July 2012
Maryland: A Day With Kids In Baltimore
Posted by on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 in - 1 comment
There is a madness when one travels with kids. The need to keep them entertained and the need to keep yourself entertained. Above is the menus from Phillips on Baltimore's Inner Harbor which was part of the day's happy happy joy joy efforts and I was happy to see a couple of things. Notice the not …
New York: Brown and Liquid Gold, Captain Lawrence
Posted by on Sunday, July 29, 2012 in - leave a comment
You will recall that I have family in southern upstate New York and that one member of the family, Mike Malone, is a writer who has turned his mind to the beers of Captain Lawrence. Well, despite the rotten map, you will see that we have made the trip and spent a happy evening watching cousins …
BrewDog May Have Me Liking Them Again... For Now
Posted by on Friday, July 27, 2012 in - 3 comments
What better way to reach out and come to a meeting of minds with fellow travelers than to share in a deep wholesome distaste for the Olympics: • A Scottish brewery has created ‘anti-Olympics’ beer that contains eight ‘banned’ performance-enhancing ingredients. The ‘Never Mind the Anabolics …
Beer Cocktails: Are Raspberries In Gueuze So Wrong?
Posted by on Thursday, July 26, 2012 in - 4 comments
Not a complex beer cocktail. Just fresh raspberries in Gueuze Cuvée René from Lindemans, the gueuze that our monopolistic overlords allow us at least in the summer. The nice thing about raspberry is that it has a lot in common with gueuze. Dry acidity. OK, that is about it but it's not like I am …
Summer Vacation 2012: So Far This Is What I'm Doing
Posted by on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 in - 2 comments
What an odd summer vacation. The first half keeps me at home and the second sees me on the road. What I have learned so far? • -> I really really like Manhattans. And I am comforted that Lew reminded us that Four Roses yellow label is perfectly respectable. I am working down the price points and …
Are Beers Really My Favorite Styles?
Posted by on Monday, July 23, 2012 in - 4 comments
Interesting comments in passing on Twitter just now. Win was praising a style of beer when Stan wrote: • Just how many favorite styles do you have? Should there be a limit? MT @winbassett "one of my fav. styles" • Quips ensued. Lord, how they ensued. But the point is an interesting one - to …
Summer Vacation 2012: What To Do With Myself?
Posted by on Saturday, July 21, 2012 in - 3 comments
There is work. There is the rest of life that sometimes gets called life. And then there is vacation. I am on a 18 day stretch of no work with the hope that life gets a little put back into order. Don't get me wrong. I like my job. And life is good if rather real from time to time. But it is … read more »
New York State Offers Tax Credit To All Small Brewers
Posted by on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 in - leave a comment
I like the way the announced changes to the tax regime for craft brewers in New York states have been structured: • The newly signed law...so exempts all breweries that produce brands of 1,500 barrels or less annually from the $150 annual brand fee. This exemption is available to brewers both in …
"...107 Tons Of Beer And Six Tons Of Canary Wine..."
Posted by on Monday, July 16, 2012 in - 5 comments
Later this summer, we are spending a few days in Baltimore. Looking forward to it in many ways including things beery... including brewing history. We know a bit about Baltimore and beer already. See, in the 1620s there was a brewery at the first Lord Baltimore's colony at Ferryland, Newfoundland …
Book Review: Philadelphia Beer, Rich Wagner
Posted by on Sunday, July 15, 2012 in - 5 comments
As recently discussed, the past is a foreign land when it comes to US beer history. More like another planet it seems sometimes. I am not sure why this is but I suspect it has something to do with the drive to be authoritative rather than innovative when it comes to so many of the beer books being …
Has The Law Protected A Tradition Or Innovation?
Posted by on Saturday, July 14, 2012 in - 4 comments
It is always odd when the law is used to protect something. There are policies at play, interests and stuff that can't quite have a finger put upon it. Which makes one think about this: • Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed a bill supported by Democrats and Republicans that ensures certain …
Belgium: Cuvee v.d. Keizer 2011(B), Carolus, Het Anker
Posted by on Thursday, July 12, 2012 in - 2 comments
What a name. Fully set out this is Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw 2011 from Brouwerij Het Anker in Mechelen. The Lake Chaubunagungamaug of beer names. • As it is 11% and good for ten years at least this is infanticide at 17 months or so. Yet it is pretty fine stuff. It pours light …
By Wednesday's National Post I Lay Down And Wept
Posted by on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 in - 1 comment
I don't think I have ever read a backhanded positive review of a beer so I can only assume the author is serious: • It flattens quickly when warm, so chill in the freezer to a minimum low (i.e. as close to freezing as you dare to go), and then feel free to guzzle. The lower alcohol and 95 …
Albany Ale: Another Annotated Brewing Log From 1834
Posted by on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 in - 7 comments
More. Here are two brews from April 1834 in the same account book near the end of that brewing season. They are batches #185 and #186. There are a couple of things that arise from the last set of comments: • ♦ the majority of the beer is described as amber rather than pale. In fact, pale ale … read more »
Albany Ale: An Annotated Brewing Log From 1834
Posted by on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 in - 16 comments
A bit of a question for you today. Above is a brewing log from just before the world of US brewing learned about lager. I won't get into the details of whose log it is for now as I am hoping you may be able to help draw out a few more details than I have. If you click on the image you will see my …
Finally, The Beer Ticker As Expert Witness
Posted by on Monday, July 9, 2012 in - 1 comment
Forget every bad thing I have ever said about beer tickers. Forgive me ye of the notebooks and musty stained cardigans. The law apparently may now accept beer ticking as expert evidence in court: • “Defendant was drinking from an open 8-ounce can of Pakastani [sic] beer containing an alcoholic …
Session 65: Being Alone With Yourself And Beer
Posted by on Friday, July 6, 2012 in - 6 comments
This month's edition of The Session is being hosted by Engerlander Nathaniel Southwood of Booze, Beats and Bites. It's a fairly new blog which is surprising as I thought blogging had been declared dead. Nate asks us to consider this question: • Am I weird for going to the pub alone? How do you …
American Brewing And The Pre-Lager Question
Posted by on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 in - 16 comments
One of the odder things about the history of American brewing is the failure to get a handle on the extent to which pre-lager brewing existed before roughly 1840. Earlier this fourth of July, Jeff, who is pretty good with this stuff, described it in negative terms this way: • For centuries, it …
Beer In Music: Please Make This Sound Go Away!!!
Posted by on Tuesday, July 3, 2012 in - leave a comment
Summer. It must be because it is summer that there is no other beer news other than the mergers and acquisition of macro brewers by other macro brewers and some guys in Germany making music blowing on beer bottles while sitting in a circle. How do you stop laughing at yourself to get any good at …
Not Beer: A Short Drive Into Prince Edward County
Posted by on Monday, July 2, 2012 in - 2 comments
A holiday Monday. After all the frothing at the mouth madness of rabid Canadian nationalism stoked the day before, I found myself needing to clear out the house so that badly needed napping by others might occur. Given this was the weekend of our national holiday, the bridges to the USA were, by …
Not Beer: Ginger Beer, Crabbie's, Glasgow, Scotland
Posted by on Sunday, July 1, 2012 in - 1 comment
I say this is not beer but I am not sure. The label says both "Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer" and "Flavoured Alcoholic Beverage". Which is not quite saying beer, right? My Scots mother, the minister's wife who bartended as a girl, said something to the effect that with a little more power behind …
