Features
Cruising the Hoppy Highway
by Gerard WalenBen and Karen Willmore experienced their first earthquake while in the parking lot of Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, CA. Though not a major temblor, it shook enough to make cautious patrons move away from the alarming vibration of the massive glass doors in the brewery. But the Willmores had no reason to go home […]
Roots Abroad, But America Calls
by Heather VandenengelEarly last June of 2012, Brian Purcell, CEO and brewmaster of the soon-to-open Three Taverns Craft Brewery in Decatur, GA, took a seven-day beer tour of Belgium with his wife. He and his partner and CFO, Chet Burge, had almost reached their funding goal to open a Belgian-beer-inspired brewery, and the trip served as inspiration—in […]
Preserving a Beer Legacy
by Stan HieronymusThe world’s best-known beer writer did not claim to get everything right at first. “Obviously, I’m learning all the time, and revising my ideas. Nor did I start with the assumption that I knew better than anyone else,” Michael Jackson wrote to American beer importer Charles Finkel in 1981. “My initial contribution was not knowledge […]
Rock Icons Partner with Restaurant Chain
by Brian YaegerKiss’ two active original members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, want you to rock ’n’ roll all night, party every day—and how about you nosh on some burgers and wings and try some microbrew from the new international casual dining chain they’re partners in, Rock & Brews. In their trademark makeup, Simmons as “The Demon” […]
Innovations in Canned Beer
by Russ PhillipsThe cans holding today’s craft beers are very different from those that first hit shelves over 75 years ago. In those days, cans were made from rolled and riveted tin and steel made into flat-top cans and cone-top cans (cans that were formed so they could be filled on bottling lines). Cans sold today are […]
Canned Mythology
by Tom AcitelliChief Oshkosh Red Lager was about to go national. It had found a distribution and marketing partner, and was ready to bust out of Wisconsin. Jeff Fulbright, the founder and president of the brewing company behind Chief Oshkosh, Mid-Coast Brewing, excitedly placed the beer in a spectrum that showed both his ambition and confidence. “The […]
Columns
The Perfect Harmony of Collaboration
by Tomme ArthurSeventeen years ago, I earned my first brewing gig as an assistant brewer at a startup brewpub in downtown San Diego called Cervecerias La Cruda. Like many apprentice brewers of that era, I was a great consumer, but I was greener than the Jolly Green Giant when it came to brewing knowledge. I knew what […]
Hey! Beer Man!
by Marc CappellettiGrowing up in a family with three Heisman Trophy winners and NFL running backs (John Cappelletti and, through marriage, Alan Ameche and Glenn Davis), I never had to go far for my football fix. Games, memorabilia, awards banquets—I was blessed to have intimate access to a sport I loved. But it wasn’t until I left […]
Potential Pitfalls of the Craft Beer Revolution
by Harry SchuhmacherDo you know what a SKU is? In the consumer goods industry, it is an abbreviation for stock keeping unit, and we pronounce it “skew.” A stock-keeping unit is just a very unfancy way of referring to a specific brand and package combination. In the beer industry, a brand would be Lagunitas IPA. A package […]
Departments
Baltic and Imperial Porter
by K. Florian KlempPorter in all its forms may be one of the more misunderstood and underappreciated of all beer styles. Common porter was the dominant brew on the planet during the cusp of the 18th and 19th centuries, bringing rock-star fortunes to the beer barons of London and great beer to a global clientele. Porter was sent […]
Brewing Made Easy, 2nd Edition: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Beer at Home
by Marty NachelBrewing Made Easy is a handy-dandy little guide to getting new brewers up and brewing quickly. By following this book’s easy-to-follow instructions, anyone can become a confident homebrewer in short order. This is the second edition (the first edition dates to 1996). Both editions were written by Joe and Dennis Fisher. The brothers Fisher run […]
America’s Next Great Grapes
by Rick LykeCalifornia earned its place on the world wine stage at the Judgment of Paris in 1976 when, in a blind tasting, French judges selected both a Californian white and a red over wines from their country. Not only was this a major hit to the French psyche, it also signaled to the world that Americans […]
Side trip to Huntsville
by Brian YaegerA hundred miles north of Birmingham, there’s a brewery boom occurring in Huntsville. Straight to Ale (3200 Leeman Ferry Road) in the Olde Towne Brewing’s former space, was the first to open a tap room in 2010. Try its Monkeynaut IPA. That same year, Blue Pants Brewery (500 Lanier Road) opened down the road in […]
Southeast Alaska’s other breweries
by Brian YaegerA hundred miles north of Juneau is Skagway Brewing Co. (7th and Broadway), originally opened in 1897 to service the gold rushers, then relaunched 110 years later when Boom Town is merely the name of its brown ale. Don’t miss Spruce Tip Blonde to taste its terroir. Another spruce tip beer can be sampled at […]
The Last Frontier
by Brian YaegerFor Trekkies, space is the final frontier. For nerds of another flavor—beer geeks—there’s always somewhere new to explore, some vast area of beer to pioneer if only on a personal level. With a rapidly growing number of hubs that vie for the title of Beer Town, USA, what about places not yet steeped in suds? […]
Pull Up A Stool with John and Chris Trogner
by Julie JohnsonBrothers John and Chris Trogner were born and raised in central Pennsylvania. After a stint in Boulder, CO, where John worked a brewery and Chris in a restaurant, they returned to their home state, and founded Tröegs Brewing Co. in Harrisburg in 1996. In 2011, Tröegs moved to a new brewery in Hershey, PA. AAB: […]
Beer Talk
Triple Chocoholic Stout
by - -Saltaire Brewery West Yorkshire, U.K. Brewed near a well-preserved industrial village and UNESCO World Heritage Site. A former winner of a gold medal at the SIBA Beer Competition, this beer’s chocolate malts make it an opaque black stout. ABV: 4.8 ABW: 3.8 COLOR: NA BITTERNESS: 35 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1048 AVAILABLE: Brazil, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, […]