Category: Beer Industry

my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.

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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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Hops not Hoops

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Attention Bracketologists! Get ready to hop it up on the way to IPA Final Four. If you love IPA’s like I do then this is a fun diversion to check on inbetween college basketball games. Check out the rules and how you can play along HERE

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Beer Church

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Beer Church Believes…

Beer Church believes that we beer lovers are part of one very large and diverse social group by virtue of our shared appreciation of beer. Beer Church also believes that beer lovers (and most people in general) want to make the world a better place. Our goal is to unite like-minded individuals with one simple mission­—make the world a better place one beer at a time.
What Beer Church Does…

To date, Beer Church has earned nearly $100,000 for charity. How? By drinking beer and having fun.

Our Web site provides entertainment and information for people who appreciate beer. It also provides us with a way to organize beer lovers and share our message with the world. We invite you to explore the site, learn more about Beer Church, and let us know what you think.

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Beer Book!

I love books as much as I love beer so when you combine the two you get, Awesome! So when I saw this on the Thank Heaven for Beer blog, I was very interested…

“The Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands is the brain child of Micheal S. Kuderka, whose purpose in creating this reference book was “to be the industry recognized resource for information on all domestic beer and brands…” And let me tell you, he is is doing a great job.

This book is exceedingly exhaustive, easy to navigate, full of helpful charts and figure, and just what it aims to be: a great resource. The book walks the beer business man and the simple beer geek, like myself, through the domestic beer world starting with and alphabetical listing of breweries, followed by pages of color and bitterness charts, beer style index, state availability, geographic brewery index, commentary, supply charts, and full brewery portfolios. I do feel that in further editions, the book will add to the content, but already it is brimming with necessary information.”

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Widmer Brothers + charity

from Draft Magazine.…

Expressions of brotherly love usually involve punching, wrestling, or some kind of potentially dangerous physical activity. Widmer Brothers Brewing Company is celebrating Brother’s Day (Tuesday, August 11) in a slightly more healthy way.

Their collection of sarcastic e-cards are a great way of conveying brotherly affection while helping a good cause. One dollar will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters for each card sent before August 11. Widmer Brothers has pledged to raise $10,000 in an effort to recruit more volunteer Big Brothers.

“Our effort to support Big Brothers Big Sisters is a personal commitment,” Kurt Widmer said. “We know firsthand the value of strong role models and of course, the importance of brotherhood.”

So before that friendly sibling boxing match results in a pleasant trip to the emergency room, send your bro an e-card. And help give community kids an opportunity to experience the joy that can only come from getting matching casts with their brother.

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Beer DVD reviews

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Today, I watched “Beer Wars” and “The American Brew” back to back. I think that they both have their strong points but American Brew wins my Beer Oscar.

The American Brew is way too short (in a good way) and I really enjoyed the clips left on the cutting room floor. It shows the basics of making beer along with a brief history of beer in America. And it has great commentators including Daniel Okrent, Charlie Papazian, Fritz Maytag and Dick Cantwell among others. It has a specific aim and it hits it straight on. Since, I love educating people about beer and its turbulent history in America, this is a great tool to use.

Beer Wars on the other hand has a major beer flaw in it, though it is not a dramatic flaw. The focus is on Sam Calagione from the wonderful Dogfish Head and on the creator of Moonshot Caffeine Beer and Edison Light, Rhonda Kallman. To a lesser extent it is a screed against the three-tiered distribution system and the dominance of ABINBEV / SABMILLERCOORS.

Both Sam and Rhonda have wonderful entrepreneurial spirit. But Sam understands that he is a brewer first and second and third and a salesman fourth. Rhonda is all sales all the time and that hurts her. She becomes a product not a craft. I totally understand why the beer community is so mixed on this movie. On one hand it celebrates creative beer and then extols the wonders of marketed beer. It is good drama but not good beer.

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It could be worse…

…whenever you have had a bad beer or the barkeep is having a bad attitude day. Remember that it could be worse. You could be drinking….
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Clear Beer. That’s right. The most unholy of abominations. The forerunner to Zima and all things bad about corporate beer.