Beer News Roundup

I'm just stumbling over beer news in my normal news perusal, so here, look over mu shoulder:

BBC News: the seemingly weekly news of booze being healthy:  "Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.  The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men."
 
Los Angeles Times: Beer bars booming in L.A. (And L.A. gets its first brewpub--or so the article claims.)

Extreme Beers in the Washington Post

Mid-Atlantic Brewing News editor and Washington Post columnist Greg Kitsock does a Washington Post column on the topic I asked about a short while back, extreme beers.

I was the source of his sample of BrewDog's Nanny State, shipped over for our sampling pleasure (or lack thereof?) by the Scottish brewery.

As for my own thoughts about extreme beers, I feel the whole extreme beer movement is best summarized by this "The City" cartoon by alt-comic cartoonist John Backderf, or Derf (reprinted with permission--and even he no longer has the original in his files); just substitute the latest hop-bomb or exotic-ingredient beer for the game and the beer geeks for the kid:

  (Click on the above image for an enlarged version.)

Christmas Beer Exchange?

Calling All Homebrewers, and Holiday Beer Fans!

My homebrewing friend John, who sort of twisted my arm into making a Christmas beer this year (and I sought my revenge by making it a public demonstration for Baltimore Beer Week) came up with a brilliant idea:

"Why should the women have all the fun with their Christmas cookie exchanges?  Why don't we have a Christmas beer exchange?  Trade a couple bottles or a six-pack of your Christmas beer with others, and get more variety for the winter!"

So here's what I'm offering:  If you are interested in trading your Christmas-strength homebrew for other folks, comment, and volunteer.  I'm also willing to entertain the possibility of letting non-homebrewers get in on this by buying a commercially-made beer, but I will watch over that and make sure that we don't get ten folks all bringing Snow Goose, Anchor Our Special Ale, or whatnot.

I'll make this one better:  If I get a nice, round 12 or 24 folks commenting, volunteering, and willing to put money where their mouths are, I will arrange with a Baltimore liquor store to assemble mixed 12-packs or cases of Xmas ales.  Your cost will be the actual cost of the beer in question divided by the number of participants, with no mark-up.  This offer will probably exclude homebrew, unless necessary to bring the number to a round 12 or 24.  Just as a guesstimate, expect the cost of a 12-pack to be around $20, and a case to be around $40, unless we go an extra league and rope in something especially spectacular.  In addition, if you are traveling and can acquire 12 or 24 bottles of some holiday beer we can't get through normal channels, drop me an e-mail and we'll see if we can make appropriate arrangements.

Wall Street Journal: A Look at Wine Ratings

Make that one downright cynical look at wine ratings:

They pour, sip and, with passion and snobbery, glorify or doom wines. But studies say the wine-rating system is badly flawed. How the experts fare against a coin toss.

And people occasionally wonder why I don't deal much with BeerAdvocate and RateBeer.............

Hindenburg Beer Auction Shatters Records!

From the Chippenham Gazette & Herald (UK):

The world record price for a bottle of beer was smashed in Devizes today when a bottle of Lowebrau lager sold for over £10,000 [$16,680].
The bottle was recovered from the wreckage of the German airship Hindenburg after it burst into flames as it moored at Lakehurst, New York, on May 6 1937.  It was part of the collection of survivor Richard Kollmer.
The previous highest price for a single bottle of beer is thought to be around £2,500 and auctioneer Alan Aldridge started bidding at £3,000 [$5,006].  There was fierce competition from telephone bidders all over the world, mainly from the US. Mr Aldridge eventually knocked the item down for £9,400 [$15,687].  With buyer's premium, the bottle will cost the purchaser £10,810 [$18,039] .


An electro-plated milk pitcher, also recovered from the wreckage, went for over £9,000.
The prices for the Hindenburg memorabilia dwarfed those for items connected with Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Peter Sellers and Paul McCartney.

Lot 206 and 207 are shown in the online catalogue here.  Earlier Beer in Baltimore post on the topic here.

Upcoming Md. Beer Events

Shamelessly flinched from Mid-Atlantic Brewing News' HopTips e-newsletter; if interested in your own e-subscription, contact mabnhoptips@brewingnews.com .


Friday, November 13th: Hugh Sisson Bottle Signing – Join Clipper City Brewing Co founder, Hugh Sisson, as he makes an appearance at Corridor Fine Wine and Spirits to sign bottles of the new Mutiny Fleet release - Yule Tide. Yule Tide is their new Belgian Tripel with a festive holiday label. 4-7pm. 410-247-7829.
Sunday, November 15th: MALT's 2009 Turkey Shoot Homebrew Competition – This year marks the fifth year for the Turkey Shoot. Winners can receive lots of great prizes that were donated by generous sponsors. Entries will be due on November 7th. www.maltclub.org/MALT/Turkey_Shoot.html.
Monday, November 16th: Heavy Seas Vegan Beer Dinner – Join Heavy Seas and Great Sage for a fantastic multi-course beer dinner paired with vegan cuisine. Advance reservations required, seating is limited. 410-247-7829 or www.great-sage.com.
Friday, November 20th: Hugh Sisson Bottle Signing – Join Clipper City Brewing Co founder, Hugh Sisson, as he makes an appearance at Beltway Fine Wine and Spirits to sign bottles of the new Mutiny Fleet release - Yule Tide. Yule Tide is their new Belgian Tripel with a festive holiday label. 4-7pm. 410-247-7829.
Monday, November 23rd: Beer Club with Stone Brewing – Victoria Gastro Pub will be holding one of its regular beer club nights with Mid Atlantic Stone rep Lee Marren on hand to sample out all of the special release beers that Stone does throughout the year. 4-7pm. 410-750-1880 or www.victoriagastropub.com.

Feel Like a Firkin Tonight?

Heavy Seas Below Decks at Mahaffey's.

Otter Creek Copper Ale dry-hopped with Amarillo, upstairs at Metropolitan Coffeehouse beginning at 6 PM.

And something TBA at Brewers Art beginning at around 7 PM.  SPBW members get first shot at it, however.

Top Ten Fine-Dining Bars?

Elizabeth Large of the Baltimore Sun posts her "Top Ten" list of what she considers Baltimore's top fine-dining bars (bistros are, by definition, not included).

In my opinion, only two of the ten are really good "beer bars," with possible debate on one or two others.

Thoughts?

Cask Ale 101 in today's Washington Post

Two articles in the Food section of today's Washington Post give both a primer about what real ale is (just in case there's a reader of these words unfamiliar with the concept) and a guide to where to find it in the Washington, DC area, written by a Washington Post art critic and the Post's monthly beer columnist (and editor of the Mid-Atlantic Brewing News).

They tally six cask-serving places in all of the Washington metro region, including the suburbs, with ten to twelve pumps/engines.  (Not on the list: Franklin's in Hyattsville, which may serve too infrequently to be considered regular; and, inexplicably, the District Chop House, and RFD, the sister location to the Brickskeller.)  Let's see, here in Baltimore, in no particular order:
Max's Taphouse (3 engines), Wharf Rat (four pumps, relocated vintage stand from Pratt Street), Bertha's (one pump and plans for regular on-bar firkins), Mahaffey's (one pump), Grand Cru (semi-regular pump), Red Brick Station (one pump, usually running), Pratt Street Ale House (three engines), and I'm leaving off the list places that do only occasional firkins for special events or don't have a proper outlet (Brewers Art, Clipper City).  Did I leave anyone off that tally?

(Photo: Ronnie Crocker, Houston Chronicle beer blogger)

To Remember.........

 Photo credit: David Karber.