Let’s all give a hearty warm welcome to New Holland Brewing! This award-winning brewery makes its WNC debut today. New Holland, located in Holland, Mich., is a major player of the big brew scene in that state.
NEW HOLLAND Dragon’s Milk
NEW HOLLAND Mad Hatter IPA
NEW HOLLAND Night Tripper Imperial Stout
NEW HOLLAND Poet Oatmeal Stout
NEW HOLLAND Sundog Amber
NEW HOLLAND Red Tulip*
Â
As the craft beer sector continues its explosive growth, there are more and more stories trickling into the media and onto the Internets about beer and health. Even Asheville’s favorite beer-imbibing parent, Edgy Mama, wrote about it in her Mountain XPress column earlier this year. It’s been some time since we’ve done a dedicated Beer & Health post, so here are some new resources for you to peruse while enjoying your favorite malt beverage.
Olivaria.by—Ten benefits of beer. Since they say it’s actually good to have a beer while sick, we feel less guilty for having that Hopslam earlier this week. (It was actually the only thing we could taste.)
AllAboutBeer.com—Older article, but a goodie. Discusses the untruths of the “French Paradox.” Also, says that teetotalers have a higher risk of silent stroke than light to moderate drinkers.
Realbeer.com—One of those low- or no-carb fanatics? These diets say beer is bad based on the “distorted train of logic that equates malted barley with maltose and the high ‘glycemic index’ (G.I) of this sugar.”
SpatenUSA.com—German brewer says beer’s caloric count is comparably low to other drinks like wine, lemonade and milk. Beer also “promotes tissue drainage and sodium expulsion.”
WFTV.com—Hops fight cancer! “A compound found only in hops (the flavor component of beer) called xanthohumol shows toxicity to human breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers. The compound inhibits a family of enzymes commonly known as cytochromes P450 that can activate the cancer process.”
Want more? Google “beer health” and you’ll see how much there is read on the subject.
Â
Someone sent us a link to the above. This is probably not the way to beat a breathalyzer. It should also be noted that if your first impulse is to eat your underwear, you have no business driving in the first place. [Beer100.com]Â
Highland Brewing Co.’s popular Tasgall Scotch-style ale will no longer be brewed year-round to make room for a new seasonal line-up. We are both sad and excited. [Highland Brewing Co.]
Pisgah’s brewing up some plans to grow. [Black Mountain News]
It’s official. New Holland should be in-store next week. The fine folks on Beerinator point to this interview with New Holland brewer, Fred Bueltman. [Drinkcraftbeer.com]
The San Francisco Chronicle has an extreme beer article. [SFGate.com]
Joe Sixpack thinks Italy is the next hot brewing country. This is why we had the first ever stateside Le Baladin dinner last Fall! [Philly.com]
The real gem this week is the new brew from everyone’s favorite off-centered brewery, Dogfish Head. Introducing Palo Santo Marron. (Palo Santo means holy tree.) A strong American Brown Ale at 12.0% abv, this new addition to their Occasional Rarities will make several appearances throughout the year. The coolest part about this beer is its conditioning—in massive hand-crafted Paraguayan Palo Santo wood casks.
At 10,000 gallons each, these are the largest wooden brewing vessels built in America since before Prohibition. It’s all very exciting. We have wood. Now you do too.
Can you even imagine how big these casks are? Lucky for you, each 6-pack comes with a DVD that explains how they came up with the idea for this beer. Bonus! Look for Palo Santo Marron again in May, August and November. Very limited! One 4-pack per person.
Other goodies:
BEAMISH Irish Stout
BELL’S Consecrator Doppelbock
BROOKLYN BREWERY Lager
CATAWBA VALLEY Farmer Ted’s Cream Ale
CATAWBA VALLEY Brown Bear Ale
CATAWBA VALLEY Blackwater Uber Pale Ale
CLIPPER CITY Heavy Seas Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale
DOGFISH HEAD Palo Santo Marron
DUCK RABBIT Barleywine
LAKEFRONT BREWERY Snake Chaser
LINDEMANS Cassis
Sweet! Sweetwater is coming to town. The lovely Jessica will be representing Atlanta’s favorite naughty-beer-naming crew at this week’s tasting. We said we’d do four brews, but they said “Nay, ’tis not enough!” And, so folks, we shall be sampling from the entire Sweetwater portfolio (that’s in season, anyway), including Georgia Brown, which isn’t otherwise available. Sweetness.
Blue [Fruit Beer / 4.9% abv]
420 Extra Pale Ale [American Pale Ale / 5.4% abv]
Georgia Brown [American Brown Ale / 5.1% abv]
Hummer [Witbier / 5.1% abv]
IPAÂ [India Pale Ale / 6.7% abv]
Happy Ending [Russian Imperial Stout / 9.0% abv]
