Month: June 2014

That’s Ron Pattinson, above, having a beer at In de Wildeman in Amsterdam, where he lives but hardly seems to have time to drink these days. He’s returning to North America for another whirlwind tour, beginning Sunday in Toronto.

I’m not sure he appreciates what he is in for once the National Homebrewers Conference begins in Grand Rapids. First official event will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Perrin Brewing Company. But the real fun is likely to come at Club Night and the Beer City Social Club late each night.

I already know about one homebrewed Grodziskie we should get a chance to taste Wednesday at Perrin.

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 06.02.14

What does it mean for a beer to be local? Jeff Baker on what’s involved in putting local ingredients in local beers in Vermont. Although I’m a fan of using local grains, hops, fruit, whatever, I continue to think that the people who make beer (and, in a way, even the drinkers) are an essential ingredient in making a beer local.

[Via Burlington Free Press]

Strange Brews: The Genes of Craft Beer. Hope you read to the finish of this New York Times article and this from a yeast geneticist: “Until recently, the brewing industry has been remarkably resistant to using the techniques of genetics and molecular biology to improve their brewing strains.” I’m all for better beer through science. (Quick aside: It’s a lot easier to write for brewers when there’s science to back up statements, particularly when those statements contradict what’s been written before.) But it’s good to be a little be wary of science, or at least scientists (and maybe brewery owners/bean counters) who don’t appreciate the bit of alchemy involved in brewing.

[Via The New York Times]

O’Fallon Brewery, Urban Chestnut aiming to take their beer global. But not exactly global in the same way as another St. Louis brewery. However, O’Fallon is shipping a bit of beer to Italy and company president Jim Gorczyca hopes exports becomes a bigger part of the brewery’s business when its new facility is up and running). And why did an Italian distributor contact O’Fallon? Because he’d heard of O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer.

Following the call, O’Fallon Brewery shipped beer samples to Italy and then signed an agreement to export six-pack glass bottles affixed with an extra label listing the beer’s ingredients in Italian, and the Italian word for beer: birra. Each label was painstakingly affixed by hand.

[Via St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Would You Pay $1,000 Once to Get Free Beer for Life? This is a real question. Just one more reason to visit Minneapolis (and pay for the beer). That is all.

[Via Atlantic Media]

Bottoms up! Brew pub Paulaner celebrates relaunch. It opened just last November and closed in March, redesigned and with a new menu. It would seem if you think the German beer culture is portable that it is best if you understand that culture.

[Via Crain’s New York Business]