Author: Erika Bolden

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  Monastic Brewery Spared of Damage in Italian Earthquake

  August 26, 2016 - Erika Bolden UPDATE: Two months after this story was published, another earthquake struck Italy and destroyed the basilica of St. Benedict, according to NPR. When a powerful earthquake jolted central Italy in the middle of the night this week, the monks of Norcia were already heading to morning prayer. The makers of Birra Nursia monastic beers were... View Article
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  Crafting Quality: It Starts with Malt

  December 18, 2015 - Erika Bolden Beer drinkers love to celebrate their brewers. They deserve the attention — brewers are the end of the line for ingredients that have started in a field and passed through many hands to arrive to your glass. For consistent beer without flaws, we look to what happens in the brew house, from sanitation standards to... View Article
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  Protecting Beer: How Updated Crop Insurance Safeguards the Malt Supply

  December 18, 2015 - Erika Bolden Stand in a barley field during harvest, late summer, and the landscape will hypnotize you. Glaring rays wash the grain in warm light as a combine kicks debris into the air, making your eyes water as it passes by in orderly rows. On the horizon, black clouds advance quickly, casting shadows on the glowing fields.... View Article
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  The Five Most Underappreciated Jobs at the Great American Beer Festival

  September 24, 2015 - Erika Bolden The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is a beer event of unparalleled magnitude. About 49,000 attendees, including volunteers, gather each year in Denver, Colorado, to sample 3,500-plus beers from nearly 750 breweries. To coordinate all those people and all that beer, festival director Nancy Johnson and volunteer program manager Carol Hiller work year-round to produce... View Article
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  Brewing Features

  Cut the Gluten, Keep the Beer

  September 1, 2015 - Erika Bolden Some studies suggest that as many as one in seven people may have a sensitivity to gluten. Hannah Murphey considers herself to be one of them. When chronic digestive problems sent Murphey, 30, a teacher from San Carlos, California to a doctor, she tested negative for celiac disease, a serious autoimmune disorder affecting about 1 percent... View Article
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  What's Brewing

  Rye Research Project

  February 28, 2015 - Erika Bolden North Dakota State University (NDSU) is undertaking a new malting rye research project. The study will analyze different varieties of rye to determine the best properties for malting, growing and brewing. Researchers will examine rye genotypes and environmental factors. The department of plant sciences is asking growers to send 1-pound samples to the NDSU cereal... View Article