More often than not, when I bring up Michael Jackson in a beer related conversation, I have to digress from the topic and briefly explain that I am not referring to the late King of Pop, but I am referring to perhaps the most influential beer enthusiast to have lived in the past century. Besides elevating beer in the epicurean world as a from a low brow beverage to a fine and delicious imbibement packed with culture and history, Michael Jackson quite literally defined what beer is (The World Guide To Beer) There is no need for me to rehash a biography of Jackson since 1) that is not the gist of this post and 2) it has already been done (in fact Wikipedia does a decent job, as does BeerHunter.com).   Simply put, I found another reason to be fond of Jackson.  I recently stumbled across a clip of Jackson on Late Night with Conan O'brien, and found it quite worthy of repeating. The nature of beer is nicely summed up in the unpretentious, jovial, and passionate Jackson.  It is clear that while there is no aristocratic/snobby air about him, he is quite concerned with his conviction of the superiority of beer.  ...

Craft beer, an ever dynamic industry, demands inovation to drive sales, unlike the Big Beer industry that relies on clever marketing.  The utilization of technology, never hurts.  Dogfish Head's Chateau Jiahu is one of those risky beers that not only exemplifies insane innovation, but cutting edge scientific savy.  Dogfish Head collaborated with molecular archeologist, Dr. Patrick Mcgovern, to analyze alcoholic residue found on a 9000 year old pottery shard found in the Neololithic Chinese village of Jiahu.  The recipe called for rice, Chrysanthenum flowers, honey, grape extract, hawthorn fruit, the innovation of barley (to be considered beer!), a gutsy brewer and an adventurous consumer. From the Wuxia Society website, we get some insight on the complexity of this brew: Mike Gerhart, distillery manager at Dogfish Head's brewery in Milton, Delaware, led the Chateau Jiahu project. "It was one of the more creative and exciting projects I've ever worked on," he said. McGovern, the archeochemist, knew the ingredients of the ancient drink from Jiahu, "but he wasn't sure how to use them or how they would go into action," Gerhart said. The trick for Gerhart was to mimic the brewing process used in China 9,000 years ago. To get the fermentation started, McGovern imported a mold ...

It is no secret to those who have drunk the kool-aid (code for beer) and joined the clandestine community of beer lovers that this week (May 11th - 17th) is officially American Craft Beer Week. "Aaaaagggghhhh." That was me breathing a sigh of relief of not being guilted into heading down to the Hallmark shop to buy a card for my secretary (as if I had one) or reproduce a picture of my pooch for my vet simply to belong as a cog in mass consumerism.   Rather, it is a relief to participate in a holiday I believe in (not to be trumped by Christmas, Easter, or my wife';s birthday, mind you!). Yes, there are many holidays.  Too many in fact, but this one resonates, because someday Mike, myself, and many of you (Big Tex, for one) hope to be recognized as one of the 1500 craft brewers in the US, who daily struggle to work to produce a fine bubbly beverage that eases the burdens that have accumulated on the weary shoulders of Americas working class.  I for one, pledge to drink fine craft beer for the duration of this fine holiday, and I suggest you, dear reader, do the same.  ...

It has been emphasized to the point of redundancy on this site, that beer is more than just a beverage, a thirst quencher, or mood enhancer:  It is an experience.  At times, this experience invades every part of our lives.  We think about beer, we dream about beer, we brew beer.  Beer even makes my least favorite activity--shopping--enjoyable.  I could spend hours in the beer aisles reading every label.  I daresay the history on the back of beer labels in my beer store is more in depth and insightful than my sister's high school history book.  It was the label that drew me in for a purchase as I read the back of the Scottish beer, Fraoch Heather Ale.  From the website: Brewed in Scotland since 2000 B.C. heather ale is probably the oldest style of ale still produced in the world. From an ancient Gaelic recipe for "leann fraoich" (heather ale) it has been revived and reintroduced to the Scottish culture. Into the boiling bree of malted barley, sweet gale and flowering heather are added, then after cooling slightly the hot ale is poured into a vat of fresh heather flowers where it infuses for an hour before being fermented. A light ...

Schlafly makes some products that I really like and others that I consider just okay. Their stuff would be a lot easier to get if I still lived in Missouri, but you can't be everywhere all at once. Their Bourbon Barreled Imperial Stout and Barley-wine are among the best of their products, so they do some things very well. What about their Oatmeal Stout? When I poured this beer and began looking at it, I immediately thought that it looked more like a porter than a stout in color. I'm personally used to Oatmeal Stouts being pretty black. However, there was a nice creamy, light brown head on the beer (even if it was a little lighter than I'm used to). Some nice grains and chocolate came through the beer, as well as having some touches of oat. Other than that, the beer wasn't overly complex. Tasting the beer was the only way to see if it was what I expect out of an Oatmeal Stout. It wasn't! I think the dark roasted grain flavors and slight chewiness were just not enough for me. I like my oatmeal Stouts to be very full and rich. ...

Bear with me while I vent...this post follows in the tradition of Mike's "I've been randomly annoyed" posts. On the drive to work today I tuned into a radio station based out of Detroit.  I listened as the DJ's hailed St. Patrick's day as "the best holiday all year 'cause we can drink beer for breakfast!!!!"  They were on sight at some pub--I didn't catch the name--and were putting down green brewskis at 7:30 in the morning.  One of the DJ's walked around the "pub" (it was one of these pubs) asking guys and gals alike to share there greatest sexual fantasy publicly.  Keep in mind this is being broadcast to millions of listeners in Detroit, Northwestern Ohio, and Windsor Canada.  Are you serious!?!?  Were the historical St. Patrick to visit us from his eternal resting place today, he would weep at how his name and work is being honored! I was disheartened, and quickly tuned the dial to talk radio. Anyone who reads this blogs knows that I never discourage intelligent beer consumption, but today's holiday removes the "intelligent" from beer consumption.  What kills me is the historical disregard concerning St.Patrick's day...a day set aside to honor an upright and moral man ...

Why are hops in beer? The simple answer is, "It's the law."  Sort of. You see, the earliest example of regulatory action taken on a food industry was in Bavaria in the 1490's, demanding certain standards purity and excellence in food preparation and distribution.  The law, Reinheitsgebot, was expanded in 1516 to include beer, for which only the ingredients of water, malted barley, yeast and hops were allowed as ingredients.  Namely the reason was preservation...the acid content in hops keeps beer from spoiling as quickly as if they were absent. But clearly, 1516 is not the magical date in which hops were introduced into the beer industry.  In fact, it is nearly biblical.  Jewish written history tells of hops being used in beer while they were held captive in Babylon.  They write of a strong drink made from hops that was known to cure leprosy.  There are also obscure references of hop usage in beer as far back as 10,000 years in Asia. Hops probably began to gain popularity as the Europeans began integrating the herb into their brew in the hear 1000's.  In 1079 AD  Abbess Hildegarde of St. Ruprechtsberg writes,  "If one intends to make beer from oats, ...

For the past couple of years I have been helplessly addicted to a series on the Travel Channel (I bet you were expecting me to say "beer," huh!).  The series, The Adventures of Mark and Ollie, chronicles two guys (Mark and Ollie) traipse into remote jungles to live with "uncivilized" and learn their ways.  Usually, the tribes they visit have had little to know connection with the outside world. The price of Cable is worth this program alone.  Each episode leaves me spellbound, as I consider that I am not quite unlike the half naked folks on the screen.  Last weeks episode was particularly interesting, as it dealt with a passion of mine (and yours I'm sure)...BEER! I shouldn't be surprised.  Nearly every culture on the planet has some sort of alcohol history, as Mark and Ollie have discovered in every episode.  The Machigenga of Peru are no different.  The Machigenga cherish their beer, and they ought to.  It is not like they can run down to the local Quickee mart and pick up a six pack.  Each brew is painstakenly hand crafted from the bounty of their crops and the sweat of their brow. The Machigenga's beer is like nothing I've ever ...

As promised, a lesson in hops is on the way.  I am breaking this into two or three sessions, since there is a lot of ground to cover when it comes to this marvelous feat of nature.  This post is going to focus on non-beer qualities of the herb.  The post(s) to come will delve into the beer history and the horticulture of the plant. While in the grand scheme and history of beer hops are relatively new convention, they have found a home in human history for far longer.  In fact, the original name for the hop, Lupus Salictarius, is credited as originating from the lips of a famed naturalist, and contemporary of Jesus Christ, Pliny the Elder, who died in 79 C.E. while observing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.  Literally translated the Latin reads, "wolf among scrubs." Pliny the Elder was referring to the nature of the plant; that they grew wild amongst domesticated willows like wolves in the forest.   In fact there is a beer we may just have to taste on an upcoming Friday from Russian River Brewing Co. called Pliny the Elder. Hops were used and consumed by Pliny the Elder and his Roman country men for ...

Although we jumped from the area around England for the last beer, we are going to head down to London town for this next style.  I've spoken about Porter and Stouts once before on this site, but I'm going to go ahead and post this one as part of the style series.  I am going to talk about Porter first and post about stouts at a later date.  Here goes! Defining porter as a beer is somewhat illusive, so I'm going to offer what seem to be some agreed on principles about what a porter is.  First of all, a porter is an ale.  What I mean by calling it an ale is that it is brewed using ale yeast at ale temperatures.  I've provided some links for those who wish to read up on what these terms are referring to.  A porter is dark but not as dark as a stout.  Porter as a style tends to use darker grains but avoids roasted barley, which often gives a stout its coffee, roasted, and burnt grain qualities.  So, this is one other aspect that a porter might have.  Porters can be either robust or brown by name with varying degrees of sweetness ...