MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 06.15.15
Why Americans have such bad taste in beer.
The premise here about the blandification of American beer is not exactly new. Should you be tempted to fork over $40 to read the complete article this story cites I’d suggest instead buying Maureen Ogle’s Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. More detail, better told, and you can spend what you save on beer. [Via The Washington Post]
Should Northeast-Grown Hops Be Renamed? / Brewing an IPA with Century-Feral New York Wild Hops.
Among other things, Derek Dellinger asks “When is Cascade no longer Cascade?” Rather than renaming the hop, I’d suggest we recognize regional differences, which I’ve written about before. More interesting to me are his thoughts about brewing with hops found growing in the wild: “Hops that have absorbed the character of the land and made it their own. Truly unique, more-or-less native hops.” [Via Bear Flavored]
Retirement Home Residents Learn To Brew Beer.
What better way to stay young? [Via Hartford Courant]
5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Miss ‘Leuven Innovation Beer Festival’: Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal’s Leuven Beer Festival at De Hoorn.
Putting the word innovation in the name of a festival immediately makes me nervous, but apparently they could also have called it the “Leuven Intimate Beer Festival.” [Via Belgian Smaak]
Charlotte’s craft beer boom lifts other businesses, too.
“The beauty of small manufacturing is its inefficiency. … (A craft brewery) has a much larger impact on its local economy because of its inefficiency.” [Via The Herald]
Take a hike. Have a beer. Life is perfect. Here’s where.
Pairing trailheads and brewpubs across Washington state. [Via Washington Times]
National Homebrew Competition Winners.
Unless you had a beer entered or know somebody who did or judged a lot of beers in the first round and are curious if any won medals then this list will not be of interest. However, I point you to Category 14: India Pale Ale (IPA). No surprise that it had the most entries, but some would attach meaning to the fact there were 666. [Via the American Homebrewers Association]