Brewers across the nation will be cringing when they read the investigative report in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about dirty beer lines. Of course this a local story, even quoting a vendor that “Milwaukee is a real horrible town for draft beer.” But this will have repercussions in craft beer land because the “dirtiest” beer [...]

Rick Lyke has the recap on the 7th round of The Session. He begins by reminding us it was dedicated to “Michael Jackson, who passed away in London on Aug. 30th. Michael was an inspiration to drinks journalists and helped remind the world of the significant part that beer plays in our daily lives, culture [...]

As you can see the nest with eggs built in organic hop plants in Northern New Mexico has turned into a nest with birds. In sending the photo, Todd Bates writes they are “thriving at the expense of a not so good plant – not a bad deal.” The harvest is headed toward completion and [...]

The cheery headline at the News & Observer in North Carolina’s Triangle reads: Beer brewing bursts with new diversity. However, by the end we get cautionary words from Charlie Bamforth, chair of the department of food science and technology at the University of California, Davis, as well as the university’s Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing [...]

The theme for this month’s session is The Brew Zoo. Rick Lyke is your host and will compile the recap. I live in a town where (as you can see) visitors are greeted with a sign that touts our coyotes, and this time of year you hear them howling away throughout the night although we [...]

Some numbers take longer to sink in than others, or maybe it is because this past week was awfully busy, but back on Aug. 29 Brew Blog reported Heineken Premium Light will miss its ambitious volume targets. From the Financial Times: “One blemish on the performance was Heineken premium light, a low calorie and low [...]

Ah, yes, the Dark Side. Hugh Sisson of Clipper City writes in his blog about positive parallels between the craft beer and small winery industries, but also suggests “there are some developments that have taken place in the boutique wine industry that do not, in my opinion, bode well long term for craft beer. Should [...]

And the latest advertising for Miller Lite introduces something called the More Taste League. It features a Commish, played by actor John C. McGinley. In “Interception,” McGinley catches a non-Miller Lite bottle that one beer-drinking buddy is attempting to toss to another. A podium, women dressed as referees and a large backdrop emblazoned with the [...]

What do jazz musicians drink? Yes, it does sound like a question Michael Jackson would have asked, but this time it was Martyn Cornell in a perfectly delightful post about the Bull’s Head at Barnes, which features Young’s beer on a handpump in the same room where live jazz is featured. He concludes: * drummers, [...]

Back from a couple of days in the woods – civilized unless you consider cell coverage, a wireless connection and electricity essential – and trying to figure out if anybody on the Internet considers Labor Day a holiday. It is elsewhere. A Labor Day baseball game was under way by 8 o’clock yesterday morning in [...]