I’ve fixed the IBU calculator and ABV calculator. They broke when I moved to a new computer, and their repair was delayed by lots of other things. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Brew Teacher marries
This past weekend I attended the wedding of the guy who taught me to brew. I met Darren my freshman year of college while living in the dorms. One afternoon I found him in the community kitchen stirring what had to be the darkest bowl of malt-o-meal I’d ever seen, but it smelled terrific. I pestered him with questions and was able to help a little. The next time he brewed I was there start to finish, and sampled the results at a small party where he’d kegged the beer in those little 5 liter canisters. The beer was a little hot, and I remember riding back home that night actively developing a hangover. Still, it was a blast and 3 years later my girlfriend (now wife) got me a kit.
Sadly, I forgot to bring a bottle of my Yakistan Imperial IPA in the rush to get to the airport. Next time…
Moonshine
Given the legality and potential physical consequences, I have no interest in trying to distill, but it really doesn’t look that hard:
The ingredient list looks horrible though.
Portland on Tap: How Microbrews Became Big Business
There’s a great history of craft brewing in Portland over at the Portland City Club website. It’s available in mp3 format, and has some great stories from Karl Ockert and Jim Parker.
Oregon Beers by Streetcar
I’ve put together a map of beer bars and brewpubs in downtown Portland that are accessible by streetcar. The brewpubs and beer bars were selected based on BeerAdvocate.com’s Beerfly guide (of which I’m a local guide), which only includes brewpubs or bars that focus on craft beers.
The map data comes from the metro-region’s RLIS data, tri-met’s route maps, and beeradvocate.com.
What better time to release it than American Beer Month 2005? And with the Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) coming up, I’m hoping some out-of-towners might find it useful.
Anyway, here’s the map. Let me know if you have any comments or notice any glaring omissions.
AB – the ugly America brewer
Anheiser-Busch has decided to play the isolationist card in it’s recent advertising campaign. The new campaign includes allegations that the other major brewers (SABMiller and Molson-Coors) are foreigners and that when you buy their beer, the money is going overseas. These allegations are followed by a warm reminder that AB’s interests abroad are bringing money from overseas back to the U.S. Evidently AB is taking it’s marketing cues from the White House.
Willamette Week polls
Willamette Week is running a poll on the “best of” in Portland. I’m surprised at how little I recognize in some of the categories. I’m also stalled out trying to decide on question 69:
69) Best Local Brewery
ALAMEDA
AMNESIA
BRIDGEPORT
FULL SAIL BREWING
LAURELWOOD
LUCKY LABRADOR
MACTARNAHAN’S
MCMENAMINS
NEW OLD LOMPOC
ROOTS
WIDMER GASTHAUS
Other (please specify)
Really – how do you choose?
Dogfish Head at the Blue Monk
Last night Michelle and I attended the Dogfish Head dinner at The Blue Monk. The event paired Dogfish Head beers with 4 dishes that also included beer as an ingredient. 90 Minute IPA onion soup, Aprihop spinach salad, Spare ribs with brown ale BBQ sauce and Chicory stout brownie & ice cream. The food and beers were excellent, and the brewer was also there pitching his book and his beers. He shared a little of Dogfish’s history and explained how they had hoped to create unique and significant beers with a regional individuality. Which they’ve done quite well.
As a surprise, everyone got a sample of the World Wide Stout after desert. It was awesome. We didn’t stay for the show after though, being full and exhausted. Maybe next time.
Mash Tun Brew Pub
On a tip from a fellow BA, I checked out a “soon to open” brewpub on Alberta called the Mash Tun. True to word, it was indeed under construction, and the copper kettles were in place (though not functional yet). Someone had taped up a menu and beer list, and it got me excited. The beer list included a full gamut of styles; some with great names like “Watership Brown” and “Kilgore Stout.” Sweet. I’ll just have to hammer out the details of their Alberta Pale Ale.
Alberta Arts Pale Ale
AAPA is all tapped out. It happend much too soon. Seriously. It happened just after we got back from dinner with a bunch of friends visiting. So Michelle and Jason had to go on a beer run after most shops had closed.