Grumpy Beer Geek

From NationalGeographic.com :: Sam Calagione of the Dogfish Head brewery in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, used a recipe that included rice, honey, and grape and hawthorn fruits to create Midas Touch Golden Elixir. He got the formula from archaeologists who derived it from the residues of pottery jars found in the late Stone Age village of Jiahu in northern China.

“Just when I thought I was doing a good job drinking away my sorrows, Laminar Technologies has helped up my consumption of “Daddy’s Little Helper” with the new Turbo Tap. This beast can fill up a pint of brew in two seconds! The Turbo Tap really is revolutionary; it uses science—which is damn near to magic—to reduce the effects of gravity on beer. Gravity, velocity, forces, molecules, yeah they all have importance, but the real fact is that the Turbo Tap gets you beer, quick. Four times as quick. Now that is efficient alcoholism!”

[via Gizmodo]

“Here’s a HOWTO for converting cans of Guinness to popcicles by freezing them, slicing the bottom of the can, inserting a stick, cutting the top off the can, and sliding the can off. The results look beautiful and delicious.”  Just watch those sharp edges kids.

21st Amendment has brewed up a batch of Pete’s Wicked Ale using the
original 1986 recipe. It’s roasty, malty and yummy. On tap now – get it
while you can.

Just goes to show that that’s an perfectly reasonable technical solution to any problem…

Peltier Beer Equipment

The 10th Annual Toronado Barleywine festival was in February. It was a great year with a record 50 (!) barleywines!

Link to pictures below. Read more for the list of beers and their place in the judging.
Read more

The Realbeer.com Battle of the Beers is down to the final eight contenders.

Moose Drool Brown Ale vs. Alaskan Smoked Porter
Gordon Biersch Mäen vs. Penn Weizen
Shakespeare Stout vs. 90-Minute IPA
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale vs. Grant’s Scottish Ale

Vote early and often!

Hosted a 12 year vertical of Anchor’s Our Special Ale this past weekend. It’s one of the few beers that I look forward to buying every year.

The vertical turned out pretty good. It’s interesting to see how the beer ages and changes over the years. Even though the recipe changes every year there are some consitant themes through out the year. Ginger and spruce make frequent appearances.

This is one beer that definitely ages well. The spices seem to blend and the beer becomes fuller over time.

In my opinion, the best vintages were the 00, 97, 95, 93 and 94.

It’s also interesting to note that only the 1991 seemed like it was off.

Yahoo! News – Study: Kids Exposed to TV Beer Marketing

Read more for my thoughts on this poorly researched and written story.
Read more

The makers of Jolt Cola this month roll out Poker Beer, which comes in bottles featuring poker hands. Every bottle carries a label with four different playing cards of a five-card poker hand. The final card is hidden under the bottlecap. About 1.7 million hands are available, thanks to variable printing. Producer Wet Planet expects people to play games with the beer — such as the loser buying the next round. company president C.J. Rapp said he’s aware of the potential for criticism, but Wet Planet is not encouraging drunkenness. “There are laws out there that deter people from drinking too much alcohol.”