February 2012
Sometimes A Good Drink Starts With A Gun
Posted by on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 in - 9 comments
There's a good story over at the US public broadcaster NPR about Newfoundland's Quidi Vidi Brewing Co. and their iceberg beer, a light lager they suggest is especially lightened by the use of melted iceberg. I particularly liked this bit: • "You don't taste anything. It's not like normal ice …
If Gov't Liquor Stores Are Better...Why A Monopoly?
Posted by on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 in - 4 comments
This article in the Ottawa Citizen begs a certain question: • ...the recent Drummond report on the province’s fiscal woes reveals the LCBO only has about $400 million in assets. However Drummond shows that in 2010-’11, the LCBO had a net income of $1.6 billion. Obviously the profit at the board …
I Thought You Were All Reading This At Work!!!
Posted by on Monday, February 27, 2012 in - 11 comments
Just figured out that over the last month 20% of you were reading this on some sort of mobile device. How odd. I always pictured you sitting at work day dreaming across the desk about a nice beer but never pictured you sitting on a bus or waiting in a line up or anything like that. Where do you …
Why Would We Expect Brewers To Know It All?
Posted by on Monday, February 27, 2012 in - 12 comments
What a great paragraph over at Max's place this morning: • ...there's a problem. After having read much of what brewers publish on the internet I've got the impression that many of them don't seem to know too much about beer. Yes, they do know how to make beer (which is the most important thing …
As A Red Sox Fan I Can Only Agree With A Beer Ban
Posted by on Sunday, February 26, 2012 in - 8 comments
It was tough living though last September as a Red Sox fan. Being eastern Canadian, from that bit that sticks out in the Atlantic half way to Iceland, you looked to the far west growing up, many of us spotting that dot on the horizon called Maine and realizing there was another culture out there …
Late For Lent: How Long Can This Go On?
Posted by on Saturday, February 25, 2012 in - 7 comments
So, I think I am a bit bored of beer. Really? Maybe. I think I am a bit more bored by the constant supply of excellent beer in the stash. That's it. I'm a bit spoiled. Perhaps. Whatever it is, I think I am going to take a break from drinking for a little while. See what happens. How long have you …
Washington: The Men's Room, Elysian Brewing, Seattle
Posted by on Thursday, February 23, 2012 in - leave a comment
I know it says Washington in that headline but the bottle actually says both Seattle and Fort Collins, Colorado. Why can't the label just tell the truth and say that it is bottled at one "or" the other? It's not their fault. They have two facilities but only one label maker. • It poured out …
Can Better Graphical Representation Of Data Help Beer?
Posted by on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in - 17 comments
OK, one is about beer and one is an alien attack... but which is which? • Boak and Bailey got me thinking with this graphical representation of data. In this case it was a five point illustration of a variety of imperial stouts. You will immediately see a most interesting point being asserted …
Book Review: Geuze And Kriek, Jef Van den Steen
Posted by on Monday, February 20, 2012 in - 2 comments
Hmm... it's subtitled "The Secret of Lambic." I was a bit concerned before I got past the cover that this would be a book about one secret. Happily, as I worked my way through this book, I realized it was more part of a slightly troubled translation than the actual promise of what lay between the …
Of All The Web Toys I Have Seen This Is The Best
Posted by on Monday, February 20, 2012 in - 1 comment
I am sure I have mentioned this before but if you are not playing with Google Analytics real time beta thingie you really are missing a huge time suck opportunity. Posting something usually requires a bit of patience and more often than not a small feeling of throwing a few pages of hand writing …
Proposing A New Measuring Stick For Good Beer
Posted by on Monday, February 20, 2012 in - 7 comments
It came to mind when I saw that Beer Advocate moved to a numerical scale, abandoning the far superior less granular alphabetical scale of elementary school report cards. The nicest thing about the alphabetical scale is that you could appreciate that the function of measuring was not as serious as …
What If Beer Style Is A Conceptual Dead End?
Posted by on Sunday, February 19, 2012 in - 20 comments
While they may not be entirely unhelpful and avoiding the question of dubious authenticity, at what point do beer styles become so diversified as to be useless? Originally envisaged in a different and hierarchical structure, they have become a mile wide and an inch deep. They have become so finely …
California: Union Jack IPA, Firestone Walker Brewing
Posted by on Saturday, February 18, 2012 in - 9 comments
A short flip across the border nabbed me a six of this new New York offered Firestone Walker. There were three others, their DIPA, porter and 15 were there, too at $8.99, $6.99 and a whopping $21.99 respectively. The last one was in a cardboard box. I had no idea a cardboard box added so much cost …
But What If I Like The Taste Of Their Chocolate Ale?
Posted by on Thursday, February 16, 2012 in - 12 comments
Or what if I drank it and didn't like it, then downed it or drained it... so I also want my money back? • Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Co. decided to offer refunds on a limited number of batches — up to a third of the bottles of chocolate ale sold — that the brewery said didn’t meet its …
What Do We Really Expect From Bar Staff - And Why?
Posted by on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 in - 16 comments
I go to pubs and bars far less than a lot of you. There are five kids in my house and I am 48 living in Canada. Why wouldn't that be the case? Yet when I read about the beer experiences of others like this one reported by Pete it makes me think about what I experience when I do go out - and also …
Latvian Beer Statistics Illustrate Stats Pointlessness
Posted by on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 in - 12 comments
Breathlessly, some will announce that craft beer sales in one jurisdiction or another went up 5% or 12% during a generally understood period of time. You see it all the time. It is dreary pointless news but it does fill up the white space on the screen. They should pack it in right now, however …
Mr Positive Asks "Which Beer Words Need More Use?"
Posted by on Monday, February 13, 2012 in - 8 comments
See, I am being positive in 2012. Happy almost. Giddy as a school girl. So, unlike others, I see the world with the glass half full... or would it be half empty after enjoying a great new surprise.... I don't know. Point is: there must be great words that are not being used enough. Here are seven …
Travel Advice Needed For Mid-March In Montreal
Posted by on Sunday, February 12, 2012 in - 5 comments
Where could I go? Where should I shop? Any new breweries to check out? I got some good advice last August when we were there but late winter has got to be fundamentally different from the dog days of summer. Veux-tu une bière looks good. But it's not just the beer, either. I want a freezer full of …
Belgium: Mort Subite Kriek / Framboise, Keersmaeker
Posted by on Saturday, February 11, 2012 in - 4 comments
Six and a half years ago, I posted a post about sweet lambics that was one of my early entries in my effort to start to understand the world of sour, brackish, funky, tart and otherwise weird beers. You may have noticed on thing from that sentence. Yes, I was drinking sweet to understand sour …
Good Beer + Keggers + University = Great Move
Posted by on Thursday, February 9, 2012 in - 9 comments
Usually when you read about university students with a kegs and kegs of beer you are not reading a story about the exercise of great responsibility: • The University of British Columbia’s student union, the Alma Mater Society, believes it can profit off that fact when it opens a brewery on … read more »
Do New Beer Styles Just Reflect New Ways... And Stuff?
Posted by on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 in - 8 comments
The other day I read one of the more interesting passages of beery thought that I had read in some time. It's from a response to a post at Jeff's Beervana about the wonky less than linear history of beer styles: • While it’s entirely possible that malt bills and hopping rates of many of craft …
My New Favorite Beer Fib, Lie Or Utter Falsehood
Posted by on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 in - 9 comments
Editorial Update: I got an email from the person in question in this post and upon reflection it is a bit harsh of me to use "stunnedest". I still think there is far too little written about calories and beer and the reference to "tea" was not helpful so I am leaving the post up but, yes and as …
Can I Run A Beer Tasting Session Without Tasting?
Posted by on Monday, February 6, 2012 in - 4 comments
Here's the thing. I don't like to drink all that much on Sunday and really like to avoid drinking on Monday. It's not that I plan when I do but have always liked clear days. And, for other reasons, I have to stay clear anyway. But I was asked to present some IPAs to some good beery people tonight …
Session 60: The 64 Ounce Jug Is Considered
Posted by on Saturday, February 4, 2012 in - 5 comments
The 64 ounce beer jug - or growler - is sufficiently interesting to the guys as Washington Beer Blog that they made it the topic of this month's edition of The Session: • These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t … read more »
Are There Different Schools Of Beer Thought?
Posted by on Thursday, February 2, 2012 in - 22 comments
Stan asked me to elaborate on something: • Could you elaborate on what you mean by 'beer thinking'? • Hmm... I think there is beer thinking. If there is anything, there is a lot of under-thinking about beer thinking. If I were honest with you, there is a lot of under-thinking about …
The Oldest Beer Joke In History... But Wuzzit Mean?
Posted by on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 in - 6 comments
So they finally got to the bottom of a box of Iraqi cuneiform tablets dug up in 1976 and found some written by some guy trying to be funny as reported in the New York Daily News: • This one could also benefit from cranking up the laugh track: • “In your mouth and your teeth, constantly stared …
