Since I have some home brew reviews that I want to post consecutively later this week I am shaking up my typical schedule again by doing beer news on what is normally a beer review day.  With the pumpkin beer evaluations last week and the first “Random Thought Monday” yesterday, I am just going to keep things a bit out of order for a while longer.

Now I will kick off (what I think is) the first ever Tuesday beer news with . . .

• A story that was sent to me by The Wife of a man in Argentina who built his house out of millions of empty beer bottles.  Maybe this is a hint that she wants me to fill our garage with empties for future building project purposes?

• Growing water scarcity around the world and increasing pressure to cut consumption has led AB InBev (and many other companies) to look at ways to cut their water use and still increase production levels.  It seems to me like that just makes too much sense to do, water scarcity or not.

• Though primarily using examples from the D.C. area, this article speaks of how the craft beer market and specifically those higher end brews are (at least) maintaining popularity through this time of a down economy.

• My love of beer, food, and travel would not let me pass up the opportunity to share a short piece about beer and pork knuckles in Bavaria.  Perhaps this is something to add to (or remove from) your travel itinerary to Germany?

• Last but not least is a drinking game to add to your March Madness fun, though judging by some of the rules you won’t remember much of the action after about half time of the first game.  However I will say that if number fifteen actually happens (which is what caught my eye with this one), I will need far more than one pitcher to make me feel better!

Better have a few poured and ready for the tournament!

Sláinte!

There are not many things that I would choose to do over watching a Syracuse Orange men’s basketball game, but the opportunity to go to the Florida Brewers Guild Beerfest in Tampa is apparently one of those things.  It was probably a good decision, now knowing that we (yes I use we in this case) lost and I likely would have spent the afternoon miserable at home otherwise.  The festival at least gave me an environment that I could not possibly be miserable in. So you might ask what do you do in preparation for such an event?  The answer, of course, would be to have your comrades over to the house for a bacon cake and coffee breakfast before piling into the car for the 90-minute drive.  There is nothing like a nice healthy breakfast of bacon and eggs (in cake form) to start the day off right.  There were certainly no complaints from Gregg, Wayne, and Joe.

Of course there are pecans and apples in there as well to round things out!

We arrived well in advance of the start of the event via an earlier than necessary departure time and the driving skills of Chauffeur Joe.  There was more than enough time to walk around the Ybor City area of Tampa a bit and also enough time that we would have considered (what I think was called) the urban race that was going on in the vicinity.  Now we still don’t know what the race exactly entailed, but it seemed to be a lot to do with a costume party mixed with a scavenger hunt.  It looked like a good time, so maybe next year.

The trolley was on purpose, the finger was not.

This area was less than busy.

There was also plenty of time to grab a bite for lunch before getting to the beer sampling, so we headed to Tampa Bay Brewing Company for some food and, well, a beer.

Just the type of decor I appreciate.

The event started at two and though it was only a few minutes after that when we exited our lunch location, the plazas were already packed and the line at the check-in was down the street of people yet to enter the fray.  I am not going to say that we cut to the front of the line, but since we had a limited window for beer sampling lets just say we didn’t wait very long in it!

Just one half of the action early on.

What is a beer festival without this?

A few familiar faces were found among the crowds as I ran into Tom the Beer Guy multiple times during the day.  I have to thank him very much for suggesting the event (as I would not have known about it otherwise) and for having some Toasted Coconut Porter on hand to sample again.  Though I had no real expectations going in, it turned out to be bigger and better than I thought it would be.  It will be going on the calendar for next year for sure.

At the end of the day for us I was also able to meet up with (now award winning home brewer) Mike Melton and a few of his friends at Tampa Bay Brewing Company.  It was nice to get to catch up with a really nice (beer) guy. It was a fast and furious afternoon and part of an evening.  We definitely all had a great day and I thank the boys for joining me for the fun.  I have some interesting video to share as a way to experience the crowds without having gone to the festival so this will simply be the first of two parts of recapping the event.

A little empty outside after teardown.

As a teaser to that second post and a close to this one I will list a few of the beer highlights for me:

• Hunahpus Mayan Chocolate Imperial Stout from Cigar City – Very glad to sample this one since I will not be able to make the release party at the brewery this Friday.
• Tampa Bay Brewing Company – Since I had never tried any of their beers previously and generally enjoyed them all.
• Cream Ales in general – A style that enjoy but cont drink very often.  Offhand I remember TBBC and Bold City Brewery having nice ones.
• Iniquity Imperial Black Ale from Southern Tier Brewing – A unique style for me and probably my favorite beer of the day.  I immediately went back for a second sample.

Stay tuned!

There is a pretty wide range of beer news to present today.  It is great that I have found stories about beer that also incorporate a few other topics like sports and movies.  Throwing those things into the mix along with a mention of a few of my favorite breweries and a title I would not mind having some day and I think I have a lineup of really good stuff this week.  For your reading pleasure . . .

• Though I was not aware that there was such a title as “Beerdrinker of the Year” until a short time ago, it seems to be an honor that I would not mind having later in life.  I can imagine there is a lot of competition out there for that crown.

• The World Cup in South Africa is still months away, bit there are measures in place to ensure a steady supply of beer for the fans that will be there.  That is a very important detail not to be overlooked.

• I had no idea that the Oscars were coming up this weekend, but I am glad that the author of this article did because he reminded me that I should watch “Strange Brew” again sometime soon.  Beerfest is a guilty pleasure of mine that I have probably watched too many times already.

• This one caught my eye because of the breweries mentioned, but it also is an interesting perspective on the costs of the increasingly diverse creations in the craft beer market (or at least that in Colorado).

• There is increasing interest among beer drinkers in the United States (or at least myself) in knowing more about the beer that they are buying.  Certain breweries have made it possible to experience various parts of the brewing process at some level.  Thank you to Erin for passing this one along.  With a few more you will soon have a permanent contributor credit here!

Woodstock Inn Station and Brewery (via http://travel.nytimes.com)

Salud!

To shake things up a bit (I am just crazy) today there will be a smaller amount of beer news combined with some images that just had to be shared.  So, for your enjoyment today I bring you . . .

• What happens when titans of the craft brewing and culinary worlds combine forces?  I guess any of us who will be visiting New York City starting sometime this summer will find out.  Check out this story and then this article too for more information.  Here is a hint . . .

Just part of the equation (via http://www.huffingtonpost.com/)

I will skip the details because you can check them out by seeing what The Wife had to say, but there was birthday cake earlier this week for yours truly.  There was bacon in it and on it and it was good.  Though after mentioning the bacon no proof of goodness should be necessary, I will still present you with some evidence . . .

Bacon frosting alone would have been good.

But there was bacon in it too!

Mine! You can't have any!

Best.  Wife.  Ever.

There is nothing but positive beer news to share today.  Of course some of the stories out there were downers, but there is no reason to be bummed going into the end of the week.  Really there is no reason to be depressed at all when talking about beer.  So, for your enjoyment today I bring you . . .

• This first one is mostly to remind me to look for a new Shmaltz product on the shelves soon.  Of course I encourage everyone to do the same.

• Thanks goes to The Wife for letting me know of a new beer from Eagle Rock Brewery.  This also makes the cut in part because they use some of my favorite coffee in one of their brews.

• If you like gimmicks with your beer be sure to keep up on the ongoing battle to create the beer with the highest ABV.  Check out the new titleholder.

• Cousin Adam let me know about the expansion of a local brewery back home in Northern New York.  I will be excited to try some new products from Harbor Brewing Co. in the future.

• I guess this one initially caught my eye because of Zane Lamprey’s enjoyment of bia hoi, but this is a good article regarding the beer drinking culture in Vietnam.  Not sure how it was published three days from now though.

Beer delivery in Vietnam (via http://travel.nytimes.com/)

Chia!

There is a pretty wide range of stories for this week’s beer news and all are interesting in their own way.  There are weeks where it is somewhat of a struggle to come up with a decent list, but the tough part this week was to limit the list to a reasonable length.  Since there is some good reading to get to, I will stop my rambling and let you get on to it.  Enjoy . . .

Getting the financial story out of the way at the beginning.  Here is a summary of how beer sales and stocks are currently doing, both for the big boys and craft brewers.

My homage to Central New York for this week is an article recapping FX Matt Brewing Company’s rebuilding and expanding after a 2008 fire.

Sure it is a beer-pouring robot, but don’t we leave the house and go to bars and pubs for some level of human interaction?  Do you tip the robot?

It seems that Erin and Cousin Adam wanted to make sure that I felt better about my beer drinking by letting me know that it is good for my bones.  Maybe another reason to consider it a vitamin?

Sure I am all for good canned beer and smaller craft breweries expanding, but can Oregon share the wealth a little?  Gregg, it is time to book your trip to Oregon for summer 2011!

It may have made more sense to put this one out there when it was posted last month, but we still have much of the year to look forward to some new beers.  Many of my personal favorites are included in this rundown including this month’s honoree, Great Divide Brewing Co.

More beer coming to Astoria (via Jamie Francis/The Oregonian)

Cheers!

Since we did a fair bit of running around last week with Cousin Adam and Melissa here, I have quite a few pictures from (most of) the places that we visited and a few from after they flew back home.  With that, I think more of a pictorial recap is the way to go today rather than many paragraphs of text to go through on a FAT Monday.  So, lets see if I can remember where all of these pictures were taken . . .

Heavenly truffle popcorn with parmesan

Sweetbreads with gnocchi

Beef shortrib ravioli

A short stop by Orlando Brewing to try the goods.

A bit of window shopping in Daytona.

This one was a bit different.

Available in all sizes.

Stopping by the speedway before the crowds arrive.

Soon to be filled.

Soon to be littered with trash.

Taking in some nature.

Another visit to see our manatee friends.

The rains kept us inside at Redlight Redlight

Passing the time with a Brooklyn Cookie Jar Porter and board games before friends arrive.

Enjoying a Saturday afternoon with a good friend.

Surely there are a few stops along the way that didn’t make it into today’s post, but we do occasionally give the camera a rest during our travels.  Looking back, there are a few pictures that I wish were taken, but that only means that a return visit is in order!

Before heading off around midday to work on some additional content for the site (likely to be announced over the weekend), I wanted to be sure to pass along my beer news for the week.  Not that I often have a theme or any continuity between the stories, but today seems even more all over the map than usual.  However they are still stories that caught my eye and/or were passed along to me by others.

As a side comment this morning it seems that my blaming Cousin Adam for bringing the bad weather with him on his visit may have been accurate as today it is again sunny and beautiful outside.  I would like to now thank him for taking the nasty stuff back north with him when he left yesterday!  Now on to the beer stories for this week . . .

• Starting off today with a bit of an explanation of and review for a new, more sustainable brew from Goose Island.

• Articles that highlight the back-story of small breweries continue to grab my attention as I guess that maybe I am searching for my own way into brewing.  Here is one from Ottawa that has some bonus culinary information, including a “Cheddar Ale Soup” recipe.

• Yet another brewery turning to solar energy to offset energy costs at their facilities.  Kona will be the first to do so in Hawaii.

• Whatever the circumstances, you cannot expect to mess with a person’s beer or, in this case, beer making supplies and get away with it.  Thank you to Erin for provided this example!

• Clearly I was drawn to this last article mainly because I think that I will get a chance to try this new beer tomorrow evening here in Orlando.  Never did I expect to try two oatmeal raisin cookie inspired beers in one week.

Combining two great things. (via http://beernews.org/)

Cheers!

In continuing with the “Great Divide Brewing Co. Month” I wanted to pass along some good information about the brewery as a follow up to yesterday’s beer review.  So when I found this video, it immediately became the perfect content for today’s post.  Since the video is (a quick) five minutes long, I will keep my writing short to leave more time to watch it.

Now on with the show . . .

Cheers!

The official first post for “Great Divide Brewing Co. Month” will start with your regularly scheduled beer review tomorrow.  Discussing some of the product seems to be an appropriate way to start such an event.  So for today, I have for you another entry for “Food And Travel Monday,” which in the past has been respectfully referred to as “FAT Monday.”

As a first for The Wife and me, we awoke quite early on Saturday morning to head down to Tampa for a weightlifting competition.  We had a very good reason, as Cousin Adam was to compete in the bench press at the Raw Unity Powerlifting Championships that morning.  Certainly check out the site (and results) to satisfy your curiosity, but this is an occasion where I can let some pictures tell most of the story for me.

Waiting on deck.

You could sit one of me on either side of the bar.

The important part (as I am concerned) is that Cousin Adam set a meet record and won the lightweight division by lifting 363 pounds while weighing in at the 132-pound weight class.  Try to wrap your head around that for a moment.  Obviously a big congrats goes out to him and I know all of the family and friends there supporting him were more than proud.  By the smile on his face after, I would say he was pretty pleased as well!

Collecting some hardware.

Lightweight and Heavyweight champs

After leaving there late Saturday morning, our day continued to be excellent as I was able to visit Cigar City Brewing on our way back to Orlando.

The welcome sign.

Fortunately, since we were there at about 11:01, they open their tasting room at 11 on Saturdays and since they had to unlock the door for us, maybe we arrived 59 seconds earlier than I thought.  One of the good things about being the first and only people there initially was that, as The Wife later put it, I could get “my beer geek on.”  For what turned out to be 90 minutes or so, we were able to talk all things beer with Mike Melton, about Cigar City and beyond.

A brewery is a happy place for me.

As we worked our way through sampler paddles including Jai Alai IPA, Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale, Blueberry Maduro, Winter Warmer, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, and Berliner Weiss (guest tap) I was able to gain a lot of good information.  Visiting a brewery, hearing more of the back-story, and getting to meet some of the people almost always makes me appreciate the product even more and this was no exception.

A few of the participants.

It is certainly tough chose favorites among a lineup of beers where none of them are bad, but I will say that if I had to choose only two to have again they would be the Jai Alai IPA and the Winter Warmer.  The Wife also really enjoyed the Winter Warmer (I believe referring to it as a “glass of awesome”), but her surprise co-winner was the Berliner Weiss.  Even though the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie really grew on me, I went with a growler of the Jai Alai to take home for future enjoyment.

Some of the where the magic happens.

Maybe there is a prize for drinking the contents of this bottle?

You can always take some home with you.

I have gone on a bit longer than usual, but that should be evidence enough of how much I really enjoyed the entire day (also check out the recap from The Wife).  A big thank you to Mike for allowing me to bombard you with questions for a while and for giving me some excellent tips to help me with my home brewing experiments as well as providing additional inspiration to keep chasing my beer dreams.

Say hello to Mike when you stop by on Saturdays

The things happening at Cigar City Brewing in the near future (and beyond) are very exciting, especially for me in Central Florida where we may soon see bottles on the shelves.  I would expect to see more awards and medals on their wall as the months and years pass.  The visit this weekend will not be my only one and if any of you have the opportunity, do yourself a favor and stop by to drink some good beer with some good beer people.

As mentioned on Tuesday, I am planning to dedicate the month of February to a favorite brewery of mine.  Though I am not ready to disclose exactly which one quite yet, I can say that it is located in Colorado and it just might be in Denver.  That should narrow down the list of possibilities until I make the formal announcement.  I also have to say thank you to The Wife for passing along a few of these stories, making this post quite a bit quicker to do.  Now on to the beer stories for today . . .

• This is a story about a brewery in Central New York that is looking to help keep another in Buffalo afloat.  I hope it works out well for both.

• Here is an interesting (and relatively short) video interview done with Mariah Calagione, which announces and gives the story behind a new Dogfish beer that will be available on draft in 2010.

• There is a first for everything on this site and today will be the first link to an exercise article.  Of course it is an article about losing a beer gut without giving up beer though.

• This one probably caught my eye since I recently won a growler kit (http://blogaboutbeer.com) and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival.  It’s a good thing to have if you have a local brewery that will fill it for you.

• Since fast food chains are not typically in my diet, I will likely never actually visit this new BK in Miami, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t pass the news along to those who might.  I guess I am glad to see that they have decided to catch up with what they have been doing in Europe for a long time.

• I am a sucker for a story of a brewery that started out of a garage (maybe keeping hope for me alive) and here is one from LA.

Be sure to let me know how it is. (via http://www.nydailynews.com/)

Cheers!

Though there was really no food involved, I consider a beer tasting event (of sorts) qualifies for my “Food and Travel Monday” since it was held at a place that does serve food.  I suppose that I could also justify it as travel post since we had to drive a whole fifteen minutes to get there.  Either way this is what you are getting from me today!

Around midday Saturday as I was attempting to completely cover myself in paint while working around the house, The Wife was reminded via Twitter of a “meet the brewer” type event going on that evening.  The Brew Crew was hosting a meet and greet with Larry Bell (Bell’s Brewery) at the Eola Wine Company in Winter Park.  With the promise of some special beers on tap and that we would be seeing our friends Emily and Ian, I was glad to clean myself up in time to get there.

The tap handles that would provide the flight. (Thank you Emily!)

Though I was familiar with a few beers from Bell’s, there are far more that I have never tried so it was an easy decision to go for the flight of six that was on draft for the evening. I did actually take a few notes as I was tasting, really only to decide how I would rank the beers in the end and for what I may want to try again sometime.  With that quickly out of the way, I was able to enjoy the flight and the company.

The parties shall remain nameless.

Since I have somehow misplaced my notes, it is fortunate that I can remember how I put them in order after sampling all six.  The order that I drank the samples was . . . Double Cream Stout, Amber Ale, Barleywine, Hopslam, Sparkling Ale, Two Hearted Ale.

A shot of my long lost notes.

The top two to me were clearly the Double Cream Stout and the Hopslam.  They were both very nice and since they are completely different I settled on a decision of a tie for the top spot.  After that the next rung on the ladder was definitely the Barleywine.  Beyond that the other three were clearly a tier below and I could make the argument of a tie between them.  The Amber Ale was OK, but that is just a style that never does much for me.  The Sparkling Ale and the Two Hearted Ale suffered a bit from lack of carbonation for whatever reason.  With that, I will just call it a tie for first, a clear second, and a three way tie for third.  See how I make up the rules as I go along?

The Wife got an action shot.

It was no surprise that Larry Bell was extremely nice (based on our short conversation) and it was an excellent outing for a few hours on a Saturday evening.  I certainly encourage anyone to take advantage of an opportunity to try some good beers and meet some good beer people when given the chance.

It should be pretty obvious what I have been doing this week and what I have going on in the near future after reading through this list.  “Random Thought Sunday” has arrived at the perfect time, allowing me to take a short break from the work around the house and getting me back in the living room in time for the NFL games coming up very soon.   There is even a bit of beer news thrown into the mix today just for fun.  Without further delay . . .

Random thought #1 – Having friends or family coming to visit from out of town is great incentive to finally complete projects around the house that have been put off for months.  Of course that inevitably means you will do nothing to the house for the months after the visit.

Random thought #2 – I am a sucker for the opportunity to have a beer flight, whether from the same brewery or many different ones.  Why make yourself settle on just one beer when you can try six?

Random thought #3 – Is it the fumes that put you into a trance while painting?  It is often an incredibly tedious task, but the hours seem to pass by very quickly.

Random thought #4 – Learning that at least one more (good) brewery will be canning their beer really got me excited this week.  I am not sure why, but it just feels right to drink beer out of a can every now and then.

Random thought #5 – It is amazing how much more efficient I am with household tasks with a clean garage at my disposal.  Now that also means I have a lot of work to do to get it messed up again.

Cannot wait!! (via http://blogs.westword.com/)

Until the next time . . .

I do love reading through the beer news, but I don’t like that I ended up with two stories that involves actual or potential beer shortages.  That is a bit of a downer, so I made sure to add in two positive stories as well.  Again this week part of what made the final cut for today’s news came via messages from others, which is always accepted and greatly appreciated.  Now on to the stories for today . . .

• Here is another update on the Anheuser-Busch InBev situation overseas.  Beer shortages have already tapped the supplies of smaller shops and supermarkets are soon to run out as well.

• There is a bit of a brew-ha-ha going on in Ontario that may result in beer being pulled from the shelves.

• Many thanks to my Twitter friend @MelissaMangs and to The Father-in-law for passing along a good piece on Ebenezer’s in Maine.  You can also take a look at the recap from The Brother-in-law after his visit.

• A new Winter Beer Festival coming up in Atlanta.  Certainly would be interesting and worth attending if you are going to be in the area.

Ebenezer's Pub (via http://www.boston.com/)

Kampai!

It is probably because I have never lived in a big city that I don’t know the answer to this, but are newspapers ever sold by yelling that anymore?  I am sure that it happened that way at some point, though I am only basing that on what I have seen in movies and on television.  If I yelled that at home when writing this I would either get two dogs running to me or The Wife strongly considering committing me (more so than usual anyway).  Enough rambling, on with the beer news . . .

The news of job cuts for Anheuser-Busch InBev overseas was included in the beer news less than a week ago and now there is some fallout from that this week in Belgium.

Some time ago Mr. S. Jim passed along news about the Samuel Adams Beer Lover’s Choice Contest winner for me to share.  Now the release of the new brew for Spring is quickly approaching.

Perhaps a story about a former management consultant in the UK giving that up and starting a microbrewery interests and inspires only me, but hopefully not.

So if you enjoyed the microbrewery startup story from the UK, I have saved the best for last.  Many thanks to Erin for sending along a really excellent article about four guys brewing in Minneapolis.  A trip for us to the great white north may be getting closer and closer.

Fulton Beer (via http://heavytable.com/)

Cheers!