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Welcome to Science Pub

Posted in Beers, Just for fun on   

Posted by Banjo Bandolas

There’s something new going on at the old pub on the corner. Instead of rehashing old stories with your friends or spending hours hoping that pretty girl at the end of the bar will soon be drunk enough to approach, you can stimulate your brain cells at Science Pub!

Lucky for me the first Science Pub ever was held last Thursday right here where I live in good old Eugene, Oregon at the Luna.

When I heard about Science Pub I thought it was a novel idea, listening to cutting-edge scientific lectures while enjoying a nice brew and a bite. If college had been more like that I might have gone all the way to my PhD, because, as everyone knows, it’s much easier to take in information during, rather than after, drinking.

I arrived at the Luna at precisely 7 p.m., when it was scheduled to start. I had planned to be early but had a little trouble locating the place. As I approached I noticed all of the seats outside were full and looking inside I saw that those seats were completely filled as well.

Full house

Who woulda thunk Nanotechnology could draw a packed house! I saw a seat open up and quickly weaved my way thru the gauntlet of chairs and tables and scored a place to rest my weary bones. I flagged down a very tense looking wait-person and asked if they had a beer-list.

“Don’t need one.” She replied. “We’ve only got four on tap.”

“Oh,” I said swallowing hard as my brain screamed out the rest of the sentence (MY GOD! Please don’t let it be Bud, Miller, and Coors!) “What are they?”

“Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale,” she said ticking them off on her fingers as she went, “Lagunitas IPA, Deschutes Black Butte Porter, and the Mac & Jacks Wheat beer.”

“Well, if you’re only going to have four beers on tap, those are four fine beers to choose from.” I thought and chose the Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale for my starter. The Boont Amber Ale was the first beer offered by Anderson Valley back when the brewery began back in 1987, and though they served it in an over-sized water glass, (they’d run out of pint glasses), the unfiltered bright copper hue, roasted malt and caramel aroma, and the wonderfully malty flavor with a slightly bitter hop finish seemed undaunted. Also the size of the glass, generously poured gave me a good 4-6 extra ounces. Score!

The first speaker, Ben Lopez, a University of Oregon grad student started off the “Science” portion of the evening with and explanation and demonstration of how a Scanning Electron Microscope worked and showed us some wonderful pictures of the unseen teeny-tiny world around us. The edge of a sheet of paper looked as coarse as a log jamb and who knew that there were actually hairs on the wings of an insect. He also planned to let the audience work the machine but unfortunately, as often happens with highly technical equipment and trained dogs, it would perform no tricks for the audience and we moved on to the keynote speaker, Dr. Jim Hutchison, Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the UO Materials Science Institute.

Perfect timing for me to move on to something a bit more aggressive to keep my eyes open for what I expected to be a long a probably boring dissertation. The Lagunitas IPA, a clear amber, aggressively hopped, beer tickled my nose with citrus and toasty malt aromas, then delivered with a rich malt flavor followed by an excellent, long, lingering, hop bite. It was the perfect preparatory beer for the upcoming onslaught of knowledge.

Dr. Jim Hutchison

Dr. Hutchison (above) proceeded with his lecture and managed to do what I, up to that point didn’t think was possible. He made the subject of Nanotechnology interesting and understandable. At one point he demonstrated the size of a “nano” (A prefix meaning one-billionth) by starting with a picture taken from 100 kilometers above the earth and stepped it in to the point where we were actually looking at the makeup of a leaf at the molecular level … incredible.

As the lecture went into the final Q&A from the audience. I decided to order my last beer of the evening; I’d saved my favorite beer, Deschutes Black Butte Porter, for last. It would be my desert.

“I’m sorry,” the wait-person said, “we’ve run out of that beer sir.”

Shoot! I was this close to a perfect evening too.

If you’re in Eugene, Oregon on the 2nd Thursday of the month drop by the Luna on Willamette and Broadway at 7pm for an interesting and informative pub experience. If you’re in Portland, Oregon, Science Pub is on the last Monday of the month at the Bridgeport Brewery at 1313 N.W. Marshall, also at 7pm.

Drop on by, you might learn something, and you’ll definitely drink something.

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Pizza beer, revisited

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Pizza beer, reported on here in April, gets more attention from the Illinois press.

The Chicago Tribune has an extensive story about homebrewer Tom Seefurth’s plan’s to incorporate still more food flavors into beers in a movement he calls “culinary brewing.”

Salsa beer. Curry beer. Oatmeal raisin cookie beer. He has tried them all.

The Tribune talked with Randy Mosher, author of Radical Brewing, who complimented Seefurth for trying to come up with a beer that accompanies Italian food — a niche that is currently unfilled.

“It’s much better than you might think,” Mosher said. “It’s definitely gimmicky, but sometimes gimmicky is what you need. People have their habits, and sometimes a gimmick jars them out of their complacency.”

The beer is available at Walter Payton’s Roundhouse in Aurora, Ill.

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Homebrewers head to Denver

Posted in Homebrewing, Just for fun on   

Eight hundred or so homebrewers will gather this week in Denver for the American Homebrewers Association’s national conference.

Last week the Rocky Mountain News had a story about how the hobby contributes to Colorado’s economy – including the fact that perhaps 90% of professional brewers got their start as home brewers. The Denver Post had a similar story about “Making leap from beer to there.”

The conference itself runs Thursday through Friday (details), but there are official pre-conference events beginning Tuesday.

Additionally, Flying Dog Brewery and Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. are hosting a reception Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Blake Street Tavern, next door to Flying Dog Brewery in Denver.

Reception attendees will be treated to presenting speakers from both Flying Dog and Wyeast, an array of door prizes, complementary hors d’oeuvres and samples of Flying Dog’s barrel-aged Horn Dog Barley Wine release. Admission is FREE, but limited to the first 75 people.

Speakers scheduled to present:
Eric Warner – Lead Dog, Flying Dog Brewery: Discussing his background, the importance of homebrewing and how to get into the beer business
Matt Brophy – Head Brewer, Flying Dog Brewery: Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project
Jon Graber – Wyeast, Marketing and Sales Manager: Wyeast’s “Very Special Strain” (VSS) promotion
David Logsdon – Wyeast, Founder/Owner – The importance of yeast health
Greg Doss – Wyeast, QC Manager/Brewer/Microbiologist – The benefits of using the Wyeast Activator package.

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Sasquatch Brewfest

Posted in Beers, Breweries, Just for fun on   

Posted by Banjo Bandolas

Anyone who’s ever been to Eugene, Oregon can tell you it’s not average in any way shape or form. Portlanders, a hundred miles north, call Eugene, Hippie-town. Cupped in the palm of the southern end of the beautiful Willamette Valley, Eugene’s a university town that draws extremes of every type. It’s also a place where somehow those extremes manage to coexist if not always amicably, at least with a mutual respect. Eugene is where I live and the home of the Sasquatch Brewfest.

Falconer winners

The Sasquatch Brewfest began 4 years ago and is dedicated to the memory of Glen Falconer, an innovative and creative local brewer well known throughout the brewing industry. Glen, whose nickname was Sasquatch, died in a tragic accident in 2002. Soon after his friends and family created the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation to commemorate Glen’s life and support the craft he so passionately pursued.

(The Sasquatch scholarship winners are pictured above. From left, Ken DesMarets of Skagit River Brewery(Mt. Vernon, WA), winner Corey Blodgett of McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (Hillsboro, Oregon), winner Jacob Leonard of Walking Man Brewing Co. (Stevens, Washington), and Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi Brewery (Eugene, OR). And of course Glen Falconer pictured center.)

The Glen Hay Falconer Foundation promotes several Sasquatchic events each year. A golf/beer drinking tournament during the Oregon Brew Fest called the Sasquatch Brew/Am, the Sasquatch homebrew competition, the Sasquatch/Siebel scholarship competition for professional and home brewers of the Pacific Northwest (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Northern California, and the crown jewel event … the Sasquatch Beer Fest.

The fun started on June 1st, Friday night, with the brewer’s dinner. It was a small gathering of enthusiasts and professionals held at the Mallard. The paired appetizers and entree’s were as follows:

Appetizer: Assorted sushi rolls with Arlen’s (Harris) Tripel brewed at Fish Brewing
Salad: Arugula with jicama and carrot matchsticks, in a Bing Cherry viniagerette with fennel bread sticks paired with Steelhead brewery’s Kolsch.
Entree choices:
Hazelnut and cream cheese stuffed chicken breast with a smoked red pepper coulees
paired with Ninkasi Believer.
Roast Lamb with mushrooms and capers paired with Rogue Black Brutal.
Smoked Salmon roulade with green olives and peppers paired with Oaked Natty Red from Eugene City – Rogue
Eggplant cutlets Au pauve with a mushroom based green peppercorn sauce paired with Willamette Brewing’s IPA.
All entrees were served with mint cous cous and vegetables
Dessert: Chocolate Chambord cake with vanilla custard paired with Oatmeal Stout from High Street

Boy did I pick the wrong week to go on a diet! Thankfully the spirit of Gambrinus had, thru liquid lubrication, loosened my grip on dietary resolve and I was able to enjoy the evening without the nagging guilt that accompanies such rich indulgence. Of course, the fortunate coincidence that my nagging guilt had to study for a test that night and couldn’t attend helped a lot.

Though some of the paired beers weren’t something I’d usually drink, paired with the food they were all absolutely delicious.
The first beer of the meal, Arlen’s triple came with a friend. A Gueuze (yet to be named) Arlen Harris brewed at Issaqua Brewing Company, which came with a story worth sharing. The Gueuze, a wheat with hints of coriander and cumin, had spent a year fermenting in an oak barrel at the brewery.

Arlen figured it must have been during the Christmas party that some young wannabe brewers knocked off the airlock and contributed what may have been the most unusual ingredient you’ll ever find in a beer. I don’t think even Sam Calagione, a name synonymous with weird beer, could have come up with adding red and blue Lego’s to the mix.

Try as I might as I sipped the tart tasty result, I could not detect a trace of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (aka Lego plastic), but I did feel the urge to bond with several of the more attractive wait-staff in the room. Coincidence? I think not!

Fade to black …

Falconer winnersSaturday June 2nd was as fine an Oregon day as you could ask for, perfect brewfest weather. As I approached the center of downtown Eugene where the brewfest is held on a 100 foot square postage stamp of land called Kesey Plaza, I spied the familiar wooden Sasquatch statue that marked the entrance to the fest. A line of eager beer enthusiasts jabbered excitedly as they waited for their REAL GLASS sampler. (When’s the last time you got one of those? Guess what, I didn’t hear one hit the ground all day!)

The brewfest may be small in square footage but the beers are chosen with care to reflect the best creative examples of the brewer’s art. The crowd was the usual Eugene mix of regular and not-so-regular citizens commingling into a harmonious mass of beer-happy humanity.

The first beer of the fest for me had to be the Sasquatch Legacy Imperial Steam, made by Walking Man Brewing especially for the Sasquatch Fest with ingredients donated by Wyeast, Hopunion, & Great Western Malting.

Pete DefazioI was more than a little surprised and delighted to find MY congressman, Pete Defazio pulling tap on the other side of the jockey box.

The Sasquatch Legacy Imperial Steam is described as a hoppy, strong (9.2%abv) Northwest version of the California Common beer. As I rolled it around my mouth another beer came to mind, Steelhead’s Hopasaurus Rex, a highly hopped, high alcohol (also 9.2%abv) IPA made right there in Eugene and as luck would have it also was being poured at the festival. I found the tap and compared the big IPA to what I’d just had. Close but there were definite differences in aroma and citrus and floral notes, but they were very close in many ways.

My un-expert opinion; If you like Hopasaurus Rex, you’re going to like Walking Man’s Sasquatch Legacy Imperial Steam, and if you like big Northwest beers you’ll love them both.

I counted 45 breweries in my program (mostly Northwest with a few exceptions) and all but a few only brought one beer, but oh, those beers, at least those I chose were stellar examples of Northwest craft brewing…no, I take that back… stellar examples of CRAFT BREWING period.

In honor of Sasquatch I decided to limit my tastings to some of the fests bigger beers. A few examples- Rogue Russian Imperial Stout, Deschutes SuperJubel, Pelican Brewery’s India Pelican Ale, and Ninkasi Brewery’s Jack Watters Stout.

After a much needed palate cleanse I planted myself in front of the bandstand with my final beer of the day, a glass of Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Brown Sugga (200 pounds of brown sugar in each 30bbl batch and 10%abv) and listened to a band called Spun Honey crank out a perfect rendition of Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb. The beer was soft, malty, and smooth. Never giving any hint of the pile driver punch beneath the velvety taste. The music mixed with the beer and I found myself thinking of Glen Falconer. He’d sure be proud of the big little brewfest that bears his name.

Falconer winners

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‘Beer for bags’ hits snag

Posted in Beer culture, Just for fun on   

Australia-based Crumpler has generated publicity with a “beer for bags” promotion in several of its worldwide stores before, but is finding a problem in Canada.

From the Globe and Mail:

“In Australia, bartering, especially with beer, is a very common occurrence,” he said. “So this just comes naturally to us.”

There’s just one catch: According to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, using alcohol as a means of exchange – bartering – is illegal.

AGCO spokesman Ab Campion said that by using the beer as a form of payment for merchandise, customers would technically be selling the beer without a liquor licence, which is a violation of the province’s Liquor Licence Act, he said.

Roper said he and his partners have examined the Ontario bylaws and are confident their promotion is within the bounds of the law.

We’ll see how it plays out.

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Kegerator Give-Away Contest

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Kegerators.net is giving away a free kegerator. For those not familiar with the term, a kegerator is a refrigerator that holds and dispenses keg beer.

The Kegerator Give-Away Contest invites participants to fill out an entry form that explains why they should to win a kegerator. The Kegerators.net stuff will pick what they consider the most deserving story.

“While I wish I could win the kegerator, we’ve decided to part with one of them, for the sake of our readers,” said Christian Lavender, senior editor of Kegerators.net.

Additional information and contest rules.

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Miller tap on Coors keg equals state fine

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The operator of the bar in a Wisconsin American Legion received a ticket for pouring Coors Light with a Miller Lite handle – even though he told his customers it was Coors Light.

The Appleton Post-Crescent has the mildly confusing story:

(Ray) Wendt’s American Legion bar normally serves Miller Lite.

But a wedding party asked for Coors Light for their reception earlier this month.

Wendt ordered it, then found the tap handle he was given didn’t fit his dispenser.

He substituted a Miller Lite handle.

“It’s not like I was pouring different liquor into a bottle,” he said. “The Coors and Miller Lite cost the same.”

The next morning, he served leftover Coors Light to his regulars.

“I said it was Coors Light, not Miller,” he said. “I didn’t lie to nobody.”

He took a few days off and returned to work May 8, when two representatives from the state Department of Revenue and a Port Washington police officer conducted the annual inspection of his bar. They found the Miller Lite handle still connected to the Coors Light barrel.

And that’s against city and state laws.

Is there a commercial, maybe a taste test, somewhere in there?

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Beer festival runs out of beer

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Oops. The Stratford Real Ale Festival (Stratford-upon-Avon, the Shakespeare place) was supposed to run three days.

But they ran out of beer on the second day.

Organiser Bob Mansfield told the Herald: “We ran out of food at 8.30pm and went dry at 9.30pm. We could not bring in extra supplies from the breweries because real ale has to be left standing for 24 hours. So, sadly, we had to shut the door.”

The Herald wants you to buy the weekly to get the whole story.

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Coors fights ‘warm beer syndrome’

Posted in Beers, Just for fun on   

To promote its new Cold Activated Bottle, Coors Light plans the “World’s Most Refreshing Happy Hour” to help “adult consumers nationwide to stop suffering from warm beer syndrome.” From the press release:

Coors Brewing Company executives, employees and distributors are joining forces to build awareness and trial of the company’s latest innovation, the Cold Activated Bottle. Mountains on the label turn from white to blue when Coors Light is at the optimal temperature for cold refreshment. In cities nationwide, Coors ambassadors will be working with retailers to engage consumers and encourage trial of the Cold Activated Bottle.

“When drinkers choose Coors Light, they’re looking for refreshment. The Cold Activated Bottle is designed to ensure that drinkers experience the coldest, most refreshing beer possible,” said Andy England, chief marketing officer for Coors Brewing Company. “On May 18, we are celebrating our newest innovation by inviting consumers to come out and raise a cold one for the World’s Most Refreshing Happy Hour.”

It seems we all have our own way of celebrating American Craft Beer Week.

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How strong is that beer?

Posted in Beer culture, Just for fun on   

CBS 4 in Denver found out not everybody knows even close to how much alcohol is in their beer.

“Twenty eight percent?” said one man. “Seven percent,” said another.

Alan Gionet put together a story that explains why some beers are stronger, as well as listing their strengths. Pretty basic stuff if you’re already a beer enthusiast, but with more consumers turning to craft beer every day quite useful.

Things get confusing when you get to dark beers. Many think they have more alcohol. Not true. The chocolaty colored Guinness Draught sports only about four percent. That’s less than Bud Light, Coors Light or Miller Lite.

“That is one of the classic misperceptions about beer strength,” said Eric Warner, co-owner, or “Lead Dog” as he likes to title himself of Flying Dog Brewery in Denver.

“The strength in beer comes from how much grain you put in, not the color of the grain,” Warner said. “Alcohol actually has, contributes a flavor and a lot of times what you’re doing in the brewing process to create more alcohol, you’re going to get more flavor out of it as well.”

Warner said there seems to be demand for higher alcohol beers right now and his company is responding with some heavyweights.

“As the category of craft beer keeps evolving, people want to try newer bolder products,” Warner said.

We’ve got our own list at Realbeer.com that includes not only alcohol strength, but calories and carbs when available.

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Lemon your Widmer

Posted in Just for fun on   

Warning: Do not visit LemonYourWidmer.com if you have any lemons watching your computer monitor.

This will devastate them.

What you will find there is a collection of videos revolving around lemons and Widmer Hefeweizen, the Oregon beer most often served with a lemon in the glass.

How the lemon gets in the glass is subject of many of these mini-movies, some more amusing than others.

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World Beer Fest – Raleigh

Posted in Beer culture, Beers, Just for fun on   

Posted by Banjo Bandolas

Let me preface this fieldtrip report with a simple declaration. “I am not a beer writer, a beer judge, or a brewer. I simply work for a beer magazine and enjoy the side benefit of visiting breweries and attending beer fests immensely.” I recently returned from attending the World Beer Fest and thought I’d share the experience with fellow beer lovers in the Real Beer community.

There’s only one thing I like more than a Carolina pulled pork BBQ sandwich, that’s a fine beer to enrich the experience. So my attendance at the bi-annual World Beer Fest in Raleigh, NC was as close to a nirvanic experience as this son of the south has ever gotten.

The day was picture perfect in North Carolina’s capital city. Though the weatherman had been forecasting doom and gloom all week, the predicted storms never materialized and perfect spring weather rewarded the thousands of beer enthusiasts who attended the sold out event.

World Beer Fest

The festival was held downtown in Moore Square, a short walk from the capital building. The park was large enough to give everyone plenty of space to spread out and relax, unlike some fests I’ve been to where sitting in the grass to enjoy a beer puts you in serious danger of being trampled by other attendees.

The first thing I had to do upon entering the fest was decide which of the two huge tents sheltering the beer stations I’d visit first. With over 400 beers to choose from and only 4 hours to act on my selections I didn’t make the choice lightly. Fortunately I found Flying Saucer had created eight flight lists that took the pressure off.

The flights were as follows:

  • Hop Heads Delight – The festivals bitterest beers.
  • Going Green – Organic beers
  • Brews from Belgium – Belgian originals and American interpretations.
  • Tar Heel Beers – North Carolina breweries
  • Not Afraid of the Dark – Dark flavorful beers
  • Classic British Ales – Beers that were the inspiration for the American craft brew revolution.
  • Culture Clash – Original European styles and American interpretations.
  • You Put What In My Beer? – There’s more to beer than barley, hops, yeast, and water.

    I admit I felt a bit ambitious when I checked Tar Heel Beers, Not Afraid of the Dark, and You Put What in My Beer?. I took a deep breath, unsheathed my festival glass, closed my eyes and threw myself into the crush of humanity. It wasn’t too bad. The lines were seldom longer than 3 or 4 at any of the stations I went to as I sampled and checked off beer after beer.

    World Beer Fest

    I admit, my palette was a bit jaded, I live in Oregon and I’d just attended the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin, Texas the week before. That combination can make it a daunting task to find something really new and interesting. I was working my way thru the Tarheel beers which, though they were all well-built microbrews, didn’t really stand out for me, when a tall, flush-faced man broke from the crowd in front of me.

    I was at station 6, cleansing my palette with a sample of Rare Vos by Brewery Ommegang when he appeared and muscled his way thru the sea of happy beer drinkers. He squeezed by me and grabbed the arm of the young man directly behind me.

    “You have to try the Clipper City Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale!” he shouted over the din.

    “Yeah I’ll work my way over there!” the young man shouted back.

    “It’ll be gone! There’s a line and and and … it’ll be all gone dude!” the tall man said dragging his friend away.

    That sounded like a beer worth sampling to me so I leapt into action. Struggling against the tide I went for the nearest exit, burst from the East Martin St. beer tent, quickly consulted my station map, then ran (yes I said RAN) around the outside of the tent and dove into the crowd clogging the South Person St. beer tent entrance and worked my way to the Clipper City Brewery station.

    Compared to other stations there was a pretty good line. A dozen people waited in front of the popular Baltimore brewer’s station when I arrived and joined the queue, panting and clutching my glass. They all seemed to be asking for the Loose Cannon. I greeted the guys I’d heard about it from with a smug grin when they showed up minutes later. Yes! Beer fest training pays off once again.

    Two ounces of Clipper City Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale was worth the trouble. It was a complex with sweet and tart components that blended beautifully with the hop punch. I enjoyed it immensely and plan to work my way thru the rest of their Heavy Seas series when I get the chance.

    World Beer Fest

    After checking off several more good but, sorry, unremarkable North Carolina beers I made a beeline for the All About Beer tent for the first of three presentations slated for the afternoon.

    The sight of two clowns lounging on a bench pulled me up short half way to my destination. I’m not talking about people acting like jerks … These were actual clowns in full clown regalia. And they were, how can I put this nicely…a bit creepy. It was kind of a Stephen King moment that I decided to let go of before my mind went too far down that dark dark road. I did snap a picture though. You never know when the picture of a creepy clown might come in handy, like the next time a toddler gives me some sass. “You don’t want to see me mad son … I’ll go full blown clown on you!”

    The presentations; A Lightning Tour of Classic Beer Styles, Pairing Food and Beer, and Weird Beers of the Fest, were set and hour apart.

    I settled into my seat and beer writer Gregg Glaser launched into his talk about different beer styles and the history behind them. That’s when a wonderful thing happened. Servers started bringing beers to me! Excellent! Here I was, comfortable… getting educated on beer…and being served a selection of great brew. I could get used to this. In fact I decided to do just that. At the end of the first presentation, which was very interesting by the way, I searched out a few select beer stations for untried beers I’ve wanted to add to my list and hustled back for the next presentation. Weird Beers of the Fest with Rick Lyke. There seemed to be a problem with accessing the chosen beers unfortunately and in the end the beers presented weren’t nearly as weird as I hoped but it was all good. The one beer that really turned my head was…and I’m sure no one will be surprised…a Dogfish Head brew. I don’t know how Sammy does it but my god he comes up with some fantastic taste bud teasers.
    Dogfish Head Immort Ale is brewed with organic juniper berries, vanilla & maple syrup then aged in oak and fermented with a blend of English & Belgian yeasts. My first thought was a long Ernest worthy … ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

    Thankfully I’d already tried some before I heard the ingredients. It was, in a word, fabulous. The beer is a burnt orange in color and emitted a sweet aroma with hints of malt, juniper, and oak. The flavor was a smooth and sweet mixed with a gin-like juniper tartness that finished lightly bitter and dry. Very pleasing.

    World Beer Fest

    This time I filled the break with a wonderful combination of North Coast Red Seal Ale and a bit of BBQ at the bandstand. The band, Guta, was a cover band that did a pretty good job of reproducing a lot of great hits from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. The music and food put me in the perfect frame of mind for that third and final presentation, Pairing of Food and Beer by Julie Bradford, editor of All About Beer Magazine. Now, not only was I being plied with beer, but getting fed as well. Score!

    Julie did a great job choosing and pairing the cheese, sausage, and chocolate to world class beer. It was a perfect end to the session for me and I enjoyed and savored all of it and unfortunately I can’t remember the name of a single beer from the presentation. Sorry, what can I say, I’d been drinking for over four hours by that time and even if I could find my notes from that presentation I doubt I could read them. So suffice it to say, it was all really, really good.

    The World Beer Fest, created and produced by All About Beer Magazine, was one of the finest beer fests I’ve ever attended.
    I don’t know if it was the perfect weather, the great selection of Import and American craft brew dispensed at the optimum temperature (not a clinker in the bunch I sampled), the food, the music, the mellow happy crowd, or the interesting beer education side events that pushed my pleasure buttons. But the overall effect wrapped it up into a pleasant little package and made it a great day to share beer and cheer with friends and family.

    Well done All About Beer, I look forward to WBF in Durham this fall.

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    Plant your own beer garden

    Posted in Just for fun on   

    Before you gets your hopes up, the Canadian humor site The Toque may be funny but not authoritative. Still you have to love this idea:

    People will generally buy bottled beer out of convenience, but there is nothing quite as satisfying as the sweet nectar grown from your very own beer garden.

    It even includes handy tips:

    – Plant your beer garden in a secure place, away from curious teenagers or alcoholic neighbors.
    – Long-neck bottles are easier to pull out of the ground than stubbies.
    – Don’t drink your beer before its time. Green beer is often sour or tart, and you’ll probably have to chase it down with a shot of whiskey.
    – Avoid over-planting. Too many beers in one garden will result in a watery, low-alcohol “lite” beer.

    The story is good to the last drop.

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    Science and a better beer head

    Posted in Just for fun, News on   

    U.S. mathematicians have come up with a formula that predicts how the head on a beer will change after pouring. Details of their work appears in the journal Nature.

    The research could have applications in metallurgy, as the BBC explains, but any brewer will tell you there many contributors to pouring and retaining a good head.

    Here are the basics from the math guys:

    Writing in Nature, Robert MacPherson, from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and David Srolovitz, from Yeshiva University in New York, describe an equation that works in three dimensions, as well as four, five and six dimensions.

    “What happens in beer, is the small bubbles shrink, the big bubbles grow,” Professor Srolovitz told BBC News.

    “Eventually, the big bubbles pop – although they pop for slightly different reasons. On Earth, there’s gravity and the liquid that’s within the walls tends to drain out back into the beer. The walls get thinner and thinner and eventually they pop.”