Archive for March, 2007

We’ve all been watching the news coming from Bell’s Brewery in Michigan. Mostly for selfish reasons, waiting for Two Hearted Ale and the others to arrive in bottles. (You can find it on-tap now, so be sure to keep your eyes open.) But the real news lies in stories like this one, where true craft brewers stay the course and don’t cave in to industry bullies.

Larry Bell, the “maverick brewer” behind Bell’s has yanked all his beer from Illinois. It’s interesting to note that he is from Park Forest, Ill. and grew up there. Why in world would he do this?

Bell pulled his popular beers from Chicago–and the rest of Illinois–during a nasty business dispute with his new distributor. He didn’t like the way his longtime beer broker sold the rights to his products to one of the Midwest’s largest distributors, which represents Miller and other major labels.

Illinois’ arcane liquor laws left him with few options. So Bell wrote off his fourth-largest market and a thirsty populace that had accounted for 11 percent of his $12 million in yearly sales. …

Industry observers say it’s unusual for a brewer to abandon such a lucrative market. For Bell, though, it bolsters the maverick reputation he has cultivated since he started making beer in the early 1980s with a giant soup kettle and a pair of plastic garbage cans.

It’s just a darn shame Chicago has to suffer, but we raise a toast to Larry and his willingness to stick it to ‘em. He knows he’s got a good product, stands behind it, and refuses to be beat-up by the big guys. Cheers to craft beer!

Source: Chicago Tribune (registration required)

 

 

 

 

 

Dogfish Head merch is now in-store. There are tees, hats, stickers, koozies, keyrings and some fancy-ass Raison D’Etre goblets that are just too awesome for words. If you’re feeling a little ‘off-centered,’ then this is the stuff for you.

Pennsylvania is going to allow convenience stores to sell beer after all. What a great day for beer lovers. Why do we care? For our old friends, of course. Congrats, everyone. MADD is wee bit up in arms about it, saying it will make beer sales to minors easier, but like NC, with their red-yellow-green color-coding, Pennsylvania has now started issuing a vertically-oriented drivers’ license with hologram for those over 21. So, if you work at one of these stores, card someone and still manage to sell to a minor, that just makes you an idiot. Our states are going to great lengths to upgrade identification cards, so let’s have faith and trust in the system, shall we?

Source: Phillyburbs.com

England has a big beef with Gordon Brown, since he just raised the price of a pint (beer and cider are affected) and it will inevitably do more damage to the already struggling traditional English pub scene. CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) has issued a statement:

“At a time when 56 pubs a month are closing, the smoking ban is imminent and supermarkets are selling beer at ridiculously low prices, British pubs needed a lifeline from their government and that has been denied them.”

Source: The Morning Advertiser / Manchester Evening News

Flying Dog is adding another in their Wild Dog limited-release series which will be Whiskey Barrel-Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter. Only 5000 bottles will be available and the release is April. We wonder if we’ll see it in North Carolina. Here’s a brief description from the press release:

“This unique version of Flying Dog’s popular Gonzo Imperial Porter was brewed and transferred into charred White American Oak whiskey barrels that the neighboring Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey had aged their product in for two years. After aging in the wood barrels for three months, the Imperial Porter was hand bottled, corked, labeled and conditioned for another six weeks before being shipped.”

Source: Earthtimes.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a momentous day at Bruisin’ Ales. We did it. We have Samichlaus, folks. It’s here. In store. Right now. I’m looking at the bottle and can’t believe my eyes. The bottle reads “The World’s Most Extraordinary Beverage.” Could it be?

For those of you who are wondering just what the hell I’m blabbering on about, Samichlaus is probably the rarest beer in the world (aside from Trappiste Westvleteren). The beer is brewed once every year on December 6, then aged for 10 months before bottling. Clocking-in at a whopping ABV 14%, this one is just as much for the cellar as it is for enjoying today. It will age for many years and only get more complex as time passes.

BeerAdvocate has this to say about the brewery:

Castle Eggenberg is the oldest, family owned brewery in Austria. It dates back at least to the year 999 A.D. At this time the beer was brewed only for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Since 1681 the Castle Brewery Eggenberg has been brewing on a commercial basis. About 200 years ago the ancestors of the present owner bought the castle. Since this time the brewery has now a capacity of around 160.000 Hl per year. The specialty beers are brewed according to the purity law of 1516.

There are tons of sources to read-up about this incredible brew, but for starters, here’s what Michael Jackson has to say about it.

Photo: BeerAdvocate / The Beer Hunter

 

 

 

 

 

Join us for yet another FREE tasting Thursday, March 22, 4-6pm. In this round we’re sampling a variety of delicious brews with Jay Johnson of Newcross Distributing. Please join us for a four-flight beer tasting from around the world that includes these delicious gems:

EKU Pilsner (Germany, ABV 5.0%)
Entire Butt Porter (England, ABV 4.8%)
Gavroche French Farmhouse Ale (France, ABV 8.5%)
Goliath Triple (Belgium, ABV 9.0%)

See you there and bring a friend!

One of our favorite little diversions during the day is reading Beer Haiku Daily. You’d be surprised the eloquence drunken little minds can whip-up while enjoying their favorite brew.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, Captain Hops (a regular poster), has written this wondrous little ditty for today:

painting ghost shamrocks
in the thick heads of Guinness
from morning ’til night

Source: Beer Haiku Daily