The Bohemian Brewery Blog

What to do with those beer tabs...

2012-01-02T14:52:00.001-08:00

Pull-Tab Craftiness

by JAY BROOKS on MARCH 19, 2010 · 0 COMMENTS

When I was searching yesterday for images to use for my post about pull-tabs, I was surprised by how many websites there are devoted to finding other uses for the little aluminum pull-tabs, both the old-style ones and the more modern one-piece tabs. There are so many of these and they’re so inventive I thought I’d share a few of them. This is just the tip of the iceberg, there’s a whole world of DIY, recycling and craft people who are finding amazing ways to use the discarded pull-tabs. So here we are, from head to toe:

Here’s a kid’s hat and shirt, and there are lots more at the wonderfully named Art of Tabistry.

Here’s a woman’s top from Apocalypse Creations Chainmail in Canada.

And a colorful vest by Tiffany, posted on Craftster.

How about a dress made entirely of pull-tabs? Here’s one posted atRecyclart.

And let’s not forget the shoes, shown here, and you can see another pair at This Next.

Or if you want to be covered head to knee, here’s an entire suit of pull-tab armor, from Geekologie.

And don’t forget to accessorize with this fetching purse, also from This Next.

In case you get tired wearing all that heavy metal, here’s a pull tab chair for you to sit down and rest made by Studio G.

I can’t say I’d actually wear any of them, but they impressive nonetheless. Enjoy.

2011 New Years Resolution - A look Back

2011-12-31T09:55:00.001-08:00

New Year’s Resolutions of a Beer Geek

Well the New Year is here, and I’m in the mood for change. Not change for change’s sake, but change for the better. Here’s how I plan on being a better, more sensible beer nerd in 2011:

1. Spend Less

I spend a lot of money on beer. Too much, I think. So far, my spending has known no regulations, no limits, but I intend to change that in the new year (that cry you hear is a collective gasp from beer shop owners and distributors throughout Northern New Jersey). I need to think it through a bit, but the obvious place to start is setting limits and sticking to them. It’s time for a beer budget. Eww, I don’t like how those words sound together!

2. Drink Less

In order to spend less, I’ll have to drink less. It’s not that I drink a lot, but there are a number of beers I can eliminate from my diet without affecting the pleasure I get from my favorite hobby. There’s the uninspired weekday beer, the beer you actually shouldn’t have at the end of the night but you do anyway, the expensive beer you open even though you’re not in the mood, etc. Lots of areas where less may very well be more, allowing me to enjoy my beers even more when I have them. Plus the bunker is well-stocked; it’s time for a drink-down!

3. Brew More

One way to save a ton of dough is to brew your own beer. Speaking of a ton of dough, that’s what I spent on my ridiculously over-capable brew kettle, so it’d be silly not to get the pot on boil. I’m planning on brewing at least one batch a month, starting with that Two Hearted Pale Ale clone I’ve had since August…

4. Learn More

I’ve spent the last few years filling my head with all sorts of beer facts. But up to this point it has been through drinking, talking, web surfing and some light reading. But this year I want to get more structured about filling in the blanks. I’ll start with reading all those beer books I own but have only pawed through quickly. Cover to cover, so much to discover!

5. Mission GABF

Don and I went to the Great American Beer Festival last year, and I intend on returning this year. Not sure how I’m gonna swing it, but it’s the Super Bowl of beer, and where there’s a will, there has to be a way. Maybe I can use all the money I save from #1, #2, and #3 above. We shall see. But now that I know the lay of the land, there’s so much I want to do there.

###

So those are my resolutions for this year. We’ll see how well I do – I’m already a little tired just reading back over the list! I think if I can stick to at least half of these, I’ll be a wiser, richer and more complete geek by the end of 2011, which will be a good thing indeed.

What about you? Any beer or whiskey-related resolutions that revolve around the world’s greatest beverages (not counting that one you made New Year’s Day about NEVER drinking again)? As always, let us know below, and HAPPY NEW YEARS from Don and I!

Bohemian in NOW Salt Lake

2011-12-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

Bohemian Brewery pairs old world fare with their excellent beer.

Amy Spencer Aspencer@nowsaltlake.com

Published December 9th 2011 9:23 am

If you live in the downtown Salt Lake area, there is a joke that traveling past 3300 South is like crossing the state lines. My jokes of packing a lunch and stopping for a layover resurfaced when we visited Bohemian Brewery on 7200 South, but it wasn't because of the distance, merely a 15-minute drive from downtown.

The atmosphere of Bohemian Brewery reminds me of cozy pubs in Germany and the menu had enough European samplings on the menu to make me feel like I needed my passport to be here. Antler chandeliers and taxidermy animal heads dotted the rich woods of the log cabin-like brewery and restaurant. The only thing that would have enhanced the experience is polka music.

The menu featured traditional bar fare such as burgers, nachos and fries, but we wanted to be adventurous and try the "old world" offerings. We started our lunch with roasted garlic bulbs ($7.75). Two large Gilroy garlic bulbs arrived warm, still wrapped in their skin. We picked out the garlic meats and spread them, along with a tomato-basil tapenade, on toast. The roasted garlic was flavorful and this was a fun way to eat it.

For my entr?e, I ordered a poached pear salad which came with assorted greens, roasted hazelnuts, Brie cheese and blue cheese dressing ($12). The salad arrived in a bowl with large chunks of pears and Brie on top of the greens and all of this covered in a hefty layer of hazelnut crumbs. Magnificent flavors had me devouring this salad and I loved getting a hint of cinnamon every third or fourth bite. The creamy blue cheese dressing was subtle, making the Brie and poached pear flavors stand out.

Celebrate Repeal Day

2011-12-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

Celebrate Repeal Day: December 5

By Ginger Johnson

There’s no doubt that Prohibition had an enormous impact on American brewers. The popularity and fascination with the topic continues to be celebrated and talked about every year on December 5 (1933), the anniversary of the ratification of the 21st Amendment which repealed Prohibition. The 18th Amendment, which made Prohibition law, was arguably the only amendment in the United States Constitution to restrict rights rather than expand them.

Prohibition by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

You can now download the new Ken Burns and Lynn Novick film, Prohibition, which aired in October on PBS. All three parts of the series shed light on where the movement came from, why it was such a big issue for Americans, and busts some myths about this ‘noble experiment.’

Having previewed the entire series, I was astounded by many things that accompanied this era. Here are a few of the themes I walked away with from the film.

It was common for families to make illegal alcohol to simply feed their families.
Prohibition fanned the flames on an apparently impending sexual revolution.
The making of illegal liquor was intertwined with someones societal status and notoriety.
The protracted timeline of how long it took the movement to build and then the suddenness of the actual passing of the new amendment was startling and disturbing.
That corruption and the unfathomable wealth that accompanied it was a pivotal aspect of our nation's history.

How Brewers Reacted to Prohibition

As for the brewers affected by Prohibition, well, they had seen the writing on the wall and needed to react simply to survive. Many switched to making ‘soft drinks’ or other non-alcoholic beverages. Some chose to retrofit their breweries to make other products and some simply shuttered and closed. It was surely a gut-wrenching time for the country's small brewers who had been making their own American dream come true. Those who did rise from the smashed barrels had incredible stories to tell of how they made it through.

Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, by historian Maureen Ogle is a great resource for a more in-depth look at the growth of the Temperance Movement, Prohibition and the recovery of the country after Repeal.

Prohibition Timeline (for those of us who need a visual)

Savor the Flavor

One thing to always and absolutely keep in mind is that craft beer is meant to be enjoyed in moderation. Alcohol is a privilege, not a right. There are many organizations in the U.S. who work to protect craft brewers, their products and your right to enjoy them responsibly.

Brewers Association the trade association that works to promote and protect small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.
American Homebrewers Association the community for an estimated 750,000 American's who happily brew at home.
National Beer Wholesalers Association: the trade association of independent beer distributors.

Whether you’re an enthusiastic consumer, homebrewer, professional brewery, distributor or retailer, there are many clever ways to savor the flavor of craft beer.

Plan Your Own Repeal Day Party

Prohibition Home Party: If you love a good party with craft beer, here’s your chance to be the host with the most! Invite friends over to enjoy craft beer and food to celebrate Repeal. Encourage guests to bring their favorite bomber of beer in a brown bag and dress the part. Supply some simple favors to liven it up.
Homebrewers Prohibition Party: Look into what kinds of beers were made pre-Prohibition and either brew a batch yourself to share, or get your local homebrew club involved in a group brew. Lining up willing volunteers to help you enjoy the brew while watching Prohibition is easier than knowing a dark alley door password.
Business Party: If you’re a craft beer oriented business, then it’s time to get a customer Repeal party on the map! Rename your brews just for the occasion, offer creative beer cocktails, serve beers with 1920s era snacks, have staff dress up and host a costume contest for your guests.

However you decide to celebrate Repeal, this topic is a part of our permanent national fabric, so let's celebrate legal American craft beer.

Cheers to Repeal!!

The views expressed in this Muse are solely those of the original author and do not necessarily represent those of CraftBeer.com or the Brewers Association.

Ginger Johnson is a loud laugher, cross drinker and energetic beer enthusiast. She started Women Enjoying Beer to educate and share the great experience of beer with women everywhere. She works with consumers directly to find out what women want from their beer and beer businesses to market craft beer to women. She believes in education and being a geek and not a snob. She can be reached at Ginger@WomenEnjoyingBeer.com, via Twitter @womenenjoybeer and on Facebook at Women Enjoying Beer.

What kind of beer drinker are you?

2011-12-01T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Beer Drinker’s Continuum

7 Comments

Published on Monday, November 28, 2011, by James Norton

Craft beer is the new wine, and the epic rise of the brewfan has accelerated. Which one are you?

LEVEL 1: THE ANGRY POPULIST

• Your only real beer-related quandary is "Bud ... or Bud Light?"

• You get angry when people blow their money on that expensive Blue Moon crap.

• You take pride in your beer being three reliable things: yellow, fizzy, and inoffensive.

• You measure your beer intake not by the bottle, but by the case.

You drink beer ... to forget.

LEVEL 2: THE GATEWAY DRINKER

• You've had your mind blown by Guinness and you're wondering if other dark beers might also taste good.

• You're beginning to think that the Miller Lite Vortex bottle might just be a gimmick.

• You now look at a row of taps and order the beer you DON'T know.

• It occurs to you that you could probably pair beer with food other than pizza.

You drink beer ... because you're beginning to think it may have flavor, and furthermore, that you might like that flavor.

LEVEL 3: THE BREWFAN

• You actively seek out opportunities to camp at breweries in order to buy cultish, limited-release, superintoxicating Russian imperials.

• You hear that a friend of a friend once tried Westvleteren 12 and you spend the better part of a cocktail party trying to trap them into giving you an exhaustive play-by-play.

• Your RateBeer app gets more play than your email app.

• The liquor store clerk has you pegged as a lush, but your fridge and cellar are filled with half-finished six-packs and unopened bombers.

You drink beer ... to be part of a secret club.

LEVEL 4: THE DABBLER-CRITIC

• You spent four hours last week trying to convince someone that a wild yeast beer that tastes like hay caked with sun-dried manure is actually totally amazing.

• You're over Westy 12, and are now searching Belgium for beers made by smaller, less accessible monasteries staffed by even grumpier monks.

• You spend hours online every night hunting down people who express incorrect opinions about beers that you care about.

• You get in heated arguments about whether the 2007 or 2009 Sam Adams Utopias had a more distinct note of burnt raisins.

You drink beer ... to feel superior to other people.

LEVEL 5: THE MAD HOME-BREWER

• When you have guests over, it's not a question of serving home-brew—it's whether the brew-paired dinner is four courses or five.

• Your tolerance is such that you have to remind yourself that to normal people, drinking beer counts as "drinking."

• You yell at neighborhood kids when they get too close to your hop bines.

• You're just one small-business loan away from having a brewery and/or losing your life's savings.

You drink beer ... in order to make future beers taste even better.

Image sources: Flickr members Dottie Mae, Mr.Tea, Rionda, Pierre LaScott, gotsumbeers underCreative Commons

From Chow.com http://www.chow.com/food-news/98793/the-beer-drinkers-continuum/

Pocket Pairings Beer App for iPhone

2011-11-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

View In iTunes

$0.99
Category: Lifestyle
Released: Sep 16, 2009
Version: 1.0
Size: 2.2 MB
Language: English
Seller: StoneRaven, LLC
© 2009 StoneRaven, LLC.

You must be at least 17 years old to download this app.

Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 2.2 or later

Customer Ratings

Current Version:

6 Ratings

Beer Match: Beer, Food and Cheese Pairings

By StoneRaven, LLC

View More By This DeveloperOpen iTunes to buy and download apps.

Description

BEER BEER and MORE BEER
We've paired 31 beer styles from around the world with over 500 foods. A smattering of cheeses are included as well. What beer goes with the pretzels on the bar, or that smoked salmon you're having for dinner? How about with pumpkin pie? OK, what are you going to eat with your Saison?

QUICK SELECTIONS
Choose your food, and you'll be instantly shown beer styles that complement your selection. Another click brings you additional detail if you need it. Alternately, choose a beer style from the beer list, to be shown foods and cheeses that pair with that style.

BEER STYLES NOT BRANDS
We're not promoting any beer companies, we're hoping to introduce you to different styles of beer. Try a smoked beer with your meal, or have a lambic with dessert. We'll present the styles, and you choose the brand and the beer.

IS THIS APP FOR YOU?
If you love beer, and you've tried them all, but still don't know what foods work with your favorites, this app is for you. If you want to venture away from the light bubbly clear and flavorless stuff they call beer and don't know where to turn, this app is for you too. If you want to impress your girl at the micro brewery, you've come to the right app. If you want to show up your studly date, download this app now!

HELP US OUT
If you're a beer pro and you feel the app needs some help, we'd love to hear from you. If you have some pairings of your own, please contact us and contribute your ideas.

INTERNET NOT REQUIRED
You never know when you'll find yourself at a village pub in the Romanian countryside. So you'll be happy to find that all the data resides within the program so your pairings are available without an internet connection.

REVIEWS:
5 out of 5 Stars: Beckett Guide to Phone Apps
"On your next trip to the pub, don't get overwhelmed by the beer choices. This app suggests beers that go with cheeses and foods - so when you order fish and chips, you'll know to pick out a sweet, rich porter or a hoppy pilsner. And it works the other way as well, so when you're in the mood for a pale ale, you'll know which foods or cheeses to pluck from the menu. Browse lists of foods, beers and cheeses to find the right match."

...More

StoneRaven, LLC Web Site Beer Match: Beer, Food and Cheese Pairings Support

iPhone Screenshots

Customer Reviews

Beer match

by yawlas

This is a very well put together and complete application for matching different beers with all kinds of food. Overall an excellent piece of software for the price.

Beer Food Pairing Guide

2011-11-23T08:26:00.000-08:00

Beer Pairing

Certain types of beers can compliment specific food flavors just as wine does. Thanks to Wegmans, these charts provide great food pairing suggestions for both robust ales or crisp lagers. Cheers and happy tasting!

Originally from: Savor

Bohemian's Cherny Bock Schwarzbier In Draft

2011-11-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

Draft Magazine's December 2011 issue features our very own Bohemian Brewery's Cherny Bock.

"A dark malt bouquet permeates the fluffy head on this swarthy schwarzbier. Caramel and chocolate sweetly counter a dash of roasted malt sents, while a subtle lactic twang intensifies the aroma. This light-bodied brew spans the tongue with faint roasted malts threaded with caramel sweetness. Quiet, earthy hop bitterness rises before the swallow, and merges with a touch of ash and a lactic bite for an assertively dry finish. Although Cherny Bock could benefit from heftier malts, it's a quaffable beer with the style's classic clean lager swallow."

Rating

Here's the whole page.

A Craft Brewer's Thanksgiving

2011-11-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

By Anthony Orig

November 2011

Thanksgiving is a diverse meal, where dishes not only vary regionally, but from family to family. The abundance of types and styles of food leads to endless ways to go about pairing craft beer with Thanksgiving dinner. Some choose one beer that pairs nicely with all the dishes, while others tend to have many bottles open for tasting/experimenting during the meal.

"I'm totally down with the many bottles approach and experimental angle," says Cory Wentworth, head brewer of Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City, Mich. "I think our beers speak to that philosophy as well. We are always experimenting with new flavor profiles, new ingredients, and different styles of brewing. Many times there are way too many flavors in the meal to just pair it with one beer."

We asked a few brewers to share their Thanksgiving specialties, recipes and all, so you can get a regional feel for what the pros will be cooking and pairing on the big day. Don't forget to search the CraftBeer.com recipe section for great ideas on how to add craft beer to your dinner table in addition to your standard pairings.

Originally from: http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/beer-and-food/features/show?title=a-craft-brewers-thanksgiving

Why Craft Beer?

2011-10-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Nice little snipet on why craft beer from the Brewer's Association.

I am a Craft Brewer

2011-10-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

The right glass for a craft beer.

2011-09-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Behind the Zion Curtain

2011-09-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

ROCKET ACROSS AMERICA
Zion Curtain
BY JUSTIN ROCKET SILVERMAN, VIDEO BY VIVEK KEMP SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2011

The Daily is sending reporter Justin Rocket Silverman on a cross-country expedition to find the best, the boldest, and the strangest our nation has to offer. It's a great summer road trip — and you’re invited to ride shotgun. Buckle up, stay safe, and enjoy America!

WHERE'S ROCKET NOW?
Episode 18: Zion Curtain
Salt Lake City, Utah
Miles traveled: 5,500

Ordering a cocktail in Utah is simple. Watching the bartender make it is more complicated. That’s because state law mandates a partition between the bar and the customers at some restaurants that serve alcohol. It’s nicknamed “The Zion Curtain” and is intended to reduce the temptation to drink by hiding the intoxicating mixing, stirring and shaking. Recently the state legislator voted to extend the Zion Curtain to restaurants that only serve beer, meaning taps and bottles also will also need to be hidden from public view even at some of the new microbreweries that are making Utah famous nationwide for great craft beer.

Pints for Prostates

2011-08-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Pints for Prostates is a grassroots campaign that uses the universal language of beer to reach men with an important health message. Founded by prostate cancer survivor Rick Lyke in 2008, the campaign raises awareness among men about the need for regular health screenings and PSA testing by making appearances at beer festivals, social networking and pro bono advertising.

We at the Bohemian are trying to help by spreading awareness. Join us and share the link or just tell someone about it.

Pints for Prostates has registered as a 501(c)3 charity and 100% of all funds raised by the group go to fighting prostate cancer and assisting men with the disease. Us TOO International Prostate Cancer Education and Support Network, a 501(c)3 charity that works to support, educate and advocate for men with prostate cancer and their families, is a recipient of Pints for Prostates financial support.

Beer 101 - Nitrogen capsules

2011-08-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

Nitrogen capsules ("widgets")

The term widget can also be used to refer to a laser-etched pattern at the bottom of a beer glass which aids the release of carbon dioxide bubbles.^[2] The pattern of the etching can be anything from a simple circular or chequered design to a logo or text.

The widget in the base of a beer glass works by creating a nucleation point, allowing the CO₂ to be released from the liquid which comes into contact with it, thus assisting in maintaining head on the beer.

While glass widgets work on any carbonated beverage, the result is considerably less noticeable with bottled or canned drinks, with the best results produced in draught lager or cider. Czech and German glass makers would use beer to show how perfect their handblown glass was allowing very little imperfection to create this nucleation point for the CO_2.

Guinness introduced the nitrogen capsule, commonly known as the widget, in cans of Guinness Stout in the late 1980s. Subsequently, this device has caused many shirts and shoes to be soaked with beer as people discover for themselves the magic of nitrogen draft flow systems. Guinness served on draft acquires its creamy head when nitrogen bubbles are flushed through the beer at the time of serving. The widget is a small plastic capsule containing pressurized nitrogen gas that rushes out of a pinhole when the can is opened and the internal pressure is lowered. Widgets have now found their way into bottles as well as cans and have jumped species from Irish stouts to other ales, though not necessarily with the same levels of critical acclaim.

Why Nitrogen?

Some canned beers are pressurized by adding liquid nitrogen, which vaporises and expands in volume after the can is sealed, forcing gas and beer into the widget's hollow interior through a tiny hole—the less beer the better for subsequent head quality. In addition, some nitrogen dissolves in the beer which also contains dissolved carbon dioxide. It is important that oxygen be eliminated from any process developed as this can cause flavour deterioration when present.

The presence of dissolved nitrogen allows smaller bubbles to be formed thereby increasing the creaminess of the head. This is because the smaller bubbles need a higher internal pressure to balance the greater surface tension, which is inversely proportional to the radius of the bubbles. Achieving this higher pressure would not be possible with just dissolved carbon dioxide, as the greater solubility of this gas compared to nitrogen would create an unacceptably large head.

When the can is opened, the pressure in the can quickly drops, causing the pressurised gas and beer inside the widget to jet out from the hole. This agitation on the surrounding beer causes a chain reaction of bubble formation throughout the beer. The result, when the can is then poured out, is a surging mixture in the glass of very small gas bubbles and liquid.

This is the case with certain types of draught beer such as draught stouts. In the case of these draught beers, which before dispensing also contain a mixture of dissolved nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the agitation is caused by forcing the beer under pressure through small holes in a restrictor in the tap. The surging mixture gradually settles to produce a very creamy head

The Third Annual Beehive Brew-off

2011-08-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

We sent off some swag for the home brewers who entered in this years event. We're happy to announce the winners:

The Third Annual Beehive Brew-off has come and gone and this year saw a record number of entries. Nearly 500 entries were submitted covering just about every style under the sun.

Beehive Brew Off 2011 Results
August 20-21st 2011
Sponsored by The Beer Nut/ZZHops
482 Entries
==========================================================================
1 Light Lager (9 Entries)
Mike Johnson Standard American Lager 1B Standard American 1
Scott Hunt Mow my lawn bitch 1B Standard American 2
James Nicodemus Stella 1C Premium American 3
==========================================================================
2 Pilsner (15 Entries)
Scott Hunt Cup Czech Pils 2B Bohemian Pilsner 1
Vince Stuart G.P. Lite 2B Bohemian Pilsner 2
Marti Dana Pile Driver Pils 2B Bohemian Pilsner 3
==========================================================================
3 Euro Amber Lager (13 Entries)
Bryan Van Winkle Vee Dub Vienna 3A Vienna Lager 1
Travis Grimm Festbier 3B Oktoberfest 2
John Hansen Autumn Rush 3B Oktoberfest 3
==========================================================================
4 Dark Lager (12 Entries)
Tracy Johancsik Dawn's Dunkel 4B Munich Dunkel 1
John Hansen Celestial Swartzbier 4C Schwarzbier 2
Vince Stuart Wagner Wobble 4C Schwarzbier 3
==========================================================================
5 Bock (12 Entries)
Mike Mirabella The Crushinator 5C Doppelbock 1
Travis Grimm Detonator 5C Doppelbock 2
Scott Hunt Flocculator 5C Doppelbock 3
==========================================================================
6 A,B,C Light Hybrid (16 Entries)
Alex Lemieux and Tory Clayton K-Beer 6C Koelsch 1
Alex Lemieux and Tory Clayton Summer Blonde 6B Blond Ale 2
Andrew Swan Centennial Blonde 6B Blond Ale 3
==========================================================================
6D American Wheat/Rye (13 Entries)
Matt Lewis Rye Know Why 6D American Wheat or Rye Beer 1
Mike Mirabella The Why of Rye 6D American Wheat or Rye Beer 2
Tom Shivers American Wheat 6D American Wheat or Rye Beer 3
==========================================================================
7 Amber Hybrids (9 Entries)
John Knoop Munich Lager 7C Dusseldorf Altbier 1
Rob Phillips Steam Bound for CA 7B California Common Beer 2
Alan Burnham Session Common 7B California Common Beer 3
==========================================================================
8 English Pale Ales (14 Entries)
Scott Hunt Tigershark esb 8B Special/Best/Premium Bitter 1
Sean Meegan ESB Easy as 123 8C Extra Special/Strong Bitter (EPA) 2
Robert Glenn Wanker ESB 8C Extra Special/Strong Bitter (EPA) 3
==========================================================================
9 Scottish and Irish Ale (14 Entries)
Kyle Callister Dressing up Scottish Scottish 80/- 1
Matt Walker Biscuits For Smut Strong Scotch Ale 2
Michael Goode and Allison Truong Snowshoe Heavy AleStrong Scotch Ale 3
==========================================================================
10A American Pale (25 Entries)
Justin Kingsford JPA (Justin Pale Ale) 10A American Pale 1
Aaron Smith and Izaak WiermanWhipping Post Pale 10A American Pale 2
Eric Brauser Kickback APA 10A American Pale 3
==========================================================================
10B American Amber (16 Entries)
Trent Bangert Angus Ale 10B American Amber 1
Justin Kingsford Amber Ale 10B American Amber 2
Josh Van Jura Abolishian Amber 10B American Amber 3
==========================================================================
10C American Brown (6 Entries)
Paul Gailey Trip One 10C American Brown 1
Trent Bangert Yep, Yep, Yep, Yep 10C American Brown 2
Michael Brown YAJB 10C American Brown 3
==========================================================================
11 English Brown Ale (8 Entries)
Travis Grimm Mental Mild 11A Mild 1
Dallas Barlow Rated X 11A Mild 2
Doug Kirchner Celtic Mild 11A Mild 3
==========================================================================
12 Porter (23 Entries)
Mike Johnson Robust Porter 12B Robust Porter 1
Andrew Jensen Baltic Porter 12C Baltic Porter 2
Dave Watson Porter Starboard 12A Brown Porter 3
==========================================================================
13 Stout (19 Entries)
Steve Furse Strongman Stout 13C Oatmeal Stout 1
Weston Barkley Building Blocks 13A Dry Stout 2
Connor Papineau Aesthetics of hate 13E American Stout 3
==========================================================================
13F Russian Imperial Stouts (6 Entries)
Trent Bangert Court of Catherine Russian Imperial Stout 1
Ricky Hansing and Quinn Eskelsen Trojan Horse Russian Imperial Stout 2
Brad Williams Russian Imperial Stout Russian Imperial Stout 3
Jeremy Geiger Risky RIS Russian Imperial Stout 3
==========================================================================
14 India Pale Ale (29 Entries)
Lawrence Ostroski Rose Park IPA 14B American IPA 1
Scott Hunt IPA 74 14B American IPA 2
James Mancuso and Connor Forbes Drop it Like it is Hop American IPA 3
==========================================================================
14C Imperial IPA (9 Entries)
Chris Detrick Jack Morman Rye IPA 14C Imperial IPA 1
Travis Grimm Infirmary Double IPA 14C Imperial IPA 2
Phillip Davis Imperial IPA 14C Imperial IPA 3
==========================================================================
15 German Wheat and Rye (15 Entries)
Ed Scott Weizenbock 15C Weizenbock 1
Dallas Barlow Kick Ass Wedding Wheat 15A Weizen 2
Kyle Callister At Night Weizen 15B Dunkelweizen 3
==========================================================================
16A Witbier (7 Entries)
Don Gladfelter None 16A Witbier 1
Sarah Nelson Wit 16A Witbier 2
James Mancuso and Connor Forbes Garcon Blanc 16A Witbier 3
==========================================================================
16 C,D Saison & Biere de Garde (19 Entries)
Alex Lemieux and Tory Clayton Biere de Mars 16D Biere de Garde 1
Dallas Barlow In the Desert Dry Farmhouse Ale 16C Saison 2
Mark Eury C'est L'ete 16C Saison 3
==========================================================================
16 B,E Belgian Pale and Specialty (19 Entries)
Dallas Barlow She is a Bit of a Tart 16E Belgian Specialty 1
Daren Wightman Dack Framboise 16E Belgian Specialty 2
Mike Hahn Imperial Orval 16E Belgian Specialty 3
==========================================================================
17 Sour Beers (9 Entries)
Dallas Barlow Halten Sie Den Schuss 17A Berliner Weisse 1
Brent Winkler Flanders Red 17B Flanders Red 2
Chris Detrick Berliner Weiss 17A Berliner Weisse 3
==========================================================================
18 Belgian Strong (21 Entries)
Dallas Barlow Triple Poules Francais 18C Belgian Tripel 1
Connor Papineau St. Papineau's 18E Belgian Dark Strong Ale 2
Ben Knorr Dubbel Blizzard 18B Belgian Dubbel 3
==========================================================================
19 English & American Barleywine (13 Entries)
Mike Hahn English Barleywine 19B English Barleywine 1
Aaron Smith Beast of Burden 19C American Barleywine 2
Rob Kent Grizzly Adams 19B English Barleywine 3
==========================================================================
20 Fruit Beer (23 Entries)
Michael Anderson LiliKoi Ale 20A Fruit Beer 1
David Pang and Casey Jones Cherry Vanilla Lager 20A Fruit Beer 2
Cami Kent Veridian Cream 20A Fruit Beer 3
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21 Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer (22 Entries)
Travis GrimmFire in the Hole Chipotle Pale Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer 1
Trent BangertBANGERT'S BREAKFAST BEER Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer 2
Casey Ruff Serrano Blonde Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer 3
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22 Smoke Flavored and Wood Aged (10 Entries)
Mike Johnson Cigar-Cedar aged IPA 22C Wood-Aged Beer 1
Sarah Nelson Rauchweizen 22B Other Smoked Beer 2
Trent Bangert Oakdogg 22C Wood-Aged Beer 3
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23A Specialty Beer (33 Entries)
Dawn Gray Chocolate Starfish Porter 23A Specialty Beer 1
Rob Kent Old Crepuscular 23A Specialty Beer 2
Hans Groberg Big Brother 23A Specialty Beer 3
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24, 25, 26 Meads (16 Entries)
Dirk Howard Peach Mead 25C Other Fruit Melomel 1
Rob and Cami Kent Armfunkel 26B Braggot 2
Andrew Dalton Ginger Metheglin 26A Metheglin 3
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27, 28 Ciders (7 Entries)
Tom Shivers Apple Ginger Cider 28D Other Spec. Cider/Perry 1
Travis Grimm Nice Try Cider 27A Common Cider 2
Steve Furse Five O Clock Cider 27A Common Cider 3
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BEST OF SHOW
Ed Scott Wienbock 15C Weizenbock 1
Dallas Barlow Triple Poules Francais 18C Belgian Tripel 2
Dallas Barlow She is a Bit of a Tart 16E Belgian Specialty 3
=============================================================================

Facts about recycling cans

2011-08-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Aluminum Recycling Facts

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Aluminum Recycling Facts

Overview

Given the prevalence of curbside pickup and recycling dropoff centers, recycling the aluminum can that contains your soda or the aluminum foil that wraps your brownies often takes only a little effort, but the payoff is big. Because it saves energy, natural resources and money, recycling aluminum instead of consigning it to a landfill benefits consumers, manufacturers and the environment.

Volume

Americans do not recycle as much aluminum as they could. In 2008, 48 percent of the aluminum beverage containers that were created were later recovered, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports. For aluminum containers and packaging, that proportion was lower: 38 percent. Every three months, Americans toss out enough aluminum to recreate all the commercial airplanes in the nation, according to the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The Aluminum Show Inventive, surprising, exciting, humorous, and joyful. Get tickets! www.rutheckerdhall.com/DanceTickets

Energy Savings

The University of Colorado at Boulder notes that making cans from recycled aluminum rather than virgin ore uses 95 percent less energy. You can power a television for three hours using the energy saved by recycling just one aluminum can. For the same amount of energy that it takes to make a single aluminum can from new ore, you can make 20 recycled aluminum cans.

Cycle

The aluminum recycling process, in which aluminum products from the waste stream are made into new aluminum products, often moves quickly. A can may be manufactured, filled, sold, used, recycled and used to make a new can in as brief a time as six weeks, the EPA notes. An average aluminum can contains about 40 percent recycled metal.

Sources

Aluminum is recycled from numerous sources. Soda and beer cans are the most well known, but aluminum from cars, appliances, doors and windows can also be recycled, the U.S. Geological Survey notes. According to the EPA, used beverage containers and other packaging provide the largest volume of aluminum scrap and diecasts from automobile manufacturing the second largest amount.

History

The process of recycling existing aluminum into new aluminum has been around since the beginning of the 20th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. However, aluminum recycling didn't begin to attract widespread public attention until the 1960s, when aluminum can recycling began to take root.

Beer 101 - Beer is a Perishable Product

2011-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

Clear versus colored glass bottles... or better yet, cans?

If you have ever wondered why most beer bottles are amber or green, the answer is simple. The full spectrum of daylight can have undesirable effects on a beer over a period of time. The ultraviolet portion of the spectrum is especially harmful; promoting chemical reactions that produce "off flavors" that will take the edge off the freshness of a beer. Dark glass greatly inhibits this photochemical effect, whereas clear glass leaves the beer within vulnerable to being "light struck." The industry standard is for green or amber glass, but for some unfathomable reason a number of British breweries stick resolutely to their traditional practice of using clear glass bottles, with often undesirable consequences when such beers are left on a retailer’s shelf for any length of time. This is why cans are the best of all. They block out 100% of harmful UV rays keeping your beer fresher, longer.

Women & Beer

2011-08-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

Why Women Are a Critical Part of the Future of U.S. Craft Beer

By Ginger Johnson

Question: Who will help support the future of US craft beer?

A. With our population exploding, there should be plenty of up and coming market share

B. All the existing craft beer drinkers, silly

C. Women

Answer: C

It’s time for more women consumers to engage in American Craft Beer. Why? Well, if you’re a woman who likes beer, let me answer that with a few questions. Do you enjoy American craft brews? Do you know what "craft" means? If you do, how often do you partake? What brands do you support and why? Do you recruit other women to enjoy it too?

You may know that women influence 80 percent of purchases across all categories. What you may not know, is that only 25 – 29 percent of American women of legal age enjoy beer. That’s way too low to really call it the "All American Beverage," when clearly far less than half of the female population isn’t enjoying it. In order to support the health, existence, and growth of the more than 1,700 existing craft breweries and the 600+ breweries in planning, more women will need to engage.

How do you engage in craft beer? Do you buy it and share it? Do your friends get excited (or tired) of you offering new beer suggestions to try? Do you talk about beer with anyone who will listen, or is it a closeted kind of situation? Do you notice or seek out beer education opportunities to learn more about the incredible beverage in your glass?

Women are the future of craft beer in the US of A because they are the seriously under-tapped, misrepresented, and often overlooked market that can be developed to help sustain the entire craft beer community. If you’re a woman, you need to stand up and say, “Yes! I want to know more and drink more American craft beer.” Demand to be heard and respected as part of a viable market share, not some token or niche market. A 50.9% global population segment is hardly a niche.

If you’re a male consumer or professional, chances are you have an important female or three in your life. You too should work to make the demands and changes for equal gender beer involvement, as that would be a natural extension of your affection and respect for those women, yes?

Tell the women you meet in the industry to encourage beer businesses to create specific opportunities to engage women in craft beer. In our ongoing research for Women Enjoying Beer (WEB), we hear from women all across the country who say they enjoy learning with other women, in women-only settings. Lots of women want to learn about beer through totally unconventional ways (read: dashing stereotypes and myths). For example, WEB is planning a fly fishing and beer event.

AMEN!! More accurately, AWOMEN!! The success of craft beer and women has to include the story as well. The story of who, how, when, and all other beery info as it relates to craft breweries. Women love the story—give it to them.

Look at this picture. It’s a women’s beer event that can be held anywhere across the country and it tells the story clearly that women are and want to get into craft beer. Does this look good to you too? And, we haven’t even talked about how a mind blowing and enlightening beer and food pairing experience helps promote craft beer to women!

Women: ask for it by name—women’s craft beer events.
Craft beer community: offer events to women.

Tastings, pairings, tours, events, tappings—there are innumerable ways to ask for beer opportunities if you’re a consumer, and infinite ways to invite women if you’re in the business.

Why will the future of U.S. craft beer depend on women? Because like it or not, they are the market that influences spending, makes the most decisions about what’s on the table and in the fridge, and they are interested in knowing more about craft beer.

Get your female friends involved in beer by holding a beer potluck where everyone brings a six pack to share and taste. Hold a craft beer and food tasting party—they are huge fun and economical for all budgets. Learn how to host a tasting at home.

Insist that your local retailer hold a beer tasting, and be sure to show your support and encouragement for repeating the event by recruiting other women to join you. If you ask, you also have to show proactive support.

I once heard that a handwritten letter to a legislator outweighs a form letter 100 to 1. Be that one woman who speaks up, demands respect, and creates a better relationship with beer. The other 99 women will be glad for it, and in turn will help the future of the U.S. craft beer scene thrive.

Photos © istockphoto and Kate Parks

Ginger Johnson is a loud laugher and energetic beer enthusiast. You can hear her enjoying beer and she encourages you to join her. She started Women Enjoying Beer to educate and share the great experience of craft beer with women and men everywhere. She works with consumers directly to find out what women want from their beer and beer businesses to market craft beer to women. She believes in beer diplomacy, education, and in being a geek and not a snob. She can be reached at Ginger@WomenEnjoyingBeer.com, via Twitter @womenenjoybeer and on Facebook at Women Enjoying Beer.

Beer 101 - Beer is a Perishable Product

2011-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Beer is a foodstuff. As with most foodstuffs, beer is perishable-it deteriorates as a result of the action of bacteria, light, and air. However, unlike other food products, packaged beer is not legally mandated to carry a "sell by" date. Nonetheless, some domestic beer sold in the United States does carry a freshness date. The Boston Beer Company was among the first to use freshness dating, as far back as 1985. Anheuser-Busch has followed suit with its much-publicized "born on" dates. There are still many breweries, large and small, which do not send all their beers to market with a freshness date, but the trend is certainly moving in the right direction.

Stabilization

Prior to bottling, a typical commercial ale or lager will undergo some form of stabilization to extend its shelf life. The two primary forms of stabilization are sterile filtration, in which the beer is passed through a microporous filter that will not let through any "crunchy bits" larger than 0.5 microns; and pasteurization, whereby the beer is heated briefly to kill any microbial wildlife. Both approaches are widely used, though a number of brewers have noted that sterile filtration strips some hop flavors from their ales. A third, traditional option for preparing a beer for its journey in a bottle to your glass, "bottle conditioning," is dealt with later.

Freshness period: The drinking window

The length of time it takes for a beer to become stale (a papery note, dulled hop character, or other off flavors) is determined by the alcoholic strength and hopping level of the beer. Both alcohol and hops help preserve beer. Thus hoppier, stronger beers keep for longer. Typically, the freshness period for a lager is four months; for stronger craft-brewed ales, five months. High-gravity, high-strength beers such as doppelbocks typically carry a six- to twelve-month freshness period. All of the preceding assumes proper handling of the beer.

How can you determine the "drinking window" of a beer? It depends on the dating system used by the brewery. Taking a typical example of Boston Beer’s Samuel Adams brands, the freshness period is the time between shipment from the brewery and the freshness date, or "consume by" date, marked on the label or capsule. In the case of a beer with a "born on" date (Anheuser-Busch products, for example), the freshness period is approximately four months after the date on the label.

Imports: A note of caution

Imported beer can have a rough ride on its way to your local retailer. First, it must undergo a sea voyage, hopefully in temperature-controlled containers, or "reefers," in industry parlance. After sitting in the bonded customs warehouse (hopefully, air conditioned), it must pass through an importer’s warehouse and then be shipped to a wholesaler’s warehouse. In the best case, the local wholesaler will have temperature-controlled storage and an efficient stock

control system, although this is an area of commerce that is not renowned for sympathetic handling of product or startling efficiency with stock. One thing is for sure-at any moment of time in the Byzantine system of beer distribution in the United States, a prodigious amount of imported beer is sitting in warehouses slowly undergoing the inexorable effects of aging.

This is not to suggest that many imported beers do not find their way to us in perfect condition. However, one is not reassured by the reluctance of virtually all beer importers to put freshness dating on the wares that they import. Beers produced for consumption in European Union countries are mandated to have an expiration date on the packaging. When the same breweries produce a batch for export to the United States, too often, off comes the expiration dating and on goes the Surgeon General’s warning.

It must be said that some imported beers do carry a freshness date, but they are vastly outnumbered by those that do not. Thus a consumer purchasing a six pack of imported Czech pilsner or English bitter may have no idea as to how long the product has been in the chain of distribution. In both examples freshness is as important as with any domestic ale or lager. Dust or label discoloration may give a clue that a beer has been too long on a retailer’s shelf, but even these are not always reliable indicators. At the Beverage Testing Institute it has been noticed that a number of bottles purchased at retail have failed the freshness test, sometimes to the point of being undrinkable. Ultimately, market pressure will be the only factor that will promote wide-scale introduction of useful freshness dating for imported beers. Until such time, consumers can use the following commonsense approaches to avoid being shortchanged with stale imported beer.

Try to purchase imports from reputable specialty stores with enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff.
Check the crown cap seal (if it is a bottled product) to see if there has been any seepage. If there has, then the bottle most likely has been subjected to heat abuse.
Dusty, discolored labels should not inspire confidence.
Always insist on returning skunky, out-of-condition beer for a refund (see our article on beer faults to know what to look for). This should be no problem if you heed the first point.

Can there be too many breweries?

2011-08-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today we find ourselves in a brewing boom in the United States. The Bohemian has only been around for about 10 years (founded in and opened our doors in 2001) and we still feel like a new coming to this industry among others like Sierra Nevada who have hit 30 this past year. Now, we're not owned by deep pockets or some midwest corporation so our growth has been steady but humble all done with our own capital. No investors or outside partners. Just a mom & pop shop. Literally. The popularity of consumers switching from macro beers to craft beers is refreshing. But with this turn in popularity you start seeing dollar signs in peoples eyes. We find our selves in a funny situation asking the question; "Can there be too many breweries?"

Don't get us wrong. Competition is always good for business. And the more craft the merrier is what we like to say. As long as someone is drinking quality over quantity we're on the right track. Right? Today I read a press release by the Brewer's Association (below) and found an alarming number of breweries being planned for production. What does this mean? Is this sustainable? Is this the beer equivalent of the yogurt craze in the 90's and now the similar craze with frozen yogurt and berries? Will be be doomed to the same fate as wine? Is it a fad? Will big beer die? Will craft come out on top?

Realistically there are only so many beer drinkers out there. You can get new drinkers simply with the coming of age. With craft it's more like growing up and enjoying a beer rather than getting plowed off of beer. You also loose them due to age, diet and other personal reasons. Craft has been converting people to purchase a quality 6 pack over a cheap 12 pack. Drinking beer instead of wine with a meal. But what happens if you have too many choices (gulp - did I really say that?).

For the off premiss side of things think of it this way. I always equate craft beer to dairy or specifically milk. Sure beer won't go bad as fast as milk but it does have a limited shelf life and limited shelf space. If you go to a c-store you see maybe 7 or 10 brands of milk (in urban areas) including Soy. But typically you see 4 at the most. Now milk is something a lot of people drink. Babies all the way to the Elderly. The age window for a beer drinker is arguable much smaller. They also drink a lot more and more often. But yet you don't see 155 types of milk at the store. What happens with you get too many beer options? Sure, the bad beer will get weeded out eventually but after causing how much damage? But what happens to the large craft players do they feel the pinch as the macro breweries do right now? What about the small regional craft breweries? What about all breweries? Does everyone simply throw away half of their product because it expires on the shelf due to too many options and product not moving?

The future looks to hold a lot of beer. Hopefully good, no - great beer. Until then we watch the growth with optimism and caution.

BA release below:

Dollar growth up 15% in first six months of 2011; U.S. sees rapid growth in breweries in planning

Boulder, CO • August 8, 2011 - The Brewers Association, the trade association representing the majority of U.S. brewing companies, has released strong mid-year numbers for America's small and independent craft brewers¹. Dollar sales were up 15 percent in the first half of 2011, excluding brewers who left the craft segment in 2010². Volume of craft brewed beer sold grew 14 percent for the first six months in 2011, compared to 9 percent growth in the first half of 2010.

Barrels sold by craft brewers for the first half of the year are an estimated 5.1 million barrels. Despite many challenges, the mid-year numbers show signs of continued growth for craft breweries. The industry currently provides an estimated 100,000 jobs, contributing significantly to the U.S. economy.

"Craft brewers continue to innovate and brew beers of excellent quality," noted Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. "America's beer drinkers are rapidly switching to craft because of the variety of flavors they are discovering. And they are connecting with small and independent craft brewers as companies they choose to support."

Download a high resolution version of this graphic

The U.S. now boasts 1,790 breweries—an increase of 165 additional breweries since June 2010. The Brewers Association also tracks breweries in planning as an indicator of potential new entrants into the craft category, and lists 725 breweries in planning today compared to 389 a year ago. Additionally, the count of craft brewers was at 1,740 as of June 30, 2011.

"There is a growing interest in establishing new breweries," Gatza added. "It seems like every day we are hearing about a brewery in planning. Will they all make it? No, but many will if they produce high-quality, interesting craft beers and can get them to market through self-distribution and beer wholesalers and beer retailers."

¹ The definition of a craft brewer as stated by the Brewers Association: An American craft brewer is small, independent, and traditional. Small: Annual production of beer less than 6 million barrels. Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition. Independent: Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer. Traditional: A brewer who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

²Three former craft brewing companies left the segment in the second half of 2010 when transitions led them to no longer meet the Brewers Association's definition of independence.

Contact

Paul Gatza, Director
paul@brewersassociation.org, 303.447.0816 x122

Julia Herz, Craft Beer Program Director
julia@brewersassociation.org, 303.447.0816 x113

###

The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America®, SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience and American Craft Beer Week. The BA publishes The New Brewermagazine and its Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today's craft brewers and homebrewers.

Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA's American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.

Beer 101 - The Bar: Drink Locally, Think Globally

2011-08-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

As a consequence of the craft beer revolution, there is a vast choice of beer from abroad and closer to home. When confronted by a line of tap handles stretching the full length of the bar, do not overlook your local craft brewer. Independent local breweries are the backbone of any serious beer-drinking culture and should not be taken for granted in the competitive commercial environment. Recognize that a beer brewed in smaller quantities with 100% malted barley and high-quality hops will necessarily cost a little extra. Fresh, well-brewed beer that has traveled only a small number of miles will invariably taste better than an equivalent beer that left the brewery a few months ago. Indeed, a draft beer that has traveled a great distance will certainly have been pasteurized, thus is slightly handicapped from the start. The flip side to this is that a pasteurized imported keg of beer will certainly last longer when it is tapped than an unpasteurized, "live," craft beer. The latter needs to be drunk fresh. A conscientious draft bar should keep a few tap handles devoted to local craft brews and ensure that they remain fresh.

If a beer fails to live up to its obligation of being fresh, send it back over the bar-politely of course. Beer condition must always be the primary concern of any good bar. When confronted by a long line of tap handles, your first question to the bartender should be, "What’s fresh?"

Beer 101 - Can/Bottle Conditioning: Living Beer

2011-08-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

The term "living beer" can be either high praise or a slap in the face for a brewer. If the things that are "living" in the beer are microorganisms that ought not to be there, then it is bad news for a beer and its brewer.

Live beer, however, generally refers to the presence of noble yeasts left over from the brewing process. Beers that have been bottled unpasteurized and unfiltered, with a significant amount of live yeast, are called "bottle-conditioned" beers. The purpose of bottling beers in such a manner is to give them the potential to age and develop more complexity. Yeast inhibits oxidation and contributes complex flavors as it breaks down slowly in the bottle. Many Belgian ales are traditionally bottle conditioned through a secondary fermentation in the bottle, in a process similar to that which produces champagne.

An unpasteurized beer bottled with its yeast will not age in the manner of a conventionally processed beer. With age, bottle-conditioned beers develop a rounded, smoother mouthfeel, and over the course of years, often take on winey, vinous flavors.

Bottle conditioning is an economical means for small-scale craft brewers to bottle ales without the need for costly pasteurization or filtration equipment. How long one cellars bottle-conditioned beers is a matter of personal taste and will also depend on the specific character of the beer in question.

The following is a list of some of the top-rated, cellarable, bottle-conditioned beers we have reviewed. All or any of these would be highly recommended for a beer cellar (e.g., a cool cupboard in the basement). Suggested cellaring periods are in brackets, though they are only approximate cellaring times based on personal experiences and in some cases, brewery recommendations. Three gueuzes have been included for the simple reason that these beers have the best cellaring potential in the beer world. Frank Boon of Brouwerij Boon claims a 30-year cellar life for his gueuze beers.

Brasserie d’Achouffe (Belgium) N’Ice Chouffe (up to 5 years)
Chimay (Belgium) Grand Reserve Blue (up to 5 years)
Sinebrychoff (Finland) Porter 1996 Bottling (up to 5 years)
King & Barnes (England) Millennium Ale (up to 10 years)
J.W. Lees (England) Harvest Ale 1998 (up to 10 Years)
Unibroue (Canada) Quelquechose (up to 10 years)
Young’s (England) Old Nick Barley Wine (up to 10 years)
Frank Boon (Belgium) Gueuze Mariage Parfait (up to 20 years)
Cantillon (Belgium) Gueuze (up to 20 years)
Eldridge Pope (England) Thomas Hardy’s Ale (up to 20 years)

New Horizontal Lagering Tanks Are In

2011-08-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

We spent the whole day unloading and positioning the 4 new 90bbl lagering tanks into place. They don't look that big in this picture but each one is about 10 feet tall just so you see the scale. The fermenters behind them are about 25ft tall.

We have an Erection!

2011-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

The 60BBL Fermenters have been erected into place. So you can say we've got an erection. :D Oh yeah we do!

New Fermenters Arrive at Bohemian Brewery

2011-07-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Two new 60bbl fermenters arrive along with a 90bbl lagering tank from Specific Mechanical. We're giddy like a school kid in a candy store. Stay tuned.

Evanston Beer Fest

2011-07-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today was the 3rd annual Evanston City Beer Fest. This cool little town on the southwestern corner of Wyoming decided to welcome the Rocky Mountain Brewers out for a great sunny day out on their historic Main Street for some great beer, food and a Big Wheel race! It was a blast and this year it has grown like crazy. Being only and hour and a half from Salt Lake it brought out a ton of Utah folks.

Here's our never ending line which started right away at our tent.

Looking back at Tour de Brewtah

2011-07-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the video from May 7th Tour in Salt Lake City and it's breweries by bicycle.

Bohemian Brewery

Desert Edge

Red Rock

Squatters

Uinta

2011 Tour De Brewtah - Salt Lake City, UT. from Tim Roberts on Vimeo.

Selling the Session from Draft Magazine

2011-07-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Selling the session

BREWER'S UNION LOCAL 180

There’s buzz about low-strength beer. But is there any money in it?

by Joe Stange

Commercial Suicide. That’s the name of the first beer that left Jester King Craft Brewery in Drip-ping Springs, Texas, last October. It’s a dark ale made from roasted malts and partially aged on oak before blending and packaging. Sounds like one any geek could love. So why such a damning moniker?

Maybe because it’s a mild of only 3.5% ABV—not a beer many American craft breweries would hang their hats on. What’s more, Jester King is among a scattered handful of independent brewers and pubs across the U.S. and Canada emphasizing lower-strength beers meant for drinking in quantity.

What are they thinking? Have we not been clear?

Through informal polls, beer-rating Web sites, year-end lists, and—most important—the dollars we spend, we have made our preferences known. We like strong beers. We drink them. We hoard them. We pay extra. Scan the draft list at your local taphouse, and more often than not you’ll find it top-heavy with higher alcohol beers and very little, if anything, below 5%.

So what on Earth would lead a few brewers and pubs to turn their backs on us and dedicate themselves to weak beer? Have we not proven that we can session anything?

“First off, I don’t buy that,” says Lew Bryson, a Philadelphia-based drinks writer who in 2009 launched a blog-based campaign called the Session Beer Project. Bryson said he’s often heard the argument that you can session any beer, as long as you drink slowly enough, and still walk home straight afterward.

Imperial stout, anyone?

“I’ve never been able to stretch out three of those over six hours,” he said. “I call bullshit on that. … People in craft beer joke that people who drink light beer really don’t like beer. But I like to drink beer. I don’t just like to sip beer. I like to drink beer.”

Bryson launched the project after a chat with Bill Covaleski of Victory Brewing, which had been offering a few lower-strength beers without much acclaim. When Bryson asked why those beers weren’t better known, the brewery’s founder said, “It’s your fault.”

Covaleski’s point: The media and geeks would rather talk about the latest double-hop-bombs or barrel-aged sour ales, while proper drinking beers fly under the radar. So Bryson launched his Session Beer Project to pay them more attention.

Which brings us to an interesting question: Is the name Commercial Suicide accurate?
“There are definitely those who don’t really get these beers,” said Ron Extract, co-owner of Jester King. “We’ve had some people tell us that the name ‘Commercial Suicide’ was apt, others who called it ‘watery’ or said it didn’t ‘pack enough punch,’ and even one customer who asked us if/when we might be making a full-strength version.

“At the same time, though, we’ve also got a few places that are pouring it consistently and going through it at a good clip,” he said. “All in all, this beer definitely has its audience.”

Are low-strength beers the next big thing? Maybe not. The Web site Ratebeer.com surely has the most complete database of available craft options over the past several years, and its numbers tell a boozy story. In 2000, the average alcohol by volume of new U.S. beers was about 5.7%. That number increased steadily over the past decade, reaching about 7.2% in 2009.

Meanwhile, the percentage of new U.S. beers stronger than 5.5% had risen to about 75%. That’s up from 45% a decade earlier.

Despite the trends—or perhaps as a reaction to them—“session beer” has become a regular part of insider chatter. It was apparently on the mind of Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione during a recent interview with Atlantic Monthly. The magazine asked him, “What’s a beer trend that you wish would go away?” His two answers were “ice-cold beer” and the idea “that session beers and extreme beers cannot co-exist peacefully on the same shelf or within a brewer’s portfolio.” (Although it’s not clear who, if anyone, has ever advocated such an idea.)

It’s worth noting that low-strength beer is not exactly rare in North America. Three of the top U.S. sellers—Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite—each contain 4.2% alcohol. Yet the craft movement began as a reaction to products like those, which might explain the reluctance of some brewers to stray below the 5% line.

Aside from light corporate lagers, is there any money in session beer?

“Yeah, of course,” said Steven Pauwels, brewmaster of Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, Mo. “It’s volume and price. That’s how it works.” Basically, per-beer profits might be slimmer but you sell a lot more beer. “You get the same revenue you get with lower volume and higher margin,” Pauwels said.

Boulevard has gained national recognition for its Smokestack Series in 75cl bottles, but the Midwestern brewery remains the house that Unfiltered Wheat built. The Wheat—low on bitterness but big on bready, lemony flavor at 4.4% strength—accounts for more than 60 percent of Boulevard’s sales.

“We sell a lot of it, and that beer is paying the bills for us,” Pauwels said. So session beer is not necessarily Commercial Suicide after all. •

MORE: 10 session spots: Bars and breweries dedicated to low-ABV brews

Originally from: http://draftmag.com/features/selling-the-session/

Bohemian Brewery on the DABC Show

2011-07-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

The DABC Show 2: Bohemian Brewery

by Bill Frost

POSTED // 2011-07-11 -It's the second episode of The DABC Show (Drinking Alcoholic Beverages Constantly), wherein myself and Steve Koonce visit local joints that make great beer, drink a few and slap together a web show about it. This time: Midvale'sBohemian Brewery.

There's drinking, eating, more drinking and a satellite throw to Steve at some beer festival in Idaho Falls. Then, some more drinking--and if you're not careful, you might even learn something ...

Harvest Moon Benefit for Splore

2011-07-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

Bohemian Brewery partners with Splore, a local non-profit supporting them in their adventures. The Harvest Moon Benefit is a annual event to raise money for Splore. Check out the video to learn more and visit them at www.splore.org This is a really great organization. This years Harvest Moon Benefit will be on October 15th, 2011.

Czech on the east coast like our Pilsner not our Pilsener.

2011-07-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

Americans CAN Make Pilsner

Today is a very special day, it is now 3 years since the then Soon To Be Mrs Velkyal became Mrs Velkyal in a wonderful Czech civil ceremony in the New Town Hall in Prague. Of course "new" in Prague is an entirely relative term as it dates from 1419 and was the site of the first of the three defenestrations for which Prague is famed (minor political aside - the sooner the Czechs defenestrate Vaclav Klaus, the better). Tomorrow is then Mrs V's birthday - no chance of ever forgetting either event really - and so her best friend came up for the weekend from Greenville and being a top human being all round, she agreed to bring me a selection of brews which as far as I know are not available in Virginia, or at least not in Charlottesville.

The eagle eyed among you will see a can in that selection. The can is a Czech Pilsener from the Bohemian Brewery in Utah.

I was very much looking forward to continuing my search for the perfect American made Bohemian style pilsner, especially when I read through the information on their website. The website says that they do a double decoction mash, lager their beers for 5 weeks and don't pasteurise their beers. The details on the Pilsener (sorry, using their nomenclature) were also encouraging, just 4% abv, so I am assuming desítka territory, using only Saaz hops and fermented with the same yeast as the old Braník beers.

So how was it?

Sight - golden, topped with the firm white head, looks the part
Smell - floral, orange blossom, touch of hay
Taste - lightly grainy, biscuity and with a good dose of bitterness, tastes the part
Sweet - 3/5
Bitter - 4/5

The body was medium, perhaps being ever so slightly thin in the finish, otherwise I really, really enjoyed this. That is pretty much my only issue with the beer, but given my experience of American pilsners, I really want to try this on tap as opposed to in the can.

Unfortunately it isn't available in Virginia yet, so when Mrs V and I head down to South Carolina, I will be buying more to put in the fridge, and when we go to Florida in a couple of weeks, taking plenty of cans for the beach. An excellent beer, and I will now have to try the rest of their range!

Originally posted on Fuggled: http://www.fuggled.net/2011/07/americans-can-make-pilsner-cant-spell.html

2nd Annual Red Rock Regatta

2011-07-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

2nd Annual

August 6th, 5pm - Dusk

Big Bend Campground Moab, UT

REGISTER NOW
Help Splore raise $10,000 to provide life-changing outdoor recreation opportunities to Moab youth and adults of all abilities!

Come show off your boating skills in the Anything That Floats Race. Cardboard boxes, old bathtubs, pool toys - if it can float it's fair game!

Start Location: Take-Out Beach

Start Time: 5:30pm

End Location: Big Bend Campground

To support a team or individual, DONATE HERE.

If you prefer to stay on dry land, join Splore at the Big Bend Campground from 5PM til dusk. Cheer on your favorite racers, play family-friendly beach games, listen to music, and enjoy $5 burgers and brats, and beer from a local brewery. Admission is FREE!

Snowbird Brewfest

2011-06-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Setting up for the Snowbird Brewfest. It's incredible that's it's almost July and we still have snow on the ground. What a great ski year it's been. Now to go and do some runs before the people start showing up for beer.

A report back from Savor - Wine Compass

2011-06-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

From the blog of WineCompass.com comes a great video report about the 2011 Savor Craft Beer and Food pairing event.

This event sold out for both nights within 2 hours of tickets going on sale. Next year should be fun!

Mountain Brewers Beerfest

2011-06-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

We are rockin it at the annual pigrimage we do every year to Idaho's Mountain Brewers Beerfest. This is always a blast. Year after year this is one of the best beer festivals in the Rocky Mountains. Thank for all the great times and the two medals we took home for our Viennese Lager and our Altus Altbier.

We're in the golden age for American Beer

2011-05-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

Infographic Of The Day: We're In The Golden Age For American Beer

Beer seems like a fixture of American culture. But it hasn't always been so, as William Bostwick, co-author of Beer Craft, points out.
Today's golden age of beer has been a long time coming. We haven't drank this much beer from this many breweries for a hundred years. Sure, most of the 204 million barrels of beer made in America last year came from two monstrous brewing conglomerates--Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors--but 97% of the breweries in operation are small, independently owned craft breweries. The big are at their biggest, but the underdogs are gaining steam.

[Click to enlarge]
The big are at their biggest, but the underdogs are gaining steam.
This chart, from a guide to beer and homebrewing, Beer Craft, which I wrote with Jessi Rymill, tracks American brewing from its earliest days of pumpkin-and-tree-bark hooch to the sudsy empire of today. American brewing began in the kitchen and it's booming there now, again. Homebrewing is hip--but it started out of necessity. In America's early days, thirsty colonists placed ads in British papers begging pro brewers to emigrate, but no luck. Washington, Jefferson, and even John Winthrop were homebrewers, and pretty creative ones. This was experimental stuff--think anise, molasses, pumpkins, parsnips--but it did the trick.

Beer took a hit in the early 1800s when rum flooded the ports and whisky the frontier. In those days, America had 200 breweries and 14,000 distilleries. Americans drank almost three pints of liquor a week. Then, the Germans arrived with a new beer: lager. During the wave of German immigration in the 1840s, 40 lager breweries opened in Philadelphia alone. The only problem was, nobody drank much anymore. The German tendency to drink during the day, outside, in noisy beer gardens with--mein Gott!--women and children freaked out the xenophobes, and a dark curtain of temperance dimmed drinking to a national per-capita low in 1850 of less than a bottle a week.

So most breweries closed, or consolidated. Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Pabst dominated the flagging market with fancy new technology like refrigerated railway cars. The few small breweries still around finally succumbed in 1919. Prohibition took no prisoners. Big breweries scraped by selling low-alcohol "near beer," soda, and ice cream (what else to do with those expensive train cars?). Beer took a long time to recover. By 1978 there were only 89 breweries, owned by 41 companies. Meanwhile, though, craft beer was born.

Washington and Jefferson were homebrewers.
In the 1970s, three tiny California breweries fired their kettles: New Albion, Anchor, and Sierra Nevada. New Albion closed in 1983, but Anchor and Sierra exploded. Boston Beer Company followed in 1984, and the rush was on. Between 1993 and 1994, 200 breweries opened. Craft beer boomed fast, and suffered for it--many small breweries, started on a whim, shut down in the late '90s--but it's since found its legs. Today craft beer is growing in volume and dollars while the rest of the beer industry stagnates. Homebrewing is booming too, bringing American beer history full circle. Only, with fewer parsnips.

Read more about Beer Craft here. Or click here to buy it, for $11.

Red, White and Brew

2011-05-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

The Benefits of recycling cans

2011-05-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Benefits of Recycling Aluminum Cans

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Benefits of Recycling Aluminum Cans

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the United States generates close to 2 million tons of aluminum from packaging such as soda cans each year. Recycling can give new life to used aluminum cans--but the fact is, many used cans get thrown into the trash can rather than into the recycle bin. Recycling aluminum cans is an important way to protect the planet and its inhabitants.

Environmental Benefits

Recycling aluminum cans reduces energy consumption. According to the EPA, using recycled aluminum cans saves 92 percent of the energy needed to create new aluminum cans from bauxite ore. Saving energy is an important way to conserve the earth's limited resources and preserve the resources that remain. Recycling aluminum cans does both by protecting remaining natural resources and by conserving energy. Aluminum is a special material because it can be recycled over and over again; within 60 days, a used can can be recycled and turned into a new can, reports Earth911, an environmental services organization dedicated to protecting the planet.

Best Metal Recycling Buyers of all scrap metal. Clearwater, Palmetto,Tarpon Springs bestmetalrecycling.com

Economic Benefits

Used aluminum cans have more uses beyond being re-created into new aluminum cans. The Aluminum Association encourages creative uses for old aluminum cans as one way to save money while also doing something positive for the planet. One family in Aurora, Colorado, accepted the challenge and relies on used aluminum soda cans to heat their home. The soda cans are placed inside a solar heating unit and the family reports a decreased use of their heater, which saves them money on electric costs. Earth911 suggests that curbside recycling programs be started in neighborhoods to help pay for community services such as the Boy or Girl Scouts. Recycling aluminum cans is also an easy way to raise money for local schools and to help build homes, Earth911 says.

Personal Benefits

Environmentally conscious individuals find that recycling aluminum cans is financially rewarding in addition to being good for the planet. Most aluminum can recyclers make a small amount of extra cash by turning in their empty cans. The benefits can be even more far-reaching than spare change, according to the Aluminum Association. Jim Schroeder, a man living in Evansville, Indiana, saved enough aluminum cans to send his four children to college and now donates his earnings to charity. According to Earth911, the aluminum industry pays out more than $800 million a year for empty aluminum cans and encourages consumers to cash out by recycling their used cans.

Beer: You're in the Clear.

2011-05-18T11:06:00.001-07:00

In the spirit of Saint Patrick’s Day, we are delighted to present you an infographic designed by Belancio about beer.

Moderate beer drinking can offer some health benefits. Beer contains folic acid, vitamins, iron and calcium and has the same health benefits already attributed to moderate wine drinking, researchers found. People who regularly drinkmoderate amounts of beer are less likely to suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure and have a lower body fat content. According to a research conducted by Barcelona University, those with a Mediterranean diet who drank up to a pint of beer a day “not only did not put on weight, but in some cases even lost weight.”

This is a look at the world’s most consumed alcoholic beverage, beer.

American Craft Beer Week. 7 Days, 7 Ways

2011-05-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

7 Days and 7 Ways to Celebrate American Craft Beer

With more than 500 official events planned over 7 days, in all 50 states, there is no excuse not to celebrate American Craft Beer Week this May 16-22. The majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a craft brewery, but if you aren't so fortunate, scores of bars, restaurants and craft beer retailers have you covered. There are currently over 1,700 small and independent craft brewers in the U.S. today, and each one contributes to its community in some way. American Craft Beer Week celebrates these small businesses and toasts their success.

Here are 7 ways to join in the celebration,

1. Support Your Local Brewery
Most places in the United States enjoy a vibrant or up-and-coming local craft beer culture. Have you visited all the breweries in your town? Does your bar proudly serve the local small brewers’ craft beers? Remember, the best tasting craft beer is usually the freshest; you can’t get any fresher than straight from the tank.

2. Look for New, Special and Collaborative Beer Releases
You and I aren’t the only ones excited about American Craft Beer Week; the brewers are, too. All over the country craft brewers will release special beers in honor of ACBW. Often these beers are brewed in very limited quantities, so don’t miss out!

3. Experience Craft Beer and Food
We live in a time where the flavors and possibilities of craft beer and food pairing are limitless. If you have not had the pleasure of experiencing what talented chefs and brewers can do with craft beer and food, use this as an opportunity to discover what you are missing.

4. Attend a Craft Beer Festival
Festivals are the place to learn more about craft beer and craft brewers. The excitement and camaraderie of enthusiast and brewer alike make this an option that should not be passed up.

5. American Craft Beer Week Bar Crawl
May is also National Tavern Month, which just happens to go along with craft beer like beer and a burger... And hey, it’s also National Burger Month! We can’t argue with that coincidence. Check out bars that are planning ACBW festivities or hop on one of the pub crawls and grab a craft beer and a burger.

6. Craft Beer for a Cause
Craft brewers give a lot back to their communities, and you can, too. Enjoy a charity-minded beer event where what tastes good feels even better.

7. Share
Craft beer would be missing something if you didn’t have people to share it with. Bring your “I don’t like beer” friend along to an event and give them every chance to discover what all the fuss is about. You can even share great craft beer with friends online—this American Craft Beer Week,Untappd is recognizing ACBW with its very own badge.

Need more events?
Search by state through the Official American Craft Beer Week Event Calendar.

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Bohemian in NOW Salt Lake

Bohemian Brewery pairs old world fare with their excellent beer.

Bohemian Brewery pairs old world fare with their excellent beer.

Amy Spencer Aspencer@nowsaltlake.com

Published December 9th 2011 9:23 am

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The views expressed in this Muse are solely those of the original author and do not necessarily represent those of CraftBeer.com or the Brewers Association.

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Dollar growth up 15% in first six months of 2011; U.S. sees rapid growth in breweries in planning

2 Three former craft brewing companies left the segment in the second half of 2010 when transitions led them to no longer meet the Brewers Association's definition of independence.

Contact

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The term "living beer" can be either high praise or a slap in the face for a brewer. If the things that are "living" in the beer are microorganisms that ought not to be there, then it is bad news for a beer and its brewer.

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²Three former craft brewing companies left the segment in the second half of 2010 when transitions led them to no longer meet the Brewers Association's definition of independence.