And now we step outside the beer blogosphere — where it might seem there is nothing new to say about “extreme beers” — to recognize that to normal people they are still a topic of discussion. Peter Rowe, whose work in the San Diego Union-Tribune I’ve pointed to many times, used the occasion of the [...]

You don’t have to come here to read that Magic Hat is acquiring Pyramid. It’s here, there and everywhere. Including the possibility that Pyramid will brew Magic Hat beers for the West Coast and perhaps vice versa. So some stuff you may not have seen, mostly about the business of beer but bound to affect [...]

To jump start your brain this morning: Two beer posts and a wine link that provoked one of the posts. Stephen Beaumont on Great Beer vs. Popular Beer. The number one beer in the United States, for example, is Bud Light, a pale lager with, frankly, some complexity of character, but a flavour profile so [...]

If you remember American Bandstand, or perhaps have seen clips, you recall the popular segment where host Dick Clark would take two teens from the audience. He’d have them listen to a couple of brand new songs, then rate them. When asked for an explanation about the number they assigned it many would say, “You [...]

The Hoosier Beer Geek has pictures. Check out the line. Let’s just say showing up as late at 1:30 was not such a good idea. Passion on display. Mostly. Unfortunately a little cold-hearted greediness. From a thread at Beer Advocate: I drove from Minneapolis with a trunk full of Surly to enjoy and trade. Instead, [...]

Got a caption for this photo of brewing professor/author Charlie Bamforth taken during a food-fashion-themed cookout? If you can do better than this . . . “A kiss of tannin; a kiss of hops… brightens, rather than bitters.” “Both of Charles’ students get an A, for Alcohol.” . . . then scoot on over to [...]

It seems so 2007 — a vintage year for new beer blogs — to note the arrival of a new blogger. But I will anyway: Charlie Papazian is blogging.

At the risk of poking the hornet’s nest — I don’t have a category here for “ethics” and not really criticism per se — I must pass along this story. Seems like a better deal than a trip to St. Louis. From the UK wine magazine Decanter: Wine magnate Bernard Magrez has outraged a group [...]

Sorry, I’m pleading impending deadlines and we’ve got this trip to start packing for so just the facts from presentations at the Craft Brewers Conference on the status of barley malt and hops supplies. (I know how you’ll miss my prose). – The barley malt supply will remain tight until at least 2009. Price volatility [...]

Today a tree: the Simcoe hop. Tomorrow the forest: the rest of the hops in the world. And not just because it seems that how you describe the aroma of Simcoe determines if you drink/smell beer like a man or like a woman. Simcoe was only released to the brewing world in 2000 and really [...]