January 2009
Belgium: Amber Ale, Brasserie Caracole, Falmignoul
Posted by on Saturday, January 31, 2009 in - leave a comment
Arrosto misto. That is what the Jamie Oliver book I was thumbing through this morning called it. Mixed roasted meats. What better way to see out January, that month that begins with a hangover and ends with February. The meats were rolled in olive oil with rosemary, lemon and a little smoky chili …
The Question Of Brewiania...And T-shirts
Posted by on Saturday, January 31, 2009 in - 2 comments
You will see to the left that we have another kind sponsor, the makers of a line of t-shirts called "Drink Beer and Carry On". I am a sucker for that particular 1940s British font and I also think the message is the right one for the times - sooner or later we have to realize that the funk is a …
Can We All Try Twittering The Next Session?
Posted by on Thursday, January 29, 2009 in - 4 comments
The next edition of The Session is coming up next week, the day when beer bloggers post on a common topic. I am looking forward to it as the host, David over at Musings Over A Pint has either buckled under or showed exemplary good taste in determining that The Session is to actually about beer … read more »
Massachusetts: Leviathan Baltic Porter, Harpoon Brewery
Posted by on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 in - leave a comment
A small sensible bottle of very strong beer from a classic New England brewery. I picked up one of each in the Leviathan series, this and the Imperial IPA. With a wall of snow outside and after shoveling my way in only to put the car exactly where it will be stuck in the morning, it was really … read more »
Paul Visits The Belgian Monk In Norwich, Norfolk
Posted by on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 in - 1 comment
There are a couple of areas in the East of England that resemble Holland landscape-wise. ‘The Fens’ being one, and The Norfolk Broads being the other. In fact the Dutch helped drain and reclaim much land in these regions, evidence of which can still be seen in the shape of long, wide, straight …
More On The State Of Beer In Ithaca, New York
Posted by on Monday, January 26, 2009 in - 4 comments
You have to realize that I do not really get out to bars that much. Having three little kids in tow as well as an agenda that makes as much time for Purity Dairy as beer shopping provides little opportunity for spending hours in a tap room. We were even staying across a parking lot from the Scale …
There Are No Beer Louts Like The Louts Of Oz
Posted by on Saturday, January 24, 2009 in - 2 comments
Why is it that when I scan through Google news looking for new tales of beer to ponder all the beer brawl news does nothing for me...unless it is from Australia. Why? Because they brawl even over tennis, that's why: • When a simple tennis match can inflame tensions to the extent that chairs and …
Is He Really The Last Master Cooper In Britain?
Posted by on Thursday, January 22, 2009 in - 8 comments
The CBC has a good story about Alastair Simms, the only working master cooper left in Britain. I wonder why they would be carrying the story of a wooden barrel maker from another land? There is a certain romance for such things of the old country still in Canada but we still have coopers in Canada …
Is That A Spark Of Revolution In New Brunswick?
Posted by on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 in - 3 comments
Backlash. That is what the world is really fueled by. People get so ticked off with this or that that they lift themselves out of their comfortable chairs, their offices without the view or their garden rows and say no way, enough is enough. Is this maybe what we are witnessing in Canada's eastern …
Massachusetts: Beer Of The Gods, High And Mighty Beer
Posted by on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 in - 1 comment
What to have for the day Obama gets to grasp the brass ring? Something from a blue state, that's obvious. And something that doesn't look like one of those designer beers. And one with a name that speaks to hyperbolic hope. High and Mighty's Beer of the Gods passes the test on all counts. • At a …
Stan Asks A Good Question About Being Alone
Posted by on Monday, January 19, 2009 in - 3 comments
Stan has added his thoughts about the Twitter Taste Live event on Saturday night. He is still on the global beer jaunt that saw him drop by here last summer but was somewhere deep in the Florida everglades and so could not join in. He was thinking, however, and asks this: • ...all this … read more »
Being A Twit Last Night While Having A Beer
Posted by on Sunday, January 18, 2009 in - 6 comments
I took part in the first Twitter Taste Live beer tasting last night and I have to admit I enjoyed it. Jay was the guest host, the Vanna White of the whole affair and certainly he helped make it as orderly and positive an affair as it could be. But I am a bit prejudiced. I like Twitter. I am not …
New York: Biere, Genesee Brewing Co., Rochester
Posted by on Saturday, January 17, 2009 in - 3 comments
Quelle grande gout indeed! • Genesee Brewing has held a contract with the LCBO for low priced beer for a gazillions years meaning you can pick up a six pack's worth of their brews for about seven bucks, which is about as cheap as it gets in Ontario. The cans up here are labeled exotically in … read more »
The Birth of Japan's Third-Category Beer Explained
Posted by on Friday, January 16, 2009 in - 6 comments
Wow. Just imagine the thrill I felt this evening when I came across a summary of the history and taxation based reason for Japan's dai-san biiru or third-category beer, as you know a minor fascination of mine. Thrill along with me to the genesis of the substance caused - as we see all too often …
Canada's Biggest Independent Brewery Likes Your Money
Posted by on Thursday, January 15, 2009 in - 7 comments
Update: Joel Levesque of Moosehead has left a wonderful response to this post. Please have a look. He makes good points which I do not necessarily agree with entirely but his input is certainly indicative of an interested and engaged brewery. • I find this article in the Times Transcript from …
A Trappist Twitter Taste Live This Saturday
Posted by on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 in - leave a comment
Like Hail the Ale and no doubt a bunch of others, I have been contacted about the beery Twitter Taste Live this Saturday evening North American time and I have to admit that I really like the idea. It is sort of limited by format to not go where the Session ends up too often - in the tangent. No …
Hail To The New Sponsor - Scotland's BrewDog!
Posted by on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 in - 4 comments
It was an intense stretch of negotiations. I begged. They were repulsed. I whined. Then...they pitied and came on board. We of A Good Beer Blog are always thrilled when a new sponsor signs up and we like to explore all sorts of ways to get along all in the cause of what might be thought of an …
Porter Season: Baltic Thunder, Victory, Downingtown, PA
Posted by on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 in - 2 comments
Lew has written much about his enthusiasm for the creation of this beer from the Victory Brewing Co. of eastern Pennsylvania but I only got the chance to open one about a year after it hit the market. David was way more on top of the news. This is a decidedly good brew. And, like a lot of Baltic …
Just In Case You Are Into This Sort of Thing...
Posted by on Monday, January 12, 2009 in - 5 comments
I am now twittering the beer stuff at agoodbeerblog, having had a schism with myself over at twittingalan. Just out of curiosity, how many of you are on Twitter?
Are Lower Taxes The Route To Quality Session Beers?
Posted by on Monday, January 12, 2009 in - 2 comments
At the first of the month, Lew asked the question "Is 2009 The Year of The Session?" As with every year, I sure hope so. I see that I have far too few posts tagged in the category Low Strength Beer and of those, only a couple are about beers that have really caught my imagination over the last …
A Glimpse Into The Work Of The Liquor Inspector
Posted by on Sunday, January 11, 2009 in - 4 comments
It's not just the Malaysians who get to scowl. Being a Canadian, I grew up in my early adult years being aware of "the liquor inspectors" - the shorthand for those empowered to enforce the provincial alcohol regulations in the bars, beverage rooms and taverns of the province. Frankly, in the …
Old Beer Passed Off As New In Malaysian Scam
Posted by on Sunday, January 11, 2009 in - 1 comment
This is quite the thing - and you would think would take quite a bit of effort to make it work - but apparently the unscrupulous are passing off old beer for new in the Klang Valley, part of Malaysia: • ...there are groups that buy expired canned beer in bulk for 10 sen a can and then sell the …
Porter 2006, Burton Bridge Brewery, Burton-Upon-Trent
Posted by on Thursday, January 8, 2009 in - 3 comments
Time. For the most part beer's enemy is time, specially for a beer with only 4.5%. But in 2000, as I've mentioned a few times, I clearly remember having a Burton Bridge Porter that was overwhelmingly bitter and pleasantly foul due no doubt to its utter mishandling and disregard. Some time ago I …
Finally, A Trip To A CNY Beer Store Planned
Posted by on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 in - 3 comments
It has been brutal recently. Having little kids around can really trip up your plans to get some fine beer shopping in while traveling to foreign countries. It's hard on me not to have a foolish amount of corked bottles in the stash. You know how it is. Fortunately, the stars have aligned and we …
Super Bowl: Raise A Toast To Those Who Cannot
Posted by on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 in - 5 comments
Beer. Military. It is an odd concern and a natural connection from long before Schweik. As my pal John at Castle Argghhh noted a few years ago, Frederick the Great believed that "many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer." And there is the third factor - sports. Up here … read more »
Great Summing Up Of The Shadowy Portman Group
Posted by on Monday, January 5, 2009 in - 2 comments
The news last week of the shadowy Portman Group's abandonment of its efforts to "remove interestingness caused by the more clever smaller competition"¹ from beer shelves of Britain at least in relation to one beer, Orkney's Skull Splitter, is neatly summarized by Roy Beers in The Publican today …
Review: TAPS Magazine, Winter 2008/09 Issue
Posted by on Saturday, January 3, 2009 in - 3 comments
I picked up a copy of the latest issue of TAPS magazine, a photo contest prize giver, this morning while we were out at Chapters. Well worth the $6.95 I paid and, frankly, so well worth it I thought I would write a post setting out why. This may seem an obvious motivation for a blogger on a …
Session 23: What Sorta Was And What Might Be...Maybe
Posted by on Friday, January 2, 2009 in - 1 comment
2006. Isn't it still 2006? I got all woozy about 1998 and really never been right since about the year it is. And I have to admit that I gave up worrying about numbers when I last left Chaldea. Numerology is a bit of a mug's game and don't we all know that New Year's Eve parties prove it. But …
All Yule 2008 Beer Blog Contest Prize Winner Notices Now Sent
Posted by on Friday, January 2, 2009 in - 1 comment
There. It is done. To say that the Yule 2008 Beer Blog Photo Contest and Rodeo was not a startling success would be an utter and complete lie. You would have to be a fibber of the highest degree to suggest that. Frankly, one peep like that and I send in the Daleks - and not the draught serving …
Lew Reviews Why We Drink And I Wonder If I Agree
Posted by on Thursday, January 1, 2009 in - 10 comments
New Year's Day is a very good day to think about this. Many have that shaggy, slightly pained outlook on the day from a bit (or more than a bit) of the merry, merry clinky-drinky last night. And why not? It is the western world's mass culture day for celebration - a holiday that really only …
