Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

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Shakespeare’s Local


How does this sound for beer and history. (Two great topics to me)….
“Welcome to the George Inn near London Bridge; a cosy, wood-pannelled, galleried coaching house a few minutes’ walk from the Thames. Grab yourself a pint, listen to the chatter of the locals and consider this: who else has made this their local over the last 600 years? Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims almost certainly drank in the George on their way out of London to Canterbury. Shakespeare may well have popped in from the nearby Globe for a pint, and we know that Dickens definitely did. Mail carriers changed their horses here, before heading to all four corners of Britain — while sailors drank here before visiting all four corners of the world… The pub, as Pete Brown points out, is the ‘primordial cell of British life’ and in the George he has found the perfect case study. All life is here, from murderers, highwaymen and ladies of the night to gossiping pedlars and hard-working clerks. So sit back and watch as buildings rise and fall over the centuries, and ‘the beer drinker’s Bill Bryson’ (TLS) takes us on an entertaining tour through six centuries of history, through the stories of everyone that ever drank in one pub.”

Click HERE to learn even more about the pints that flowed at the George

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Coast to Coast

“The giant exravaganza called the Coast to Coast Toast, is taking place, tomorrow on November 15, 2012. It’s the largest single one day celebration of Belgian beer culture in the United States.”

Check out their this page to see what California spots are hosting a night and take part in the online and in glass festivities with your favorite Belgian beer or a new Belgian beer. Personally, Saison Dupont would be my choice. Then head to Untappd and get a badge for toasting too!

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Okto-Milkshake

I read the following press release with a bit of trepidation….

“As Oktoberfest celebrations come to a head this fall, Red Robin’s new shake will leave beer enthusiasts and dessert-lovers alike craving a cold one—a cold beer milkshake, that is! Now through Nov. 11 (or until supplies last), Red Robin is featuring the Samuel Adams® Octoberfest Milkshake – a unique 21 and over milkshake made with creamy soft serve ice cream, Samuel Adams® Octoberfest draft, vanilla and caramel. A sip of this one-of-a-kind shake will rouse a round of toasts and solve one epic food dilemma, right up there with coffee or tea, onion rings or French fries, and soup or salad. The Octoberfest Milkshake offers a sweet solution – a milkshake and beer – in, one satisfying drink.”

Now this sprung from the mind of the Master Mixologist at Red Robin. A position that I did not know existed. To be honest, I know of only a couple of locations where Red Robin’s are currently and neither are stops on my beer journey’s. It might be good but I would only want a small taster at first before I ponied up any money for it.

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the new Firestone-Walker Brewhouse


I recently got a press release from Firestone Walker Brewing Company that “announced that it has begun brewing beer at its new state-of-the-art brewhouse at the brewery in Paso Robles on California’s Central Coast.”

Here are the nuggets that I think are most pertinent to us beer geeks…..

“The brewhouse occupies a new three-story tower that has been integrated into the front of the brewery building. The tower now serves as the brewery’s primary visual icon and features broad glass walls on two sides of the second story, providing a permanent window into the brewing process.”

“The brewhouse was installed with extensive custom features made to meet Brynildson’s vision for maximizing beer quality, including his personal modifications for milling, hop dosing, and kettle efficiency. The new brewhouse equipment allows Brynildson the ultimate flexibility for making every beer style imaginable. “By the time we got done with it, it essentially became a full-blown custom hot rod brewhouse,” Brynildson said.”

“The new brewhouse tower was designed by local architect Val Milosevic and incorporates design features that honor two iconic structures in the Paso Robles region—the Farmer’s Alliance building in Paso Robles, and the Templeton Feed & Grain building in the nearby hamlet of Templeton. Both of these buildings are visible testaments to the region’s rich agricultural heritage, and Firestone Walker Brewing Company was inspired to reflect this heritage in the design of its new brewhouse tower.”

“The brewhouse is adjacent to the brewery’s new visitor center, which features viewing windows into the hop storage room and the brewhouse control room, as well as a tasting bar and retail shop.”

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The World Atlas of Beer

It is time to get back to the beer bookshelf and review another book about our favorite topic.

The World Atlas of Beer by Time Webb and Stephen Beaumont is a goodly sized coffee table book. But even the biggest book could not cover all of the current brewing world. And right up front both authors acknowledge that cover the world required pruning and that a brewery being mentioned once only was no slight. They were looking to showcase “above-average examples of a particular statement.” While also trotting around the globe and highlighting particular regional styles.

But the beer choices they did make are the strength of this book. They have unearthed gems and new breweries that I had never heard of before. Beer 33 from U Medvidku in Prague or XXX from Three Tuns in Shropshire, England. (I would have liked to see one of my locals get included, but it was not to be) I would suggest going through the book reading the beer choices first and then going back to read about the geographic locale and the style second.

The information presented is really solid and presented with a clear eye. No unwarranted rah-rah boosterism on these pages. Another strong suit of the book was inclusion of topics like “how to pour beer” and “buying beer” that I had not seen covered as well as in these pages. Yes, there was the obligatory history and process of brewing that could have been left out but it understand that it seems every book must have that.

The layout and some of the photographs though leave something to be desired. I would have bundled all of the beer choices together on a page and not as a scroll at the bottom like ESPN with sports scores. And some of the photos, especially the dual page spreads had nothing to do with beer or weren’t advancing the story at all. I am looking at a two page night time cityscape on pages 194-5. Is there a brewery there? Why spend the ink on a generic photo. I would swap out every two page photo for a snapshot of a brewer or the front of an iconic brewery building, or better yet, have included more beer choices!.

But those pages are easily skipped over and you can instead focus on beers like a Pale ale from Cerveza Zeppelin.

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I can Pickle That!


This was not inspired by the Portlandia episode. It was only inspired by one of those peanut butter & chocolate moments when Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head was pairing his iconic 60 Minute IPA with an artisan pickle from Brooklyn Brine. One call later and …. “a first-of-its-kind culinary leap of taste: the Hop-Pickle.The all-natural, earthy Hop-Pickle is made with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, caramelized onions and Cascade hops and is packaged by hand in Brooklyn Brine’s small artisanal kitchen.”

You can also partake of whiskey or bourbon pickles too! But you may need a NY hook-up. The Brine’s operations don’t include the West Coast yet.

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Hop in the Saddle


You only have to follow this blog for a short time to know that I am a huge fan of the combo of craft beer projects and Kickstarter.

And now I have another one that could use a shot of adrenaline (and cash) to get over the finish line. Hop in the Saddle mixes Portland’s beer scene with it’s bike scene to create a unique guide to peddling to your next pint. So head HERE to see the video and donate. They only have 2 weeks to go!

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Limited Release


A new beer show has arrived on Vimeo, it is called Limited Release. And it chronicles the craziness and passion of those highly sought after beers. They start with Kate the Great (which may be slightly less hyped since the head Portsmouth brewer has now left), they move on to Dark Lord and then to one closer to home, Black Tuesday.

They videos are a fun which I wasn’t expecting since I am not a big fan of these hyper hyped brews when there are so many other great beers out there. Nice chunks of history of the style of beer and the brewery. Check them out. It is much better than some of the new shows that will be airing later this year. Plus now you don’t have to brave the crowds.

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FoodGPS Teaser – Ohana interview & more

Ohana Brewing is featured tomorrow in my weekly column over on FoodGPS. I e-mailed some questions over to the crew that are working hard to get some Ohana beer into our pint glasses. Some of which you can see on their blog post HERE.

You will also see a lemony beer of the week from a certain brewery in Escondido and your homework will involve logging into the interwebs and reading about what Girls Who Like Beer

andThe Beerista

have to say about craft beer.

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Define Beer for the State of California

Here in the state of California on the political craft beer front comes this piece of news….

“Before the Governor for action, A.B. 1812 seeks to clarify that beer aged in empty wooden barrels previously used to contain wine or distilled spirits will continue to be defined as “beer” in order to protect the existing regulatory and licensure structure in California. The California Craft Brewers Association, the sponsor of this bill, sought this clarification due to concerns that current law creates ambiguity on how wooden barrel-aged craft beers are defined and categorized for purposes of regulation, distribution, retail sales and taxation.”

Seems obvious to me and many other craft beer geeks but you know politicians, they would have trouble finding a piece of their anatomy with two hands and a flashlight (one of my dad’s favorite political jokes). But seriously, there are so many tiny underwritten sections to state laws regarding beer that it can be frustrating that a little common sense can’t be applied and either have a fast track for fixing things or a way to just ignore it and not enforce it. Thankfully Governor Brown signed this so now we can move on to more legal tweaks to the twisted mess of beer laws in this country.