In the past few months a bit of chatter over the slight rise in the cost of beer has risen over the various media venues.  This is to be expected as weakened dollar and fragile global economy has and will continue to drive up the cost of commodities.  Externally influenced factors aside, there has also been a bit of a buzz over higher priced beers whose cost is influenced by factors other than market fluctuations.  There are numerous factors that affect the price of any given beer, and I need not head down a rabbit trail that's already been paved, but I do want to address this particular cause of disgruntlement, as I saw a great case of "expensive beer shock disorder" tonight. At my usual bottle shop tonight I examined a 750 ml bottle of Brooklyn Brewery's latest release of Black Ops, again, for the second week in a row.  There was a certain amount of hype going into the release of this beer, and rightfully so.  The ever respectable Garret Oliver put a considerable amount of TLC into this beer:  11.6%, aged in oak bourbon barrels, and bottle conditioned with champagne yeast. I first saw Black Ops over a weak ...

As our readers know, I homebrew.  Not only do I homebrew batches, I experiment often.  I might add a whole new dimension or a subtle change to a brew.  For instance, the other day I posted about roasting my own cocoa beans at home—not an easy thing—so I really appreciate good chocolate even more.  For my part, I like to take one gallon of my brew aside and experiment with it.  Recently, I added some blueberries to an oatmeal stout I had recently brewed with some pretty nice results.  I bottled it the other day, but then I thought, "What about these blueberries?" My wife and I don't like wasting anything.  We cook carrot tops, beet greens, broccoli stems—basically anything that is edible and is subsidiary to the actual vegetable or fruit.  Everything gets used, so I speculated that the blueberries might have more life in them.  I also had some wort I had frozen from a hydrometer reading of a brew.  I figured it was sweet and sugary, so I could find a use for it. I also had some cocoa beans left from roasting.  The result?  Beer wort jam. I took some fresh-squeezed lemonade we had made and used it ...

Even though it's owned by Heineken, Murphy's still makes a great stout.  I have a personal preference for this over Guinness any day of the week, so that's why I thought it would make a nice Sip With Us Saturday beer.  If you get a chance to drink it on tap, it's a must.  For now, I just bought the draught can.  Here is what I think of it. The Pour: Watching that pour settle is one of the greatest joys about drinking a beer in the draught system.  The soft, creamy, and extremely stable head sits, once it makes it's way to the surface, atop a deep black body (with some red hints) while the slowly active body pushes carbonation to prop up of the lovely sight.  The head is clingy and sticks to the glass, leaving a residue from the previous sip. The Nose: Hints of coffee, caramel, and a deep roast give the beer a soft, dry aroma.  I've always thought the aroma also smacked of mint tobacco and hints of licorice.  Touches of smoked peat also gives the beer an subtle touch of roundness. The Taste: The tobacco (very subtle mint) and licorice are dominant features of the brew. ...

Frequently, I reflect on the fact that, as humans, we are recipients of a long line of trials and errors.  Whether we recognize it with tacit actions, implicit understanding, or vocal acknowledgment, most everything we take for granted is a result of failed attempts or raging successes that have gone before us.  With the increase of technologies and the results of industrialization, this fact is, at the same time, truer and more illusive than ever.  There is simply more and more for us to take for granted.  Sometimes late at night a thought like this will occur to me.  Often times, thoughts like these come home to roost when I'm doing something that involves beer. While roasting my own cocoa beans the other night, I realized that it was not an easy thing to do.  That chocolate bar that we grab is not easily processed.  I wanted to put some cocoa beans in a brew that I was making, so I heated the oven and started going.  (I read up on it, so I'm over-simplifying.)  I worked on those things for about 30 minutes or so and realized that I over-cooked them slightly.  The cocoa flavors were there but so was ...

Many people who brew or want to brew are often somewhat hesitant about mashing.  It seems like a step that could easily get out of control.  This generates a feeling of consternation for the extract brewer.  I waited a long time to make the leap, but I'm so glad I made it that I'm hoping you make the leap soon.  I've personally noticed a marked improvement in my beers, so much so that I haven't brewed an extract beer since I've started mashing.  Honestly, if you do a little more work, you get a great reward. The most unfortunate part when I learned to mash--in fact, for my whole brewing career--is that I never really had anyone to offer me a guiding hand along the way.  Perhaps this is why I feel compelled to be that guiding hand for those who wish to navigate the world of mashing.  Here we go: this promises to have a fair amount of expatiation. There are several types of mashing that can be performed on the basis of beer style.  Wheats, for instance, call for a more intense process than an IPA. If you want to mash, it would behoove you to get a book like ...

Sorry I'm so late on posting the Saturday beer.  I've actually had the idea to do this for a while but forgot to get it up this week.  Normally, we mention a beer to try.  Sometime you can get it and sometimes you can't.  However, this Saturday is one for the gamblers.  I'm going to pick up a beer that I normally wouldn't take a chance on or wanted to try but wasn't so sure about.  It's that simple.  Just pick up a beer that is a little bit of a risk or out of the norm for you and report back to us to tell us how it went. I'll be posting my story soon.

As I was going through old files on my computer I found this gem hidden below the dust and rubble of computers past, go ahead and click "play" as you read on: [audio:http://thankheavenforbeer.com/Audio/The%20%c5nswer%20%28Is%20Beer%29.mp3] Music and beer have gone together for ages.  In fact, many of the old hymns you may sing in your churches actually credit their music to old pub and drinking songs of the middle ages and earlier. And how many epic love songs were written after a few beers got the artist thinking introspectively? The song you are listening to right now (which just oozes of pure awesomeness) I actually downloaded from some random MySpace music page back before the mighty empire of myspace tumbled.  I wish I could attribute some credit to the artists, whose names are "Scott and Jimmy," but the MySpace page has long since vanished. It's too bad. Many a time I have sat down at my guitar and tried to compose a sonnet as lovely as "The Answer Is Beer," but have always come up short. I hope to someday compose a song of such beauty. When I do, you will be the first to know? Do you like the song? Have ...

Of all the doors that are flung open by that which we love, beer and brewing, the most gratifying is the  fellowship that occurs amongst like minded individuals.  A classic example occurred on a Sunday not too long ago in which myself and a few other beer bloggers, under the organization of Peter, from Simply Beer, all brewed the same recipe, each with one minor alteration.  As is the case with our Sip With Us Saturday, it was nice knowing that a few friends were partaking in the same experience at the same moment in different areas of the country. After our beers fermented, conditioned, and carbonated, we sent two bottles out to each of the other five participants: Aaron – Captain’s Chair Derek – Luther Public House Erik – Top Fermented Joseph – Hopfen Treader Peter – Simply Beer Last Friday, we all connected vis Skype, a first for this technologically backwards beer geek, and sampled each others beer.  I was quite surprised how it nearly seemed as if we were all sitting in one of our kitchens or a quiet pub.  Even more surprising, was the profound difference between the beers.  Remember, each beer was identical in recipe, save one alteration, addition, or subtraction. Our brews ...

Summer or Winter, I love a good wheat beer.  There is more to the style than might meet the eye.  Almost immediately, many people think of Hefes when the term "wheat beer" comes up.  Well, I wouldn't want to truncate this post to that degree.  Actually, Nate wrote a very nice post about wheat beers for our Styles of Beer Series, so I don't have to go to in depth.  But there are many types of beer which to consider--mostly because they are somewhat hybrid types of beer--and I'll add a couple to what Nate had on his post.  At any rate, here are some wheats that I believe are good examples of the style. Wheat Bock/Double Bock: This is one of the wheat beers that is a great winter beer, although I will enjoy it in the heat of summer.  Wheat bocks are a very strong style of wheat beer that often uses a lager strain in addition to an ale strain and/or undergoes a lagering period.  They are thicker, stronger, and often darker than a normal wheat beer, yet they are oddly refreshing.  To me, the quintessence of the style is the classic Aventinus by Scheider and Sohn's.  The ...

By now, I'm sure many of us have seen that there has been a sort of call to arms to purchase, rent, or peddle the Beer Wars movie.  So, what are we waiting for?  Look, there are aspects of the movie that we could all site as being selective, whatever other criticisms we might have.  But I think the thing that we can all agree on is that monopolies are bad unless you are playing the Parker Brothers version and land on a fully loaded Free Parking spot. Here's the thing: the basic message deals with the fact the all aspects of the market place are dominated by the big boys. Distribution independence is a rare commodity, and everyone is in bed with the big players.  I wish that I was simply being hyperbolic like I love to be, but the issue is real.  I remember a while back that a certain other website was grousing about not being able to get Stone while they were planning a new facility in Europe.  But maybe the fingers could have been better spent pointing right down the street at Budweiser.  Either way, fair distribution and a level playing field are veritable impossibility. Have you ...