How does a brewery decide what beers to make?
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The following is a guest post from Caitlin who works for Micro Matic. My keezer plans have become pretty popular on this site so I thought it would be appropriate to have a post on the history of the kegerator and some of the new technologies available, like the Freedom Kegerator she talks about. Considering a good percentage of my keezer parts came from Micro Matic, Caitlin is the right person for the job.
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Yes, there are now pickles made with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. My order was confirmed less than 5 minutes after I heard the news. Check out the video to see what I think about them.
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Way back when, if you wanted to drink something different in the U.S., it had to be an import. You could argue that dark beer meant import. To many it still does.
Things have obviously changed. There are around 2,000 breweries in the U.S. each producing around a dozen beers, which if my math is correct, equals a shit-ton of different beers.
I know it’s overwhelming for me. I try to drink as many different varieties as possible. My uniques on Untappd are more important to me than my total.
But we don’t live in a bubble, and the craft revolution is taking place at a worldwide scale. Mikkeller, Brew Dog, and Baird are all familiar names of international craft breweries. Not to mention the “old” imports: Sam Smiths, Chimay, Orval, Weihenstephaner, etc.
My question is this – do you make an effort to drink craft beers from other countries, or is trying American craft beer enough of a challenge for you? Let us know below.
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The following is a guest post from my friend Chris Jensen. He’s been homebrewing for 5 years and works on the National Marketing team at Whole Foods Market.
I’ve just returned from a spectacular two-week journey through Belgium, the self-proclaimed Beer Paradise. That moniker is no exaggeration.
Belgian beer culture is likely to make any beer enthusiast a little weak at the knees. According to Brooklyn Brewing’s Garrett Oliver, Belgium has “held onto a greater range of [its] brewing tradition than any other country in the world. ” If one could say that England is the Heart of brewing tradition, and Germany is its purist Mind, then Belgium is most certainly the Soul.
As a homebrewer and lover of beer, I’ve long respected Belgian brewers: I respect their substantial influence on brewers I love here in the US; I respect their tradition of bottle fermentation, which seems more natural and can produce more complex and mature qualities than forced carbonation; and I respect that each brewery has its own specialized glassware designed to highlight its beers’ features.
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Some of you might have heard about an interesting new service for buying beer online called Beerjobber.
I spoke on the phone with Beerjobber founder Sean Nevins to get more info on how the whole thing works.
BeerJobber has a unique business model. They have two main goals:
- Give you access to beers not available in your area
- Get those beers to you fast and fresh
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It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of pairing beer with food, and one of my favorite sites for inspiration is BeerChow.com. I asked Dave from BeerChow if he could put together a tasty beer and food pairing for BillyBrew readers and possibly also include beer in the cooking. He came through big time on both fronts. Thanks for the video, Dave!
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It’s getting pretty damn hot outside and you might be tempted to cool off by reaching for a summer beer staple – the Saison.
But slow your roll.
Take this opportunity to try a lesser known beer style that will remind you of a Saison but offer something a little different.
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There’s a very naughty word I like to use.
“Dark fruit”
It comes up repeatedly when I’m describing beer. Like, “I get dark fruit up front…”
In my defense, I’m not alone. A search for the term on Beer Advocate yields over 765,000 results.
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It was an ironic situation.
Our BJCP study group was holding one of its bi-weekly meetings. Studying for the exam means refining your tasting abilities. Ideally, you and the other judges are in agreement on what you smell and taste in a beer. The first thing you do after a round of scoring is compare your score to that of your cohorts and hope you’re not too far off.
Yet this particular night, we were about to prove that no matter how hard we studied, mother nature has ensured that we’ll never taste things exactly the same.
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