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Lip Stinger

MacTarnahan’s Lip Stinger Farmhouse Ale with peppercorn is now on shelves for the late summer and fall season. It’s the first in a series of specialty 22-ounce-only offerings form MacTarnahan’s, which plans to bottle just 3000 cases. Lip Stinger is an effervescent and rustic farmhouse ale that brewers add a cracked peppercorn blend during fermentation to introduce a spicy nose and warming mouth feel.
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(2) Exciting bits of Blog news

I know that blogs are the home of the wacky ideas and chronicles of weird adventures. Well, I am hopping into the pool as well. Inspired in part by the Julie and Julia movie that recently opened, I will be pulling my own beer stunts.

First, the day after Thanksgiving while everyone is out shopping, I will be drinking one holiday ale (or lager) a day. Up to and including Christmas, the regular posts will cease and in their place a thorough review of a holiday beer. Anchor’s Our Special Ale, Ebeneezer from Bridgeport and any other holiday themed brews on the market.
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Then in 2010 (supplies willing), I will embark on a beer from all 50 states tour. Being in California, I will have to special order and ship in beers so the end date of this project is uncertain. But what I aim to do is show that we are truly blessed in America to have a wide range of great beers.
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Collaborative Evil

from Draft Magazine

On a stormy night in 2008, three brewmasters devised an evil plan to take over the world. Okay, not really, but they named the inspired beer of their collaboration, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Collaborative Evil.

They each brewed the base beer at their own breweries, and the rule was that each brewer had to add a unique ingredient to distinguish it from the other two. The founders, Zac Triemert of Lucky Bucket Brewing Co., Matt Van Wyk formerly of Flossmor Station Brewing Co. and now at Oakshire Brewing Co., and Todd Ashman of Fifty Fifty Brewing, hoped to enter the beers in the Great American Beer Festival. Two of the three made it.

So this year, the Collaborative Evil effort has expanded to nine breweries and the new base beer style is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. This has presented some interesting challenges for the brewers, since they have to find nine unique ingredients instead of just three.

We wish them the best of luck in their quest for the GABF.

The new participants are: Valley Brewing Co., Sacramento Brewing Co., Fat Head’s Brewery and Saloon, Oakshire Brewing Co., Silver Peak Brewery, and Speakeasy Ales & Lagers.

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Downtown Portland gets McMenamin's Hotel

from the Oregonian & The Portland Business Journal

The new McMenamins Crystal Hotel will occupy prime land near the Brewery Blocks

“An eagerly anticipated hotel project in downtown Portland is taking shape after the spiraling economy temporarily shelved it.

“McMenamins Hotels, Pubs & Breweries secured a permit from the city of Portland on July 20 to proceed with its Crystal Hotel project at 303 S.W. 12th Ave., a former bath house, hotel and reputed gangster hangout that has been empty for about two years.”

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more Alabama brew info

Today’s first post concerned a new beer column in Alabama and the first column written was about Good People Brewing.

Snake Handler Double IPA is one of their offerings and lagers are proposed for the future. But what I like most is that they have the typical story of how they brewed for the passion of it and fell into brewing as a business (or as they put it, “the business found us”).

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Hopped Up

My coverage of beer gets spotty the further east you go across the country but I do want to spotlight (again) the Free the Hops patriots in Alabama and to throw a link to Danner Kline’s new column in the Birmingham Weekly.

He’s a good writer with his own opinions and I enjoy reading his stuff to see what another beer geek is thinking about and drinking.

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Blue Palms

It is hard to believe that Blue Palms is 1 year old. It seems like only yesterday that Los Angeles was Lucky Baldwin’s and that’s it. Now we have a herd of great places to go anywhere in the sprawling metropolis of L.A. Beer life is getting better!

Back to the anniversary, Brian Lenzo pulled a lot of beer rabbits out of his hat to bring in a wonderful selection of beers. Parabola and Abacus from Firestone-Walker. Sour Rye from the Bruery. Multiple hop bombs from Alpine among others.

They borrowed some of the space from the Fonda Theater next door but that started filling up pretty quickly. As usual the staff of the BP were attentive and cheerful with the huge crowd and Brian was running everywhere to make sure the day would run smooth.

Kudos to Blue Palms and see you at # 2.