Features
Your Session Beer Project
The Session Beer Project was something I started on my blog about two years ago. It’s my contention that big beers get the press and the glory because they’re flashy, but seriously, how many can you drink? I started the Project to get more attention for session beers, and I’m happy to say it’s been […]
Session Beers: Drink More, Drink Better!
“For [beer] possesses the essential quality of gulpability. Beer is more gulpable than any other beverage and consequently it ministers to the desire to drink deeply. When one is really thirsty the nibbling, quibbling, sniffing, squinting technique of the wine connoisseur becomes merely idiotic. Then is the moment of the pint tankard of bitter.”–Anonymous, 1934 […]
The Floating Brewery
The dozen brewpubs on U.S. military bases appear to be the only effort by the armed services of any country to provide their troops with local, freshly produced beer. The American military maybe uniquely able to sustain such an effort to keep the troops happy, given its size and reach. However, a British project to […]
Brewpubs on our Bases
Iron Mike’s Pub and Brewery, Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, NC (Army) Fort Bragg is home to the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the U.S. Army Parachute Team (the Golden Knights) also call Fort Bragg home. Pope Air Force Base adjoins Ft. Bragg. System: Four-barrel. two-fermenter system. […]
For Morale, Welfare and Recreation
No matter how dearly you love beer, or how far you’ll willing to travel for an obscure brew, there are some beers you cannot have. Unless, that is, you’re willing to serve your country.
DC Beer Roundup
Where can you find good beer in Washington, DC? Where can’t you find it? Liquor stores, supermarkets, groceries and corner delis all can sell beer…and many stock at least a few craft beer selections. (I’ve seen Sierra Nevada Celebration pop up in CVS drug stores.) Bear in mind that in most DC neighborhoods, regulations forbid […]
Washington, DC Parties Like It’s 1933 Again
I’m hugging a bottle of Anchor Steam at RFD in Washington, DC, sister establishment to the famed Brickskeller, watching a group of picketers wend their way around the crowded bar with signs reading, “We Want Beer.” It’s a puzzling sight, as everybody here seems to be well served. In fact, the “protest,” organized by Premium […]
Columns
How Homebrewers Changed the Whole Brewing Industry—Forever
After the repeal of national prohibition in 1933, only 756 of the nation’s estimated 1,900 pre-prohibition breweries resumed operations. WWII and its aftermath had a further effect on their numbers, with the largest American (and world) brewers buying out smaller breweries.
The Importance of Drinking Local
We are in the midst of a Year of Eating and Drinking Local. If it were going to result in a book—though it won’t—we might call it “If it’s a blueberry ale, this must be Maine” or “If it tastes sour and salty, this must be Leipzig.”
Departments
Distinctive Doppelbock
The heavyweight beers currently in vogue tend to have an assertive signature quality that is the object of desire. Puckering IBU levels, searing alcohol and coarse roastiness are sought by extreme beer hunters and brewers alike. As these stylistic features slug it out for popular supremacy, the succulent, uncompromised maltiness offered up by the burly […]
with Andy Brown
Wynkoop Brewpub turned 20 years old last year, and you began your job as head brewer around the same time. A little earlier. We just had our 20th anniversary in October and I started in July of last year. Shortly after that, we had the Democratic National Convention here in Denver, and that was a […]
Under the Gateway Arch
In the 1830s, immigrants from Germany and Bohemia began settling in St. Louis, MO. Not only were these Central Europeans a natural customer base for beer, but their ranks also included many skilled craftsmen who brewed good beer with abundant local water, kept cool in limestone caves indigenous to the area.
Beer Talk
Cusqueña Premium
Lima, Peru Imported by: Latam Imports Fort Worth, TX Available: RI Cusqueña is one of the few all-malt beers made in South America. ABV: 4.8 ABW: 3.8 Color: bright golden Bitterness: 14 Original gravity: n/a
Fireside Nut Brown
Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. Chippewa Falls, WI Available: nationwide Jacob Leinenkugel founded this Wisconsin brewery in 1867. Five generations have been involved in running the brewery. ABV: 4.9 ABW: 3.9 Color: 23 Bitterness: 13 Original gravity: n/a
Entire Stout
Pike Brewing Co. Seattle, WA Available: CA, CT, AK, MT, ID, OR, UT, TX, CA, CT Pike Entire is a blend of three beers: Pike’s XXXXX Extra Stout, the same beer aged for more than half a year in oak Bourbon barrels, and an Imperial stout. ABV: 9.5 ABW: 7.6 Color: black Bitterness: n/a Original […]
Sebago IPA
Sebago Brewing Co. Portland, ME Available: ME, MA This IPA is named for a 300-foot mountain cliff on Sebago Lake in ME. ABV: 5.7 ABW: 4.5 Color: n/a Bitterness: n/a Original gravity: n/a
Old Blarney Barleywine Style Ale
Moylan’s Brewery Novato, CA Available: CA, NV, CO, AZ, WA, OH, MN, IL, MD, PA, VA, NJ, WI, MA, GU (Guam), BC, OR, AK, NM, SC The first barleywine to bear the name was Bass No. 1, released at the turn of the last century. The name suggested this was a beer of wine-like strength. […]
Ten Fidy Imperial Stout
Oskar Blues Brewery Lyons, CO Available: CO, CA, TX, AZ, WA, NY, MA, PA, ID, NJ, RI, CT, VA, GA, FL, WI Colorado brewery Oskar Blues has for years pioneered the use of cans for craft beer, and in Ten Fidy has what is probably the world’s only imperial Russian stout in a can. ABV: […]
Old Style Porter
St. Peters Brewery Suffolk, England Imported by: Eurobrew Ashland, MA Available: nationwide St. Peter’s Brewery opened in an ancient country hall in the east of England just over a decade ago. The beers are packaged in distinctive oval bottles copied from one from Gibbstown, near Philadelphia, which dates from around 1770. ABV: 5.1 ABW: 4.0 […]
Cascade Pale Ale
Stevens Point Brewery Stevens Point, WI Available: WI, IL, MN, MI, IA, OK, IN, KY, MA, RI, MD, VA Stevens Point Brewery, in Stevens Point, WI, is the fifth oldest continuously operating brewery remaining in the United States. ABV: 5.4 ABW: 4.3 Color: 8 Bitterness: 33 Original gravity: 1054
Happy Ending
Sweetwater Brewing Co. Atlanta, GA Available: GA, SC, NC, TN, AL, FL Sweetwater Brewery has specialized in bringing West Coast-style brewing to the South East, winning Small Brewery of the Year at the GABF. ABV: 9 ABW: 7.2 Color: black Bitterness: 50 Original gravity: 1088
Punk IPA
BrewDog Fraserburgh, Scotland Imported by: Preiss Imports San Diego, CA Available: n/a BrewDog microbrewery opened in 2007 in the east of Scotland near Aberdeen. ABV: 6 ABW: 4.9 Color: n/a Bitterness: n/a Original gravity: n/a
Apple White
Corsendonk Brewery Turnhout, Belgium Imported by: Phoenix Imports Baltimore, MD Available: DC, FL, IN, LA, MD, MA, NJ, OH, PA, VA, WA, WI The Corsendonk brewery, best known for its rich abbey-style beers, brews this lighter, fruited beer spiced with coriander, orange zest and licorice. ABV: 3.1 ABW: 2.5 Color: 2 Bitterness: not significant Original […]
Sünner Kölsch
Sünner Brauerei Köln, Germany Imported by: Artisanal Imports Austin, TX Available: TX, CO, CA, RI, IN, OH, NY, MI, ME, NC, GA, SC The Sünner brewery, the oldest in Cologne, brews the traditional Kölsch style, unusual in German brewing tradition in that it is an ale, not a lager, which is then cold-conditioned in the […]
Alt
New Glarus Brewing Co. New Glarus, WI Available: WI The alt beers of Düsseldorf are, together with Cologne’s Kölsch style, rare examples of German ales, in a country renowned for lagerbiers. ABV: 9 ABW: 7.2 Color: n/a Bitterness: n/a Original gravity: n/a
Autumnal Fire
Capital Brewing Co. Middleton, WI Available: WI This American doppelbock is true to the tradition of Bavarian “liquid bread,” as the style was known to monks who relied on it for sustenance during Lenten fasts. ABV: 7.5 ABW: 6 Color: 32 Bitterness: 28 Original gravity: 1078
The Reverend
Avery Brewing Co. Boulder, CO Available: AK, AZ, AK, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IA, KS, KY, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NJ, NM, NY, NC, NE OH, OK, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, WS The Reverend, a Belgian-style quadrupel, was created to honor an Episcopal reverend, the grandfather of an […]
Imperial Stout
Samuel Smith, Tadcaster, England Imported by: Merchant du Vin Tukwila, WA Available: nationwide except where ABV is capped. Russian Imperial stout was originally brewed in Great Britain to satisfy the Czarist courts, great connoisseurs of Champagne, caviar and the art of the table. Because it was transported across the freezing Baltic, Russian imperial stout was […]