“Add the bittering hops now!” “Yes, Chef!” “Stir, man, stir!” “Yes, Chef!” “Don’t let that malt extract boil over now; you’ll never get the bloody stuff off the stove!”

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Pink Panty Dropper.  Irish Steamroller.  Porch Crawler. Hmm…A list of my nicknames from high school?  Well, no, (despite the sometimes aptness of the names); these are just a few of the many beer cocktails out there.  And with each passing day at the hands of clever mixologists, they’re getting more complex and taking their rightful […]

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IPA, “Hoptical Illusion”, Bluepoint Brewing Company, Patchogue, New York (6.8% Alc) I’m feeling the hops.  Like mad feeling the hops.  I dream of immersing myself in a McDonalds Playland where the balls have been replaced with barrels are barrels of hops.  And there must be some freak out there whose managed to stuff their pillows […]

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You want terroir in your beer? You want the taste of the earth from which it came from? Some will say that wine grapes are the true reflection of the land from which they came.  And they’re right: a Meursault is never gonna taste like a Chardonnay from Sonoma. The soil is different, the weather […]

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Old Ale, Theakston, Old Peculiar The Legend, Masham, North Yorkshire, UK (5.6% Alc abv) Brewed with Fuggle hops and from a long tradition, Theakston’s Old Peculier Ale “The Legend” is a little deceiving. It’s dark, squat brown bottle sits like a tank looking back at me. Its steely eyes watching my every move. The beer […]

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(Originally posted as a guest article on Hop Talk) Within the wine, beer and spirits world, passions run deep.  And so do the divisions.  Whether it is beer vs. wine, red vs. white, or vodka vs. bourbon, the warring camps of devotees are steadfast and thirsty for the other’s blood.  Whether it is double- vs. […]

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There are innumerable similarities between what I drank yesterday and what the great man in tights drank.  And so, in some bizarre, cosmic twist, time repeated itself in the beer world. I found myself (for the third time) at the Manhattan Cask Ale Festival at Chelsea Brewing Co with the Hudson river lapping at the […]

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If you want to get a drink at a bar in Utah, you are required by law to fill out a membership application, and pay a fee for the right to enter the “private club”.  By making it more difficult to walk through the door, the state believes they are preventing under-age and casual drinking.  […]

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1.  New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado Founded:  1991 Production:  approx 437,000 barrels (website) The place that started it all.  My own beer revolution.  “Fat Tire” was her name.  And she was delicious and demanding; pay attention to me!, she said.  And I did.  I took note.  For the first time ever in my, albeit […]

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2.  Brooklyn Brewery, Williamsburg, New York Founded: 1988 Producion:  approx 53,000 barrels (website) When I arrived at the doorstep of the Big Apple, I was humbled and taken down at the knees like every other poor sap that washes up on her shores.  Like a confused baby left alone at the mall, the world moved […]

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3.  Odell Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado Founded:  1989 Production:  approx 60,000 barrels (website) It’s gotta go back to home for me.  Doesn’t it always?  Something about those early years of ANYTHING.  Your first stumbling in the dark with a girl’s brassier.  Your first, horrible taste of coffee leading to that next, almost palatable, strangely […]

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4.  Dogfish Head, Milton, Delaware Founded:  1995 Production:  approx 35,000 barrels (website) Extreme.  Fire up the frickin taste buds, because these guys are doing some funky, bold beers.  Using such ingredients as fresh oysters, arctic cloudberries, green raisins, st johns wort, and beet sugar, they’re off to the races..and running like mad greyhounds.  Sound interesting?  […]

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5.  Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, California Founded:  1979 Production: approx 680,000 barrels (website) No god-fearing microbrewer could ever not bow down in worship to Sierra Nevada.  It would be an outrage.  I would have to throw my shoes at you.  (I still think it would have been off the chain if Mr Bush caught […]

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If you’re anything like me, the onset of fall means leaves crunching below your feet (or was that a dried profelactic washed into the gutter?), the smell of chimney smoke in the air, and the spicier beers in my Tiffany’s crystal mug.  So fire up the Oompah band, Heinrich, it’s time to strap on the […]

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Beer rules.  Fuck it.  I’ll say it: beer rules.  I came to that decision about ten, fifteen minutes ago.  If I was forced, and i mean ‘forced’ cause this would suck, to choose only beer or wine (an oft-asked question), i would choose beer.  Maybe its just because i happened to have just taken a […]

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