Bier" from Christoffel. You will notice, as my wife did, that there is one of those little …

Pubbing in Downtown Denver (Part One)

Posted by Donavan Hall on in , - leave a comment
I usually have pretty good luck on my beer trips. My recent trip out to Denver was no exception. I wish that I could say I was doing advance scouting for the National Homebrew Conference or the Great American Beer Festival, but my purpose was not so grand as that. I just happened to be in town and …

May Is The Month Of Mild

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 7 comments
I forgot to hold the little Olympic flag ceremony - you know the one at the end when the old city passes the games on to the new city when all the volunteers run around with big flags in patters you can't quite associate with a theme or, really, even a pattern all to the strained sounds of a minor …

Another Day, Another Opportunity To Write A Beer Poem

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
Yes, I do go on...poems, poems, poems. But I really need to have these tickets for free beer at TAP NY 2007 in the hands of those who will use them to drink free beer. Is that so wrong? Listen. I am the one around here who put in four good years of my life to get a BA in English Literature and I …

More Beer Poetry For Free Beer Needed!

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 1 comment
While I can appreciate the first week of baseball season as well as a busy weekend for The Session has taken a lot of the attention, I cannot stress enough how fantastic the prizes for the current contest here at A Good Beer Blog are: free fun at Tap NY 2007 being held in a few weeks at Hunter New …

When Did Prohibition End? Not Today!

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 20 comments
I got an email from Bob Skilnik yesterday. Bob, you will recall wrote Beer and Food: An American History which I recently enjoyed and reviewed. His email, however, is not about the pleasures of his book but the characterization of today, April 7, as the day when Prohibition was repealed in the USA …

Session 2: The Day Of The Dubbels Is Here!

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 20 comments
Here we are - The Day of the Dubbels, the second in what is sure to become an infinite number of monthly beer bloggy linkfests. I will be building up this post through out the day with updates from the global sessioning so check back in from time to time. You can catch up with the background of …

Why Do You Drink at a Pub?

Posted by Donavan Hall on in , - 9 comments
“  •  "You can get just so much out of bars and they won't go down anymore. They come up. People in bars were like people in 5 and dime stores: they were killing time and everything else."  •  -- Charles Bukowski in "Would You Suggest Writing as a Career?"  •  ”  •  Last year I heard a story on …

Belgium: Maredsous 8, Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, Puurs

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 1 comment
Red dark chestnut ale under a rich frothy tan head. In the nasally regions, very Christmas cake with particular candied cherry note and maybe even cocoa. Swishing around the cheeks and gums, rich but not overly sweet date and plum with some gently spiced burlappy yeast, allspice. Plenty of cream …

Training For The Session

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 3 comments
I have to start doing spring training for Day of the Dubbels, coming up this Friday. I had not considered that it was going to be Good Friday when I picked one of the more ecclesiastical of ales for the theme for this week but it's a good thing I did pick something with a bit more strength as we …

Beer Poetry Rumble!

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 5 comments
Hah! Madness!! It appears that the rules of art tie some hands too tightly:  •  “Woe is the beer mime  •  he can’t speak the poetry  •  in praise of fine beer”  •  I deny the charge! Beer Haiku Daily has clearly targetted this here blog for some sort of rumble in verse and I am ready. Three …

Read More Stan, Wouldja?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
One of the surprising things about beer blogging has been the development of comradeship between the other writers, whether it is the bunch who contribute here or the other bloggers that you can keep up with at an aggregator like the RSBS. One of my favorite reads these days is sometimes comment …

First Nominee for Beer-Related Idiot of 2007

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
No one is without worth - some serve as those fantastically bad examples for all the rest of us. As the first nominee is the to-be-named beer idiot awards of 2007, please consider Brian Rogers of Sir Alexander Road, Acton in England:  •  “An alcoholic who thought he was "the luckiest man in the …