Faithful readers know that I’ve all but given up on writing tasting notes. In the early days of Aleheads, I cranked them out with reckless abandon. It was a fun way to keep a running catalog of the beers I was consuming and it made for a quick and easy post when the site didn’t have much new content.
Over time, I started seeing tasting notes as a bit of a chore. For starters, I’m not very good at them. I LOVE craft beer, but I don’t have a particularly refined palate or sense of smell. My wife can pick out about 10 times the flavor and aroma notes that I can. Hell, I let my three-year-old take a whiff of an Imperial IPA the other day and she picked out some lemon scents that I hadn’t even noticed. Beyond that, tasting notes get mind-numbingly repetitive when you write them in volume. There are only so many times you can write about “toffee notes” or “a touch of grapefruit in the nose”. Craft beer might have a seemingly infinite number of variations, but we seem to always go back to the same few descriptors when writing about it (or at least I do). Read the rest of this entry »
I get to interview Tony, from Lagunitas. It is awesome. If you like craft beer, listen to it as soon as possible. If not, please move along. That is all.
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When it comes to beer aficionados, there’s no question that the true fanatic will know multitudes of facts – both mainstream and obscure – about the brewing, distributions, and consumption of their favorite beverage. They’ll know where to find the best microbrews in the U.S., they’ll have a strong understanding of hop content, and they’ll invariably have an opinion about every brand in the local grocery store. In short, they can be expected to be just as knowledgeable about beer as any single man with money can be expected to know about hot sugar daddy models in his area. But in my recent talks with big beer drinkers, I’ve realized that many of us can be found surprisingly lacking when it comes to one crucial talent: pairing the right beer with the right dinner foods. Read the rest of this entry »
When you think of Japan, craft beer rarely comes to mind, yet there is a very strong and innovative craft beer scene going on in the Land of the Rising Sun. At the heart of this scene is Japan Beer Times, a bilingual publication that celebrates the Japanese brewing scene and allows readers to meet some of the influential brewers who reside both in Japan and stateside, further illustrating that while it is a big world, we’re all really just here for the beer. I recently had the opportunity to speak with their editor, Ry Beville, a craft beer fan and publisher who has called Japan home since 1997. Read the rest of this entry »
Like many Chicago natives, I was caught completely by surprise Monday night when Lagunitas owner Tony Magee dropped a major bombshell via the brewery’s Twitter account, 140 characters at a time. Throwing formal press conferences to the wind, Magee revealed that the company had chosen the exact site of its brand-new brewery, and–get this–it’s on the West Side of Chicago.
Immediately, I began to imagine the impact that this will have on Chicago’s craft beer community. Most of the city’s breweries are quite small in their total output and distribution, with the notable exception of Goose Island. The reason for this is that most of the city’s breweries are relatively new, and as such are fairly small. Some of the city’s best beermakers, like Revolution Brewing and Haymarket Pub and Brewery, are just brewpubs as we speak, but almost all have plans for immediate expansion (such as the Revolution production brewery opening this year). As I covered a few months back, Chicago is a city in the middle of a true craft beer renaissance, with planned brewery projects that number into the dozens. Things have grown like gangbusters in the last five years or so, and within a few more, the number of places producing beer in the city will have doubled.
And now, suddenly, you add a giant into the mix. There isn’t any brewery the size of Lagunitas anywhere within Illinois. When it moves in, with its 250 barrel brewhouse, it is estimated that it will be producing more beer in a year than the likes of Goose Island, Three Floyds, Two Brothers, Half Acre, Revolution, Haymarket, Pipeworks, Finch’s, 5 Rabbit and the rest of the city combined. The overall national production will be even more ridiculous. Granted, only a fraction of that beer will actually be sold and consumed in the Chicago area, where Lagunitas is already distributed, but who knows what kind of reactions and concerns the brewers of Chicago might still have regarding this sort of announcement? Read the rest of this entry »
Trey Duval is a man on a mission. By day, he runs campus recreation at a local university in Los Angeles, CA. By night, he becomes the Beer Missionary, spreading the gospel of craft beer far and wide to all those who will listen with open minds and palettes. Over the past year, Trey has been hosting craft brewers on campus and doing what many may call a miracle, getting college kids to care about what beer they drink. I caught up with him at a recent “meet the brewer” night and offered him the chance to share the beer gospel with Aleheads.
Can you tell us a litte about The Beer Missionary and what it is that you do?
I started out a few years ago doing beer tastings as social events at things like birthday parties, wedding receptions, and gatherings of friends. I also taught a “Beer 101” extension class at a local University. Then the craft beer craze finally came to L.A. and that pretty much ended the tastings since people could go and taste/learn about beer at their neighborhood craft beer bar. Currently, I try and keep an eye on the L.A. Craft beer scene and send out information to anyone who is interested and occasionally do a tasting for a group if I have a connection with them. I also use my passion for craft beer to help operate a college pub. Read the rest of this entry »
North Carolina Brewers Guild Director and honorary Alehead Win Bassett checks in to discuss the announcement that New Belgium is building a new production facility in Asheville. We talk about differences from the Sierra Nevada expansion plans, proposed LEED certification, and reactions from NC brewers and drinkers as their state becomes a focal point for craft beer in the eastern United States. At the end, Slouch’s Alehounds make a surprise appearance, only adding to the professional nature of this episode.
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The boys are back on a historic day in the craft beer revolution as New Belgium finally commits to North Carolina. Then they get drunk and talk about a bunch of really interesting stuff. If you like beer, that is. Stuff like:
Flying Dog brewmaster Matt Brophy stops by to discuss International Arms Race, their zero IBU IPA collaboration with Brew Dog. We get into the challenges of brewing in a world without hops, how they hooked up with the extreme Scottish brewers for this unusual project, and some details about exciting upcoming beers coming out of Frederick.
If there’s one universal truth in the world of craft beer it’s these days, it’s that you, the drinker, will never be able to try all the good beers out there. No matter how many great beers you sample, there will always be more. This is the gift that the explosion of the industry has presented us with; an almost unlimited variety of choice, where new beers and new breweries are circulated into the fold so quickly that it is difficult if not impossible to keep up, provided you live in the right place.
Chicago, undoubtedly, is one of those “right places,” these days. I live downstate, but whenever I’m able to visit Chicago, I can always be sure I’ll come back with a variety of new brews. Thankfully, some of these beers are even headed to central Illinois now. With the first downstate opening of a Binny’s Beverage Depot package store, a number of “Chicago-only” breweries are now available in my neck of the woods.
One of these ale factories is Central Waters Brewing, which produces beer from smack-dab in the center of Wisconsin, in a small town called Amherst. They were a complete unknown to me prior to my five-day Wisconsin Beer Voyage, a year and a half ago, and only recently has their beer become available in Illinois at all. Read the rest of this entry »
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN- The Nobel Organization has announced that Sam Calagione of Delaware, USA, will receive the 2012 Nobel Peace prize for his efforts to break down barriers of exclusivity and oppression in the craft beer world. The Nobel Organization cites Calagione’s early 2012 impassioned screed, posted on the Beer Advocate forums, as the impetus for this honor which has also been bestowed upon the likes of Nelson Mandela, Henry Kissinger, and Mother Teresa. This is the highest honor to ever have been bestowed on a craft brewer. Read the rest of this entry »
ST LOUIS, MI- In the wake of the successful launch of their latest innovation, Bud Light Platinum, Anheuser-Busch InBev has announced an even more impressive release, a limited edition, barrel-aged version of Bud Light Platinum that has spent 6 months mellowing in casks of the world’s most popular brand of liquor, Jagermeister. This new product, which in internal AB InBev memos has been described as a “craft beer killer with a powerful punch…like King Hippo” will be on shelves by summertime.
AB InBev’s Strategic Parnerships spokesman, Robert A. Bouie, describes this collaboration beer with great enthusiasm:
Along with our good friends at Jagermeister, we are proud to announce the first of many collaborative beers with the launch of Bud Light Platinum: Oaked Edition. This is what we like to call an “extreme remix beer,” which features the superior drinkability that consumers have come to expect from Bud Light Platinum mixed with the complex herbal flavors and oak notes that are the hallmark of that great “Jager” taste. Market research shows that Bud Light Platinum drinkers also like to responsibly enjoy the rich, smooth taste of Jagermeister, so we view this partnership as a natural extension of both of our brands that will keep fans talking and social media buzzing. We feel that the authenticity of this beer experience will push this limited release to become one of the best sellers of the summer. We also believe that it may convert a few craft beer drinkers. After all, it is barrel-aged, a trend which attracts the hippest segment of the 21-35 year-old male craft beer-drinking demographic. Read the rest of this entry »
Let me start with the worst-kept secret in the beer blogosphere. The rumors that you have probably heard in the comments section on our site over the past few weeks are indeed true. Aleheads has sold a teeny-tiny (and I do mean teeny-tiny) piece of our ownership to the Tenth and Blake Beer Company. Before the backlash begins, allow me to say that I KNOW this announcement reeks of hypocrisy. I can’t really argue with that, but please let me at least attempt to explain…
Over the past year or so, Aleheads has posted some harsh words about MillerCoors’s infestation of the craft beer world via their craft wing, Tenth and Blake. While we certainly stand by much of what was said in those posts, we’ll admit that those missives were naive at best and reactionary at worst. The truth is, the craft beer pie is getting too big for the macros to ignore. Tenth and Blake’s creation and subsequent involvement in craft was, frankly, inevitable. Read the rest of this entry »
In conclusion, we drank a whole lotta booze. I know it’s not proper form to start a post with a closing sentence, but one look at the graph will lead many to skip the following prose. We’ve been doing these “What are you drinking tonight?” segments for the past couple of months, trying to get one up every Friday night. As I’m sure you’ve come to realize, “Every” Friday night in an Alehead’s mind seems to be more like an every other Friday thing (As long as “Every Other” lets us skip an extra week in between when we feel like it). In the past 12 weeks, I think we’ve conquered about 6 of these “Weekly” posts. I’m sure I could go back and check just how many we’ve written but that would be so out of character for a guy that can’t even remember to write the same thing every week. So like I said, in conclusion, we drank a whole lotta booze. Do you want to know what we drank though? You do? Fine, I’ll get the old tick sheet out and see just what you folks have been rambling on about week after week when I asked that simple question, “What are you drinking tonight?”… Read the rest of this entry »
Akron Beacon Journal beer writer Rick Armon stops by the podcast to discuss his new book Ohio Breweries. The latest in the popular Stackpole Series, Rick visited 49 breweries and brewpubs in the Buckeye State in less than 5 months and lived to tell the tale! He dishes about Ohio breweries familiar to all Aleheads like Great Lakes, Fatheads, and Hoppin’ Frog, and reveals some of his favorite small breweries in the state that may soon become familiar names like Indigo Imp, Jackie O’s, and Mt. Carmel.
A lively conversation that gives a glimpse into the great things Ohio has to offer for beer lovers.
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Adam Nason is the founder and operator of Beerpulse, the world’s leading beer news website. We discuss how a nighttime hobby transformed into a business with the explosion of the craft beer industry, the challenges of monetizing publishing in the digital age, the debate over ethics in beer blogging, the death of embargoes, the future of beer media, and much more. For anyone with an interest in the writers and the technological tools they use to narrate the craft beer movement in America, this episode is a must-listen conversation with one of the most quietly influential individuals in the industry.
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On a recent rainy weekend in LA, I decided to take a trip to beyond the orange curtain, to a place known more for Disneyland and mini-mansions than craft beer. But this trek would be no ordinary trek to the OC, for today I was to venture to the Bruery Provisions to pick up my first round of allocations from the Bruery Reserve Society, including my own bottle of this years Chocolate Rain. Nestled in sleepy downtown Orange, among cafes and antique stores is one of Southern California’s true beer gems and is a required destination for anyone who appreciates unique and interesting beer. Why you ask? Well read on, dear reader: Read the rest of this entry »
For quite some time now, I’ve been curious as to why I can buy Founders’ Centennial IPA, Breakfast Stout and Double Trouble in Alabama but can NOT purchase their best-in-class Scotch Ale, the Dirty Bastard.
Thanks to Free the Hops, we now know why. Apparently a bureaucrat (and I say that with all the freighted baggage the word implies) from the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has decided that the word “bastard” is too offensive to the delicate sensibilities of everyday Alabamans to allow such a beverage to be sold here. Of course, this could conceivably make sense in a “won’t someone think of the children” vein…if children could actually BUY alcoholic beverages. Which, last I checked, they can not. Read the rest of this entry »
BROTHER BARLEY: Well Slouchie, it’s finally happened. The anti-Alehead backlash has officially begun.
A strange op-ed piece from The Good Men Project has been making the rounds amongst beer geeks recently in which it claims that no one really “likes” craft beer…they just pretend to because it’s the cool, new thing. Then today, you forwarded out a Vimeo video which satirizes a novice Alehead as they decide to get into craft beer by buying the “best beers in the world” on eBay and starting a blog within the first few hours of getting into craft beer. The latter was fairly amusing and definitely skewers a particular segment of the Alehead population and the former seems to have been written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Still…despite their satirical bent, these posts seem to be the first warning shots in what I fear will almost certainly turn into a barrage of anti-Alehead screeds. You can almost sense the first, faint stirrings of a culture war about to be unleashed. And Big Beer will, no doubt, take full advantage with a Macro vs. Craft ad campaign in the vein of the old Mac vs. PC ads. Read the rest of this entry »
Faithful readers know that I’ve all but given up on writing tasting notes. In the early days of Aleheads, I cranked them out with reckless abandon. It was a fun way to keep a running catalog of the beers I was consuming and it made for a quick and easy post when the site didn’t have much new content.
Posted by Barley McHops 
