Today (after a late start for me) is Fermentation Friday, a group blogging effort for which beer bloggers write on a given homebrewing topic. This month's topic comes from The Panhandle Beer Snob and Redneck Brewery:

What, in the opinion of others, is the best beer you have ever made and why? It may be the beer that friends always want, the one that has done well in competition, or the one your significant other demands. Hopefully, for many, it will be a difficult choice since I’m sure everyone makes damn fine beer.

I have two answers.

First, my best beer is my pumpkin ale; in these days of rare homebrewing for me, that's the one I consistently make each year and therefore is the biggest hit of my homebrewing efforts. It's a tasty beer, too, if I do say so myself.

My second answer is a pilsner I made many years ago—10 or 11 years ago, actually. Not having proper lagering methods enacted when I brewed it, I was worried that it wouldn't turn out, but instead I had my friend and brother (both avid beer drinkers) enjoy it and tell me it was a good beer—enough so that it still stands out in my head today.

And if memory serves me, I do think it was one of the best beers I had brewed—before and since. I still don't quite know how it turned out so well.

Chronicling a couple of the recent PR packages I've received, one which actually came two weeks ago while we were in Florida and one that came yesterday.

First up is the Michelob beers... which, for some reason, I didn't take a picture of. Two bottles: Michelob Pale Ale and Michelob Dunkel Weisse. I've reviewed their Pale Ale in the past, but I'll definitely pass along further impressions on this one. The Dunkel Weisse is new, though, and I'm interested in trying it.

Yesterday's package was a couple of Redhook beers: their new Late Harvest Autumn Ale (press release). Here's a picture:

Yes, packaged with "leaves changing color"... I do get a kick out of clever gimmicks like that.

I'm looking forward to trying this beer, because it sounds like it's got an Oktoberfest vibe going for it, and I loves me some Oktoberfest.

Speaking of Deschutes (right on the heels of the previous post press release), they twittered last night—and have an update on their home page—that The Dissident is bottled, waxed, and will be available on September 2nd:

After much anticipation, Deschutes Brewery is proud to introduce its wildest brew yet – The Dissident. Arguing for more time in the cellar, this Reserve Series beer is anything but conventional. Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with a fruity aroma and flavor, the first wild yeast beer made by Oregon's Deschutes Brewery.

A very limited amount of The Dissident will be available September 2nd as part of the brewery’s Reserve Series in hand-waxed 22-ounce bottles and on draft at select establishments.

September 2nd! That's only six days away! You can bet I'll be looking to squirrel away some bottles.

It's hard to believe it's nearly that time of year already...

Now with Salmon-Safe Certified Fresh Hops

Deschutes Brewery’s fresh hop pale ale, Hop Trip, returns to the Bond Street Series line-up this October for its fourth season. This is a much-awaited return for the Deschutes team, as the arrival of the just-picked fresh hops brings a strikingly intense aroma to the brewery that only comes once a year when the brewers are able to utilize the bounty of hops from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

A perennial favorite, this year’s release marks a milestone in the history of Hop Trip. The fresh Crystal hops the brewery has used since the first batch of Hop Trip are now certified Salmon-Safe! The hop farm the brewery sources from for Hop Trip has gone the extra mile this year to gain official Salmon-Safe recognition, declaring that healthy practices were carried out to keep the Pacific Northwest rivers clean for native salmon to spawn and thrive.

“Healthy rivers are very important to us at Deschutes, especially since it’s one of the main sources we tap into to make great beer. If we didn’t have clean rivers, our beer and the craft beer industry in Oregon wouldn’t be where it is today,” says Gary Fish, Founder of Deschutes Brewery.

The abundance of hops in Hop Trip makes it versatile enough to pair with a variety of foods, anything from a traditional burger to seafood scampi and Bolognese based pastas.

Deschutes Brewery’s Hop Trip will be available October 1st, in 22-ounce bottles and on draft as part of the popular Bond Street Series. Be sure to check out the film documenting the brewery’s 2006 hop trip at www.deschutesbrewery.com.

5.5% Alcohol by Volume
38 International Bitterness Units

Redhook Fall Seasonal Beer Now Available Nationwide, Debuts New Packaging

Looking ahead to cooler weather and falling leaves, Redhook Ale Brewery will soon release its Late Harvest Autumn Ale, set to be on store shelves across the country August through October. With new packaging this year that continues to feature classic fall iconography including an owl and a full moon, Late Harvest will be available for the first time throughout the West Coast.

“Redhook seasonal craft beers are carefully blended to tie a robust, full flavor with a particular time of year. Late Harvest pairs perfectly with the crispness of autumn thanks to its rich complexity of specialty malts,” said Doug MacNair, brew master for Redhook Ale Brewery. “With our expanded distribution on the West Coast, craft beer fans across the country can look forward to this seasonal beer every year.”

With a roasted malt aroma, this chestnut colored brew will warm up any chilly evening. Distinct flavors cater to the craft beer lover, with two varieties of hops and four carefully selected grains, great for toasting the season alongside a grilled burger or other tailgate cuisine. Late Harvest is available in 12 oz. bottles and on draft nationwide.

So you all have probably noticed that I just ran two press releases, and I have at least two more to run (tomorrow). I'm still going through a backlog of email that accumulated while I was gone a week and more stuff seems to keep coming in.

I know the press releases don't make as exciting reading as my own original content, but on the other hand I think it's an interesting glimpse into the world of beer marketing. Plus, it's networking and building PR contacts.

I'll try to keep it lively, too.

Batemans Good Honest Ales® Return to U.S. After 10-Year Absence
Arrival Scheduled for September 2008

Batemans Brewery of Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, England and SBS-Imports of Seattle, Washington are pleased to announce the return of Batemans Ales to United States after a ten-year absence. Batemans flagship Triple XB (XXXB) Classic Pale Ale and Batemans Combined Harvest Multigrain Beer will arrive in late September.

Read full press release

St Austell Brewery are delighted to announce they have won two “Gold Awards” for their bottled ale Proper Job and Admirals Ale in the prestigious Taste of the West Awards.

The two brews could not be more different in flavour and style. Proper Job is a 5.5% abv traditional IPA brewed using lashings of hops to create a golden bitter ale packed full of citrus overtones. Admirals Ale is 5% abv and is a much fuller and slightly darker beer, being spicy and sweeter, almost the Christmas pudding of ales. Both beers are bottled conditioned.

It’s not quite the Olympics, but the awards are still much prized and sought after by producers in the South West. St Austell Brewery’s Head Brewer Roger Ryman is the creator of both beers and was understandably delighted with the success.

Roger said, “We are very pleased to have won these awards. It demonstrates the versatility of our brewery, showing that we can brew two very different ales of award winning standard and get recognised for this.”

John Sheaves, Chief Executive of Taste of the West said, "The passion, enthusiasm and sheer quality of south west food and drink products have shone through once again – we are delighted with this year’s winners."

The Taste of the West Awards are designed to highlight the best produce in the South West and recognise excellence from its members. The awards recognise successful and high quality businesses across food and drink production, hospitality and food retail.

Also: See St. Austell's Facebook group.

There's been a number of people waiting to hear my review/verdict on the new Budweiser American Ale—Anheuser-Busch's first foray into ale brewing under the Budweiser label. So here we go.

At the risk of ruining the surprise, I'll come right out of the gate confirming that this is a straight-up American Amber style of ale (Jeff called it in his ruminations on that very subject). Personally, the American Amber is one of my favorite styles of beer, and I have a particular "benchmark" in mind when I talk about the style (as you'll see as I lay it out in my notes, below).

The other spoiler—I like it. I think they've crafted a winner here, despite the cynical remarks that inevitably occur of a now-Belgian-owned company producing an "American" beer. (Among other things.)

It's 5.3% alcohol by volume and will be available generally after mid-September.

Appearance: Amber in color, very clever, with a nice, substantial off-white head.

Smell: Very clean, caramel and floral nose—sweet and delicately hoppy. Crystal and brown malts in there, too.

Taste: Pretty classic example of what I like to think of as the "American Amber"—malty and sweet with rich brown malt notes (but not astringent or burnt) with hoppy notes but not too hoppy (not like the current trend in American pales). It's lighter than my "prototypical" American Amber, but still—it tastes good.

Mouthfeel: Very clean, fairly crisp, nicely medium-bodied with a sweet malt backbone.

Overall: I like this, it's not revolutionary for the craft beer scene but it is for Anheuser-Busch, and this is a solid, well-crafted ale.

On BeerAdvocate, naturally enough there are 13 reviews already, scoring a grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 2.9 out of 5 with 17 ratings, and is in their 35th percentile.

(I'm mostly overlooking the irony of ratings being available despite the availability of this beer not being for another month.)

Bend, Oregon-based Wildfire Brewing (who just celebrated their one year anniversary) is going to have to change their name. The news didn't appear locally (i.e., here in Central Oregon), rather from an online news site based in Montana: Bend’s Wildfire Brewery Forced To Change Name.

Wildfire restaurants - a chain of eateries with locations in Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia and Georgia - sent a letter earlier this month to the owners of Wildfire Brewery informing them that they were in violation of a trademarked title. The letter strongly suggested that the brewery changes its name within six months, said Paul Cook, a co-owner and brewer for Wildfire.

Rather than take the issue to court, Cook said the Bend suds producer opted to change their business name....

As for a new name to replace Wildfire, Cook said he and his business partners currently have a list of five they are trying to narrow down. The owners of Wildfire Brewery - which opened in April 2007 - are also reaching out the public for help creating a new name. Fliers are being distributed throughout Central Oregon where patrons can write down what they think should be a new name for the brewery. If Wildfire Brewery owners choose one of the names suggested, the individual who creates it will be given a free kegerator.

Their beer production hasn't been impinged at all, fortunately, and the overall impact isn't as serious as it could be: the lion's share of changes will be to the tap handles they have around town.

Wrapping up another Theme Week with some stats and musings...

By my rough count, here's the breakdown of colors that I've reviewed here (including this week's):

Most of these are colors you'd pretty much expect—especially if they're tied to styles (reds, ambers, browns).

Doing a quick survey of more unusual colors, "purple" shows up only ten times (according to BeerAdvocate). Here's a few more (searching BA):

• Purple: 10
• Yellow: I count about 20 (some of the BA results are dupes and brewery names)
• Orange: 40
• Pink: 6
• Bronze: 5
• Grey: 4
• Goldenrod: 1
• Ochre: 1

Not that much of this means anything; it's like I said at the beginning of the week—it's whimsical.

Probably my favorite colorful beer name (at least, the one that keeps popping into my head) was Rogue's Yellow Snow Ale. Of course, you won't find that anymore—that's now known as their Juniper Pale Ale.

Full Sail Brewing periodically releases their "Brewmaster Reserve" series of beers, and their Nut Brown Ale is one of the more recent (released in March originally).

This is a pretty straightforward Brown Ale, nice and nutty, and comes in at 6% alcohol. (Remember, even special releases don't have to be monster beers, despite what some trends might indicate!)

Appearance: Ruby-tinged brown with a creamy tan head.

Smell: Sweet and nutty with coffee notes, but also "bright"—lightly fruity and crisp.

Taste: Roasted nuts, some of that coffee character, some deep chocolate comes through. A bar touch of almost lactic astringency, or sort of an acidity like you'd expect from a coffee (perhaps mocha-latte-ish). Almost smoky.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied but with a thin presence right down the middle. Finishes a little dry even as it quenches a thirst.

Overall: Rich and roasty and dry, and almost dark enough to qualify as a porter. I like it well enough, but I'll be honest and say it's not the best I've had.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.49 out of 5 and is in their 83rd percentile.

The Special Golden Ale (2008 vintage) is the other Gordash Beer Company beer that I tried while in Florida last week.

It's brewed in the style of a Belgian strong ale, and settles in at 8.5% alcohol. With that strength and the vintage note on the bottle, the brewer notes (like for their Mack in Black) that the beer is suitable for aging.

(Sitting in a hotel in Florida, leaving the next day, I decided to forgo the aging bit.)

Appearance: Clear and orange; fizzy but the head didn't last.

Smell: Sweet with toasted malts, Belgian candi sugar. A hint of bitterness and sour/mustiness.

Taste: Light with a strong bitter note—not necessarily from hops, but there is a vegetative note to it. Strong character, sweet from the candi sugar.

Mouthfeel: On the light side of medium-bodied. Relatively high carbonation in the mouth.

Overall: Decent, competent Belgian-style golden.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B-. On RateBeer, it scores 3.19 out of 5 and is in their 60th percentile.

And, because the picture of the "hotel pour" isn't really that great, here's a larger picture of the bottle like I did for the other beer:

Even though the label itself claims "Pale Ale", Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar could be considered different styles, depending on where you look. BeerAdvocate says, for instance, that it's a Cream Ale. The Blitz-Weinhard site itself claims a "light, Irish-style ale." And RateBeer backs up the Pale Ale assertion on the bottle.

It's also the only Weinhard's beer to be bottled in green glass. I suppose that's to make it more distinctive? But it's an odd choice.

This is also solidly in "craft macro" territory; owned by Miller, most of the Weinhard's brews are very American Macro in character but are, generally, a cut above. Despite all that, I still enjoy a Henry's just fine. Blue Boar comes in at 4.6% alcohol by volume.

Appearance: Very clear, pale golden yellow. White fizzy head, but it didn't last long.

Smell: Crisp and clean, though there's a hint of green-bottle-skunkiness. Light hop bouquet and a mineral water character.

Taste: Light and crisp with pleasant hoppiness. Not terribly flavorful—it's a light macrobrew after all—but not unpleasant and there's certainly more flavor and character than what you'd find in the Big Three.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied with an edge to the carbonation, but finishes very clean.

Overall: Not my favorite of the Weinhard's—it shouldn't be bottled in green—but it's drinkable enough.

On BeerAdvocate it scores an overall grade of C-. On RateBeer, it scores 2.23 out of 5 and is in their 10th percentile.

Henry Weinhards Blue Boar Ale

Red Thistle Ale is the flagship beer from Oregon's excellent Golden Valley Brewery (read my review). Their site describes it as a "Celtic Ale" but it's really an American Amber in style, nicely drinkable at 5.4% alcohol.

Notes from their site:

The Hops added to the kettle are Chinook, Liberty, Willamette, and Tettnanger with Fuggles used in the steep for aromatics. The use of imported Crystal, Carastan, Roast, and Chocolate malts as well as domestic Two-Row malt creates a complex and bold profile which balances and enhances the aggressive hopping.

Appearance: Amber with tints of orange; thin slightly-tan head.

Smell: Toffee-sweet and pleasant, almost candy-ish. Butterscotch.

Taste: Malty amber base with roasted overtones and more of a bitter hop presence than is evident in the nose. Rich without being cloying.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and pleasant roasty presence on the tongue.

Overall: Enjoyable and drinkable... well-rounded and balanced and it would be nice to have regular access to this.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 2.97 out of 5 and is in their 40th percentile.

Golden Valley Red Thistle Ale

Holy Mackerel Mack in Black is one of the beers I found and drank last week in Florida—that is, it's a genuine Florida-brewed beer.

The pedigree on this beer is interesting; it's nominally produced by Gordash Beer Company, but in fact they're a beer marketing company and they actually contracted with the Florida Beer Company (in Melbourne, Florida) to brew the beer.

The other thing about this beer is the subtitle on the bottle and the note: "Imperial Black Ale" and "with pomegranate juice". I don't believe I've yet run across that particular "Imperial" nomenclature and adding the pomegranate juice to the mix was just too interesting to pass up. Oh, and it's a respectable 8% alcohol by volume, and the label (and their site) notes "this ale is suitable for aging 1-2 years."

(You'll notice the picture is of the hotel pour... not exactly a proper beer glass, but hey, you make do.)

Appearance: Black with an off-white head that fell to a foam ring.

Smell: Dark and fruity, with a sourish character. A coffee note.

Taste: Very dark tasting—roasted malts and coffee... heavy on the roasted malts (a bitter astringency). The fruit juice is there, tart but not overly so... fairly mild and refreshing. I don't notice the 8% strength at all.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, dry (astringent) from the roasted malts.

Overall: The pomegranate is what's interesting, on top of the coffee notes. Definitely a "black" beer all around, and surprisingly refreshing.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores a grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 3.6 out of 5 and is in their 89th percentile.

And, since the pictures I took at the hotel are kind of crappy, here's a bonus larger picture of the bottle:

Before I dig into some new reviews for Colorful Beer Week, I thought I'd troll the archives and point to a bunch of old reviews I've done for colorfully-named beers.

• Brown Shugga
• Beertown Brown
• Flying Dog's Woody Creek White
• Red Barn Ale from Lost Abbey
• Sharkbite Red from Port Brewing
• Deschutes 19th Anniversary Golden Ale
• Cedar River Amber Ale
• Midas Touch Golden Elixir
• Black Boss Porter
• Gluten free Dragon's Gold
• Pabst Blue Ribbon (from American Macro Week)
• Roots Island Red
• Blue Dot Double IPA
• Blue Dog Pale Ale from the Lucky Lab
• Green Lakes Organic Ale (from a Session post)
• Cinder Cone Red
• Lakefront White Beer (another Theme Week)
• Deep Cover Brown Ale
• Old Scratch Amber Lager
• Widmer Crimson Wheat (from the last Theme Week)
• Shock Top Belgian White (also from the last Theme Week)
• Deschutes Black Butte XX

I'm not counting the various samplers I've had from brewery reviews—this was just a list compiled from going through the individual beers. Plus, I'm not even sure I went through all those old reviews, so there may be more out there. That's a lot of color!

Here's a press release that could even tie in with my Colorful Beer Week this month (it's a "Golden" Ale). I remember seeing this beer on the Brewery's Pub-exclusive list; apparently they were experimenting with the recipe.

Pity it's going to be draft-only, though; bottling something like this could be a big hit, I think.

(And check out the ingredients they're using!)

Bringing Good Beer to Oregon’s Celiacs

Deschutes Brewery is staying true to its “Never Settle” philosophy by creating Gluten Free Golden Ale – its first gluten free beer. Using sorghum, brown rice and roasted chestnuts instead of malted barley or wheat as the sources of extract to avoid gluten, the Deschutes brewers were able to create a flavor that is very similar to the crystal malt used in many of their other signature beers.

Deschutes Brewery’s Gluten Free Golden Ale is a new and improved version of its Rootin’ Tootin’ Low Gluten beer, which won a Gold Medal at the prestigious Brewers Association 2008 World Beer Cup Awards in the Gluten Free Beer category, beating 12 entrants from some of the world’s best breweries. Although the brewery has produced a small batch of low gluten beer before, the Deschutes brewers were so fastidious in brewing this new gluten free beer that they not only double cleaned the brewing equipment, but also grew the yeast culture used to ferment the beer from a single cell using only sorghum as its nutritional source. The absence of wheat, barley and malt makes the brew a perfect option for individuals with celiac disease.

“We saw that there was a large group of people who weren’t able to enjoy traditional beers and we’re very excited that the release of Gluten Free Golden Ale will make great beer available to everyone,” says Deschutes Brewery President and Founder Gary Fish. “The most important part about developing this beer was to make something that tasted really good – the fact that it is gluten free makes it all the more unique.”

Gluten Free Golden Ale will only be available on draft at the Deschutes Brewery and Public Houses in Bend and Portland beginning August 21st.

For this month's Theme, I decided to go whimsical and ended up with "Colorful Beer Week": essentially, the only criteria is that I'm writing about beers with a color somewhere in the title. Or style.

For instance, off the top of my head styles "named" after a color: Belgian white (wit) beers; Schwarzbiers (black beers); red ales; and, obviously, brown ales.

Of course, I'm still catching up on my blogging, so this Theme Week will be interspersed with non-themed posts as well. Otherwise, except for being color-named, I guess you can expect no real rhyme or reason behind the Theme beers!

St Austell Brewery is celebrating a triple success for its flagship Tribute Ale after it was named as one of the UK’s top ten ales, clinched a national sales deal with Waitrose and smashed its sales records for the seventh successive year.

Tribute’s achievement in making it into the coveted top ten of the UK’s premium cask ales is based on sales volumes in Britain’s pubs and means it is the first Cornwall- or Devon-brewed beer ever to make it into the national chart compiled by the Nielsen Company, the world's leading provider of marketing information and audience measurement.

Read full press release

After a week of spotty internet connections and other priorities, I'm back at the blog wheel this week with some catching up to do and a bunch of stuff to blog. The previous week was spent in Florida on family business and while I wish I could have spent some beer hunting time, I did find a couple of Florida-brewed beers that I'll write about.

And there's a backlog of press releases and similar items that look interesting, so expect a glut of things to be coming down the line, especially over the next few days.

Also, today being the third Monday of the month means it's Theme Week here at The Brew Site. I'll be announcing the Theme and such later in the day, too.

So it's busy, busy, busy! You'd almost think this was my full-time job.

Some things beyond our general control have come up, and as a result there will be little or no blogging this week. Well, perhaps not entirely; there are some news items that came through today that I may find time to post. We'll see.

In the meantime, drink a beer (or several) this week.

This is the one I've been waiting for... looks like all the details are here, too: available by the end of August, and $9.99 per bottle (suggested).

After much anticipation, Deschutes Brewery is proud to introduce its wildest brew yet – The Dissident. Arguing for more time in the cellar, this Reserve Series beer is anything but conventional. Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with a fruity aroma and flavor, and the first wild yeast beer made by the award-winning Deschutes Brewery.

To give The Dissident its characteristic sour taste, the brewery used a wild yeast strain called Brettanomyces (also known as Brett) during fermentation. Known throughout the wine world for creating earthy undertones found in many European wines, Brett is used in the beer fermentation process to create strong flavors typically associated with Belgian beers. Unlike English varieties that use traditional inoculated yeasts in the fermentation process, beers made with Brett take much longer to ferment and require additional barrel finishing time to balance the sour flavoring. In The Dissident’s case, this meant aging a portion of it in Pinot noir and Cabernet barrels for more than three months. Another key flavor component comes from the Central Washington cherries that were added 12 months ago.

Due to the wild yeast, The Dissident required special treatment and was held in isolation under lock and key apart from the rest of the brewery’s beers to avoid any cross-contamination. A secondary bottling line was also brought in from an outside contractor to facilitate The Dissident’s bottling and ensure the beer and wild yeast never touched the brewery’s machinery.

With a beer this wild and truly unique, Deschutes needed a special label to alert consumers to what lay inside. The resulting image immediately sets The Dissident apart from the other Deschutes Brewery beers, even the Reserve Series beers.

The fruit and acidity in The Dissident make it ideal for pairing with a wide variety of dishes - the high acidity is perfect for cutting creamy dishes or cooling spicy ones. Because of the fruity characteristics derived from the cherries, the beer also pairs well with chocolate. Deschutes Brewery President and Founder Gary Fish recommends pairing The Dissident with “anything chocolate, the darker the better, soft cheeses like Brie and creamy dishes like spaghetti carbonara, or macaroni and cheese.”

A very limited amount of The Dissident will be available at the end of August as part of the brewery’s Reserve Series in hand-waxed 22-ounce bottles and on draft at select establishments. MSRP for a 22-ounce bottle is $9.99.

11% Alcohol by Volume (ABV)
30 International Bitterness Units (IBU)

I am awash in promotional beers and materials. Today I received the Budweiser American Ale package from Anheuser-Busch—it's their first ale brewed, ever, under the Budweiser label. I'll be running the official press release too, but first I wanted to post the pictures of the package. You see, it wasn't just a sample of beer.

A rather large box, clearly segmented in two sections. Weighty, too. So I opened it up to find...

Nice. Some serious quality packaging here; all custom inserts, and as you can see, not only including the new Budweiser American Ale, but also two bottles of original Budweiser and a promotional glass for each beer: an "imperial pint" style for the ale, and a, well, pilsner-y "lager" style for the lager.

You can see the logo on the ale glass, but what you can't necessarily see here is the raised-lettering logo work on the lager glass. Very cool, I have to admit.

I've reviewed original Budweiser before, so instead be on the lookout for a review of their American Ale soon.

Update: I reviewed the American Ale here.

I cracked open the promotional bottle of Long Hammer IPA the other night and enjoyed it while sitting out on the back patio.

I didn't do a formal review this time around, but I can definitely say there were juicy hop notes, enjoyable toasted malt character, and it's easily drinkable on a hot day. I still stand by my original review in saying that I think it's light for an India Pale Ale, but despite that it's a competent, well-crafted beer.

Red Hook Longhammer IPA

The next Session, which takes place in September, has been announced over on lootcorp 3.0: Deutsches Bier.

In honor of the start of Oktoberfest, I’ve decided to make September’s topic Deutsches Bier - German beer. I want you all to focus on the wonderful contributions our German neighbors have made to the beer world. You can write about a particular German style you really enjoy, a facet of German beer culture which tickles your fancy, or any other way in which Germany and beer have become intertwined in your life. Bonus points for Bavarian-themed posts.

I’m going to ask that no one submit an actual Oktoberfest trip report unless it really had some profound impact on you - the goal is to dig a little deeper and write about how German beers and beer culture have worked their way into your life (and hearts). Oh, and if you absolutely hate all beers German, that’s fair game, too - tell us why!

Good topic, though it's going to take some thinking to avoid falling into "been done" territory (a là Oktoberfest).

On Friday I received an unexpected package containing beer: Widmer Hefeweizen, to be exact. You can see in the picture below, that the package contained two bottles of Hefe, a custom Widmer Hefe glass, and two lemons. Plus their Press Kit booklet—more on that in a moment.

Now, I'm not complaining or anything—I've gone on record with my praise and admiration for Widmer's flagship beer—but I'm not sure why this was sent to me out of the blue. Just keeping up good public relations? Maybe. Highlighting a new brew? Maybe (see below)—but sending a Hefe package seems counter-intuitive to that.

However, browsing through the Press Kit booklet reveals that Widmer is releasing a new winter seasonal this year: "Brrr." That might be what the package is about. It's billed as a "moderately strong, dark red ale" and will be 7.2% alcohol by volume.

The Press Kit includes a picture of the beer and its packaging, so I scanned the page to reproduce here:

Looks interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it come October.

It's another press release relating to the St. Austell Brewery in Cornwall, England. This one amuses me because it's both slightly daft and a good reminder than the British take their pubs and their beer seriously.

St Austell vicar Patrick Bamber has teamed up with his local pub to take the Christian message beyond the walls of the church - and into the bar.

Patrick, who is the associate vicar of St Austell at the town’s Holy Trinity Church, is holding Sunday evening services in St Austell Brewery’s Seven Stars pub to offer a different experience for regular pub- and church-goers.

The first evening service was held on Sunday July 27 and was a great success, with a second service planned for Sunday August 3 at the Seven Stars, starting at 7pm.

Read full press release

I'm a little behind on running this one, and I've seen some other pointers around the web to this news as well. The cynical part of me, naturally, wonders how this ties in with all the InBev-related news. But, it's good for the environment and for a company as large as A-B with the kind of impact they have, it's a good thing.

One in Seven Anheuser-Busch Beers Will Be Brewed Using Alternative Fuels by End of 2009

More than five billion 12-oz. servings of beer – or about one in seven beers brewed by Anheuser-Busch in the United States – are expected to be brewed using renewable fuel by the end of 2009*, thanks to environmental efforts at the company’s 12 U.S. breweries. The company’s breweries in Houston and Fairfield, Calif., are currently installing alternative energy technology that will be operational by year end, and as a result the company’s U.S. breweries will run on more than 15 percent renewable fuel.

Read full press release

Here's the official press release about the record year the Oregon Brewers Festival had. The full official headline is, "Oregon Brewers Festival bucks the economic downturn, celebrates banner year with record attendance and sales" but that's a little long for a title even for me.

America’s economy may be in a downturn, but the effects didn’t show at the 21st annual Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF). The nation’s largest outdoor craft beer festival witnessed record attendance with 70,000 people, a 15 percent increase over last year’s all time high. Beer sales followed suit, also showing a 15 percent increase. The four-day event concluded on July 27th at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

“We weren’t sure what to expect for attendance and sales given the economic situation, but we were prepared to take a hit,” explained festival director and founder Art Larrance. “Instead, rising gas prices seemed to have helped us. People are staying home this summer, and many chose to partake of our city’s mass transit and explore festivals taking place in their own backyard.”

Larrance added that perfect beer drinking weather in the 70s and low 80s also played a large role in the increase.

Despite rising keg costs, the OBF chose to stay the course with its pricing, offering a four-ounce taste for $1 or 14-ounces for $4.

The event kicked off on July 24th with a one-mile parade by brewers and beer lovers on the city’s sidewalks, led by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and accompanied by a small marching band. Upon arrival at the venue, Mayor Potter swung a wooden mallet to drive the brass tap into the official first keg of the festival, presented by Widmer Brothers Brewing Co.

The OBF served 73 different craft beers from 18 states across the country. The top selling product for the third year running was Cascade Brewing's Razberry Wheat out of Southwest Portland. Another light, refreshing fruit beer to sell out early was Hell or High Watermelon by San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery. Portland’s Widmer Brothers Brewing sold a large quantity of its Full Nelson, an Imperial IPA brewed specifically for the OBF.

Beer lovers came from every state in the nation, and many countries around the world, to join in the celebration. The festival generated an economic impact of more than $1.5 million for the state.

Minors and designated drivers received access to the Crater Lake Rootbeer Garden, which served up complimentary cups of handcrafted rootbeer. Staff from the Wallowa Valley Together Project provided education on the potential dangers, risks, and unhealthy community norms associated with underage drinking; they were joined by high-school students of Teens Against Drugs & Alcohol, who promoted their “None before 21” campaign.

The Oregon Brewers Festival was founded in 1988 as an opportunity to expose the public to microbrews at a time when the craft brewing industry was just getting off the ground. Today, that industry has succeeded, especially in Oregon, where 60 brewing companies operate 90 brewing facilities. There are 30 breweries operating within the Portland city limits, more than any other city in the world; the Portland metro area boasts 38 breweries, more than any other metro area in the world. In fact, the Portland metro area is the largest craft brewing market in the United States, even though Portland ranks 23rd in population for metro areas in the nation.

The Oregon Brewers Festival always takes place the last full weekend in July. The 2009 dates are July 23rd through 26th. For more information, visit www.oregonbrewfest.com.

Today being the first Friday of August means it's time for The Session—beer blogging on a common theme. This month is brought to us from the Barley Blog and the theme is "Happy Anniversary":

Use this as an excuse to celebrate. Open a limited release anniversary beer from your favorite brewer. Enjoy that special beer you normally only open on your wedding anniversary or birthday. Either way, tell us about it. Why is it a beer you may only drink once a year? Why is that brewery’s annual release the one you selected?

I like the topic, but it's one of those that doesn't really apply to me—I don't have any specific anniversary or beer that I drink only once a year. So I'll speak a bit more generally.

The closest I can get to the topic is probably (surprise) Deschutes Brewery's anniversary, seasonal, and limited release beers. For instance, every year when their Jubelale is released, it's an "event" beer because each year sports a label of new, original artwork, and the holiday ale has a slightly different recipe each time. (Of course, I drink Jubelale as often as I can when it's "in season.")

Then there's Deschutes' Anniversary releases: read my recent review of their 20th Anniversary Wit for example. Each year in recent years they've released a limited run, one-off anniversary beer and I've enjoyed each: their 18th Anniversary Pilsner and their 19th Anniversary Golden Ale (review).

Probably every homebrewer has at some point tried their hand at brewing up some sort of special, anniversary-type brew. Aside from several beers I've made for birthdays, I brewed a strawberry mead (the one and only mead I've made thus far) for my wedding some years back.

It was decent, and there are still a few bottles floating around that I try from time to time. It's aged into a very dry drink with a current of bitterness running through it (too bitter for my wife); not undrinkable, but not something I'd serve to a gathering these days. But for something I brewed that's held up for as long as it has now, I won't complain. Next time I open some up, it'll be with an anniversary spirit in mind.