April 2009
When Rechecking Samples You Need To Probe Your Bins
Posted by on Thursday, April 30, 2009 in - 3 comments
Quick - what is the person next to you talking about when he says this: • To get a representative recheck sample you need to probe your bins. Of course, the design of some bins can make this a challenge. That's why it's important to choose bins that can be easily probed when you are dealing …
Grrrrreat Scots: Scotch Ale, Meantime, London, England
Posted by on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 in - leave a comment
Why a great big strapping Scots ale mid-week? Taxes done, that's why. I hate doing taxes. I hate all government forms. I make errors. I expect someone to call me up and ask "why?" and all I can reply is "I have no idea." I had to apply for a passport recently, too. It has been a tough stretch …
Ontario's Opposition Might Deregulate If Elected Maybe
Posted by on Monday, April 27, 2009 in - 3 comments
One day. Maybe. Perhaps. It is sort of a cyclical thing but something tells me Progressive Conservative Leadership Candidate Randy Hillier might be a little more adamant on this promise than past politicians in opposition: • “Dalton McGuinty is costing local Ontario businesses millions of …
No Free Beer On The Election Trail But Maybe Wine
Posted by on Sunday, April 26, 2009 in - 3 comments
I grew up in the eastern older part of Canada where it was not unknown a few decades ago for things like truck loads of gravel and other public benefit being conferred on the loyal after a winning campaign. It was also not unknown for a mickey - or pint - of hard liquor to be placed in hands in …
Are There Tastes I Will Simply Never Like?
Posted by on Saturday, April 25, 2009 in - 3 comments
My strong negative reaction to Victor yesterday was, as I said, very surprising. I have loved every other beer Allagash makes and have no intention of stopping my deep and rewarding relationship with that brewery. But after the beer went down the sink, I was thinking how the flavours I responded … read more »
Sour Beer Studies: La Roja, Jolly Pumpkin, Michigan
Posted by on Friday, April 24, 2009 in - 4 comments
[Ed.: Note the comments where Greg from Allagash corrects some of my less than stellar observations. But check here for thoughts on my questionable taste.] • Have you ever had a surprise disappointment? I got a bunch of Allagash brews last year, stashed them to great benefit and loved them all …
Yes, I Have A Life Outside Beer And It Includes Base Ball
Posted by on Friday, April 24, 2009 in - 2 comments
Not baseball so much as base ball. Old style. Old school. 1870s to be exact. And here is the thing. We are hosting some US players next week and I know there are a lot of clever US readers of this here beer blog. I came across the fact that the anthem of the US of A back then was not The Star …
Text: I Am A Craft Brew Fan
Posted by on Thursday, April 23, 2009 in - 12 comments
I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo. • Man - things are getting weirder and weirder out there. You know, I really don't need any videos of people I will likely never meet telling me how great they are and how there is a unified movement of pure positivism that you can't deny …
A Great Day For The Global Nation Of Beer!
Posted by on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 in - 2 comments
Why is this a great day? It is the day that one small barrier to the international flow of beer was broken down in Canada. And I may have played a wee role by making a comment on Facebook. • What happened was Josh Rubin, beer columnist for the Toronto Star, posted a link on Facebook to a column …
BC: Brockton IPA, Granville Island, Vancouver
Posted by on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 in - 4 comments
I was thinking of posting again on the response to, you know, the movie but Stephen Beaumont has said it perfectly: "the craft beer market and its adherents are now confident enough and mature enough to handle both reading and writing criticism of something obviously intended for their …
Canada Drinks 919 Olympic Pools Of Beer
Posted by on Monday, April 20, 2009 in - leave a comment
I had an undergrad pal who kept a little pencil mark on the wall by his dorm door. It wasn't for his height. It was for the calculation of the amount of beer he had drunk through his years of higher education based in the dorm room volume as the basic unit. I think it got to somewhere more than a …
Book Review: "Everyday Drinking - The Distilled Kingsley Amis"
Posted by on Sunday, April 19, 2009 in - 1 comment
There are days and there are days. Some days you have club soda instead. You go for walks. You have a salad and are good to yourself. And other days you do not. That is the way things go in these times of the general awareness of the need to be healthy. But not so long ago there were not these …
New Brunswick: Pick Your Gouge - Lager Or Light
Posted by on Saturday, April 18, 2009 in - 5 comments
Following up on earlier stories, the New Brunswick Liquor Corporation - a branch of government - has apparently been successful in its drive to dumb down the local beer market while maintaining its own inflated profit margins through the introduction of what is laughably called a "discount" beer …
So What Did You Think Of "Beer Wars" After The Show?
Posted by on Thursday, April 16, 2009 in - 27 comments
I got to thinking after being Mayor McMean of Meantown over Beer Wars the other day. I was a bit rude - even to the point Anat Baron, the filmmaker, jumped into the comments to defend the movie. I was reflective, even a bit chagrined. I usually think I use this my own bully pulpit more for the …
Two Hours In Quebec And A Chat At Marche Jovi
Posted by on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 in - 4 comments
So, instead of my usual zip down Interstate 81, I headed up the 401 and the 416 and took in an hour of beer shopping at Marche Jovi and the SAQ. All my puritanical Ontarian prejudices about Canadian beer shops melt away at the sight of a store that has both beer and fresh meat, one that is both …
Again With The PR Emails Or... "Dear Travis"
Posted by on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 in - 4 comments
Just so you don't get me wrong, I am happy when one of my guest writers get noticed - don't get me wrong. And I am even happy when my, umm, cranky blurts over new media PR miscues get others talking. But this email received this afternoon from a new media publicist has got to be the pinnacle of …
Why Don't I Give A Rats Ass About "Beer Wars"?
Posted by on Monday, April 13, 2009 in - 15 comments
This is an odd question. For yoinks it seems that I have been twittered, emailed, RSSed and facebooked about this movie. Actually, I didn't think I could be RRSed but then I was. Yet I don't care despite the fact that PR is usually so compelling most of the time. I now even seem to need to know …
Is This Denial Of "Local" At Its Finest?
Posted by on Sunday, April 12, 2009 in - 2 comments
I don't care too much for this or that claim of authenticity as most claims are sadly misplaced one way or another. But Stan and Daria have been on a global hunt to investigate one sort of claim to "authentic" that is relatively measurable: how local is it? Thinking of that, these new South … read more »
Is This My Kind Of Church For Easter?
Posted by on Saturday, April 11, 2009 in - leave a comment
Lew shall sing. After all, it is Easter. I may drag myself out the door in the morning. You never know about these things. It's been a challenge since my teens. My father used to throw a chocolate egg at my head each Easter before he went off to give the sermon at church service and I continue my …
CAMNA: The Campaign For Nipped Ales
Posted by on Friday, April 10, 2009 in - 9 comments
So far I have created, with a certain underwhelming success, The Pub Game Project to note the things people like to do when they get together for beer, The Society for Ales of Antiquity to celebrate those brewers who are brewing beers like those brewers who used to brew the beers as well as CAMWA …
Beerware And S'hopping Alescessories
Posted by on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 in - 1 comment
Punnery! I can't say that I like punning much but I have been driven to it by this great beerware opportunity that I learned about today from Troy and Stephen. Best of all, it is entirely crap... or rather CRAP: aka "Craftbrewers Recycled Art Project." It is great that George Eagleson, head brewer …
Vermont: Odd Notion Spring '09, Magic Hat, SoBurl
Posted by on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 in - 1 comment
Extreme. Experimental. Weird. Weirdo. That is my new sliding scale to express a facet of the craft brewing world, like the crap-snob continuum. Granted it is only half the scale, missing the BFW¹ - X3M portion to the left. But it is a good scale and Odd Notion Spring 2009 inspired it. • One …
Beer's Properties Makes For Beer's Profities
Posted by on Monday, April 6, 2009 in - 2 comments
I was quite ready to scoff at today's article in the London Free Press on InBev... or is it AmBev... or maybe now just BevBev's... Canadian operations and their version of a beer school but the point on the economics of properly handling your kegs is interesting: • "In a typical bar, five to 10 …
Session 26: Late To The Smoked Beer Party
Posted by on Saturday, April 4, 2009 in - leave a comment
I had a busy Friday. It was international, multi-media, for a great cause and included about six hours of driving. So, at the end of a drive that bought about 36 US craft beer in the house, I really didn't want a smoked beer - or at least not the smoked beer that I had set aside. I did have Ithaca …
New York: Dacker Ale, Davidson Brothers, Glens Falls
Posted by on Friday, April 3, 2009 in - 1 comment
I know I am supposed to post about smoked beer tonight - and I may yet - but I may have discovered a Burton, perhaps unintentional, in upstate New York. Here is the scene. This afternoon, I am over at North Country Public Radio, answering phones, hanging out with my radio pals like a cheese eating …
Please Don't Taste Your Beer Near Me
Posted by on Thursday, April 2, 2009 in - 8 comments
I am getting a wee bit tired of "tasting" beer. It is getting all too twee. This article in a Toronto rag of some sort or another displays everything that is wrong with the media's new relationship with beer and the concurrent looming over-preciousness of beer appreciation... or the over-wrought …
Military Family Fundraising Asks Aussies To Raise a Glass
Posted by on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 in - 6 comments
As you might imagine, this fund raising campaign starting today in Australia strikes the right chord with me: • Australians are being asked to buy a beer in honor of soldiers and sailors deployed to overseas troublespots in a new remembrance campaign designed to raise money for veteran support …
