Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

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Session # 38 – Announcement

This April, the Beer Search Party has the privilege of hosting Session # 38.

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With Kate the Great Day a recent memory and the day of the Dark Lord fast approaching, I started thinking about what beer or beers that I would get up at 4:00 in the morning, drive across state lines, stand in a long unmoving line in the cold and rain for the chance to taste with a crowd the size of Woodstock.

So here is my question to you (with a couple addendums).

What beer have you tasted recently (say, the last six months or so) that is worthy of their own day in the media sun?

And to add a little extra to it, how does “great” expectations affect your beer drinking enjoyment?

AND If you have attended one of these release parties, stories and anecdotes of your experience will be welcomed too.

To join in:
1) Publish your blog post by Friday, April 2, 2010.
2) Leave a link to your blog in the comment section of this post or put your response in the comment section or email me your link to beersearchparty@gmail.com.
3)On Monday, I will post a round-up with comments and links to all entries.

Thanks to Stan and Jay for giving me the opportunity to host.

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Masters Degree in hoppiness

From the Oregonian and a Portland Business Journal article:

“A new aroma hop breeding program will be created in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

A gift pledge of $807,000 from Indie Hops, a Portland-based hop
merchant, will support the new program, which will be led by Shaun
Townsend, a research associate and hop breeding specialist at OSU.

Indie Hops already has provided $200,000 to OSU’s Thomas Shellhammer, holder of the Nor’Wester Professorship in Fermentation Science, to foster research in new techniques for developing aroma hops and to study aroma hop chemistry. The new hop breeding program will work closely with Shellhammer’s lab to study hop essential oil composition and how individual oil components impart the characteristic flavor and aroma to beer.”
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This means in a few years we might get the next Citra or Nelson hops. IPA’s will not be the same.

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Fermenting Revolution

A new beer book! I am going to need a bigger bookcase if this pace continues.
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Saving the World with Beer – Chris O’Brien is a beer activist. He advocates the craft beer movement, which he argues is better for the environment and the community.

(Thanks to Good Food from KCRW for bringing this to my attention!)

You can get the book from Amazon.com HERE

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The Beer Trials

Here (might) come trouble. You may have heard about a book called the Wine Trials that come out a year or so ago. Robin Goldstein really took wine snobbery to task and in the effort ticked some vino people off.
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It looks like he now has beer snobs in his sights…”From the author of The Wine Trials comes the first beer guide ever to be based on blind tastings. With brutally honest ratings and reviews of the 250 most popular beers in the world both in bottle and on draft. The Beer Trials will challenge some of our most basic assumptions about beer.”

Mr. Goldstein may not be known to the beer world but he reviews food and spirits, so he is no novice. My sincere hope is that his book aims to cut some of the hype down and not just bring beer down a peg.

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new beer magazine…

…I can’t get enough of them. There is such a large world of beer that I need all the content that I can get my hands on. Into the void comes, Beer Connoisseur magazine.
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Beer reviews. Great contributors like Stephen Beaumont and Carolyn Smagalski. But most importantly good content!

Support great beer writing! It pairs well with any style of beer.

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HopCast

As you have noticed from my video reviews, I am not a big fan of the straight one shot pointing at a guy drinking beer. Hence, you can only hear me in my spontaneous reviews.

Every rule has exceptions and one I make is for HopCast. They mix it up with interviews, beers of the month and profiles of home brewers.

They have been duly added to my favored links.
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Beer + Chocolate =

from Wisconsin (home of a great beer scene) comes two great tastes that taste great together…
“We’re sure you’ve heard of pairing wine and chocolate, but did you know that chocolate and beer work well together? Introducing Great Dane Beer Chocolates, handcrafted exclusively for The Great Dane Pub and Brewing Company by David Bacco Chocolats. These amazing creations are made with Great Dane brews and each chocolate complements the flavors of a distinctive Great Dane beer. Four chocolates are available including Black Earth Porter, Crop Circle Wheat, Stone of Scone Scotch Ale and Tri-Pepper Pilsner.
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4-piece box (one of each flavor) $10
8-piece box (two of each flavor) $18

You can also experience these chocolates with the beers that inspired them! Great Dane Beer Chocolates are available in the bar or restaurant of the Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company’s locations in downtown Madison, Fitchburg and at the Hilldale shopping center. When you dine in, each chocolate is served with a four-ounce sample of the paired beer. Order individually – or as a delicious dessert flight of four chocolates and beers!”

Valentine’s Day is 2 weeks away. Order up!

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Two of these breweries…

…are not like the others. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is problem in beer land.
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But after looking at the graph and then reading this…
“Domestic beer brands need to reinvent themselves and get that appeal back,” said Ron Vaughn, co-owner of Argonaut Wine & Liquor, a Denver liquor superstore. He said his beer sales rose by 2% last year, helped by strong sales of “craft” brews popular in Colorado, but mass-market brands such as Miller Lite “have taken a hit.”

It appears that crap beer is losing ground and craft beer is rising.