Interested in some winter bears, the Pittsburgh Tribune has a review of some winter seasonals. After reading
Going in a completely different direction, Bell’s Brewery Winter White Ale uses American wheat and classic German Hefe and Belgian yeasts for a spicy, fruity brew with a clean, frothy finish. “While winter is dark and bleak,” Bell says, “your beer doesn’t have to be.”
I need to find a bottle or even better find somewhere that has it on tap.
I picked up a six pack of Rogue’s Santa’s Private Reserve from World Market in Dulles. I wasn’t sure what to expect but thought it might be a winter warmer type beer. Overall disappointed in the beer, it is drinkable but in my opinion is on the bland side.
On a recent visit to Whole Foods in Reston I discovered that they were stocking Caledonian’s Golden Promise Ale. This is a very smooth season ale that I could drink all night. If you are not a fan of fizzy beers then I recommend trying this one out.
Out of the two beers the hands down winner is Caledonian’s Golden Promise Ale.
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Posted in Caledonian, OR, Rogue
The San Jose Mercury News is running a story on beers that are going up market. John Alderete is opening Mayfield Brewing Co. in Palo Alto.
One is a pale beer that began its life as a traditional India Pale Ale but has been fermenting, first in a French oak barrel that formerly held zinfandel, now in an American oak cabernet barrel. When he puts it into corked, Champagne-style bottles just before Christmas, he expects it to be over the top: 10 percent alcohol by volume (a strength approaching that of table wine, which averages 12 percent), with notes of wine and oak and vanilla. Alderete wants it to be a beer to savor slowly, perhaps after dinner with chocolates or a cigar.
The other two beers in barrels are equally unusual: a 13 percent imperial stout that will be aged six months in a port wine barrel and a German amber aging in a French oak cabernet barrel. The amber is about 5 percent alcohol, the same as your basic Budweiser, but in a different world of flavor and intensity. Bud, for example, is aged less than 30 days in stainless steel on a layer of beechwood chips. Bud, like most beers, is meant to be consumed fresh. Alderete’s beers and others like them are the opposite. Aging blends the flavors and the beers mature just like good wine.
Those beer sound like they would be interesting to taste. On of my favorite more expensive beers is Brooklyn Breweries Local 1.
Sam from Dogfish Head Brewery is interviewed for a Business Week Piece
Our beer is special because of what we put inside the bottle, not the hype and slick advertising that happens outside of the bottle.
If you are not an IT person then you probably don’t read the UK web site The Regsiter, so you probably missed their amusing response to beer prices increasing
Booze industry experts have issued a chilling warning that the British pint could hit £4 a pop – a price hike provoked by crap weather which has forced up the price of hops.
I managed to miss that Carlsberg was trying to buy Scottish and Newcastle. I found this piece that talks about some of the current mergers and acquisition activity in the beer world including expansion into china. Here is a story from the BBC on the subject.
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Posted in Carlsberg, Scottish and Newcastle
I forgot to post this one, tomorrow night (thursday) RFD is hosting evening of great beers and delicious food pairings. Here is Dave’s email on the subject
Howdy Rowdies and Holy Goldie!
Let’s hear it for the girls!
ONE NIGHT ONLY
Thursday November 15th
Author Lucy Saunders comes to RFD for an evening of great beers and
delicious food pairings. Lucy is COOL! She has written several books on the subject
and is a true expert in both cooking with beer and pairing foods with beers.
Check out her sites.
_https://www.beercook.com/_ (https://www.beercook.com/)
_https://grillingwithbeer.com/_ (https://grillingwithbeer.com/)
I gotta sit down for a second. Diane is hosting this event. Lucy and the big
boss Diane Alexander herself (I’m in big trouble) will present an evening of
yummy beers and foods including these courses which will be paired with
crazy good beers from Dave’s stash!
Bittersweet salad with bittergreens and chocolate
Carrot Ginger Curry Soup
Cocoa Rubbed Pork Shoulder with Ancho Chile Sauce (paired with two
contrasting beers)
Chocolate Noir Cake with Framboise sauce
Food made with chocolate? food made with beer? who wrote these rules you
ask?
THERE ARE NO RULES! WE CAN’T HANDLE THE RULES!
Lucy will have copies of her new book “Grilling with Beer” available for
purchase and signing at this event. Tickets are only $40.00 for a multiple
course evening of wonderful pairings. Don’t miss this chance to meet one of the
beer worlds best writers. Call RFD at 202-289-2030 NOW and get your tickets
for this truly special evening. Doors open at 6 we will try our best to start
at 7!
As always a tip’o’the bottlecap and a please stay safe to all my buddies all
over the world from
BigPoppaHandPump /aka BeerGuyDave!
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Posted in RFD
The Seatle Times is reporting that Redhook and Widmer Brothers to merge.
Both companies will keep their existing breweries, including Widmer’s breweries in Portland and Redhook’s in Woodinville and Portsmouth, N.H. They also plan to continue making their existing beers, including Redhook’s ESB and Widmer’s Hefeweizen.
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Posted in Redhook, Widmer Brothers
Seem to bee the hot topic in the press, today the LA Times is running a piece on the cost of beer going up. For their article they talked with Snipes Mountain Brewery and Tommyknocker Brewery.
Snipes Mountain saw its barley malt prices grow 10% to 15% this year, and it paid $12.35 a pound for Cascade hops, far beyond the $5.60 allotted last year.
Read the whole article here
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Posted in Snipes Mountain, Tommyknocker
If you like strong winter beers then The Washington post has some suggestions for you. The Author had a chance to sample the following large selection of beers, Anchor Brewing’s Co Our Special Ale, Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale, Clipper City Brewing Co’s Winter Storm, Old Dominion Brewing Co’s Dominion Winter Brew, Wild Goose Brewery’s Snow Goose, Fordham’s Scotch Ale, Brooklyn’s Winter Ale, Michelob’s Celebrate Chocolate and Michelob Celebrate’s Cherry and finally Mad Elf Ale from Troegs Brewing Co. I wonder how long it took the author to sample all those beers.
Posted in Anchor, Beer, Brooklyn, Clipper City, Fordham, Michelob, Old Dominion, Sierra Nevada, Troegs, Wild Goose