Just received this book from Amazon Canada…..
I will have a review when I have finished it. Sounds like a great history of the IPA.
LA Beer Week – Suggestions
As you may have noticed, I really enjoyed LA Beer Week. Great events all over the southland with something for everyone.
But here are my humble suggestions for next years celebration of all things craft beer.
1. Signs – I think that each venue that is hosting an event should have a big LA Beer Week sign with a listing of what is happening at that particular venue and it should be put up a couple weeks before the start. There should also be a large banner for the kick-off that could be used for the big festival at the end of the week. It would be much better than a hastily made sign with arrows on it. It also gives a more professional gloss to each event and might bring in some foot traffic as well.
2. more beer premiere’s – As I was scanning the beer blogosphere, some events seemed to be commented on a bit. But what really got the beer geeks tails wagging was the release of Black Xantus. I would ask a couple brewers if they have any seasonal or special release beers that they could “hold” until LA Beer Week. I also think it would be worth exploring having a collaborative LA Beer Week beer. Maybe something called SigAlert or something catchier. Would be a great way to get some publicity. You might even get it into the LA Times Food section the week before.
3. Beer maps – It would be great to have a PDF on the website that showed all the participating bars and breweries. It could even be on a coaster. Also the final event could have used a “you are here” type of map as well.
4. Media Beer and dinner pairing – Again, all about publicizing what is going on here. It doesn’t have to be fancy but you could invite people as far ranging as humble bloggers like myself (hint-hint) to Jonathan Gold at the Weekly, the Good Food people at KCRW.
All nitpicky things. But I think it might increase participation and reduce questions and maybe problems.
Fresh Hop article
It has been posted already but I wanted to make sure this nice little article got some more air time because it is a great example of how craft beer is much more in touch with its ingredients and suppliers.
Click HERE to read it.
Beer and Haute Cuisine
I was reading the NY Times when I ran across the restaurant review for….
DBGB Kitchen and Bar
★★
Food looks good, exotic and pricey but what caught my eye was the wine recommendation. Scroll down to see for yourself.
299 Bowery (Houston Street),
East Village; (212) 933-5300.
ATMOSPHERE An open, vaguely industrial space combines the elegance of polished concrete, large mirrors and soft leather booths with the simple beauty of stacked boxes of restaurant supplies.
SOUND LEVEL Given all the stone and wire and glass, lower than you’d think.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Appetizers: blood sausage; crispy tripe; veal tongues; iceberg salad; matzo-ball soup; more sausages. Main courses: Arctic char; lamb duo; more sausages.
WINE LIST Totally acceptable selection, but much better to experiment among the 23 beers on tap and large selection of bottled beers that have traveled here from Britain, from Brooklyn, from Germany, from France.
Looks like beer is being mentioned as a better pairing.
My Perfect Bottle Shop
PART 1 – The Layout
As you can see, a few round tables in front. A standing bar in the middle. Two refridgerated cases. One for seasonals and new releases and one for main inventory stock. There would also be a sales island and an un-cooled section for barleywines and aging beers.
PART 2 – The beer
I would start with (3) taps with a goal of (5). One tap dedicated to a very local beer. In my case, Eagle Rock Brewery. Then there would be a couple of California beers, a foreign beer and a tap from somewhere else in the country that would rotate from Oregon to Florida to Washington state. The seasonal storage would change with the weather (dunkels and alts would be in that case now) and as new releases become available they would start their retail life there and if they sell well, I would add them to the main inventory in the back of the room. I would also sell 3 and 6 packs of mixed 12oz bottles to encourage tasting. I would focus on getting small breweries into the store. Places like Skyscraper and Upright. I would also like to place special orders as well if I could get enough good distribution contacts.
PART 3 – Events
There would be themed tastings every other month much like the quarterly tastings I currently do at my apartment. Canned beer, Christmas beer, beer and desserts and so on.
Also I would have a review program tied into my website. When you buy a pint, you get a review sheet. I make a copy of your review when you are finished and when you have reached 10 reviews, you get to choose a beer from the store for you and the room to try. The reviews will get posted on the store website. I would also like to be the host for charity events in the months where there is not tasting event scheduled.
So that is my dream. One day it will happen and I hope to see you all there.
Over 100 beers rated!
One of the great beer websites is RateBeer.com. And yours truly has visited often because now I have over 100 reviews!
If you are ready to take the next step into beer geekery. Start reviewing beers. It’s fun and easy and a great way to learn about how to judge and compare beers.
Happy Anniversary
Today is my 10th Wedding Anniversary!! In honor of that momentous occasion, here is a list of 10 beers and breweries to mark each passing milestone.
1st – Papier from The Bruery
2nd – 2 Degrees Below from New Belgium
3rd – 3 Floyds Brewing
4th – #4 from Upright Brewing
5th – 5 Apostles Saison from Devil’s Backbone Brewing
6th – Six Points Brewing
7th – 7 Seas Brewing
8th – Vertical Epic 8-8-07 from Stone Brewing
9th – # 9 from Magic Hat Brewing
10th – Tenth Anniversary Ale from Allagash
Marketing + beer = nothing good
I see this ad and I feel bad for the people who think this is fun or cool. I don’t mean to be a spoilsport but these beers were good back in the day. Now they are just labels with basically the same beer inside. If you like the light lager then go for it. I just don’t like it when people use nostalgia to foist inferior beer onto the public.
1,525 and counting
According to the Brewers Association…
“At a time when many of the giant beer brands are declining, small and independent craft brewers are organically growing their share and slowly gaining shelf and restaurant menu space one glass of craft beer at a time.”
Funny beer news to start your week
from the Associated Press…
Heineken cracks down on tiny Swiss “Keineken”
AMSTERDAM — Swiss police have seized 1,000 bottles of locally made “Keineken” beer after the Dutch beer giant Heineken NV complained its brand was being infringed.
The name “Keineken” appears to be a pun in German meaning “No Heineken.”
Heineken spokesman Jeroen Breuer said Tuesday a judge in the Swiss canton of Obwalden ordered police to seize the brew after agreeing Keineken infringed the Heineken brand.
Breuer said Heineken doesn’t consider the size of its opponents when its brand is being misused.
“Whether the name is a joke or a way of getting publicity — those are questions for them to answer,” he said.
A note on Keineken’s Web site complains that foreign companies have “swallowed” all Switzerland’s independent brewers.
“Our name says it all: Keineken.”