Author: Tom Acitelli
-
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web Only -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyPlease Wish Modern American Brewing A Happy 50th
November 19, 2014 - Tom Acitelli On Oct. 29, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History hosted a talk and a dinner to honor the contributions of some of the earliest makers of fine wine in the United States. It was also part of the museum’s American Food and Wine History Project, which has been curating artifacts, oral histories and documents... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyBefore the Panic Over 10 Barrel, There was ‘Budhook’
November 7, 2014 - Tom Acitelli The news of Anheuser-Busch’s purchase caused ripples of fear and loathing through the American brewing world. Jim Koch, co-founder of the Boston Beer Co., went so far as to label the move by the world’s biggest brewery a “declaration of war” and told a reporter he was going to re-watch The Empire Strikes Back because... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyThe Unsung Heroes of Homebrewing
October 30, 2014 - Tom Acitelli This Saturday, Nov. 1, is the 15th annual Learn to Homebrew Day, designed to encourage new devotees to take up the habit. It is also a perfect time to celebrate the often unsung heroes who, a generation ago, exerted a tun of effort to make homebrewing the nationwide hobby, even lifestyle, it is today. Alan... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyBoulevard Brewing’s Silver Anniversary
October 17, 2014 - Tom Acitelli John McDonald started homebrewing when he was 12 years old. He and a friend would conjure what they could from the sparse recipes and even sparser ingredients they scrounged in their small north-central Kansas universe. A particularly bad batch sold to local teenagers had them laying low for a few days for their own safety.... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyMoving the GABF?
October 5, 2014 - Tom Acitelli In June 1984, organizers moved the Great American Beer Festival from its birthplace in Boulder, CO, 35 miles or so south to Denver. It was the third year of the festival, which was then held in the spring to coincide with the annual convention of the Boulder-based American Homebrewers Association. Now, of course, it’s held... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyThe Evolution of GABF Categories
October 1, 2014 - Tom Acitelli In 1987, the annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) introduced something new: medaled categories. There would be 12 in all, with a panel of judges awarding three medals in each: gold, silver and bronze, just like the Olympics. The GABF, which convenes for the 33rd time this week in Denver, would also keep its Consumer... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyLos Angeles’ Quiet Influence on Beer
September 24, 2014 - Tom Acitelli Richard Belliveau, a mechanical engineer who had relocated cross-country from Maine to Los Angeles, surveyed his adopted city’s beer scene in the early 1980s and came to this conclusion about starting his own brewery: “Nobody’s doing it here, I’m going to get rich.” That wasn’t technically true. Anheuser-Busch had opened a brewery in the mid-1950s... View Article -
Acitelli on History - Blogs - Web OnlyScotland’s Influence on American Beer
September 15, 2014 - Tom Acitelli Shortly after Bert Grant filed incorporation papers with Washington State in 1981 to open the nation’s first brewpub since Prohibition, he and the critic Michael Jackson were talking about the inaugural beer produced at that brewpub, which was carved out of an old opera house in Yakima and named after the city. “Isn’t this on... View Article