All About Beer Magazine September 2014 Issue

Steve Hindy: Homebrewing in the Middle East

Local Hero

Going Over the Edge

Drawing and Blurring Lines Between Beer, Wine, Spirits

It’s Hard Not to Be Inspired

48 Hours in Seattle and Bellingham

Washington state has more than 200 breweries—second only to California—and new ones are opening regularly. The state’s rich beer culture also extends to its world-renowned beer bars and beer stores, making a visit to the Evergreen State even more justified. After arriving at Sea-Tac Airport, rent a car and head north on I-5 for some... View Article

Beer Counterpoints: Copenhagen & Oklahoma City

The annual Copenhagen Beer Celebration parades 40 of the world’s top brewers in front of a limited number of dedicated beer geeks, who are in fact the ones who do the marching from brewer to brewer. The grand marshal is Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the prominent roving brewer behind Mikkeller, whose brands, it can be said,... View Article

Scottish Ale

The catchall term “Scottish ale” is used for a group of modestly hopped, malty and sociable brews. Somewhat generic, it often leads to rather limited expectations. But the clan of authentic Scottish ale being made today is actually quite diverse, the progeny of the brews that survived the relative famine of the 1960s and came... View Article

Simply Wild: Homebrewing With Brettanomyces

There is no denying the popularity of the new wave of “wild” brews. These cutting-edge, contemporary versions are variously inspired by the aged sour, earthy and musty brews of Belgium and Germany and old stock ales of Britain. European brewers use both anachronistic and more modern techniques today to get that natural, primitive personality, but... View Article

Exploring Baja California’s Thriving Beer Scene

For years, two giants have held a virtual duopoly over the beer market in Mexico. Grupo Modelo, which owns Corona, Modelo and Pacifico and was purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev in June 2013, and Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, which produces brands like Tecate and Dos Equis and is owned by Heineken, controlled about 98 percent of the... View Article

Beer Arcades Mesh Old Games, New Beer

Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” blares through the bar. TV screens feature episodes of “American Gladiator” or old (and, in many cases, dead) wrestlers such as Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Ravishing Rick Rude and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. The menus are made from ’90s comic books. Some people play old-school arcade games such as Burger Time, Dig... View Article

Vintage Beer: A Taster’s Guide to Brews that Improve Over Time

I wish I’d had this book a few years back. The bottles at my house weren’t there so much for aging, but rather hanging out waiting to be consumed at a later time. Among some I remember: a bottle of Romulan ale in a cobalt blue bottle, plus a few that I’ve come to learn... View Article

The Craft Beer Revolution

History can be a funny thing. While there is no denying that life unfolds just one way, the way it is interpreted by individuals can vary greatly, even if they are standing next to each other while it happens. Hence the blurb offered by Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Co., makers of Samuel Adams,... View Article

We Make Beer: Inside the Spirit and Artistry of America’s Craft Brewers

Recently, several brewing industry histories have hit the shelves. Each is a wealth of information and well worth the read. However, in We Make Beer: Inside the Spirit and Artistry of America’s Craft Brewers, Sean Lewis has taken a much more ambitious route: tapping into the heart and soul of the new generation of brewers... View Article

The Tea Leaf Paradox

In The Tea Leaf Paradox, follow author Robert Middleton through the world of new Scottish breweries that now compete with legendary distillers for tourism. This personal travelogue leaves the reader with a strong sense of place and a desire to buy plane tickets.

The Beer Drinker’s Guide to God: The Whole and Holy Truth About Lager, Loving, and Living

The Beer Drinker’s Guide to God: The Whole and Holy Truth About Lager, Loving, and Living by William B. Miller is a very funny book. A partner in a Texas bar and an Episcopal priest in Hawaii, Miller works to successfully build the middle ground between these incongruous occupations. He faces life with humor and... View Article

Meet Me at Ray’s: A Celebration of Ray’s Place in Kent, Ohio

All of us have a few of these in our lives; the bar that was your home away from home. The Sink, Tom’s, The Joyce, McCabes—my past is littered with them. Here is a very slender paean to one such joint. A madcap collection of anecdotes, facts, memories and trivia, Meet Me at Ray’s: A... View Article

Dinner in the Beer Garden

As dean of the beer cookbook authors, Lucy Saunders has spent a career innovating while encouraging readers and home cooks to think about beer in new ways. Dinner in the Beer Garden shows the healthier and more sustainable side of things, with dishes mainly focusing on vegetables and fruits. There are also engaging brewery and restaurant... View Article

Beer Books for a Road Trip

Colorado Breweries By Dan Rabin To navigate a beer-rich state like Colorado, you need a guide who knows the ins and outs of the breweries. Dan Rabin has established himself as the authority in a state already known for the smart beer-minded. The book is like having the man at your side at every visit,... View Article

A Cantillon Collaboration

It is a collaboration of epic, beer-geek-dream proportions: Belgium’s Cantillon Brewery, revered for its lambics, a traditional Belgian style sour, spontaneously fermented beer, joined California’s Russian River Brewing Co. and Maine’s Allagash Brewing to produce a blend of three spontaneously fermented beers from around the world. Called Wild Friendship Blend, it contains three-year-old Cantillon Lambic,... View Article

No Change Necessary

10 Barrel Brewing Co. of Bend, OR, delivered the gift of free beer when it built a beer vending machine as a promotion for its summer release, Swill. The brewery dropped the machine in Portland, Corvallis and Eugene, OR; Seattle, WA; and Boise, ID. All the lucky passersby had to do was insert a valid... View Article

Stamp Your Beer Passport

Beer travel is becoming big business as craft beer lovers plan vacations, long weekends and day trips around breweries and beer festivals. Now it’s easier to track those travels, meet fellow beer explorers and discover local beer through the recently launched Society of Beer Travelers, “a community of craft beer lovers who enjoy drinking new... View Article

Sierra Nevada Adds Nanobrewery

Sierra Nevada, the second-largest craft brewing company in the country, is thinking big with a small-scale new addition: a nanobrewery. The Chico, CA, brewery has added a 20-gallon nanobrewery with six small fermenters for experimental batches on a small scale. The nanobrewery will allow Sierra Nevada’s research and development department the freedom for more experimentation... View Article

New Hop Varieties Released

Four new public hop varieties—Cashmere, Tahoma, Triple Pearl and Yakima Gold—were presented by the Hop Growers of America, the nonprofit association that represents U.S. hop growers. Cashmere, released by Washington State University in 2013, is a cross between the popular Cascade and Northern Brewer, and features a “mild herbal aroma with strong melon, lemon, lime... View Article

Garrett Oliver Earns James Beard Award

Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery, has earned a 2014 James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence in the category of “Outstanding Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional.” This is Oliver’s first James Beard award, one of the highest honors in the culinary and beverage fields, but he has been previously nominated in this category and... View Article

Website Details Hop Varieties

Curious about Citra or want to learn more about El Dorado? Head to Hopslist, a new website with an ambitious agenda: to be the most comprehensive source of hops information on the web. Founded by avid homebrewer Julian Healey, Hopslist compiles everything from hop oil composition to tasting notes and a style guide for more... View Article

Beer Mile Record Broken

A California runner named James Nielsen has set a record for running and drinking. Nielsen broke the 5-minute beer mile, which consists of running four laps and chugging a 12-oz can of beer before every lap, with a time of 4:57. “That was really painful,” Nielsen, gasped after finishing, in the YouTube video of his... View Article

Beer at the Molecular Level

Brewers will be able to get a much closer look at their yeast with new research that has mapped the full genome of more than 240 brewing yeasts. The research project is a collaboration in part among White Labs, a yeast laboratory and distributor in San Diego; a VIB genetics laboratory at KU (Catholic University)... View Article

Rogue Ales Co-founder Jack Joyce Passes Away

Jack Joyce, 71, who in 1988 co-founded Rogue Ales, which now distributes to 50 states and 30 countries, died on May 27. Joyce was a VP at Nike near Portland,OR. (“I’m famous for running the Air Jordan project,” he once said) when he left to start a brewpub in the Southern Oregon town of Ashland... View Article

Music to the Ears and Lips

Vinyl may be the trendy throwback, but is music on beer bottles the wave of the future? Buellton, an indie rock group from Southern California, released its new album, Silent Partner, as a bottle of beer brewed by Santa Barbara’s Telegraph Brewing Co. The label of the beer, a Belgian-style session ale also called Silent... View Article

Pull Up A Stool with Jay Goodwin and Alex Wallash

The Rare Barrel produces sour beers exclusively, one of the few U.S. breweries to do so. After only a year in business, the brewery won a gold medal in the American-style Sour Ale category and a bronze in the Belgian-style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale category at the 2014 World Beer Cup. AAB:... View Article

Malt Whisky Trail

Malt Whisky Trail Innis & Gunn Edinburgh, Scotland This limited-edition ale was matured in casks from the five malt whisky regions of Scotland. ABV: 7.4 ABW: 5.92 COLOR: 20.3 BITTERNESS: 22 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1070 AVAILABLE: UK

Tipopils

Tipopils Birrificio Italiano Lurago Marinone, Como, Italy Birrificio Italiano’s flagship beer is brewed with all-German hops from the Tettnang area. ABV: 5.2 ABW: 4.14 COLOR: 3 BITTERNESS: 35 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1048 AVAILABLE: Germany, Japan, Italy, UK, US (Draft only in CA, CT, DC, FL, IL, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, VA, VT) 

Tamar Creek

Tamar Creek St Austell Brewery Cornwall, UK The cherries used by St Austell Brewery in Tamar Creek were handpicked at an orchard at Bohetherick Farm in the Tamar Valley near Saltash, Cornwall, before being mashed entirely by foot and added to the barrels, where the kriek aged for six months. ABV: 7.3 ABW: 5.84 COLOR:... View Article

La Trappe Witte

La Trappe Witte Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven B.V. Berkel-Enschot, Netherlands Imported by: Artisanal Imports Inc., Austin, TX La Trappe Witte is brewed with pale malt and wheat (no spices) at one of 10 authentic Trappist breweries in the world. ABV: 5.5 ABW: 4.38 COLOR: 6 BITTERNESS: 17 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1049

Bouncy House IPA

Bouncy House IPA Smuttynose Brewing Co. Hampton, NH Bouncy House IPA is the first new year-round beer brewed at Smuttynose’s new brewery at Towle Farm in Hampton, NH. Brewed with Magnum, Calypso and Saphir hops. Labels feature Smuttynose staff members or friends of the brewery. ABV 4.3 ABW 3.4 COLOR: NA BITTERNESS: 86  ORIGINAL GRAVITY:... View Article

Community Witbier

Community Witbier Community Beer Co. Dallas The brewery uses a custom blend of Belgian yeast, including a strain brought to the United States by Pierre Celis, the Belgian brewing legend credited with reviving the white beer, or witbier, style in 1966. ABV: 5.2 COLOR: 3 BITTERNESS: 18 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1051.2 AVAILABLE: TX

Ensorcelled

Ensorcelled The Rare Barrel Berkeley, CA Winner of a Gold award at the 2014 World Beer Cup, Ensorcelled is a blend of a sour red and a black beer with Brettanomyces bruxellensis. After blending, the beer was aged in oak barrels with raspberries. ABV: 5.6 ABW: 4.4 COLOR: 32 BITTERNESS: 5 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1053 AVAILABLE:... View Article

Madame Rose

Madame Rose Goose Island Beer Co. Chicago Madame Rose is a Belgian-style sour ale fermented with wild yeast, aged on sour Michigan cherries in wine barrels for nearly two years. ABV: 6.7 ABW: 5.33 COLOR: NA BITTERNESS: 25 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: NA AVAILABLE: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City and San Francisco

Belô São Francisco Brazilian Dubbel

Belô São Francisco Brazilian Dubbel Cervejaria Wäls Belo Horizonte, Brazil Imported by: Artisanal Imports Inc., Austin, TX Brewed by brothers Tiago and Jose Felipe Carneiro, this beer is named after the neighborhood where Cervejaria Wäls is located. Won in the Belgian-Style Dubbel category at the 2014 World Beer Cup. ABV: 7.5 ABW: 5.97 COLOR: 15.5... View Article

5 Lizard

5 Lizard 5 Rabbit Cerveceria Bedford Park, IL 5 Lizard starts with a classic Belgian witbier brewed with malt, wheat and oats, changing it up with carefully chosen coriander and fresh lime peel instead of the traditional bitter orange. Passionfruit purée is added to the fermenters. ABV: 4.3 ABW: 3.42 COLOR: 2.5 BITTERNESS: 20 ORIGINAL... View Article

Golden Gate Gose

Golden Gate Gose Almanac Beer Co. San Francisco Golden Gate Gose is brewed with San Francisco Bay sea salt, lemon verbena and coriander grown especially for Alamanac by Dirty Girl Produce in Santa Cruz, CA. ABV: 5 ABW: 3.98 COLOR: 5 BITTERNESS: 10 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1053 AVAILABLE: CA, CO, WA

Knotty Pine Pale Ale

Knotty Pine Pale Ale Lumberyard Brewing Co. Flagstaff, AZ Knotty Pine Pale Ale won a gold medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival and a silver award at the 2014 World Beer Cup in the American-Style Pale Ale category.  ABV: 5.4 ABW: 4.3 COLOR: 9 BITTERNESS: 40 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1054 AVAILABLE: AZ

Dark Hammer Quad

Dark Hammer Quad Yellowhammer Brewing Huntsville, AL Yellowhammer makes a rotating series of 20 beers throughout the year, including Dark Hammer Quad. ABV: 10.2 ABW: 8.06 COLOR: 33 BITTERNESS: 24.8 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1091 AVAILABLE: AL

Seat Kicker IPA

Seat Kicker IPA Airways Brewing Co. Kent, WA Seat Kicker joins the Sky Hag and Loud Lady in the Airways series of annoying airline-related characters. More than 24 pounds of Citra, Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus and Cascade hops are added to each 10-barrel batch of Seat Kicker. ABV: 6.5 ABW: 5.17 COLOR: 5.3 BITTERNESS: 60 ORIGINAL... View Article

Flor de Jamaica

Flor de Jamaica Mad River Brewing Co. Blue Lake, CA Flor de Jamaica is brewed with Columbus, Cascade, Summit, Willamette and Tettnanger hops and infused with dried hibiscus flowers. ABV: 5.6 ABW: 4.5 COLOR: 28 BITTERNESS: 26.24 ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1056 AVAILABLE: CA, OK, OR, FL,GA, HI, IA, IN, KY, MD, MN, NC, NE, NM, NY,... View Article

Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher

Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Hoppin’ Frog Brewery Akron, OH Barrel-Aged B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher won a gold award at the 2012 World Beer Cup and a bronze at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival. It is a barrel-aged version of B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, which is a two-time gold winner at the Great American... View Article