Appellation Beer

Monday beer links, with sake and wine on the side

November 2, 2017October 30, 2017

MONDAY BEER & ALCOHOL LINKS, 10.30.17

– I fear this train has already left the station, but it would be nice if we all agreed what we are talking about when discussing kveik.

– What do you do after you have brewed with home made malt and had a go at chicha de muko? Make sake, if you are Ed Wray, and even if you have to use risotto rice.

– Once you get past the reality that Bill Coveleski even has a favorite Rush song, the Victory Brewing co-founder makes a powerful argument for “fortifying at home.”

When Ron Pattinson makes a point it stays made

October 25, 2017

Ron Pattinson - the one and only Somehow, Uwe Kalms occasionally managed to get a word in edgewise during an evening at Krossbar Bellavista in Santiago, Chile. They hosted judges and speakers for Copa Cervezas de América last week when they debuted their newest beer — you guessed it, an NEIPA.

Ron will be posting plenty of details about the trip, the competition, the conference, and whatever else crosses his mind. In an email exchange yesterday he said he had already written 5,000 words. Expect it to be entertaining.

Miracle Brew: Continuing beer education

October 23, 2017October 20, 2017

Beer writer Pete Brown was conducting a tasting of IPAs when a woman in the audience raised her hand to ask a question.

“If these beers have got so many hops in, are they still suitable for celiacs?”

He replied that hops don’t contain any glutens.

“Ah, so they’re not barley hops then?”

He offers this story as a footnote in his latest book, Miracle Brew, writing that “ironically, she could only misunderstand beer so dramatically because, compared to most people she was better informed and more engaged.”

Brown is currently visiting the American northeast in support of Miracle Brew and he’ll likely get similar questions. Plenty of beer consumers are playing catch up, keen on learning the basics but also something that goes beyond. Consider a recent story from NPR about “how sour beer is driving a microbial gold rush.” That’s a conversation several steps removed from barstool discussions about if bock is really just beer left over from the bottom of the barrel (a myth, but it lives on).

It’s not Monday, but here are a few beer links

October 13, 2017

Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewer deep into a conversation during Great American Beer Festival.

– Bryan Roth and Jeff Alworth both do a bit of GABF by the numbers. Among other topics, Roth digs into coffee beers and “German-style Koelsch.” Just for fun, look back 15 years at the 2002 results. Kölsch (39 entries versus 154 in 2017) was one of the more popular categories, but there were only 15 coffee entries (compared to 203 in 2017).

– Matthew Curtis (@totalcurtis) and Alan McLeod (@agoodbeerblog) both use Twitter to broadcast primers on beer blogging. (Blogging lessons from Twitter? Did I just type that sentence?)

– Here’s my story about bees that won first for Best Technical Writing in the North American Guild of Beer Writers annual competition. (Best technical writing? Another sentence I don’t believe I typed.)

– Ernie Banks hit a home run in the first major league baseball game I attended. So of course I am a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and am delighted with the outcome of last night’s game in Washington. But as a lifelong Cubs fan I feel for Nationals fans (and most of their players). The odds of what happened in what will likely become known as the Scherzer Inning cannot be comprehended. 1 in 2,183,406,113?