Weekend reading: Spice up your reviews, craft beer in chains, and Beer Wars

If you write beer reviews, this is a must-hit link. Fal Allen, former Anderson Valley Brewing GM, made a long list of terms to use when writing beer reviews. Some may already be savvy with words but part of the reason I stopped writing reviews after about 20 of them was because I felt I was saying the same thing over and over. Now you can use words like, “Acetaldehyde,” “Ethyl acetate,” and “Sulfidic” in your reviews. Credit to the newly re-designed Brookston Beer Bulletin for the find.

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Craft beer in supermarkets. Proposals to make it legal in some states that haven’t yet allowed it have drawn their share of criticism but have plenty of backers. One side argues that consumers have the choice to buy beer in supermarkets if they want to while the other argues that supermarkets will take away business from small retail outlets and they’ll be forced to close. The Colorado Brewers Guild was adamantly against a recent proposal in the state to add beer to supermarkets and it failed to pass as it has in Massachusetts and other states in recent years.

The Brewers Association, based in Boulder, CO, appears to have taken a stance on the issue by creating the Market Development Committee, responsible for gaining access to and promoting sales in chain on and off-premise accounts . . . including supermarkets. The goal is to increase craft beer market share by adding new package placements in chain stores and bars. Ten of the fourteen members on the committee are in the top 25 craft breweries out of 1400+ and two represent Colorado breweries: Kim Jordan of New Belgium Brewing, and John Bryant of Oskar Blues, who happens to be the Committee Chairperson.

Supposedly, if independent retail stores have to close down, selection will be greatly reduced, and smaller brewers will not have the same amount of shelf space to stay afloat. Chain stores would seem much more likely to carry beers from craft breweries that are larger in size and can stock shelves consistently over small breweries. Smaller chains may be willing to carry smaller breweries but it begs the question as to whether the work of this committee is helping those at the top and hurting the rest.

Regardless, the Committee just put out its new presentation notes online for folks to check out (it’s a short 2-pg PDF).

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[Updated with the link to Harry's post] Lastly, here’s a review from a few weeks ago that caught my eye. Most know by now that Beer Wars drew mixed reactions after its opening. A couple months later, Harry Schumacher, a leading industry analyst has finally presented his thoughts on the film. Sure, he points out that the premise of the film was kind of . . . backwards? which has been done before. What’s more interesting is when Harry goes into a bit of the history of distribution and some of the major players that got craft beer on shelves in the first place. Unless you follow Maureen Ogle’s work, you don’t get a glimpse like this into the history of craft beer all that often. Granted, it’s definitely a short read compared to Ogle’s work (which is well worth checking out).

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it yet, the movie is now available on DVD.

Beer notes: Beer Advocate, Port Santa’s Little Helper, Cigar City, Yazoo

Late this week, Beer Advocate started experiencing some intermittent service on its site. The site isn’t 100% back to normal yet but Todd is posting updates on Twitter for those who can’t make it online. Here is the post from Todd on BA explaining the situation: “Our host confirms that last night they experienced a service-wide Denial of Service (DoS) attack and apparently resolved the issue. We’re still experiencing issues, and they’ve been informed and are investigating the issue.”

The bear gets replaced by Santa on the new label for Port Bourbon Barrel-Aged Santa’s Little Helper, according to the latest from Lost Abbey. I must say that I’m surprised to see the mention of oak barrels on the label instead of bourbon. The brewery announced a 6 bottle limit for all of the special releases at the Christmas in July party on July 25th except for Older Viscosity for which you can take home a case. Summary below:

* Santa’s Little Helper (Bourbon Barrel-aged) – 22ounce bottles; 6 bottle limit
* Older Viscosity 2009 – 375ml bottles; 12 bottle limit
* Duck Duck Gooze (yes, that Duck Duck Gooze) – 750ml bottles; 6 bottle limit
* The Angel’s Share (Bourbon Barrel-aged) – 750ml bottles; 6 bottle limit

In other Lost Abbey news, this year’s Ten Commandments batch should be making it to stores now.

Hopping down to the Panhandle (I was thinking Tallahassee) Florida, Cigar City Brewing announced that it bottled 100 cases of Guava Grove Saison this week. No release date announced yet. Also, they bottled the first Humidor Series beer: Jai Alai India Pale Ale (regular Jai Alai aged in the tank on toasted Spanish Cedar).

Yazoo Brewing out of Nashville releases its 3rd bottled edition of Hop Project. For beer geeks only: “Hop Project #16 is hopped with Galena, Zeus, and Columbus at first wort, Goldings and Ahtanum at 30 minutes left for flavor, and with Perle and Ahtanum at 5 minutes left for aroma. We use Perle a good bit in our beers, but always as a bittering hop, never as an aroma or flavor hop. So for this one, we also dry-hopped it with a combination of Perle and Ahtanum. Finally, we wanted to experiment with the mineral profile of the beer, which changes how the bitterness is perceived on your tongue. We ususally use add gypsum to the water for hoppy beers, which tends to sharpen the hop bitterness. But this time we switched to calcium chloride, which rounds out the malt flavors a little more.

More Beer Notes: Watch for Brewdog 5am Saint sometime this year … Three Floyds Brewing captured nature at work in its parking lot on Friday … The Bruery Provisions, the brewery’s month-old homebrew shop … Constructions updates from NC at Mother Earth Brewing.

Kid Rock’s American Badass Redneck Beer debuts July 17

(Detroit, MI) – No, the post title isn’t a slight at the folks who decide to spend their hard-earned money on Kid Rock’s new beer . . . that’s the actual name of the beer. It seems fitting that, on the cusp of the Independence Day weekend, I have the honor of debuting the label for

American Badass Redneck Lager

. The Kid Rock beer that everyone heard about this past fall back finally got label approval just three weeks shy of its illustrious debut. Jessica Nunez of Kalamabrew reported on Wednesday that it will debut on tap at kiosks during “Kid Rock’s shows in Comerica Park on July 17 and 18.”

The beer will allegedly create nearly 400 jobs, the most of which will be at Michigan Brewing. The brewery won the contract from Drink Americas Holdings, Inc, and got a tax break of over $700k to develop the product. It is also allegedly investing $7 million into the Kid Rock beer.

As mentioned, Drink Americas is the other player in this project. According to the company’s official website, it “formed a joint venture with Universal Music’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records to develop and market iconic beverage products.” The company is also working with Dr. Dre on new product lines: cognac and sparkling vodka. More artists could be on the way pending the success of these projects.

The market for this beer appears to be the same as the one that goes for Bud, Miller, etc. I can see a lot of one-off purchases like folks did with Bud American Ale just to try it but cost will be a major factor inhibiting repeat purchases. Some of the folks behind this brew have lots of money but they can’t compete with the economies of scale that exist at the big breweries.

Pyramid Snow Cap Ale to don new label

Pyramid Brewing continues its run of new labels with a new look for Snow Cap Ale this coming fall/winter. The beer will be released this October.

Bell’s The Oracle Double IPA approved

(Kalamazoo, MI) – As a treat to those who check in frequently, I introduce…

Bell’s The Oracle Double IPA

.  The back label reads, “A double IPA that is sure to make you as all-knowing as Pythia.  It’s just a matter of interpretation.” I just saw this approval come through so I haven’t had time to contact the brewery about it yet. Feel free to start the buzz out there though. What strikes me about the name is that Buffalo Brewing also has a beer called “The Oracle IIPA.”

Now I’ve never looked into the validity of the following but check out this passage from one of the members of The Babble Belt, Joris Pattyn:

” [...] So, upon returning, the beer being brewed, with all vessels reaching San Marcos at Tomme’s place, the name of the beer was readily found: “Bel Proximus”.

Now isn’t THAT a nice name for a prime blossom of a beer? Whaddayatought. Even before its official Christening, the young lady had to be bastardized. By care of the lawyers of one Larry Bell (of Kalamazoo fame, but don’t say that, or he picks one of his rages), who sent a ‘cease and desist’ message. No Bel Whatsoever. So, now she goes under the shaming alias of ‘Isabelle Proximus.’”

Joris is very well known in beer circles so that isn’t coming from just anybody. Seems a bit hypocritical of Bell’s if it is true but they probably (hopefully) got permission from Buffalo Brewing to do this…

[Extra unrelated side note: I've been in the hunt for a car and finally put down a deposit yesterday. That is why posting took a break longer than it ever has since I started this thing late February 08. Excuses! Anyway, posting should resume as normal after the holiday this weekend...]

10 Good Beer Blogs: Oregon-style

This is the first in what could become a series- depends on how receptive people are to this idea. Here are ten notable Oregon beer blogs. Portland was named co-Best Beer City in the U.S. in a recent poll and the beer blogosphere is further evidence of the region being known for its great craft beer scene. Doesn’t hurt to be close to the region where the most hops in the U.S. are grown.

These are primarily not listed in any particular order though I’ve put a few I’ve linked to in the past toward the front. Clicking on the pics will take you to the actual blog. And where I don’t know the history of these blogs, feel free to chime in if I’m missing something or a comment seems off-base. And chip in if I haven’t mentioned your Oregon beer blog.

We start with The Beer Here, John Foylston’s project for the Oregonian. Being part of an actual newspaper, John seems to have easy access to the breweries and always has some good-looking shots of the breweries and new bottles on his site. Looks like he has dabbled with video recently as well. He is definitely one of if not the leader in Oregon beer news. It’s been the first site that I visit if I’m looking for news on Hair of the Dog, Full Sail, etc. The archives go back to April 2007.

Where The Beer Here is news only, Brewpublic presents a nice mix of news (new beers, events), commentary, and “potpourri” (trip stories, beer menu scans, etc.). I particularly liked the coverage about Rogue taking over The Green Dragon a while back. The site is very community-focused and ‘employs’ a number of writers. Archives go back to September 2008; this may be the youngest site on the list.

IMHO, Portlandbeer.org is the most aesthetically pleasing of the bunch. Not surprising as the guy behind the site, Matt, doubles as a photographer. His photo work with beer is probably my favorite. You will find feature stories, event updates, and a mini-Oregon beer database here.

Jeff Alworth runs Beervana and is known as the founder of The Honest Pint Project (pretty sure on this one). The blog appears to be more along the lines of craft beer commentary moreso than a news-centered blog and I definitely recognize him as one of the leaders in that respect. Jeff has been at it on Beervana since January 2006 (see archives).

Less a blog, more a podcast. Lisa Morrison has been part of the Oregon beer scene for a long time now and used to blog but now has moved to radio with her own show about craft beer called, “Beer O Clock,” that can be heard on KXL.

The official site for the Oregon Brewers Guild. The site is focused on events and beer releases though also made sure to get out the word on the recent tax proposals which have now been thankfully kaboshed.

‘Dr. Wort‘ has been one of the more consistent beer bloggers out there for 2.5 years now. His site definitely is focused on commentary though he dabbles and the weird and wacky a bit more than the rest of them.

More commentary and potpourri at It’s Pub Night. Bill also wrote the Beer Review Generator which drew lots of comments and buzz on the BA and RB boards. Archives go back to December 2007.

Cheating a bit here but while BeerNW covers all of the PNW region, it does cover Oregon frequently. Also worth mentioning because it’s the only site here that offers a print version of extra beer content. And I like the extensive links list.

Finally, we hit ‘Guest on Tap.’ The blog appears to be a shadow of its former self if for no other reason that some of its contributors have went on to start their own projects (some of which are linked above). But for a long time, this was a great resource. Jason Locken took over the blog this year and it seems to have taken a while to get it up and running though he seems to be getting it back on track this month.

Got another Oregon Beer Blog worth mentioning? Leave a comment!

New NC brewery gets first label approvals

(Kinston, NC) –

Mother Earth Brewing

, an upcoming brewery in North Carolina, got its first label approvals late last week when Endless Summer Kolsch and Sisters of the Moon IPA passed the TTB’s sniff test. According to the aptly named Head Brewer, Josh Brewer, they are currently working on passing two more beers: a Munich Dunkel and Belgian Wit. Those will be Mother Earth’s four staple beers to start.

Brewer notes that he also plans to release a seasonal by year’s end that will be a Belgian Tripel with a Hefeweizen being a strong possibility next year. The brewery plans on “getting a canning line” for its seasonals next spring [ed: does that mean that they will be canning their regulars? - not clear].

Brewer also notes, “We will also be getting some NC wine barrels along with some whiskey barrels to start aging in asap. We will have a nice barrel aging room behind glass that will be showcased from the brewery and taproom. Taproom construction will start as soon as we get the brewery done.”

Finally, Mother Earth has lived up to its name thus far taking on many green initiatives. The brewery is rehabbing a 50-year old building, installing solar panels, feeding local farmers’ cows with spent grain, and using old denim jeans for insulation. See the video below.