Archive for October, 2008
Beer Headline Website
Friday, October 31st, 2008 | Beer News | No Comments
I ran across this great website that I wanted to share with my fellow beer lovers….
http://beer.alltop.com includes links to dozens of great beer websites.
How Can We Increase Voter Turnout?
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | Beer News | No Comments
Check out this i-report at CNN…….
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-125450
Voting at a brewpub? Hell yeah!
Brewhouse Efficiency Explained
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | Beer News | No Comments
During our latest beer tasting event the topic of brewhouse efficiency was brought up. Here is a link to an explanation posted at beersmith.com - this explains it much more clearly than I could.
http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/10/26/brewhouse-efficiency-for-all-grain-beer-brewing/
The bottom line is what percent of the sugars are you extracting from your grains into your wort.
Sam Adams Longshot Winners Announced
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 | Beer News | No Comments
The Longshot Winners are
Drobshoff’s Traditional Bock, Sweigart’s Cranberry Wit, and McDole’s Double IPA
www.samueladams.com/promotions/LongShot/winners.aspx
The DIPA won last year but was delayed due to the hops shortage. It is a modified version of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. Available in April 2009………
New at DLM Springboro
Friday, October 17th, 2008 | What's in Stores | No Comments
Dorothy Lane in Springboro just got in the Southern Tier Cuvee Series One. It’s described as slight malt flavor with mild bitterness, dry finish with subtle hop aroma. Aged in French Oak, it has “qualities of toasted coconut, almond biscotti and toasted almonds with a tast of honeysuckle”. They plan on tasting it tonight at the Friday beer tasting from 3-7PM.
Zoo Brew
Friday, October 17th, 2008 | Tasting Reviews | No Comments
Thursday night, I had the opportunity to attend one of the most interesting and unusual beer tasting events in the area. ”Zoo Brew” is an annual event hosted at the Cincinnati Zoo and is a fund raiser forConservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) department at the zoo. Not sure what exactly to expect, the price of the ticket included good beer, lots of food samples (including BW3’s, City BBQ and other area restaurants, live animals, and special opportunity to tour the CREW research lab.
By far, the most interesting part of the night was the short tour through the CREW research lab (which was tucked in the far end of the zoo behind the Safari Camp). If you can picture the research lab from Jurassic Park, the only thing missing from this building were actual dinosaurs. There is a “frozen zoo” room where they store sperm, egg and embryos at temperatures of -196C, as well as an operating room used for artificially inseminating species. You can peer through a window to the “cat room” containing successful test-tube breeding of ocelot’s and other small endangered cats. Other CREW research projects includes reproductive breakthrough’s for endangered rhinos and cheetahs, as well successfully using in vitro methods to propagate and preserve endangered plants such as the African Violet. You can even purchase test tube plants such as the Venus flytrap that can eventually be transplanted to soil.
But the main focus of the night was beer tasting, and they had plenty of beer samples supplied by Samuel Adams. I have to think that Samual Adams must be the antithesis of Dogfish Head. Where Dogfish continues to pushes the limit to make extreme beers completely different than anything else you tasted, it seems that Samual Adams thrives on perfecting a style of beer so that it is a near perfect representation of that style. The samples (as many as you want spread out through various stations within the Safari Camp) included Irish Red, Boston Lager, Winter Lager, Imperial Pilsner, Cherry Wheat, Brown Ale, Honey Porter, Black Lager and Boston Ale. They also had two new beers they were testing, a Blackberry Witbier and a Coffee Stout. For an additional $8, you could buy a commemorative Zoo Brew pint glasses which included 2 pints of the Sam Adams Octoberfest draught. In addition to beer, their was a table for wine as well as a table featuring Twisted Tea Originals (spiked iced tea and lemonade!).
The beers that stood out for me were the Imperial Pilsner, Black Lager, Honey Porter, Coffee Stout and Boston Ale (not to be confused with Boston Lager, the Boston Ale was a Pale Ale with a nice hoppy/citrus flavor). But the beers tonight was just a backdrop to the amazing research and work done by this organization. Next time you are at the zoo, be sure and make the side trip to the CREW research facilities (they do have an exhibit room that is open to the public).
Cask AleFest
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Events | No Comments
I completely forgot to mention in my last post details on an exciting new event coming to Dayton. Chappy’s will be hosting the first annual Dayton CaskAle Fest on November 1, from 1-5PM. Tickets are $40/person and there are only 175 available.
This event will feature only cask-conditioned ales (or “real beers”). Not sure how they will set this up, since these are traditionally served from the cellar, but it should be an exciting event.
For more information on the differences between cask-conditioned ales and normal kegs, here’s a great starting reference. Cask-conditioned ales are not normally found in the United States, so this will be a great and unique opportunity to sample a variety of beers made in this fashion…
http://www.cask-ale.co.uk/us/realale.html
As usual, be sure and check out our calendar for all the latest beer tasting events.
Chuck
Beertasting Events
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Events, What's in Stores | No Comments
Went to DLM Springboro Friday for their Friday afternoon beertasting. Southern Tier Hoppe was OK as an Imperial IPA and Barrel House Octoberfest was somewhat flat and disappointing.
But the third beer they had was a refreshing reminder of why I enjoy going to these type of events. Giri, the beer manager, just got some Liefmans Goudenband that came in and he was anxious to try it as a bonus beer for the week. Imported from Belgium, it is described on the bottle as a Flemish Brown Ale and is $5.99 for a bottle that’s just a little larger than 12 ounces.
The beer was somewhat sweet and sour, similar to a sour ale, but much more smooth and drinkable. It had delicious raisins and grapes flavors to it, and it reminded me more of a complex port wine — would make a great dessert beer or nightcap and I got two bottles of it.
Speaking of beertasting events, the following events are on the horizon.
This Thursday, Oct 16, 5:30-8:30PM there is a seasonal beer tasting at DLM in Oakwood. Not sure what they plan on tasting, but the prices are normally very reasonable.
More interestingly, the same night is Zoo Brew at the Cincinnati Zoo. It takes place inside the zoo at the Safari Camp from 6:00-8:30PM. I talked with Valerie at the zoo and she emphasized that the zoo would not be open outside of this event and the event is adults only (I was kind of hoping to combine a beer tasting with a family night at the zoo, but it sounds like that won’t happen). It does say that there will be brew masters on site to discuss the science of beer and the event will feature a variety of beers by Samuel Adams as well as a variety of appetizers. Tickets are $30 for the event pre-sale, $40 on the day of the event. I’m thinking about attending this so let me know if you are interested.
Jungle Jim’s will be having a Bell’s tasting on Friday, Nov 7 from 7-9 PM. Cost is $25, and they say to watch for a “Special Guest”. Hmmm, I wonder if they can get Larry Bell himself ?
Finally, DLM in Springboro has a very special holiday wine and beer tasting coming up on Nov 6. This is mostly a wine event, but I’ve heard they will have at least 20 beers for sale. They will also have chef’s from some of the finest restaurants (including Chef Anne from Rue Dumaine). Tickets are $70 / person (all you can eat/drink in two hours) and I hear they are pretty much sold out (although I may be able to get you two tickets).
Top 100 Beers Found at GABF 2008
Monday, October 13th, 2008 | Trip Reports | No Comments
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New Beer Blog
Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | Announcements | No Comments
Welcome to our new beer blog. It has many improvements over the previous site, including a much easier to remember URL.
Todd and Steve are on their way to GABF, and they’ve promised to post new information/trip reviews as soon as they can.
- Anybody can post new content to our site or comment to an existing post. Just let Chuck know if you want this functionality and I can give you an ID
- Post can be filtered by categeory. Not interested in reading about the latest beer tasting but looking for info on what’s new in stores? Just use the Categeory widget on the right to filter what content you are looking for.
- You can post and/or comment from any computer in the world
- Search engine to search archives
- Archive entries categorized by date
- Much more functionality and fun to come!