Welcome to another exciting edition of “why is this video up late.” Well, I’m not telling. Instead I am just going to get on to business. I’ve got a cryptic review for you of a beer from one of my favorite michigan breweries, The Livery’s 5th Dimension. I have to say, I have never been disappointed by one of their beers, and this one is no exception. So enjoy this, another cryptic review from the 2011 MBG Winter Beerfest. Continue reading
Stewart Recommends: Jolly Pumpkin Collababiere
I know I said that I was going to try to upload more videos last week in order to get the winter beerfest content all online, but you may have noticed that I didn’t get around to that. No, what I got instead last week was “Surprise Appendicitis!” followed immediately by “Bonus Emergency Surgery!” (it sounds much more exciting when I say it like that). Soooo, many appologie and I will really try to get all of the beerfest videos up in the next week. I’m looking forward to getting to a new feature soon too, Beer Gadgets! (we are suckers for gadgets here). But before I get too far ahead of myself, the real reason you are here is for the beer. which is a wonderful coincidence because that is why we are here too. So speaking of beer, here is Paul’s review of the Collababiere from Jolly Pumpkin Continue reading
Clean Beer: The importance of clean draft beer systems
Clean Beer? You “clean” a fish and wash your vegetables, but how clean is the draft beer you drink?
In the words of Brian Wiggs, Dark Horse Brewing Co. Marshall, MI, “Brewing is 10% chemistry and 90% janitorial”. This statement will ring true for any brewer whether they are a homebrewer or Brewmaster. Keeping your equipment and brewing space clean is the first thing you learn. If you’ve ever taken a brewery tour you’ll notice how amazingly clean and tidy the brew house is. Gary S. Nicholas, Quality Assurance & Control with Bell’s Brewery, Inc Kalamazoo, MI spoke about what the kegs at Bell’s are in store for when they make it to the brewery: “They go through a multi-step cleaning & sanitizing process prior to each fill. We also conduct additional pre-cleaning for kegs that have been out in the market for unusually long periods. We go one step further, slowly cycling through our entire keg inventory and completely disassembling the keg spear valve assemblies, replacing worn parts, and visually inspecting the interior….any kegs that fail a cleaning/filling cycle are set aside for detailed inspection.” What needs to be cleaned out of these kegs? “Typically, you’ll see infiltration of a wide variety of aerobic microorganisms (acetic acid-producing bacteria, wild yeasts, etc.) and anaerobes(A type of bacterium that does not require air or oxygen to live). Over time, these will form a bio-film, a mass of slime that is very resistant to simple flushing techniques.”: said Nicholas.
Cryptic Review & Tricia’s Thoughts: Grape Expectations by Round Barn Brewery
First off, I want to say that I totally love the Round Barn Brewery logo. There, now that that is out of the way, I can bring your attention to one of the first beers we tried at the Beerfest last month. And also reintroduce you to our friend Tricia, who seems to only show up around here for the festivals right now, but we are working on that. Anyway, Round Barn Brewery, out of Baroda, Michigan, brought us their Grape Expectations this year. Click on through to see what Tricia and I thought of it.
Continue reading
2011 Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beerfest highlights
Just wanted to drop in a little tease of what we saw at the 2001 Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beerfest. Stay tuned for more videos from the festival.
Celebration of Michigan: Winter Beer Fest – A Recap
The 2011 Michigan Brewer’s Guild Winter Beer Fest was everything a beer lover born within these great peninsulas could love. 28 degrees, snow, bonfires and of course ounces upon gallons of some of the best beer made on planet Earth.
It’s amazing to see how Michigan beer has caught fire. Having been in this business for several years, I’ve seen the struggles that most of the breweries have went through. The times of being run out of stores and bars with the owner laughing at the thought of craft beer is far behind us. With nearly 7,000 people in attendance on Saturday, this event sold out a month before the gates opened. There were many beer lovers that didn’t get in this year, but the tickets went on sale December 1st, 2010. So those that missed out need to move a little faster next year, for tickets next year will go on sale at the same time. Mark it on your beer fridge, with a steak knife.
Scott Graham Director of the Michigan Brewer’s Guild said: “165 barrels of beer were poured or Saturday” that’s over 20,000 pints of beer! If that doesn’t say Michigan loves it’s beer no matter what the temperature, then I’ll buy stock in InBev.”
There were 56 different breweries showing off some amazing brews. The popular breweries had lines that stretched beyond the tents, but with 56 breweries to choose from getting a beer was never a problem. Some of the special released beers only made it into the hands of those in line when that beer got tapped, but you can’t expect to get every small batch at such a large event. Plus getting a beer from one of the brewpubs is why I go.
The breweries that distribute had their guns a blazin’, but getting a beer from a brewpub that I’d have Continue reading
New Features! Join Us!
You may have noticed a redesign of the website. We have added community features to try to make your experience more connected with the other users. Before you could only comment on individual posts. But now, if you sign up for a This Week in Beer Community account, you can participate in our forums, or join and create groups of other people who like the same styles you like. We have a map that you can access in the tabs across the top to show places where you can find great craft beers. Don’t see your favorite spot on the map? Join the Beer Finders group and suggest a new addition. Have you tried a great beer that you want to share? Join the Beer Reviewers group and let us know what you’ve found. DO you have a beer you want us to review? or a brewery you think we should feature? let us know in the main This Week in Beer Group. So Join the This Week in Beer Community account to participate in the forums, discuss reviews share your beers and let everyone know how much you love beer.
Cryptic Review: Anchor Steam Beer
Two posts in one week? He must have gone mad! This is not the excessively lazy man we thought we knew. Perhaps he has been replaced by an evil, albeit more productive, clone. Perhaps it is not Kristoffer at all that is behind this post, perhaps somone hacked into his account for the nefarious purpose of posting more content. Perhaps is is him, but he felt guilty for forgetting to post anything last week. Or perhaps he just wanted an excuse to drink more new beers (yeah right, I never need an excuse to drink new beers). Whatever the reason, just enjoy it, and enjoy this Cryptic review of Anchor Steam Beer, by Anchor Brewing Company.
(it was the guilt thing, sorry about missing a week) Continue reading
Cryptic Review: Ommegang Bière de Mars
There are certain things that I just cannot justify buying. Luckily, science themed beers is not one of those. Imagine my excitement when I found a beer with a big picture of the red planet front and center on its label. And a nice pun-y name is just a great bonus. So I bought the Bière de Mars from Ommegang eagerly awaiting my chance to give it a try. So I pulled up a nice beanbag chair, found a little helper to hold my camera and produced the video that you will find below.
Cryptic Review: Short’s Anniversary Ale
Sup. I sincerely hope you all had a fantastic holiday season. I have a few holiday beers that I wanted to share with you, but I decided to start off the new year with _ahem_ perhaps the best beer I had during the whole year. A bold statement indeed, but one I do believe in. If you have the occasion to try Short’s Anniversary Ale, and you let it pass by, go ahead and punch yourself in the face for missing out on it. Seriously folks, drink this beer. That is all….. well technically no, that is not all. There is a cryptic review of this fantastic beer after the break.