As some of you know, I work for a central Illinois newspaper in real life, and in the course of that job, I make an attempt to post on the newspaper’s entertainment blog about local, beer-related goings-on. Today, I had a piece there detailing the upcoming opening of a new brewery in Champaign, the college town of my alma mater, The University of Illinois.
The brewery, Triptych Brewing, has successfully been fundraising using Kickstarter, a method that we have covered on a few other occasions. As it closes in on its goal with about a week to go, founder/brewmaster Anthony Benjamin confided in me that he is quite sure it will reach the $20,000 plateau (I think he’s got a “just in case” failsafe to make sure it gets there, if there’s any doubt). Of course, this is only a small fraction of the business’ overall fundraising to open a new production brewery, but I still think it’s a fairly impressive figure, considering that the majority of these donors are all coming from a fairly small, central Illinois city. Contrast this Kickstarter project with say, Lucky Town Brewing, which is having a much harder go raising their own $20,000, despite the fact that they would be only the second craft brewery PERIOD in the state of Mississippi.
What follows is a conversation I had with Benjamin, as he describes the genesis of Triptych, it’s session beer-forward portfolio, and the interesting three-phase expansion process the brewery intends to follow. Consider this just a basic look into the concerns and process of starting any new small production brewery. Read the rest of this entry »
When Aleheads was but a mewling, week-old newborn, I made my first attempt at hamhandedly marrying my loves of statistical analysis and beer. Many similar follies followed. In that first stat-based post, I struggled to determine the best breweries in America based on a cumulative GPA. I used BeerAdvocate data and obtained an average GPA for all beers produced by a single brewery (as long as they had over 10 ratings a piece). It was an amusing exercise but the data wasn’t particularly useful. It gave a very “rough” indication of the quality of individual breweries, but the overall results were flawed. First, it gave every beer in a brewery’s lineup the same weight. So if you had a highly-regarded DIPA with 1,000 ratings and a novelty one-off with 10 ratings, they counted the same. Second, I somewhat haphazardly picked the breweries by simply asking the other Aleheads (just Doc and the Baron at the time) to name their favorite breweries (or at least breweries they had heard good things about). The results were a messy gathering of 46 ale factories (later expanded quite a bit). That list included small brewpubs like Minneapolis Town Hall and massive factories like the Boston Beer Company. That’s not even apples and oranges…that’s apples and oven-mitts. Read the rest of this entry »
Tröegs Craft Brewery General Manager Ed Yashinsky is our guest to talk about the release of their vaunted Nugget Nectar Imperial Amber Ale, the challenges and joys of moving into their state-of-the-art new T2 brewing facility in Hershey, updates on favorite upcoming Tröegs seasonals like Perpetual IPA and Mad Elf, some info on their Scratch and Splinter programs, and a whole lot more. In true Tröegs fashion, Ed is an open book as to their plans and reveals a bunch of information for fans of the brewery in this episode of the podcast.
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Acclaimed beer writer Jay Brooks is on the line to breakdown another epic SF Beer Week. Featuring 300-some events and 67 breweries in attendance, this celebration of beer will make your Alehead spin…
Jay takes us through some of the highlights of the week, from haute dogs at the circus with the Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton to the Double (and Triple!) IPA Festival. He also dispenses some advice for other cities across the country planning their own beer weeks.
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Former Goose Island brewmaster and craft beer pioneer Greg Hall stops by to discuss Virtue Cider- his latest venture to produce heirloom apple ciders with modern craft fermentation and aging techniques. We talk about similarities with the craft cider movement to craft beer in the early 90′s, the development of Virtue’s first offering dubbed “RedStreak”, the way cider is viewed in the US and Europe, Big Beer dollars getting into craft cider, and much more. A great conversation with one of the most important and knowledgeable beer and cider makers in the world…
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After our little piece on John Conlin and his wonderful blog about beer distribution, we asked if he might be willing to write a guest post for us. This morning, I got an e-mail with a “controversial” guest post penned by Conlin and a note asking me not to edit it. Apparently, Conlin overestimates our “editing” policies here at Aleheads. This ain’t exactly the New York Times. Below is his post, in its entirety, with nary a letter changed. It’s a fascinating, pro-distribution piece from one of the true experts in the industry. Whether or not you agree with his arguments, this is certainly worth a read for any Alehead. Read the rest of this entry »
Can a beer really be an “India Pale Ale” when it weighs in at 4.7% abv? I think this is a pretty fair question, and despite a love of Founders Brewing, I can’t help but lean toward “no.” I had been looking forward to trying this new “session IPA” since it was announced, and although it’s a fine, tasty beer, I do think the labeling is rather inaccurate and a little misleading.
The problem is that it’s easy to see why a brewery like Founders would want to label a brew like this a “session IPA” rather than just calling it an American Pale Ale. IPAs get more attention from we aleheads, and the idea of one that weighs in at only 4.7% is a novelty. With session craft beer becoming one of the hotter trends in the brewing world, breweries are faced with the question of “How do we make new beers that are sessionable that will also capture some attention and generate a little hype?” Releasing this beer as a “session APA” with exactly the same recipe simply wouldn’t have gotten Founders as much attention as this brew has received from beer geeks and fellow bloggers like us. Would we accept it in exactly the same way if Founders brewed ”All Day Stout,” a 5% abv “session imperial stout”? Would the resulting beer not simply be a regular American-style stout?
The one other gripe that I must mention is a price point issue. I am a very cheap, very thrifty craft beer drinker. Because of this, the IDEA of session brews is often one that I find appealing, but a lot of that optimism goes away when these brews are priced exactly the same as their burlier cousins. Case in point: At the local package store where I picked up some All Day IPA, all year-round Founders six packs are $9.99. This includes the brewery’s regular IPA, Centennial, which clocks in at 7.2% and maintains the stronger beeradvocate rating, if you care about that sort of thing. Quite simply, because I am cheap, when I go out beer shopping, I am looking for the best “taste bargains”—the most flavor for my buck, as it were. If the brewery were able to produce and sell a beer like All Day IPA for even $1 less than the other six packs to denote its “session status,” it would make me purchasing it more likely on a regular basis. With all the people out there who are trying to stretch their beer budget, I can’t be the only one who thinks that way.
Like I said in the first paragraph, however, not to be lost in all this is the fact that All Day IPA actually is a good beer. Here’s your tasting note. Read the rest of this entry »
We welcome Ken Linch and Nathan Herrold to the show, founders of and brewers at Bridge Brew Works in Fayettville, WV. Topics include: opening and operating a production brewery in a state with extremely restrictive alcohol laws, capitalizing on visitors that come seeking whitewater rafting and other outdoor activities with fresh, local craft beer, and plans to expand without losing their hands-on approach.
Alehead Pat Strader sent me the following email describing the impact Bridge Brew Works has made on the West Virginian beer scene and the dedication these guys have for their craft; I couldn’t have said it better myself:
“They are trying to introduce new styles to an area otherwise devoid of craft beer, or understanding craft. The little town where we are, is an anomaly. There are several world-class restaurants here, and Bridge Brew is helping by providing them with fresh, local beers that range the spectrum. A simple cross-over lager? They have that… to very high gravity, and legit Belgian-style beers (Triple, Dubbel, Trubell).
It’s also interesting to me, that they are just two guys….doing 99.9% of the work with some sporadic volunteer help. After the call I actually had a talk with Nathan, and he was telling me about cleaning kegs all day..and the extra care he put into them and he didn’t want to pass the job off because of the impact it would have on the end product. Bottom line, these guys take great care with their stuff…”
This building will determine whether or not Brother Barley can drink Rugbrod.
Dear Alabama State Senators and Representatives,
Hey! How are you? Awesome! You’re looking sharp. Love the new tie…
Listen…I’ve poked fun at you a few times in the past. Admittedly, there are some members of your august group that I find somewhat lacking in the intelligence/competence/moral fiber arenas. But deep down I know that most of you honestly do want what’s best for your state. This is your home. This is where your kids and grandkids live. Alabama’s prosperity is important to you and I know that, more often than not, you’re trying to make decisions that help your fellow citizens. Read the rest of this entry »
Usually when you think of beer and marine life in the same sentence, it’s when you’re craving some beer-battered fish and chips (mmm). But thanks to some environmentally-conscious folks at Birmingham Southern College’s Southern Environmental Center, beer will actually be used to help SAVE fish. Imagine! Read the rest of this entry »
We welcome Edinburgh-based blogger and podcaster Beercast Rich to the show and talk about the latest craft beer news on the other side of the pond, including: CAMRA, the cask vs. keg debate, Brewdog’s role in UK beer culture, some exciting Scottish brewers you’ve never heard of, and more.
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I don’t usually go out of my way to try new beers from New Belgium, but in my central Illinois city there is very little beer variety in the local liquor stores (I go out-of-town to stock up). On Super Bowl Sunday I found myself browsing through the usual suspects at the local store, and decided to go with novelty instead of reliability in picking up a six pack of New Belgium’s new “Belgo” Belgian IPA. After sampling it, I’m happy to say that I don’t regret the decision.
New Belgium Belgo, Belgian India Pale Ale:
NOTES: 12 oz bottle poured into a tulip glass.
ABV: 7%
APPEARANCE: Somewhere between straw and gold, very clear and pretty, with a finger and a half of pillowy foam that mostly faded in about five minutes.
NOSE: Very funky and “Belgian-y,” with aromas of straw and banana in particular, and maybe some black pepper. The hops do not come through strongly at all for something with IPA in the name. Read the rest of this entry »
Picture this scenario. It’s 3PM on a Friday. You’re still at work, suffering through yet another day of digging ditches or crunching numbers or doing whatever it is you do that keeps your pockets full of pennies and the man off your back. Maybe you’re thinking you’re in the home stretch, just a couple more hours till’ you spread your wings and fly the coop (For the love of God I hope you’re in the home stretch at 3PM. Sincere apologies if you’re not). In this little scenario, you’re probably wondering what you’ll do when you get home. Perhaps you have to swing by daycare to pick up the kids, possibly grab something for dinner, or maybe just rush off to meet some friends. Whatever the case may be chances are you’ve got the whole weekend ahead of you to do something, anything, that’s more pleasurable than work. In my little world, when the clock strikes 3 on Friday afternoon, there’s one singular thought that pops into my head. What am I drinking tonight? Read the rest of this entry »
You know, given the choice I would strongly consider ingesting this nugget over a mouthful of BLP.
The first television commercial for Anheuser Busch’s new baby to run during the Super Bowl set what is perhaps a new gold—NO—PLATINUM! standard for stupid, macro-beer advertising. For a 30 second commercial, it features a truly staggering amount of misinformation, empty buzzwords and vaguely offensive subtext. Before doing anything else, you ought to just watch.
Today’s guest is Prague-based beer writer Evan Rail- we discuss his new essay Why Beer Matters available for Amazon Kindle, beer and homebrewing culture in the Czech Republic (including the unlikely rise of the Czech IPA), where to go as a beer geek with three days in Prague, and his pratfall in front of Anthony Bourdain during the filming of No Reservations.
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EDIT: I am blown away by all the brewers who have shown up in the comments section to answer questions and check in. Thanks so much to everyone who said hi!
Considering that one of my first posts on this site was a breakdown of the Chicago brewery scene only 11 months ago or so, it’s downright embarrassing how outdated it now is. To sum up–it’s bad; real bad.
The evolution of craft beer in the Windy City has just continued accelerating at what is now almost a frightening pace. It is getting to the point where I am straight-up unable to keep up with all the different breweries in their planning stages, or under construction, or seeking licenses, or simply shopping their wares around town at little tastings and festivals. Everywhere you look, there are people brewing beer and saying to each other “We should totally open a brewery, brah.”
The biggest reason I’m so out of the loop is that I don’t actually live in Chicago. I’m from the suburbs originally, but now work downstate, several hours away from the fertile beer garden that the city has become. It really has been killing me to be missing out on some of these places as they come closer to their openings, but I am at least comforted by the thought of visiting them all at some point in the misty, uncertain future.
Of huge assistance in actually keeping up with this sort of thing are Chicago-centric beer blogs–ESPECIALLY the phenomenal Chitown on Tap. Seriously, without these guys, I would be lost. In this post, I’m going to try to give a vauge roundup of all the craft breweries they listed in a recent “2012 Chicago Craft Beer Preview,” with a bit of my impressions on the new businesses and some perspective for those who, like me, are actually living outside the city. So without any further ado, let’s get to it. Read the rest of this entry »
Always sublimely self-righteous, the folks at Stone sum up the weekend perfectly with that prophetic tweet. Yes, I do hope that you’ll be laughing along with the commercials this Super Bowl weekend and I do hope that you choose your suds wisely for this most splendid of drinking occasions. Read the rest of this entry »
Scott Metzger is an interesting dude: founder of San Antonion’s Freetail Brewing Co in a state with decidedly unfriendly laws towards brewpubs, professor of economics, sender of hilarious cease-and-desist response letters, purveyor of seven-or-so (and counting) different IPA’s, presenter of TEDx talks, and prolific beer blogger, among other things. We discuss… well, beer. And other stuff. But mostly beer.
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Slouch sits down for a chat about sour and wild beers with Brandon Jones from the excellent blog Embrace the Funk. The guys tackle a number of subjects from a homebrewer and commercial beer fan perspective, including: how to get started brewing beers with wild yeast, common fears and misconceptions regarding contamination and process, some exciting upcoming offerings that look to push sour beers further into the mainstream, and Brandon’s excellent interviews with legends Jean Van Roy (Cantillon) and Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) and pioneering newcomers like Crooked Stave’s Chad Yakobson.
If you have already “embraced the funk” or just want to learn more about this exciting branch of the craft beer movement, check out a great conversation with a brewer and writer that is passionate and knowledgeable about these beers.
As some of you know, I work for a central Illinois newspaper in real life, and in the course of that job, I make an attempt to post on the newspaper’s entertainment blog about local, beer-related goings-on. Today, I had a piece there detailing the upcoming opening of a new brewery in Champaign, the college town of my alma mater, The University of Illinois.
Posted by Kid Carboy Jr. 
