Archives for November 2019

The History of Pilsner Urquell
Pilsner Urquell was the first pale lager, and the name “pilsner” is often used by its copies. It is characterized by its golden color and clarity, and was immensely successful: nine out of ten beers produced and consumed in the world are pale lagers based on Pilsner Urquell. The German name, which can be roughly translated into English as “the original source”, was adopted as a trademark in 1898.

By 1839 most beer in Bohemia was dark and top-fermented. However bottom-fermented lagers were gaining popularity. The people of Plzeň preferred imported cheaper bottom-fermented beers to local top-fermented ales The burghers of Plzeň invested in a new, state-of-the-art brewery, the Burghers’ Brewery, and hired Josef Groll, a Bavarian brewer, to brew a bottom-fermented beer. On October 5, 1842, Groll had a new mash ready and on 11 November 1842, the new beer was first served at the feast of St. Martin markets.

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Maui, Hawaii – There is reason to be jubilant at Maui Brewing Company. January marks the brewery’s 15th Anniversary in which Hawaii’s largest craft brewery will release a specialty Barrel-Aged Imperial Ale. To create the Anniversary Blend, which will debut just before the holidays, a variety of hand-selected spirit barrels were filled, aged, and masterfully blended from Imperial Porter, Imperial Stout, Imperial Brown, and Barleywine.

CEO and Co-Founder, Garrett Marrero stated, “I look back on the last 15 years and am very proud of what we’ve accomplished as a team. It’s amazing to see that we have done over the years, all from the simple idea of bringing authentic Hawaiian craft beer to Hawaii! Cheers and beers to all our friends, craft beer drinkers, and most of all, to Team MBC.”

In the meantime, an intimate preview was held at MBC Waikiki yesterday. The anchor restaurant of the newly remodeled Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger is open daily from 7am to midnight, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Live music and happy hour specials occur from 3:30-5:30pm. The MBC and Outrigger teams hosted friends, family, and media guests to celebrate with enthusiastic acclaim other 2019 wins.

Recognizing a significant growth opportunity in the ready-to-drink cocktail category, Maui Brewing Company announced a major brand expansion this summer with the introduction of Hawaii’s first locally made, ready-to-enjoy canned cocktail line, Kupu Spirits. The three craft cocktail varieties: Whiskey Cola, Whiskey Ginger, and Gin & Tonic blend Kupu Spirits Whiskey and Gin with Maui Brewing Company’s Island Sodas, which are created in-house using all-natural ingredients like cane sugar, local island honey, and Hawaii-grown ginger. A Kupu Vodka soda is currently in development.

Further extending its line of craft beverages, the company recently entered the growing hard seltzer space with its latest offering, Maui Hard Seltzer. The seltzers, made of fermented all-natural cane sugar with a hint of tropical flavors, offer a low calorie, low carb, gluten free option for those looking for guilt-free drinking pleasure. Expect to see POG (Passionfruit, Orange, Guava), Dragon Fruit, and Citrus flavored spiked seltzers coming to market over the next several weeks.

This fall, MBC announced the completion of its four-year long renewable energy project. With the goal for grid independence, the company takes great pride in helping lead the industry in producing beverages from sustainable energy which includes solar PV, recaptured CO2, solar thermal systems, and Tesla battery storage. The company won the 2019 consumer-driven “Brews from the Sun” competition sponsored by Solar United Neighbors, earning the title “America’s Favorite Solar Craft Brewery” in the regional brewery category.

From humble beginnings to multi-unit full-service restaurants, MBC is a fiercely local company that has remained steadfast regarding local production. The MBC team are stewards of their communities and the ‘aina, and curators of the craft beer way of life. Their beers have been recognized worldwide for quality and innovation.

For more information, visit MauiBrewing.com or follow @MauiBrewingCo on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About Maui Brewing Company
Founded in 2005, Maui Brewing Company is Hawaii’s largest craft brewery, operating 100% in Hawaii. MBC is based on Maui, with its production brewery, full service restaurant and tasting room in Kihei, as well as restaurants in Lahaina (Maui), Kailua (Oahu), and Waikiki (Oahu). Maui Brewing Company is available in 20 states, 1 district, and 3 international countries with more areas to follow.

Raíces Brewing Company by Morgan Forsyth

Raíces, meaning “roots”, is a community taproom delivering flavors related to Latin America in a cultural venue on the Platte River in Denver, Colorado. The official grand opening of Raíces Brewing Company will be on Saturday, December 7. With a 15 barrel system, they will be opening with seven unique beers on tap – six of which will be year-round brews. Brewers Martin Vargas and Aaron Lancaster have been hard at work brewing classic styles of beer while incorporating flavors related to Latin American, including their Cafecito (meaning “small coffee”) coffee blonde, rich in flavor and light in body.

Raíces isn’t your typical taproom to come and enjoy beer, but rather a cultural venue where the community can gather and listen to live music, enjoy local artwork and Latino food trucks. Their involvement in the Latino community prompted a grant from the Brewer’s Association to aid them in developing the first craft beer festival in the country celebrating Latino craft breweries, brewers, beers, community and culture. Suave Fest took place Saturday, September 14, 2019 and featured 10 Latino-owned craft breweries from around Colorado. Plans are already in the works for next years Suave Fest, which will take place on Saturday, September 20, 2020. Being able to create a beer fest celebrating the Latino community and culture was a milestone for Raíces Brewing Company and other Latino-owned craft breweries, bringing awareness for diversification and accessibility in the craft beer industry.

With plans in the next couple of years to become a brewpub with their own dynamic menu, the future for this unique brewery is exciting! Currently, the taproom is open to the public before their grand opening – you can stop in Wednesday through Sunday to enjoy a pint on the river and explore the cultural place on the Platte!

Raíces Brewing
2060 W Colfax Ave
Denver, Colorado
Phone: (720) 295-2437
Website: www.raicesbrewing.com/

PHILADELPHIA — Over in Fishtown, it truly is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Evil Genius Beer Company announces the release of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” their ode to the late, great, Mr. Fred Rogers.

As movie lovers of all ages prepare for “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (out in theaters on November 22), they can soak up those retro vibes and relive their memories over this brand-new Hazy Pale Ale. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” is available starting today exclusively at Evil Genius The Lab in Fishtown.

“A native Pennsylvanian himself, Fred Rogers is beloved by generations of Americans as a true gentleman, friend, but most of all, a great neighbor,” said Evil Genius Partner Trevor Hayward. “Next week marks the release of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” the biographical movie based on Mr. Rogers’s life, played by Tom Hanks. We couldn’t think of a better time to pay homage to someone we grew up every day in our living room.”

Won’t You Be My Neighbor is a 5% Hazy Pale Ale featuring Azacca, Chinook, and Columbus hops.  It is on sale now in 16oz cans for a 4 pack for $20. It is available at the Evil Genius Lab at 1727 N Front St, Philadelphia, PA 19122.

“We could go on to describe the flavors, what to expect and describe it more at length, but with this beer, the Evil Genius family wants you to enjoy what you like about it and make up your own mind,” added Hayward. “We believe beer should be a shared experience, as was watching Mr. Rogers with our childhood friends. Have a chat with a friend, family member, and maybe your neighbor. Relive days of old and make new memories as warming as those Mr. Rogers left us with.”

Next Up For Evil Genius
Next up after “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” look for Evil Genius to take inspiration from another familiar friend – Santa himself. Santa!! I Know him! is Evil Genius Beer Company’s holiday Saison brewed with rose hips, chamomile, black currants, and dark Belgian candy syrup. Deep, complex, and intriguing, this bone-dry Belgian-style ale is sure to seduce you, or the one you’re with. Roses, chamomile, and currants have long been considered. Santa is 7.2% and available starting in late November at Evil Genius Beer Company and through your local beer stores in PA, NJ, DE, MD, MA, RI, and CT.

For more about Evil Genius Beer Company and what’s on tap this week – and every week – visit www.evilgeniusbeer.com/lab/

About Evil Genius Beer Company
Evil Genius Beer Company was started in 2011 by best friends Luke Bowen and Trevor Hayward. After almost 8 years, and a motto of “Very Silly Names for Very Serious Beers”, Evil Genius Beer Company now distributes to 7 states ( (PA, NJ, MD, DE, CT, MA, and RI) with 19 different core and seasonal beers to quench their ever thirsty customers. This puts the brewers on Front Street in the top 5% of breweries in the country and the second largest in the city of Philadelphia. For more information, visit evilgeniusbeer.com, and connect on social @evilgeniusbeer

Columbus, Ohio — Taft’s Brewing Company, a leader in the Cincinnati craft beer scene, is opening its newest Ohio location in Columbus this Friday, November 15, 2019 at 5PM. Taft’s Brewpourium Columbus, located at 440 West Broad Street, is the first to open in the city of Columbus and the third Taft’s location state-wide.

“We are so excited to join the Columbus community. With this location, creating a fun experience is our goal. Our space is going to be full of games, a stage for music and special entertainment, amazing food featuring our New Haven Style pizza, and of course our hand-made beers. We cannot wait to open our doors to the people of Columbus.” says Dave Kassling, Managing Partner at Taft’s Brewing Company.

The new 5,800 square foot space will feature Taft’s award-winning beer and New Haven-style pizza, with a 2,000 square foot outdoor patio space debuting in the spring of 2020. Guests can expect an entirely different look and feel from the Brewpourium in Cincinnati, with 80’s and 90’s pop-art dressing the walls and old-school gaming built into the bar itself. The space will also be home to a built-in stage and will host fun events like live music, trivia, yoga, stand-up comedy, and more.

With 16 taps, the star of the show will remain Taft’s Brewing Company’s hand-crafted brews, featuring some of their most popular packaged brews in-house, as well as new and inventive styles that will only be found at this location. The brand’s signature Apizza New Haven-style pizza kitchen will be onsite, featuring a thousand degree coal-fired oven known for its thin crust that’s crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and sparely topped.

For new beers, events and more happenings in the new space, fans are encouraged to follow the Brewpourium Columbus Instagram (@TaftsBrewpouriumColumbus) and Facebook page (facebook.com/TaftsBrewpouriumColumbus) to stay up to date.

About Taft’s Brewing Company
Taft’s Brewing Company was founded in 2015 through the creation of Taft’s Ale House. The founders of Taft’s partnered with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp to create the brewery and restaurant located in Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine. The three-story Ale House resides in a renovated historic church originally built in 1850 and offers premium steak fare in a beautifully designed space. In 2017, the Taft’s team created a production brewery and tap room, Taft’s Brewpourium Cincinnati, located in Spring Grove Village. The 50,000-square- foot facility is home to high-volume brewing and beer kegging, canning and packaging. The Brewpourium Cincy tap room offers guests 12- 15 of Taft’s house-created brews and New Haven-style coal-fired pizza. Taft’s is also opening a sizeable indoor/outdoor space in the Franklinton Columbus area in November 2019. Taft’s beers can also be found in bars, restaurants, grocery stores and other outlets across the region. www.taftsbeer.com

San Francisco, California – Forty-five years ago, Anchor Brewing Company released the first holiday beer in America since Prohibition and has continued this annual tradition ever since. Year after year, Christmas Ale is crafted with a heavily guarded recipe and designed with a unique hand drawn label, but the inspiration behind each brew remains the same: joy for the changing seasons and celebration of the newness of life. The 2019 Anchor Christmas Ale (6.9% ABV) is sold only from early November to mid-January. It is rich with robust malt flavor, yet balanced and drinkable, making Christmas Ale the perfect drink for holiday gatherings near and far.

“We are committed to preserving Anchor Christmas Ale’s signature style while adding new ingredients to enhance this annual delicacy. Slightly darker than last year’s Christmas Ale, the 2019 edition is layered with toasted caramel and coffee flavors with subtle hints of Mexican chocolate, rounded out with herbaceous spices. Crack open a bottle for a spiced whiff of western evergreens, roasted malts and coastal flowers,” shared Anchor Brewmaster, Scott Ungermann. “It’s a rich, round and full bodied-treat with a silky, smooth finish. Christmas Ale is best served in a big open glass at a table full of family and friends.”

A beloved tradition for many Anchor fans is to collect multiple iterations of Christmas Ale over the years. The beer’s wintry spiced flavors evolve over time, making vertical tastings an interesting and decadent holiday activity. For the second year in a row, Anchor kept Christmas Ale’s ABV at 6.9%, a level fitting for long term storage. “People love to align past Christmas Ale styles in vertical tastings,” said Ungermann. “An added bonus of this holiday tradition is that the beer can age gracefully for years to come.” Christmas Ale should be stored in a dark and cool place for the best results.

As each Christmas Ale recipe evolves, so does its hand drawn packaging, created by long-time Anchor Illustrator Jim Stitt, who has created Anchor’s Christmas Ale labels every year since 1975. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. This year, Stitt illustrated the Western Arborvitae – the “tree of life” – across the label. It is an evergreen conifer native to Northern California, the same region that Anchor has called home for over 123 years. Before modern medicine, properties of Western Arborvitae leaves were believed to have healing properties – hence, the moniker “tree of life.” 2019 Anchor Christmas Ale proudly wears this tree and symbolizes the start of a strong, healthy beginning.

Anchor Christmas Ale makes a special holiday gift for the brewing expert, beer beginner, party host and everyone in between. Available in a gold-foiled, 50.7oz magnum format as well as regular 12oz bottles, it is both the perfect centerpiece at a festive gathering and the ideal brew to enjoy on a cozy night by the fire. “One of the best parts about Christmas Ale is that it can be enjoyed from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. As long as the holiday season has commenced, one can enjoy this very special tradition in hand,” Ungermann shared. Suggested food pairings are roasted meats, pecan pie and any chocolate-based dessert.

Anchor’s 2019 Christmas Ale is available in 6-packs and gold-foiled 50.7 oz. magnum bottles, as well as on draught in select stores, bars, and restaurants including Anchor Public Taps and the Anchor Brewing Taproom in San Francisco.

For more information on the history of Anchor Christmas Ale, please watch the following video: Anchor Christmas Ale Video. You can find a brew near you by using the Anchor Beer Finder.

Learn more about Anchor Brewing at www.anchorbrewing.com and follow @anchorbrewing on social media.

About Anchor Brewing Company
Anchor Brewing Company’s roots date back to the California Gold Rush making it one of America’s oldest breweries. Its Anchor Steam® Beer is San Francisco’s original since 1896. In 1965, Fritz Maytag acquired and revived the struggling brewery at a time when mass production of beer dominated and seemed unstoppable. Maytag started a revolution in beer that originated today’s craft beer movement. An undisputed icon, Anchor is America’s first craft brewery where beers are handmade in our traditional copper brewhouse from an all-malt mash. At Anchor, we practice the time-honored art of classical brewing, employing state-of-the-art methods to ensure that our beers are always pure and fresh. We know of no brewery in the world that matches our efforts to combine traditional, natural brewing with such carefully applied, modern methods of sanitation, finishing, packaging and transporting. To learn more visit www.anchorbrewing.com.

The following story is by Gary Gillman from beeretseq.com
Dow Ale was a legend in Quebec brewing until a strange event in the late 1960s spelled the end of the brand as a force. Quebec City, the old capital of the Province of Quebec, was a stronghold of the Dow brand. William Dow had started brewing in the 1800s in the Province. By the 1960s and after various mergers and takeovers, Dow, formerly named National Breweries, had four main brands: Dow Ale, Kingsbeer (a lager), Champlain Porter, and Dow Porter. Dow Ale was the big seller.

In 1966, hospitals in Quebec City started to notice that a spate of men in their 40s-60s, known to be heavy beer drinkers, were suffering from cardiomyopathy. It’s an ailment often manifested by irregularity of heart rhythm. Many died, something like 20-25 persons. Not all these men consumed the Dow brand but most did. Dow in Quebec City – it had a brewery there and in Montreal – made the fateful decision to dump its inventory of Dow Ale, a good faith gesture meant to reassure people. However, the population viewed the action as an admission of culpability. The beer forever became known as “la bière qui tue“, or the beer which kills.

Medical studies conducted by Quebec authorities never established a direct link between Dow’s beer and the deaths. Nevertheless, many experts felt that cobalt sulphate, then used in some brewing to improve head or foam retention, probably caused or exacerbated the medical issue. To be sure, these men were heavy drinkers, they consumed a dozen beers each day or more. Also, the malady seemed to be concentrated in Quebec City, yet Montreal was a large market too for the brand.

But while many breweries in Quebec added cobalt sulphate to their beer at the time, Dow apparently used an unusually large amount, some accounts state ten times the normal quantity. Hence the feeling on the part of many doctors that cobalt was probably responsible, but it was never conclusively proved. Still, Dow stopped using the chemical after the debâcle and the deaths did not recur, at least not in the concentrations that had been noticed.

Needless to say Dow beer fell sharply in sales after the disaster. In 1972 the brand was sold to another brewery, Molson Breweries in Montreal, which continued to brew the beer until the early 1990s. In 1987 Molson merged with Carling O’Keefe, the final successor to National Breweries (itself a combination of 14 breweries formed after WW I of which Dow was a key component).

Online there are numerous examinations of this unique incident in both Canadian and international brewing history. Here is a good place to start, for those interested in more information.

In recent posts, I was discussing the great Quebec and Canadian culinary authority Jehane Benoit, and it turns out she had a connection to Dow.

Benoit had studied food science in Paris in the 1920s under a master nutrition expert, Edouard de Pomiane. I was discussing beer cuisine in various francophone areas in the world, and noted that Quebec cuisine appeared to have only a few recipes using beer.

But Dow Brewery was a client of Mme Benoit in the 1950s, she did promotions for them and this led to a book of recipes called, in English, Cooking With Dow. While the origin of the recipes in the book is diverse and some were probably invented by Mme Benoit, this book must be considered to enlarge the number of Quebec dishes which employ beer in cooking. It is not, therefore, just in the last 20 years or so that books have appeared in Quebec proposing a beer-based gastronomy. The creative and enterprising Mme Benoit was doing it in the 1950s.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

In a later post, I will discuss some interesting recipes proposed by this great food authority.

 

Personal note: In 1986, I visited Montreal and picked up a 12 pack of Dow Ale.  When I moved to Toronto in 1985, I asked if anyone had heard about Dow beer.  An old guy(42 years old) said, “Yea, I do. Dow, the beer that kills.” It was only sold in Quebec in the 80’s and early 90’s.

LONGMONT, Colorado — Oskar Blues Brewery announces the seasonal return of Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY Imperial Stout. This massive 12.5% ABV roasty malt bomb will be distributed nationally on draft and in four-packs of 12 oz. cans. Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY season starts in mid-November and extends into the winter months of 2020 for your fireside sipping pleasure.

The brewing wizards at Oskar Blues fill bourbon barrels with Ten FIDY Imperial Stout and then patiently wait a full eight months while the wood works its magic. During that time, the classic stout is infused with deep, rich flavors of vanilla, bourbon and oak. For a big beer that’s layered with complexity, Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY is balanced and temperate on the palate, the extended stay in-barrel ensuring a smooth, warm drinking experience perfect for long, cold winter nights.

“Ten FIDY is a complicated beer for our brewers but they really dig into the behemoth task of delivering a big-time stout,” said Tim Matthews, Head of Brewing Operations for Oskar Blues Brewery. “Barrel-aging ups the ante even further – ramping up the chocolate, coffee and roasted notes to the maximum.”

To mark the return of Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY, Oskar Blues taprooms are throwing open the barrel-aged vaults on Black Friday, November 29, and releasing vintage beers from years past. Taprooms in Boulder, Colorado, Longmont, Colorado, and Brevard, North Carolina, will sell variety four-packs of rare or impossible-to-find barrel-aged varieties of Ten FIDY including: JAHvanilla, Salted Caramel, Chocolate Hazelnut Praline, Java and more. Availability subject to change.

Big flavor. Big ABV. Big FIDY energy. Look for Barrel-Aged Ten Fidy Imperial Stout on shelves near you starting mid-November or track it down via the beerfinder. Email questions to Aaron Baker at aaron@oskarblues.com. Visit oskarblues.com

About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded by Dale Katechis in 1997 in Lyons, Colorado, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the craft-beer-in-a-can apocalypse with their hand-canned flagship brew, Dale’s Pale Ale. Today, Oskar Blues operates breweries in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas featuring Dale’s Pale Ale as the nation’s #3 top-selling craft can six-pack at U.S. supermarkets. Oskar Blues is available nationwide in the US and in over 20 countries. Oskar Blues Brewery is a proud member of CANarchy, a disruptive collective of like-minded craft brewers dedicated to bringing high-quality, innovative flavors to drinkers in the name of independent craft beer.