Beer Can Blog

Canned Craft Beer Festival - May 21, 2011

2011-04-07T00:20:00.000-04:00

Chandler, AZ is the place.

Here is the list of participating breweries.

Wow. That would be a great place to pick up lots of new cans and try some new beers.

If I still lived in El Paso,...it might be doable, but from Atlanta, just not feasible.

To Quote Yogi Berra, "It's Deja Vu All Over Again"

2011-04-05T08:40:00.001-04:00

If you have a mild interest in beer can collecting and haven't yet begun, now might be a good time to start, as more and more microbreweries are getting into producing cans. Or if you have been inactive, but seek to get back into it "for fun", "micro cans" can take you back to where most of us began.

From the website "Craft Cans", as of today, their database consists of 283 cans from 109 different breweries. With the new wave of microbrewery cans added to the pre-microbrewery cans", beer cans have been produced in 48 of the 50 states, with Mississippi and Arkansas being the only two without "native" cans.

Today's microbreweries are taking the place of (and in some cases, resurrecting the names of) the remaining regional and local breweries that were slipping away in the mid-1970s, when I and many other "senior collectors" began. One way we built our early collections (when buying and selling were frowned upon by the B.C.C.A.) was to buy local and regional brands and trade them with other collectors in other parts of the country.

In the Atlanta area - at the time when I began - most of the tradeable cans were regionals that drifted in from time to time. The numerous G. Heileman brands, National Brewing Co. (Regal), Duncan Brewing Co. (Auburndale, FL), sometimes Pearl Brewing Co. and Pittsburgh Brewing Co. brands would sometimes grace our store shelves and supplant our trade stocks. Now all of those are gone (or are owned/contract-brewed by someone else), but they have been replaced by microbreweries.

Starting a collection from scratch is a slow process, but it is how you gradually build the knowledge that makes you a true collector. Simply buying a collection doesn't really make you a collector, in and of itself. You have to have a knowledge of the histories of the breweries and cans to feel a part of the "fine madness" of our hobby.

[As I have to get back to work, I will write more later, but consider this...all of the currently-available "micro cans" are NOT nationally distributed, so a collector somewhere else needs them. Some of these micro breweries will not survive or else they may decide that maintaining canning and bottling lines does not work for them, so the cans may be a "one shot deal" - worth putting a few aside for future trading.]

The 2011 Brick Store HMOG

2011-03-07T22:52:00.002-05:00

otherwise known as the Holy Mother of Gatherings, is a BeerAdvocate gathering that takes place at the Brick Store Pub in downtown Decatur, GA each spring. The idea is that the attendees bring several bottles of exotic beers, i.e., stuff that ain't sold in Georgia, or else brands that were previously sold and the aged for more than one year.
Last year, I tried 44 new beers. Did a bit better this year, I tried 67 new beers, mostly 1 oz. samples over the course of 4 hours.

The gathered empty bottles are what are known as "beer porn".

The beers/ales tried during this year's HMOG:
Aiken Wee Heavy
Alesmith Old Numbskull
Anchor Our Barrel Ale
Ballast Point/Victory at Sea BA Imp Porter
Bell’s Hell Hath No Fury BA
Bend Hop Head Imperial IPA
Boulevard Saison
Brau Brothers Rubus Black
Brooklyn Black Ops 2010
Cantillion Kriek
Cascade Bourbonic Plague
Cigar City Either
Cigar City Guava Grove
Cigar City Or
Cigar City Vuja De
Coast Bulls Bay Oyster Stout
Coast Milk Stout
Coronado Red Devil Imp Red Ale
Craggie Dubbelicious
Craggie Herkulean Dark IPA
Deschutes Black Butte XXI
Deschutes Hop Hinge
Deschutes The Abyss 2010
Dogfish Head Fort
Firestone Walker 12
Firestone Walker 13
Firestone Walker 14
Firestone Walker Double Jack
Foothills Baltic Porter
Foothills Hoppyum IPA
Good People Brown Ale
Good People IPA
Goose Island Bourbon County Rare
Goose Island Pepe Nero
Goose Island Pere Jacques
Grand Teton Barrel Aged Quad
Hair of the Dog Fred #77
Lawson’s Fayston Maple Imperial Stout
Maui Big Swell IPA
McNeil’s Imperial IPA
Nebraska Hop God Belgian IPA
New Glarus Raspberry Tart
Odell Avant Peche Porter
Odell 5 Barrel Pale Ale
Odell Levity Amber Ale
Olde Hickory Death by Hops
Pelican Mother of All Storms
Penn St. Nicholas Bock 2008
Rogue Old Crustacean 2004
Russian River Consecration
Russian River Supplication
Straight to Ales Unobtainium
Surly Abrasive
Surly Four
Surly Furious
The Bruery Oude Tart
Thirsty Dog Leg Humper
Three Floyds Alpha Klaus
Three Floyds Moloko Milk Stout
Troeg’s Nugget Nectar
Troeg’s Splinter`
Uinta Cockeyed Cooper BA Barleywine
Weyerbacher Riserva
White Birch Pale Ale
Widmer Brrrbon
Widmer Prickly Pear Braggot
Yellowhammer Tripel

A Brewery Inside of a Volcano?

2011-02-27T23:29:00.003-05:00

Yes.

It is Mammoth Brewing Co., of Mammoth Lakes, California. The town lies within the Long Valley Caldera, which measures 11 miles by 20 miles.

The brewery's three canned varieties include Mammoth Epic IPA, Mammoth Golden Trout, and Mammoth Real McCoy Amber Ale. There seems to be only one variety with a volcanic reference, that is Floating Rock Hefeweizen, probably referring to pumice, which - due to its small gas vesicles - is capable of floating.

Other varieties are listed here: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4051

As this supervolcano (caldera) is considered active, it is possible that the area might have to someday be evacuated.

Happy 76th Birthday to the Beer Can

2011-01-24T21:32:00.004-05:00

On January 24th, 1935, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Co. rolled out cans of its Krueger Special Beer and Krueger Cream Ale in the Richmond, Virginia market.

Richmond was selected as it was far enough from Krueger's home market, that if the cans flopped, it wouldn't do as much damage to their reputation.

It turned out they didn't have to worry. According to the linked article, by the end of 1935, 37 breweries were canning beer.

And the rest is history.

An Interview with BCCA Prez, Pat Cornils...

2011-01-21T11:11:00.003-05:00

is presented on the Craft Cans website. Of note, since 2006, each winner of the BCCA U.S. Can-of-the-Year has been a craft can, i.e., not from long-established American brewers.

According to the Craft Cans website, on their database, there have been 339 different brands produced by 126 U.S. breweries. By some definitions, long-established regional brewers, e.g., Spoetzl, Saranac (F.X. Matt), and Stevens Point. This is not the time or place to argue this point, as it serves no useful purpose, however if a friend asks about it, you can politely inform them of the "seniority of these brewers".

So bad, so bad...

2010-09-04T15:47:00.002-04:00

I regret having been to busy to attend to the important things in life, such as beer-blogging.

Though this blog has been dormant, I have not.

Since the last post, late last year...

I reached 402 new (or seasonally variable) beers for 2009.

Thusfar for 2010, I am at 366.

Through the help of local Beer Advocates, I have tried numerous new breweries this year and lasts. Will work on some appropriate posts, soon.

The 365 Project...Partially Complete

2009-12-15T07:50:00.000-05:00

Phase I was completed on Saturday, December 5 when I tried The Bruery Two Turtle Doves dark Belgian ale. That made 365 different beers (or seasonal/yearly variations) tried. I have tried another 6 since then.

What remains is Phase II, which is to have visited at least a dozen different brewpubs. I have 3 left to go. There are sufficient numbers in Atlanta, it is just a matter of being busy with work and not having enough time on the weekends.

So now at 371 beers for the year, I may try for 400.

The 365 Project Trundles on...

2009-10-20T23:18:00.001-04:00

I have posted sporadically here about my 365 Project (informal name), by which I plan to try at least 365 new beers (or seasonal variations of previously-tried beers).

As of today, October 20, it is the 293rd day of the year and I have tried 293 beers. The latest was a sample of Victory Moonglow Weizenbock. Other recent good ones include Sierra Nevada Porter and Sweetwater Wet Dream IPA.

There are several other 22 oz. "bombers" in my pantry that await the weekend.

[Cross-posted at geosciblog.]

Progress on the 365 Project...

2009-09-17T12:53:00.002-04:00

or whatever I chose to call it.

As a reminder, I have chosen to try to sample at least 365 new beers during the year.

As of 260 Days, I have tried 254 beers, so I am 6 beers "behind".

The latest was Dominion Octoberfest with lunch, while I am working at home. Very good.

Maybe I will have something else later tonight.

Prosit!

The Lone Star Flat Top and the P-38

2009-08-02T07:56:00.007-04:00

[Not the fighter plane, but the military can-opener.]

Here is another can I picked up at our recent brewery collectibles show at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a Lone Star "soft top" from the early 1960s. The soft top was a step along the way towards the pull-tab top. Some of the brands that used the soft top were Schlitz, Budweiser and Busch (on aluminum cans), Hamms, Walter's, Pearl, Black Label, Point Special, and even Iron City.

I picked up this can to replace one of the cans that I regrettably sold years ago, while I was selling off large portions of my collection to pay bills. When ya got a family, ya do what ya gotta do.

I had found a couple of these cans in May or early June 1978, when I began what was to have been my original thesis project in the Eagle Mts. in West Texas.

When we selected our first campsite, next to a windmill and well (always a good idea in a desert or semi-desert setting), after the tents were set up and scoping out the campsite, I noticed a couple of Lone Star cans under a mequite bush. Carefully crawling under the mesquite, avoiding its thorns, I retrieved the two cans. One of the cans was full and the other one had its top removed with a P-38 military-style can opener. One side of the full can was buried in the mesquite needles, while the exposed side was sun-bleached and rusted. The other cans was more buried in the needles and more protected.

The question immediately arose, why did someone go to the trouble of completely removing the top of the can with a P-38, to presumably drink the beer? And then not drink the other one.

Sometime later, elsewhere in the campsite, I found a Lone Star can opener, which seemed to offer some evidence as to what might have happened a some 15 years earlier.

Presumably, the person/persons at the campsite (on a ranch) first lost their can opener (a common tragedy in pre-pull tab days), then decided to open a can with the P-38. Perhaps the second can was deemed to much trouble to open in this fashion or perhaps it had gotten too warm by then and the full can was tossed along with the empty (and its removed top) under the mesquite.

Otherwise, while in the Eagle Mts., I found a displayable Pearl flat top can and some fellow grad students gave me a different (older) Lone Star, which I still have on my shelves. In their study area, there was an old ranch house, used by hunters. I would have loved to have had a step ladder to check the attic area, as there was an opening from the main room. Tossing empties into attics was a common practice and the cans are usually fairly well preserved. It just wasn't doable, looking back, maybe I could have brought a step ladder in my truck on a return trip from El Paso, but the geological work was deemed more important.

[Because of a series of unfortunate events, I didn't finish that thesis project, but did another thesis project in southern New Mexico a few years later.]

The four displayable cans found in the Eagle Mts. represent the sum total of displayable beer cans found during my outdoor geological career, i.e., during field work over the course of 30 years. I have a found a number of rusty, unidentifiable cans, but no other "keepers".

236 Beers in 213 Days...

2009-08-01T22:05:00.001-04:00

in the "365 beers for 2009" project.

Today's addition was Caldera Ashland Amber, from Oregon, which I picked up while in Oklahoma.

Maybe sometime soon I will add the year-to-date list.

I may have one more for the evening.

Can Close-Up - Falstaff 11 oz.

2009-08-01T00:20:00.005-04:00

I have to admit I have been remiss about actual beer can blogging, lately. So I decided to blog about a couple of cans I picked up at our recent show at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (last Friday/Saturday).

The white flat top can pictured is from the late 1950s/early 1960s. Falstaff was a big seller at that time, and they had a number of breweries at that time, so this is not a rare can per se, except for a minor detail, it is an 11 oz can, rather than a 12 oz can.

On this can and the previous white flattop can, Falstaff listed the brewery at which the can was filled, along with the other cities along the side seam of the can. As I lived in El Paso for 14 years, this being an El Paso can makes it of interest. What is highly unusual about this is that it is an 11 oz can from a state where 11 oz cans were not sold.

Though I don't know the exact story behind the 11 and 15 oz cans sold in some western states, it was probably done for "tax loophole" reasons, i.e., to avoid the taxes on 12 and 16 oz. cans. In VA, SC, and LA, breweries avoided size-specific taxes by selling 10 and 14 oz. cans. The 14 oz cans proved popular enough that sales spread to other southern states, such as MS and GA. Brands such as Budweiser, Busch, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Meister Brau, Black Label, Falstaff, Burger, and National Bohemian were among those sold in the 14 oz cans in these states. Within the last 5 years, I seem to remember Old Milwaukee being sold in 14 oz cans in Louisiana.

In the western states of CA, WA, OR, UT, CO, NM, and AZ, 11 and (less commonly) 15 oz cans seem to be analagous to the 10 and 14 oz cans mentioned above, though the 11 oz cans were phased out earlier than the 14 oz cans. Some brands sold in 11 oz cans in these states included Coors, Schlitz, Olympia, Rainier, Black Label, Big Sky, Cascade, Sierra, Hamms, and Falstaff. Falstaff 11 oz flat top cans from San Jose, CA are not really unusual.

An 11 oz. Falstaff can from El Paso IS HIGHLY UNUSUAL. Coupled with the San Jose top (suggesting it was indeed filled in San Jose), it makes for some interesting possibilities. It just seems that with the San Jose brewery in production, why would they make 11 oz. cans for the El Paso brewery, when 11 oz cans could probably not be sold in Texas? I think it is likely an error can, i.e., the canning company made up a batch of 11 oz cans (slightly smaller in diameter) by mistake and El Paso being unable to use them, the batch was sent to San Jose for filling.

Such an oddity would primarily be of interest to Falstaff-specific collectors or Texas-specific collectors. Picking up a can with a story behind it is part of what makes the hobby interesting.

Another unusual Texas can I would like to get at some time would be a Carling Black Label from Fort Worth. Carling operated their newly-built Fort Worth brewery for perhaps 3 months before selling it to Miller around 1964 or so.

229 Beers in 206 Days

2009-07-25T14:59:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note from the driver's meeting room at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as we were wrapping up a breweriana show.

The show went pretty well, we rented out about 80 tables.

Later I will add more info about the show and one of the interesting cans I picked up.

140 Flavors for 140 Days...

2009-05-20T12:14:00.002-04:00

Despite being too busy to blog as often as I should, I have been able to keep up with my goal of trying at least 365 new beers (or this year's versions of seasonals).

May 20th is the 140th day of the year and I have tried 140 different beers. I got behind late in April, but have gotten caught up in May. The most recent ale that I tried was Thomas Creek Pump House Porter, from SC, which was pretty good, it could almost pass for a stout. I have probably a dozen or so bottles stashed in the pantry that I haven't tried yet, so if I don't get out to any brewpubs in the near future, that is OK.

A side goal was trying to visit a different brewpub every month, but I missed going to one in April, so I have 4 so far this year. If we get to travel after Memorial Day, I may get to go to one or two while on the road. Maybe TX, maybe OK, maybe KS. Maybe all.

I will try to get back to posting the individual brands tried for each month.

Later...

31 Flavors for March

2009-04-02T10:35:00.002-04:00

I fell a little short in March, but because of the 5 extra carried over from January, I am still up-to-date on my goal of trying 365 new beers this year. 90 days so far (through March 31) and 90 new beers (or this year's version of a previously-tried micro/brewpub seasonal beer).

For March:

Abita Christmas Ale ‘08
Allagash Black
Avery The Czar Stout
Ballantine Burton Ale
Bard’s Tale Dragon’s Gold
Coney Island Human Blockhead
Harpoon Celtic Ale
Kennebunkport Blueberry Wheat Ale
Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils
Otter Creek Copper Ale
Shipyard Imperial Porter
Smuttynose Imperial Stout
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale
Smuttynose Robust Porter
Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine
Terrapin Monk’s Revenge
Twain’s Heaven for Climate Golden Ale 3/09
Twain’s Honest Lender Brown
Twain’s Mad Happy Pale Ale
Twain’s Temperate Temperance Mild
Twain’s Thirty Days Belgian Black
Twain’s Three Lies Cocoa Stout
Uinta Wildfire Organic Pale Ale
Weyerbacher Heresy Stout
Weyerbacher Olde Heathen Stout
Yazoo Pale Ale

There are another 5 or 6 bottles in the fridge or pantry that I haven't tried yet, plus new brands on the market, when I can find single bottles.

When work permits it, I will try to visit another brewpub, to keep up with my goal of 1 different brewpub visit per month. Other than the one that is about 10 miles from here in Alpharetta, GA (already been there this year), most of the other ones are either in Athens (about 50 miles) or in Atlanta (25 - 30 miles plus traffic time), or Dahlonega (about 50 or so miles). There is a slight chance I might get to Big River in Chattanooga this Saturday after doing some geological photography in NW Ga.

Remarks on the Tasting of the Ballantine Burton Ale...

2009-04-02T10:32:00.002-04:00

were posted over at my other blog, on March 25. Because of my work schedule, I don't have time, right now to post it here, though I may try sometime soon. So, for the time being, skip on over there for my thoughts on this historic brew.

To Most Folks, This is Not the Holy Grail,...

2009-03-02T17:09:00.003-05:00

but to American beer historians/connoisseurs, it is. Here is but one story about Ballantine Burton Ale.

Ballantine Burton represents a unique bit of American beer history. It was produced by the Ballantine Brewing Co. of Newark, NJ and given away to sports celebrities, TV personalities, and other folks of influence as Christmas gifts. That in-and-of itself is not that unusual, but the way Ballantine Burton Ale was handled is unique. By enlarging the second photo, you can see that it was bottled especially for Bruce McGorrill, who was eulogized briefly in this obituary, in this way:

"Bruce McGorrill, 74, who climbed the ladder from announcer at WCSH-TV to chief executive of Maine Broadcasting Systems, March 28 in Portland. The Bowdoin College graduate moonlighted as a public speaker and Down East humorist."

You will also see that this particular batch (one of only two or three) was aged for 14 and 1/2 years. So one can surmise that Mr. McGorrill squirreled away at least a couple of bottles from the presumed case that he received as a gift. From time-to-time, full bottles of Ballantine Burton Ale appear on eBay as collectibles, if the labels are in good condition, they generally go for around $100 or more. Other factors not withstanding, the longer a beer/ale ages at the brewery, the longer it will last, if protected from light and excessive temperature variations.

The condition of the label, aside from influencing its collectible value, it an indicator as to how the ale has been "handled". Excessively faded labels suggest the bottles may have been exposed to too much light - if exposed on a shelf or mantle, perhaps. Light is not good for beer.

My friend Paul found this particular bottle at a recent beer can show in VA and paid $90 and my friend Neal and I each paid $30 for a 1/3 DI (Drinking Interest, to modify an oilfield term). That DI may be modified to 1/4 as Paul's dad (who worked for Ballantine and tried samples of it in the early 1960s) wants to try it, too. So when the four of us can get together, we intend to share this experience. Paul thought about buying a second bottle at the show, but $90 for a second 12 oz bottle of ale seemed a little too rich. This is to perhaps be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not a habit, as the supply of full bottles is ever shrinking. Ballantine was purchased by Falstaff in 1967 and Burton Ale was never brewed again. For years, other Ballantine products were brewed at the Narragansett Brewery in Cranston, RI, then when that brewery closed, production was shifted to the Falstaff Brewery at Fort Wayne, IN.

More from the first link, a description of the vaunted brew:

..."Ballantine Burton Ale pours to a beautiful, bright, ruby red color with no head and no carbonation. I was amazed how bright this beer poured. When mailed to me they were quite hazy, but I cold stored them, the yeast settled to the bottom of the bottle and poured bright. I was also very careful when I poured to make sure the yeast sediment stayed in the bottle. The nose on this beer shocked me. I was expecting lots of oxidation, but I did not get that. Very pronounced aromas of oak, sherry, and alcohol flooded the nose. This beer matured in oak for 20 years, and is one of the reasons this beer has held up so well. The palate was full on the tongue, with flavors of oak, and a surprising amount of estery fruit flavors of plum and apple, paired with a nice back drop of caramel maltiness. Ballantine Burton Ale finished with more oaky and fruity flavors up front, and ended with a peppery, soothing, warming burn that lit a fire in the belly."...

Years of jalapeños, salsa, and picante sauce may have damaged my taste buds to the point of not being able to pick up all of these flavors. If the bottle survived well, I may just say "Wow".

[On a side note: A few years ago, Neal (aka mytmalt) tried a bottle of Ballantine Brown Stout, from around 1936 and he reported that it survived well. Aside from higher hop content and long aging, higher alcohol contents also help in the preservation process.]

This ain't a football beer, you would treat it more as a sherry or a port, with reverence for the history contained within. If we can scrounge up enough tulip glasses, those are best for this sort of adult beverage, similar to what you would use with Samuel Adams Triple Bock or Utopia. I will be satisfied with having tried it, Paul and Neal will probably flip a coin over who gets to keep the empty bottle and the "loser" will get the bottle cap (both are collectibles, too). We will probably chill it to around 50 to 55 degrees to enjoy its flavors.

So, second to waiting for my grandson to be born, I am awaiting this experience, too.

BTW, Ballantine Ale - now contract-brewed by Miller - is still available in select markets and it is still a decent brew, though having been separated from Newark from 40+ years according to mytmalt.

Some might consign such a treasure to a "tontine" status, wherein the last surviving member of the "three brewsketeers" would enjoy the bottle (if you remember that particular episode of MASH), but I would rather share the experience with appreciative beer connoisseur friends.

This was cross-posted yesterday at geosciblog.

28 Flavors for February (plus 5 left-over from January)

2009-03-01T16:22:00.000-05:00

As a part of my low-priority goal of trying an average of one new beer for each day of the year, I an continuing into February.

In February, I tried:

Choc Waving Wheat
5 Seasons (A) Belgian Trippel (2/09)
5 Seasons (A) Cask Belgian Dubbel
5 Seasons (A) Cowbell IPA
5 Seasons (A) Golden Number Ale
5 Seasons (A) Great Pumpkin Ale
5 Seasons (A) Sgt. Schultz Hefeweizen
Fordham Copperhead Ale
Fordham Helles Lager
Full Sail Ltd
Harpoon UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen
Holy Mackerel Imperial Black
Holy Mackerel Strong Lager
Kennebunkport Apricot Wheat
Kennebunkport Pumpkin Wheat
Lagunitas Gnarlywine ‘09
Lagunitas Juden and the Jets Ale
Lagunitas We’re Only in it for the Money Ale
Left Hand Jackman’s Pale Ale
Michelob Hop Hound Amber Ale
Rogue Oaked Santa’s Reserve
Shiner Celebrator 100
Smuttynose IPA
Smuttynose Shoal Pale Ale
Stone et al, Holiday Ale
Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster (GA)
The Duck Rabbit Baltic Porter
Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot Barleywine

The boldface ones were the complete 12 oz (or 22 oz servings). The rest were samples.

31+ Flavors for January [Updated Again]

2009-02-21T12:43:00.000-05:00

No, I am not talking ice cream. I am talking about the goal of trying 31 different new beers, i.e., ones that I have not tried before.

Or sometimes they might be a different version of a yearly, seasonal beer, e.g., the Red Brick Winter Brew of 2008 was a different style that the previous year. 2007 was a Double Chocolate Porter, while 2008 was a Belgian-style ale. During a couple of years in the 1990s (1996 & 1997, perhaps), I tried at least 365 different beers over the course of the year. In 2008, I tried 220 different beers. It is just a side hobby.

As I have a new job, working from home on the computer, and normal chores, this is just kind of a fun thing. The master list of the beers that I have tried before 2002 is on an old, dead McIntosh SE, but I would guess that I have probably tried about 4,000 American beers since I started collecting beer cans in 1974.

When I try a beer, that doesn't mean I consume the entire thing. I may only try two or three "fingers" of beer in a small glass. [At the Great American Beer Festival, I hear they only give you a 1 ounce sample of each brand. Sometimes it takes a second sip to properly judge a beer, IMHO.]

During January, I tried 36 different American beers:

Allagash Grande Cru
Avery Karma
Bison Organic IPA
Boulevard ’47 Oktoberfest
Dogfishhead 120 Minute IPA
Full Sail Amber
Full Sail Pale Ale
JosephsBrau Winterfest Dark Doppelbock
Kennebunkport Porter
Kennebunkport Wheat
Lemp Lager
Minhas Craft Brewed Light
Old Auburn Ale House Mile High Pale Ale
Old Auburn Ale House The Last Dragon
Old Auburn Ale House Tiger Tail
Old Auburn Ale House Winter Nude
Real Ale Sisyphus Barleywine
Red Brick Winter ‘08
R. J. Rockers Bald Eagle Brown
R. J. Rockers Light Rock
Rogue 15th Paul’s Black Lager
Santa Fe Chicken Killer Barleywine
Saranac India Brown Ale
Saranac Vanilla Stout
Sea Dog Riverdriver Porter
Simpler Times Lager
Simpler Times Pilsener
Southampton Publick House Double White
Southampton Publick House IPA
Stroh’s (Miller)
Terrapin Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter
Terrapin Oak-Aged Big Hoppy Monster
Terrapin Rye Pale Ale (GA)
Terrapin Sun Ray Wheat
Trinity Red Ale
Victory Donnybrook Stout

The ones in bold were the ones that I consumed the entire 12 oz. glass (properly pouring the beer from the bottle (or can) into a glass, then letting warm a little helps properly release the aromas and flavors), the others were ones that I tried small sample glasses or shared with friends.

Later, I may blog about certain noteworthy beers/ales, when time permits.

[mid-February update - I finished the month of January, having tried 36 new beers/ales. I will "carry over" the extras toward February's goal.

Tuesday Videos - Beer Commercials

2009-01-06T22:30:00.001-05:00

From Youtube user "xskax":

Other types of Tuesday Videos are posted over at geosciblog.

Budweiser American Ale

2008-08-27T06:55:00.003-04:00

I am looking forward to trying it, soon.

My "drinking buddy" Neal sez he read some favorable reviews on Beer Advocate and here they are. Most reviews are in the "B" range, better than most of the Anheuser Busch reviews. [IMHO, sometimes the Beer Advocate reviewers can be too harsh on anything other than a micro or craft brewer.]

While on the subject of Anheuser Busch, Neal and I decided that Bud Light Lime is a decent "lawn mower" beer, i.e., one to have right after you finish mowing the lawn. Or maybe a good excuse to take a break in the middle of lawn mowing. Having one shouldn't be a problem. Lawn mowing while drunk is not a good idea.

Remembering Dee

2008-07-04T12:17:00.004-04:00

One of the downsides of getting older is losing some of the interesting people we meet along the way.

I just got word that a beer-can collecting friend - Dee - died last night of a heart attack. In our local beer can collecting club, we have three geologists, a meterologist, sales people, and various other professions. We even had a NASCAR driver, Rich Bickle, for a while. In our larger region, there are doctors and lawyers in our group as well as truck drivers and farmers. Most of us have at least one college degree, which was something that I suspect Dee didn't have.

Such an unusual hobby attracts unusual, eccentric people and Dee was certainly one of those. Yeah, he was an unrefined redneck [I say this with all due affection not to be condescending], with no pretenses, but he was always friendly to fellow collectors and with affection, we always awaited his arrival at our shows. He scratched out a living working at a recycling center and sometimes would bring in some neat cans he would "rescue" at the recycling center, as well as some old dumper cans that he would find in northern Cobb County and adjacent areas of Cherokee County. And though he probably couldn't afford it, he would buy cans from us for his collection. He bought cans from me when I was selling off parts of my collection to pay bills. In some ways, I was no better than he, despite my college degrees.

I always made it a point to shake his hand when he arrived at shows and to say "Bye" to him when we parted. I never wanted him to think we were too "uppity" to appreciate him. Yeah, we joked about his gravelly voice and his "adventures", but we were always glad to see him. There will be some misty eyes, I suspect, as the emails get passed around about his passing.

And at our show in Macon in a couple of weeks, we will miss him and tear up a little. We will habitually wait for him to show up late as he always did, but then we will remember and carry on.

And if his widow decides to sell his collection to cover bills, we will pitch in while recalling "yeah, I sold him that can in Asheville in 2002 or was it Cartersville in 2000?". Just one of the colorful characters that make our hobby interesting.

[Cross-posted at geosciblog.]

Found Two New Beer-Related Blogs

2008-03-25T11:20:00.002-04:00

Beers of My Life and Tipsy Texan.

Both are listed in the blogroll at right, and both are informative and entertaining.

So if I don't post here as often as I should, go give them a read (in moderation, of course).

A Surprisingly Drinkable Beer...

2008-02-27T09:04:00.002-05:00

from Schlitz (actually contract-brewed by Miller). Schlitz High Gravity V.S.L. (Very Smooth Lager), 8.5% alcohol content.

While visiting a local liquor store, I was checking out some of the 24 oz. cans and I noticed a new brand. It is an attractive black, gold, and silver colored can, emblazoned with the Schlitz Malt Liquor bull motif.

When I opened the can (from the bottom), I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. The beer was surprisingly smooth and drinkable and there was no "alcohol taste" that one might expect with a mass-marketed high-gravity lager.

My friend "mytmalt" said that at the Beer Advocate website, the sole reviewer of this brand gave similar reviews.

A Change in Alias...

2008-02-24T17:51:00.002-05:00

may have been noticed by those that visit this blog without visiting my science/political blog.

I explained the reasons in this post a short time back.

Now that I have rejoined the BCCA (Brewery Collectibles Club of America) and rejoined the Rusty Bunch Chapter of the BCCA and newly joined the ABC (Aluminum Bottle Canossieurs), I plan to be blogging more often on the subject of this particular blog. And I may add a guest blogger, if he is interested.

A Few of Our Favorite Things and Activities

2008-02-20T22:20:00.004-05:00

While finishing up our local beer can collectors club newsletter, I ran across this photo from our regional show in Asheville, NC last November and it presents a good cross-section of the stuff that we collect. This show was set up inside of an "atrium motel" on the west side of Asheville. On the foreground of the table are items of "breweriana", i.e., advertising pieces with beer logos.

While beer cans are included in a broad sense, usually the term breweriana is refers to other items, e.g., signs, coasters, labels, crowns, glassware, and dozens of other places where beer logos have been found. To the upper left of the Ballantine Ale sign, you can see two quart cone top cans, the Dawson's can on the left is from New Bedford, MA, while the Cooper's Old Bohemian is from Philadelphia. These cans are probably late-1940s vintage. To the right you see some aluminum bottles.

In the background are some 12 oz. cans in cardboard "can totes", designed to hold two cases of 12 oz. cans, with dividers to prevent the cans from rubbing on one another. The cans range in age from the late-1930s to the 1970s.

But aside from buying, selling, and trading our "toys", it is about maintaining friendships that some of us have had for 10, 15, or 20 years. And though it is not required, a few of us will enjoy an adult beverage while taking in the sights at a show.

And for the November 2007 Asheville show, we were "blessed" with "royalty", as the BCCA (Brewery Collectibles Club of America) President, Joe Germino, chose to make the trip from New Jersey to Asheville.

After our Auburn, AL show last year, a few of us engaged in some "dumping", digging for old cans in an old bar dump that was destined to be covered over during the planned construction of a storage area (second photo). The gentleman in the foreground is now in El Paso, TX at Fort Bliss as part of his training as an Army medic. He may be assigned to duty in Iraq in April.

We visited another nearby bar dump this January after the Auburn show and found a few displayable 1950s cans, one example of which are these two Burger Ale cans from Cincinnati. Neither of which are exceedingly rare cans, but the can on the left is the best Burger Ale (condition-wise) that I have ever had on my shelves. The Burger Ale cans are usually less common and more expensive than the companion Burger Beer cans and the variety on the left is the scarcer of the two

The first time I visited the Hudepohl Brewery in Cincinnati, in 1981, an "old-timer" - who used to work for Burger Brewing Co. - complained that they sent all of the Burger Ale down to Georgia and Alabama and didn't sell it in the Cincinnati area.

Hopefully we can get back to this dump before snake and wasp season resumes, though we did uncover a large corn snake in the dump shown above. Through careful handling with a hoe handle, we managed to persuade it (without hurting it) to move elsewhere.

A Good Glass of Stout!

2007-09-26T01:24:00.000-04:00

When I make any sporadic trips that pass through Athens, Ga., I make it a point to stop at ABC Package Store on the Atlanta highway (west side of town). The primary reason is that they have a selection of single 12 oz. microbrewery bottles. Not everything is represented in the "singles cooler", but I did pick up four new brands this last Saturday when I stopped there.

The first of those four brands that I have tried is Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout. I know it is still a little warm to be enjoying stouts and porters, but as I hadn't had a glass of stout in a few weeks, I gave it a try. After letting it warm to the proper temperature and then letting it breath in a "mixing glass", mistakenly referred to by some as a "pint glass", when 12 fl. oz. fills it to the rim.

I don't have the sense of smell nor the finely-tuned tastebuds to give you a detailed description of this ale, but I have tried enough different beers and ales, over the years, to say that this is a good one.

[I may add a link from BeerAdvocate later.]

A Glass of Fine Ale in Remembrance of Michael Jackson,...

2007-09-06T01:02:00.000-04:00

"The Beer Hunter". A former newspaper reporter, he used his writing skills combined with a love of fine beers and ales, single malt scotch, and fine foods. Not a bad way to make a living, as a well-respected epicurian raconteur. And he had to endure some teasing about his name.

All About Beer has an article, actually it is Michael's last column. In his memory, there is a message board from those that knew him, those that read about him and sought out "the better" and "the best" of his passions, and those that wished they had met him.

One of the messages is from Ed Chainey, of the fine Anderson Valley Brewing Co., in California (I wish they still sold their ales and beers in Ga. and South Carolina, as they did years ago).

"Michael Jackson has enlivened and educated the palates of millions of fortunate beer drinkers who have read his writings and heard his voice on radio and television.

More than a billion smiles have crossed the lips of thirsty beer hunters around the globe as a direct result of each glorious new beer tasted at Michael Jackson’s suggestion.

I started home brewing at college in 1978. But it was Michael Jackson’s first book that gave me a direction back in 1979 when I wanted to embark on a lasting and enjoyable career. As a result, I have been selling quality beer for the last 24 years.

Michael Jackson wrote me on 17 Sept ‘86, “Do I get credit, or blame, for your occupation?” Well, Michael, yes you do! And for that I will be forever grateful.

Rest in Peace, my fine old friend, eternally quenched by heavenly vintage ales."

Posted by: Ed Chainey, Anderson Valley Brewing Co.- Wednesday, September 05, 2007 at 01:36:32 (EDT)

From Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing Co., of California, also:

"I have 3 things that I'll always remember about Michael Jackson:

1. Shortly after Bill Millar and I had started the San Andreas Brewing Company, we were treated to a visit by Michael Jackson. We served him all our beers, and he seemed somewhat indifferent. We found out later that we blew it by not serving him some of our food to go with the beers!! A lesson learned, for sure. But, as he was leaving, he did pay us some very nice compliments on our beers, especially some of our special releases, like our Stout and Woodruff Ale. His visit was a very special thing for us, and it really made us feel like we had made it in the beer business.

2. The very first beer dinner I ever went to was hosted by Michael Jackson in San Francisco. This event drove the point home to me that good beers were meant to be paired with good food, it was a wonderful event.

3. Later, when I was with Anheuser-Busch, and we were just getting started with the Specialty Brewing Group, and trying to do some craft brewing, Michael Jackson visited the brewery headquarters in St. Louis. I remember him telling AAB III and the rest of us that to really be successful in brewing craft beers, the brewers should be the ones making the decisions on what beers we should be brewing! I could have kissed the man right there! The Senior Managers took his advice to heart....for about a day, after which the marketing juggernaut quickly regained control over what beers we would release to the market.

Michael Jackson's books have been my bibles for beer style information over the years, and I never hesitate to give praise to the man who, in my mind, is the primary source of inspiration for all the brewers of our generation."

Posted by: Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing Company- Saturday, September 01, 2007 at 18:43:21 (EDT)

So, go have a read on this message board. And perhaps enjoy a glass of something good while you read.

I didn't have any Sierra Nevada Bigfoot cold, but I did have a new bottle of Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale (I am curious as to the event that generated this name, it makes a reference to a 20-day suspension). It is a fine, bitter-style of ale, with a copper-hue - well, I just can't do justice to an ale review as Michael could. Here is his first column for All About Beer, in November, 1984.

Cheers, Prosit, and Auf Wiedersehen!

[This is cross-posted at geosciblog.]

Twelve Beers That Changed America

2007-07-13T08:13:00.000-04:00

Not the same list as the previous post, these are just my humble opinions and are listed in no particular order.

1. Budweiser - Among other things, Anheuser Busch grew to be No. 1 because of savvy marketing and innovations.
2. Miller Lite - Born as Meister Brau Lite (in Chicago), it wasn't the first low calorie beer, but it was the first nationally-distributed one in 1974.
3. Krueger Special Beer and Krueger Pale Ale - The first beer and ale in cans in 1935.
4. Christian Moerlein - the first regionally-marketed modern American beer by an established brewery (Hudepohl, from Cincinnati) that was brewed to the German Reinheitsgebot standards, containing only barley malt, hops, yeast, and water.
5. Anchor Steam - Anchor Brewing Co. was on the verge of closure when Fritz Maytag purchased it and began a decades-long resurgence. Among their offerings are a barleywine (Old Foghorn), a Christmas Ale, a Pale Ale (Anchor Liberty), and other seasonals. Though not of the "microbrewery" classification, Anchor products are well-produced craft beers and ales.
6. Coors Banquet Beer - the first fad beer which people would actually smuggle from the Western U.S. to the East, in large quantities. The Coors family was wise enough not to go into debt to continually add capacity to their Golden, CO brewery, during their fad growth period.
7. Ballantine India Pale Ale - this was the first hoppy American-brewed ale for most people of our age group.
8. Yuengling Porter - the lone, East Coast holdout of this dark ale style(I don't think Stegmaier Porter was brewed continually, but I could be wrong), by the oldest brewery in the United States. Other breweries had porters in the past or on draft, but most surviving breweries had dropped this style in bottles.
9. Samuel Adams Lager - Helped make craft brews more of a mainstream concept. Introduced people to a wide variety of beers.
10. Pabst Export Lager/Pabst Blue Ribbon - the first canned beer by a national brewer, in 1935. Pabst Brewing Co. was afraid to jeopardize their Blue Ribbon label as cans were still new, so they changed the name to Pabst Export Lager, until sales took off.
11. New Albion Ale - Among the first offerings of the first microbrewery in 1976.
12. Billy Beer - No, don't hate me for this one. The concept was not new, but naming and marketing a beer based on the President's brother was new. Blame it on the Falls City Brewing Co. of Louisville, KY and the collectors' headaches that followed on the MSM.

Any others to add?

Ten Craft Beers That Changed America

2007-07-13T07:36:00.000-04:00

From the Appellation Beer Blog post, here is the list with my own brief comments. In my own useage, "microbreweries" are among those small breweries (some of them not so small anymore) that were started after the first one, New Albion Brewing Co. of Sonoma, CA opened its doors in 1978.

You need to go to the source for the original "flavor" of the post. Comments in italics are from the original post.

Submitted for your consideration, here 'tis the list:

1. Anchor Steam - This is not a true "microbrewery" beer, as the brewery had been in business since 1865, but represents the preservation of an indigenous American style. The other Anchor brands were the first introduction to many Americans of holiday beers, barley wines, American Pale Ale, American wheat beer, American porter, and more.

2. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - This hoppy pale ale became a worldwide standard for its style, an American Pale Ale.

3. Samuel Adams Boston Lager - Some purists may quibble with this choice, as it began as a contract brew and in some locales, the Boston Brewing Co. brands are still being brewed at older, established breweries. Samuel Adams brands also introduced Americans to a wide array of ale and lager styles.

4. Fat Tire - New Belgium Brewing Co. - I haven't had this one is a few years, so I defer to the original post.

5. New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red - The words of the original post - "It seems unlikely there will be a pivotal moment for American beer like the 1976 “Judgment of Paris” was for wine. But Belgian Red besting beers brewed in Belgium in the 1996 Brewing Industry International Awards was a pretty big deal."

6. Pliny the Elder - "The first Double IPA, and now Double/Imperial IPA is an official style."

7. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout - "A rarity in 1995, but if BusinessWeek is right then barrel-aged beers have reached the tipping point."

8. Dogfish Head World Wide Stout and Samuel Adams Utopias - These are examples of "extreme beers", of which Samuel Adams Triple Bock was the first in 1994. From the original post (first referring to Samuel Adams): ..."continued to brew stronger versions, but in 1999 Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head made a stronger beer. He held the record a few weeks before Sam Adams introduced Millennium (for the upcoming millennium). That morphed into Utopias, now stronger than 25% abv. The back-and-forth focused mainstream attention on the concept of Extreme Beers."

9. Cuvee de Tomme - "Michael Jackson’s review (the beer expert) in 2000 understates the influence this beer continues to exert." (Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea what this brand is about)

10. Dale’s Pale Ale - This very hoppy pale ale won (in a can) a blind tasting conducted by the New York Times.

Of these, I have had #1-4 and #10. As I don't get to travel as much as I used to, I haven't encountered some of these.

Sister Act

2007-05-17T00:50:00.000-04:00

From the website of the D. G. Yuengling Brewing Co., the future of the company is largely in the hands of the four daughters of Dick Yuengling, Jr. The four Yuengling family women will represent the sixth generation of family operation of America's Oldest Brewery.

From its founding in 1829, by a combination of growth and attrition, Yuengling is now the 6th largest brewing company in the nation. From its three breweries in Pottsville, PA; Port Carbon/St. Clair, PA; and Tampa, FL - Yuengling produces a little under 1.5 million barrels of beer and ale per year, for their Eastern Seaboard (New York to Florida) + Alabama markets.

They are not in Georgia currently, but rumor has it that they will be here in the Fall. We have been waiting for years.

This reprinted New York Times article tells the story of their long journey from one of many local Pennsylvania breweries to a survivor that almost didn't make it to a new, risky growth plan that included the new brewery in Port Carbon/St. Clair and purchasing the old Schlitz/Stroh brewery in Tampa, FL.

Yuengling Traditional Lager is their flagship brand, accounting for more than half of their sales. Yuengling Porter and Lord Chesterfield Ale were two of the brands that tided us over before the days of microbreweries.

So if you live in their distribution area, why not pass on by the national brands and imports and try a bit of American brewing history?

Gonna Have to Build Some New Shelves for These Things

2007-05-07T11:02:00.000-04:00

After resisting the temptation for a number of months, I have crossed over to the "dark side" and have started collecting the infernal 16 oz. aluminum beer bottles being produced predominantly by Anheuser Busch.

At 9 and 1/2 inches high, they don't fit any of my existing shelves and for that I "curse them", but their thicker walls allow for more striking graphics than aluminum cans. And as they have only been on the market for 2 years or so, I am sort of getting in on the "ground floor", keeping it as a trade-only habit, as I don't have the cash to drop on the rarer varieties. That keeps the fun a part of it.

[As I have to get to work, more will be added to this post later...]

I Double Dog Dare Ya!

2007-05-03T00:14:00.000-04:00

If you are not familiar with the brands of the Flying Dog Brewing Co. of Denver, CO, they are certainly worth a try. The various names include year-round brands - Doggie Style Ale, Road Dog Scottish Porter, seasonals - Heller Hound Bock, K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale, and specialty brands - Horn Dog Barleywine, Gonzo Imperial Porter - named after Hunter S. Thompson, and the new Double Dog Double Pale Ale.

If you have seen them, maybe you have been put off by the strange artwork on the labels, courtesy of Ralph Steadman, who did the "artwork" for the books written by Hunter S. Thompson. I guess we could speculate about the legality of the inspirations for Steadman's artwork, but that could wait for another time. Look at some of their labels and draw your own conclusions.

It is what is inside that is so distinctive. The new Double Dog Double Pale Ale is a hophead's delight. Once opened, it needs to be carefully poured into a wide-mouthed glass, so as to let it "breathe" and warm. As it warms, the hop flavors become more well-defined. It is 10.5% alcohol, so enjoy one after the kids are in bed and when you don't have to drive anywhere.

Double Dog Double Pale in its original incarnation was called Wild Dog Double Pale Ale as was issued to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the brewery in 2005. Now the Wild Dog name is applied to a special limited edition series in 750 ml bottles.

So give some of these brands a try and enjoy getting bitten (in moderation of course).

An Upcoming Beer Can/Breweriana Show...

2007-04-12T10:57:00.000-04:00

will take place this Saturday at the new, second location of the Six Feet Under restaurant in Atlanta.

Details and links are posted at my other blog, geosciblog.

So, if in the area, come on by Saturday morning to see what the silliness is about.

Trying to be a Little Too Much

2007-03-22T17:39:00.000-04:00

I enjoy most of the products of the Sweetwater Brewing Company of Atlanta, which recently turned 10 years-old.

I am, however disappointed by the recently-released bottled version of their Happy Ending Imperial Stout. When I had the draft version a year or so ago, I thought it was good.

From one of the reviewers on the Beer Advocate website:

"...Mouthfeel was quite thin for an Imperial stout and had a light bodied character. This Impy is quite disappointing and really lacks the balls and complexity that the style is known for. The hops were way overboard and made the beer very unbalanced."

From the Beer Advocate, here is a description of the Russian Imperial Stout category:

"Inspired by brewers back in the 1800’s to win over the Russian Czar, this is the king of stouts, boasting high alcohol by volumes and plenty of malt character. Low to moderate levels of carbonation with huge roasted, chocolate and burnt malt flavours. Often dry. Suggestions of dark fruit and flavors of higher alcohols are quite evident. Hop character can vary from none, to balanced to aggressive."

On this 10 Best List of Russian Imperial Stouts, I have only had Stone Imperial Stout.

Echoing the more detailed opinion above, the "mouthfeel" was just a little too thin. The color was good, the head was good, but IMHO, Imperial Stouts are not the place to go looking for pronounced hoppiness. I don't know if it was the elevated hops that contributed to the thinness or not.

North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout is a better example of this variety. So is Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.

Leave the hoppiness to the Pale Ales and India Pale Ales (and I do enjoy the Sweetwater IPA).

In closing, I like hoppy ales and I like stouts, but I don't like the characteristics of the two mixed together. It is sort of like mixing picante sauce and cheesecake.

Dharma Initiative Beer

2007-03-02T11:13:00.000-05:00

If you haven't visited my other website - "geosciblog", you may not know that I watch the TV series "Lost" on a regular basis. I am not a fanatic, but it is strange enough to be interesting.

From this most recent episode:

When the "islanders" started exploring "the Hatch" and they came upon the world of the mysterious "Dharma Initiative", in the storage rooms, there was a veritable plethora of consumables marked with the Dharma Initiative logo.

During the last season, there was an air-dropped pallet of more supplies. Being a beer can collector for 30+ years, I just had to wonder, if they had all of this other stuff, why didn't they have their own beer?

In this last episode, Hurley found an overturned VW van in the jungle (where was the road). In the van was the partially decomposed body of the poor fool that wrecked the van. After Hurley enlisted the help of Charlie and the recently-escaped Sawyer to right the van, Sawyer found that there were several cases of generic-label Dharma Initiative Beer (I think Light Beer too) in the van. Here is the link to the episode photos (select Episode 09), in which the beer cans are shown in photos 10, 12, 13, & 14. [I am so easily entertained sometimes!]

Now who knows how old the beer was, but Sawyer seemed to be able to get past the "yuck" stage presented by the old beer. [Though I am not a purist, I have cultivated a liking for finer quality ales and lagers. Some of the ales will age, if properly stored, but not your average canned beer.]

There were probably just film-appliques over white aluminum cans (the could have been filled with soda or water).

So I wonder if all of them are going to be crushed and recycled or will we see some of them on ebay someday? Especially after the series runs its course and ends.

It used to be that creative "Second Tier" breweries, e.g., Pearl, Falstaff, etc., during the 1980s probably would have produced a few runs of these cans for the public, to capitalize on the interest-of-the moment.

Back then, there was MASH 4077 Beer (after the TV series ended), World's Fair Beer (for the Knoxville and New Orleans World's Fairs), JR Beer (from the TV Show "Dallas"), and the infamous Billy Beer (none of these cans are worth any real money).

Back in 1968, the National Brewing Co. produced a 7-can set of 007 Special Blend (Beer and Malt Liquor), produced at their Phoenix, AZ brewery and test-marketed in Phoenix and Knoxville, TN (I don't know if there were other places or not). Production was halted because of copyright infringements.

As shown on this 007 collectibles website (scroll down a little), these cans are worth real money. [A little disclaimer: For their type and time period, these cans (and a companion set with white stripes at the top and bottom) are definitely rare, but I would quibble a bit with the statement ..."this set of seven cans are the rarest collectable cans of all Beer Cans."

Nowadays, I don't know of any breweries that would take the expense and time to seek the official permission from ABC, then bring this to the market-place.

Dixie Beer Update

2007-02-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

I managed to miss this, but in December 2006, a deal was reached for the Joseph Huber Brewing Co. of Monroe, WI to contract brew Dixie, Dixie Amber Light, and Dixie Blackened Voodoo. Plans are for these beers to be available in time for Mardi Gras.

The owners of Dixie Brewing Co., according to the article (link will be furnished later), plan on being back in production in New Orleans, later in the year, with new equipment to replace that which was stolen after Hurricane Katrina.

I Don't Know Why...

2007-02-14T12:12:00.000-05:00

but Valentine's Day just makes me think of Ballantine Ale. Strange isn't it?

Here is a website for all things Ballantine and there are links giving hints as to where Ballantine Ale and a few other historic brands are sold. Ballantine Ale is now contract brewed by Miller, but some folks agree that the taste hasn't changed, while a few others think that it has. I won't worry with that detail right now.

In Georgia, Ballantine Ale can be bought in Savannah and Brunswick. In South Carolina, it can be had in the Greenville area.

When time allows, I will write more on the subject of Ballantine Ale.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Gets an Extension...

2007-02-14T11:48:00.000-05:00

on its Chapter 11 filing date, according to this article. Three more weeks from the time of the article. There is a lot of history here in the Iron City Beer, Falls City Beer, and other beer brands brewed in Pittsburgh.

From the article:

"Pittsburgh Brewing Acquisition LLC, an investment group led by private equity fund manager John Milne of Westport, Conn., plans to take over the brewery and invest about $7 million to modernize it."

Let's wish them luck and maybe pick up a six pack of Iron City Beer or Falls City Beer in the meantime.

Dixie Done It First!

2006-11-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

Well, at least years before the mega-breweries payed attention. A chocolate-flavored dessert beer. Back in the 1990's, Dixie Brewing Co. produced Dixie White Moose Beer, which featured a combination of natural and artificial chocolate flavorings. And among it's unusual characteristics, the chocolate flavor became more intense when the beer was aged. Usually flavors mellow during aging (as in storing bottles in a dark room at moderated temperatures). It was sold in South Carolinia for a while, perhaps in Georgia, too, but I hadn't seen it in a number of years, prior to Katrina.

WND has a linked article about the new Michelob Celebrate Chocolate Beer, which should be on sale around the holidays. Miller is also doing a chocolate-flavored beer.

With Dixie Brewing Co. still down after Katrina, I doubt that, even is Dixie Lager is being contract-brewed, the more exotic Dixie White Moose may be a footnote in brewing history. Here is a linked-article about some of Dixie's "doings" in the years before Katrina. Here is another article about Dixie Brewing Co.

Here is a recipe that calls for Dixie White Moose.

The "Where Y'at" article has more info on the situation with Dixie. Including this passage:

"...Before the hurricane, the brewery was clear from financial debt and producing nearly 50,000 barrels of Dixie beer annually, including specialty brews that many locals may not have heard of. Dixie never had much of an advertising budget, but their specialty beers have made their claim nationwide."

Just so ya'll would know!

Though it is Late in the Season...

2006-10-31T12:14:00.000-05:00

I found a summer seasonal beer that is worth mentioning. [Again, I am not an expert, but rather a learned-student.]

Because I simply don't have the cash to buy a sixpack of everything that hits the market (and sometimes it's difficult to determine how fresh some beers are), I prefer to buy single bottles of microbrews, until I find a variety that I like, then I spring for a sixpack.

On a recent trip to Athens, GA, I visited ABC Package Store, one of the few places that allows the sale of single 12 oz. bottles of American microbrews. Among the beers I picked up was Red Brick Summer Hefe-Weizen (from Atlanta Brewing Co.) and when I tried it that evening, I was very pleased.

Not everyone likes the characteristics of Hefeweizens, which are cloudy, unfiltered wheat beers that still retain their yeast. They are not as "citrusy" and tart as many Belgian beers/ales, but I like the American ones with enough of the characteristic flavors that contrast them with "regular" wheat beers.

On the Beer Advocate website, Hefeweizens are described as such:

"...Traditional German Hefeweizen yeast-strains yield phenolic smells and flavors, which are sometimes medicinal and/or clove-like. Fruity esters, higher alcohol contents, bubble-gum, vanilla and the trademark fruity banana flavors are also by-products of the yeast's handiwork.

Traditional German Hefeweizen yeast-strains yield phenolic smells and flavors, which are sometimes medicinal and/or clove-like. Fruity esters, higher alcohol contents, bubble-gum, vanilla and the trademark fruity banana flavors are also by-products of the yeast's handiwork."

The more American-style Hefeweizens that I can think of presently include Shiner Hefeweizen, Leinenkugel Summer Wheat, Pyramid Hefeweizen, Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen, Harpoon UFO, Redhook Hefeweizen, and a few others.

The Red Brick Summer Hefe-Weizen had that delicate, but noticeable characteristic flavors that I like in this style of beer. I seem to remember Widmer Brothers and Pyramid used to have that flavor, but the Widmer I had last night didn't have it and I haven't had Pyramid in a few years.

An Atlanta brewpub that closed a few years ago, Atlanta Beer Garten, had an excellent Hefeweizen (in my opinion) and when still-brewed in Austin, Texas (before Miller got involved), Celis White Beer was excellent.

I bought a bottle of Blue Moon Belgian White for comparison's sake and it has been a few years since I tried this brand, so I will see if it has the flavor I am looking for.

The problem is, a number of the American Hefeweizens are brewed for the summertime, so many stores are already sold out of Red Brick Hefe-Weizen. Red Brick's winter seasonal is a dark holiday Porter, which I liked last year. In a few more days, I will give that a try.

A Little Oktoberfest History...

2006-10-18T10:01:00.000-04:00

is on tap over at Beerme Blog, which I found by way of The Right Place Blog's recent photocaption contest, where I scored an Honorable Mention. [Cross-posted over at geosciblog]

I will be linking to some of Beerme's posts, from time to time, for your reading pleasure, if you wish. And I will add a few of Beerme's links to my list over at Beer Can Blog.

Now if you enjoy a glass of fine ale or beer from time to time, doesn't the Oktoberfest Celebration (and German beer in general) seem to be something that the Germans should be standing up and defending from the Muslim cultural onslaught?

For all the criticisms that we level towards the French, they do make good wine. Isn't that worth defending from the Muslim hordes? Maybe if their pubs are sufficiently threatened, the British will rise up and defend their traditions of fine ales, porters, and stouts. During WWII, some of Sir Winston Churchill's bravado may have been partially fueled by ale, port - well, whatever works.

If Britain had not won the Battle of Britain, our liberation of Europe would have been very difficult, in not impossible without Britain as an ally and the British Isles as a staging area for the Normandy Invasion. During the 21st century cultural wars, will Britain be the sole holdout for Western values, if only to defend their booze (they don't seem to be doing a good job of defending their churches)?

The Mystery is Over...Shiner 97 is on the Market

2006-10-17T20:11:00.000-04:00

Shiner 97 is a Bohemian-style Schwarzbier (black lager), that has received some decent reviews from contributors to the Beer Advocate.

I haven't found it here in my hometown, just yet, but if I get the time, I will trundle down the road to Doraville, to Tower Liquors, where they allow the purchase of single bottles, so I can try several new varieties at one time. I am not sure if I have had the Shiner Kolsch, yet, if it is different from their Summer Stock.

I was hoping for perhaps a Doppelbock or something like that for this anniversary beer. Maybe that will be Shiner 98.

Here is a Beer Advocate listing of the various Spoetzl brands. I am not sure if I have had the Honey Wheat and I know I haven't had the Dunkelweizen.

When I used to commute between El Paso and Atlanta, I often took the slightly longer southern route so as to be able to stop off at the Spoetzl Brewery and visit the hospitality room and pick up some fresh beer. As this was before it was purchased by Gambrinus Corp., it didn't have the distribution that it now has.

One of the draft packages they tried in late 1980 was a "beer ball", a plastic sphere with a little over 2 gallons. I picked up a Bock beer ball on my way back to El Paso after Christmas vacation. In the summer of 1981, I carried a pony keg of Shiner Lager (now Shiner Blonde) back to Atlanta to my friends there. I bought a trash can to keep the keg cold in my pickup camper and I ended up spending more money on ice than I did on the beer. Then I had to haul the empty keg back to Shiner and that gave me the excuse to pick up a little more beer to carry back to El Paso.

So I have had a 25+ year relationship with the beers of the Spoetzl Brewing Co. Maybe someday I will get the chance to go visit the brewery again.

Bocktoberfest in Shiner, Texas

2006-10-13T12:44:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Bocktoberfest in Shiner, Texas. It is an annual music, food, and beer celebration festival.

Here is a link to read about the planned festivities. It will probably mark the debut of the expected Shiner 97 commemorative beer. Last year, the Shiner 96 was a Marzen-style German ale.

Why the interest? Shiner (actually the Spoetzl Brewing Co.) is the last of the original Texas breweries. Gone are the names like Grand Prize, Southern Select, Mitchell's, Bluebonnet, Time, and nowadays, Pearl and Lone Star are brewed by Miller in Fort Worth. Spoetzl's survival is largely because of the ownership by the company that imports Corona and other beers. Well, that is the price we have to pay to preserve a little bit of Texas brewing history.

Shiner 97 will be their celebration of their 97th anniversary in their countdown to 2009.

Friday Beer Blatherings

2006-10-06T11:56:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I posted on the purchase of the Rolling Rock Beer label by Anheuser Busch.

Just thinking about, that A-B would spend $82 million probably means that they have some respect for the label, unless they were trying to keep a competitor from buying it. The Latrobe brewery itself was purchased by City Brewery of LaCrosse, WI (formerly the home of G. Heilemen Brewing Co.). I just hope they don't over-extend themselves.

A-B doesn't buy out other breweries' assets or properties very often. Going strictly from memory, the Anheuser Busch brewery in Syracuse (actually Baldwinsville), NY, might have once been a Schlitz brewery. Again from memory, I think the last time that A-B bought out another brewery, lock-stock-and-barrel, was the American Brewing Co. of Miami, FL, in the mid-1950s. That purchase gained them a Miami-area brewery and the Regal Ale and Regal Beer labels, but the government, in an anti-trust move, forced them to sell the brewery and the labels after a couple of years.

Another example of a large brewery buying "a label" from a small brewery and really making into something big was what is now "Miller Lite". Prior to the mid-1970s, "Lite" was a brand owned originally by the Meister Brau Brewing Co. of Chicago, which (from memory) may have been bought out by the Peter Hand Brewing Co., also of Chicago. So what has been Miller Lite since 1974 was orginally Meister Brau Lite.

[Cross-posted at geosciblog.]

Grading Cans and Other Collecting Notes

2006-10-03T20:52:00.000-04:00

As with other collectibles, condition is an important factor in determining a beer can's value, along with rarity and other factors.

A good website on beer can collecting is rustycans.com. On this particular page is a listing of different beer can terms and on this page is a pictoral and descriptive guide to conditions Mint through Grade 5.

For all except the most excessively rare cans, the prices drop off rapidly with decreasing condition. So unless you know what you are doing, don't pay good money for a rusty can, just 'cause it looks old.

On this particular page is a listing of the different Can of the Month, below the "History" heading, wherein you can find some interesting reading on interesting cans from extinct breweries.

Of interest to Southeastern collectors is the Atlantic Brewing Co. (Charlotte, NC) "Plantation can". This particular brewery was part of a regional company with breweries in Chattanooga, TN, Norfolk, VA, Orlando, FL, Atlanta, GA, and Charlotte, NC. Only the Atlanta and Charlotte breweries made cans.

This web site has some info on the Orlando Atlantic brewery and what became of it after it closed. It produced some extremely rare cans from the Marlin Brewing Co. and some sought-after (though not as rare) National Bohemian varieties later.

Just a Humble Masterpiece

2006-09-26T19:53:00.000-04:00

I missed the 30th anniversary of an inauspicious, but important, environmental landmark.

30 years ago, in mid-1976, the Reynolds Sta-Tab made it's debut on Falls City and Drummond Brothers beer cans, from the Falls City Brewing Co., of Louisville, KY. This particular linked website was designed by a Falstaff enthusiast, I am not sure why he included Falls City, but I am thankful. Drummond Brothers Beer was a light beer marketed by Falls City and later by G. Heileman Brewing Co. (after Falls City closed) and finally the Evansville Brewing Co.. My first encounter with Drummond Brothers Beer was in the hot summer of 1976. I had been crawling around on a hot, granite outcrop (something that only geology students do). I retreated to my car and the ice chest for a cold beer. I opened the Sta-Tab and the beer was gone in 30 seconds.

When I did an internet search to find info on this important invention, I found this website that includes other "Humble Masterpieces" of American ingenuity on display at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, including Post-It Notes, Band Aids, Bic Pens, and tea bags.

So now that you are just "eat up" with anticipation, I will tell you why the Reynolds Sta-Tab is so darned important. It eliminated the detachable pull tab on beverage cans.

From the linked Alcoa webpage:

"...The invention of the Sta-Tab is credited to Daniel F. Cudzik, of Reynolds Metals in Richmond, VA. While other beverage can companies were working on similar designs, his became the industry standard, solving a variety of problems at once."

This invention alleviated the problems caused by an earlier invention, the pull tab, which was invented by Ermal C. Fraze in the early 1960s. Iron City Beer was the first brand to have the pull tab, while Schlitz was the first national brewer to include the feature. This website addresses this and other beer-can related bits of trivia.

For those of us over the age of 40, I am sure that we have memories of being cut by the early pull tabs, whether it was because we played with the darn things after we opened the cans or because we stepped on one at the beach or in a parking lot when going barefoot.

Before the Sta-Tab, there were other efforts at eliminating the detachable pull-tab (though I forget the industry names for them). Coors, Coca Cola, and Budweiser (1974/1975) had a large and a small circular tab, which pushed down into the can top. You pushed the small tab first, to relieve the pressure, then the larger one. Coors later (1977 or so) experimented with a larger, rounded triangular tab, but were threatened with a large law suit by some drunk fool that cut himself on one of them.

Jimmy Buffett's "Wasted Away in Margaritaville" makes reference to one of the greatest hazards of the pull tab.

"...I blew out my flip flop,
Stepped on a pop top;
Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home."

A Fine Pilsener Beer for Hopheads

2006-08-21T10:38:00.000-04:00

In my previous post on the Lazy Magnolia Brewing Co. of Kiln, Mississippi, I mentioned Abita 20 Anniversary Pilsener and the high praise by my friend Neal.

I got to try a bottle of Abita 20th last night and it was fine, if one likes hops. Most American pilsener beers are not heavily hopped, except perhaps for Tupper's Hop Pocket Pils, brewed by Old Dominion Brewing Co.. Both of these are fine beers. [A reminder, I usually allow the un-opened bottle to warm for perhaps 15 or 20 minutes before gently pouring it into a glass, allowing about an inch of head, which allows the beer/ale to "breathe". You shouldn't just grab one out of the fridge and sit down and drink it from the bottle, nor is this a good beer for drinking while cutting the lawn. Actually, it is better to wait until the lawnmower is turned off before enjoying your reward.]

So, in closing, if you are within the Abita Brewing Co. sales area, and you like hoppy beers, I highly recommend getting a six-pack of 20th Anniversary Pilsener.

The Lazy Magnolia Brewing Co.

2006-07-31T09:57:00.000-04:00

While doing some volunteer work in the New Orleans area, I had the chance to visit a friend in Diamondhead, MS. I asked him about a local microbrewery, Lazy Magnolia at Kiln, MS.

They survived Hurricane Katrina, though they lost one of their loyal customers, Warren Fuller, to a heart attack after the hurricane. Warren and his wife Midge have been regulars at many of our regional beer can shows for years. There is a touching tribute to Warren on the brewery website. Warren and Midge had sought out the brewery and were the first to tour the brewery.

My friend Paul showed me some of the Lazy Magnolia offerings at a local grocery store. They are using small draft dispenser called a Party Pig that holds the equivalent of a case of beer. I didn't have the cash to purchase one of the Party Pigs nor did I have a way to bring it back in someone else's packed van. But my friend had heard that the brewery had won some awards, so it might be worth your while to give a look for Lazy Magnolia products if in Southern Mississippi.

Also while in the general area, you could visit the Abita Brewing Co., at Abita Springs, LA. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a special pilsener beer. [Update: My friend Neal sez the anniversary pilsener is one of the best beers ever made by Abita. If it is still on store shelves when I next get a paycheck, I will give it a try.]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

2006-07-26T20:06:00.000-04:00

A reader sent me this link to a new invention. Many of us will slap and kick ourselves for not thinking of this.

It is the "Beer Octopus", actually it is a keg tapper with four spigots, so four cups of beer (or mouths if you are already on the floor) can be filled at once.

Just think, fewer "bottlenecks" at the keg.

However, bottlenecks at the keg are a good excuse to talk to someone, perhaps offer to fill a lady's glass for her, so she doesn't have to stand in line. So there might be some downsides to this.

Maybe the reason that this hadn't been invented before is that any inspiration, born of standing in line waiting for the single tap to fill a glass, was lost to alcohol later in the evening. One beer might be good for the imagination, but multiple beers might make you forget any new ideas.

Yada, yada.

Will be in New Orleans for the next few days to help with a church-related volunteer effort. Will probably be no where near the French Quarter.

Updates From the Land of Pleasant Living

2006-07-25T17:45:00.000-04:00

I haven't visited the National Bohemian blog as I should have recently, but it is painful to read about my favorite cheap beer if I can't buy it.

But there was a post from earlier this spring stating that National Bohemian was on sale again at Camden Yard, in Baltimore at kiosks and at Camden Club in the stadium. Cans are available at the kiosks, but at a cost of $5 per can. Ouch! But it is nice to see that bit of brewing history being kept alive by the Lion Brewing Co. of Wilkes Barre, PA.

I recall getting a cup of draft Natty Boh from a kiosk in Washington, DC, while visiting there in 1986.

Point - Well Made, Point - Well Taken

2006-07-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped at one of the liquor stores in Doraville, GA, one of the exurbs of Atlanta. This particular one, Tower Liquors, is a favorite because they allow the sale of single 12 oz. bottles or cans of American beers.

Most other liquor stores don't seem to want to bother allowing the sale of singles of microbrewery beers. They seem to miss the idea that some people might want to sample these more expensive beers before springing for a six-pack. That is my viewpoint and I like to have a variety of beers in my fridge at any given time, also.

While checking for new varieties of microbrews, I found a regional beer that I had not had since 1982, when I visited Wisconsin.

Point Special Beer, from Stevens Point Brewing Co., Stevens Point, WI, was on sale, as well as Point Cascade Pale Ale, Point Honey Light, and a German-style Weiss Beer (I didn't buy one, so I don't recall the exact name).

I picked up a couple of bottles of Point Special and one of the Point Cascade Pale Ale. The Point Special was very fresh and enjoyable, the Pale Ale was hoppy, but not intensely so, a la Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Stevens Point Brewing Co. is one of those local brands that has resisted the temptation to grow beyond their means. Years ago, Mike Royko pronounced Point Special to be one of the best beers in the country and the publicity resulted in demands that Point be sold outside of their traditional sales area. The brewery resisted, so as not to over-extend themselves and lose control over freshness and quality.

A number of breweries grew when a "fad demand" sales "boom" initiated, but often the breweries overbuilt to meet what turned out to be a short-term growth spurt. When the fad went away, there was debt to be paid on the now-excess capacity. That is one of the things that started the downfall of Stroh Brewing Co.. They built and bought other breweries to meet fad growth and when sales leveled off, they were beset with debt obligations.

Coors Brewing Co. avoided the problems because of the Coors family's longstanding policy of not borrowing money for expansion. They would simply save money until they needed to build, so if sales slacked off, at least there wasn't the bank to deal with.

Another local brewery, Straub Brewing Co., of St. Marys, PA, has also avoided the temptation to grow to meet short-term demand. A friend gave me a bottle of Straub last year, that had been purchased in eastern Ohio. It was another beer that I had not had since 1982.

I hope all is well with Stevens Point Brewing Co.. I have a lot of memories associated with travels during the Summer of 1982, including the horrid, hungry mosquitoes in Chippewa Falls, WI. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my photos of glacial features, because when I went to change film in my 35 mm Pentax, I had forgotten to reel the film back into the cannister. Doh! But I didn't lose my brewery photos, which were on another roll of film.

The other Wisconsin breweries visited that summer were Leinenkugels at Chippewa Falls (owned by Miller for the last few years), Huber at Monroe, WI (now Berghoff-Huber), and Walter Brewing Co. at Eau Claire (now closed).

I wanted to drive over to Minnesota to visit the August Schell Brewing Co. at New Ulm and Grain Belt (Minneapolis Brewing Co. - now closed), but time and money did not permit that side trip. I did visit Hudepohl and Schoenling in Cincinnati on the way to Wisconsin and Straub on a separate trip to PA.

The next year I met my wife Marla and we visited a few breweries in PA and NY while traveling to a friend's wedding in NJ. We still try to visit at least one brewpub on each trip to TX and OK, when the schedule permits.

A Recap of Growth for Spoetzl Brewing Co. for 2005

2006-06-06T16:17:00.000-04:00

The Shiner family of products seemed to do well in calendar year 2005, according to this article posted on the Shiner Beer website.

To follow-up on the Shiner 96 that debuted last fall, there will be a different Shiner 97 this year.

Hope things continue to go well for the last of the original Texas breweries, as they count down towards their centennial in 2009.

Anheuser Busch Buys the Rolling Rock Label

2006-06-04T17:48:00.000-04:00

[Sorry that I have been remiss in posting on this blog lately.]

From Realbeer.com, comes news that Anheuser Busch has purchased the Rolling Rock brand for $82 million from InBev Labatts and is planning on moving production from the Latrobe Brewery to the A-B plant at Newark, NJ.

Current plans do not call for A-B to purchase the actual brewery in Latrobe, though the families of workers are begging them to do so, this letter is posted on the Realbeer.com blog. It might not hurt for the public to get involved with a polite campaign. Rolling Rock is a historic brand, it used to be one of the beers that we made "beer runs" for when I went to Georgia Southern back in the 1970s, before the days of microbreweries.

If A-B could be persuaded to purchase the brewery also, hopefully it would turn out to be beneficial, as with the Miller purchase of Leinenkugel's back in the 1980s.

I Have Been Slack Lately...

2006-02-03T01:01:00.000-05:00

about my writing about beer, though I have enjoyed a few really good brews lately.

During the Christmas season, Atlanta Brewing Company's Red Brick Winter Ale was a really good oatmeal porter. Rich, without the bitterness of a stout. And Sweetwater Brewing Company's Festive Ale was good as always.

The best other Christmas brews that I can think of are the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and Mendocino Brewing Company's Winter Ale, it is the hoppiest of the Christmas ales that I tried.

Currently in the Atlanta market is Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Stout, brewed with Jittery Joe's "Wake and Bake" coffee. As mentioned in a previous post on Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster, Terrapin Beer Co. plans on building a brewery in Athens, GA, but for now, they are having their find beers/ales brewed in Frederick, MD.

Expresso stouts have been a characteristic of Athens since their first micro, Blind Man Ales, was in business in the mid to late-1990s. Stouts should be allowed to warm before being reverently consumed, but the expresso stouts would get too bitter at warmer temps. Two of the brewpubs in Athens, Burntstone and its successor Copper Creek Brewing Co., have had expresso stouts very similar to the Blind Man Expresso Stout.

But the Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Stout is much different. It is stronger, but it is less bitter than its predecessors.

And it is time to "get stomped" (in moderation of course) as Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine is now back in the stores. It is pricey, but if you put aside a few bottles in a dark pantry, where the temperature changes are somewhat moderated, it will age for a year or two. With aging of wines or strong ales, you give up the freshness, but in return you get more complex flavors.

A Tasty, Light Microbrew from Abita Brewing Co.

2005-12-03T22:10:00.000-05:00

If you are put off by the heavy flavors of many microbrewery beers and ales, here is something you might like, Abita fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale, from the Abita Brewing Co., Abita, LA.

It is flavorful, yet light (not as in a low calorie beer). This brew is designed to help raise money to help Hurricane Katrina victims by Abita Brewing Co. donating one dollar from each six-pack for relief efforts. Abita Brewing Co. itself suffered the loss of 6,000 barrels of beer due to the loss of refrigeration for several days after the hurricane.

I think 2006 will be the 20th anniversary of Abita Brewing Co., so hopefully there will some interesting celebration brews from them.

There Was a Big Hoppy Monster in My Glass...

2005-11-19T22:07:00.000-05:00

But I took care of it. One sip at a time. Another may be attempting to escape my refridgerator, I may have to deal with it also. On second thought, it is 8.3% alcohol, so I may let it wait until tomorrow night.

No, it is not a bad dream. Actually, it is a hophead's delight, Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster, from Terrapin Beer Co., currently a contract brewer. Their flagship brand is Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, very hoppy in its own right. They also have a milder Terrapin Cream Ale. Their seasonals include the Big Hoppy Monster, Wake & Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout, Rye Squared and All American Imperial Pilsner.

Future plans include a brewery in Athens, GA, but for the meantime, it is being brewed by Frederick Brewing Co., of Frederick, MD. Frederick's own Blue Ridge brands are supplemented by contract brewing of beers and ales for other companies, sometimes because demand exceeds the capacity of the other breweries.

Frederick's stable includes:
Wild Goose English Style Ales
Little Kings Cream Ale
Blue Ridge Ales & Lagers
Hudy Delight Lager
Crooked River Ales & Lagers
Burger & Burger Lite Beer

The Rye Pale Ale and the Big Hoppy Monster are quite distinctive, I eagerly await the others.

A Few Louisiana Beer Updates

2005-11-14T15:21:00.000-05:00

Today, on an older post, someone asked about Dixie Brewing Co. and whether it survived Hurricane Katrina.

I did some searching and found a discussion thread on ProBrewer.com and found this info (paraphrased):

The Dixie Brewing Company was submerged under 8 to 10 feet of water and heavy damage was done to the packaging area and all of the inventory in the warehouse was destroyed (10,000 cases of beer). The brewhouse and other equipment was on the second floor and sustained less damage. There were plans as of early October to rebuild and resume brewing. In the meantime, a contract brewer may produce Dixie products. Contract brewers under consideration were Spoetzl (Shiner, TX), City Brewing Co. (LaCrosse, WI), and D.G. Yuengling (Tampa, FL). This link to BreweryAge.com has more info on this and other stories.

I also found info about a new microbrewery in Covington, LA, Heiner Brau, that brews mostly German-style lagers.

Additional Info About the Health Effects of a Daily Glass of Ale

2005-11-13T21:57:00.000-05:00

Especially a glass of good, hoppy ale. This UK Telegraph article has information on a new scientific study that suggests that some of the compounds in hops have health benefits, particularly in suppressing the growth of some tumors.

I had a good glass of Stoudt's American Pale Ale last night, that should keep the cancer away for another day, or so. Here I posted on the subject of Pale Ales and India Pale Ales, back on August 12.

A well-chosen glass of ale each day can have its therapeutic effects. Sometimes I get several days ahead in my cancer prevention and therapy efforts. Heh.

It's Pumpkin Season

2005-10-19T13:13:00.000-04:00

Now that pumpkin harvests have taken place, it is time for enjoying pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and a few pumpkin-flavored ales. This is one of the benefits of the advent of craft brewing over the last 30 years, the availability of spiced lagers and ales in the fall and winter season.

Five pumpkin ales that are available here (in the Atlanta area) are:

Blue Moon (from Coors)
Post Road (Utica, NY), I am not sure if this is a contract brew through Brooklyn Brewing Co.
The Shipyard (Portland, ME)
Saranac (Utica, NY), FX Matt Brewing Co. dba Saranac Beer Co.
Anheuser Busch/Michelob, as part of a 12 pack sampler

I will check later for reviews of these and other possible available brands in the southeast.

Just in Time for Oktoberfest Season is Shiner "96"

2005-10-14T00:42:00.000-04:00

In 2009, Spoetzl Brewing Company will be celebrating its centennial. In order to prepare, they are producing a specialty brew each year until then. This year's limited edition brew is Shiner 96, a Marzen (Oktoberfest) - style ale. The bottle label uses the "cotton ball" motif that was part of the Shiner character for decades.

Some more info on the Spoetzl Brewing Co. is presented in this post.

All Things in Moderation

2005-10-08T17:34:00.000-04:00

That includes the quantity of beverages but also the temperature. Just a few thoughts on learning to enjoy the variety of brews that the craft beer revolution have brought to us.

". . . And beer was drunk with reverence, as it ought to be." G. K. Chesterton

This means taking the time to savor the brew, not just mindlessly slamming it down. And it means allowing the beer or ale to warm so as to allow the flavors and aromas to be released.

I don't recall the recommended temperatures, but I usually allow the bottle to sit unopened for maybe 10 - 15 minutes after removing it from the refrigerator. Mass-produced beers (some call them "factory beers") may not taste better at warmer temperatures, so keep that in mind.

Once opened, remember that the warmer beer/ale will foam more, so tilt the glass and pour carefully, so as to "build" about a one-inch to one and one half-inch head of foam. Then let the glass breathe a little.

With heavier ales like IPAs, Porters, Stouts, etc., the flavors may change as the brew warms. There are some that I don't like until they have warmed. On the other hand, some brews, like Expresso Stouts (brewed with coffee) may become too bitter when they warm.

Each individual will have their own likes and dislikes as to flavors and smells. There are a few beers that I have tried that tasted better than they smelled. I don't know all of the reasons for this.

If you have the chance, try to find a retailer that allows the sale of single bottles, so you can try different varieties without having to be disappointed with having to dispose of the remainder of a six-pack that you don't like. Or in some cases, the beer may have sat on a shelf for too long, so it may be stale. Maybe you could put together a "consortium" of friends to split the costs of six-packs to lessen the aggravation factor.

When shopping, bear in mind that some brewers put expiration dates on their bottles, some don't. If you see signs of dust on the "shoulders" of the bottles, that may be a sign that it has been there too long. Some brews show a thin layer of sediment when they are too old, but in others, the sediment is there naturally, as the remnants of yeast.

The American Beer Renaissance began in the mid-1970s because people got tired of the lack of choices among the national brands. The early attempts tasted like homebrews, but the efforts have paid off with some American brands that can stand "toe-to-toe" with European brands.

So instead of being taken in by mass-marketed foreign brands (in green bottles or clear bottles), why not help keep American brewery workers employed?

It's Oktoberfest Time!

2005-10-02T23:18:00.000-04:00

[I haven't posted here lately because of the seriousness of the hurricane damage to the Gulf Coast and the citizens that remained in the area, those that have returned, and those that have nothing to return to (and will have to make new lives elsewhere) will need ongoing help for months.]

Anyway, we find ourselves at the threshold of a major German calendar event, Oktoberfest. I will update with links to more historically accurate accounts, but I seem to remember that Oktoberfest was a post-harvest celebration and an enjoyment of the remaining warm weather before the coming cold winter months. That sounds logical anyway. A quick visit to www.beeradvocate.com reminded me that in Germany, brewing was suspended during the summer months because of the heat and increased susceptibility to bacterial infections of the fermenting beer. So Oktoberfest celebrated the return of beer.

If outdoor festivals with rich, hearty German foods, are not your forte, you can still hoist a glass of micro-brewed Oktoberfest or other Autumn brews and have your own private celebration of one of the important contributions of German immigrants - lager beers.

A description of Marzen and Oktoberfests (both amber lagers) from the Beer Advocate is as follows:

Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen). These brews were kept in cold storage over the spring and summer months, or brewed at a higher gravity, so they’d keep. Märzenbier is full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in colour with a medium to high alcohol content.

The common Munich Oktoberfest beer served at Wies’n (the location at which Munich celebrates its Oktoberfest) contains only 4.5% alcohol by volume, is dark/copper in color, has a mild hop profile and is typically labeled as a Bavarian Märzenbier in style.

From the reviewers at the Beer Advocate, here is a link to the Top 50 rated Oktoberfests. I primarily enjoy American microbrews, so I haven't tried the foreign brands, perhaps I should seek out the highest rated German variety just for the sake of comparison.

Of the varieties (in bottles) that I have found here in the Atlanta area, these are in the Top 50:

5. Thomas Hooker Octoberfest (Troutbrook Brewing Co., Hartford, CT)
11. Brooklyn Oktoberfest
43. *Dominion Octoberfest (*actually not here yet, but some of their other products are starting to show up in the Atlanta market, maybe the draft version will make it here.)

The ratings were on a scale of 1 - 5 and the 50th was a 3.71

Other locally available (or maybe by the end of the month) are:

Samuel Adams Octoberfest (rating 3.53) - bottles
Augsburger Oktoberfest (rating 3.66) - bottles
Flying Dog Dogtoberfest (rating 3.56) - draft only in Atlanta at Summits Wayside Taverns
Abita Amber (rating 3.45) - actually a year-round offering of this style
*Avery The Kaiser (rating 3.87) - *other Avery products are showing up here in bottles, haven't seen The Kaiser yet.
Abita Fall Fest (rating 3.19) - mixed reviews, is usually sold in Holiday 12 pack variety boxes.
Savannah Fest Beer (rating 3.51) - actually on sale in Savannah at the Moon River Brewing Co. (oops - their website is gone, hope this isn't bad news.)
Bavarian Ecstacy Festbier (rating 3.9) - 5 Seasons Brewing Co. - Atlanta brewpub
Max Oktoberfest (rating 3.45) - Max Lager's Brewing Co. - Atlanta brewpub
Shiner 96 Marzen - Spoetzl Bwg. Co., Shiner, TX - new!
Redhook Autumn - Redhook Bwg. Co. - new!

Some of the other Atlanta brewpubs - Rock Bottom, Gordon Biersch, Park Tavern and Copper City in Athens and Cannon in Columbus - may have their own Oktoberfest beers.

A Little Diversion...A Brief Look at Recent New Orleans Brewing History

2005-09-05T22:29:00.000-04:00

Beer is one of the reasons that lots of folks like New Orleans. Collectors like the beer and the cans, too.

In the early 1970s, when the Beer Can Collectors of America (now the Brewery Collectibles Club of America) was founded, there were three breweries in New Orleans producing beer in cans; Falstaff, Jackson, and Dixie. Jackson Brewing Co., adjacent to Jackson Square, closed about 1972 and Falstaff closed about 1978, leaving only Dixie to face the "beer wars" of the 1980s and 1990s, and ultimately hurricane Katrina.

Aside from there being three breweries producing cans, Louisiana law was favorable to grocery store chains having their own "house brand" of beer, resulting in more can varieties that were good for trading with collectors in other parts of the country. The nearby Texas market also added some additional brand names. Also, in Mississippi and Louisiana they had unusual can sizes, 10 and 14 ounces in addition to the traditional 12 and 16 ounce cans. The odd size cans were ostensibly to address loopholes in state tax laws on the 12 & 16 oz. cans.

Jackson Brewing Co. at various times had Jax, Jax Draft, Fabacher Brau, Tex, and Kassel beer, the last being brewed for Handy Andy stores in San Antonio, TX. Jax sizes were 10, 12, and 16 oz., Fabacher Brau sizes were 10, 12 oz., while the others were only 12 oz.. When Jackson closed, Pearl Brewing Co. of San Antonio, TX picked up the Jax and Kassel brands.

Falstaff at various times had Falstaff (10, 12, 14, and 16 oz.), Falstaff Draft and several store brands. The store brands included Time Saver (a chain of convenience stores), Krewes (for National Canal - Villere grocery stores), and Fischer's (for Winn Dixie stores).

Dixie Brewing Co. at various times had Dixie, Dixie Lager, Dixie Light, Dixie Amber Light, Coy, and various store brands. Dixie and Dixie Light were sold in 10 and 12 oz. sizes. The store brands were sold under the Royal Brewing Co. marketing name and they included Fischer's, Krewes, Golden Brau (for a grocery store chain near Lafayette, LA), K & B (for K & B Drug Stores) and Schwegmann's (for the Schwegmann Brothers Giant Supermarkets).

Another interesting aspect of New Orleans culture was that in some Schwegmann stores, when you entered the store, you could pick up a cup of fresh Dixie beer on draft or a can of Schwegmann beer to enjoy while you shopped. A friend of mine told me that in that store, people were on the honor system. He had seen people in the checkout line twirling an empty six pack holder and the cashier would ask "OK, what was it?" and then would add the price of the already consumed six pack to the grocery checkout receipt.

Most, if not all of Dixie's production now is in bottles, including Dixie Voodoo Dark, Dixie Crimson Voodoo, and the chocolate-flavored Dixie White Moose. Dixie Beer has a slightly distinctive flavor, as it is aged in cypress-lined tanks. For a variety of reasons, Dixie has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for years. I don't know how long it will be before we know if there is any future for Dixie.

There have been a few brewpubs in New Orleans, the most durable is the original, the Crescent City Brewhouse. As most of the French Quarter is above sea level (being on the old natural levee of the Mississippi River), Crescent City might be OK. I noticed some newsreel of what looked like Jackson Square being dry and cleaning up taking place.

North of Lake Ponchartrain is the Abita Brewing Co., one of the original southern microbreweries, opening in 1986. It survived the hurricane, being largely out of service because of the loss of electricity and scattered employees unable to reach work.

There were some older breweries in New Orleans that closed before the 1970s, including the American Brewing Co., brewers of Regal Beer.

Misc. Beer Talk - I

2005-09-02T16:32:00.000-04:00

[This post was originally on my other blog "geosciblog".]

For the past 30+ years I have been collecting beer cans and other beer-related items (breweriana). A few years back my collection topped out at more than 5,000 cans, but lately I have been paring down my collection to a few hundred favorites.

Along the way, while learning various aspects of brewing history, I began sampling canned beers from the remaining established regional and local breweries. Then in the late 1970s arrived the microbrewery beers, including those from the first micro (some prefer "craft breweries"), New Albion Brewing Co., of Sonoma, California. Since then, I have tried somewhere around 3,000+ American beers and ales. I used to keep a running list, but changing computer systems, lost discs, etc. have resulted in the older lists being missing. Anyway, from time to time I will pass along my thoughts on new beers/ales of good quality. My senses of smell & taste are not finely-tuned enough to offer fancy reviews, but I have tried enough brands to know "what is good and what ain't".

If ever in Nashville, Tennessee, I recommend a stop at the Blackstone Brewing Company brewpub. [For those unaware, brewpubs are restaurants that brew their own beer.] Open since 1994, they have won awards for some of their brews and now some of them are available in bottles. As I write, I am enjoying a bottle of their Nut Brown Ale that I received from a friend at a local beer can show. I also hear that Yazoo Brewing Co. and Bosco's brewpubs are worthwhile stops (of course have a designated driver or another strategy for enjoying their products in moderation).

I haven't had time to re-visit all of the Atlanta brewpubs lately, but I would recommend 5 Seasons, Max Lager's, Gordon Biersch, and Buckhead Brewing Co. (Stockbridge, Cumming, Alpharetta), based on past visits. I haven't been to Parkside Tavern next to Piedmont Park in probably 4 or 5 years, so I don't know about them. I sorry to say that I would avoid Rock Bottom in Buckhead as the last 3 or 4 visits have been major disappointments. The first few years they were open in the late 1990s, their beers/ales were very good, now they are just bland, especially disappointing are the Pale Ales and India Pale Ales that lack the pronounced hop aroma and flavor characteristic of those varieties (sorry, I am a bit of a hophead). More "beer talk" will follow another time...

From The Land of Pleasant Living...

2005-08-26T11:13:00.000-04:00

Just reminiscing about my favorite cheap beer...National Bohemian.

It was nothing special, just a good, clean tasting light lager beer from Baltimore. It may have been sold in Georgia for short time periods in the past, but I had to rely on infrequent trips to the Mid-Atlantic states or for visits from family or friends from that area to get a 12 pack or so.

The brewery in Baltimore closed a few years ago and production was shifted briefly to the Stroh's brewery at Lehigh Valley, PA. But it just didn't taste the same. I don't know if it is still being produced, if so, it is by Pabst through a contract with Miller. I believe that particular brewery in Lehigh Valley (originally built by Schaefer) is now owned by Guinness.

[Update: I found a blog dedicated to National Bohemian and life in Baltimore. And apparently Natty Boh is being brewed at Wilkes-Barre, PA by the Lion Brewing Co.]

Just what is a "Bohemian-style pilsener"? Among the American lagers previously identified as Bohemian Pilseners included Wiedemann (from Newport, KY), Stroh's, even Budweiser.

Bohemian-style pilseners are identified by Beer Advocate as Czech Pilseners and are described as:

"The birth of Pilsner beer can be traced back to its namesake, the ancient city of Plzen (or Pilsen) which is situated in the western half of the Czech Republic in what was once Czechoslovakia and previously part of the of Bohemian Kingdom. Pilsner beer was first brewed back in the 1840's when the citizens, brewers and maltsters of Plzen formed a brewer's guild and called it the People's Brewery of Pilsen.

The Czech Pilsner, or sometimes known as the Bohemian Pilsner, is light straw to golden color and crystal clear. Hops are very prevalent usually with a spicy bitterness and or a spicy floral flavor and aroma, notably one of the defining characteristics of the Saaz hop. Smooth and crisp with a clean malty palate, many are grassy. Some of the originals will show some archaic yeast characteristics similar to very mild buttery or fusel (rose like alcohol) flavors and aromas."

Some good examples of this style of beer identified by Beer Advocate include:

Pilsner Urquell, Czechvar, Staropramen Lager, all of these are imports. Most of the American versions, given good reviews by Beer Advocate writers, were from local microbreweries or brewpubs. Check it out and see if any are from your area.

Beer Can and Breweriana Collecting

2005-08-24T09:53:00.000-04:00

The above pictured almost-mint condition "flattop" cans from the late 1930s to the early 1960s represent some of the elite collectibles among those that specialize in cans. They can range in value from $10 to the thousands. For those on a budget or in it just for fun, there can be rusty varieties of the same rare cans that range in value from .25 to $10 or $20.

But what is breweriana? It is beer-related containers and advertising materials, i.e., almost anything that has a brewery logo. There are three major breweriana collecting organizations, the B.C.C.A. - Brewery Collectibles Club of America (originally the Beer Can Collectors of America); the A.B.A. - the American Breweriana Association; and the N.A.B.A. - National Association of Brewery Advertising. Each of these organizations has a number of local chapters.

It seems that the earliest type of beer collectible (breweriana) of significant varieties were the metal bottle caps (crowns) developed in the 1890s. At that time, many of the bottles were returnable, embossed bottles. As more beer bottles appeared with paper labels, the labels became a popular collectible. With the approach of Prohibition in 1920, there were individuals that "squirreled away" items from the many breweries faced with closure.

The end of Prohibition in 1933 was followed by the debut of the first beer can in 1935 and the associated can opener. The novelty of beer in cans and their "stackability" (as opposed to bottles) let bar owners, brewery employees, and other individuals to start collecting cans. Many of the breweries that re-opened after the 13 years of closure during Prohibition went out of business within a short time. Most of the breweries that "kept busy" during Prohibition by making near beer, soft drinks, ice cream, or other products were more well-prepared to re-enter the business. Many of the breweries that had shut down completely during Prohibition encountered numerous equipment problems from lack of use during those 13 years. Thus, there were a large number of "short-run" brands from the middle and late 1930s. The few individual collectors lacked a method of contacting one another to swap cans, unless they found one another by accident or word-of-mouth.

The B.C.C.A. is the oldest of the three organizations. It began in 1970 in the St. Louis, MO area. An October 20, 1969 article in the St. Louis Globe Democrat featured the beer can collection of local resident Denver Wright, Jr.. Several other individual collectors contacted him after reading the article and in April 1970, the Beer Can Collectors of America was born. The collectors visited each other's homes and swapped their extra cans. Word of mouth and news reports helped spread the word.

Over the years, the hobby that began with the swapping of beer cans (buying and selling was severely frowned upon) has matured into the buying and selling of breweriana items at shows and on ebay that can reach into the thousands of dollars. The mid-1970s debut of microbreweries produced a new wave of brewery collectibles (labels, bottles, crowns, coasters, glassware, and even a few cans) and because some of the new breweries didn't last long, some of these items are now becoming rare. Items such as coasters and labels are popular because they are easy to mail and do not take up as much space as cans or bottles.

The peak of B.C.C.A. membership was 1978 during the "fad period" (see the Billy Beer post), when there were 12,000 members. Since the late 1980s or so, the membership has remained consistently near 4,000. It is estimated that for every B.C.C.A. member, there are 9 other collectors in the U.S.. B.C.C.A. membership is open to people from other countries and the B.C.C.A. website links to collectors clubs in those nations.

Membership in these three organizations carries the following benefits (they vary somewhat between these organizations:
1) A membership roster, making easier to contact fellow collectors.
2) A "grapevine" through which to swap information.
3) An annual national convention and numerous regional shows.
4) A periodic journal/magazine devoted to the hobby.

The B.C.C.A.'s CANVENTION® is the most well-known of the national meetings. The term was coined during the first B.C.C.A. convention in 1970 in St. Louis, MO.. CANVENTION 35 is in Charlotte, NC from August 31 - September 3, 2005 in the Charlotte Convention Center. Unofficial events usually include a local microbrewery/brewpub tour before the CANVENTION and other activities for family members that want to see local sights. During the CANVENTION, there are meetings of various local and at-large chapters devoted to particular speciality items, Microbrewery Night, a business meeting and several days of a trade floor with buying, selling, and trading between collectors takes place. There is also "room-to-room" trading. The CANVENTION is open only to members, except on Saturday morning, when the public is usually invited into the trade floor area. Next year, the CANVENTION is in Kansas City, MO..

You don't have to drink beer to collect these items. Some of local chapter (club) members simply enjoy the artwork on the cans and other collectibles. Or they enjoy the company of fellow eccentrics. There is a wide range of professions in the hobby, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, police officers, military members, farmers, truck drivers, homemakers, a priest, and even a NASCAR driver, Rich Bickle. We have three geologists in our local chapter.

As mentioned earlier, there are specialty chapters, one of which is the Rusty Bunch, whose members take to the woods in search of past-discarded cans in old dumps (we call this activity dumping, of course). The idea is similar to adding a "filler" coin or stamp to a collection, i.e., an off-grade example of a rare can that can be hopefully upgraded in the future. But sometimes, people prefer to keep their dumper cans, as there can be quite entertaining (and sometimes harrowing) stories associated with getting old beer cans.

If you live near a large or medium-sized city, there is a chance that there is a local beer can/breweriana show sometime during the year. The local shows are easier for non-members to attend just to have a "look around". Or maybe pick up a few items for their rec room or den that remind them of the beer that Grandpa (or Grandma) used to enjoy.

What is an Ale? - Pale Ales and India Pale Ales

2005-08-12T20:11:00.000-04:00

As Ales represent a broad category, they will presented in small servings, for your enjoyment. This serving is of Pale Ales and India Pale Ales, both of which generally appeal to people that like the pronounced hop aroma and flavor.

From www.beeradvocate.com, Ales are distinguished from lager beers by the use of "top fermenting yeast strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The top fermenting yeast perform at warmer temperatures than do yeast's used to brew lager beer, and their byproducts are more evident in taste and aroma. Fruitiness and esters are often part of an ale's character."

The "ale culture" was largely brought to America by immigrants from the British Isles. More recently, Belgian Ales have found a following among some American consumers. They are quite different from the British/American ales.

A Beer Advocate comparison of Pale Ales finds that "American versions tend to be cleaner and hoppier, while British tend to be more malty, buttery, aromatic and balanced." Many people agree that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to be the classic of the American Pale Ale style.

British Pale Ales are described as being "traced back to the city of Burton-upon-Trent, a city with an abundance of rich hard water. This hard water helps with the clarity as well as enhancing the hop bitterness. This ale can be from golden to reddish amber in color with generally a good head retention. A mix of fruity, hoppy, earthy, buttery and malty aromas and flavors can be found. Typically all ingredients are English." Royal Oak Pale Ale is cited as a good example of a British Pale Ale.

India Pale Ales were "first brewed in England and exported for the British troops in India during the late 1700s. To withstand the voyage, IPA's were basically tweaked Pale Ales that were, in comparison, much more malty, boasted a higher alcohol content and were well-hopped, as hops are a natural preservative. Historians believe that an IPA was then watered down for the troops, while officers and the elite would savor the beer at full strength. The English IPA has a lower alcohol due to taxation over the decades. The leaner the brew the less amount of malt there is and less need for a strong hop presence which would easily put the brew out of balance. Some brewers have tried to recreate the original IPA with strengths close to 8-9% abv." Fuller's India Pale Ale is cited as a good example of a UK-brewed English IPA.

American IPAs are described as having "a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golded to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt back bone." Ballantine India Pale Ale was the first example of this style that many Americans experienced, it was especially good when brewed at the former Narragansett brewery in Cranston, RI. As Ballantine IPA is probably no longer available, I now enjoy Tupper's Hop Pocket Ale, Sweetwater IPA,

As is the American habit of having to "make everything bigger", there are Double IPAs, described as "Take an India Pale Ale and feed it steroids, ergo the term Double IPA. Although open to the same interpretation as its sister styles, you should expect something robust, malty, alcoholic and with a hop profile that might rip your tongue out." Rogue I2PA (Imperial India Pale Ale) and Flying Dog Wild Dog Double Pale Ale are cited as good examples.

What is Bock Beer?

2005-08-06T19:12:00.000-04:00

Before there were microbreweries and brewpubs...

Aside from ales and dark lagers, the most exotic brews most American beer drinkers sampled were bock beers. Bock beers are a type of dark lager developed primarily in Germany and Czechoslovakia. By tradition, they are a late Winter/early Spring offering.

The seasonal nature of bocks also make bock collectibles more desireable. Some of the favorite bock beer cans include Budweiser Bock and A-1 Bock (from Phoenix), both of which were only canned for one year. Some collectors specialize in bock collectibles.

Some people remember bock by the traditional goat icons (explained below) and some by the erroneous belief that bock beer represented the "sludge" from the bottom of the brewers aging tanks. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the beer business, cleanliness is paramount and everything is cleaned between batches.

In the past, many American brewers had bock beers, including Budweiser and Schlitz. By the 1970s and early 1980s, from my vantage point in Georgia, the only American bock beers were Pabst Blue Ribbon Bock and Stroh's Bock. In the Knoxville, TN area there was Schoenling Bock from Cincinnati. After I moved to Texas, I became familiar with Shiner Bock, which was a year-round offering. There were a few other local bocks that persisted.

www.BeerAdvocate.com has these words to describe the most familar type of bock:

"The origins of Bock beer are quite uncharted. Back in medieval days German monasteries would brew a strong beer for sustenance during their Lenten fasts. Some believe the name Bock came from the shortening of Einbeck thus "beck" to "bock." Others believe it is more of a pagan or old world influence that the beer was only to be brewed during the sign of the Capricorn goat and that "bock" means goat in German. Basically this beer was a symbol of better times to come and moving away from winter.

As for the beer itself in modern day, it is a bottom fermenting lager that generally takes extra months of lagering (cold storage) to smooth out such a strong brew. Bock beer in general is stronger than your typical lager, more of a robust malt character with a dark amber to brown hue. Hop bitterness can be assertive enough to balance though must not get in the way of the malt flavor, most are only lightly hopped."

Aside from the traditional Bock, other sub-categories include the stronger Doppelbock, Eisbock, and Maibock/Hellesbock.

Without offering any endorsements, as tastes vary individually (see the individual listings from Beer Advocate), some of the ones I have tried include:
Bock - Michelob Amber Bock, Shiner Bock, Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, Christian Moerlein Bock, Leinenkugel Bock, Point Bock, Lone Star Bock.
Doppelbock - Samuel Adams Doppelbock, Thomas Creek Doppelbock, Samichlaus Bier (from Austria - 14% alcohol).
Eisbock - Coors had one a few years ago, haven't tried any others lately.
Maibock/Hellesbock - Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Flying Dog Hellerhound Bock, Gordon Biersch Maibock, Five Seasons Me262 Maibock.

Samuel Adams Triple Bock is an intense experience. I have two bottles that have been aging since purchased in Dallas, Texas in 1994 and 1995. When fresh, they were comparable to ports, meant to be sipped. At the time, their 17.50% alcohol was the highest available in the world, in fact they had to use champagne yeast, as the high alcohol content killed off the beer and ale yeast tried. Sometime I will open them in the company of friends, to try to see if aging has treated them well (the opinions on Beer Advocate raise doubts).

As I don't get to travel much during Bock season and I generally prefer American beers, I have yet to try the vast majority of the listed brands on these webpages.

Any feedback would be appreciated, if you have a favorite bock beer.

Pittsburgh Brewing Company Needs Your Help

2005-08-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

How can you help? By buying some of their beer, silly!

Here is a news article that reports some of the ongoing financial problems the brewery is facing.

Come on, if you are buying Corona or Heineken, put that stuff aside and help keep American brewery workers employed. There is a lot of brewing history (144 years) in Pittsburgh with the Iron City brands and also the Falls City (formerly of Louisville, KY).

This article explains some of the problems facing the few surviving regional breweries in the U.S. as they compete with national brewers and fad-driven imports.

Hi Neighbor...Have a 'Gansett!

2005-07-28T23:30:00.000-04:00

For those not familiar with the above slogan, it was for Narragansett Beer, brewed in Cranston, RI from 1888 to 1981. Yes, I am a Southerner, but I managed to visit Narragansett territory in 1977, 1978, and 1981. I got to try Narragansett Lager, Cream Ale, Porter, and Haffenreffer Malt Liquor, as well as Ballantine Ale, Ballantine IPA, Ballantine Lager, Krueger Lager, and Falstaff, all of which were brewed at this brewery during that time period.

From its founding as a lager brewery in 1888, Narragansett gradually grew until it became the largest brewery in New England in 1909. After Prohibition ended in 1933, Narragansett resumed its place as New England's largest brewery.

By the 1960s, national brewers were making inroads into traditional Narragansett markets. In 1965, Falstaff Brewing Co. purchased Narragansett. The bulk of the advertising dollars were spent unsuccessfully promoting Falstaff in an attempt to introduce it to the New England market. The lack of advertising also contributed to a continual sales slide for the Narragansett and Haffenreffer brands.

In 1972, after Falstaff purchased the Ballantine and Feigenspan brands from the closing Ballantine brewery in Newark, NJ, these brands were transferred to the Cranston brewery. The purchase of the venerable Ballantine brands was intended to help Falstaff enter the NYC market, which did not go well.

From the late 1930s, Falstaff had grown by buying local breweries on the verge of closing. By 1960, it was the third largest brewing company in the nation. But the old breweries owned by Falstaff needed refurbishing and upgrading by the 1970s. This included the Narragansett brewery. The older equipment resulted in higher production costs making competition with national brewers more difficult. An anti-trust lawsuit, by the state of Rhode Island, against Falstaff went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the court found in favor of Falstaff, but the legal costs hurt the company greatly.

The use of fuel oil to operate the brewery also contributed to its financial difficulties. Attempts were made to bring natural gas service to the brewery, but the local gas utility was unable to reach an agreement with the brewery to guarantee the quantities needed. Falstaff by this time also had a rather eccentric President, Paul Kalmanovitz, this may have affected the utility's decision not to construct the natural gas line. This finally led to the closure of this brewery in 1981.

The production of Narragansett beer and the other Falstaff and Ballantine brands was shifted to the Falstaff brewery in Fort Wayne, but customers complained of a change in taste. It may have also been produced by the Pearl brewery in San Antonio (which was part of the strange Falstaff conglomerate, which may be explained in a future post).

Eventually, the Falstaff brands wound up with Pabst, then brewing shifted to a contract basis with Miller for numerous smaller brands, including Pabst, Strohs, Schlitz, Hamms, and others. In 2003, Narragansett was dropped from the Pabst portfolio.

For more info on Narragansett, please visit this BeerHistory.com page and this Falstaff History website.

[8/3 Update: From the Falstaff History website, comes this news that the Narragansett label has been sold by Pabst to a Rhode Island entrepreneur and the brand should be returning to the state soon. Here is one story and a second story on the subject.]
[8/6 Update: Here is another good article about the history of the Narragansett Brewing Co., from the American Breweriana Journal. From an article on RealBeer.com, comes this summary of the present and future status of the Narragansett brand: "The beer is currently brewed in La Crosse, Wis. (formerly the G. Heileman brewery), and is available in 16-ounce cans. The investor group plans to move production to the High Falls Brewery (formerly the Genesee brewery) in Rochester, N.Y. Hellendrung said the company also plans to have a small brewery operation in Providence."]

Shiner Beer

2005-07-23T23:02:00.000-04:00

Currently owned by Carlos Alvarez of Gambrinus Brands, the Spoetzl Brewing Co. of Shiner, Texas, is the last of the original Texas breweries. The Handbook of Texas Online has a good article on the history of the brewery, some of the info below is from this article, some of it is from memory of past visits to the brewery. Shiner is located on U.S. Hwy 90 Alternate between San Antonio and Houston and the brewery is located adjacent to Boggy Creek, east of downtown Shiner (if memory serves me correctly).

It began in 1909 amid the German, Czech, and Austrian immigrants of Shiner, as the Shiner Brewing Association. Their efforts did not go well and the brewery was leased to Oswald Petzold and German-trained brewmaster Kosmas Spoetzl in 1914. The following year, Spoetzl purchased the brewery. During Prohibition, the brewery produced ice and near-beer.

When Mr. Spoetzl passed away in 1950, his daughter Cecilie (known as "Miss Celie") became the only woman to own a brewery in the nation, at the time. The Spoetzl family control ended with the sale of the brewery in 1966. After that time, the brewery changed hands several times. In 1989, Spoetzl Brewing Co. was purchased by the current owners, Carlos Alvarez and the Gambrinus Company, importers of Corona Beer. The fierce loyalty of Shiner Bock Beer fans apparently impressed Mr. Alvarez and Shiner Bock remains the flagship brand of this brewery.

Throw-away bottles were introduced in 1958 and cans in 1970. Until the late 1970s/early 1980s, the bulk of their sales were confined to the San Antonio-Austin-Houston triangle. Gradually, the sales area grew to cover most of the state of Texas. The purchase of Spoetzl by Gambrinus allowed the influx of capital for the expansion of brewing capacity and the utilization of the Gambrinus distributors in 20 states.

Prior to the advent of the microbreweries, local and regional beers, such as Pearl, Lone Star, and Shiner provided the only respites from the national brands in Texas. With the closure of the Lone Star brewery in 1998 and the closure of the Pearl brewery in 2001, Spoetzl became the last of the original Texas breweries.

Spoetzl's current offerings include Shiner Bock, Shiner Light, Shiner Summer Stock (kolsch), Shiner Blonde, Shiner Hefeweizen, and Shiner Winter Ale.

Some additional info on the brewing history of Shiner, Texas is available at TexasBreweries.com

What was Billy Beer?

2005-07-23T16:42:00.000-04:00

I am sure most of you have at one time or another seen a picture of a Billy Beer can or have seen want ads wanting to sell them for what seemed like ridiculous prices. Well, you are right about the ridiculous prices.

President Carter's brother Billy was known to enjoy Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Someone came up with the marketing idea to have the first brother honored with his own beer. The first brewery to brew Billy Beer was the Falls City Brewing Co. of Louisville, Kentucky. Billy made his choice of recipes and as expected, he chose one similar to PBR.

The beer sold well when it first hit the market, carried largely by the publicity. Three other breweries, West End Brewing of Utica, NY (now Matts/Saranac); Cold Spring Brewing Co., of Cold Spring, MN; and Pearl Brewing Co., of San Antonio, TX produced Billy Beer in cans. Between the four breweries, including all minor can variations, there are about 7 or 8 varieties of Billy Beer cans.

The mistaken idea for the cans actually having any value came from a news report that followed the closure of Falls City Brewing Co. in 1978. When Falls City Brewing Co. closed, G. Heileman Brewing Co. of LaCrosse, WI bought the Falls City and Drummond Brothers beer labels (recipes) and unused cans from the Louisville brewery, but did not buy the unused Billy Beer cans. The unused Billy cans were recycled, but by then, thousands of cases had been sold and collectors had squirreled away thousands more than collectors would ever want, including full cans. But someone reasoned that because so many had been recycled, that increased their value.

It took a few years for the craze to go away and you still see inquiries and occasional six packs for sale. If you ever want one for a conservation piece, don't pay more than $1 or $2 for one, even if full. Actually, other Billy items, e.g., belt buckles, t-shirts, signs, etc. are more somewhat more rare than the cans. Returnable bottle labels were printed for Billy Beer, but I don't know if the bottles were ever filled at the Falls City brewery.

FYI, full cans are only of extra value to full can collectors. Canned beers do not age well and generally become stale within a few months. Bottled, higher-gravity ales and spiced ales may age for a few months to years (decades in a few rare cases), depending on a number of different factors, so if a Billy can is full, it has no extra value.

The Beer Links at the Right Margin & Miscellany

2005-07-19T01:37:00.000-04:00

Most of these are breweries that I have some familiarity with or perhaps I have heard that their products are of good quality.

Mixed among them are also a few websites of collecting organizations and beer enthusiasts.

Above all else, please enjoy in moderation.

Most of the beers discussed on this blog are meant to be savored during quiet times, during conversation with friends, but are not really meant to be "slammed" by the six-pack during football games.

For these beers and ales, allowing them to warm to about 55 degrees F helps bring out the flavors. Strong, bitter stouts should be kept a little cooler, as sometimes warming makes them too bitter. A characteristic of stouts brewed in Athens, Georgia is that they are expresso stouts (brewed with coffee) and it gets really intense when warmed. Blind Man Expresso Stout (now defunct) was the first of these.

If you are not used to strong hop contents, perhaps avoid India Pale Ales and American Pale Ales. But if you are a "hophead" you would probably enjoy Tupper's Hop Pocket Ale or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Around here, on tap, Terrapin Rye Pale Ale and especially Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster are very hoppy and distinctive. Terrapin eventually hopes to build a brewery in Athens, Ga., but for now, their brands are contract-brewed in Frederick, Maryland.

Barleywine - The King of Ales

2005-07-19T00:52:00.000-04:00

Barleywines, they're big, robust, and malty. They are meant to be savored sip by sip, after the kids are asleep. Or during some other quiet, contemplative moment.

This bottle is a Scottish barleywine called "Traquair House Ale" and this particular bottle has been quietly aging in my basement for 8 to 10 years (the bottle doesn't have a date, but I started saving heavier ales for aging back about 1993 or so). After all this time, it is still crystal clear, a deep ruby amber in color. The aroma is sweet and pungent, similar to other aged ales. If it had tasted as it smelled, it might have been unpleasant, but fortunately, the flavor is smooth and mellow, quite enjoyable.

The alcohol content is not listed on this bottle, but it is probably about 11 to 12%. I actually purchased this bottle in Georgia, before this strength ale was legal. In the past, once in a while, particular ales with higher than legal alcohol contents would "sneak" into the state, because there was no listed content to give it away. It was also on sale in South Carolina for a year or two later, where the legal alcohol content was also 6%. I wish I had saved more bottles of this. It is now, legally on sale in a nearby liquor store, but it would take years of aging to reach this point again.

The idea behind aging, as told to me by a wine expert, is that you give up freshness in exchange for more complex flavors and aromas. Aging can also take the sharp edge off of some ales. Extreme hop contents can produce a "bite" when fresh and the high malt content of barleywines can make them bitter when young.

It doesn't always work. I opened a bottle of 1992 Thomas Hardy Ale a few nights ago and was disappointed by the flavor. The alcohol punch was still there, but the flavor was oddly tart and unpleasant to me. The Traquair House Ale was stored under the same basement "brauskeller" conditions. Last weekend or so, I tried a 2002 bottle of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, but it had lost too much of its hoppy character was was also a disappointment.

Barleywines generally range in alcohol content from about 7% to 15%. The British/Scottish barleywines are generally maltier and have a lower hop content than American barleywines.

Among my favorite American barleywines are Anchor Old Foghorn, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Rogue Old Crustacean, and Avery Hog Heaven.

The now-defunct Dogwood Brewing Company from Atlanta had a good, smooth barleywine ("Excellent Adventure" was the name) "waiting in the wings" when the brewery closed. As far as I know, the labels were never delivered and the barleywine never made it to market (sob, sniff!). I did get to try a "short-fill" bottle. As it was already smooth, there were not the rough edges to be removed by aging. I just wonder what happened to those bottles.

It has been several years, but I also seem to remember liking Dogfish Head Immort Ale, from New Jersey. Another tried years ago was Old Dominion Millenium. The remainder of those listed above are from western states.

When putting aside ales for aging, they need to be stored in a cool, dark place, safe from temperature fluctuations. Aging will take place in a refrigerator, at a slower rate.

Each person has their own likes and dislikes, but personally, I didn't like Flying Dog Horn Dog, but I understand they had a 10th (or maybe 15th) anniversary limited-edition Wild Dog barleywine that was better (only on draft), but I missed it. Drat. Others that I didn't care for were Abita Andygator and a few years ago I had another brand (John Barleycorn, I think) that was flavored with a different spice each year. That particular year, it was cardimom (sp.?), which was kind of a strange flavor.

The Traquair House Ale has partially erased my memory of other barleywines tried before. I may add more info as memories are refreshed.

Some of the Beers That I Miss...

2005-07-12T22:04:00.000-04:00

...Either because they are no longer brewed, or I haven't been in their sales area for years.

In no particular order:

National Bohemian when it was brewed in Baltimore. It was my favorite cheap beer. After that brewery closed, I had a can from Lehigh Valley, PA, but it just wasn't the same. If it is still brewed, it would be by Miller.

Stoney's, from Jones Brewing Co., Smithton, PA (now closed). In 16 oz. bottles, it was another good cheap beer. It was owned by the family of actress Shirley Jones.

Straub, from a small family-owned brewery (since 1872) in St. Marys, PA. It is still going strong, but the sales area is pretty much western PA and eastern OH. As I haven't been to NW Pennsylvania since 1982, I haven't enjoyed Straub since then either. They used to have a self-service tap in the hospitality room. After the tour, you could fill a glass yourself and the only requirement was that you wash the glass after you finished. One time, I stayed too long and had a few too many glasses of fresh Straub beer. I had to hang out in the parking lot and around town for a couple of hours until I was road-worthy again.

Prior Double Dark, from Christian Schmidt Brewing Co., in Philadelphia. It was an unusual dark beer, difficult to describe, but it had a cult following. The last time I bought some, in 1982, it cost $16 per case. When I was in Philadelphia during 1983, we stopped at at least a half dozen places looking for it, but no one carried it. The brewery closed within a year or so after that. Someone claimed that Saranac Black Forest was supposed to be a reincarnation of Prior Double Dark, but I don't think so. I would recognize it if I had it again.

Christian Moerlein, still brewed in Cincinnati, not sold in the Atlanta area, haven't been to Nashville in a few years. Christian Moerlein, when it debuted in 1981 (or 1982) was the first new, regionally-marketed American beer that was brewed to meet the German Reinheitsgebot rules, allowing only water, barley, hops, and yeast. It is brewed by the remnants of the Hudepohl Brewing Co.. I miss some of the other Hudepohl brands, Hudepohl Gold, Ludwig Hudeopohl Bock and Octoberfest. And my wife misses Schoenling Little Kings. Schoenling, another old Cincinnati brewery merged with Hudepohl a few years back.

Pearl, from San Antonio. As mentioned in a previous post, when I had keg parties in El Paso, they were Pearl keg parties. It is now brewed by Miller in Forth Worth. I haven't tried it from that brewery. It might be OK, but the history is now gone.

Henry Weinhard's and Weinhard's Ireland-style Ale originally from Blitz Weinhard of Portland, OR. Weinhard's Ireland-style ale is one of the best ales I have had in a can from an established brewery. I am not sure what happened to this brewery. When Stroh's got out of the beer business and Miller and Pabst ended up with the Stroh/Heileman labels, I lost track of what happened to some of those breweries, like Rainier in Seattle, Blitz in Portland. I think Miller ended up with the Olympia brewery at Tumwater, WA.

Matt's Premium and Utica Club, from F.X. Matt in Utica, New York. Saranac is now the most visible label from this brewery (and I enjoy most of their brands, but we don't see them that often in Atlanta).

The historic beers from the old Narragansett Brewery in Cranston, RI. These included Ballantine Ale, Ballantine India Pale Ale, Haffenreffer Malt Liquor, Narragansett, Narragansett Porter, and Falstaff. When Falstaff closed that brewery, it shifted some of the brands to its Fort Wayne brewery and they were still fairly decent, but now that brewery is long gone. I will post on the complicated history of Falstaff at a later time.

Point Special, from Stevens Point, WI. In 1982, I took a trip up to Wisconsin and visited the four surviving regional breweries at that time, Stevens Point, Walter, Huber, and Leinenkugel. Stevens Point is still in business but I haven't been close to their sales area in years, Walter is gone, Huber is still in business, but largely known for the Berghoff brands, and Leinenkugel's has been owned by Miller for years. Some of the Leinenkugel brands are available in Georgia, but not their lager.

Yuengling Porter. Some of the Yuengling brands are available in NC and FL, including the Black and Tan, but I haven't had the Porter in years. It was a mainstay, before the availability of microbrewery beers, if you wanted something out of the ordinary.

Celis White and Celis Grand Cru, formerly brewed in Austin, TX. This microbrewery, specializing in Belgian-style beers, was purchased by Miller and absolutely ruined. Which is odd, as Miller seems to have done well with their 1980s purchase of Leinenkugel, of Chippewa Falls, WI.

Schmaltz's Alt, August Schell, of New Ulm, MN still brews this brand, it was an excellent (in my opinion) German-style dark ale. I just haven't been in Schell's territory for a long time.

Heileman's Old Style, from their La Crosse, WI brewery. That brewery is now an independently-owned brewery and I haven't had any of their beers to see if they are similar to Old Style.

If I think of more, I may add them, as I continue to wax nostalgic.

My Last Bottle of Dogwood Imperial Porter

2005-07-12T01:38:00.000-04:00

Dogwood Brewing Company, one of my local favorites went out of business a few months ago and I put aside a small stash of their new Imperial Porter and last night I finished my last bottle. Sweet memories. Before they closed, I got to try a "short-fill" bottle of their barleywine, which never made it to market. It was very smooth, without the bite that many barleywines have.

I wonder what happened to the rest of those bottles? They were sitting in the brewery, awaiting labels. I may have a few bottles of their stout left in the back of my pantry (out of the light), so there may be a few more memories left.

For those not familiar, an imperial porter is dark like a stout, but without as much of the bitterness of a stout. Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter (honoring Hunter S. Thompson) is similar and is also good, as are most of the Flying Dog products. It is just that their bottle labels, designed by Ralph Steadman are illustrative of what happens to someone that stayed in the mindset of the 1970s a little too long.

Our Role in the American Beer Renaissance

2005-07-09T20:24:00.000-04:00

Next time you enjoy a glass of craft beer from a microbrewery or a brewpub, there are two groups of people that you can thank.

First are the people that take the risks to open new breweries, which are capital intensive and there are always numerous governmental hoops through which to jump. Some breweries fizzle within months, others within a few years. Others, like Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will be arriving at their 25th anniversary next year.

Second are the beer can/breweriana collectors. Beginning in St. Louis in 1971, the Beer Can Collectors began as an organization of people dedicated to collecting of beer cans. As collectors and the hobby matured, some people branched into collecting other forms of breweriana (glassware, coasters, labels, trays, etc.). We also learned about the history of various breweries along the way. When engaging in conversation with someone at a party, if the subject drifted to beer, often the remark would come up that "my grandfather used to drink Grain Belt Beer (for instance)". A knowledgeable collector could explain what happened to that particular brewery. In this case, though the original Grain Belt Brewing Co. is long gone, it is still being brewed by the August Schell Brewing Co., in New Ulm, MN..

In our quests to get cans to trade through the mail with other collectors, we would scour liquor and beer stores while traveling and would occasionally go on long-distance "beer runs". In the early 1980s (before I was married), I traveled cheap in a longbed Datsun pickup truck, sleeping at KOAs, to afford the beer runs. In 1981, to pick up beer for a friend's wedding, I traveled to Frankenmuth, MI, then across Ohio, then through Pennsylvania and arrived back in Atlanta with 22 cases of different beers, some unusual ones in bottles, too (Thank God for air shocks!). I would throw my sleeping bag on top of the case boxes and sleep when exhausted. In 1982, I went through Ohio, and then up to Wisconsin and brought back about a dozen cases of different beers.

In sharing these beers with friends, it illustrated that there was more to American beer than the major brands. It helped remind them of the diversity that used to be the norm in American brewing. At one time, Philadelphia had 42 breweries and the greater Cincinnati area had 26. In short, we are the historians.

Other collectors were no doubt doing the same thing. This helped keep some of the local and regional breweries alive for a while longer and it helped prepare consumers for the advent of microbreweries, the first of which was the New Albion Brewing Co. of Sonoma, California in 1976 or 1977. Other early ones (not in chronological order) included Cartwright Brewing Co. of Portland, Oregon; Boulder Brewing Co., originally of Longmont, then Boulder Colorado; River City Brewing Co. of Sacramento, California; and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., of Chico, California (linked above). Of these pioneers, only Sierra Nevada and Boulder survive, though Boulder has undergone some ownership changes along the way.

Another contributor was Fritz Maytag, when he bought the declining Anchor Brewing Co. in 1965. Though not technically a microbrewery, because it was already established, his dedication to brewing higher quality beers helped pave the way, also.

The microbrewery/brewpubs are collectively known as craft breweries and trying their wares can be an adventure. The deck is stacked against them from the start. Many good breweries have closed due to insufficient start-up funds. They don't have the advantage of high-tech labs for troubleshooting, like the major breweries have. They don't have the market share needed to be treated with respect by most distributors. And to some extent, for at least a while, there seemed to be more breweries than there were qualified brewers, so quality and consistency could be a problem. When one is trying microbrews, one needs to remember that it is not unusual for there to be slight variations from one batch to another. And many of their brews are more intense than many people are prepared for. Major American beers are brewed to appeal to a wider range of consumers. Many microbrews may be bitter or too hoppy at first taste.

But I would appeal to you to give them a try, rather than bringing home those mass-marketed foreign beers. Keep our brewery workers employed!

This is Why We Enjoy Brewpubs.

2005-07-09T20:06:00.000-04:00

For the last few years, in January, the Bama Cannas Chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America (formerly the Beer Can Collectors of America) hold a trade session at the Olde Auburn Ale House in Auburn, Alabama. When you have so many good varieties of fresh draft beer at hand, it is hard to wait until 11 or 11:30 AM to have your first beer. The show starts at 8:30 AM. Those are three long hours. And no, I don't have a pint of each. I enjoy a "sampler platter" in which each glass holds about a 4 oz. sample of beer. Then I enjoy a pint of my favorite. I am something of a hophead, so this day I had a pint of the IPA and the Hopdragon, but then I didn't have to drive.

If you are ever in the Auburn area, the brewpub is in the downtown area, a little off the beaten path, so you may have to call to get directions. It is worth a stop.

Some of My Favorite Texas Beer Cans

2005-07-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

Falstaff - The subject of a future post (soon), they had a brewery in El Paso (1957-1967), also had a Galveston Brewery until about 1978.
Golden Grain - brewed by Mitchell's, the local El Paso brewery, may have been a store brand, as it was later brewed by a California brewery after Mitchell's closed.
Grand Prize - Gulf Brewing Co., owned by Howard Hughes, closed in the mid to late 1950s.
Hamms - bought the brewery from Howard Hughes, operated it for a few years.
Lone Star - was a part of Texas lore from about the 1940s until Stroh closed the brewery in the early 1990s (gasp, my memory is starting to fade, need more beer...). Now brewed by Miller at Fort Worth. The silver can is Lone Star Draft.
Mitchell's - the local El Paso brewery, built on the site of the old pre-Prohibition El Paso Brewing Assoc., operated until about 1957, when Harry Mitchell sold the brewery to Falstaff.
Pearl - opened in 1886, operated until perhaps a couple of years ago, was also part of Texas lore for decades. Now brewed by Miller at Fort Worth. My keg parties in El Paso were always Pearl keg parties. I remember a bar in El Paso that served Pearl until about 1979 and they sold 16 oz. draft glasses for 30 cents.
Shiner - from the Spoetzl Brewery, last original Texas brewery, still in business, owned by the company that imports Corona. I once hauled a pony keg of Shiner Beer from Shiner, Texas to Atlanta for a party (while going home to visit family during the summer). I spent more money on ice than on the beer.
Southern Select - Galveston-Houston Brewing Co., it may have been the brewery that later became the Falstaff Brewery in Galveston, will have to check on that one. The can on the left is called a crowntainer.
Time - a conetop from a short-lived Dallas brewery.

Some good ones that are missing include Bluebonnet, a conetop from Dallas, and Travis, a very rare conetop from San Antonio.

Will Get Caught Up Soon

2005-07-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

I had format problems with my primary blog and this one (same template). Now that the problems are fixed, I will being building this one. I will bring forth some interesting trivia, that I hope you will enjoy, so check back soon!

What It's About

2005-06-24T11:18:00.000-04:00

This blog is about issues relating to American beer, its history and current issues and the collecting of brewery-related advertising (breweriana).

More will be added shortly...