902 replies to this topic

[Caramia]

Fantastic!

You know, I have this feeling about this island's microbreweries. I feel like we are just beginning to see a wave that is just going to get better and better. Like there is history here in the making.

I wish I liked more types of beer. It is exciting. Even from the sidelines.

[amor de cosmos]

yeah using aluminum bottles is a cool idea, and it doesn't seem to be just a gimmick either. a heavy barley wine or something would keep forever for sure since it's totally opaque. & i like how they're doing an authentic pilsener also. if that's what they meant by beer for the "lucky crowd" i guess that's not so bad.

[amor de cosmos]

Fantastic!

You know, I have this feeling about this island's microbreweries. I feel like we are just beginning to see a wave that is just going to get better and better. Like there is history here in the making.

maybe our brewers shouldn't bother with Canadian beer awards, since making the best beer in Canada is sort of like making the German or Belgian or British or Czech (well, not Czech... ) Olympic hockey teams. The winners would just be big fish in a small pond. Doing well at world championships & blind tastings against established beers that are already known & respected is what will get the brewing world's attention. Then the Island will be a serious beer destination.

[Caramia]

We can take em.

/grin

[pseudotsuga]

^^^if the pilsener tastes like this, I'll certainly have some aluminum bottles to be recycled.

[Mike K.]

I wonder if it could. Our local water tastes quite different from water in eastern Europe.

[amor de cosmos]

how to brew

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[amor de cosmos]

Honey key to new brew
By Darron Kloster, Times Colonist
April 4, 2009

The granddaddy of craft beer on Vancouver Island is marking 25 years on the rock with a new ale -- and a fitting local partner to sweeten the anniversary brew.

The bottling line got to work this week at Vancouver Island Brewery filling thousands of six-packs and hundreds of kegs with Spyhopper Honey Brown. It's a light amber ale with a sweet malt flavour, thanks to some caramel malts, a blend of Halletauer and Saaz hops and a wildflower honey finish from long-time Saanich bee farm Babe's Honey.

It was a good fit for two companies whose business philosophies are virtually identical, says Babe's owner Mark Pitcher.

"We are both 100 per cent Vancouver Island-based and have a commitment to crafting pure, natural and unpasturized products," he said. "Working together with neighbouring businesses creates opportunities for the regional economy to reap the benefits."

Spyhopper, the first locally produced Honey Brown beer in the Victoria market, was trickling into stores, restaurants and pubs all week and deliveries should catch up with order demand in the coming weeks, said brewery marketing manager Rob Ringma.

Jim Dodds is a long-time Labatts executive who took over as general manager of Vancouver Island Brewery from majority owner and president Barry Fisher in December. He said the operation has always believed in purchasing local products, working with local businesses and contributing to the community at large.

"We have grown from just six employees in 1984 to over 40 and all of our employees are Islanders with true Island roots," he said.

Honey Brown is the fifth brand in the brewery's lineup, joining Piper's Pale Ale, Victoria Pilsner, Hermann's Dark Lager and Vancouver Island Lager.

A competitor from the across the pond also celebrates a quarter century this month: Granville Island Brewing's Brockton IPA, a well-hopped India Pale Ale, was named for the Brockton Oval in Stanley Park.

http://www.timescolo...4797/story.html

[Caramia]

Sounds yummy!

[ptolomeus]

^^^if the pilsener tastes like this, I'll certainly have some aluminum bottles to be recycled.

Yeah, that's THE Pils I used to drink back in Europe, my opinion one of the best Pilsener Worldwide

[Jacques Cadé]

Glad you like the Urquell. It is, after all, the beer that defines what most people know as beer today.

All the time we've been talking about lager, you've probably been picturing in your mind a pint of golden liquid with drops of condensation trickling seductively down the side of the glass. But you're wrong. Lager was nothing like that until the mid-nineteenth century. Although the brewing process and the yeast strains were different, lager used the same malts as other beers and therefore looked very similar to everything else, dark brown with a foamy head. Then, in 1842, brewers in a small Bohemian town started to experiment with a method of air-drying the malt rather than the traditional heavy roasting. The malt stayed pale and golden rather than turning dark brown, and produced a beer that was light gold in colour. You could actually see through a glass of it, and it looked much more appealing than traditional dark beers. This happened just as glass was becoming widely affordable and, just like Burton ales in Britain, this new light beer took off. The little Bohemian town was called Pilsen, and it gave its name to the new style of brewing created there. Thanks to the growth of railways across Europe and political unification of Germany, the popularity of pilsner lager spread so quickly across the continent that there were countless imitation pilsners before the inventors had time to patent either the process or the term. You can still find dark lagers in specialist beer shops today, but pilsner caught the imagination of the beer-drinking world. If you think of lager today, you're thinking of pilsner, which is why the occasional pedant will still attempt to correct you if you refer to a decent continental pale beer as lager.

– from Man Walks Into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer (Macmillan, 2003) by Pete Brown, pages 241-242.

[Caramia]

Wow, nice snippet of history Jaques! Thanks

[amor de cosmos]

Cheap beer flies off the shelves as drinkers tighten their belts
By Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun
April 15, 2009 8:02 PM

Since its launch last month, Pacific Western Brewery’s new beer, Cariboo Genuine Draft, has struck a nerve with consumers looking for an affordable and palatable brewski.

Sales of the new beer are up 200 per cent from those of the brand Cariboo GD has replaced, Pacific Genuine Draft, according to Paul Mulgrew, company’s product development and production coordinator.

Even better for consumers during the recession, Pacific Western Brewery (PWB) put Cariboo on the market for $7.54 for six 355-ml cans. That price point, shared by Cariboo GD and Pacific Western Traditional Lager, is the market low for six-pack beer in British Columbia.

“We’re having a tough time keeping it on the shelves,” Mulgrew said.

The softening economy has had an effect on the beer industry, and companies such as PWB have made some changes.

“Basically, it’s been a tough time,” Mulgrew said of the downturn’s effect on the industry. “We have a new marketing strategy, and we’re trying to associate the beers more closely to the consumer. You’re going to see a couple of new products and a couple of product revisions from us. By the end of the year we’re going to have a brand-new lineup of PWB products that look as good as they taste.”

Cariboo Genuine Draft, which recently got a favourable review from the webmasters at Justhereforthebeer.com, is one of almost 30 beers that sell for less than $9 for a six-pack, according to the B.C. liquor distribution branch website. PWB has 12 brands under $9, Shaftebury and Bowen Island each have five, and Stroh Canada has four.

If, however, your tastes run toward higher-end beers, there are still ways to find value.

Rick Green, who updates his B.C. Beer Blog weekly, recommends that people with a favourite brew-pub beer go and buy a two-litre bottle, called a growler, and take it to be refilled at the brew pub. The refill will cost $10 to $12, depending on the beer.

He also recommends getting kegs from local breweries if you’re planning a barbecue or Stanley Cup party.

Green doesn’t have much good to say about mass-produced, big-brewery beer, which he calls “industrial”.

“If you want to drink something that [has a taste] near water, get the cheapest and drink water,” says Green.

And if you value quality over quantity, chances are you will save money because you won’t be pounding back what you’re drinking.

“My recommendation for people who actually want to enjoy their beer, in particular enjoy it with food, is find the appropriate beer. You’re not going to want to be guzzling a whole bunch of it. You’ll be satisfied with it in that context.”

http://www.vancouver...0217/story.html

the thing to remember with a growler is that oxygen is in the bottle rather than CO2, so I think it will only keep for about a week. i learned in the 2nd youtube clip /\ that kegs & bottles are filled with CO2 before being filled with beer. being denser than air it sinks to the bottom of the keg or bottle & gets forced out the top as it fills with liquid.

[amor de cosmos]

'Beer Wars' Speaks Up for Craft Brewers
April 16, 2009 09:22 AM ET | Kimberly Palmer
Today’s guest post comes from Amy Mittelman, author of Brewing Battles: A History of American Beer.

The movie Beer Wars, which explores the challenges of craft beer brewers (and drinkers) in the United States, launches tonight in 440 theaters around the country. I E-mailed with director Anat Baron about the film and what she hopes people get out of it. Excerpts:

How did you get the idea for the movie?

When I left the beer industry [Baron previously worked for Mike’s Hard Lemonade], it didn’t leave me. I received an invitation to the annual beer industry convention and decided to see if there was a movie there.

Are the other filmmakers you used as models for your film?

Not really. The film is a “hybrid” of styles. Some have compared me to Michael Moore but I’m better dressed, less angry and use humor instead of confrontation.

Why did you pick Rhonda Kallman of New Century Brewing and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery and Distillery to be the two main craft brewers you interviewed?

There are over 1400 independent breweries in America. I eliminated brewpubs early on because I wanted to show how production breweries fight it out in the market. I met at least 20 fascinating small brewers. But I needed a storyline to follow. Otherwise, there’s no movie. I picked Rhonda because she was launching a new product - beer with caffeine. Love it or hate it, it was innovative. And I thought it would be interesting to follow someone who’d made it to the top (with Sam Adams) attempt to scale the mountain again. I chose Sam because he was articulate and a straight talker. But more important was the fact that he was expanding his business - building a new brewhouse and taking on a 9 million dollar loan to do so. I have no regrets.

Did you want to get the perspective of large brewers?

I sat down with the CEOs of Miller and Coors. They’re in the film. August Busch IV did not sit down for an interview although he does make a cameo in the film.

What are the main issues you see confronting craft brewing?

I think the main one continues to be access to market. How to get shelf space and distribution if you want to grow outside your local area.

Do you think the recession will help or hurt craft brewing and beer in general?

It depends on their size and devotion of their loyal drinkers. I think that craft beer is still an affordable luxury. And if people are going out less, they can still drink craft beer at home.

[For more, read: “The Company Behind a Bottle of Sam Adams.”]

How has brewing and beer drinking changed in the last ten years?

The Internet has helped the growth of homebrewing and craft brewing. Online communities make people aware of different beers and techniques and create buzz. And craft brewers have become more daring. Pushing the envelope on ingredients, process, experimenting with new (and old) techniques.

Do you want people to behave a certain way and try to help craft brewing after seeing Beer Wars?

I want them to think about the choices that they make. And I recognize that not everyone cares. I care more now after I made the film.

Is it more important for people to buy beer based on who produces it than how it tastes?

No, I think people should drink what they like. But if they want to support craft brewers an entrepreneurs then they should pay attention to who is behind the label of the beer they buy.

Did you want any representatives of macro brewers to be on the panel discussion tonight [following the movie’s launch]?

I did and I invited Tom Long, President of MillerCoors and Dave Peacock, President of Anheuser-Busch. Tom Long passed. I never heard back from A-B.

Do you drink beer?

I’m actually allergic to alcohol. Crazy, I know, but it allowed me to focus on the business of beer.

http://www.usnews.co...ft-brewers.html

[amor de cosmos]

here's cnn's' coverage of beer wars. check out the scripted comments from the miller & anheuser-busch pr people. they make me want to puke:
http://www.cnn.com/v...n.beer.wars.cnn

[amor de cosmos]

Fossil Fuels Brewing Co featured in Improbable Research:

Our premium beer is brewed with ancient yeast preserved in amber and revived after 45 million years to provide a distinguished and satisfying taste

So says the web site of the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.

Beer writer William Brand sampled some in a bar, and wrote about the experience. The description is similar to written descriptions by other beer writers of sampling other beers in other bars.

(Thanks to investigator Julia Lunetta for bringing this to our attention.)

& the description goes on

Pint glasses full of Fossil Fuels Beer are raising eyebrows around northern California. This could be due to the fact that the unique ingredient for the line of Fossil Fuels beer is a yeast strain dating back to the Eocene Epoch, which is about 45 million years ago. A team of scientists, Dr. Raul Cano (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA) and Lewis “Chip” Lambert (Fremont, CA), are partnering with brew masters Peter Hackett (Stumptown Brewery, Guerneville, CA), Joe Kelley (Kelley Bros. Brewing, Manteca, CA) and attorney Scott Bonzell (Oakland, CA) to produce what is surely one of the most interesting and unique beers of this or any time. With the green light from beer critics, brewers and end consumers alike, the team that comprises Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. is gearing up to share the product with the public.

The history of the yeast literally dates back before the dawn of man, to a time when the earth was warm, tropical and teeming with life. Modern mammals that we see today were beginning to appear in what is known as the Eocene epoch (from the Greek word eos meaning “dawn”). During this time, a snapshot of biological life was trapped by tropical tree sap. Over the course of millions of years, the sap hardened into amber, which preserved and protected its contents. That is, until Dr. Cano, using amber obtained from locations around the world (including Burma, Central and North America), isolated and revived a bacterium, which had lain dormant in the gut of an encased bee for approximately 40 million years (Science 268, pp. 1060-1064, 1995). During his research, Dr. Cano, periodically working with Mr. Lambert, isolated a few yeast strains that resembled modern Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In other words, they are similar to the yeast we use every day for brewing and baking, except the newly discovered yeasts were much further back in the evolutionary chain. Essentially, Dr. Cano isolated the long lost ancestors of modern brewing yeast.

Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. hosted a launch party at Kelly Brothers Brewing Co. in the summer of 2008 to commence the release of their new beer brewed with its truly remarkable yeast to the public.

[amor de cosmos]

beers in dark roasted blend:
http://www.darkroast...s-to-beers.html

beer cocktails that don't suck:
http://coedmagazine....that-dont-suck/

[G-Man]

Well I can vouch for the Michelada that is my number one drink after beer in the summer

[amor de cosmos]

i'd never heard of any of them. & re: the dark roasted blend stuff i must be a geek because not much on that page seems weird to me, except for the pizza beer, & those japanese ones. the creme brulee beer sounds a bit like a milk stout, which has lactose added to it to make it sweeter, since the yeast doesn't eat it. they left out beer made with smoked malt (as opposed to air roasted or pan roasted), which just as weird as anything else on the page i think. & i've heard of most of the weird beer names before also. "la fin du monde" refers to how samuel de champlain described the new world. he said he sailed from one end of the world to the other end of the world. (not referring to armageddon or anything like that) There's a funny tradition with doppelbocks that I think started with paulaner's salvator, which says the name has to end with the latin suffix -ator. -ator turns a verb into a masculine noun, so I guess salvator means "he who makes everything ok" (like salvation, etc). there must be hundreds of beers with names ending in -ator. trappist beers usually seem to have a number and nothing more to indicate what kind of beer it is, like rochefort 8 or westvleteren 12, etc which has always seemed funny to me since other brewers seem to try to think up weird or creative names for their beers on purpose.

[G-Man]

The Caffeine Beer is also known at least in part as a black and tan and it is illegal in many parts due to the fights it can start.