I love analogies to music when it comes to describing some of life’s other pleasures. This happens to come from Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age and doesn’t mention beer, but you’ll get the point: As any wine connoisseur can attest, aromas are often described in melodic terms as three distinct [...]

This month host Matt Robinson asked us to write about “What makes local beer better?” for The Session 61. I found myself staring at his marching orders like a deer in headlights (or a thirsty drinker in front of 62 tap handles). Matt asked a series of questions that left me feeling as focused as [...]

Question 1: What do these hops have in common? Cascade Citra East Kent Goldings Galaxy Hallertau Mittelfrüh Kohatu Marynka Nelson Sauvin Saaz Strisselspalt Styrian Goldings Wai-Iti Question 2: What seems strange about the picture?  

Did every local television station get the same marching orders this past weekend? Super Bowl: Go find a beer story. In Cleveland it was about Mickie Reinhart, who has come up with seven flavors of “hops drops,” liquid additives intended to be used in light lagers. The varieties include chocolate and coffee, as opposed to [...]

Mark Dredge at Pencil and Spoon raises the question of using hop extracts and oils in the brewing process. Part of me think it’s a bit strange to use extract but the other part doesn’t mind if it’s done to be able to give the best flavour or bitterness possible – extract seems to give [...]

‘Tis the season for predictions. The Future of Beer, or at least for 2012. The rise of gluten free beer, discovering gruit, more hoppy beers, fewer hoppy beers, old school beers, new fangled beers. There are more where those came from. They can’t all be right in 2012, but they could be in the long [...]

This arrived in the mail Saturday, a pleasant reminder this is the season for happy surprises. But also that I have a book to finish. So I’m swearing off Appellation Beer until some time in January. I might post a few comments and photos on Twitter, because there are fun events (like this and this) [...]

Start with this premise: “It seems that in today’s uncertain and flagging America, one sign of community prosperity and revitalization is a microbrewery or brewpub in town.” The Ecocentric blog examines in some detail the role of small breweries in towns where they operate. The history gets a little iffy now and then, but ultimately [...]

Look closely at the label for TAPX “Mein Nelson Sauvin” from Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn. Those are hops. And the hops that make TAPX something different aren’t from Germany, but from New Zealand. In this video Schneider produced to promote the new beer, available in limited quantities in the U.S. (my local store [...]

As Ron Pattinson is fond of pointing out, there’s little if anything truly new in beer. Not even “fresh hop” beers. This weekend in St. Louis, 15 or so breweries will serve various beers at the Schlafly Fresh Hop Festival. We’re not Portland or Seattle (see this account), but Schlafly (otherwise known as The Saint [...]