Features
Tools of the trade
I have now been employed in the brewing industry for 20 years. I have worked as a brewer, brewery representative, retail beer buyer, and as a seller and portfolio manager in wholesaling. Over the past 20 years I have collected a number of tools used in the production and selling of beer. These items are […]
Going Against the Grain: Audacious American Beers
Only in Castro’s Cuba has a state of permanent revolution lasted longer than it has in the minds of beer writers. We remember the bad old days—before the revolution—when beer variety was non-existent, when bars and stores offered us the choice between Mainstream Lager A and Mainstream Lager B (and C and D, in more […]
Tradition: the Hallmark of English Breweries
“Welcome to Brigadoon,” Stewart Main, the head brewer at Hook Norton said. As a Scot, he is well versed in the story of the mythical Highland village of Brigadoon that featured in a Gene Kelly movie. The village appears for a single day once every hundred years and bewitches all who come across it.
Skunk in my Beer
It is the private hazard of a professional beer writer that his friends expect to be served great beers when they visit, and I am always happy to oblige. Such was the case recently, when I had a small party in my house. It was still winter in Massachusetts, so I bought a bunch of […]
No Way to Treat a Beer
“Yes, but I don’t inhale.” For generations, smokers have been using those words to downplay the consequences of their nicotine habit. Soon, drinkers may be using that expression as well.
Columns
Not Again. Yes! Lower the Drinking Age Diatribe No. 119
In July, our misbegotten immoral and illegal law against young 18-20 year old adults drinking, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, becomes 21-years old itself. I’m no lawyer, but I say ILLEGAL, because the government threatens to cut federal highway funds to any state which refuses to outlaw “under 21” drinking.
Departments
Porter: Three Threads into One
Any beer aficionado would identify the most significant events in brewing in the past three hundred years as the development of IPA by the British, and the introduction of Pilsner in Bohemia. The invention of Porter in the early 18th century was as noteworthy. It signaled a shift in brewing practice, drove the industrial revolution […]
Big Beers in Bamberg
Ten years ago, I found a rock-bottom airfare from Detroit to Frankfurt. And with it, an excuse for an impromptu vacation.
Beer Talk
Oatmeal Stout
Breckenridge Brewing Co. Denver, CO Available: CO, IL, IA, KS, LA, MN, NE, NM, OH, SD, TX, VA, WY The Breckenridge Brewery and Pub opened in Denver in 1992. The oatmeal stout is brewed with two-row pale, caramel, roasted barley, chocolate, oak flakes and black malts. Alcohol (wt.): 3.96 Alcohol (vol.): 4.95 Color: n/a Bitterness: […]
Snipes Mountain Porter
Snipes Mountain Brewing Co. Sunnyside, WA Available: WA, OR, ID, MT This robust porter is brewed with Great Western Pale Ale, Crisp Marris Otter, Weyermann Munich, Crisp Crystal 77, Crisp Chocolate, Hugh Baird Brown, Great Western Malted White Wheat, and Flaked Barley, with UK Challenger, Ahtanum and Styrian Golding hops. Alcohol (wt.): 3.6 Alcohol (vol.): […]
Summer Honey Seasonal Ale
Big Sky Brewing Co. Missoula, Montana Available: AK, CA, ID, MN, NV, ND, OR, SD, WA, WI, WY Big Sky Brewing Co. has just become the first small brewing company in North America to use a new aluminum package: the AlumaBottle, which is shaped like a bottle, but made from aluminum. The bottle can be […]
James Squire Amber Ale
Malt Shovel Brewery Sydney, Australia Imported by High Falls Brewing Co. Rochester, NY Available: CA Around 1795, James Squire, convicted highway robbed and publican, became Australia’s first commercial brewer. His tavern, The Malt Shovel, was located west of Sydney. The modern Malt Shovel Brewery, named to honor Squire, has won awards at the Australian International […]
Full Sail IPA
Full Sail Brewing Co. Hook River, OR Available: AR, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, MN, NV, NM, OK, OR, TX, WA, WY The Full Sail brewery, founded in 1987, is now independent and employee-owned. It overlooks “the most epic wind and kite surfing spot in the world,” which is the inspiration for the brewery’s labels […]
Lion Heart Stout
Big City Brewing Co. Kingston, Jamaica Imported by Best Brands Sanford, FL Available: FL, GA, NY Big City Brewing Co., located in the heart of Kingston, Jamaica, the only Brewery in Jamaica owned and operated by Jamaicans. The brewery, which was founded 1999, also produces Real Rock Lager and Yardy Shandy. Alcohol (wt.): 6.05 Alcohol […]
Organic Porter
Butte Creek Brewing Co. Chico, CA Available: WA, OR, ID, CA, AZ, NM, CO, MO, WI, IL, MI, OH, ME, VA NC, SC, FL Butte Creek Brewing Co., founded in 1996, terms itself “Chico’s only microbrewery”—a reference to the now very large Sierra Nevada, also in Chico, where Butte Creed’s brewmaster worked for several years. […]
Ramstein Classic Wheat
High Point Wheat Beer Co. Butler, NJ Available: CT, NJ, NY Founded in 1994, the High Point Wheat Beer Company is the first exclusive wheat beer brewery in America. The name Ramstein was adopted from a town in Germany with a large American population. The town surrounds the U.S. Ramstein Air Force Base. High Point […]