It looks like one of the beer trends to have legs is the Beer cocktail. And one way it will stay in the forefront is with the new….
You can check out recipes and the people behind the website HERE. And I would suggest starting with the Beer-mosa and working up from there.
Session # 59
The first session of 2012 comes from Mario over at Brewed for Thought…..
“So as we are all incredibly interesting people, and almost always drink beer, let’s talk about what we drink when not drinking beer. Maybe your passion for coffee rivals that of craft beer, or it could be another alcoholic beverage such as scotch. My daughter being a root beer fan would appreciate her dad reviewing a few fizzy sodas. Maybe you have a drink that takes the edge off the beer, be it hair of the dog or a palate cleanser during the evening.
Beer cocktails, wines, ciders, meads, you name it as long as it’s not beer. Try to tie it in with craft beer in some way for extra credit. Be creative and I’ll see you guys in the new year.”
I must admit that I am just a dabbler, pinkie toe in the cold water type of guy when it comes to other beverages.
I can tell you that Dr. Pepper made with actual sugar is unarguably better than the mass produced stuff. I often enjoy coffee from the folks at Intelligentsia on lazy weekends. And my extremely tiny liquor cabinet is primarily populated by smaller batch distillers.
But beyond that? Well, I just don’t know that much. And it is because my passion is not there. And/Or, I just don’t have the cranial capacity to hold The Oxford Companion to Wine and the Companion to Beer in my head at once.
With the preamble now out of the way, there is one tipple that even though I am not a beverage multi-tasker, I enjoy most often when craft beer is off the table. A simple gin and tonic. Compared to my favorite brew, I feel freer when drinking a gin and tonic because I don’t have to analyze and then over analyze each little sip. I can simply enjoy the subtlety of the gin and the fizz of the tonic at the roof of my mouth.
And there are some tremendous gins out there from Junipero from Anchor or Hendricks that lightly trip across the tongue. And maybe it is that effervescence and complete lack of beer-i-ness that keeps me coming back. Or maybe it was instilled in me by my father and our trips to the bar at the Empress Hotel in Victoria B.C. Whatever synapse fires when I order one is darn close to the one that goes when I select a beer. Just writing about it is making me wonder if I have any tonic at home to go with my Aviation “eau de vie de Genievre”.
Now let me get back to my GinAdvocate magazine and rating the latest on RateGin.com.
American Beer Blogger
When I saw this come through the beer blogosphere, my first thought was about damn time. Blogging in general is somewhat sneered upon and beer bloggers get a share of that disdain too. But this might actually get people to see at least one of us in all three dimensions and humanize the lot of us a little. So if the video moves you, then head to Kickstarter and donate a dead president or two.
“AMERICAN BEER BLOGGER is a half hour television series dedicated to all facets of the ever growing craft beer market. From home brewing, to micro beer; viewers will experience the very best of the craft beer culture. In each episode, Lew will visit a different brewer, each of which has their own sets of quirks and ways of doing things. Lew will talk to these brewers, get to know them, will show us first hand the various methods and techniques used in creating a craft beer. From the tiniest bottler to the largest manufacturer, Lew
will get his hands dirty. Topics such as bottling, food pairing, manufacturing, distribution, history, technique (and so much more) will all be touched upon
AMERICAN BEER BLOGGER sets out to entertain the viewer as well as educate on this rapidly growing industry. Through humor and a charming, hands-on host, our show will not only be entertaining for the microbeer enthusiast, but also enjoyable for the average viewer as well.”
Session # 58
This month is hosted by Phil Hardy at the Beersay blog.
“The idea for me was based loosely around the visits of three ghosts to Ebenezer Scrooge, but relayed in a post about the beers of Christmas past, present and future.
What did you drink during Christmas holidays of old, have you plans for anything exciting this year and is there something you’d really like to do one day, perhaps when the kids have flown the nest?
Do you have your own interpretation, was Scrooge perhaps a beer geek?
Or maybe it’s all one day. What will you drink Christmas morning, Christmas afternoon and what will you top off the holiday with that evening?
Just a few examples there, but the idea was to keep the topic as open as possible to allow you free rein to write about a subject with a seasonal twist in whatever way the title grabs you.”
I was a bit stymied by this topic which is to be expected since Los Angeles is not known for needing wintry beers. For some reason the winter warmer tastes a bit better when there is a chill in the air. But then the fine folks behind the colLAboration beer gardens announced their winter beer garden at the new Golden Road brewery and a festivus of an idea popped into my head.
Every year I plan on going to the Holiday Ale Festival in Portland and every year, I miss out for one reason or another. But if the Ghost of Christmas Beers Past could grant me a wish, I would love to go back to last year’s festival and try the Cascade sours, the bourbon barrel ales and after enjoying Sleigh’r and Imperiale from Ninkasi Brewing, I really would like to have tried their Unconventional Imperial Stout with Lavendar , Taragon, and Heather.
The Ghost of Christmas Beer Present will not stop me from heading to Golden Road Brewing tomorrow. They will be debuting their next two brews at the latest colLAboration. They are “Brewer’s Choice” beers, which were “developed collectively by the entire GRB brewing team, are perfect for the holidays and an amazing follow up to the limited edition (and nearly gone!) Burning Bush IPA.”
My glass will be filled with Rye on the Palate and Shwartz Stout. And then I will buy more of the new Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale which is perfect for us in L.A. since it is a light, fruity IPA. Perfect for the typical warm days we have this time of year.
In the future, I hope to have my own December Ale festival. Hopefully, the Ghost of Christmas Beer Future will be able to help me think of a catchy name first. Because, I would love to have vertical tastings of Bruery “Days of Christmas” beers, Jubelale from Deschutes and maybe even Jubilee from my local, Eagle Rock Brewing.
Maybe I will start this year. From acorns do mighty oaks grow. I have some Anchor from ’08 down in the cellar somewhere.
Beer Trips.com
I find October/November before Thanksgiving to be the perfect time to travel. The crowds have thinned. Kids are usually in school. The prices are a bit cheaper too. So around this time, I usually get the hankering to hit the road.
And when I heard about Beer Trips on Lisa Morrison’s Beer O’Clock show, I really wanted to hop on a plane and visit a brewery in the old country without having to do the planning myself.
You can go to London, Prague, Bamberg or even Northern Italy for a tour. And they seem to be worth the money and they certainly have good recommendations from the press.
read this beer blog
Each month I highlight a different beer blog for you to check out and this month it is….(insert drum roll)
….the Not So Professional Beer Blog.
It’s a great place to catch up on Portland, Oregon beers but also just read up on some really great beers.
Session # 56
Here is the topic for this month…from Tale of the Ale
Thanks to the big boys
“What I ‘m looking for is this. Most of us that write about beer do so with the small independent brewery in mind. Often it is along the lines of Micro brew = Good and Macro brew, anything brewed by the large multinationals is evil and should be destroyed. Well I don’t agree with that, though there may be some that are a little evil….
Anyway I want people to pick a large brewery or corporation that owns a lot of breweries. There are many to chose from. Give thanks to them for something they have done. Maybe they produce a beer you do actually like. Maybe they do great things for the cause of beer in general even if their beer is bland and tasteless but enjoyed by millions every day.
If you honestly have nothing good to say about a large brewer, then make something up. Some satire might be nice, It will be a Friday after all.
So remember, October 7th is a celebration of our big mega breweries for the work that they do.”
After reading the assignment, a song lyric (probably mis-remembered) popped into my head. “..what are they good for, absolutely nothing”. Then of course, “Say it again”.
Now on this very blog, I told people not to be scared of Goose Island being sold. I have defended the Quality Control of the watered down lager that the mega-corporations shill. And yes, the BMC do donate scads of money to charity.
But to me, the “big boys” are not part of the brewing community that I know. They are a large amorphous blob that could be in any industry. They could be making fire alarms or fig newtons. They long ago gave up crafting beer and now produce an industrial product.
So I might as well, say nice things about Wal-Mart or ConAgra or Bank of America in this session. They are as much “beer” as ABInBev or MillerCoors. Or I could talk about brewing’s actual big companies like Stone or Sierra Nevada.
But the spirit of the topic is to play nice, so I say this to all the Omnicorp’s and MegaBig Companies of the world who cater to the lowest common denominator, “Thanks for not caring. Thanks for creating such a huge market for quality. Thanks for not responding to shifts in consumer taste by making something even remotely good. And to the BMC specifically, keep making your funny little commercials instead of beer.”
another beer blog to read
I heard about Pints and Panels at the Beer Bloggers Conference in August and knew that I would have to feature them in my monthly beer blog pick.
It is one of the best review sites not only because of the comic format but the reviews are quick and to the point and with each one you get to know what M. likes and why.
I also love this quote on her about page “Beer is like music — it is infinite. That’s what I like about this gig — it’s never done.”
Beer Bloggers Conference – The Photos
Get comfortable. I tried to edit but there are still loads of photos to see…So let’s get started….
Beer Bloggers Conference – Wrap Up
It has now been a few days since I got back from Portland and the Beer Bloggers conference. I lingered for an extra day and a half to sample some more beer. As if I hadn’t in the previous three days!
I got to make my premiere visit to Burnside Brewing and try the Sweet Heat Apricot/Scotch Bonnet pepper beer. Snuck in a couple small sized beers at Bailey’s Taproom as well as Hooligan Brown from Laurelwood at the airport.
But now onto the better worded version of events last weekend. The initial day was probably the best. Fred Eckhardt is great. I can only hope A) to be his age and B) still be excited about craft beer and ready to re-tell stories that he has probably memorized by now. Then to follow that with a trip to an actual hop farm that was in the process of harvesting was great. Walking off the bus to that aroma was amazing. Brewery tours have their own special magic but this was double that. Watching the hops roast. Grabbing a few and smelling the aromas. I wanted to take a bucket full home or one of the big 200 pound bales.
The Night of Many Bottles was fun and not as frenzied as last year when I was trying to knock out some of the 50 States that I needed for last year’s challenge. I paced myself better and stopped earlier so the next day wasn’t a blur. Highlights included, the 1994 Rogue Old Crustacean barley wine, Double Mountain Dark Blood Kriek and Hedgreow Bitter from Pretty Things Ales.
Days 2 and 3 went by so fast. The content was fun with plenty of golden nuggets of information that I will hopefully put to use. The Speed Beer Dating featured my new favorite beer, Gin aged Double Wit from Breakside Brewery. Then close upon the heels of that revelation came the debut of the 2011 Jubel from Deschutes. The Bridgeport dinner was excellent even though the beers are not to my taste. I keep trying them but they just do not wow me.
The speakers this year were much more about engaging outside of your computer. Though I could appreciate some of the tech talk from last year, a representative from Raise Your Pints talking about beer laws and how he and his organization are changing them is so much more interesting to me.
The two down points for me were the movie, The Love of Beer which just didn’t flow for me and seemed to veer off course as to why women are important to craft beer. I loved see the women featured and there were some great scenes but I would have liked to seen a more grain to glass approach where women at all stages of the process would talk about what they personally bring to the job.
Secondly, I had hoped to see a bigger turnout considering what a great beer town Portland is. How does a blogger pass that up? This is a bargain conference. And I certainly got my money’s worth. But I wish more people will hop on the bandwagon next year. Seriously, if you are a blogger that didn’t go. Talk to me and tell me why.
The photos are coming soon!