February 2009
Beer Shop + Beer Club + Local Brewery = Good Idea
Posted by on Saturday, February 28, 2009 in - 1 comment
What a great concept! This article that popped up on Google news this evening shows how an imaginative beer shopkeeper can connect fans of great beer with the local brewers who make it. Here is how the deal works at the Sherbrooke Liquor Store in Edmonton Alberta: • ...Customers can sign up for …
England: Twelve Days, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire
Posted by on Thursday, February 26, 2009 in - 3 comments
I save the best empties. Usually they are rare ones or just just the best tasting. I think I am saving this lovely design just for how it looks - the partridge in a pear tree, the slender tall pint bottle...or rather half litre. • The ales of Hook Norton rarely shows up in my area. One summer …
Ontario: Josh Rubin Takes One For The Team
Posted by on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 in - leave a comment
I have spent a very merry evening over beer with the Toronto Star's beer beat reporter Josh Rubin. He is a fine lad. So, I feel particularly grateful yet sincerely sorry for him and his obligation / choice / occupational hazard of having to try out Trafalgar Brewing's Triple Threat 3-pack of … read more »
Two Timing On My Own Beer Blog Writing
Posted by on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 in - 4 comments
Once in a while I write something elsewhere. These days, it's usually by request rather than me hoping to pad my CV and recently our kind beer blog sponsors worldlabel.com asked me to think about what I would consider some important tips for starting your own small brewery. I don't know how much I …
Stout: Oyster Stout, Marston, Burton-on-Trent, England
Posted by on Monday, February 23, 2009 in - leave a comment
I am slightly spooked. Spooked by the calories of big beers, spooked by how much effort it takes to balance off a big beer and stuff like that. But I have a low freaking tolerence combined with a with a high resistence to change so it isn't the end of the world. Had I only taken up fencing when I …
Wanted: Beer Blog Yule Photo Contest Ambassadors.
Posted by on Sunday, February 22, 2009 in - leave a comment
Here's the thing. I have a vision for the Yule 2009 Beer Blog Photo Contest. Last year we had about 43 prizes and 524 entries. I think we can hit over 100 prizes and maybe 1500 entries. At least. Why not? Why not 200 hundred gifts...or a zillion for that matter. It could happen. Well, it could if …
So How Many Calories Are In That Beer Anyway?
Posted by on Friday, February 20, 2009 in - 23 comments
You would never confuse me for a jogger. I am big. I like that. I was over six foot at twelve. A small giant. I can pick up things others can't. Move large objects. I am often asked by little old ladies to reach the high shelf for them at the grocery store. But you have to watch it. Over two …
Deeper Into Recession - Is Beer An Affordable Luxury?
Posted by on Thursday, February 19, 2009 in - 12 comments
I still haven't got my mind around this one yet. There seem to be plenty of stories like how Aussies are pounding brews despite the times or this one from the US mid-Atlantic (or is that the north of the South?) describing how wonderful things are in the beer world: • “It’s beer, people love …
And The Headline Read "Pub To Host Sausage Meet"
Posted by on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 in - 3 comments
I can't decide whether this is better than the Beer and Pie Festival or not that I wrote about almost a year ago. Is it because it is February? Is it because there are those (we go nameless) who consider beer an appropriate vegetable course when in the presence of beer or sausage or BBQ or any …
Fat Tire Ale Downed Near Load Of Burgers
Posted by on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 in - 3 comments
I thought for seconds on end over that witty headline. Oddly, it's true according to this Salt Lake newspaper report (h/t dmb): • Motorists on Interstate 15 were impeded by a piles of hamburgers after a truck spilled a load of the patties, blocking the northbound lanes for four hours. The driver …
New York: What A Brewery Adds To The Economy
Posted by on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 in - leave a comment
Further to the note last week about the Latvians in fact not coming to Rochester, it is interesting to read in this article about city Council waiving almost 9 million dollars in unpaid water rates and taxes to try and keep High Falls Brewing in town: • The company has more than $100 million in …
But Who Gets To Receive and Read All Those Forms?
Posted by on Monday, February 16, 2009 in - 9 comments
I thought I had heard the dumbest law in relation to beer and bars, the since recinded "you can't stand and hold a beer in a bar in PEI" law. I hunt these dumb laws out and thought I had heard the best of them. Then I read this: "Utah is the only state that requires people to fill out an …
When Best Before Is Just Not Good Enough
Posted by on Saturday, February 14, 2009 in - 1 comment
I don't know what you were doing last night but I was watching six episodes of Doctor Who with the boy. The 1978 version. As we watched Sontarans come this close to taking out the Time Lords and marveled at the state of British dental care of thrity years ago, I sipped a Kerst Pater Special Winter …
Cali: Jamaica Red Ale, Mad River Brewing, Blue Lake
Posted by on Thursday, February 12, 2009 in - 3 comments
I picked up a few Mad River beers when I was at Finger Lake Beverages in Ithaca the other week. After I had their Steelhead Double India Pale Ale the other night, I wish I had bought more. • Like the DIPA, their Jamaica Red pours thick. The fluid fills the glass in wide swells of caramel … read more »
PGP 4.0: Is There An Anti-Pub Game Movement?
Posted by on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 in - 3 comments
I think the Pub Game Project is the only beer related movement which has taken off with less haste than Lew's recently reinvigorated Session Beer Project, now with its own blog and Facebook group. No time for social networking with the PGP as the only digital handiwork it should ever give rise to …
Travis Probes Two Belgium Influenced US-made Ales
Posted by on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 in - 6 comments
Living in Upstate New York has its advantages, namely great beer. Ommegang is a leader in craft brewing that is delivering some of the finest state-side Belgian beers. Located in beautiful Cooperstown New York, this is a destination worth making planning a trip around. But one of the unfortunate …
New York: Latvians Are Coming! Latvians Are Coming!
Posted by on Monday, February 9, 2009 in - leave a comment
Sorry, not Latvians. Not at all. The story was co-authored by a Mr. Lattman. Misread that entirely. My fault. I blame the head cold. Nevertheless, this is an interesting tidbit in the Wall Street Journal today: • Private-equity firm KPS Capital Partners LP is angling to become a player in the …
Thinking About The Imposing AGBB Internet Matrix
Posted by on Sunday, February 8, 2009 in - 5 comments
I really just lack a fax machine. I was looking around the internet and see that in addition to this blog, there is: • A Gmail account that is very active.A Twitter presence that is reasonably busy but which seems to be more an aggregator than chat.A Flickr account that was used for the … read more »
New York: Local 1, Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NYC
Posted by on Saturday, February 7, 2009 in - 3 comments
I picked this up two weeks ago at Wegman's in Ithaca for just $8.99. Even with an 80 cent dollar exchange rate that is great value... especially as this is an old school ridged bottle - so when the end times come, I can trade that for rice and mustard, right? • Tonight, we baked salmon slabs and …
Session 24: Serafijn Tripel, M'brouwerij Achilles, Belgium
Posted by on Friday, February 6, 2009 in - leave a comment
Session night! There has been some twitting twits which is good to see but it is still early. We may still have that onslaught. • "Onslaught" is a word that comes to mind when I think of tripels. I was first introduced to very strong beer when I had a pint or more of some version of tripel when … read more »
Session 24 Is Tomorrow, You Twit
Posted by on Thursday, February 5, 2009 in - 2 comments
Or rather "Session 24 is tomorrow. You - twit!" And, yes, there is one small the additional experiment this time, adding global Twitter side chatter as well. Response has been luke warm so I expect a flop but let's have a go - if not for me, then for the children. Do it for the children. • David …
Maine: Tom Attends Beer Dinner At Bar Lola, Portland
Posted by on Thursday, February 5, 2009 in - leave a comment
[Ed.: My pal in Maine, Tom Whitehead has forwarded his report on a beer dinner recently held at Bar Lola, Portland. Tom is one of my go to guys when I am in Maine for doing things like dropping Mentos in Coke to see when happens. Sometimes he screws up his face at the odd Belgian brew that I hand …
Denmark: Beer Geek Breakfast, Mikkeller, København
Posted by on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 in - 2 comments
It's been a tough old day. I was in a suit and tie until 11:30 pm yesterday. Nothing could be worse. Then, Paul and I are all pointy fingers over war and, over at Stan's, otherwise seemingly sensible people are going absolutely handbags over the meaning of art. Well, at least you can't suggest I … read more »
Another Reason To Not Visit A Wetherspoon Pub
Posted by on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 in - 9 comments
Pete and Jeff and most of the other British bloggers I follow regularly trash the JD Wetherspoon chain. I may never have the chance to go to one but this story from Portsmouth, England gives us all another reason never go if you could: • Two Marines were refused entry to their local pub the day …
Women Soldiers Pictured Chugging Beer On Sunday
Posted by on Monday, February 2, 2009 in - 1 comment
It is such a rich image of freedom. Click for a bigger picture from the US Army's newspaper Stars and Stripes. The fact that it is Sunday, they are women, it is beer, it is chugged, it is the army and that the army publishes it. All good. Beer is a leveler, a sign of freedom, an innocent and sign …
