A Newbie To Beer Blogging…

Archive for the ‘General’

Published June 7th, 2008 in Beer Festivals, Breweries, General, Maine, Watering Holes | No Comments »

It’s a real pleasure to join BeerBloggers!

Blogging is totally new to me, but writing certainly isn’t, so it will be interesting to see how this old dog learns new tricks.

My intent is to share personal experiences and reactions. Rigorously rating specific beers is done widely by others, some well and some not so well, and I’m happy to leave that to others. My initial intent is to explore three themes…

Travels in search of great beer. I’m blessed with a life style, professional and personal, that allows me to visit quite a few beer festivals, sometimes as a volunteer, sometimes as a punter. I intend to share my thoughts about the beers and festivals I enjoy.
Experiences inside a beer festival. I’m Treasurer of CASC, the organization that presents NERAX, NERAX North, and other cask ale events. I’m looking forward to sharing an insider view of organizing and running serious beer festivals. Hopefully we can build a dialogue around some of the issues we at NERAX face yearly.
Cask Ale in New England. This is my passion. I look forward to sharing both the delights and disappointments as I pursue cask ale across New England.

Let the fun begin!

Welcome New BeerBlogger Jan

Published June 6th, 2008 in General | No Comments »

I want to welcome fellow beer aficionado Jan Williams to the BeerBloggers.com fold. I met Jan at Novare Res during our June MBWG meeting. He stopped by our table to chat about NERAX, the New England Real Ale Exhibition, and stayed to talk about and sample beers with us. Jan has travelled widely and been to quite a few well-known beer festivals. Being quite jealous of this, and wanting to hear more, I’ve talked Jan into writing about his beer travels, and CASC, the Cask-Conditioned Ale Support Campaign, for BeerBloggers.com. Welcome, Jan. I look forward to reading more about some of the wonderful beer events you’ve attended and beer people you’ve met.

A Blessing for Beer

Published March 20th, 2008 in General | No Comments »

I found this little nugget on Musings Over a Pint and had to share it. Now I know what to say before I sip my first beer on Sundays…

Lord, bless this creature, beer, which by your kindness and power has been produced from kernels of grain, and let it be a healthful drink for mankind. Grant that whoever drinks it with thanksgiving to your holy name may find it a help in body and in soul; through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

(Via Musings Over a Pint.)

A Pub Glass for the Ladies

Published March 19th, 2008 in General, Other Beer Sites | 2 Comments »

My wife, Amber, is also a fan of good beers (not quite a full-fledged hophead yet, but she can certainly appreciate the difference between a nice brown ale and a good Belgian ale). One of her chief problems, however, is that she’s not a very big woman, so a single pint is often enough for her in terms of both volume and alcohol. She’s always very pleased when she can get a “tasting” sized glass (like, for instance, the tasting lineup at Sebago Brewpub in Portland). We do not have any similar glasses at home, and there’s just something wrong with pouring a half pint into a full size glass. Thus, I was especially interested in a posting by Ron today at Hop Talk:

Jasmine of Beer at Joe’s was kind enough recently to write about herself on Hop Talk as part of our Women of the Beerosphere series. She pointed out that she prefers pubs and microbreweries that offer half pints of beer so that she could sample more than one brew. One full pint would fill her up, not to mention that women absorb and metabolize alcohol differently than men.

I received a good review from a friend of The Pub Shoppe, an online store that sells all sorts of pub related items, including 10 oz English style pub glasses. They actually list them as ‘ladies size.’ The Pub Shoppe also sells things like signs, dartboards, and clothing.

If you know of a good place to get beer glasses and other beer related items, please let us know!

© Hop Talk — A Pub Glass for the Ladies

(Via Hop Talk.)

I think I’ll need to order a few of these to complement my beerware collection. We both drink some stronger beers at home and having a proper sized glass would allow us the opportunity to enjoy more than one. It would also make splitting those 22 oz. corked, caged bottles I’ve been buying lately a bit easier.

How Beer is Made

Published February 15th, 2008 in General | No Comments »

For those of you new to the beer scene, or those who’ve never done anything beyond drinking it, Ron at Hop Talk has the following very good, very succinct, explanation of how beer is made. Home brewing is pretty much this exact process on a smaller scale, while commercial brewers follow the same steps, but with vessels as big as your car. I’ve seen this all done (but haven’t tried it myself), and it’s pretty cool to watch.

A starch source, primarily made up of cracked malted barley, is heated in water along with certain enzymes which starts a chemical reaction converting the starches into sugar. This process, called the mash, results in a thick, sugary, liquid called (shockingly) the mash.

The mash is then boiled along with hops, a conical flower from the hop plant (Humulus lupulus), which acts as both a flavoring and a preservative. Hops added at the beginning of the boil produce a bitterness from the alpha acids in the hops. Hop added later in the boil contribute less to the bitterness and more to the aroma. Brewers typically add some in the beginning, and some at the end. The result of this step is not yet beer, it is called the wort. (pronounced ‘wert’)

Once the wort is cooled and moved to a clean vessel, yeast is added and the process of fermentation takes place, converting the sugars into both alcohol and carbon dioxide. After fermentation is completed, the liquid is now called beer. This whole process is called brewing.

The amount of each ingredient, the type of each ingredient, the length and handling of this process can all be done in a multitude of ways each producing a unique result. With this, the wonderful world of beers is created.

For other great and more detailed references on brewing, check out these below:

Wikipedia on Brewing

San Francisco Brewers Guild

How Stuff Works

Or watch this video from Iron Hill Brewing…

© Hop Talk

How Beer is Made (Part 2)

(Via Hop Talk.)

Thanks, Ron. Very informative!

Portland Beer Destinations

Published February 8th, 2008 in General, Maine | No Comments »

I’ve already blogged about some of the great breweries in Portland. However, aside from The Great Lost Bear, which is widely considered the Microbrew Mecca of Maine, there aren’t any really great beer-centric watering holes. According to information obtained by The Bollard, though, that might be changing. After some recent closures of Old Port night clubs, it looks like those vacancies are being quickly filled.

Ryan Byther, of Gorham, got city approval Monday to open the Oktoberfest International Tap House in the Digger’s space. The dance club next door will be called Club Onyx, and will offer entertainment similar to what Liquid Blue had, DJs and a weekly comedy night, as well as live bands.

The bar on the first floor will be called Prost (”Cheers,” in German) Pub. Prost Pub will have 100 taps lined against one wall, and over 300 different foreign and domestic brews in total. A game room upstairs will have pool, foosball and such.

Byther said the tap house will serve “upscale pub food,” and the interior is undergoing a major facelift “to get rid of that dive bar atmosphere.” He hopes to open the doors March 1.

A hundred taps? Three hundred beers in total? Opening on March 1? Count me in!

Would You Like a Series on Beer Styles?

Published January 25th, 2008 in General | No Comments »

As in the past, the focus of BeerBloggers.com is on reviewing/discussing beers. However, I was thinking this morning (while walking my dog in the 10°F Maine air) that it might be interesting to start a regular (weekly, or maybe twice a month) feature series on beer styles. The format would include a summary/description of the specific style, some suggestions for noted examples of the style, and links to any beers in that style that have already been reviewed on BeerBloggers.

Please leave a comment if you think that the idea has some merit. If you have suggestions on anything else that I should include in a style feature, please leave that in a comment too. Oh, and as always, new writers are welcomed. If you’d like to write up beer reviews or beer styles, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

BeerBloggers.com

Archive for the ‘General’