A Good Beer Blog

September 2009

Quebec: Noire D'Atwater, Au Maître Brasseur, Laval

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 1 comment
750 ml for $4.79 Canadian. How would that rate on a Beer Price Index (BPI)? Stan gave me the nod about the BPI. I think it needs to have a BAI factored into it - Beer Advocate Index - as this brew got a "D" from the one Advoctonian who rated it. I don't know if I have had a "D" rated beer before …

If Good Beer Were Popular Would You Be Sad?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 8 comments
One of the great things about a niche interest is that you can hug it and call it your own. You can define it anyway you want and no one is around to tell you that you are wrong. Yesterday, Mr. Delia made an excellent and related observation about how he fears craft beer is becoming hip when …

It Takes An Empire to Make A Measurement Of Beer

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As I thought back about a year ago, I am happy enough to see that the government in the UK is allowing a new 2/3s pint - if only because more choice is better, right? But it is a little odd that the matter of a reasonable pour of a walloping brew is a matter for government intervention. For …

Ribs Trickery: Not A Beer Bath But On The Side

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The arc of the making and consumption of ribs lasts at least 48 hours in our house. Slabs, usually pulled from the freezer after being collected over a number of weeks, are lowered into pineapple juice with coffee grounds on Friday night. No beer in the marinade for me - pineapples have something …

Wales: Old Style Bitter, Tomos Watkin Brewery, Swansea

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
Wales. I remember reading a autobiography of the early years of an English writer, Anthony Burgess, that more than hinted the Welsh, including one of his wives, considered visiting the pub as a sort of foreplay that quite shocked his sensibilities. I visited there when I was seven so I can't …

Does Reading About Beer Fill Your Workday?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 10 comments
You know, I have to admit that I rarely think of you in all this blogging stuff. I know. It is unkind and likely unwise. You are, after all, the thing that keeps the fire burning within the stats furnace and fills the comments box. But I've noticed something that you might see in the pattern above …

The Baby May Be Up - But Is The Idea Any Good?

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Up in the middle of the night with little kids, something I seem to have been experiencing for about two decades now, is a thing rife with dangers. What ought to be the time of nightmares and things that go bump becomes the moment when you think you have crystallized an idea which, in the light of …

How Good Beer Gets Main Stream Media's Attention?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 2 comments
In Canada, apparently, invite Norm from Cheers to pop by.  •  Well done, Steve.

Missouri: Export IPA, Schlafly Breweries, St. Louis

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 3 comments
There is a lot going on with this label. A quote from Elizabeth I, a concise explanation of the history of IPA, that Surgeon General's warning as well as a very pleasant astronomical chart of the waxing and waning phases of the Earth when viewed from the moon. Oh - and "special release" a couple … read more »

Our Mountains Speak More To Beer Than Yours

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 4 comments
It's getting very odd here with Canada's beer bar - by which I mean our brewery barristers. They are getting very litigious all of a sudden. Brick is suing and is being sued by Labatt who can now add being sued to their recent history of suing. What is it all about now? Mountains:  •  Molson Coors …

The "Church in the Pub" Sounds Not So Bad

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
I am a PK - preacher's kid. There. Now you know. That meant that events of the week in my teen life sometimes showed up in sermons. I expect you can guess the outcome. But I like church now even if it took me a couple of decades to get back. If there had been this sort of thing I wonder if it … read more »

Dammit. Dammit Dammit Dammit.

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 8 comments
I should never read health news. But this report was Canadian. I thought it would be OK.  •  "Our results show that the heaviest consumers over the lifetime had the biggest increases in the risks of multiple sites of cancer," researcher Dr. Andrea Benedetti said. Many studies have suggested that …

Greed May Not Be Good But Profit Is Loverly

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 9 comments
I don't know what to make of the post by Melissa Cole today. At the end she indicates that she has not yet indicated that some of her writing fails to indicate clearly that there may be a conflict of interest... and promises to sort that out. At the beginning she says some others - bloggers no … read more »

Next? Maybe A Good Beer Blog's Seal Of Approval

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
What is the quality of Welsh beer that sets it apart, that would justify its own "quality seal"? Hmm... What could that be?  •  Beer writer Pete Brown said in a recent tasting he undertook of 12 Welsh beers, six were “undrinkable” and he poured them down the sink.  •  See, that's the problem with …

Isn't It Sad When The Advertising Money Tightens?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 3 comments
Macro beer ads are so weird. There is so little connection to beer involved in them that it is quite the thing to read them being discussed seriously as in this St. Louis Business Journal article:  •  “The free-wheeling, let’s-give-it-a-try attitude is changing,” said Jeff Goodby, co-chairman and …

Just Checking And... Malt Prices Have Dropped Again

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
Remember the malt panic of '07? Remember how prices of craft beer had to go up to meet the cost of raw materials? Well, at least one part of that equation has dropped:  •  The malt barley outlook this month is down 45 cents a bushel for 2-row and 41 cents for 6-row. Above average yields in Europe …

Session #32 Announced... And Then Amended

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There has been a lot of buzz the last few days over the next topic for the next monthly version of The Session to be hosted at Girl Likes Beer:  •  I would like you to pick your favorite beer made east form your hometown but east enough that it is already in a different country. It can be from the …

It's International Give Your Brewer A Beer Day!

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 1 comment
You can click on the picture to see the proof that I celebrated International Give Your Brewer A Beer Day in fine style this afternoon. I don't know how you honoured the great holiday but I stopped by Church-Key Brewing and had a chat with John the brewer and gave him a Gumballhead from Three …

Consider The Word "Undisputed" For A Second

Posted by Alan McLeod on in - 5 comments
It is quite odd what can be thrown about as beer thought on any given day. Consider this:  •  Mr Protz said that Britain was now the undisputed top brewing country in the world.  •  Surely a misquote. But there it is in The Times in an article about the newest release of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide …

Illinois: Domaine DuPage, Two Brothers, Warrenville

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 1 comment
I should have saved popping this one from Two Brothers until the weekend as I have a decent shot at a run to Marche Jovi and a number of bieres de garde to compare with this mid-western take on the style. But I didn't.  •  It pours an enormous fine off-white head. Sort of like that foam insulation …

So What Doesn't Good Beer Elevate?

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I wrote it on Twitter so I must have meant it:  •  Good beer elevated my croquet game yesterday. A couple of hefeweizens did the trick. Why does swank food get all the pairing attention?  •  What was I on about? Well, someone else wrote something somewhere over the weekend about good beer … read more »

Vermont: Odd Notion Fall '09, Magic Hat, SoBurl

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If Google is anything to go by - and it might well turn out to be - then I have clearly had a fair number of beers by Magic Hat. Like the buttery goodness. Like the quirky branding. Like the experimentations. This beer is one of there recent Odd Notions and I am told it is a stout, which it is … read more »

Beer Law: Don't You Stand There... No, That's OK...

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I saw this when I was at Double T's Bar-B-Que in South Bend, Indiana the other week and I didn't quite know what to make of it. It appears that in that state you have to be 21 or older to be in the beer ordering zone of the counter. It makes for a very panicky presence - especially when you are … read more »

Session 31: What's In Your Glass This Summer?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 5 comments
I have to admit that while this month's topic is apparently about beer I am not sure that I am about beer in relation to this topic. Because when it is stinking hot, I do not crave beer. Let's be frank. Real beer is good for up to about 25ºC. Over that your need cold light beer to about 29ºC but …

Why The Lawyers Over Lime In Beer This Late In History?

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , , - 14 comments
I don't really care that much about a lime beer law suit here in Ontario between a large macro and a large micro. After all, these things settle out and, as Mr. Beaumont says, these sorts of beers are not exactly worth hunting out. And it's not like they are using the same name someone else … read more »

Maine: Smashed Pumpkin Ale, Shipyard, Portland

Posted by Alan McLeod on in , - 2 comments
It must be Maine week around here. There are a lot of those but when boxes with bottles show up one really ought to make a point of posting. Shipyard has been very good to keep me updated with their Pugsley's Signature Series beers like the newest, Smashed Pumpkin Ale. Like their Imperial Porter …