July 2010
New York: Zuur, Ommegang, Cooperstown
Posted by on Friday, July 30, 2010 in - 2 comments
I know I should have gone to the brewery. I know. I know I know. But I was on holiday and sick and I needed to save it up for the Baseball Hall of Fame because it's the year another sweet Expo enters and, well, I liked the Expos. I got the hat, OK? Let it go. Jeesh. • Zurr doesn't even seem …
Where Are The Beer Nerds Heading Online?
Posted by on Thursday, July 29, 2010 in - 5 comments
I like to check in on the stats once in a while to see if I can see any trends. I've been at this blogging thing for almost seven and a half years now and you would thing some of the numbers would make sense. They seldom do. • Contests are good for traffic, holidays are not. You are all reading …
Assassination By Beer In Afghanistan
Posted by on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 in - leave a comment
The Christian Science Monitor has dug up an interesting beery angle from the whole Wikileaks controversy. Apparently, the documents which have been released include references to a pattern of the Taliban poisoning booze as a mean to assassinate key personnel. Like this: • James Yeager, an …
"...The Proposal Would Help Tourism To The Area"
Posted by on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 in - leave a comment
You know, we say a lot of good things about beer and pubs. We like to think good things, too. Think that our little hobby, our habit is not something that should be a bother to others. Sure there is plenty of evidence to the contrary but this one little tale of one little pub just sticks with me …
Book Review: Tasting Beer, Randy Mosher
Posted by on Monday, July 26, 2010 in - 5 comments
Tasting Beer has been on the shelves for about a year and a half but I just threw a copy into a larger order from Amazon the other day. I like it fine but it is not the book I thought I was getting. I blame the internets as I didn't have that browsing moment leaning against a books shelf half …
Hooray - I Love Being Told I Am Stupid - So Should You
Posted by on Sunday, July 25, 2010 in - 6 comments
Update: To be fair, when I heard about their tattoo promotion I immediately thought "damn, you have to be at the pub on opening night...." • Am I supposed to cheer along with the giving of the finger to 99.998% of customers for the sake of marketing? Or is this supposed to be Dada beer? Who …
Florida: Saison Athene, Saint Somewhere, Tarpon Springs
Posted by on Friday, July 23, 2010 in - 3 comments
I didn't expect this to be my first Floridian beer but I guess it is. Andy Crouch in his soon to be published (review copy delivered yesterday) Great American Craft Beer calls it both "a flavor parade of spice" and a "spice bazaar" which gives me some pause. Can I handle it? • It opens with a … read more »
Shopping At Broue Ha Ha In Gatineau Quebec
Posted by on Thursday, July 22, 2010 in - 3 comments
I regretted the drive only when the alarm went off this morning. Adding 425 km and five hours driving to the gap between supper and sleep was not maybe the most intelligent thing to do mid-week but I sure was pleased with what I found. Broue Ha Ha is the newest addition to the private beer shop …
Oregon: Chatoe Rogue Single Malt Ale, Rogue, Newport
Posted by on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 in - 2 comments
Ah, to be left with only the third best camera in the house. I hope the beer isn't third best. As you can guess, I doubt it will be. I like the idea of veracity and authenticity in ingredients. I prefer it to brewer as wizard or rock star or TV host. Hard to believe some might find brewer as TV to …
Bootlegger Sentenced After 76 Year Trade
Posted by on Monday, July 19, 2010 in - 2 comments
Good Lord. I have been writing this blog for a long time. It's over five and a half years since I wrote that post about the shutting down of the illegal bars in my old home in Canada's eastern province of Prince Edward Island. Well, apparently they didn't shut them all down as the sentencing of 85 …
Why Is It So Rare That We Praise The Consumer?
Posted by on Sunday, July 18, 2010 in - 8 comments
Consumption is a bad word even though we all do it and we all must do it. The free market is based on aggregation of single decisions into total consumer demand yet, in the world of good beer, these choices are little discussed. It is often discussed in supply side terms. I don't see it that way … read more »
Do Olde Geuze And Oysters Go Together?
Posted by on Saturday, July 17, 2010 in - 6 comments
I was out hunting for some Caribbean stout to go with the PEI oysters I picked up and the incredibly jambi Mike Mundell's shop this afternoon. Without success. What to do? • I love oysters. I used to live in view of the Gulf of St. Lawrence on PEI's north shore and heading over to Carr's at …
New York: 12, Ithaca Beer Co., Ithaca
Posted by on Thursday, July 15, 2010 in - leave a comment
Bought a couple of these at the brewery Tuesday for something between 7 or 9 bucks. I have a weakness for quads. Confessing. Even in a heat wave. • It pours cola with a light mocha foam and rim. The nose is pumpernickel with a nice spicy thing down below, maybe cinnamon and nutmeg. In the mouth …
Joe Asks Us To Consider What Makes For Success
Posted by on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 in - leave a comment
Update: Troy makes a very good point in reminding me to link to "Free Our Beer", Cass Enright's blog that delves into the backwardness of Ontario's system in far more detail than I would ever have the patience to present. • Joe makes a very good point in his latest post "Twelve-Ounce Measures of …
It Was Like An Attack Of The Geuze I Tell Ya!
Posted by on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 in - 2 comments
Panicked rushed beer shopping can be such a rush. • I couldn't have been in Finger Lake Beverage for more than 20 minutes and the New York State treasury is $26.89 richer on its 8% sales tax because of it. It was like beer was going out of style... or maybe it was like available credit was going …
Teach Your Children Well - BBQ Version
Posted by on Monday, July 12, 2010 in - 3 comments
Every holiday should include a lunch at Syracuse's Dinosaur BBQ. I had a Tres Hombre but as I I left meat (I'm embarrassed even thinking of it) I was not as hombre as I might have been. The beer is an Ape Hanger Ale that's made, I am pretty sure, by Middle Ages as a special house brew. It followed …
CNY Beer Shopping Starts Tomorrow - Suggestions?
Posted by on Saturday, July 10, 2010 in - 8 comments
Crossing the border for a few days always brings with it the opportunity to buy an insane amount of beer with which to stock the stash. The stash is not exactly sad but it is not exactly bursting at the seams, either. It deserves better. • It's been almost a year and a half since I hit the … read more »
Make Mine A Micro-Beer, Wouldja!?!
Posted by on Friday, July 9, 2010 in - 3 comments
The recent past is a funny thing. We never think to go find out what we were like 20 or 30 years ago and when we do it's oddly not just like, you know, us. Stan got me on this trail when he asked the simple question "Who first used the words craft beer?" Craft beer is actually a late comer to the …
It's Not Macro Beer - It's Imitation Beer!
Posted by on Thursday, July 8, 2010 in - 10 comments
In response to Mr. B's comment the other day, I bought a number of books about taste, smell and food including In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan which I brought with me to read at the squirt softball game this evening. One can only watch so many walks, you know. • Anyway …
Scotland: Oak Aged 2006, Innis & Gunn, Edinburgh
Posted by on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 in - 7 comments
I have had this in the stash for a while but there is plenty of BAer respect so I should be pleased with myself for being so full of self control. The key is, of course, loading the stash with so much that you forget what you have. And layers of heavy boxes. Place them in the way and, well, who …
Sad News With The Passing Of Bernie Rivers
Posted by on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 in - 1 comment
Beer fans in central New York are mourning the passing of Bernie Rivers who ran Galeville Grocery in Liverpool near Syracuse. The shop hails it self as "your complete historical neighborhood grocery store since 1888." I met Bernie this past January on a beer run into Syracuse and enjoyed a few …
Supertasting, Gender and Better Beer
Posted by on Monday, July 5, 2010 in - 5 comments
An idea has been floating around that has me scratching my head a bit but also wondering what we mean by "better" sometimes. Today, Jeff Alworth wrote "Do Women Taste Better Than Men?" after reading Melissa Cole's link to an article in The Sun included in her post entitled "Women Better Beer …
A Perfect Day Makes Me Wonder About Perfect Beer
Posted by on Sunday, July 4, 2010 in - 1 comment
Had a glorious fourth across the border. Bought sauces you can't find over here. Saw an 1812 cannon firing demonstration. Ate a pizza at the best place in the world to have a good pizza at a good price while watching international container ship traffic. And I got a US haircut along with my son …
Session 41: What About The Homebrewers Anyway?
Posted by on Saturday, July 3, 2010 in - 4 comments
I have a hard time with this month's topic for The Session. Not because I have no experience with home brewing but because I assume everyone involved with beer has had a hand in it. It's like I assume everyone who went to college went to high school first. • That being said, I am a bad brewer. I …
Two Strangford Lough Brewing Beers... From Somewhere
Posted by on Thursday, July 1, 2010 in - 9 comments
The six pack carrier says "Product of USA crafted from barley gown in St. Patrick's Co." I got three Legbiter Ales and three St. Patrick's Best Ales. Can't find the email that I got from the representative. There's nothing in the box but styrofoam popcorn. The waybill says they're from New Jersey …
