A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Ben Volen, general manager of the Distillery, agrees: Savannah, Ga., is a very traditional city. "For a long time there was nothing on at any of the bars besides Bud draft, Miller draft, Yuengling had just come into town ... Corona in a bottle," Volen reflects. So when the Distillery opened around this time last year, the idea of a craft beer-centric bar was certainly a change of pace.
Volen had attended school in New York when the craft beer trend was gaining momentum. Upon returning south, he brought his love of New York brewers like Brooklyn and Captain Lawrence back to Georgia, looked at the burgeoning beer scene in nearby Atlanta and constructed a plan for his bar.
Savannah reacted appreciatively. "We've been welcomed with open arms," Volen says. "We've completely changed this town and how they look at beer." Since their opening, according to Volen, most restaurants now carry at least a couple of craft brews.
Read more about the Distillery and see yesterday's entire draft list after the jump.
Citing researched compiled by Mindset Media -- a "market researcher specializing in psychographics" -- the article discusses how the beer a person drinks can be a strong indicator of his or her personality. For instance, Bud drinkers are "sensible, grounded and practical," Bud Light drinkers can have "frat boy-like personalities," and Michelob Ultra drinkers "think highly of themselves and can be a little bit conceited."
The concept is interesting, but why spend all that money on "research"? Most people could come up with those same assumptions on their own. In fact, the list can be extrapolated even further... massive research grant hopefully forthcoming.
Pabst Blue Ribbon drinkers consider playing bass in a punk band "gainful employment" and have handlebar mustaches.
Miller Lite drinkers consider the consumption of 20 beers "moderate drinking" and include beer bongs on their list of "proper glassware."
Sam Adams drinkers love wearing the same Red Sox hat for their entire adult life and believe there's nothing wrong with hitting on someone else's girlfriend.
Guinness drinkers think the best football team is Manchester United and consider a fist fight a "night out on the town."
Busch drinkers think the best bar in America is their porch and consider a proper food and beer pairing to be "a pounder and a bag of Hardee's."
And snobby craft beers drinkers tend to be people like beer writers who think they have a right to make fun of others!
What other beers bring to mind distinct personality types? And what does your favorite beer say about you? Let us know in the comments!
During an economic recession, one of the first things to be downsized is company perks. At New Belgium Brewery, a craft brewer in Ft. Collins, Colo., one of the biggest perks is free beer. Employees used to be able to take home 24 bottles of beer every week, but in February take-home brew was reduced to a mere 12 bottles.
Not many employees are complaining. When keeping a job is probably today's biggest perk, losing a six-pack per week probably isn't such a bad deal. Melyssa Glassman, the company's creative director, says that the only downside to free beer was carrying it home on her bicycle during the summer.
New Belgium is the third largest craft brewer in the United States and has been hailed for its employee-friendly policies that include free beer, a new bicycle after one year of employment and an all-expense paid trip to Belgium (where the idea for the company was created.) The 320 employees own a 33-percent stake in the brewery, and while it's not mandatory, it helps if you like drinking beer. A lot.
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Kentucky might be better known for its whiskey distilleries than its beer prowess, but like most cities with more than a million people in its metropolitan area, Louisville has seen growth in its specialty and craft-beer market over the past few years due to the average American's increased awareness of the variety of beer available.
Louisville's beer scene is "getting better," says James Donald Gunnoe, co-owner of one of the reasons that scene has gotten better: the small beer outpost known as The Nachbar. "There are about five microbreweries in town and I think there's room for more."
About two and a half years ago, Gunnoe and his wife, Heather Burks, opened Nachbar with the intention of creating a "place we'd want to go to ourselves." Working from faith in their own tastes and desires, they focused on stocking the beers they drank and loved, attempting to offer the beer at prices they knew people could afford. Gunnoe puts it best when he states, "We cater to ourselves, and from there we're just really fortunate that people appreciate what we like."
Read more about Nachbar and see this past weekend's draft list after the jump...
Since 1987, California's hummingbird-themed Nectar Ales (founded by Humboldt Brewing but bought by Firestone Walker in 2004) has focused on super-quaffable session brews such as the caramel-hoppy Nectar IPA and its flagship, the full-bodied Red Nectar amber ale. These are beers that focus on flavor, not a high-proof punch that sends you sprawling.
But Nectar Ales has finally busted its low-alcohol template with its coffee-infused, bourbon-barrel-aged Black Xantus imperial stout (named after a Mexican hummingbird species). It's the brand's inaugural over-the-top, 22-ounce release.
"We have been working on this stout recipe for four years, patiently tweaking things until we were satisfied," says head brewer Matt Brynildson. "I've also spent time with the folks at Joebella Coffee, who are our local roaster. After learning about the agronomics surrounding coffee and the art of roasting, the lightbulb went on."
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
No need for a double take. Yes, Deep Ellum is the name of a neighborhood in the Dallas area. And yes, this week's What's On Tap features a Boston bar. But don't worry, Deep Ellum co-owner Max Toste has an explanation: "My business partner, Aaron Sanders, was born and raised around the Dallas area, and Deep Ellum was always his favorite place to go."
Toste describes the Dallas neighborhood as an area teeming with tattoo parlors and rock joints -- the kind of place with "people who don't wear suits to work." "We always thought it would be a cool name for a bar," he recalls. Toste and Sanders found a similar feel in the Boston neighborhood of Allston, so about three years ago, when opening their own bar, the name was a perfect fit.
"I love beer," Toste states proudly. "I wanted to have a bar that was awesome."
What exactly is his idea of awesome? "Our plan was to be very artisanal. Everything we sell and promote is handmade stuff." And that ideology goes beyond just beer into the realm of their cocktail selection and food. Toste's explanation for such strong demands on what Deep Ellum serves is simple: "I don't do anything half-assed."
Read more about Deep Ellum and its complete tap list, as of this Tuesday, after the jump -- and for future draft lists, check out its Web site. Drafts update whenever they're changed.
Like many of the world's finest epicurean delights, the secret ingredient in the microbrews from Quebec's À l'abri de la Tempête is salt. The brewery is located on Les Iles-de-la-Madeleine, a 50-mile-long archipelago of untamed beaches in the Atlantic Ocean. The sea breeze leaves its traces in the locally sourced barley, imparting a delicate salty profile.
"It's a signature for all our products," says head brewer Jean-Sébastien Bernier. Despite À l'abri de la Tempête's watery locale and diminutive size, it's made waves with its smoky, spicy Corps Mort barley wine and its standout, the Corne de Brume ("foghorn") Scottish ale. Unlike the average North American Scottish ale, which overdoses on sugar to even out a heavy booze load, Bernier naturally takes his cues from overseas.
"When you taste the classics from the Old World, they are more on the dry side," he says. "We put in lots of work to keep that dry, caramel-bitterness and alcohol well balanced."
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Laying claim to land in both Missouri and Kansas, Kansas City might conjure up thoughts of boring grasslands or Midwestern conservatism. But with nearly a half million residents in the Missouri side's city limits alone (making it the Show Me State's largest city), Kansas City is certainly more metropolis than cornfield. And at Grinders, patrons can expect a less-than-conservative draft selection and some not-so-Midwestern fare.
Just under five years ago, Grinders opened with the plan to offer residents of KC a restaurant/bar with an East coast flair. Both owners were from Pennsylvania (one from Philadelphia, one from Pittsburgh) and they planned to serve up cheesesteaks and New York-style pizza.
"We wanted a place that would be friendly to everybody that came in," says owner Anton Kotar. "No class barriers." Even money wasn't an obstacle: "If we could just make it break even, we'd be happy."
Kotar and his partner had never run a restaurant. "He's an artist by trade and I'm a contractor," Kotar admits, retelling the story of their troublesome first few months. But from the brink of going out of business, they turned Grinders into one of Kansas City's most popular destinations.
Read more about Grinders and see the current draft list after the jump...
An Australian beer advertisement has reportedly ticked off Disney because it features a Snow White lookalike lying in bed blowing smoke rings with seven undressed dwarves. The ad campaign for Jamieson Brewery's Raspberry Ale was created by the Australian advertising agency The Foundry to promote the beer as "anything but sweet" with a maiden they call "Ho White" and seven dwarves.
We adore our double IPAs and super-charged Russian imperial stouts as much as the next craft-beer geek, but sometimes we like drinking a microbrew that doesn't hit us as hard as a right hook in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
So in lieu of quaffing another deliciously inebriating 18-percent ale like Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA, we instead look to the lower end of the alcoholic spectrum. Allow us to introduce the Berliner Weisse, a wheat beer that's barely boozier than water.
Sacrificing ABV need not mean sacrificing flavor. The Berliner -- which was, duh, born in Berlin -- is typically tart and straw-hued, with the lactobacillus culture providing a sour, citric edge that's as invigorating as just-squeezed lemonade. "The Berliner weisse is such a low-alcohol beer that it can appeal to the most hardcore beer geeks and to those who don't like beer," says Patrick Rue, head brewer and owner of Placenta, California's the Bruery.
While the Bruery specializes in unfiltered, Belgian-style ales such as the rustic, earthy Saison Rue and spiced Orchard White witbier, it channels Germany for its 3.1 percent ABV Hottenroth Berliner Weisse. It goes into the goblet a pale, hazy yellow, with rapid bubbles and a fast-diminishing head. The nose is all citrus, wheat and barnyard funk, while the Hottenroth drinks prickly and crisp -- if the tartness is too much, you can sweeten the beer with raspberry or woodruff syrup.
This is one beer you won't sour on too soon.
Do you like a nice Berliner Weisse? Come on, drop your thoughts in the comments.
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Finding two English-speaking cities more different than Dublin and Albuquerque, N.M., would be a pretty tough task. So some four years ago, when Two Fools Tavern opened its doors proclaiming to be "Albuquerque's only authentic Irish Pub," one can assume it was an ambitious undertaking.
"There was a need for it," says Russell Reid, general manager of Two Fools Tavern, explaining why they tried to bring a touch of Emerald Isle to the American Southwest. The gamble (if you can call opening an Irish pub a "gamble") has paid off: "We've been very successful."
Part of that success comes from having a solid beer selection, including nineteen draft lines. "We have Irish and English beers that are staples of what you'd need in a pub and then have a rounded balance."
Included in that balance are a number of American craft products. Via Full Sail, the bar has two exclusive Two Fools selections: a pale ale and a house cider. They're also proud to provide the beers in Sierra Nevada's Imperial series on tap, as well as other unique brews from around the country (particularly Colorado).
Reid knows his customers appreciate the additional selections: "Albuquerque is a great beer market. A lot of people don't realize that. It's much more of a beer town than other spirits." Still, despite continuing to evolve the draft list, Two Fools always keeps the Irish pub standbys. As Reid reminds us, "We're the largest seller of Guinness in the state."
Check out the current draft list at Two Fools Tavern after the jump.
Cycling's ultimate athlete has become an Ultra beer man.
Michelob Ultra announced Tuesday that seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong has signed a three-year contract to be the beverage's new spokesman.
Michelob Ultra, which is brewed by Anheuser-Busch, brands itself as the active and health-minded person's beer -- encouraging drinkers to "Get up. Get out. Get Going" and to "live life to the Ultra" and sponsors more than 40 cycling and running events in the U.S. each year. Michelob Ultra is the official beer of the PGA and LPGA.
When fall hits, kids get giddy about the mother lode of Halloween candy to come. But adults, too, have reason to celebrate the harvest season -- namely, pumpkin beers.
These vegetable-influenced ales are as varied as jack-o'-lantern carvings. They range from Cape Ann's smooth and chocolaty Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout to Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale, a rich ale dosed with brown sugar and pumpkin flesh. But our favorite Halloween sipper hails from Lakewood, N.Y. -- Southern Tier.
Since the western New York brewery's humble 2004 beginnings, it has spread across the country like kudzu, reaching more than 20 states. The rapid success is due to burly brews like the ludicrously hopped Unearthly Imperial IPA (11 percent ABV!), the dessert-like Crème Brûlee Imperial Milk Stout and the Pumking.
Earlier this year, model and actress Katarina Van Derham was named the 2009 St. Pauli Girl spokesmodel via an online vote. Van Derham has roles on shows including "Entourage," "Monk" and "CSI," and has graced the covers of dozens of magazines. But for brew fans, Van Derham's gig filling in as the famous St. Pauli Girl icon may be their first encounter with the actress.
Beyond getting to know Katarina's very pretty face, we were interested in finding out about her beer knowledge. Van Derham is a native of Slovakia and speaks five languages, including English, Slovak, Czech, Russian and Polish. Eastern Europeans are world-renowned for their love of beer and beer-centric culture. Does she have the knowledge to back up her esteemed position?
We gave her a five-question beer quiz to see just how up-to-speed she was. ...
It takes a strong man to wear pink. It takes an even stronger man to heft a frothy pint of pink beer, like the rare-burger-hued Rosée d'Hibiscus, from the genre-busting Canadian brewers at Dieu du Ciel! ("god of the sky").
Since 1998, these mad fermentationists have crafted head-scratching, tummy-pleasing beers like the Equinoxe du Printemps, a strong Scotch ale made with maple syrup, and the Clef des Champs, a floral rye ale flavored with heather and mugwort. Naturally, there was no way that Dieu du Ciel would make a conventional wheat beer.
One day, head brewer Jean-François Gravel was watching a TV documentary on western Africa, which included a discussion of bissap -- a tea made from an infusion of hibiscus flowers and sugar. Gravel re-created the drink at home, realizing the flower's floral profile and acidity would complement a tangy blanche (a wheat bear).
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