Two of these breweries…

…are not like the others. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is problem in beer land.
wsj
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.

Drinking with George

One of your New Year resolutions should be to read more beer books. There are a plethora out there. Tasting Beer, The Naked Pint or anything by Pete Brown. And here is another to pick up…
George-Wendt-Book-Cover-194x300
…it is certainly on my list.

Brought to you by the # 5

Recently added to the “About” page (just below my smiling face drinking beer in France) are…

My Top 5 Favorite Beers
My 5 Most Desired Beers
My 5 Top Breweries

As usual, I shamelessly welcome any comments or discussion regarding these choices. And they will be updated as I get my hands on more beer. So just go look already.

Who’s with me?

As I was browsing through the interwebs, I saw this posting.
I know there are food blogger conferences out there so beer really should have it’s own too. Portland aka Beervana has been floated as a possible location and as much as I love that idea, I would like to see it in a city that needs to be written about or has a craft beer culture that is at the tipping point. Florida or Michigan would fit that bill in my mind. I will post any updates that occur.

news from Mikkeller

While the beer geeks were slobbering over the news of a 1K IBU beer coming in February, I was more interested in two other notes…

# 1
“2009 was also the year where Mikkeller got his line of Single Hop on the move. After the first single hop, Simcoe, more followed, and last month came Tomahawk and Amarillo which was the 6th. and 7th. Early next year, 2010, an additional three new single hop beers will hit the market and at the same time new batches of the previous 7. This way you will be able to visit your local beer-pusher and buy 10 different Single Hops at the same time. With 10 different Single Hops in the fridge, all you need is a bag of peanuts to save the evening.”
I love the Mikkeller Single Hops and the fact that more are coming is beyond awesome.

# 2
“Mikkeller has planed more travels abroad in 2010. One of these travels will go to Greece to brew a beer with the greek micro-brewery Craft. And a couple of journeys to the US can not be excluded. Whether this will result in yet a new beer brewed with Three Floyds, or Mikkeller will brew with a different brewery is to early to say. Another cooperation with a European brewery is in the plan for 2010 also.”

3 Floyds + Mikkeller. That will be a beer to hoard for sure.

New School Brew Blog

Due to my being born and raised just south of Portland, I follow the craft beer scene from afar and try to get to events and new breweries as time and money permit. The next best thing is reading about what is happening. And here is another voice that you might enjoy reading…
new school

You can check out the latest posts HERE

Decade Defining beers

Another atypical blog is Joe Sixpack from Philadelphia, here is how he starts a recent post that caught my eye…
“THIS TIME OF the year, everybody does a Top 10 List. But I consume beer by the sixpack, so that’s what you’re getting today: The 6 Beers That Defined the Decade.
These aren’t necessarily my favorites. (Heck, I can’t even pick my favorite from last night.) But they are beers that set the pace in the American beer scene in the ’00s.”

Check out his selection HERE

Randy Clemens

The sharp eyed among you may have noticed another favorite link over their in the right sidebar.

It is for a Randy Clemens who has some great thoughts on beer and wine and food that you can read on his SITE or in various food magazines like Imbibe and Beer Advocate. I always learn something after reading one of his pieces.

The Session # 35

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Here is the question for Session # 35 hosted by the beer savvy Naked Pint authors, Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune, New Beer’s Resolutions.

“So we want to know what was your best and worst of beer for 2009? What beer mistakes did you make? What beer resolutions do you have for 2010? What are your beer regrets and embarrassing moments? What are you hoping to change about your beer experience in 2010?”

Here is my addition….
Best Beer of 2009 – Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin. It had a wonderful grape flavor that matched beautifully with the slight bitterness. Great cereal taste and all well balanced.
Worst Beer of 2009 – Budweiser American Ale. This was an amber that had been severely watered down. Almost as if they tasted it and thought it was too strong and just started dumping buckets of water into it.
2009 Beer Mistake – Tasting Utopias from Sam Adams at the Denver Rare Beer Event halfway through. Everything else that day tasted of bourbon and alcohol.
2010 Beer Resolution – To taste a beer from each and every state in the United States. I certainly hope there are beers from each 50 then I have to somehow get my hands on them.
2009 Beer Regrets – I regret each time someone offers me a taste of their beer and I said no, just because I either had a beer from that brewery that I didn’t enjoy or because it was an imperial aged monster. I need to continue to be more receptive to all kinds of beer.

2010 will be the year that I stop and enjoy each beer and give it it’s time in the sun.