A Good Beer Blog

November 2007

The Baltimore Sun On Craft Beer Pricing

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 5 comments
The Baltimore Sun has a regular beer column by Rob Kasper and this week it has picked up the question of price in this column called "How much is too much for a beer":  •  “I have mixed feelings about these top-dollar prices. On the one hand, it is a sign that beer is taking a step up in the …

Porter Season: Porter, Harvey and Sons, Lewes, England

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 4 comments
Are there comfort beers like there are comfort foods? Maybe we should restructure our categorizations of beer based on how you feel as you have one. This beer surely would make many lists of beers that imitate how a heavy fall sweater feels, how a basement rec room cocoons.  •  The only brewery I …

Thanks To The Beer Geeks Who Are Also IT Geeks

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
The last couple of days I sent out a few emails about my RSS feed for this here blog. Things weren't looking right. A number of times before I've gotten a heads up from a few helpful guys, especially Greg Clow, letting me that things looked wonky when he was updating his beery news feed aggregator …

Day 10: More Entries For Our US Photo Contest Winners

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 1 comment
Just click on that map. Things are moving at quite a clip and there are more prizes to let you know about for the US prize winners:  •  New: From Flossmoor Station in Flossmoor, Illinois - itself a winner of many prizes - a free growler to be picked up at the brewery. The winner will receive a …

Testing Out A Beer Tasting and Hop Appreciation Kit

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 8 comments
“Please note: the maker of the kit has joined in the conversation and clarified that there is more provided with the purchased package than the sample provided. With that extra material in the purchase this is more that a testing kit which could very well make it a far better value than these …

Porter Season: Porter, Okocim, Brzesko, Poland

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
When I worked in Poland 16 years ago I tried plenty of Okocim ("oko-cheem") but you never knew what you were going to get from the corner shops run by Zbigniew or Piotr out of their homes, their own fledgling first steps in capitalist democracy. They were subject to the vagaries of supply in a …

Day 8: Entries, Prizes And A Photo Contest Question

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 1 comment
The goodness of the beer blog photo contest continues to grow. More news about the prizes for the US contestants continues to come in:  •  We got this email from Dawn Tully of Tully's Beer and Wine in Well's Maine:  •  “Hi Alan, it's good to hear from you again. This is something that sounds …

Book Review: Land of Amber Waters, Doug Hoverson

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 3 comments
I usually don't rush to write reviews of book about beer that I get in the mail. Often they either cover similar ground to existing books, are lightweight intellectually or arrive without me having made the request. But some excite the mind in a new way that simply surprises. This week's arrival …

Are The British Pub And Real Ale Too Closely Connected?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
That is perhaps a backwards way of putting it but, given recent posts ranging from thought provocation to sheer ostrich posturing at the news that pub life is collapsing at a faster pace than ever in Britain, it is one that needs considering. If the pub is disappearing faster than ever, where will …

The 2007 Yuletide Beer Blog Photo Contest Gallery Is Up

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 1 comment
We already have too many entries to post them all in one post, given the choking powers such post have for anyone not on high speed internet. So go have a look over here where I will be adding new entries as they come in.  •  So far, counting those who have sent entries to Stonch's blog, we have …

Two From Weihenstephan And Four Of Us

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
It does no good to write about beer and be alone. One has to cultivate a group, at least, who will share the wonderment when the good stuff is at hand.  •  So it was then when the twelve from Weihenstephan were delivered from Sean of the brewery's the new Ontario importers, Beer Barons, there had …

Big Hop Bombs: Harvest Ale, Founders, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
Man does not live by contests and prizes alone. Some days you need to have beer. Most days really. And what better beer to have than Founder's take on wet hopped IPA brewed with undried hops rushed from the field upon picking to the boiling wort. A seasonal released just a few weeks ago. Orange …

Day 4: More Prizes And The Entries Start Coming In

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Flossmoor Station's barleywine explosively fermenting all over the floor  •  OK, I said I would restrain myself but this is going great. Today we added the following prizes:  •  Ontario/Canada: a subscription to TAPS magazine in addition to the $40 buck certificate and t-shirt from St. Veronus …

Day 3: A Great Addition To The Prizes For Ontario

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
I have to promise myself not to make every post for the next three weeks or so about the contest but this email today was a great bit of news for contestants from Ontario:  •  “I would be pleased and honoured to give a prize. How about a St Veronus t shirt and a $40 gift certificate? I look …

Day 3: The Beer Blog Photo Contest Gathers Pace

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
As the day dawns over North America, it is hard to control the excitement that is gathering for the Beer Blog Photo Contest - Yule 2007 edition. So far the response from brewers, publishers, trade organizations and folks around the office has been overwhelming. We received this note from our …

Paul May Cry God for Harry, England But Not So St George

Posted by Paul of B. St-E. on in , - leave a comment
Now I've never really subscribed to the notion of a patron saint, as an atheist I don't really understand the concept. It's even more disturbing when the notion is taken up by those that use it to identify with a certain kind of Englishness. As Dr Johnson put it "Patriotism is the last refuge of a …

Josh Examines Pumpkin Ales Just In Time For Thanksgiving

Posted by Josh Marlow on in , - leave a comment
“"Let the Pompion be beaten in a Trough and pressed as Apples" - An anonymous recipe for pumpkin ale appeared in the papers of the American Philosophical Society in February, 1771¹”  •  Pumpkin Ale is a much maligned form of beer, but I doubt that any Belgian would deny it beerhood. My wife and I …

The Good Beer Blog 2007 Yule Photo Contest Is Here!

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 4 comments
Update: more prizes are being arranged already. And, yes, the photos need to relate to beer and brewing.  •  Yes, the mother of all beer blog contests is here again! Last year, tens if not dozens of entries were sent to A Good Beer Blog and many of them were actually legitimate submissions from …

Where Beer And Not Alcohol Is The Particular Evil

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 1 comment
This complaint by a fan at a southern US college football game reflects an interesting bit of anti-beer mania that I had not quite appreciated before:  •  “Garbage cans in the Grove served as final resting places for beer cans. It was harder to find a garbage can that didn't have beer cans in it …

Beer Book Covers - Do You See What I See?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 1 comment
Once, when my firm was considering a new logo and had just received a new design it had paid for with the four letters of the acronym being placed in green boxes, I pointed out to the boss a seed catalog I had just received from a UK firm whose four letter firm name acronym in the same font was …

Sour Beer Studies: Madrugada Obscura, Jolly Pumpkin, MI

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - leave a comment
A Michigan beer got the big game at the Big House...and what a big beer it is - a tangy sour stout weighing in at 8.1%. This is what I expect when I get an old school porter and is not unlike a badly handled Burton Bridge porter I had once in 2001. I have a 2006 and 2007 Burton Bridge in the stash …

Photos From My Visit To Jolly Pumpkin, Dexter, Michigan

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 2 comments
Click any picture for a bigger view.  •  It was a Ron-a-thon last Friday at Jolly Pumpkin. After leaving London, Ontario, Canada at about 1 pm and we hit Dexter, Michigan at about 5 pm just as Ron Jeffries was finishing up a days work. He gave me an hour of his time and by the end of it I was …

Ontario: Pumpkin Ale, Grand River Brewing, Cambridge, RMW

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 1 comment
Even though wine writers slumming amongst the beers are unaware of it, pumpkin beers for autumn are big news and the trend is moving into Canada. I wrote about my pleasure at Grand River Brewing, a new brewery in Cambridge, Ontario, last August and their brews ranging from 3.5% to 4.7%. This …

Porter Season: Four US Porters Side-By-Side-By-Side-By-Side

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , , - 2 comments
...Colorado, Maine, New York, Massachusetts...  •  This porter season thing is a little overwhelming - sure it's a whole season but there's supposed to be snow by Friday and I gotta get on to the imperial stouts, old ales and barleywines...and winter beers...and Christmas ales. You know I want to …

Greener Beer In Oz Without One St. Patrick's Party In Sight

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
Interesting news out of Australia that the drought is causing the regulations concerning brewing to tighten:  •  “Lion Nathan is building a water recycling plant at its Castlemaine Perkins brewery in Queensland that will reduce by almost half, to less than 2.2 litres, the amount of drinking water …

Porter Season: 6, Baltika, St. Petersburg, Russia

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 3 comments
What do I think about drinking Russian beer? I suppose, having lived in Poland on the Baltic, I really should accept that whatever could have been done likely was done some time ago. Whatever is in the water, however, the rest of it is pretty tasty. A thick cream head resolves to a rim of beige …

Beer Shop: Bello Vino, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 4 comments
Directions to Bello Vino.  •  When I realized I was going to be within a reasonable drive of a 24 hour zip into Michigan due to work requirements, I had no  •  understanding of what the place was like. When we crossed the border at Port Huron and got through the town, I thought that I had driven …

About Oaked Beer: Bam Noir, Jolly Pumpkin, Dexter, MI

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 1 comment
Just a few days after saying that I could not find copies of Celebrator magazine - I find one at Jolly Pumpkin's store in Dexter, Michigan. I also found this Bam Noir labeled as Batch #246 even though the brewery does not list that one as a Bam Noir batch. No never mind. Numbers can have that …

Still On Beer Pricing - What Is Your Best Value Beer?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 6 comments
I am still on the road hoping to make one more beer stop at Grand River to cash in some growlers...and spend that cash on more great value beer. Cashing in growlers seems like free beer but really it is only realizing a past investment in beer futures. Beervestment.  •  You see, you can't get away …

Michigan Update From The Road

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 2 comments
Just a quick note to say we had an hour with Ron at Jolly Pumpkin late in the afternoon yesterday which was one of the most interesting hours I have spent in my life with beer. Plenty of photos of wooden casks will follow but on that whole beer pricing thing - picking up a case of 12 750 ml …

Knut Doesn't Always Mind When A Flight Is Delayed

Posted by Knut Albert Solem on in - 5 comments
...apple or pretzel...apple or pretzel...  •  When you travel by air across Europe, strange ways of organizing airports and puzzling security measures has made this quite an ordeal, even if you turn up well ahead of time, behave politely and have plenty of books to read or work to do. You are sent …

Ontario Craft Brewers Release Their Discovery Pack

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - leave a comment
The other week, I received a review copy of the Ontario Craft Brewer's Discovery Pack - a six pack that is now becoming available throughout Ontario featuring beers from six separate breweries. I have to point out that this blog is supported by the OCB as their logo to the left confirms. I also …

Paul Has Too Much Beer

Posted by Paul of B. St-E. on in , - 5 comments
A terrible problem to have.  •  Too much beer. Can you have too much beer?  •  As I’m writing this I hear a resounding NO!!! But it's sort of a predicament that I’m in. When we closed our beer shop at the end of 2005 we had some stock left over. It wasn't much in terms of weekly turn over, but it …

Sour Beer Studies: Pop Quiz - So What Is This Sour Anyway?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 1 comment
Lew Bryson has threatened to turn a discussion he and I and others are having about the use of the word sour - is it a characteristic or a style. So I thought it was about time to post the question here myself...you know...first.  •  Lew, ever excellently, has taken the specific (a review of New …

Paul Goes To The 2007 Norwich Beer Festival

Posted by Paul of B. St-E. on in - 11 comments
I have a confession to make. I am the proud owner of a man-bag. A man-bag in fine green hemp. But when I toddled off to Norwich Beer Festival with my friend John just over a week ago in a repeat of last year's trip, I forsook the said bag for my trusty haversack. Most people's stereotypical beer …

Where To Shop In South East Michigan?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 11 comments
It looks like I will be in the Ann Arbor area this weekend for about 18 hours. My plan is to try to hit Jolly Pumpkin in nearby Dexter for their 12 to 6 pm store hours. But what else? Any recommendations?

About Oaked Beer: Odyssey, Allagash, Maine, USA

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
This is a special release by Allagash from October 2006, weighing in at a hefty 10.3%. It pours a deep rich mahogany under thick lacing cream froth. Lots of big dark aromas coming out of the glass - sort of like a brown sugared baseball glove that was on fire but put out with a good soaking of …

Quick Note: Ommegeddon, Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - leave a comment
A bottle from batch #1 dated June 2007. Light straw ale under a fine white frothy head. On the nose there is plenty to remind me of Goliath triple, one of my favorite beers - candy floss with nutmeg. In the mouth, this beer is drier without so much of the pear juiciness (actually more faintly of …

Session 9: When Beer And Music Shaped My Life

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , , - leave a comment
A bit like Greg, when I thought about the topic for this month's edition of "The Session", hosted and proposed by Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey, I was initially disappointed as this one's generality seems to be taking us another notch farther and farther away from the beer and nearer and nearer to a …

Your Beer Bloggy Update For November

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - leave a comment
Times like these there are more things to talk about than one post a day can handle. Times like these demand lists of beery bullets to catch up with all the interesting ideas out there:  •  Stonch has posted his latest poll. This time he wants you to tell him where to go...or at least where to go …

Introducing John Morrissey, Our New Man In Denver

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
I've been writing this dang blog for the best part of four years now, if you count its pre-spinoff days as part of my general blog of foolishness. As you know, we have guest bloggers and the test to become one is pretty tough. Basically, you have to write me an email and make sure it is a fairly …