Every once in a while, I like to get together with my friends and drink a nice bottle or two. It started with my friend Simon and I drinking a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label and it went so well we decided that we would continue the tradition.
Sue Novak from The King George IV Pub with Nick and Samantha Lazenbysome. The pub will be holding a jubilee street party event on Jubilee day to help raise money for the Overgate Hospice, in Elland.
Brass Castle Brewery at Pocklington is producing a red rye ale called Q-Queenie, to coincide with the celebrations in early June marking the Queen's 60 years on the throne.
Fettercairn is a Scottish whisky distiller. Regrettably, "The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson" on Friday night called it a "whiskey" distillery, throwing in the " e" eschewed by the Scots.
A St. John's, N.L., man died apparently while trying to break into a beer-paraphernalia store in the city's west end, appearing to have been trapped in the store window.
It is a sad state of affairs when you can't read this far into an argument without asking yourself if the author can't see the screaming incongruity:
The other reason why we don't give away beer is because we have a firm conviction that if you want to write about our beer, then we don't want you biased by the fact you got it for free. Free beer always tastes better. But, if I tried to pretend that I didn't think that some of you occasionally deserved a free beer off me I'd be lying. So, perhaps it's time to give some away, but you'll have to prove you deserve it.
So what this small and by all reports very good brewery decided was to ask bloggers to give them free ad content because, you know, they needed proof the bloggers deserved free beer. Fortunately, the bleggy project collapsed into a giveaway to the needy and the select if utterly disinterested, indicating either a rich sense of irony or perhaps more likely a realization of the folly of the call. It's funny stuff, free stuff. People get all nutty about free bloggy ads. New Belgium Brewing was bleating a wee bit the other day about bloggers reporting on information in the public realm. Imagine, they are flattered but want people to abide by their commercial needs and shut it until they say so. Odd.
It does all remind me of that most favorite tweet of all in which the brewer suggested literate beer fans should know their place as unpaid brand ambassadors. Swell gig. Joe did not take it so well. Why do this? Why make Joe unhappy? Isn't it enough when we tell you that your beers are good and when they are not? Must we adopt the condition of the liquid lobotomy even before the first beer is poured? Is that what you really want from us?
Festibiere is scheduled for May 25, 26 & 27 at Lake Leamy Park. This annual festival features the best of the brew coming out of Quebec's ever growing brewery industry, featuring both established brewers like Boreal or the artisan beer producers springing up almost everywhere around the province.
May 18, 2012--Cranberry is not vodka's best friend. Real vodka drinkers know this, but for years their taste has been marginalized by a craft cocktail scene obsessed with whiskey.
Dropsafe is the blog of Alec Muffett with rare contributions by Bart Blanquart ; our interests tend to overlap as-described in the masthead more What I think is wrong with #VRM - HT @nzn @glynmoody @windley @dsearls @adriana872 - dropsafe on You and Your Phone are Huge Threats to the Net #security #privacy #tor #dns - HT @rdggeek @techhub @doctorow ... (more)
Since its founding in 2008, the Czech Beer Festival has become an instant classic, the largest beer event in a country that drinks more beer per capita than anywhere else.
Beer lovers, mark your calendars: June 2 brings merry tidings, as a piece of Philly Beer Week saunters over the Walt Whitman Bridge and nestles itself right into the heart of Restaurant Row.
Led by local pipers, and all sporting a flash of tartan, more than 200 people took to the tracks of Balmoral Estate recently, on the third annual Tartan Trek, to raise awareness of and support a North-east cancer support charity.
Chided by the judge for what he called a confusing and mostly pointless cross-examination, Roger Clemens' lawyer is finally turning after 19 hours to his central accusation: that Brian McNamee doctored physical evidence to frame the former star pitcher.
Belfast Distillery Company is to produce premium Irish whiskey in part of the city's historic Crumlin Road gaol that closed its doors to prisoners in 1996.
If you answer yes to those questions, "The Love of Beer," a documentary featuring women in the brewing industry in the Pacific northwest may be for you.
I am staring at an empty bottle of Detour Double IPA from Uinta Brewing of Salt Lake City. It's a big bottle and I think it was emptied at about 2:20 am this morning. My first beer from Utah and it got drained over a mid-week middle of the night family bonding fest of Kids in the Hall DVDs. The bottle still smells swell, the muskier sort of DIPA as opposed to the orange marmalade type. A cumin sort of thing is still going on in there. Seedy spiced malty sweetness 22 months after being bottled according to the label. There was a dribble left in the bottle just now but a drib plus a bleary memory (almost as illustrated) does not make for something reviewable... does it? I mean I had it, I liked it and I remember it. Is it wrong to write that down?
Or is this something other than a review. A note that frames the truth of the sofa but also admits conditions were less than optimal. It should be enough for what it's worth. Ticking in a way, I suppose but not marking the moment is worse than reporting the recollection. So what if I was paying more attention to Cathy and Kathie or the Chicken Lady? I'd buy the beer again. BAers have respect.
Forty classic cars from all over Europe drove more than 1,000 miles through Scotland earlier this month and, while the rest of the UK was ravaged by wind and rain, competitors of the Scottish Malts car rally saw the best weather the event had ever seen with four days of sunshine.
The Washington Blade, the nation's oldest and most acclaimed LGBT newspaper, today announced it has become a National Corporate Partner of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
I walked in on a recent Wednesday into a wave of bluegrass. Musicians had gathered in a loose circle, each one with a string instrument in hand, giving and taking in a jam session, every note vibrating with kinship.
Vosile Cosma, 63, of Lawrenceville was booked into the Gwinnett County jail Tuesday on charges of possession of untaxed whiskey, according to jail records.
THE Chiltern Camerata returns on Saturday, May 26 for the third and final concert of their 2011/2012 season, which will be their contribution to the Wycombe Arts Festival 2012.
Well known for making strong and flavorful beers from his tenure at Barley Brown's in Baker City, where his beers won several gold medals, Shawn will be heading up 10 Barrel's new brewpub in Boise.
Author's Note: Thanks to Pernod Ricard, I recently had the opportunity to travel to Scotland with a group of American journalists and attended a plethora of distillery tours, master classes and whisky events surrounding the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.
Taking inspiration in the distinctly Nordic heritage and unforgiving climate of the Orkney Islands where the celebrated Highland Park distillery stands, the recently launched Thor single malt scotch whisky is as powerful as the Norse god for which it's named.
It's common knowledge that Singaporeans love their whiskey; with specialised whiskey stores like La Maison du Whisky and whiskey bars growing in scores, and prestigious whiskey events like Whiskey Live and the recent auction of the 60-year-old Macallan on the rise, more and more drinkers each year are making that switch in favour of the sweet and ... (more)
PERUSE Lake Boutique What: A fittingly eclectic mix of indie and established designer clothing, accessories, jewelry, and home goods from one of L.A.'s more beloved spots.
Jeremy Armstrong sinks a few in Munich, the host city for Saturday's Champions League final between Bayern and Chelsea They say you should make a list of things to do before you die.
Patrick Emerson, the wine and beverage director at Maverick southern Kitchens, gets a noseful of compass box whisky at the old village post house On the walls of Compass Box Whisky's London offices is inscribed a very simple motto: "Above all, share and enjoy." On the surface it doesn't seem to be a particularly controversial philosophy, but it's ... (more)
Residents at the Sharman mobile home park in Nanaimo take great pride in their community, so it's upsetting to Maida Work to see tall Scotch broom bushes just outside the fence at her backyard.
RCA NASHVILLE duo LOVE AND THEFT will be taking on the fine art of whiskey making for GAC's "Day Jobs." With JAMEY GROSSER, owner of POPCORN SUTTON's WHITE WHISKEY DISTILLERY and keeper of POPCORN's recipe, LOVE AND THEFT will try their hand at distilling the whiskey themselves.
A few years ago we discussed how the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick was coping with challenges posed by its location next to Quebec and Maine. It is at it again:
NB Liquor quietly launched a new plan last week to attract New Brunswick beer drinkers to buy local by lowering prices. The six discounted brands cost $18.49 a dozen, a $5 savings over the regular price. But the new deals are not being widely advertised. Marcelle Saulnier of NB Liquor is hoping the beer bargains will travel by word of mouth. "This is a pilot for us," Saulnier said. "It's until September 30th and we are interested to look at the sales and determine if New Brunswickers were happy with the selection and promotion and price and take it from there."
The answer, of course, is the marketplace. The earlier attempt to sell beer at $19.99 failed presumably because beer is locally available for less. It will be interesting to see if beer sold at $18.49 a dozen will also fail because beer is locally available for less. See, it is the buyer who gets to decide what is "local" and what constitutes value for money and buyers are mobile.
But of more interest to me is the idea of a brand in this project. It is not the fluid that is discounted but the label that goes on it. I don't think anyone is suggesting the new beer is something less than beer as is the case in, say, Japan's third-class beer or rather beer like fluid. It is simply the wrapper that has changed around what is largely the same thing. Which is what "discount" means, right? Paying less for something substantially similar. So who would pay $18.49 let alone $19.99 when something substantially similar is available at an even lower price locally - at least locally in the mind of the buyer who is happy to slip over to Maine or Quebec to pay less?
Me, I will over on the other side of the border this weekend myself. All hail freedom.
Seven months ago, I wrote a post entitled "And Quiet Flows the OCBeerCommentary Wiki" about the sensibly slow pace of its review of The Oxford Companion to Beer. But the flow more than slowed. Pace became somewhat geological over the winter. I have to admit that I wasn't very focused myself and the number of OCB entries receiving comment stalled around the 134 entries - or 12.2% of the total of 1,100 - noted as of 11 January 2012.
Things have started to move, however. Perhaps an ice jam has broken wherever the wiki is housed. Maybe there have been spring rains leading to swollen creeks. Whatever it is, Martyn has been adding comments in letters H, R, S and P. Yes, even P. If you go have a look at the page for P, you will find some quite interesting content under the entry for "porter". When you read above it the earlier corrections about "pale ale" and "Pilsner Urquell" it adds up to a fairly strong indication of the need for the wiki. Over at the letter S, there is more new content for "Samuel Allsopp & Sons", "Scottish & Newcastle Brewery", "spices", "St Gallen", "stock ale" and "stouts". Now, 151 entries have received comment.
Good stuff. And there is a fairly recent review out there as well as - at Ireland's Beoir.com by theBeer Nut himself. Still at an affordable price at Amazon.com, the book is clearly worth getting into even if it is also worth questioning. Time and likely further editions shall tell how authoritative it can be considered but for now keep an eye on the wiki, too, as it seems to be waking after a long winter's sleep.
I have no idea what to think of this. A sample of a Berliner Weisse from Grand Teton in Idaho showed up in the mail the other week and I thought to myself... I have no idea what to think of this. While I have quite enjoyed their samples before, I have only had one Berliner Weisse before and I have never been to Idaho.
On the nose, it smells like a milder take on gueuze with a bit of a yougurty tang. A ball of melon sweetness opens into a grassy note that is like Sauvignon Blanc but then it finishes with a mineral thing that is a bit like Riesling. Sad, isn't it. Reaching for wine metaphors. Lychee, white grapefruit and green fleshed melon cut with a bit of a lightly astringency. Not to style at 7.5% but, really, does anyone care anymore? What would I have with this? A chunk of cold salmon over bitter greens? Sushi? That'd do nicely.
I have to admit, I love the sample label. This beer is only released next Tuesday according to the brewery. It must have snuck out of its own accord. Four BAer reviews for your consideration.
An excellent set of observations by Velky Al over at Fuggled on the somewhat sudden trend for east coast production facilities for west coast US national craft:
I can't help but think that this is the first stage in the consolidation of the craft brewing industry, where the bigger companies start to force their way into markets by opening brewing facilities in various parts of the country. While we will see more and more Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues beers in the supermarket aisles, we will see fewer local brews except at specialty outlets like Beer Run here in Charlottesville.
We like to think that craft brewers are elf like trustees of a big pot of goodness that can't be quite described but pervades to the point we might seem to anthropomorphize. But they are businesses and as more join the ranks of national craft, the risk to actual local craft brewers is obvious. It's been around for a while, of course. Redhook and its assignees has been up to this for years but we are looking at a real leap in the concept with left of the Mississippi brewers Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues and New Belgium all moving into North Carolina. Does this create a conceptual separation in US craft between local beer and indigenous beer? In the world of global craft, isn't the idea of indigenous beer just a wee bit silly? More to the point, what will Sierra Nevada be that far from the Sierra Nevadas?
Now that I have a 1940s china tankard I want more. And think the view above is one that I would appreciate. A George II silver tankard for a mere £7,750. It's on eBay right now. I think it's worth it. I am worth it. What beer would it have held two hundred years or so before Orwell daydreamed about The Moon Under Water? It was the year of the second edition of The London and Country Brewer. Stitch?
Kanbar, who graduated from the 3,600 student school in Philadelphia's East Falls section in 1952, gave it $15 million to support the interdisciplinary college it launched last fall.
In George Orwell's 1949 essayThe Moon Under Water - mentioned here, here and here - we are taken perhaps though the looking glass to an idyllic perfect pub of post-war Britain. It is a gorgeous physical essay that sets out the elements of Orwell's dream establishment including even the mugs:
The special pleasure of this lunch is that you can have draught stout with it. I doubt whether as many as 10 per cent of London pubs serve draught stout, but the Moon Under Water is one of them. It is a soft, creamy sort of stout, and it goes better in a pewter pot. They are particular about their drinking vessels at the Moon Under Water, and never, for example, make the mistake of serving a pint of beer in a handleless glass. Apart from glass and pewter mugs, they have some of those pleasant strawberry-pink china ones which are now seldom seen in London. China mugs went out about 30 years ago, because most people like their drink to be transparent, but in my opinion beer tastes better out of china.
There is also a small surprise of a garden... and stamps. I have been looking for a strawberry-pink china mug for a while now but have made do with this in the interim. It is a Wedgewood 1940s sage green tankard designed by Keith Murray. I got it on eBay for about $53 Canadian which is a lot but it is also not as I could likely put it on eBay tomorrow and get about $53 Canadian... which is what I tell people about my soccer jersey collection of about eight years ago that sits in boxes waiting for another five for the teens to discover it. I like the way the handle looks a bit like antler. Not sure what beer I will have from it. Looks nice where it is.
One of the most celebrated vodka brands in the world, Absolut Vodka has unofficially outdoored its Ghanaian Artist of 2012, Edem at a well-attended party dubbed, 'Absolut Vodka Mix Party Tour' at Rockstone's Office in Accra.
I like beer. I like the way it calms me, and I like the taste of it. I’m 38 and have been drinking around 10 beers a day for five years. I pace my drinking so that I am quite sober even with this amount of beer. I can carry on a conversation and feel quite with it. I wake up in the morning feeling fine — no headache. I put in a day of hard, physical work with no problem. My wife says I am headed for an early death. Am I?
Oddly, the health answers columnist in the Sarasota Herald-Tribunedid not answer with that question about bears, woods and poo. I had a friend who got to this sort of point. I only knew it when he pulled out a beer as he was driving his truck to the municipal dump one Saturday morning when I was visiting. And while none the beer writers I have known have exactly mentioned having to manage the perils of free flowing ale, many have shared the story about being baked from the grind of beer launch after beer launch.
"Headed for an early death? Am I?" It's a good question to ask yourself from time to time if you list drinking alcohol some way or another on your resumé - as a hobby or even career. Does it also, as Dr. Ding diagnosed today, lead you to other risks? Sure, maybe it's just the risk of missing being fluent at Finnish as well as not being proficient at the banjo or, say, lawn billiards because you were vlogging your beer ticking notes daily for the last eight years. Beer is good but in a way it is not always great. It delay, defers, colours and even assumes on your behalf. It confuses a moment with 24/7. Like any pleasure it can seduce in small tricky ways. Or instead you can find yourself drinking ten beers every day. Or writing about how beer links all the most special moments in life.
There is nothing wrong with making these choices, coming to these sorts of places. But there may be something more right.
I have to admit that I have not given two seconds thought to the World Beer Cup in all the years since I began writing about beer. Not that I have anything against the idea of a mass sipping and note taking exercise - but a long time ago, I came across a brewery that claimed it had won certain prizes on its website which, upon a little investigation, turned out to be a straight up falsehood. It made me realize that the whole chain of evidence in an event like this is so unlikely as to make any outcome definitive. But that is just it. It's not like the process could ever be definitive. Fun for the participants but not much deeper than that.
Yet... I noticed a couple of things this year. When I read the results, I was quite surprised to read that Leffe Brune... err... Brown was declared the best dubbel in the world. One word came to mind: "whatchamafuzzathinkalunk!!!" Does anyone think that is the case? I was so shocked that I actually wrote about it on Twitter. I did. I really did. That takes a certain level of conviction, let me tell you. I mean it is nice enough to see when facing a straight up AB InBev tap selection but it's not like I would order it if there was another dubbel available. Then, roaming through Google News, I see that a Haitian beer won gold for "Category 42: American-Style Cream Ale or Lager"... whatever that means. Oh, here is what it means... or at least WBC C42 looks a lot like what GABF C33(c) means:
C. Subcategory: American-Style Cream Ale or Lager Mild, pale, light-bodied ale, made using a warm fermentation (top or bottom) and cold lagering. Hop bitterness and flavor range from very low to low. Hop aroma is often absent. Sometimes referred to as cream ales, these beers are crisp and refreshing. Pale malt character predominates. Caramelized malt character should be absent. A fruity or estery aroma may be perceived. Diacetyl and chill haze should not be perceived. Sulfur character and/or sweet corn-like dimethylsulfide (DMS) should be extremely low or absent from this style of beer. Original Gravity (ºPlato): 1.044-1.052 (11-13 ºPlato) Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (ºPlato): 1.004-1.010 (1-2.5 ºPlato) Alcohol by Weight (Volume): 3.4-4.5% (4.2-5.6%) Bitterness (IBU): 10-22 Color SRM (EBC): 2-5 (4-10 EBC)
Both the WBC and the GABF are creatures of the same Brewers Association so not sure why two number systems are required but I do think they are the same thing. And the Haitian beer, Prestige, won first prize for that... thing. Good for them. I will likely never have one. No great swelling desire within me is inspired by the news. But, when I check, some have tried it. And they have rated the experience over at BeerAdvocate and apparently 30 reviewers - including a brother, at least in 2005 - thought it sucked. Which is fine as cream ales can, you know, suck. Yet it does makes me ask why, if no gold was awarded at all in the category named "European-Style Low-Alcohol Lager/German-Style" (scroll down to category 30) why a gold was still awarded for the sucky beer from Haiti? Are somw WBC golds real gold and others semi-serious Gõ⌋ds? Why not, instead, a "thanks for coming out" with a footnote that American-Style Cream Ale or Lager pretty much suck? Perhaps we should ask for an explanation. I sure would like an explanation from the panel that picked Leffe Brown as the best dubbel going. An explanation or maybe a show trial.
Result? I am comfortable slipping back into that state of unknowningness about it all.
You know how most people go to conferences not so much for the subject matter but to do something else in the evening, in another city where no amount of effort will help the kids get to their softball practices? Reading the various bits and pieces coming out of the Craft Brewers Conference being held in San Diego, you get the sense that they have brought together this the real point of going to a conference with, oddly enough, the actual subject matter of the conference. And it impresses those who are experiencing the moment. We read that attendees are "Finding community at the Craft Brewers Conference" and also, amazingly, that "Craft beer conference fosters community". Yet, strangely, on Twitter we also read this:
While we do appreciate there is no such thing as the craft beer community we also do appreciate that when people gather and have beer they may actually have fun together. Confusing parties that go on for days with community can be understood as a natural consequence of fun. It is part of that fun - but if the rules of society breakdown after only a couple of days, when people can't get their butts out to Pizza Port Ocean Beach when they have the chance... what does this speak about the sort of community that is being described?
Further to my recent admission of an understanding gap, Pete Brown has been given the keys to today's Session #63, The Beer Moment:
I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot recently, because I’ve been talking about it to various people who are working hard to try to improve the image of beer in the UK. Because whether we articulate it or not, whether we drink vile, sunstruck Corona or barrel aged imperial stout brewed with weasel shit, it’s about the moment far more than the liquid itself. The only people who disagree with me on this are people I wouldn’t want to share a beer with.
See, that is just silly. The beer moment is no more profound than the ciggie moment. "Smoke Break!" was a proclamation a pal made decades ago at a summer job. Time for tools down. Time for tea. A good cup of tea. Or... what? A bag of chip? Feet up? That's what makes a moment. Whatever you need at the time.
There is no beer moment. There are moments. In life. In your life. Beer does not change the moment even when it is present within it. Any number of other things could be there instead. Don't let the ad men fool you.
"Shelted" is a word Canadian blogger Alan "A Good Beer Blog" McLeod made up three years ago, and from the context, I'm guessing it means "being asked to pay a premium price for a beer imported by Shelton Brothers." (Alan's a bit obsessive on price/value in beer, and the Shelton line is not noted for being underpriced.) Or maybe something similar, but vaguely more crude; you can do the interpretation.
Sharing: I used "shelted" long before three years ago if only in my heart of hearts and, in particular, long before I knew that the particular bunch in question were so oddly comfortable in being abusive like any one of that certain sort of moron who have built a successful niche in a small market. That is not what drove the creation of the verb. It was created because when I started buying imported good beers in the States I saw that the prices did not always make sense. Here in Canada you can get Orval for under four bucks while it is pushing or over six south of the nearby border. See, I can buy that beer in at least three jurisdictions and be back for lunch. I enjoy a competitive marketplace of sorts. Lew calls that obsessive. Go figure. But it's neither here nor there. To be shelted is far from what Lew supposes. It means to be stuck paying too much because someone has exclusive control of the importing or other aspects of supply. It is to recognize the monopolist, the tyrant of the marketplace. See, perhaps unlike that lawyer Shelton, I am actually a practicing lawyer who buys a lot of things - from buildings to pencils. I don't consider lawyers arseholes unless they came to law school as arseholes. But I do understand how prices, markets, law and taxation interact. So I naturally hate the monopolist, even the tiny ones... and especially the ones who are arseholes, too.
Which get us to the context of the need to consider "shelt"-ing this week. From my point of view, if you want to disagree with someone or something, you create a body of knowledge that contradicts the assumptions you are taking on. You build respect by learning how to respect the work and opinions of others. By way of comparison, when you refer to "ill-informed and emotionally fraught bloggers" or otherwise take a position of complaining tantrum-esque weakness you don't do anything but point out your own failings. And entitlement. I love to see bad lawyers like that across the table. Their arguments are your playground. See, in yesterday's statement, Shelton Brothers is very careful to play the victim card. They are "ridiculously small guys" and "the little guys" who represent "cute little foreign brewers" when in fact they are market corner-ers who have exclusivity over a large number of brands who the needy beer nerds are trained to covet. Some of the brewers they represent are truly wonderful and worth every penny. Some are not. Yet all seem to demand premium price in the US which I just don't see being asked of us in Canada - though admittedly the selection is not as rich up here. We don't have three-tier. And we also seem not to have those exclusive importer deals as Shelton Brothers might enjoy - along with many others - which see unnaturally inflated prices on the shelves. We have less of that "I just got took" feeling after opening another overpriced beer though, more than admittedly, we have it from time to time.
Which gets to the last point. Lew is also quite right. The new New York tax interpretation will lead to paying only a few pennies more per glass. And as New York state is in need of revenue that is a good thing. Time to pay the piper. Being shelted, however, has nothing to do with that. Being shelted is being asked to take your hard earned money and give it to support an importer who thinks you the beer buyer and this the beer buying discourse are unworthy... a crock... a dupe... or whatever an arsehole would call it. So, I have no issue with the call for a boycott for those that feel that way but just don't do it over this tax ruling, over just Shelton Brothers and don't go overboard. Get smart and do whenever you feel you have been shelted - whether by this importer or anyone else. And don't worry if someone might call it obsessive especially when only you care about your own wallet. It' doesn't take much. Sure, find the lambics they don't represent and enjoy that often they are a buck less and as good or better. But also notice how that self proclaimed craft beer guru in your own neighbourhood inflates their price through a swing top bottle with specially embossed glass or through jacking prices two bucks for the joy of having three cents worth of a rare ingredient added. Find the alternatives to the loud proclaimers, the self-defined, the brand conscious. Make a habit of not being shelted. But not because of any tax ruling or because Shelton Brothers have justly protected their interests. You should do it to protect those interests of your own against anyone.
GOT A QUESTION? Got a question about environmental economics? Why do economists like benefit-cost analysis? Tradeable permits? Ask an environmental economist at the Answer Desk.
Coming into the fourth-season finale of Drag Race , I'm already conflicted:A After dragging out the coronation for another episode, the producers decided they'd rather manufacture three endings than risk the winner's identity leaking.
I found this at Forbes entitled "Why More CEOs Should Drink Beer", a column about about that guy who said he had too much beer a bit, odd or at least unusual:
Mason is 31 years old and running a hot tech company in Chicago. Hot tech companies are filled with smart, young people like Mason who work hard and play hard. This is a generation that has grown up under an avalanche of rules and supervision laid down upon them by their boomer-era parents, many who believe that it was fine for them to smoke dope and protest authority but would never let their children do the same. Because now they’re the authority. How does a guy like Mason, and all the employees of his generation, show their “rebellious” side? They have a beer at a company meeting. Big deal. It’s cool. It safely demonstrates their defiance. I’m sure his insurance broker was having a heart attack. But it’s not over-the-top crazy. Which is why drinking beer and then joking about it at a company meeting to build camaraderie with his employees makes perfect sense. Only a 31 year old CEO could know this.
Really? I can't think of a time in my working life where I have not had a beer with the bosses once in a while. Tends to be because the bosses all pretty much like beer. The real twist in this story is not that the guy is 31 or that it is a tech company or that the "generation" of folk who have been involved with IT for, let's count fingers, at least 30 years according to my circle of experience are especially cool. They actually represent a group which is less inclined to drink to any great degree if I think about it. A long time ago a pal who was a drummer put it that he did not have much interest in drinking because he didn't need to. The drumming filled that place for him. Some interests are just like that. IT guys. Hockey goalies come to mind. They are focused.
It strikes me that maybe what the CEO was expressing as much was a loss of something. Absolute control of his company given the need to kiss up to investors and other business folk? The separation from familiar others with whom the rapidly growing had been built? Maybe just silent slinking realization that being 31 isn't being 23. These things can distract the focused mind. Or maybe he's just a little clumsy socially. As in he doesn't have all that much time for beer. Maybe he actually just had a bit too much.
Almost immediately it feels as though one is drinking a sickly sweet, sugar solution that has been infused with honey and molasses. There are very brief glimpses of a little liquor/barrel notes and even a hint of acid funk, but within fractions of a second these are completely overwhelmed with sugar. It seems like underneath this glucose, fructose, sucrose attack, there may be some bitter licorice, but again the sugar is so violent it abuses any subtlety. The alcohol is actually conspicuous by its absence. Under different circumstances one might say ‘well hidden’, but actually in this case it’s a question of eating 10 lbs of pure sugar masking almost any other possible taste sensation. There really is absolutely NOTHING else here apart from a devastating sugar presence – literally nothing.
While I appreciate the point that Zak is making about the personal nature of favorite beers, I am coming to think that the reluctance of beer fans to criticize poor craft beers¹ is leading to a general perception that the identification and discussion of poorly thought out beers by reputable craft brewers is also a matter of personal opinion. It's not. We've all had them. Overly boozy ales. Beers made to highlight a certain odd barreling technique. Imperial pilsners. Beers that probably should not have seen the light of day or at least not a retail shelf. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with experimentation. I just don't care to pay for the experiments of others. What is worse is when the experiment is an obvious failure but it is released - presumably to recoup expenses given the hit to its reputation the brewery can only know it would take if drinkers actually reported on the experience. I think Ding's review fairly raises suspicions in that direction.
Have craft breweries gone out of business due to their repeated failings as brewers of good beer? Probably - but maybe not enough of them. Not being mean. I have one in particular in mind which goes nameless as I prefer not to taint my blog with their name. Short of that, there have not to my mind been enough fairly minded calling out of a poorly made beer with the facts to back it up. Too often, criticisms are layered with attacks on the PR slant of the marketing, assumptions about intentions or frustrations with measuring stick debates about style. A proper review of a really poorly made beer is not about that. It's just about how poor the beer actually is.
¹aka bad good beer... as opposed to good bad beer.
I was handed this beer at last week's beer event. I just would like to mention that this is one of the best Ontario-made beers I have ever had. Part of their Project X series, it's on limited release and, sadly, limited production. Too bad. Thick sheeting mocha cream head over deep dark ale. Thick aroma, too. Cocoa and mint. Pumpernickel and cream. If I had thought of a beer future back in the 90s, it might have been this. Before hop mania. Before sour. When malt and roast reigned. This has it. Masses of dark malt with dry roast coffee as well as sticky date and raisin notes all carried along with a rich light sour even yogurty yeastiness. It is heavy. In the best sense. As heavy as you wished your coffee in the morning could be.
I think I recall Troy telling me as he passed the bottle that this was named after Burt Reynolds. Can't recall why.
I was scratching my head a little over two lists that floated by upon the beer-o-sphere ether this week. Jeff was mildly curious about one spammy PR list that popped into his inbox and extracted out the beer people. Ashley, on the other hand, created her own list of "very important women who have already and continue to make a huge impact on the beautiful world of craft beer..." What got me scratching my head was the thought that I would never imagine writing about such a thing, put together a list like that. But then I wondered why... and scratched my head again.
Here is the thing. I like beer people just fine. But I like most people. In the proper proportion and the proper time. But should that be the measure of all things? There are a few folk in beer that I like a lot and what I have noticed they tend not necessarily to be the person running the show, not the face of the operation. It might be the beer rep who shares the quite word, the smart beer store clerk, the patient bouncer or the well spoken well read bar fly. People who don't push themselves forward but often have the killer line about those that do. Maybe I am just an old gossip. Write a list with those names on it? My fun dries up.
Of those two lists above, clearly Ashley's is the more welcome because it declares the bias that drew it together? The PR spammers list? Pretty much useless, perhaps only smacking of some vaguely depressing thing that those listed may have in common. But that is the thing about lists of people. They reflect the lister as much or more than the listed. As I wrote in a comment at Jeff's, I think it is more interesting how beer creates few or no people of any real influence or even recognition. Which may be one of its charms.
The deal includes: Unlimited IMFL Drinks, Beer & 1 Veg. Starter IMFL Drinks to choose from: Blenders Pride Antiquity Signature Royal Challenge Smirnoff Vodka Time: 12 pm to 6 pm Valid for 1 person only Coupon cannot be redeemed against cash in case of cancellations Deal price is inclusive of all taxes Carry coupon while availing the service Please ... (more)
Beer books. I have read enough of them but they are not the whole extent of the books I read related to my interest in beer. One of the most interesting things for me about my interest in beer is how is it woven though the community and through time. On top up there is my recently acquired copy of 1969's breakout best seller The Gansevoorts of Albany: Dutch Patricians in the Upper Hudson Valley. It does appear on Google books but not much of the text is available. Below that book us the second edition of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte. I am hoping each will be, in its way, a book about beer or at least a book that explains how we can think about beer.
First, the Gansevoorts. The most amazing thing about this family for our present purposes is that they gave up brewing in the early 1800s after the best part of two centuries of brewing... in North America. There is a lot to learn about the context of how brewing began and has continued for around 380 years in the capital city of New York state but the main thing to understand is that when the British finally took over the Dutch colony in 1674, it did not remove the population. In a way, it is like a mini-Quebec in that, through the Dongan Charter of 1686, the people of Albany were allowed a level of self-government that continued its Dutch political culture. In roads into that were only made after the French and Indian War of the later 1750s which led to the fall of New France. Interestingly, the indications I have seen of a indigenous strong Dutch wheat beer seem to fade along with that political culture replaced in the first decade of the 1800s with the ranges of small to XXXX ales more in line with the Yankees of neighbouring and expanding New England culture that lived on until swamped in turn by later German immigrants and the advent of large scale lager production. Earlier, under that cultural protection, the Gansevoorts can be traced back to the 1650s when a brewer had a daughter whose husband took up the brewing trade himself, passing the business on to their son, whose beer based position and wealth allowed hissons to prosper and lead the Revolution... and to run the brewery until it was demolished in 1807.
We have data. So much data. But it is out there in jangled family trees, in newspaper ads and in boxes on archive shelves which have remained unopened for years. How to find it all and how to put it into some order? I have an idea for an interactive timeline that effectively displays what otherwise could sit on a wiki like this. But I need help. Hence Tufte. I am thinking of his commentary on the 1869 graphically illustrated map of Napoleon's doomed march into and out of Russia. Except it would be the Hudson River Valley and it would be about almost four centuries of of beer rather that one really poor military campaign. Something of a cross between that and the schematic diagram of the London Underground might work. Maybe.
Beer books? Two wonderful books and each can tell me plenty about beer or about thinking about beer at least.
A man from Lancashire has been offered free beer for life at the pub where he has been a regular for 76 years. Fred Dell, 94, has been popping round to the Strawberry Gardens on Poulton Road in Fleetwood for a "swift half of mild", since he was 18. Landlord Dave Shaw has now made Mr Dell, a retired gardener, a freeman of the pub, in recognition of his loyalty... Remembering his first pint in 1936, Mr Dell said: "You could get half a mild, five woodbines and a box of matches and a penny change for half a sixpence. "Nowadays for my first drink, I'll get half a mild and a whisky, and then after that I'll have just whisky, they're only wee things so I'll have about eight."
Freeman of the pub! Now I know the title my life has been working towards. Just hope I don't have to wait to 94. Some of us are chained to a desk and not able to have the physical advantage of a gardening life. Ten units a day, though. That's something for concern. Something Fred will have to watch. Might be at risk as a binge drinker. Could lead to more... gardening and, err, living to a ripe old and fit age.
Some Beer Me! app users have reported problems with the app losing track of where they are, or not finding their location in the first place.
I have fixed, broken, fixed, and broken the location-finding code, but I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track now. I'll have it fixed and published as soon as I can — as long as my so-called real job doesn't interfere.
The next time the app updates, the fix will be included. Look for version 1.4.x sometime soonish.
Not sure how long this program will remain available to worldwide listeners so you might want to listen in now:
From barrel ageing beer to sourcing intensely bitter hops, Dan Saladino reports on the latest trends in American brewing that are starting to influence British beer styles. The US "craft beer" scene started to take shape 30 years ago. Prohibition in the 1920s and post-war industrialisation brought an end to one of the world's most diverse brewing cultures. In 1979 President Jimmy Carter made home brewing legal again, and soon after, a network of adventurous brewers started to emerge. Known as craft brewers, they operate on a small scale and use traditional brewing techniques but also place great emphasis on experimentation and innovation. American brewer and editor of The Oxford Companion to Beer, Garrett Oliver puts their quest for new flavours down to the US losing its own brewing culture and so being free to explore all others. Now a young generation of brewers in the UK are looking at these new US styles and discovering techniques like barrel aging as well embarking on experiments with new, intensely flavoured, hop varieties.
Garrett Oliver and Pete Brown are generously featured in the story but most alarmingly shocking is the reference to beer bloggers not located in a joke or rant. The only quibble I have is the perpetuation of the 1979 Jimmy Carter home brewing law story as primarily foundational to today's good beer. Lew has noted this as well. Good beer was well established in the English speaking world even if in the US you were looking at an import if you wanted another taste. Further, the concept of home brewing and control of what you drank had been well established in the UK. Early US craft brewers were as much trained in the UK as came from home brew circles. The wheels were already turning.
But... a quibble. You may disagree. Never mind. The radio program is seriously presented and tightly comprehensive in scope. Have a listen and let me know what you think.
Last year, Brewmaster Mark Carpenter celebrated his 40th anniversary with Anchor Brewery. According to my notes, he started on September 30, 1971. During GABF, a film crew interviewed a number of us during some side events, and they put together this video that includes some luminaries from the craft beer industry. Congratulations Mark.
I've just found out about — and fixed — the problem with your updates not getting sent to me. It looks like anything sent after 9:30am CST on January 25 ended up in the bit bucket, so if you've tried to send anything in the past 3½ days, please send it again.
Visitor number 15,000,000 stopped by Beer Me just now!
At 2:47:28 PM CST, someone hit the site through the Amazon EC2 portal. I don't know who it was or what they were looking for, but I appreciate the support.
This is great news for Texas brewers and beer lovers!
As of result of yesterday’s ruling, beer in Texas may now be labeled as “beer” and ale may now be labeled as “ale”, regardless of alcohol content. Breweries and distributors are also no longer prohibited from independently telling consumers where their products may be purchased, or from communicating truthful and accurate information about their alcohol content.
Congratulations to Jester King and their co-plaintiffs for standing up to TABC.
An excerpt from the ruling:
TABC’s argument, combined with artful legislative drafting, could be used to justify any restrictions on commercial speech. For instance, Texas would likely face no (legal) obstacle if it wished to pass a law defining the word ‘milk’ to mean ‘a nocturnal flying mammal that eats insects and employs echolocation.’ Under TABC’s logic, Texas would then be authorized to prohibit use of the word ‘milk’ by producers of a certain liquid dairy product, but also to require Austin promoters to advertise the famous annual ‘Milk Festival’ on the Congress Avenue Bridge.
We have declared Saturday, December 17th 2011 to be National Growler Day! Get out today, support a local business and buy some fresh craft beer.
If you’re not already aware, many brewpubs and some breweries across the United States have the ability to sell you “growlers” of their house brewed beer for you to take home and enjoy. Typically, a growler holds 64 ounces and in many occasions you can bring them back for refills (a refill price is often cheaper than a first fill because you are paying for the glass container).
So, we’ve learned that a growler that you purchase today is a reusable container full of beer that comes from a business that is local to you. Who wouldn’t like that?
If you have a brewpub nearby (search here), we’re urging you to visit it and ask for a growler of their finest beer to-go. It’s Saturday, and nothing goes better with a Saturday than some fresh locally brewed beer!
If you use twitter, tag your tweets with #growlerday so we can see who is able to buy fresh craft beer today!
Hi there,
I got interesting news for all the beer brewers and lovers, and off course, the beerme.com. We have just released free web app for designing beer labels online. Check it out at labeley.com, and feel free to contact me for the more info.
Kindest regards,
Roger Brady
Stone Brewing Company co-founder Steve Wagner talks about the five biggest mistakes homebrewers can make. He should know — one of his mistakes evolved into the beer we know as Arrogant Bastard.
Among the proof of the growing restriction on liquor sale and consumption in the state, which is home to Mormons, are:
A ban on mini beer kegs beginning Oct. 1,
Requirement by 2012 that taps and bartenders must be out of customers’ sight
A freeze for 12 months on the issuance of new types of alcohol licenses for dining establishments that serve liquor, wine and full-strength beer in full view of customer.
All new restaurants are also mandated to place a 4-foot high barrier nicknamed the "Zion Curtain" so Mormons will not see liquor being served to and consumed by non-Mormons.
Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups, a Mormon, said the return to strictness was to discourage young residents from drinking because they could be encouraged by the sound of the mixing of alcoholic beverages and the sight of attractive drinks.
Foster’s announced today that it would accept SABMiller’s bid of $10.2 billion. SABMiller had been courting the company for quite some time.
Foster's had rejected a £7.3 billion offer from SABMiller in June. That offer amounted to A$4.90 per share; the new offer is 13% higher, at A$5.5325 per share.
Read the whole story, with a link to Foster's press release, at Beernews.org.
The very very short version: the bitterness* of the average beer has declined from 38 IBU in 1911 to 12 IBU in 2011. This is no surprise, but it does call into question claims by some breweries that their beer is still brewed to the same recipe as in days gone by.
But be warned this isn’t just a bunch of party tents with lots of decent beer. No, by deciding to travel to this famous Volksfest, you’ve agreed to have the entire concept called Germany crunched into your skull by a sadomasochistic Bavarian mistress. She’s a pagan goddess with a lion at her heel, and in your hazy drunkenness she’ll indoctrinate you with all the wrong stereotypes about this country.
She’ll strap you down, peel back your eyelids and show you a heady mix of beer, breasts, leather, meat, and Bavarian bourgeois superiority. If you’re lucky, maybe she’ll even slap a dark green felt hat on you and take you on a whirlwind tour of the region’s prized “laptops and Lederhosen” economy as you belt down another Maß. And then she will release you to stagger home, hung-over, sweaty, full of misinformation, but most likely happy and content.
OK, "no longer drink" is an exaggeration. But it's surprising how much these eight brands have declined in five short years:
Budweiser, down 30% to 18,000,000 barrels
Milwaukee's Best Light, down 34% to 1,300,000 barrels
Miller Genuine Draft, down 51% to 1,800,000 barrels
Old Milwaukee, down 52% to 525,000 barrels
Milwakee's Best, down 53% to 925,000 barrels
Bud Select, down 60% to 925,000 barrels
Michelob Light, down 64% to 525,000 barrels
Michelob, down 72% to 175,000 barrels
Budweiser was the best-selling brand in America for some 30 years, until Bud Light supplanted it in 2001. Milwaukee's Best Light, believe it or not, sold 2,100,000 barrels about 12 years ago. Twenty years ago, more than 7,000,000 barrels of MGD was sold, along with 6,000,000 barrels of Old Milwaukee, and 7,000,000 barrels of Milwaukee's Best.
Americans are slowly but increasingly turning to local brews and imports over the old brands. Unfortunately, they're upping their intake of light beers at the same time.
A fruit fly's journey from Patagonia to Bavaria could be the reason we enjoy nice, cold-brewed lager beers today. The missing parent of the hybrid yeast used for brewing lagers has just been discovered in Patagonia.
Until now, scientists had known lager beers were made from a hybrid yeast, with half of its genes coming from a common ale yeast and the other half coming from an unknown species.
They found the missing yeast growing on southern beech trees in Patagonia. They sequenced the genes and found that this species of yeast was very likely to be a parent of the lager yeast hybrid.
"It’s a 99.5 percent match to the missing half of the lager genome. It's clear that it is this species," Hittinger said.
Three months after being acquired by Anheuser-Busch, Goose Island Beer Co. said today that its massively popular 312 Urban Wheat Ale will soon be brewed in an AB facility in upstate New York.
Brewing a beer named for Chicago in Baldwinsville, N.Y. -- 700 miles from where it was created -- might raise eyebrows among those who criticized AB's $38.8 million takeover of Goose this spring, but Goose founder and Chief Executive Officer John Hall said the move will be a boon for fans of the brewery's higher end beers, like Matilda and Bourbon County Stout.
Accounting for almost half the brewery's sales, 312 has required significant resources at Goose's Fulton Street plant. With the beer's production heading east -- partially at first and likely entirely at some point -- that space can be used for other projects, Hall said.
And here's something I didn't know:
312 is the third Goose beer to leave its hometown; all of the brewery's India pale ale and most of its Honker's Ale are brewed at a Redhook brewing facility in Portsmouth, N.H.
The Local takes on the Düsseldorf-Köln beer rivalry:
Whereas Cologne is all about drinking golden Kölsch in dainty glasses, Düsseldorf prefers the more ale-like favour of darker Alt.
To avoid ridicule while touring the Rhineland, caution is advised. A customer trying to order a glass of Alt beer in a Cologne pub will earn scorn and mockery from waiters and patrons alike. Conversely, asking for some Kölsch in a Düsseldorf locale is a sure-fire way of becoming the butt of many jokes for the rest of the night.
“It's a kind of love-hate relationship,” says Dirk Rouenhoff, master brewer at Schlüssel, a traditional brewery in Düsseldorf's historic centre. “Ultimately, it's something amusing that provides plenty of conversational fodder as well as funny anecdotes. And it can be a useful gimmick in advertising campaigns.”
The best example is a now-infamous billboard that adorned the streets of Düsseldorf last year. Früh, Cologne's third-largest beer brand by sales volume, depicted an empty Kölsch glass alongside the caption, “Before it gets old” – a stinging pun on “alt,” the German word for “old” as well as the beer. Another ad agency quickly pushed back in the name of Düsseldorf's brewers with a campaign claiming “Alt knallt,” which translates loosely as “Alt is the bomb.”
There are a couple hundred site updates in the queue, just as there have been for about three weeks. As soon as I make some headway, dozens of new ones come in, and I'm not making much progress just now.
But I'm working on catching up as I find time, so keep sending those updates! And thanks for all your help.
Good for them! I hope more brewpubs follow their lead.
Though brewpubs apparently won't be affected by the legislation, Great Dane Pub and Brewing Co. and Vintage Brewing Co. confirmed this week they had ended sales of MillerCoors brands such as Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Lite, Leinenkugel's, Blue Moon and Molson.
Eliot Butler, Great Dane president, said the Dane's four locations have dropped MillerCoors indefinitely "in solidarity with the (Wisconsin) Brewers Guild and with the craft brewers of Wisconsin."
The Wisconsin Beer Lovers Festival has given us two pairs of tickets to their upcoming festival! We want to give these tickets to people who can attend, so please only enter if you know you can go (the fest is Saturday, June 18th just outside of Milwaukee).
We’re going to make this really easy for you guys to enter. All you have to do is comment on this post and tell us what the last Wisconsin beer you drank was.
If you haven’t heard of it, this is the Second Annual Wisconsin Beer Lovers Festival. Here’s what they have to say on their website.
“Join us for the Wisconsin Beer Lovers Festival on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at Bayshore Town Center in Glendale, Wis. (Father’s Day weekend)
The Wisconsin Brewer’s Guild, Draft Magazine and the City of Glendale welcome you to experience the second annual all-Wisconsin craft beer and tasting festival. Enjoy more than 100 of Wisconsin’s finest craft beers and sample specially prepared cuisine designed to complement more than 20 unique beers from our state’s finest craft breweries. Meet the brew masters and chefs behind the creations and spend the afternoon enjoying the sights and sounds of Bayshore Town Center.”
If you don’t trust your chances, you can also go ahead and buy your tickets here. There will be some people from Beer Mapping at the fest, so if you go, look around and maybe we’ll buy you a free sample!
We will pick two random winners at 12pm CDT on June 15th.
Does your home state have a great beer selection? Do YOU think you can complete the June State Beer challenge?
A GABF Medal Infographic from Lyke2Drink (click for source).
Basically, the rules are simple. To properly complete the challenge, you will only drink beer produced in the state where you are currently drinking. This means that if you have a trip planned to Colorado during June, you will have to consume only beer brewed in Colorado while you are there.
If you aren’t planning to leave your home state during June, then you will have to be satisfied with the selection your state produces. Obviously, this is only for fun. If someone shows up at your house with an eight year vertical of Dark Lord, no one will expect you to abstain. BUT, we think this is a great time to switch your focus to your local craft brewers (and tell others about it as well).
If you need help finding out breweries, brewpubs or great beer bars to visit during June, obviously you’ve come to the right place! Spend some time creating searches or maps on our Location Lookup page.
If you’re active on twitter or facebook, spread the word. If you tweet about the beers you drink or about the June State Beer challenge, try to use the hashtag, #statebeer so others can follow along.
Will YOU accept the challenge?
Please let us know in the comments. And make sure if you comment, you let us know what state you will be representing.
Boy, time does fly when you’re having fun! Come celebrate Five Years of Beer Mapping at Small Bar Fullerton in Chicago (Beer Mapping Link) on Friday, November 12th.
At 7pm the first of five special casks will be getting wacked with the hammer. Come out and hang out with Beer Mappers and our friends over at the Hop Cast. There will be more details coming, but for now, mark up your calendar in pen!
We’ve done a small revamp on our maps over the past week; changing the way they look and altering some of the ways that you may use the maps. We have tried our best to only add features and not remove any that you might be already used to. It may take you a few map viewings to get used to the changes but we feel that you will enjoy the maps more after seeing what we have made available.
First off, the maps now have a nice blue top navigation bar. This navigation takes the place of the floating “main menu” from the older version of the maps. You’ll see that we’ve added the location lookup on the far right of the screen and we have more space up there to add more links to important parts of the site.
Map Legend
In the top left, you’ll see our logo and the hideable legend should appear pretty much like it used to. You can still click the “x” to hide and you can click the names/pins in the legend to hide specific types of locations.
City Map Selection
When looking for a city map, you’ll realize that they are now grouped by regions and hovering over a region will produce a flyout dropdown allowing you to select the city you are interested in.
Registered User Functions
People viewing the maps that are not registered and logged into the site will often get a reduced number of features. If in the top right you see the “login/register” links, this means you are not logged in. Click the links to do so.
When you are logged in, on many of our maps (City Maps and Proximity Maps) you will get extra links via little green and red colored buttons that will allow you to only see locations you have reviewed or locations you haven’t reviewed on a certain map. These links will allow you to plot the next location you may want to visit or help to find a location that you may have forgotten to review.
Toggles and Traffic
Note: If you are looking for the toggles to turn on or off the location list or the legend, those are up in the top right under the map selectors (view image above). We have also added the “traffic” layer to many of the maps, allowing you to plan your trips a bit better.
We hope you enjoy these new features and the new styling of the maps. Please let us know what you think by leaving a comment here or by posting in the forums (or replying to us on twitter @beermapping).
We’ve updated the applications page here at Beer Mapping to inform people of the current mobile apps using our API. Currently Beer Mapping does not have an official application for any device.
All applications are developed by third party developers and the apps listed here are built off of Beer Mapping’s Application Programming Interface (API). This means that if you decide to purchase one of these apps, you are giving money to the third party developer and your money is not going to Beer Mapping. These developers spent time creating these apps and in most cases the applications are priced at an extremely reasonable fee.
Beer Mapping and Hop Cast have joined forces to present this awesome event at Small Bar Fullerton. There will be barrels of rare beer poured as well as a couple of firkins sitting on the bar. Our goal was to get local breweries to bring us something that is rarely seen on tap.
We hope to see you there! Wear your Beer Mapping t-shirt (or make you own!) and we’ll buy you a pint!
Ok, we’ve been showing up on Google search results for locations and other things for a while now. That isn’t big news. We’ve been the top result for US Breweries since sometime in 2006. Cool, but not really that helpful for bringing new eyes to the site.
Well, the big news today is that we now appear to be showing up in the “reviews” section for some beer locations when people are searching Google Maps. In our opinion, this is a pretty big deal.
As you can see from the image above (click image to see live google result page), they are pulling contents from one of our reviews for the location and displaying it for people searching for that location. We’re sharing this honor with other sites like Citysearch, Metromix, Urbanspoon, Insiderpages and Google’s own in house review system.
We’re excited about this and will probably be searching google all day looking for new examples! Please let us know in the comments if you find any!
We’re currently suffering from some site redirect issues due to server errors.
We are working on the problems and we hope to have the server back up and running the way it is supposed to very soon. Many links on the site will not work, the forums seem to be cooperating properly, but Location Lookup and many other important functions are broken at this time.
Beer Mapping member SiB57 has created an iPhone application that will help you Find Craft Beer.
Check out the official site for the Find Craft Beer application at findcraftbeer.com
This application uses the Beer Mapping API to find Breweries, Brewpubs, Beer Bars, Stores or Homebrew Shops near your current location. The app displays review scores from Beer Mapping and includes links to the mobile version of our site, in case you wish to read more reviews for a specific location. Click the image below to see more screenshots of the application in action.
The Find Craft Beer application will also enable you to use a city or zip code as the starting point for a search, using options to narrow down results by location type.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label - $200 bottle of Scotch, this was an awesome night where we drank everytime someone said a curse word in the movies we were watching. At the heart of Blue Label™ is Royal Lochnagar™ a rare malt distilled near Balmoral, the Queen's holiday home. Around 15 other mature and precious whiskies are added to balance Blue Label™ perfectly - 'a blend that cannot be beat' (Alexander Walker, 1888).
Pierre Ferrand Excellence 1971 - $300 bottle of Cognac, This was my favorite bottle so far. This special Grande Champagne cognacs are bottled in a replica of the bottle used by Cognac Ferrand in 1900. The heavy glass bottle with a deep punt is etched with the words “Cognac Pierre Ferrand” and “Memoire”. A hand-written parchment label shows the vintage. Each small lot has been certified by a Huissier de Justice, the most respected level of authentication under French law. Each bottle is numbered and signed by the cellarmaster and comes in a dark mahogany box adorned with an etched brass plate. A certificate of authenticity accompanies each bottle.
Cragganmore 12 - "One of Speyside's greats. Elegant and austere. Gradually, almost reluctantly, reveals itself. The most fragrant of whiskies: delicate, herbal, flowery. A palate blossoming with flavours, and a long, lingering, finish." Michael Jackson, whisky writer and expert.
2008 scandalz.net
It is generally agreed that "Hello" is an appropriate greeting because
if you entered a room and said "Goodbye," it could confuse a lot of
people.
-- Dolph Sharp, "I'm O.K., You're Not So Hot"
Further to my 
All applications are developed by third party developers and the apps listed here are built off of Beer Mapping’s Application Programming Interface (API). This means that if you decide to purchase one of these apps, you are giving money to the third party developer and your money is not going to Beer Mapping. These developers spent time creating these apps and in most cases the applications are priced at an extremely reasonable fee.
