Late yesterday I received a sample bottle of this year’s Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale, the fall seasonal offering from Anheuser-Busch. I reviewed this beer last year as was lukewarm on it, but even so, I get all excited when the pumpkin beers come out and yes, I’m anxious to crack this one open and see how it is.

It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing is one of the country’s best-known brewers—largely for his extreme-beer cred. (In fact I might go so far as to say he’s a rock star of the brewing world, but people seem to cringe when terminology like that gets thrown around…) Anyway, CHOW magazine is running an interview with Cilurzo that’s a good read; it gets into some of the behind-the-scenes … Continue reading →

We made it down for the Jubelale Launch Party at the Deschutes Pub this evening, and even though I didn’t get there in time for the toast, I took a few pictures and it was a Jubelale-themed dinner for sure. As promised, there were three variations of Jubelale on tap, plus a bonus: the regular, nitro, and cask conditioned, and on the X-Tap, they had their 2007 Super Jubel—last year’s edition that’s 11% alcohol (double … Continue reading →

Tomorrow evening, the 23rd, Deschutes Brewery is having a launch party for the 2008 Jubelale release, at both their downtown Bend and Portland pubs. At the Bend pub, three variations of Jubel will be on tap: regular, cask conditioned, and nito. Plus, there’s a special menu planned for the evening (it’s a restaurant too, after all). But what intrigues me the most is the fact that Jubelale is 21 years old this year… and, according … Continue reading →

I’ve been enjoying The Brew Basement blog for a while now and one of the things I’ve always wondered is what the actual "basement" looks like and (for lack of a better term) how it works (what capacity, anything special done to cellar the beers, etc.). Wonder no more! The other day Jason at TBB posted some pictures and details explaining just that. I’m completely jealous. And awed. The setup is pretty straightforward, but the … Continue reading →