Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
In my usual better late than never style, I ran across this interesting bit of news from the New School Beer Blog.
Portland already has Prost! which is a lovely German beer bar located right next to a food cart pod so this next evolution sounds promising. Maybe the LA area can try this too! Verdugo and Eagle Rock invite trucks in but if you don’t care for that particular truck that night then you are out of luck (plus the lines can get enormous). A group of carts would minimize both problems.
Lists are very handy. Especially in places like Portland, where the beer is flowing seemingly on every corner.
That’s why this list of 12 from John Foyston and the Oregonian is sooo helpful.
How many of these fine establishments have you been to? I have been to exactly 1.
I better get cracking when I visit in December.
There was a lot of technical talk at the Beer Bloggers conference. About 1/2 of it was over my head. I know my widgets from my meta tags and/or trackbacks. But that is the smaller mechanical issue. I was searching for something else.
I wanted to know if I was on the right track with this blog. And I think, I am. Am I there yet? No, and I have no timetable either.
I post what excites me about the craft beer world. Is it groundbreaking journalism? No. Is it a regurgitation of already posted news? Sometimes. But that is acceptable to me. Why?
I want this blog to show my passion for beer, breweries, events and the industry. Like a squirrel before a bottle of BrewDog’s End of the World gets shoved up it’s…(sorry), I enjoy searching for and bringing back beer nugggets.
There was alot of good advice about how long it takes to monetize your blog and the ways to do it. People carefully explained how to adjust posts to your readers desires.
To me that is not as important as bringing the world of craft beer to my reader(s) in a short but fun way. And when I highlight a brewery in Louisiana or Alaska, it may be a list of a couple beers pulled from the brewery website but I want to push this information in front of casual but curious craft beer drinkers and travelers. I started the 50 Beers from 50 States quest to learn more about our country’s beers but I also hoped to intrigue all of you enough to try something new or at least learn something new.
A question was posed (rather too critically and rather grumpily, to my ear), why blog about beer and why go to a conference about it? Apart from the obvious reason of meeting people with the same passion, I wanted to learn from other bloggers on how to best accomplish my goal. I could not ask readers to go on this search without doing some searching myself. (And I implore that everyone keep on learning).
What I am trying to say is that I want to challenge you, the reader, to drink better and more varied beer. And this blog will evolve to do that better.
That is what I learned.
….to pound some sense into some Florida politicians and to keep Cigar City beer flowing to the people of Florida and beyond.
Read this short bit from noted beer writer Sean Nordquist:
“Cigar City Brewing, located in Tampa, Florida, opened a tasting room last year to much success. By being able to extend their hours of operation and sell and serve beer on-premise, this local business was able to increase their employee count from 2 to 22. Serving award-winning craft beer in a comfortable and friendly environment, they have operated without incident, which few other establishments can claim. In a short time, Cigar City has achieved national (and international) recognition for their creative and consistantly excellent craft beer. In a state that has been often referred to as a “beer wasteland”, the fact that their beers are highly sought after is a testament to what owner Joey Redner and head brewer Wayne Wambles have been doing.
Now they are facing a huge problem. For reasons known only to themselves, members of the Tampa City Council have voted to not make the wet-zoning (required to allow the serving of alcohol) permanent, which would essentially force the closing of the Tasting Room. As Joey has said, this means “no more special events, no more limited release parties, no beer for sale – at all – at the Tasting Room.”
So as the citizenry, we have a responsibility to make our voices heard. Tell the Tampa City Council not to vote for killing jobs. Tell them not to vote for limiting growth. Tell them to reward success and not punish it. Tell them that local businesses are watching. And so are those that might wish to do business in Tampa in the future.”
These are the three members of Council who voted against Cigar City:
Gwen Miller
Thomas Scott
Curtis Stokes – Curtis.Stokes@tampagov.net
These are those Council members who voted for Cigar City:
Mary Mulhern – Mary.Mulhern@tampagov.net
Yvonne Yoli Capin – yvonne.capin@tampagov.net
Joseph Caetano – Joseph.Caetano@tampagov.net
Finally, the member who was absent. Let Charlie Miranda know you support CCB and craft beer and are counting on his yes vote on December 2nd.
from BrewPublic
from 2 Beer Guys
from Girls Pint Out
from The Beer Babe
and finally from NovaBeerFly
It started with X and is now at XIV. And I and fellow beer geek Richard were there to try the nearly complete line-up of anniversary beers at Blue Palms.
And here is the proof…
I voted for XIV while Richard selected XI as his favorite. The best part is we get to do this again next year.
Now for a strange tour, brewing that is. Strange Brewing is another new entry to the high flyin’ Denver beer scene.
They have a selection of 9 beers according to their website. Including these 2 that I would like a sample of…
Cherry Kriek
We named this Strange Brew ‘Cherry Cherry’ because that’s what it is. There’s so much cherry in this beer even its foamy head is red! We start with a Dark Belgian Wheat recipe, cram it full of Montmorency Tart Cherry goodness, then age it with oak. The result is a cherry cherry lovers dream come true. Goes great with dark chocolate, with fudge brownies, with chocolate gateau, with cacao nibs, with…well you get the picture. And did we mention cherries?
4.7% ABV 15 IBUs
Le Bruit Du Diable
Our spin on a classic Belgian farmhouse ale. We start with high quality Belgian Pilsner malt and add some Belgian Caramel Vienne and Caramel Munich for color and complexity. Bring it back down to earth with just the right amount of Czech Saaz hops to provide refreshing balance. Fermented hot with a very special yeast strain from the Wallonia region of Belgium, this unique yeast gives our Diable its earthy, fruity, spiciness and dry malt character.
7.5% ABV 42 IBUs
Not mine, that is back in October. But thanks!
Today is the anniversary of the first sale of Pilsner Urquell!
Josef Groll brought a brand new style into the world this day in 1842. Pilsner Urquell was first served at the feast of Saint Martin markets.
So raise a glass of good pils (it’s out there) and give thanks to this delicious beer style.
Part of Leftover Month from the 50 Beers – 50 States Challenge. We travel back to Arizona for some Old Monkeyshine from Nimbus Brewing.