Not quite sure how, but my post about Molson Kick is now the number one result in Google for anyone searching it. I'm not sure I've ever been the number one result for anything this prominent before. Should be interesting.

Incidentally, I haven't posted in a while because I've been sick; you can read about it on my other blog.

Apologies for the light posting this week. Between being swamped at work, sick family at home, and myself being sick yesterday and today (I actually left work early this morning and crashed at home most of the day), I just haven't had the time/energy to post. But I will, so keep watching.

Not really sure when it happened, but I noticed a site called Clan Beer Drinkers United showing up in my referrer logs today. I went to check it out—it appears to be a community gaming site themed around beer—and found that they're using my blog here as a news source. Interesting!

Not that I mind, of course, they're simply publishing headlines and links back to my recent posts. Works for me. Although it seems there must be much better sources for brewing news than just this blog, but that's cool.

Carry on.

On Tap has a review of Samuel Adams Triple Bock this morning. Not very favorable, but the beer sure sounds different.

Upon first inspection it's dark color was reminiscent of raisin juice, and it smelled of fermented raisins and maple syrup. Upon tasting, it had the sweetness of barleywine, but the similarities to beer ended their. The distinctive strong burnt raisin aftertaste is a bit much for me. The best part was definitely the aroma, the taste left something to be desired approximately $13.00 a bottle to be exact....

In my opinion this is not beer. Barleywine for me is the end of the line for beer.
According to Sam Adams website Jim wanted to go to the extreme opposite end of watered down pilsner beer. Well I guess he has definitely done that, perhaps he’s gone past beer altogether.

Wow, $13 a bottle? Seems a bit much, but I hadn't heard of this beer yet, so I checked it out on the Samuel Adams website (quick aside: I was ranting before about beer sites that prompt you to enter your birthday before you can enter; Sam Adams' website not only does that, but then prompts to enter the year again! Wrong, wrong, wrong!!).

Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® is the beer that truly started our odyssey into extreme brewing. Its deep, full flavor explodes with notes of maple, vanilla, oak and toffee. This flavor, along with its heavy, still mouthfeel has drawn comparisons to a vintage port, sherry and cognac. And Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® should be enjoyed in much the same way. We recommend serving it at room temperature in a snifter a few ounces at a time - one bottle should generously serve two to three. Its warming malt character and fruit esters make it an ideal after dinner aperitif.

Due to legal restrictions, Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® can not be sold in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia.

Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® stretches the definition of beer, but beer it is. Jim Koch wanted to brew a beer so extraordinary that in a single sip it would do away with all preconceptions of the taste and flavors that are usually found in beer. There have been only three vintages of Samuel Adams® Triple Bock®: 1994, 1995 and 1997, but bottles can still be found in the marketplace. Unlike regular beer which has a very limited shelf life, Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® seems only to improve with time, becoming even more complex, and slightly dryer.

Can't sell in Oregon? (Or even Idaho or Washington.) Well, there goes my hopes of trying a bottle, unless I want to drive to California to find some. Or someone wants to send me a bottle. :)

No wonder, though: this beer has a whopping original gravity of 1.171 and is 18% alcohol by volume. Wow.

Beer Advocate ratings are mixed; it has an overall score of 80 and average rating of 3.38. Many either love it or hate it, there doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground. Either way, it sounds like an interesting beer.

Full Sail Brewing Company announces the release of its new product packaging that will hit retail shelves in mid-March. "We changed the packaging to better reflect the culture of our brand," said Irene Firmat, Full Sail's founder and CEO. "As an independent employee owned company located in an extraordinary place, we wanted to convey a message of creativity and craftsmanship. Although our look has changed on the outside, inside you'll find the same great tasting beer."

The concept was designed by Steve Sandstrom of Sandstrom Design, Inc., Portland, Oregon. "The relationship between a beer label and the consumer is about as intimate as it gets," explained Sandstrom. "While advertising tries to speak to as many people in a target audience as possible, a beer label speaks to one person holding a bottle. We have tried to make this relationship a totally pleasant experience. Beyond the distinctive brew contained within, this bottle gives the consumer a piece of history, a lot of detail, a few legalities, a little shimmer, a touch of art, a beautiful execution, and a bit of surprising humor in the voice of the brand. That's a lot in a small space."

The familiar "full sail" is the center point of the new logo, flying full and white. "The sail is part of the DNA of our brand," commented Firmat. "It's considered the single most important visual link to 18 years of brewing history." The wood grain and stringers reflect the workmanship of vintage board sport design and are a natural backdrop for the Northwest brand. The typography is a merger of new letterforms with ancient German type – a metaphor of old German beer influence and new brewing inspiration. Von Dutch and the art of pin-striping inspired the delicate border treatments that add detail and a craftsman's touch.

Using regional art is prevalent in Northwest craft brewing culture. Each beer style features a vintage postcard on the carrier and on the neck label. The brewery's flagship, Full Sail Amber, will retain its green color and features a postcard of "Castle Rock". The blue Pale Ale package showcases a postcard of Mt. Hood and its reflection in a mountain lake. Rip Curl changes to orange and has a postcard from "Agate Beach". The newly released seasonal, IPA, sports yellow tones and a snapshot called "Gateway to the Pacific".

The independent and employee-owned Full Sail brewery is perched on a bluff in Hood River, Oregon, overlooking the most epic wind and kite surfing spot in the world. At this very moment 47 specialists in the liquid refreshment arts are crafting barley and hops into your next beer. The Full Sail crew has been fermenting godlike nectar since 1987. Their award winning brews are now available in fifteen western states. The Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub is open seven days a week. Swing by for a pint, grab a bite, tour the brewery, or just soak up the view.

Contact at Full Sail: Sandra Evans
Phone 541-386-2281
email: sandrae@fullsailbrewing.com

Another link from Rob: What happened to British pubs asks Bill Bryson.

Bill Bryson, the bestselling travel writer, has lamented the decline of the traditional British pub, most of which, he says, have had classic old interiors ripped out and been turned into "run-of-the-mill bistros"

Bryson believes that pubs are at the heart of British national identity and he worries that 24-hour drinking laws, due to come into force in November, could put even more pressure on breweries to modernise old-fashioned drinking establishments and cash in on high-volume turnover.

Most overseas tourists visiting Britain want to visit a traditional pub, he says, but it is getting more difficult to find one. "I find it disappointing," he said. "Pubs are an important part of what makes Britain Britain.

"There are few traditional pubs in city centres any more. Now there are these giant sheds which have no appeal to me whatsoever. When I lived in the Yorkshire Dales, the local was like the village living room; it performed a vital social function. Now I live in Norfolk and there’s no local, which is sad."

Very interesting article. I think we see a bit of the opposite here in America: the resurgence (over the last 20 years) and proliferation of the brewpub, many of which have their own unique feel and signature.

From Rob at A Welsh View comes this link to Beer Shots: Microscopic views of beers from around the world. Not only are the pictures amazing, but I'm amazed at the sheer number and geographic range of beers they present.

Happy St. Patty's Day for all you beer drinkers out there (non-beer drinkers too)! Grab a Guinness and enjoy it. And I've even got a link to share: Celebrating St. Paddy's Day. According to that article, among other things, there are currently 376 breweries in the United States.

And on a different note, any green beer drinkers out there? If you're going to do that, make sure you add food coloring to a sufficiently light beer—Miller, Coors, something like that. Otherwise, you'll end up darkening the beer too much and losing the effect.

The Number One most important thing in homebrewing is sanitation. You can do almost everything else wrong and as long as your sanitation is good, you can still have a drinkable beer. You need to be religious about keeping everything clean. This point is reinforced in this article:

Both Tinsen and Lowry stress the most important aspect of homebrewing is sanitation. Everything that comes in contact with the beer needs to be sterilized. If it's not, the equipment can become contaminated because of the yeast.

It's a decent enough article, experts sharing tips with beginners, but no surprises if you've been homebrewing for awhile.

All my sanitation is done with bleach (unscented) and hot water. I always use a bit more than the guidelines on the bleach call for, and I'm paranoid about rinsing—I use the hottest water that will come out of the tap and often double-rinse. I haven't had any problems with the last bunch of batches.

One time I did have a batch go horribly awry, it had to be a sanitation issue (everything else that could go wrong, did, as well): after a few weeks in the bottles, a thick, viscous something began growing in the bottom half of the bottle. Smelled horrible, tasted worse. I had someone swear it was botulism, but I don't know about that. I ended up pouring it down the drain, the only batch I've ever had to dispose of.

Molson unveils new lager with a different type of kick - caffeine:

Molson Canada announced Sunday that you'll soon be able to buy a beer with a different kind of kick - caffeine.

Molson Kick is a lager that will contain guarana, a South American plant that's a natural source of caffiene.

The beer will be available throughout Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada beginning March 21 and in the Atlantic provinces on April 1.

It will be marketed in what the brewer calls "a sleek, fast chilling aluminum bottle," as well as cans.

Molson says the 355 ml aluminum bottle chills faster and is lighter than a glass bottle.

A couple of things about this. Guarana is a fruit, so I wonder if it will impart a fruit quality to the beer—not that there's anything wrong with that, but fruit and lagers aren't usually paired together. And the aluminum bottle actually sounds more newsworthy (to me) than caffeinated beer. Anyone seen any of these yet?

Five of Country's Top 50 Brewing Companies Call Oregon Home
Two others have Oregon breweries

Five of the 50 largest brewing companies in the United States are based in Oregon, according to figures released today by the Brewers Association.

The Boulder, Colo.-based association tracks production figures for all breweries in the country. Five Oregon breweries made the Top 50 list, with two other brewing companies with Oregon ties also on the list.

Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. of Portland was the highest-ranking Oregon brewery, coming in at 18. Also making the list were Deschutes Brewery (20), Full Sail Brewing (25), BridgePort Brewing (41) and Rogue Ales Brewery (44).

Pyramid Alehouse/Breweries Inc., which owns Portland Brewing, sandwiched in between Widmer Brothers and Deschutes at No. 19. Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc., which operates a brewery in Portland, made the list at No. 40.

Only California, with six Top 50 breweries, had more breweries on the list.

With 591,000 barrels of craft beer production, Oregon ranks second in the country behind California for volume of craft beer, or what is commonly called microbrews.

"When people think of great craft beer, they think Oregon," says Oregon Brewers Guild executive director Jim Parker. "If Hollywood wanted to make a film like 'Sideways' about beer, they would have to come to Portland, where there are more breweries than in any other city in the world."

The Oregon Brewers Guild is Oregon's non-profit trade association for the state's independent breweries. The Guild, which receives no state funding, comprises 42 breweries, 16 associate or supplier members, 12 retail members and more than 500 enthusiast members or S.N.O.B.s (Supporters of Native Oregon Beer). For more information, see www.oregonbeer.org.

The other day I got an email from Brian Butenschoen of the Oregon Brewers Guild asking if I'd like to be added to their press list. Of course I said yes—now I'm a media outlet! :) Anyway, I got my first press release in email today, which I'll post in its entirety.

Oh, and most of these press releases will have an Oregon slant to them, obviously, coming from the Oregon Brewers Guild and all.

Though I wouldn't be opposed to posting press releases from other sources, too. So if anyone's interested, let me know.

From Bend.com today: New brewer at Cascade Lakes Brewing Company.

Cascade Lakes Brewing Co. has appointed Mark Henion Head Brewer in charge of all brewing operations. Mr. Henion left Deschutes Brewery after helping grow the Brewery from approximately 13,000 – 113,000 bbls annually beginning his career washing kegs and eventually holding the title as Brewmaster in April of 2003 after a nine year tenure.

Cascade Lakes Brewing Company is located in Redmond (Oregon), with a relatively new lodge over on Bend's west side that is pretty sweet. They have pretty decent beer, too—I'll have to write an actual review here sometime.

What I have to wonder, though, is what happened to their former Head Brewer, Trevor Varcoe? (As of this writing, Trevor is still listed as the Head Brewer on their Brewery page.) I wonder because I know Trevor, he used to be part of our homebrewing club we had here some years back. He had moved over to the Portland area to go to brewing school and become a professional brewer, and then popped back up in Central Oregon as Cascade Lakes' Head Brewer—local boy made good, which was pretty cool.

Apparently he's gone now, though. I hope it was amicable—maybe he found another gig at one of the other breweries around here.

If there's any one holiday that has anything to do with beer, it is of course St. Patrick's Day, and I'd be remiss by not blogging about it—even though I'm blogging a week early. The Hail the Ale! blog has a St. Patrick's Day Beer Guide listing some beers you should have for the day. The last one is a bit of a surprise; check it out.

Beers brewed with spices, herbs, and vegetables is the topic of one of the latest articles on BellaOnline: Is Beer the Secret Spice of Life? It's a pretty good article, and it starts with sweeping, lofty intentions:

Cultures of the past, although geographically and temporally disconnected from each other, have an underlying theme attached to the creation of beer – to fermentation itself. Throughout anthropological and ethnobotanical research, the discovery that multiple cultures possessed similar stories about the origins of beer is astounding. Tales of Gilgamesh, Nungui and Manioc, and the Balm of Gilead. Similar tales, from locations as diverse as Scandinavia and Mexico, Sumer and India, tell of sacred beings that wept over the human condition, thus bestowing the gift of beer upon these beings to bring joy and spirituality to them.

Almost sounds like a dissertation, or the opening to an episode of Good Eats or something. Along the way, she highlights Stephen Harrod Buhner's book, Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, touches on a wide variety of herbs and spices found in brewing, and finishes with a respectable list of beers that fit the bill.

Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers is quite a good book, actually, one I own. (One I need to reread, too.) There's a brewing experiment I've wanted to try that was inspired by the book: spontaneous fermentation. By that, I mean brewing a batch of beer, but not adding yeast—instead, place the wort outdoors overnight and see if wild yeasts colonize it and ferment it "spontaneously." Before science discovered yeast and people knew what caused fermentation, this was the standard procedure for brewing beer, and much of the beer today that we associate with a particular region owe much of that distinction to the particular strain of yeast that was found in that region (lambic is a prime example of this).

Yeast is found everywhere, though not all yeast is suitable for beer; it would be just as likely that the yeast growing in the experimental wort would render it unusable. But I was always curious what kind of wild yeasts might be indigenous to Central Oregon, and if I could brew decent beer from them—plus, imagine the bragging rights if you pulled this off :). Unfortunately, we're currently living in a neighborhood with a lot of construction going on; the last thing I want is to have all the dust and junk and machinery exhaust infecting my beer, so it's an experiment that will have to wait.

Poking around iPodder.org, I came across a few sites in the directory that have beer podcasts.

• The Good Beer Show
• Screwtops

Okay, actually only these two appear to actually be related to beer or brewing—the others I checked out are mostly just guys drinking beer and talking about everything else.

Anyone else doing this, or have pointers to sites doing it? I'm more interested in podcasts that are about beer, not because of beer.

Wondering what "podcasts" are? Check out What is podcasting?

Hot on the heels of my Beer Saints post the other day comes this article about a saint and the brewery named after him: St. Arnold Brewing Company.

Legend says St. Arnold of Metz, the patron saint of brewers, advised people to avoid water and drink beer.

"From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world," he is recorded as saying.

St. Arnold lived from 580 to 640. He became bishop of Metz, France, in 612, where he stayed until retiring to a monastery in 627.

A miracle is said to have occurred when the citizens of Metz were bringing St. Arnold's body for burial in the local churchyard.

When the travelers escorting his body stopped for a rest at a tavern, there was only one mug of beer to be had, "but that mug never ran dry and all of the thirsty pilgrims were satisfied."

St. Arnold Brewing is located in Houston, and is (according to their website) the oldest microbrewery in Texas. Sounds like they have some pretty tasty beers, too; I'll put this on the list of breweries to visit if I'm ever in Texas.

Yep, that's the topic of an entire article online. Michael Jackson (the beer guy... not the singer) has been visiting Philadelphia for 15 years for an annual beer tasting event... okay, so it's not big news unless you live in Philly. I bet it's a fun deal anyway. And it's a decent profile of The Beer Hunter.

On Friday [March 11], Jackson, 62, a British native who lives in London, hosts a three-course dinner at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The dinner, in the Lower Egyptian Gallery, features a selection of Jackson's favorite cask-conditioned ales. Several local brew masters also will offer their expertise.

Saturday, his visit continues with three beer tasting sessions featuring eight gold medal-winning micro brews from the Great American Beer Festival. About 375 people are expected at each tasting, which includes breweries that set up information booths along with samples.

This year's event, called "Golden Treasures," is inspired by the museum's Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur exhibit, on display through May, said Anna Bauer, spokeswoman for Museum Catering, Co., which is planning the event.

North County Times has a good profile of North County (San Diego) breweries and the brewing climate there. The highlight brewery is Stone Brewing—one I wish I'd thought to visit when we went to San Diego last year.

Microbrewers say their best advertisements are the beers themselves — richer, stronger and far more individualistic than the factory-produced pablum pushed at Joe Six-Pack. When the commercials get more attention than the product itself, that's a problem.

That message is hitting home in North County and the rest of San Diego, where it's easy to find microbrews in just about any city or community.

"San Diego is becoming really known as a bit of a microbrew haven," said Mike Hinkley, chief executive of Vista-based Green Flash Brewing Co., founded in 2002. "Brewers have won a ton of awards nationwide."

Green Flash took a bronze medal in the 2004 World Beer Cup Awards for its Green Flash 1st Anniversary Ale. And Stone Brewing was named Brewery of the Year for 2004 by Malt Advocate Magazine, a prominent publication for beer and whisky fans.

From the Lansing State Journal comes a review of the Mountain Town Station Brewing Company that sounds neat.

Mountain Town Station Brewing Company and Steakhouse, 506 W. Broadway, is housed in a former railroad depot and offers a cool, charming dining experience....

Mountain Town brews eight beers; a sampler platter ($5.95) lets you try 6 ounces of six beers. The Railyard Raspberry Wheat is a light American wheat beer mixed with more than 250 pounds of raspberry puree, and it shows. They even brew their own low-carb beer, MTS Ultra Lite, and it's worlds better than what you'll find in stores.

Can't say as their website is that impressive, though; they don't appear to list their beers anywhere online, so that's lame.

Apparently, Miller will be testing a new fruit-flavored beverage.

The Milwaukee brewing company will test a product called Brutal Fruit in Seattle, Tampa and Richmond, Va., beginning March 14. Miller says the product is fruit juice with five percent alcohol, much like beer. It'll come in four flavors — strawberry, mango, kiwi and raisin-like litchi.

Eh, okay. Hey Miller, here's a hint: if you want a fruity malt beverage to succeed here, don't pin the success on a fruit that nobody in this country has ever heard of.

My last post made me think about this, because the Stone Brewing website has one: an age verification form that you are required to fill out before accessing a beer site.

Just what is that all about? Not only are they annoying, but they're utterly useless as well: the internet doesn't care how old you are, and a blind elderly spider monkey could enter any fake age and circumvent the form with no effort. I suppose beer sites that do this are trying to be socially responsible and are following the advice of their legal departments, but it really strikes me as being clueless about the web.

It seems to me that if beer sites truly want to be socially responsible, they'll have a section on their site devoted to exactly that: alcohol awareness and legal responsibilities. And get rid of the forms!

Wil Wheaton has a post tonight about Stone Brewing Company which is kind of amusing; I don't think I've ever asked anyone for permission to link to their site.

I called them up, and talked to a guy in marketing. I basically said, "I've got this website that a few people read. I really like your beer, and if it's cool with you, I'd like to link to your website, and give you some free advertising, as my way of saying 'thank you' for killing off so many of my slower brain cells."

He told me that Stone doesn't really do advertising, but if I wanted to link to them, that would be cool. I told him that I'd e-mail him the address of my site, so he could see what my blog is all about, and that was that.

Stone Brewing rules, not only for their beers but for some of the best packaging around; if you've ever seen a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Not your everyday beer story: Hurns Brewing Company has dug up information about two dozen beer saints throughout history, according to this article.

Beer was an important component of the secular and ecclesiastical diet, especially for monks fasting for their holy orders.

Almost every monastery from Mexico to Timbuktu brewed its own beer and more than a few still do.

Most of the 24 "beer saints" were initially monks and nuns, who many centuries ago brewed beer to purify water and ensure that the malnourished and the weary had safe and healthy ale to drink.

They only list six of the 24 saints, though. I'd be interested in seeing the whole list.

Via Hail the Ale!, who credits A Welsh View for the find.

I don't know if I should be worried about this image or what:

I mean, some sort of redneck beer drinker's birthday? Weird light source? Very strange.

Proof that there are contests—and titles—for everything: Wynkoop's Beerdrinker of the Year Finalists Announced.

On February 26, 2005 [yes, they posted a few days late] at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, before a live audience, the finalists will be questioned by a panel of previous Beerdrinker of the Year winners and beer experts. Judges will grill the finalists with difficult beer questions, and then choose the 2005 Beerdrinker of the Year.

The 2005 Beerdrinker of the Year will win free beer for life at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, $100 worth of beer at their local pub, and other great prizes.

They will also win the unmatched fame and glory that comes with the lofty title of Beerdrinker of the Year....

The Beerdrinker of the Year contest seeks and honors the most passionate, beer-minded person in the United States.

A couple of breweries closed their doors, one sold and is moving across town.

BarrelHouse Brewing Company, in Cincinnati, was sold to a new owner who plans to re-open in a different part of town. Their homepage reassures everyone that the beer will continue to flow. (Via BeerAdvocate.com and The Cincinnati Post.)

Meanwhile, RateBeer reports that the Boddingtons Strangeways Brewery in Manchester, England, closed. And in Fort Worth, Texas, Great Grains Brewing has closed under under accusation of using misleading beer labels.

Are we seeing trends?