The Aleheads have noticed a curious trend over the past year or so…collaboration beers between breweries and bands. Ska Brewing devised a beer honoring the Toasters. New Belgium brewed a stout for the DC-based band, Clutch. And Dogfish Head recently released Faithfull Ale in honor of Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary. That’s all well and good you might say, but when will 90′s pop sensation Hanson get their due?!?!
Your prayers have been answered my friend! The Hanson brothers announced today that they’ll be releasing an IPA called (and I’m sure every reader guessed the name immediately)…MMMhop! Well, of course they are. Read the rest of this entry »
Greatness. Define it however you damn well please, but tell me, can it be sensed? I’m not talking philosophically or attempting to expand your mind to accept the unacceptable. I’m talking about plain old senses. Can you touch it? Can you see it? Does it have mass, substance, volume? I’m talking about a word here, a descriptor. Greatness. A word, nothing more than a word that’s used in conjunction with other words. So tell me, can you taste a word? Can you taste a descriptor like greatness? No dammit! NO YOU CAN NOT TASTE GREATNESS!. So why then, while I’m sitting on my couch trying to enjoy the “Greatness” that is American Football, am I bombarded with Miller Lite commercials telling me to TASTE GREATNESS? God dammit Miller, you’ve done it again! Read the rest of this entry »
“Well, you see, Norm, it’s like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it’s the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
–Cliff Claven
Is beer the cure for cancer? In real life, I’m a scientist who studies the structure and function of naturally occurring molecules. I also happen to drink a little beer now and then. It’s not that uncommon that these two interests cross paths in the form of a happy hour once in a while, but it’s really rare that I get a chance to link cancer research and beer.
After Brother Barley’s cool Alehead Nation map of the United States got such a positive response, we received requests to do similar things with individual states, celebrating all the breweries rather than just one representative choice. Without further ado, here is an Alehead’s map to the great brewing state of Pennsylvania. Did you know there were so many? Next time you’re visiting, stop in one of the state’s 70+ breweries and raise a pint to support our local businesses. Click the image or here for a high resolution version. Read the rest of this entry »
The experts say to brine your turkey in your favorite wine or beer for 24 hours before you deep-fry it. I assume that my fellow Aleheads, some of whom haven’t had a bottle of wine in the house in six months, will go with beer.
So we asked the Aleheads what beer they’ll be using to brine their deep-fried turkey. We got some predictably inscrutable responses.
Everyone’s favorite meal of the year is upon us. And if you’re like most Aleheads, you’ll be gorging yourself on both food AND beer. But why just grab any random bottle of suds from the fridge when the Aleheads are here to provide the perfect beer/food pairings for Thanksgiving.
So loosen up your belt, grab a mixed sixpack of the following brews, and get ready to tell your goddamn relatives what you really think of them:*
*That they’re lovely, thoughtful people and you’re very thankful to be with them on this cherished, family holiday. Read the rest of this entry »
Chalk this post up to my roving mind and propensity to randomly revisit old ideas and conversations.
So, a number of months back, the Aleheads were conversing via email about one inane subject or another, same as always, and a thought was born to, for whatever reason, compare each of them to comic book heroes. Then an even better thought followed: Match each Alehead up with the pro wrestler that best exemplifies his attitude, style, and characteristics. Clearly, this was a can’t-miss concept. In that conversation, I swore something akin to “I’m totally going to make that post.” Read the rest of this entry »
I won’t sugar coat this. What we have here is a list of 25 reasons to have a beer on this fine Friday – November 18th, 2011. The truth is, no one needs a reason to have a beer. Drinking a beer is about a single occurrence that’s independent of anything else that’s going on at that moment. The reason to have a beer is because you want it, not because you need it. You don’t need beer and you sure as hell don’t need a singular reason to have a beer. There are however a few times when you may have to justify having a beer. If you’re pouring a Maibock over your cornflakes at 6AM, chugging an IPA while staring down into a casket, or even sipping on a Barleywine while performing laparoscopic surgery – Chances are you need to have some justification. Maybe justification isn’t he right word, maybe excuse is. You surly don’t need to justify to your wife why you’re slamming down beers while gripping the hand of her late uncle Pete, but it couldn’t hurt to have an excuse. ”Listen baby, it’s Arbor Day, I’m honoring Uncle Pete’s service to this country”. See, the excuses don’t even have to make sense. Best to be well armed though. Read the rest of this entry »
When I was scouring the web for an image to serve as the intro to our Best Beer Labels post, I stumbled across a brilliant map of the US where all of the states had been replaced by local brewery logos. A number of readers asked for a higher-res image of the picture and I sadly had to explain to them that I hadn’t actually created the map. Read the rest of this entry »
UK beer bloggers Boak and Bailey got some good conversation started last week with their post “Ten Signs of a Craft Brewery”; I’ll wait here while you go read it.
Back? Good. Although just catching on over the pond, “craft” is probably the most used and abused term in the world of beer stateside, and there is far from consensus as to its definition within the community. We’ve argued about it on these hallowed pages; Jeff Alworth at Beervana argues craft is beer brewed with a goal of “aesthetic character”. Here in the US, the Brewers Association defines craft as “small, independent, and traditional”, meaning: Read the rest of this entry »
How many times has this happened to you? You’re sitting alone in the man-cave your parents call their “basement”, watching Transformers 2, when you have a powerful hankering for the finest rice lager that a Brazilian-owned, Belgian-headquartered, multi-national corporate monstrosity can piss out. You look in your 10-year-old dorm fridge, still papered over in old Penthouse magazine covers, and you freeze. There are only two beers in there. A bottle of Bud Light, which just doesn’t have the ABV boost you need to numb yourself to your pathetic existence. And a bottle of Budweiser, which, at 145 calories, is far too heavy for those abs you’ve spent the better part of your three years of unemployment working on.
You scream to the heavens. “Why? Why has my God forsaken me? Why hasn’t Anheuser-Busch (the largest and therefore finest producer of fermented beverages known to man) devised a watery, tasteless lager with an ABV punch bigger than Bud Light but less calories than Budweiser?” Read the rest of this entry »
If you follow the legal machinations of the craft beer world (and really, why wouldn’t you?), you’ve no doubt come across the recent tiff between two craft beer titans, the Boston Beer Company and Anchor Brewing. In a nutshell, the BBC is suing Anchor for poaching a former employee who had signed an industry-specific, non-compete clause. We’ve let this story slide for awhile now for a simple reason…it’s not particularly interesting.
Admittedly, the Aleheads generally love getting our hackles up over breweries suing one another, but this one just doesn’t fire up the self-righteous posturing as much as other stories. First, it’s a battle between two of the biggest and oldest craft brewers in the nation. Anchor is essentially the granddaddy of American craft brewing and the BBC is far and away the largest craft brewer on Earth. We prefer at least one “little guy” in our posts about corporate maneuvering in the beer world. Second, we like stories that actually involve beer and brewing…or at the very least naming rights for beers and breweries. This lawsuit is about the most prosaic of corporate battles…a former employee potentially sharing “trade secrets”. That collective yawn you hear is why we ignored this one. Read the rest of this entry »
In the latest issue of BeerAdvocate magazine the Beer Scribe Andy Crouch, in his trademark cheery prose, lays out an argument that American craft brewers do a terrible job with the Oktoberfest style:
“American brewers sure do make some shitty Oktoberfests. While giving a required nod towards the tradition of Germany, many so-called American versions of this historic style, their resulting beers fall so wide of the mark as to be unrecognizable. Often cast as ales, the trademark smoothness imparted by extended cold conditioning is replaced for a ubiquitous and yawn inducing fruit character. For many U.S. crafts, Oktoberfest beers also just mean a lightly red-hued beer, with no toasted or bready malt character, and little to no soft and subtle beauty. Often brewed without the addition of German or Euro malts or noble hops, the beers offer little if anything beyond the chance to slap an Oktoberfest label on the bottle and score some easy seasonal sales.” Read the rest of this entry »
Last month, the Czar surprised the rest of the Aleheads with a fairly coherent analysis of the amount of money he has spent on beer this year (we suspect that his long-suffering manservant Karl actually tallied the results). We begged the Czar to make the breakdown into a post for our readers. In typical Czar fashion, he claimed he would “add it to my list…just as soon as I finish shaving my balls”. That’s Czar-Speak for, “don’t hold your goddamn breath”.*
*The Czar NEVER shaves his balls.
I would have just let it go, but I was kind of curious as to what the rest of the Aleheads had laid out in beer purchases this year. I haven’t delved into my own spending habits yet for the sake of my marriage, but I plan on eventually conducting a Czar-like analysis one evening after Wifey goes to bed. Here’s the Czar’s initial e-mail to the crew: Read the rest of this entry »
Barley and Slouch welcome Lucas, Chip, and Angela from Lucky Town Brewing of Gluckstadt, Mississippi to the show. We talk about the incredibly restrictive beer laws in the Magnolia State, their selection of (as-required-by law) session beers, how they got started, and much more…
Find out what it takes to found a brewery in a craft beer wasteland, how to avoid lighting your yard on fire after a long brew day, getting funded on Kickstarter, the real deal behind Biggs Blacklidge, supporting Raise Your Pints, engaging the homebrew community, and getting the ladies hooked on Oatmeal Stouts.
I promise to focus on the quality of my product above all else.
I promise to focus on the consistency of my product above all else but quality.
I promise to primarily brew all-malt beer. The only adjuncts I will use will ADD flavor to the beer, not subtract from it.
I promise to attempt to work out any naming rights or legal issues with other breweries the old-fashioned way, with a conversation and a handshake. If that approach fails, only then will I pursue legal action.
I promise to NEVER align my brewery with any company that mass-produces an adjunct lager. Read the rest of this entry »
How dare Garrett Oliver make sweeping beer generalizations? Doesn’t he know that’s our job?!?!
In this week’s Foodist column from Bon Appetit, Oliver notes that brewers “tend to hate [growlers]“. He goes on to explain that growlers are “beer destroyers” and he likens the purchase of a growler to someone scraping a plate of food from a nice restaurant into a bag, putting it in the fridge for three days, microwaving it, and then eating it. Mmm…appetizing!
As is usually the case with Oliver, he actually does make some good points in the midst of his rant (in which he claims to speak for the entire brewing world, by the way). Yes, growlers are an imperfect vessel for storing beer. Yes, beer stored in a clear growler that is exposed to direct sunlight (even for a very short period of time) will skunk quickly. Yes, the filling of a growler injects oxygen into the beer which can negatively affect the flavor. These are valid points and I appreciate Mr. Oliver using his pulpit to explain to people that growlers are not meant for long-term storage of beer. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been looking out for this beer for a bit, as I heard it was coming down the pipeline a couple months ago. I ended up buying a four-pack of bombers in order to get my first taste, though that wasn’t exactly a hardship since the other three beers were Sleigh’r (dark double alt), Believer (double red), and Total Domination (IPA). I’m also definitely a Ninkasi fan; their Tricerahops is one of the most drinkable Imperial IPAs out there, and their Maiden the Shade “Summer IPA” is one of my favorite seasonals from any brewery in any season.
Nevertheless, we like the sound of it. So in the spirit of this not-at-all-made-up holiday, the Aleheads are offering a highly unscientific list of the Top 10 American Craft Stouts. Remember, these are just “regular” Stouts. No Imperials on the list…so nothing tops 8% ABV or has a strong hop profile. Read the rest of this entry »
The Aleheads have noticed a curious trend over the past year or so…collaboration beers between breweries and bands. Ska Brewing devised a beer honoring the Toasters. New Belgium brewed a stout for the DC-based band, Clutch. And Dogfish Head recently released Faithfull Ale in honor of Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary. That’s all well and good you might say, but when will 90′s pop sensation Hanson get their due?!?!
Posted by Barley McHops 
