This not the official announcement for Session #49, because that will have to include broad definition of “regular” beer. Or not. But when The Session begins its fifth season in March each of the first three original hosts (that would be me, then Alan McLeod and Jay Brooks) will return to action in successive months. [...]

Fine post at DesJardin Brewing centered on Jason Oliver, Devil Backbone Brewing and the excellent lagers Oliver brews there. Oliver gets a chance speak at length about why decoction (during which some of the mash is removed, boiled and returned to the original mash, often two or three times) matters. Good stuff, but I do [...]

. . . you see cowboy boots on bags of malted grain. At (512) Brewing in Austin, Texas. Details about their Pecan Porter next week. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas.

Item 1: A rather high percentage of the beers in Paste magazine online’s “25 Best New American Beers of 2010″ might be called wild, weird or extreme (sometimes all three). Item 2: During a wide-ranging online chat with Inc. Dogfish Head Brewery founder Sam Calagione said, “The world doesn’t need another world-class Kölsch or a [...]

This is what you see when you walk through the front door of the La Cumbre Brewing Company in Albuquerque. The brewery’s grand opening party was Friday, although it began selling beer six days before. Just a cool photo to look at, so I am passing it along. Not really related to anything in the [...]

I went to high school with a guy who wanted to be a sheep herder when he grew up (this was central Illinois, not Wales). He carried different varieties of wool in each pocket. He liked to pull a batch out and start telling you stories about the breed of sheep it came from. It [...]

Given that we live in the most fantabulous time ever for beer in America, thought this might add a little perspective. Focus on the content rather than the writing style: Statistical data show at a glance a progress in this branch of industry within a brief period, and especially in the United States, which is [...]

Mike Lynch of Burgers and Brews has posted the roundup for The Session #46: An Unexpected Discovery. Be sure to read beer.bobarnott.com’s account of discovering Bir & Fud in Rome — a restaurant where your drink choices are Italian craft beer and water. One more suggestion: After dinner at Bir & Fud drift across the [...]

This is the wood. And . . . This is From the Wood. Pretty nifty packaging, don’t you think? The current Draft magazine features “The Top 25 Beers of the Year.” You can view the list here, but you have to pick up the magazine itself to see nice all the bottles and labels (The [...]

Several years ago, Saint Arnold Brewing owner Brock Wagner compared the business of multi-national breweries with his own, today much bigger but still tiny by most measures. “We’re trying to add 10 customers at a time. The big brewers are trying to add a million,” he said. “We’re in different businesses. We both make something [...]