best-beer « WordPress.com Tag Feed

7 Beers to Try Before You Die

Jake Guidry — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:34:53 +0000

Whoa, whoa, whoa–you drink Natty Light? Okay, I know, it’s freshman year in the dorms, m

St. Peters Organic English Ale, My New Favorite Beer

maxchillin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:26:57 +0000

Happy Labor Day weekend folks,

In the spirit of celebrating labor day weekend I payed a visit to my local liquor store. The closest spot happens to be one of those new yuppie high end wine and micro beer type stores. Most of their inventory is fancy wine but they have a little cooler with a small selection of micro brews and otherwise hard to find beers. The owner saw me taking a look and recommended the St. Peters Organic English Ale. Wow, I must say this is the best beer I’ve ever had … and believe me I’ve sampled many. It comes in a cool bottle that looks like old medicine from centuries past. It packs a kick as well with double the alcohol content as your regular swag brew. Pick some up if you spot it. You won’t be disappointed.

“Our oval Bottle is a 500ml copy of one from Gibbstown, near Philadelphia which dates from c. 1770. It was produced for Thomas Gerrard, an innkeeper with a tidewater inn on the Delaware River.”

St. Peter's Organic English Ale

What's the best beer in Alabama?

Dan Murphy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:32:06 +0000

According to the folks at Draft Magazine, it’s Good People Brewing Co.’s Coffee Oatmeal Stout out of Birmingham. The magazine picked “50 Beers in 50 States” for their most recent issue, and this stout got the nod for Alabama.

From Draft’s Web site:

”It may come from the South, but there’s nothing sleepy about this stout. True to its name, this brew’s rich with oatmeal, espresso, and chocolate flavors, with just enough hops bitterness to balance the sweet characters.”

For the complete list, click here.

We here in the Mobile/Baldwin area haven’t seen so much as a drop of this brewery’s beer, but I’ve heard enough good things that I’m about to have to find a reason to drive to Birmingham just so I can try it.

NYC Beer Week 2009- Sept 11th - 20th

Orlick — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:50:25 +0000

“NYCBW 2009 is a celebration of the craft beer community in NYC and beyond. “ There are

Best of the Micro-Brews, Ninkasi Brewing Co. sponsors band Volifonix on tour! Get free beer stuff!

purpledarts — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:41 +0000

What’s better….pulling deeply on a pint of crisp and hoppy northwest microbrew or chilling out while funky songs about everything from parties to art & passion to positions against “the man” pulsate from your speakers?

If you answered “both” pour yourself a cold one and check out Oregonisms (topsecret records 2009) from Eugene darlings, Volifonix (aka VFX) who happen to be on tour all year and who are blissfully blessed in being fueled by the NW’s newest cult beer makers; “Ninkasi Brewing Company.”
Catch a whiff of life in a northern town, Volifonix style. Mmmmm….smoove!

If you like 311, Decemberists, Silver Sun Pickups, Akron/Family, RHCP’s, Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Parliament Funkadelic, Earth Wind & Fire or Jeff Buckley, you’ll love Volifonix!

Get a whiff of Beer Love here

Check out VFX sound here…

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=MdiN6B3gx8Q&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewAlbum%253Fi%253D313817985%2526id%253D313817963%2526s%253D143441%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30

Find a tour date near you here

Beervana

poetryman69 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:22:41 +0000

A beer hacker drinks his way to the truth:

Extra Beer

Drinking Piss: Urine as the Fountain of Youth

An Army of Slugs Drunk on Cheap Beer

It is Better to be Drunk than Wasted

Drunk in China: Along way to go for Free Beer

Sometimes there are no words

Beer

Oregon

The Perfect Pint

Twitter in your Beer: Beer Twit

Westworld

God’s own Beer

http://www.ehow.com/how_5096312_use-up-extra-beer.html

http://waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/drinking-piss/

http://waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/an-army-of-slugs-drunk-on-cheap-beer/

http://waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/its-better-to-be-drunk-than-wasted/

http://waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/drunk-in-china-a-long-way-to-go-for-free-beer/

http://waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/sometimes-there-are-no-words/

http://www.zedpower.net/beer/

http://beervana.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/Beervana

http://www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf/2009/01/beervana_john_foyston_goes_in.html

http://www.mywestworld.com/living/beervana/

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/05/08/thai-monks-find-path-beervana/

It's Unanimous

Colt45LA — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:48:35 +0000

Originally posted on the Hydra Head Industries blog.

Bier Here!

Sunshine Superboy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:07:11 +0000

So, I’m in the midwest for a board meeting this weekend. Not so much internet, but beaucoup beer! (sorry no post in a few days)

Top 10 medal-winning states are:
1. California – 474
2. Colorado – 322
3. Wisconsin – 232
4. Oregon – 170
5. Pennsylvania – 162
6. Texas – 133
7. Washington – 114
8. New York – 98
9. Missouri -90
10. Massachusetts – 76

Of course, this does not take into account the population size of the states listed here. The top 10, reshuffled to reflect the number of medals per million of inhabitants, looks quite different, reflecting a dominance by states with a strong micro-brewing tradition:

1. Colorado – 64.4
2. Oregon – 42.5
3. Wisconsin – 38.6
4. Washington – 16.2
5. Missouri – 15
6. Pennsylvania – 13.5
7. Massachusetts – 12.6
8. California – 12.8
9. Texas – 5.6
10. New York – 5.1

What else is there to say but PENNSYVANIA PRIDE!
Wooot!

The World is for alla yous,
Fiestaban Sunshine Superboy

The best beers in the Southwest

Angele Sionna — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:30:31 +0000

Dozens of brewers in the Southwest Win Medals at the 2008 Great American Beer Fest By Angele Sionna

Beer Brewing Basics

kpvida — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:48:57 +0000

Beer Brewing Basics

Beer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beer is made by brewing. The essential stages of brewing are mashing, sparging, boiling, fermentation, and packaging. Most of these stages can be accomplished in several different ways, but the purpose of each stage is the same regardless of the method used to achieve it.

Mashing manipulates the temperature of a mixture of water and a starch source (known as mash) in order to convert starches to fermentable sugars. The mash goes through one or more stages of being raised to a desired temperature and left at the temperature for a period of time. During each of these stages, enzymes (alpha and beta amylase primarily) break down the long dextrins that are present in the mash into simpler fermentable sugars, such as glucose. The number of stages required in mashing depends on the starch source used to produce the beer. Most malted barley used today requires only a single stage.
Sparging (a.k.a. lautering) extracts the fermentable liquid, known as wort, from the mash. During sparging the mash is contained in a lauter-tun, which has a porous barrier through which wort but not grain can pass. The brewer allows the wort to flow past the porous barrier and collects the wort. The brewer also adds water to the lauter-tun and lets it flow through the mash and collects it as well. This rinses fermentable liquid from the grain in the mash and allows the brewer to gather as much of the fermentable liquid from the mash as possible. The leftover grain is not usually further used in making the beer. However, in some places second or even third mashes would be performed with the not quite spent grains. Each run would produce a weaker wort and thus a weaker beer.
Boiling sterilises the wort and increases the concentration of sugar in the wort. The wort collected from sparging is put in a kettle and boiled, usually for about one hour. During boiling, water in the wort evaporates, but the sugars and other components of the wort remain; this allows more efficient use of the starch sources in the beer. Boiling also destroys any remaining enzymes left over from the mashing stage as well as coagulating proteins passing into the wort, especially from malted barley, which could otherwise cause protein ‘hazes’ in the finished beer. Hops are added during boiling in order to extract bitterness, flavour and aroma from them. Hops may be added at more than one point during the boil. As hops are boiled longer, they contribute more bitterness but less hop flavour and aroma to the beer.
Fermentation uses yeast to turn the sugars in wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer. Once the boiled wort is cooled and in a fermenter, yeast is propagated in the wort and it is left to ferment, which requires a week to months depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. In addition to producing alcohol, fine particulate matter suspended in the wort settles during fermentation. Once fermentation is complete, the yeast also settles, leaving the beer clear. Fermentation is sometimes carried out in two stages, primary and secondary. Once most of the alcohol has been produced during primary fermentation, the beer is transferred to a new vessel and allowed a period of secondary fermentation. Secondary fermentation is used when the beer requires long storage before packaging or greater clarity.
Pasteurisation is an optional stage of the beer process in which the beer is slowly heated and cooled to kill off any existing bacteria in order to maintain longer shelf life. This is generally a stage not included in higher end beers, but is quite common in mass-produced beers such as American-Style lite beers, and other mass-produced lagers. It is less common in ales as pasteurization can change the many flavours.
Packaging, the fifth and final stage of the brewing process, prepares the beer for distribution and consumption. During packaging, beer is put into the vessel from which it will be served: a keg, cask, can or bottle. Beer is carbonated in its package, either by forcing carbon dioxide into the beer or by “natural carbonation”. Naturally carbonated beers may have a small amount of fresh wort/sugar and/or yeast added to them during packaging. This causes a short period of fermentation which produces carbon dioxide.

The Greatest Beer Ever

acatcherinthewonderbread — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:12:25 +0000

I’ve recently discovered what is basically my favorite beer, and has earned the title “The Greatest Beer Ever” for me.

It’s the 90 Minute IPA brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware (yes, Delaware). It’s a darker beer as most IPA’s are, and packs a 9% alcohol punch. That’s probably why they only sell it in 4-packs.

It ain’t cheap, and you probably won’t find it at your local grocery or 7-11. I find mine at places like Whole Foods, Central Market, World Market (warm beer – boo!!), and some of the nicer liquor stores.

Check these guys out on the web to learn more about 90 Minute IPA: http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/90_Minute_IPA/11/index.htm

Probably the best beer in the world

al13lea — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:31:08 +0000

mai multe…

Fall Back Into Place - With A Beer

CDB — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:49:36 +0000

It was busy summer, alright. For one thing, I spent about six weeks on the West Coast for various weddings, birthdays, reporting trips, baby showers, campouts, fireworks, kayak crashes, more birthdays. Now that I’m back, let me try to get back up to speed. For one thing, the articles: My co-writer Seth Fletcher and I managed to alternately delight and peeve members of the beer brewing community with our fourth annual Best Beers in the World feature in Men’s Journal (posted on my site, here’s 2004, 2005, and 2006). Our faves for 2007? Firestone Walker Pale Ale, Oskar Blues‘ Dale’s Pale Ale, Deschutes‘ The Abyss, Saison Dupont, Lagunitas Pils, Aventinus Doppleweizenbock, and, oh, about 50 others. We had a lot of fun this time, categorically speaking. For example: the best beer for ice fishing, with spare change, in case of natural disaster? The issue story isn’t on the magazine’s site yet, so I will do my darndest to scan it in soon. The story was picked up by The Today Show (clips require Windows Media Player) this weekend (OK, when the spokesperson refers to MJ’s secret inside team? That’s us), and I even managed to pull myself out of bed at 5AM to talk about the story on the WB11 (a local station), marking three years in a row I’ve been invited on. Of course, it’s all because the crew gets to stand around and divvy up the leftovers, which is my favorite part. Cheers guys!

Fall Back Into Place - With A Beer

CDB — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:49:36 +0000