What started as a joke is now a well-studied professional pursuit, and not the only positive correlation between running and drinking. Could beer actually be a recovery drink?
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Brewmaster Movie Opens October 19th
Douglas Tirola details the rise of craft beer’s popularity and follows two enthusiasts chasing their American brewing dreams.
The movie opens in select theaters October 19th and and digital formats on November 20th. Take a look at the trailer below.
Link: A Guide to Craft Beer Fests
Craft beer Scribe brings us a great two part series, a sort of howto for beer fest goers. Take a look:
Part I: Surviving Beer Festivals and Alternatives
Part II: The Best Beer Fests
Milwaukee Brewers Fans — Free Beer, Thanks to Coors?
“Coors Field and Miller Park are our namesake stadiums in our brewery hometowns, which makes this series even more exciting,†Adam Dettman, director of brand experience for MillerCoors says. “These are two great clubs, and they’ve got a rivalry that extends all the way through to our employees. This is a great chance for us to celebrate with them and our fans in both cities.â€
So then MillerCoors divisions Miller and Coors had a bet based on Miller Park team the Milwaukee Brewers playing the Coors Field team the Denver Rockies in the NLDS with the winning teams fans getting free Miller or Coors. Whew.
Well now that the Milwaukee Brewers have swept the sleeping Denver Rockies, Coors will be picking up the tab for free beer at Milwaukee bars on Friday.
Weekend Video: An American Small Town – New Glarus Brewing Company
Weekend Video: Alcohol and the Human Body (1949)
It’s always interesting to look back, even if it’s prohibitionist propaganda.
Newest Game of Thrones beer called Valar Dohaeris
Brewery Ommegang has introduced the newest beer in its Games of Thrones series and will also bring back another. Valar Dohaeris Tripel Ale is the latest beer in the series, and will be available in a variety of different packages as well as alongside previously released sister-brew Valar Morghulis.
Fans of Game of Thrones know that “Valar Morghulis” means “All Men Must Die” in High Valyrian and is traditionally answered with the phrase “Valar Dohaeris,” which means “All Men Must Serve.” Label art for both bottles features the two-headed coin, given to Arya Stark by Jaqen H’ghar, which gained her passage to Braavos at the end of Season 5. Arya spent most of Season 6 in Braavos training to become a faceless assassin, making the naming of the latest beer and the decision to re-release Valar Morghulis a no-brainer.
“Of the classic Belgian styles, the dubbel and the tripel are two of our favorites to brew, and both are styles we’re particularly well known for,” Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart said for a company press release. “I love the idea of releasing them together side-by-side. It is such a great way to experience them. They are also pretty hearty and should age nicely over time, so fans can stock up to last them through the winter and to fill the void until next season.”
HefeWheaties – trend or gimmick?
A Minneapolis brewery has partnered with General Mills to create a limited edition beer called HefeWheaties. Not surprisingly it will be a German-style hefeweizen.
General Mills stated in a press release that the beer will not actually contain Wheaties cereal, but will be representative of the Wheaties brand.
Fulton Brewery plans to release the beer Aug. 26 and only in Minnesota.
“We’ll see how people react to it,” said Fulton co-founder Ryan Petz. “If it’s something everybody loves, we’ll obviously consider doing it again in a bigger and more widely distributed way in the future.”
Drinkers to decide which retired Sam Adams beers to resurrect
Boston Beer Co., brewer of Samuel Adams beers, plans to bring back some retired favorites this year and next, and is letting drinkers determine just what those favorites are. Through online and in-person voting, drinkers will determine which two brews will emerge from the Samuel Adams “vault” for national distribution in early 2016. The choices include beers included more than 20 years ago, including Cherry Lambic.
Here’s how it works:
– Starting today, drinkers can visit the Samuel Adams website http://www.samueladams.com/drinker-favorites to select four beers (from 16 offered) they would like to see back on shelves. Drinkers can return once a day to vote for their favorites.
– After voting closes May 25, Samuel Adams will tally the votes and brew the four beers that get the most votes.
– The four finalist brews will be poured in July and August at the Boston Brewery and select beer festivals nationwide, and a final round of online voting will take place during the summer, where drinkers can vote for the two final winning brews.
– The two beers that get the most votes will be declared winners and re-released in the January 2016 Samuel Adams Variety Pack.
“We’ve been brewing boundary-pushing beers for over 30 years, but with innovation comes the inevitability of having to tuck away the recipes for some our favorite brews to save for another day,” Boston Beer founder Jim Koch said. “We hear from our drinkers nearly every day asking us to re-release their favorites, so we’re excited to make these brews available once again on a national level.”
Homebrewers Association gives Obama lifetime membership
The American Homebrewers Association has given special lifetime gift memberships to President Obama and outgoing White House chef Sam Kass.
The president made history when he purchased a homebrewing kit and — along with Kass — headed the effort to brew White House Honey Ale, the first beer known to have been brewed in the White House.
“Homebrewing is a model example of a bipartisan, pro-community and pro-business activity that all kinds of people can be passionate about and enjoy. President Obama and chef Kass are among the nation’s 1.2 million homebrewers, which include both Republicans and Democrats,” AHA director Gary Glass said for a press release announcing the gifts. “What better way to honor their enthusiasm for the hobby than to give them a lifetime membership to our community, which consists of many leaders, patriots and successful craft beer entrepreneurs.”
President Obama and Kass were mailed the letters below from Glass on behalf of the organization.
To President Obama:
Dear Mr. President:
As one of the nation’s 1.2 million homebrewers, we would be honored to provide you a complimentary lifetime membership to the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), an organization dedicated to promoting the country’s ever-growing community of homebrewers.
Since its founding in 1978, the AHA has worked to educate Americans about the country’s longstanding tradition of homebrewing. Your participation in homebrewing has elevated national awareness for the hobby and has inspired the country’s homebrewers, many of whom have become successful craft beer entrepreneurs.
We thought this membership, which we have also given to chef Sam Kass as he completes his tenure at the White House, would be a fitting and timely holiday gift. Homebrewing is an activity that everybody—regardless of their background or politics—can bond over and enjoy. As part of your holiday celebrations this year, we hope you will brew a batch of the White House Honey Ale or Honey Porter, the brews that have drawn such great national attention to our favorite hobby.
We look forward to you becoming a member of the American Homebrewers Association.
Happy holidays, and cheers to homebrewing.
Yours truly,
Gary Glass
Director
American Homebrewers Association
To chef Kass:
Dear Chef Kass:
As you complete your tenure at the White House, we wanted to send a thank-you gift for all the contributions you have made to the country, and, in particular, to the advancement of our favorite hobby: homebrewing.
We would be honored to provide you a complimentary lifetime membership to the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), an organization dedicated to promoting the country’s ever-growing community of homebrewers.
Since its founding in 1978, the AHA has worked to educate Americans about the country’s longstanding tradition of homebrewing. Your enthusiasm for the craft, and your initiative in experimenting with and sharing the White House’s delicious homebrew recipes have been wonderful—and we are deeply grateful.
We thought this membership, which we have also given to President Obama, would be a fitting gift for the holidays. As part of your holiday celebrations this year, we hope you will brew a batch of the White House Honey Ale or Honey Porter, the brews that have drawn such great national attention to our favorite hobby.
We look forward to you becoming a member of the American Homebrewers Association. We hope this membership will allow you to continue to engage in the hobby as you embark on your next endeavor.
Cheers, and happy holidays.
Yours truly,
Gary Glass
Director
American Homebrewers Association
Oktoberfest in Munich begins Saturday
Graphic courtesy of HomeBrewWest.
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America goes on tour
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is inviting every craft brewery in the country to take part in a multi-weekend traveling beer festival this summer, featuring both the 12 beers in its Beer Camp Across America project and local ones on each stop.
“We’re about to open a second brewery in North Carolina, and while that’s exciting for us, it’s an even greater reason to celebrate the future of craft brewers everywhere,” Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman said for a press release. “We’ve watched and learned from each other for decades, and together we’ve seen tastes change and craft’s momentum snowball. Beer Camp Across America is our way of reflecting on this—with thousands of brewers, fans and great beers. It should be pretty fun.”
Beer Camp Across America will include seven stops as it travels west, beginning at Sierra Nevada’s California brewery and ending at its new North Carolina facility. The schedule:
* Sat, July 19: Northwest Edition at Sierra Nevada Hop Field in Chico, CA, 12-5 p.m.
* Sun, July 20: Southwest Edition at Embarcadero North in San Diego, CA, 1-6 p.m.
* Fri, July 25: Rocky Mountain Edition at Sculpture Park in Denver, CO, 5-10 p.m.
* Sun, July 27: Midwest Edition at Navy Pier in Chicago, IL, 12-5 p.m.
* Fri, Aug. 1: New England Edition at Thompson Point in Portland, ME, 5-10 p.m.
* Sat, Aug. 2: Mid-Atlantic Edition at Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia, PA, 12-5 p.m.
* Sun, Aug. 3: Southeast Edition in Mills River, NC, 1-6 p.m.
Each festival will feature up to two beers per brewery, food vendors, and live music by the MarchFourth Marching Band spectacle. Tickets cost $65 for general admission, which includes a tasting glass and unlimited tastings, and are limited to 5,000 per venue. They are on sale at www.SierraNevada.com/BeerCamp.
At a press conference announcing the festival, Sierra Nevada also revealed the full lineup for its Beer Camp Across America 12-pack, a dozen collaboration beers. The brewing partners will join selective legs of the festival tour and the 12-pack will be available in stores nationally. The partners and the beers:
* Allagash Brewing Co, Portland, ME (Myron’s Walk Belgian-Style Pale Ale)
* Asheville Brewers Alliance, Asheville, NC (Tater Ridge Scottish Ale ~ 7% ABV ~ 35 IBU)
* Ballast Point Brewing Co, San Diego, CA (Electric Ray India Pale Lager ~ 8.5% ABV ~ 70 IBU)
* Bell’s Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI (Maillard’s Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale ~ 8.5% ABV ~ 40 IBU)
* Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, FL (Yonder Bock Tropical Maibock ~ 7.7% ABV ~ 45 IBU)
* Firestone Walker Brewing Co, Paso Robles, CA (Torpedo Pilsner ~ 5.2% ABV ~ 45 IBU)
* New Glarus Brewing Co, New Glarus, WI (There and Back English-Style Bitter ~ 5.6% ABV ~ 40 IBU)
* Ninkasi Brewing Co, Eugene, OR (Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout ~ 7.6 ABV ~ 60 IBU)
* Oskar Blues Brewing Co, Longmont, CO & Brevard, NC (CANfusion Rye Bock ~ 7.2% ABV ~ 45 IBU)
* Russian River Brewing Co, Santa Rosa, CA (Yvan the Great Belgian-Style Blonde ~ 6.3% ABV ~ 50 IBU)
* Three Floyds Brewing, Munster, IN (Chico King Pale Ale ~ 6.5% ABV ~ 45 IBU)
* Victory Brewing Co, Downingtown, PA (Alt Route Altbier ~ 6.6% ABV ~ 50 IBU)
Oregon Brewers Festival adds European breweries to mix
The Oregon Brewers Festival has invited 11 breweries from the Netherlands plus one from Germany to add their beers to the already imposing lineup for the 27th annual event July 23-27 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland.
The European breweries will serve their beers in the festival’s Specialty Tent, an area where an additional four dozen vintage, barrel aged, blends and esoteric one-offs are offered.
Dubbed NL to PDX (#NLtoPDX), the program started when festival director Art Larrance learned that Portland has a Friendship City relationship with the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Upon visiting, he discovered a growing craft brewing movement that reminded him of the Northwest craft beer industry in the 1980s. “Featuring international brewers is a natural extension for the OBF,” Larrance said in a press release. “We want to develop a long term cultural exchange and share our passion, knowledge and friendship with these brewers as part of a collective celebration of great craft beer.”
Eighty-six breweries from around the country will serve beer in the main tent.
Admission into the festival grounds is free. Those who want to drink beer must buy a 2014 souvenir 12.8-ounce tasting glass for $7. Beer is purchased with wooden tokens, which cost $1 apiece. Patrons pay four tokens for a full glass of beer, or one token for a taste. There are no advance tickets sold to the festival; all purchases are made on-site.
Goose Island puts the black in Black Friday
Chicago-based Goose Island Beer Co. once again plans to help make Black Friday, the day otherwise known as a grand shopping event, more beer friendly.
The brewery will release several varieties of its Bourbon County Brand Stouts nationwide and hold special events in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Austin.
Looking for beer gift ideas for the holidays? Visit the Real Beer Guide.
Former brewmaster Greg Hall made first by Bourbon County Stout in 1992 to mark the 1,000th batch of beer brewed a what was then a brewpub. At the time, no other commercial brewery in the country was aging beers in bourbon barrels with the intention of extracting some of the remaining flavors. Now breweries around the world put beer in used spirits barrels.
Friday, Nov. 29, Goose Island will release:
– Bourbon County Brand Stout, an imperial stout, that at 14.5% ABV lives up the the name. It is sold in four packs of 12-ounce bottles.
– Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout, brewed using coffee roasted from Intelligentsia Coffee, which is next door to Goose Island’s Fulton Street production brewery. 14.3% ABV and also sold in four packs.
– Bourbon County Brand Barleywine, which is new in 2013 and is aged in the third-use barrels that were once home to Kentucky bourbon and then Bourbon County Brand Stout. 14.2% ABV and sold in four packs.
– Backyard Rye Bourbon County Brand Stout, also new for 2013. Aged in Templeton Rye whiskey barrels with fresh mulberries, marionberries, and boysenberries. This one is sold in 22-ounce bottles.
– Proprietor’s Bourbon County Brand Stout,a small batch brewed exclusively for Chicago. For 2013, it was aged in Templeton Rye whiskey barrels with coconut toasted by hand by the Goose Island brewers. Sold in 22-ounce bottles.
This is the fourth year Goose Island is releasing Bourbon County Brands on Black Friday. More than 400 people lined up in Chicago last year for the special releases, and the company expects similar excitement in other cities this year. To learn more about the events visit the brewery’s Facebook page.
Pumpkin brewers hold carving contest
Voting has begun in The Big Craft CarveOff organized by New Belgium Brewing. The Colorado brewery and seven others have put their carving skills on display and consumers may vote for their favorites at Eater.com. New Belgium will donate $5,000 to a charity of the winner’s choice. Voting ends Oct. 15.
New Belgium’s carved entry celebrates its current seasonal release, Pumpkick Ale. Pumpkick is brewed with cranberries as well as the other ingredients association with pumpkin pies.
Other breweries participating in the carving contest include: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Brooklyn Brewery, Cigar City Brewing, Cambridge Brewing Company, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales (pictured above), Saint Arnold Brewing and Saint Louis Brewery/Schlafly Beer.
“It was a little tricky for some breweries to find pumpkins this early in the season, so we actually had to ship some from Fort Collins,” said New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson. “The results speak volumes as to how many creative folks we have in our industry. Pretty inspiring.”