It was my own father who first exposed me to beer. At an early age, there was an after-dinner tradition of story time, where my father would tell my brothers and sister tales from his youth growing up in Philadelphia.
Sierra Nevada’s newest year-round release—Torpedo Extra IPA, an India pale ale embellished by the brewery’s homemade hop-extractor, dubbed “the hop torpedo”—may be viewed as a thank-you to the craft beer drinking community. After all, the brewery helped launch our collective love of hops when it introduced its flagship pale ale in 1980.
Pioneering beer writer Michael Jackson, the “Beer Hunter,” died at his home in London on August 30. Author of numerous books on both beer and whiskey, he wrote the column “Jackson’s Journal” in this magazine for 23 years. We can’t do credit to the volume of thoughtful tributes that memorialized Michael Jackson on our website and elsewhere, but here are a few excerpts:
There once was a time in America, not that long ago, when we had brewers, winemakers and distillers. It was a simple, orderly era. Each group existed among its own kind, occasionally venturing to sample the wares of another group, but never straying.
If you love the beers of Rogue Ales, take a moment to thank the inhospitable environment of Los Angeles. If John Maier had not found the sprawling city unbearable, he might not have left a lucrative job in the aerospace industry, might not have gravitated to brewing, and might not have made Rogue the innovative brewery it is today, under Maier’s stewardship as head brewer.
Jean Van Roy couldn’t have anticipated the answer he would get when he asked American brewers who had brought him distinctly American hops how much he should add to his boiling kettle.
