January 2007
Germany: The Week Of Nine German Beers
Posted by on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 in - 20 comments
What an awful photo. The colours are all over the place, the bottles are not straight and I am not even sure that it is in focus. This is sort of how I feel about my understanding of German and German-style beers. I am not a fan and I base that primarily on ignorance. Fortunately I have the Good …
Long Island Real Ale Fest #3
Posted by on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - leave a comment
Last weekend I went to the Long Island Real Ale Festival hosted by Blue Point Brewing Company in Patchogue, New York. Personally, this is my second time to attend the festival, but it's the third installment. I missed the premier Long Island Real Ale festival because of a snowstorm; I wrongly …
Your Next Beer Blog Contest Prize Is In!
Posted by on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 in - 17 comments
Hey, the nice people from Wiley publications sent me four copies of Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewer and three of them are for you. With any luck this will be more exciting than the ship contest, more like the photo contest though I can do without a repeat of Mr. Bitter who …
Book Review: <i>Brew Like A Monk</i> by Stan Hieronymus
Posted by on Monday, January 29, 2007 in - 1 comment
Brew Like A Monk came in the mail last week. It is part two of a three-part book on the ales of Belgium published over the last few years by Brewers Publications. The author, Stan Hieronymus, is one of those kind more experienced beer writers who has been very supportive over the life of this here …
Posted by on Monday, January 29, 2007
CNY Brewfest 2007 Update
Posted by on Sunday, January 28, 2007 in - 14 comments
With just six days to go until CNY Brewfest 2007 at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, the 11th annual, and preparations are being made - meaning that I have booked the hotel and have business cards being printed. Business cards? Me, too - I have no idea why. Anyway, I am going to post more …
Beer Stein Auction in Cincinnati
Posted by on Saturday, January 27, 2007 in - leave a comment
I am not a huge investor in Brewerania but it would be fairly neat to see one of these events: • “After seeing the standing-room-only response to a recent brewery-themed knock-off of Antiques Roadshow in Over-the-Rhine, organizers of the Germania Society’s upcoming stein auction are bracing for … read more »
Knut Goes To The World's Northernmost Bar
Posted by on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in - 4 comments
Kroa, Spitzbergen • Three hours by plane straight north from Oslo, excluding 45 minutes stopover in Tromsø, and you arrive at Longyearbyen airport. It is minus 20 degrees Celsius, but the gale hits you as you exit from the plane and run for the terminal building. It is pitch dark, which … read more »
The Week Of O'Hanlon's
Posted by on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 in - leave a comment
A couple of weeks ago, the hard working new editor of The Bar Towel, Greg Clow, announced that Roland and Russell, an eastern European wine, spirit and truffle distributor in Ontario, was now offering the O'Hanlon range of beers from Devon, England including the famous Thomas Hardy's Ale which I …
The New York Times Considers Brownness
Posted by on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 in - 4 comments
Our pal Lew Bryson wrangles another date with free beer at the New York Times, this time on brown ales.
Quick Note: Scottish Ale Draught, Belhaven, Scotland
Posted by on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 in - 13 comments
I have to admit, I am very entertained by 'draught' cans. The pop, the schnick, the whoosh. Guinness, for example, has done this for a few years, which adds a nice head to the beer, Murphy's Irish Stout and Boddington's Pub Ale too. I don't know exactly what that little ball does, but it does pour …
Book Review: Arcadia's Books About Brewing
Posted by on Monday, January 22, 2007 in - leave a comment
A few weeks ago I noticed that Arcadia Publishing had some titles relating to beer. I like these books which are essentially collections of old photos, press clippings and diagrams of very specific topics. In upstate New York, for example, you can pretty much find a collection of your town or …
Beer and Cheese Tastings
Posted by on Sunday, January 21, 2007 in - 7 comments
Yesterday The Globe and Mail ran a story about something being done reflecting the new world order in which beer is the new wine - a beer and cheese tasting in Vancouver: • “"It's something that's not done," he says. "But beer and cheese is a great combination because they're so different. A lot …
New URL for the Brew Lounge.
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2007
Welcome to Callahan's
Posted by on Saturday, January 20, 2007 - leave a comment
Somewhere on this map Callahan's was just 40 years old. • During the past year I’ve been writing about the Long Island craft beer scene. While I don’t propose to give that up, I plan on doing something a little different in the coming year: I’m going to adopt a nearby bar as “my local” and I’m …
Barley Wine: Doggie Claws 2006, Hair of the Dog, Oregon
Posted by on Friday, January 19, 2007 in - 1 comment
From last month's troublesome shipment. • Deep cherry red amber ale under the slimmest of foam and white rim. Thick and still ale, almost syrup. Masses of resinous green and bitter tea, candy caned hops with a line of chili hot heat over rich candied fruit malt - peach, cherry, pear - with …
Beer And Snobs And Meaning
Posted by on Thursday, January 18, 2007 in - 9 comments
An interesting if small hullabaloo of sorts has arisen in the beer world, or at least the US web-based part of it. • It all began yesterday when the Pittsburg Tribune-Review published a column by Mike Seate entitled "Beer snobs forget the true meaning of beer" in which he makes various … read more »
Two Days Of Beer In Lviv
Posted by on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 in - leave a comment
How to get to Lviv • In the Kyiv Post (my usual source for all beer related news from the Ukraine) there is a story about a beer drinking trip to Lviv, the city they call the Vienna of the Ukraine, including this scene when you enter one restaurant: • “...there is a young man dressed as a monk …
Book Review: <i>Best Bars of New York</i> by Jef Klein
Posted by on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 in - 1 comment
I received this book in the mail last week from Turner Publishing and I think it makes a good addition to the beer library. In a nutshell, it is a coffee table book with black and white photos of thirty great bars in the Big Apple. Some are historic places like McSorley's Old Ale House, with those …
Why Do Researchers Do What They Do?
Posted by on Monday, January 15, 2007 in - leave a comment
Sometimes beer news is not really news about beer at all. One would imagine that were this to be learned about common suckweed or the meadowblort, this would not be news at all: • “Japanese researchers are reporting that hops, which give beer its bitter taste, are effective in mitigating various …
Belgium: Scotch, Brasserie de Silly, Silly
Posted by on Sunday, January 14, 2007 in - leave a comment
In his mid-70s first edition of The World Guide to Beer, Michael Jackson wrote: • “The fact that the Scots do not celebrate Christmas (preferring to save their serious drinking for New Year's Eve¹) might surprise Belgians. In Belgium, "Scotch" is not a whisky, but a very dark and creamy beer of …
The Ladies And Escorts Door
Posted by on Saturday, January 13, 2007 in - 6 comments
I have only encountered the vestiges of this movement twice. Once with the LBR (or Lady's Beverage Room) on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, NS and again at the Douglas Tavern in Renfrew Co., Ontario according to the sign at one end saying "Ladies and Escorts" - the separation of the Canadian sexes …
Paul Goes to Nottingham
Posted by on Thursday, January 11, 2007 in - 1 comment
To the green wood, men! • Well, not really...but a few days before Christmas I was lucky enough to make a trip to Nottingham on business, and stop over there. The company I work for owns a factory in Beeston, so first port of call after finishing work was a visit to the Victoria Hotel there … read more »
Belgium: Floreffe, Dubbel, Brasserie Lefebvre, Quenast
Posted by on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 in - leave a comment
An abbey beer from the makers of Belgian Pêches, the Lefebvre brewery at Quenast, Belgium. • Fine tan thick lacing head over chestnut ale. On the nose malty mustiness followed by a dry sip of plummy burlappy brew with a fresh sweet apply juice heart. Interesting multi-layered spherical taste …
Part Of The Cost Of Beer
Posted by on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 in - 5 comments
Here is an interesting bit of fact-based reality in an article on potential increases which may hit the beer ingredient market: • “Barley prices have steadily inched up each month, ending 2006 averaging $3.19 per bushel in December -- an increase of about 24 percent from December's average price …
A Good Beer Blog's Best Of 2006
Posted by on Monday, January 8, 2007 in - 5 comments
My Best Beer Photo of 2006 • Though the 2006 contest was a bust with no one trying for that ship, 2006 was a great year in beer. It was a year that I had a couple of hundred new beers. It was a year that I got to beer hunt from near Lake Huron to the coast of Maine. It was a year of new writing …
Book Review: <i>Brewed In Canada</i>, Allen Winn Sneath
Posted by on Sunday, January 7, 2007 in - leave a comment
With all the reviews of whatever comes through the door I do, I should not forget some recent and not so recent books I have come to rely upon and give them an airing, too. Brewed In Canada subtitled "The Untold Story of Canada's 350-Year-Old Brewing Industry" (a gift from two and a half years ago …
Review: Chefs Recipe Site
Posted by on Sunday, January 7, 2007 in - 3 comments
I have been asked again through ReviewMe to have a look at another new website. This time I am a little uncertain as to why I was picked as the site is not primarily a beer related site but these fees go for the bestest purpose of all, keeping the stash going, so let's have a look. • The plan … read more »
Mainers Free To View Santa's Butt
Posted by on Saturday, January 6, 2007 in - leave a comment
Good news! The forces of darkness that would wage war against silly beer labels may have been defeated - at least in Maine: • “The state's beer sellers are now free to put Santa's Butt Winter Porter on their shelves. The brew, along with two beers with labels depicting bare-breasted women, had …
New York: Big Red, Southern Tier, Lakewood
Posted by on Friday, January 5, 2007 in - leave a comment
This is an imperial red ale. I do not know if this is a style of one but it is the first I have seen. • Orange smoked amber ale under rich lace foamy ivory head. A salute to crystal malt, that double soaked-and double-dried barley that mimics raisin. Some grain but largely round malt with a nice …
Beer Chess Anyone?
Posted by on Friday, January 5, 2007 in - 1 comment
[Insert your caption here] • Proof positive that everyone out there has an idea to try out: a large scale chess game using the beer bottles of your choice. I am not sure why the ads focus on a biker vs. a geek as a WWI recreation between the Germans and the Belgians might seem to be to be the …
Chief Beer Officer Job Still Vacant
Posted by on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 in - 4 comments
Of course I applied - why not? But, despite having all my vitals, Sheraton's Four Point's hotel chain is still looking...not to mention milking this promotional idea of a Chief Beer Officer for the hotel chain: • “Four Points reports that over 5,000 applicants from 31 countries want to be a CBO …
Portrait Of Wegman's As A Beer Store
Posted by on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 in - 7 comments
...very near cheeses just like these... • Wegman's is quite a wonderful chain of grocery stores in central and western NY state, and Alan has mentioned them here before. Last month they greatly expanded their micro brews selection in their Ithaca, NY store - near the cheese - and it appears to … read more »
