Andy Crouch's BeerScribe.Com

Redefining Local In A New Era Of Craft Beer…

Andy — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:05:34 +0000

Support Your Local Brewery. Drink Local, Think Global. For more than a decade, brewers have doled out countless bumper stickers, coasters, and stickers with these and similar slogans promoting their community-based beer offerings. And the campaign served them well, helping to build a connection to area consumers. After years of communal camaraderie, things are about [...]

Friends Establish Memorial Fund For Redhook Employee Killed In Accident

Andy — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:55:50 +0000

At the request of a Redhook employee and friend of Ben Harris, the all too young 26 year old employee of the Redhook Brewery who died as a result of an accident at the Portsmouth brewery, I am passing along information for a fund established to help support his family. A fund has been created [...]

Death to Beer Cocktails and Collaboration Beers: the Latest Rant…

Andy — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:24:31 +0000

It’s been a wild ride in the world of craft beer over the past few years. The craft beer market has experienced serious flux and now appears at a crossroads, one from which it’s difficult to forecast what will happen next. We’ve gone through the highs and lows of the twin extremes of hop bombs [...]

Beer Blogging, Ethics, Journalists, Payola, and Maybe a Beer or Two…

Andy — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:42:11 +0000

A few weeks back, a handful of beer writers and bloggers kicked around the issue of writing, ethics, and coziness with the brewers we all cover in one form or another. As the discussion occurred on Twitter, it was necessarily limited to 140 characters, which, frankly, got pretty ridiculous when I added @Beervana @agoodbeerblog @BoakandBailey [...]

Fighting Beer Fatigue

Andy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:38:12 +0000

Fatigue is a dangerous thing for a beer lover. It plays with your mind, causing you to question what you know to be true and second guess your old friends. The symptoms of such worrisome weariness are familiar and difficult to avoid, even for the most optimistic craft beer enthusiast. The longer I am part [...]

Looking Back, Looking Forward To A New Year Of Beer…

Andy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:23:22 +0000

End of the year predictions have become de rigueur in the beer world. I’m not much for prognostication, especially in an industry as diverse as the increasingly international world of craft beer. It’s better to reflect on where we’ve been over the past year to get a sense of what is to come. Reviewing the [...]

Hey, Wanna Hear Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione Talk Microbes And Drink Beer?

Andy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:20:11 +0000

Living in Cambridge has its perks, including access to nearby Harvard University and its core of interesting programming. In between looking up the next Harvard hockey game and perusing the David Brooks lecture, I came across this unexpected and unusual gem that I have not seen elsewhere on the web. “Man and microbe: Exotic ales [...]

The Cult of Beer…

Andy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:57:53 +0000

Ever wonder what it takes to piss off a monk? Try talking to him about eBay. For nearly 175 years, the pious monks of Westvleteren in the western Belgian Poperinge hop region have quietly gone about brewing what have become some of the world’s most heralded and sought after beers. Without trying, the monks scored [...]

Saving Oktoberfest…

Andy — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:52:35 +0000

Oktoberfest is an unavoidable tourist trap of a beer drinking holiday in much of the world, with perhaps no greater faux revelry than in the United States. With no ties to any continental or European history or tradition, bars simply stock up on some half-liters (often plastic, ugh), some white and blue checked flags, and [...]

A Beer Language Problem…

Andy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:17:37 +0000

We have a language problem in the world of beer. I’m not talking about our over-use of four-letter words or an inability to speak after too many pints. Instead, we lack a cohesive and agreed upon central terms for discussing our shared are of passion. Let’s start with the term whose popularity continues to grow [...]