Friday, April 24, 2009

Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Company played the following video as part of his keynote address at the 2009 Craft Bewers Conference in Boston. An extended version is in the works.

Enjoy:


I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

February 5, 2009

We've been having a real Winter here on Long Island. If you're done with shoveling and spreading of icemelt, you might want to curl up with a warm laptop and read some eBooks.

Martyn Cornell's Amber Gold & Black explores the rich, and sometimes surprising history of brewing in Britain. The format is a basic PDF laid out like a book with some great illustrations.

It's available as a download from http://www.thecornerpub.co.uk/ for about ten bucks (or less, depending on the exchange rate).

Long Island's brewing history doesn't go back as far, but Donavan Hall's The Beer Hall Guide to Craft Beer on Long Island is an interesting journey into the still evolving local brew scene. He explores the local breweries and brewpubs, as well as some of the better beer stores and bars on Long Island.

Available at fine beer retail outlets across Long Island, or you can either order a hard copy or download an electronic version from LuLu

December 5th is "Repeal Day"
It's the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, which lasted almost 15 years
(January 16th, 1919 --- December 5, 1933).

Part of the platform that Franklin Roosevelt ran on in 1932 was the repeal of Prohibition.
For more about Prohibition and Repeal Day, visit http://www.repealday.org/

"I think that this would be a good time to have a beer."
-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 5, 1933

---

Meanwhile, in 2008....
I've been bottling up that first official batch of Hellsmoke Porter, and am getting ready to roll 'em out the door at last.
Also, my commercial kegs finally arrived yesterday, so tapped offerings are now possible. News of where and when coming soon.

Not sure what I think of this...
University researchers developing cancer-fighting beer

A team of researchers at Rice University in Houston is working to create a beer that could fight cancer and heart disease. Taylor Stevenson, a member of the six-student research team and a junior at Rice, said the team is using genetic engineering to create a beer that includes resveratrol, the disease-fighting chemical that's been found in red wine.

Might there be some over promising here? And, even though I brew and drink beer, I also enjoy red wine. I don't need beer to solve all of my problems, there's a place for everything, no? How about a sensible diet and regular exercise?

I'm all for progress, but I'm also leery of genetic engineering and any possible unintended consequences. Or, am I just reacting like an uninformed villager ready to storm Dr. Frankenstein's lab brewery? Am I just acting like an old man shaking my fist at the clouds?

It seems that the students at Rice University are working on modifying a strain of yeast for this purpose, it would be interesting to know what strain they are working with. Different yeast strains are used for different beer styles.

I'll be brewing up a big batch of the Hellsmoke Porter this Saturday.

Meanwhile, here's a vintage (circa 1959) beer commercial with Buster Keaton, drawing himself a cold one...



The William Simon Brewery was in Buffalo, New York. Sadly, it closed in the early '70s.

December 5th is "Repeal Day", the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition
(January 16th, 1919 --- December 5, 1933). Almost 15 years.

Have a drink to, as Harry S Truman said, "Strike a blow for Liberty."


For more, visit
http://www.repealday.org/
or
http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1160247

"I think that this would be a good time to have a beer."
-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 5, 1933

Raise a pint or three
to the memory
of the first "Beer Advocate"
Michael Jackson
("The Beer Hunter")

More at
The International Herald Tribune

He's in Valhalla now.