A Carnival of Beer
Posted in Uncategorized on June 19th, 2007 by Fiver – 1 CommentCompiled with the assistance of the mighty Samichlaus.
The strongest lager in the world is called Samichlaus, which means Santa Claus in the Swiss-German dialect of Zurich, where it is made. Its precise potency will vary slightly from one batch to the next, but Samichlaus always has at least 14 per cent alcohol by volume; and has on occasion almost touched 15.
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It takes almost a year of slow secondary fermentation to develop the full strength of Samichlaus. I can think of no other beer that has such a long period of cold storage (in German, lagering). Nor could the location of the cellars be more appropriate. The whole of the brewery is set into the foothills of the Alps, where the technique of lagering was born (though that was, it must be conceded, on the more easterly side of the mountains in Bavaria).
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Pony up when it’s your turn to buy the round, or else.
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Brew Reviews: Michael Medved on Thunderheard IPA, Firestone Walker 10, Nashoba Valley Barleywine, Gaffel Kolsch, Heller Hound Maibock, Red Barn Ale, Baladin Wayan and Xyauyu Riserva ’04
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Cue Gilligan: A three brewer tour, A three brewer tour. Via the Beer Philospher
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Thermodynamics is your friend. Cold beer in two minutes or less.
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Beer Podcasts: Keeping beer cold in 1300 A.D., Blue Point Hoptical Illusion, Trippel Play
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Send Andy and Chalkie my Regards. CAMRA names their Club of The Year.
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Back From the Dead
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One Foot in the Grave: Schaefer
The last remaining Schaefer taps are coming down, at the Dutch and in bars throughout the Northeast, as a once-dominant brand succumbs to a lack of demand in the region where it once outsold all competitors.
While cans and 30-packs will still be sold, distributors in New England say they simply don’t have enough customers to justify the expense of shipping the Schaefer barrels from the Ohio factory where it’s brewed these days.
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No fags means less pints. 200 million less.
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How likely is it that a Home Brewer can go pro?
Many have made the leap. There are more than 1,400 craft brewers with operations ranging from small brewpubs to regional craft breweries in the U.S., and more than a few started by making beer at home, said Gary Glass, director of the American Homebrewers Association.
Many of the brew masters at pubs and breweries are home-brewers who worked their way through the ranks, said Steve Headstream, general manager of the Brew Hut. “You get hired for grunt work, you work on the bottling line, schlepping wet grains. It is basically heavy lifting.”
The founders of Colorado microbreweries such as Left Hand, Boulder, New Belgium and others were home- brewers before turning pro, Gatza said
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Bullshit Alert! Beer builds culture, literally. Not only is it a product of microbial culture, but it’s also known for growing human culture. For millennia our species has gathered in ceremony around the magical elixir. This post explores the ecology of the sacred drink and its predisposition to be sustainable from a whole systems perspective.
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Name the state
The state licenses distributors, but the unwary customer who goes there in search of a six-pack or two will be out of luck. The distributors may sell only by the case – 24 or 30 bottles or cans – and all the beer in the case must be of the same brand.
For a six-pack, one must go to a bar, but there you are limited to a purchase of just two of them at one time. (Of course, the bar management may allow you carry the 12 beers out to your car and then return to buy 12 more, but that only adds to the Byzantine character of the system.)
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Once I had a beer, tasted like ass
Soon turned out had the wrong glass.
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Rome was not built in a day. Neither is your palate.
When he was 21, with a taste for beer that ranged from Milwaukee’s Best to Yuengling, he and some friends invested in a case of Rogue Old Crustacean, a highly regarded — and highly alcoholic — microbrew. Because it was so expensive, they reasoned, it must be the best beer on the market.
”I swear, the room shook,” Baden says, remembering his first sip from the 7-ounce bottle. ”I said ‘That’s the worst beer I’ve ever tasted.”’
In fact, he discovered, after a year of exercising his palate on a series of other high-end beers, ”it was one of the best. We were right about it. We just weren’t ready for it yet.”
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News From Lo-Carb Mordor: Heineken Premium Light “Because is it better to look good, than to taste good.”
The premiumization of Michelob Ultra
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Brew Dog Democrats, and Republicans, in the House Small Brewers Caucus.
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An interview with Jim Kosin, of Harborside Brewing
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One would think that if one was going to write about beer and blogging, one would know something about beer, not just the marketing thereof.
Let’s look at the history of American beer—an industry filled with similar tasting, and some would argue completely unremarkable, products.
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The previous Carnival of Beer may be seen here.
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The Carnival of Beer appears every Tuesday and Friday. If you’ve an item you like to see appear, let us know via bigwig AT nc.rr.com