Need I add more? OK. Beer is food for thought. Beer is food for the soul. But I’d rather keep NEW BEER RULE #10 that simple: Beer is food. (Full disclosure: The idea for this rule was inspired by Alan McLeod’s question — “Why Does That Word ‘Pairing’ Make My Temples Ache?” — in response [...]

NEW BEER RULE #9: You cannot know all there is to know about beer. It’s fine to give it a shot. But no matter how positive you are about what you think you know there’s always a chance that Martyn Cornell or Ron Pattinson is going to dig up incontestable proof you are totally wrong. [...]

NEW BEER RULE #8: Always take beer more seriously than yourself. This needs little explanation. But to be clear, this is a beer rule. Not a life or work rule. The alternative version goes like this: Ask yourself if it’s the beer you are taking too seriously or yourself. The rule popped into my mind [...]

Last night we ate leftover smoked meat and drank Southern Tier Choklat. One, then the other. No pairing involved. Sometimes you just want a beer, maybe even a strong one. Choklat, an 11% abv imperial stout infused with dark Belgian chocolate, qualifies on both counts. It’s one of the beers I’ll be writing around 85 [...]

NEW BEER RULE #6: The best beer was in the empty glass. This rule came from a conversation with Matt Trevisan of Paso Robles winery Linne Calodo for an upcoming story, and he was explaining how he blends wines. “I start with five glasses and I pick the emptiest one,” he said. “In the end [...]

Credit for this one goes to Don Younger, publican of the Horse Brass Pub in Portland. Exhibit A: Last week’s Session, in which the guys at Hop Talk challenged bloggers to write about atmosphere. We’re talking about dozens of folks who take the time to write about beer several times a week. And what did [...]

NEW BEER RULE #4: The god of beer is not consistency. Full credit for this rule goes to Mark Dorber, the venerable British publican who uttered these words in 1996 at the first Real Ale Festival in Chicago. He was speaking specifically about cask-conditioned ale, but the rule applies fairly to most small-batch beers. This [...]

NEW BEER RULE #3: You must drink at least two servings of a beer before you pass judgment on it. I starting writing the rule before this wandering conversation at Seen Through a Glass, but it makes a great point. In the middle there is a discussion about how, or if, drinkers come to appreciate [...]

NEW BEER RULE #2: A beer consumer should not be allowed to drink a beer with IBU higher than her or his IQ. I like – OK, love – hops more than almost anybody you know. But I understand the frustration expressed by some brewers about the attention that highly hopped high alcohol beers (sometimes [...]

With a nod toward Bill Maher’s “New Rules” as opposed to Miller’s Man Laws … THE BACKGROUND: A little over a week ago we were in California for some meetings. For evening diversion, Real Beer co-founder Mark Silva brought along vintage beers for “vertical” tastings (where you sample the same beer across a number of [...]