Sunday, May 31, 2009

Nice Can's Baby!


Regardless of whether or not you have jumped on the "Retro-Beer Rebellion" bandwagon, nothing for nothing PBR is just a damn good beer! And this just goes to show that "Vanilla" can actually be tasty.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Take Pride In Your Vanilla Beer......

I was listening to a local talk radio show tonight and a caller was asked "What's your favorite beer?". With great pride the caller responded "Budweiser, Red Label". That got me to thinking (which is always dangerous), why would someone take pride in admitting that his favorite beer is one of the most common, unimaginative, mass-marketed products known to man? In addition he tried to add credibility to his statement by differentiating Bud from Bud Light by adding the "Red Label" part. Everyone knows there is only one "Red Label" and it's not made by Auggie Busch, its made by Johnnie Walker. But the real point I want to make here is that in a world filled with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, Chubby Hubby, Dublin Mudslide, New York Super Fudge Chunk and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch this guy picked.... "Vanilla"... and not just "Vanilla", but "Vanilla" with pride. So it just goes to show that if you mass-market a product to "sheep" you can get the general public to believe that their favorite beer is... "Vanilla".

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Grolsch, "At least it's good for something.."

Grolsch has finally come up with ad campaign the literally stops you in your tracks. "Excellence in brewing since 1615" is their motto, but it's the delivery part they need to work on.



Sunday, May 17, 2009

Central Florida Beer Festivals

With the weather warming up here in Central Florida, beer festivals are in full swing. Two events in the Orlando area featured unlimited samples from some of the biggest names in craft beer. Dogfish Head, Avery, Boulder, Brooklyn, Rogue, Bells, Oscar Blues, Wolaver's, Flying Dog, Harpoon, Abita, Jolly Pumpkin, Chimay, Stone, Sierra Nevada, Terrapan, Anchor, and Orange Blossom Pilsner were just a few of the breweries represented.

Sampling highlights from the most recent event were the debut of Rogue's "Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale". This is an India Red Ale, deep red in color with a floral, slightly citrus hop nose. As the hop flavor dissipates you are left to savour a unique malt blending of 2-Row Pale, Munich, Carastan and Chocolate. This is another offering in Rogue's 22oz. pounder line-up.
The longest line was at the Dogfish Head tent where they were sampling two of the brewery's limited 750ml beers. "Black and Blue" is a 10% ABV Belgian Strong Ale brewed with blackberries and blueberries. 'Red and White' is another 10% ABV beer, Wit brewed with coriander and orange peel fermented with Pinot Noir juice. But the biggest attraction was their seasonal Aprihop on draft filtered through a randall filled with fresh cascade hops. The addition of fresh hops added a new taste dimension to an already wonderful seasonal beer. At the end of the event I was fortunate to sample some of the beer directly from the unconnected randall and all I can say is WOW!

If you have never been to one of these festivals I strongly urge you to check one out. It's a prime opportunity to sample some of the most interesting and creative beers currently on the market.





Friday, May 8, 2009

This is why we love our craft beer.......

I could be repetitive in telling you about the following video, but it's probably better to let the brewer's speak for themselves. Enjoy!

I Am A Craft Brewer - Keynote Version from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.



"I Am A Craft Brewer" is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement. Created by Greg Koch, CEO of the Stone Brewing Co. and Chris & Jared of Redtail Media...and more than 35 amazing craft brewers from all over the country. The video was shown to a packed audience of 1700 craft brewers and industry members at the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference as an introduction to Greg's Keynote Speech entitled "Be Remarkable: Collaboration Ethics Camaraderie Passion." As is tradition for the CBC Keynote, a toast to the audience was offered. This time, the beers offered for the toast were all collaboratively brewed craft beers including Isabella Proximus, Collaboration Not Litigation, AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple, Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-Ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale, and 2009 Symposium Ale "Audacity of Hops."