Back from hiatus

Well, I am back. Sadly, I have been very busy with life. For those who don't know, I have achieved one of the goals I set out for earlier this year and now work in a brewery. This has been great, but it also means I am spending a lot of time working as we are very busy trying to keep great beer flowing! However, now that I have adapted to my new schedule, I will be sharing information about the beer industry and events that are upcoming. Stay tuned for updates!

Guest Blogging!

Sorry I've been out of touch, I've been busy with work and trying to get back on track with life. Regardless, I did get a chance to talk beer yesterday as a guest blogger for www.mylifeatarnolds.com This is the blog for Arnold's Bar in downtown Cincinnati. If you have not beer, you really should get down there as it's an excellent place and has some great Cincinnati tradition as well as some great Cincinnati beer! Even if you don't go, you should still check out the blog post that I sent to them yesterday. Enjoy!

Tsunami Relief Beer

I mentioned awhile back that Stone Brewing Co was creating a special beer for tsunami relief efforts in Japan. Well, I came across this video explaining the beer and the thoughts behind it. Very cool video:

Baird / Ishii / Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA Collaboration from stonebrew on Vimeo.

Rivertown Brewing Co night at The Lackman

This Thursday at The Lackman down in Over-the-Rhine, they will be hosting Rivertown Brewing Company night.  The event promises to be an awesome night with some really great beers and even one special never before released and never to be released again: A Belgian Triple White IPA! The event starts at 5 and goes til 10. The Lackman will have other beers from Rivertown as well such as the Dunkel, Roebling Porter, and Hop Baron, but the star of the show will be the Belgian and once it's gone, it's gone. So make sure not to miss this event!

From The Lackman's Facebook page:

Get ready for the next beer event at The Lackman... Rivertown Brewing Co.! Cincinnati Ohio's newest Craft Brewery. Rivertown specialize in brewing traditional Handcrafted Lagers and Ales, using only the finest and freshest ingredients available. Come down to The Lackman on 6/30 at 6pm to have the opportunity to taste & order 4 Rivertown Beers on tap including a special one time release- Belgian Triple, White I.P.A. !! Mark your calendars dont miss this one, when its gone, its gone! Brewmasters will be on hand to talk about all the beers Beers that will be on tap for the event: --> Dunkel: Our Dunkel is a Munich style dark lager. It has a surprisingly light body with mild roasted flavor and caramel undertones. Using the freshest imported and domestic barley, Noble hops and natural water. Available year round. IBU’s 22 5.8% ABV --> Roebling Porter: This well rounded imperial robust style porter is brewed with imported organic sweet vanilla beans from Uganda and cold pressed with organic Peruvian espresso coffee and organic raw cane sugars. Like a big, chewy, vanilla coffee infused brownie Roebling Porter brings tons of chocolate, nougat and toasted almonds to your mouth. Enjoy! Available in draft only 7.8% ABV --> Hop Baron: This double IPA has a striking copper color that is very inviting. With its lovely notes of citrus and floral hop aromas you will find that it is crisp and full bodied. Brewed with 2-Row Pale malts and Local hops you won’t be able to resist having another sip. Available year round. IBU’s 100+ 8.5% ABV --> Belgian Tripel Wit Ipa: This specialty brew combines the hop bitterness of an IPA with the fruity characteristics of a Belgian Wit. It’s grapefruit aroma comes through via the Citra hops and slight orange flavor reflects back to the wit. There is a sweetness to the beer but finishes dry like a Belgian Tripel should. Using German Pilsner, German Wheat, Abby malts and oats. Brewed for June 30th event at The Lackman IBU’s 60 7.5% ABV Follow us on Twitter: @TheLackman, @FourEG Check out our websites: www.lackmanbar.com www.foureg.com

Now it's official? Yuenling in Ohio

In December I linked to a couple of articles indicating that it looked like Yuengling would be coming to Ohio, finally. Well, according to local newspapers, the wait is soon to be over. Resources are indicating that we may see Yuenlging as soon as October: http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/06/20/yuengling-coming-to-ohio-officially

I know this is awesome news, but I am still unsure. I have been hearing that Yuengling would be coming, not since December, but for years now. I hope this time it is true, but I suppose we will see in October. I do hope that shi is trye as it will only bring more people in to liking different beers besides the big 3, which is a huge plus already.

Beer Review - Lonerider Brewing Co Peacemaker

Today I am having the Lonerider Brewing Company Peacemaker Pale Ale.  This beer was sent to me from my brother out in North Carolina.

Beer pours a nice Copper color, with a small, off white head. Smell is a nice sweet amount of malts, mostly caramel. The smell was not very abundant on this one. The taste was a bit more flavorful, with a caramel malt sweetness. There is a bit of bitterness from the hops, but the malt definitely comes through more.

This was one was not quite what I was expecting, but nothing was bad about it. I enjoyed drinking this one, but I could not quite understand why it is considered a Pale Ale. Maybe I am missing something, but I think they fell a little bit short on that, but it is nice to drink regardless.

Me....in a few words.

I guess since this is essentially a beer blog I'll start out by explaining my views on beer and brewing. I'll start with beer. I've always been a bit of a beer snob as with most I got my start with "better" beer by trying Sam Adams I enjoyed the hoppyness and more complex taste than the swill from the macrobrews. That being said there are a few things that annoy me about craft brews. It seems to me in my very humble, uneducated opinion that craft beer is becoming like wine. A bit snooty, try-hard, know -it-all, beer should be unpretentious. Something you can sit around and drink while wrenching on a car in a dirty garage or on a deck on a nice summer day (which im enjoying a Sam Adams Rustic Saison with family as im writing this). You shouldnt feel the need to discuss its bouquet or its earthy undertones.
Now onto brewing. I got into brewing in a completely ass backwards way. Most start by homebrewing batches from a kit then go onto a whole grain brew and so on. I on the other hand started by jumping headfirst into the world of commercial brewing. I began volunteering at Rivertown Brewing and in all honesty they have been more than inviting, patient, and appreciative. Jason, Randy, Andrew, Andrew, and Blake are all trying their hardest and are quite frankly succeeding in the world of craft brewing. I've done things from labeling, packing, kegging, and cleaning( there is alot of cleaning) and enjoy it immensely. As far as home brewing Im signing off to bottle my first batch.

Cheers,
bustedknucklesbrew

Beer Review - Big Boss Brewing Angry Angel

Tonight's review is the Angry Angel Kölsch from Big Boss Brewing Co. out of Raleigh, North Carolina. This was another one of the beers I acquired from my brother for my birthday.

This beer pours golden in color with a decent sized white head. Aroma is a bit biscuity, maybe a hint of citrus and a touch of butter as well. As I take sips, I tend to taste a lot of the aroma as well, with more of a buttery and biscuit type quality. There is a bit of hop bitterness that come from the background of this one, that makes it a nice refreshing beer after a nice warm day. I also began to detect a touch of pepper as I continued drinking.

Overall, this beer was enjoyable. Nothing overly special about this one, just a nice refreshing beer on a hot summer day.

Raising the ABV limit in Ohio

In case you haven't seen the news, Ohio is considering legislation that will increase the allowed alcohol by volume from 12% to 18%. If you don't already know, surrounding states are already above this new proposed limit; Kentucky has no limit and Indiana is at 21%, so I am curious what others think of this new law.

As those opposed would have you believe, increasing the limit would lead to higher amounts of underage drinkers getting drunk quicker, or legal drinkers downing loads of high alcohol beer and getting more drunk. I am not sure that this is the case, as with higher ABV comes a higher price tag; as I am only a few years removed from college, I don't recall reaching for anything over about $12 for a case (24) beer, no where near the probably $20 price tag a sixer of high alcohol beer would bring.

If you haven't seen the story, here's a link to the report done by Local 12 news. http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Ohio-May-Raise-Limit-on-Alcohol-Content-For-Beer/YSVJEdbO9EuJkAsoN_fZbQ.cspx



So, what do you think?

Beer Review - Carolina Brewery Sky Blue

Time to review some beer. This time we will be reviewing Sky Blue by the Carolina Brewing Company. This bottle was also sent to me by my brother from North Carolina.

This beer pours golden in color with a thin white head. Beer doesn't have much in the way of smell, just a bit of a sweetness to it. The taste on this is much the same, somewhat sweet, with a malty mouthy feel. Taste is of pilsner malt.

There's not much going on here as far as taste, but it sure hit the spot after a day of 90+ degree weather outside.

Happy Memorial Day

Well, it's Memorial Day, which means it's time to head outside, fire up the grill, and kick back with your favorite summer time brew. It's the unofficial start to summer, and who doesn't lover summer?!

However, let's not forget why we celebrate, the men and women who bravely died defending our freedom in our great country. These men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could enjoy our summer without fear. It's because of brave soldiers that we are able to enjoy this day, and we honor those folks today, all of them, but especially those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

So, today, if you see a member of the armed forces, thank them for defending our freedom and maybe even buy them a nice Summer Brew.

Beer Review - Starr Hill Brewing Co Festie

I have to thank my brother for sending me a very awesome birthday day present a few days ago: 14 beers! These beers, with one exception, are not available in my market, so I will be making notes as I enjoy them.

The first of the 14 beers I decided to taste was from Starr Hill Brewing Company out of Crozet, VA. I was sent a bottle of their Festie, Amber Lager beer, as the can describes . The beer, as expected, poured amber in color with a small, off white head. I noted hints of caramel and toffee, but only faintly, as I began to smell the aroma. The taste of the beer was more flavorful than the aroma led me to believe, with a nice malty taste with caramel notes. The beer hit the spot on this nice summer day.

This beer has a nice mouthfeel overall and is a nice refreshing brew. It is not overly complicated; simple is sometimes better.

Brewery Visits - Fat Head's Brewery and Saloon

Fat Head's has started gaining some popularity in the Cincinnati area, and around the country, so I decided to go take a tour of this small brewery in North Olmstead, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.

If you've never been to Fat Head's, or never had their beer, you're missing out. This place has the feel of your corner pub, but it's also a nice family restaurant. The first thing you notice when you walk in, is their logo:

The bar itself has a very nice selection of beer. Of course, they pride themselves on their beer, brewed on site, but they also have a very large selection of other craft beers from many other breweries. I ended up trying one of their beer's, Hop Juju, an imperial IPA. They had a cask version and a non cask version. I decided to go with the cask.

It was very tasty indeed. Lots of pine, but very smooth an easily drinkable at 9.5%

After a drink, it was time to check out the brewery. Since the brewers were all out at the Cleveland International Beerfest setting up when we visited Fat Head's, we were greeted by one of the managers, who also happened to be the owner. Sadly, after drinking so much the rest of the day, I have forgotten his name. Anyways, the brewery is on site and is very visible from the bar area. You can actually see their mash tun, boil kettle, and several fermenters. Though I was not their when they were brewing, I imagine you could watch the Brewers Mike and Matt (and others) brew their award winning beers. 

Fermenters

The tour was brief, but exciting. The brewery has produced just over 3500 barrels in the short time it has been open. Their 10 barrel system has them brewing almost every day of the week, just to keep up with the growing demand of their beers, not only in their saloon, but around the Ohio area. I was told that they keep looking for ways to make their award winning beers better, as well as trying new recipes to make even more award winning beer. 

Fermenters

Grain Mill

As we wrapped up the tour, we began to wonder when we would start to see some of this beer around Cincinnati (apart from at Cincinnati Beer Fest and other Fests) and we were treated with a nice bit of news: Fat Head's brewery is looking into several sites in the Cleveland area to open a production brewery! I would love to see some of these tasty brews at my local grocery store. 

In all, this place was really cool. Go check it out if you can. It's an awesome time. As a prominent wall in their saloon says:

Groupon Deal today: 50% off the Prohibition Resistance, Summer Lager Tours

Today's Groupon deal for the Cincinnati area is a very cool one. Today you can get tickets for the Prohibition Resistance tours for half off! If you have not been to these tours, I highly recommend them. Check out more info straight from the website:

A brewery, like the beach, is a relaxing oasis that allows tired travelers to bask in golden hues, frolic in frothy spumes, and get in splash fights with siblings. Savor sudsy fun with today’s Groupon: for $15, you get two tickets to the Prohibition Resistance: Summer Lager Tourfrom the OTR Brewery District (a $30 value). The tour begins at 1 p.m. in Findlay Market on Saturdays and Sundays, starting May 21.

The two-hour Prohibition Resistance: Summer Lager Tour shepherds ale enthusiasts through several blocks of pre-Prohibition-erabreweries in the historically German-populated Over-the-Rhine district. Knowledgeable guides embark from Findlay Market, a public bazaar in continuous operation since 1855, to delve into mid- to late-19th-century beer bubblers. Clyffside Brewery’s opulent high bays soar overhead, and Jackson Brewery’s cavernous lagering cellars delve deep enough to encounter fabled beer-breathing fish. Alongside decorative cornices and bull's-eye windows, tour takers investigate the social and political dimensions of hops hawking. Though the tour does not include beer tasting, tour-goers may visit the Over-the-Rhine Biergarten afterward to discover for themselves the origins of the German word: “bier,” meaning “beer,” and “garten,” meaning “to gargle voraciously.”

To get tickets, click HERE

Cask Conditioned 1861 Porter Tapping - Christian Moerlein

On May 19, Christian Moerlein will be tapping a cask conditioned version of their 1861 Porter. Here's the info directly from their Facebook Page:

Unfiltered. Unpastuerized. Unequaled. Come to Arnold's and experience the traditional brewing technique, tapping, and service of the Arnold's 1861 Porter - served at 55 degress and a carbonation level of 2.2 volumes in honor of American Craft Beer Week and Arnold's Bar & Grill 150th Anniversary. Tapping starts at 6 p.m. This is the traditional way of brewing and serving beer, just like you would have experienced in 1861! A cask conditioned beer, sometimes referred to as a "real ale", is an unfiltered, unpasteurized beer that still contains live yeast, which continues conditioning the beer in the serving vessel. This is known as a secondary fermentation. This process creates a natural CO2 carbonation and allows malt and hop flavors to develop resulting in a richer tasting drink with more character than a standard force carbonated keg. Real ale is always served without any extraneous gas to push the beer out of the keg.

Reminder: saengerfest maibock tapping

Just figured I'd remind everyone that the Saengerfest :from Christian Moerlein is being tapped at 6:00pm at Neon's Unplugged. These tappings are always a fun event, so make sure to go on down and check it out. Check out the original post for more details: http://beersupporteraw.blogspot.com/2011/04/saengerfest-maibock-tapping-christian.html

Viagra Beer?

On April 29th, the wedding between Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton will take place. As you can probably imagine, the Royal Wedding will be an incredible sight to be hold. However, I, frankly, could care less. So, why did I bring it up you ask? Simple: there has to be a party after the wedding and what better way to party than by having some beer! If it's a special beer brewed just for the wedding, even better.


The guys over at BrewDog Brewing have decided that they would brew such a beer. A beer that will help the new royal family enjoy their night even more. A beer, that as the label suggests, will help them celebrate "Big Willy Style". 


I am not one for gimmicksm usually, but I thought the idea of them making a beer called Royal Verility IPA and adding some Viagra to the beer was generally very amusing. Even funnier was the fact that these guys sent the Prince a bottle so he could "arise". Of course all this was in good humor. Go check out more info on the beer here. Apparently, if you drink 3, you'll be having a good night too!


http://abcnews.go.com/International/Royal_Diary_Blog/scottish-brewery-introduces-royal-viagra-beer/story?id=13429697

Fasting for Lent with only Beer

Maybe you've heard by now that there's a guy who decided to take up the historical challenge of fasting during lent and consuming nothing but beer and water for 40 days. If you have no idea what I am talking about, http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/04/beer_diet_diary_of_a_part_time_monk.php?page=2, is the link to a recent article about this guy, J Wilson. I'm not much on religion these days, but this is a neat story. Go read what he has to say about his journey.

Beer better than water after a work out

Seems a new article has emerged (ok, it's not exactly new, but it's being passed around the internet as if it were new) stating that beer is great, especially after a workout.

Beer Better than Water after a Workout

Saengerfest Maibock Tapping - Christian Moerlein

Moerlein announced the tapping of their Saengerfest Maibock. Here's the info straight from the Facebook page:

Join us for the ceremonial keg tapping of the Moerlein Saengerfest Maibock at The Famous Neon's Unplugged - the tapping will happen at 6 pm. sharp! For added entertainment, the Kolping Saengerchor to perform in the beer garden just prior to and after the tapping at 6:00PM. ABOUT MOERLEIN SAENGERFEST Moerlein’s Saengerfest is well balanced Maibock characterized by spicy and floral noble style hops. This deep golden lager is a stellar example of what is often referred to as a “blonde bock” and has an original gravity of 16.5, alcohol by volume of 6.5% and moderate bitterness at 25 units. Moerlein Saengerfest Maibock will be available starting May 1st at participating retailers and be available in draft and six pack packages

with a suggested retail of $8.99 per six packs.

This sounds like it will be a very fun event, as all of their tappings are. Click HERE to go to the official event page on Facebook. Hope to see you all there