There have been a few movie and TV related brews that’ve sprung up over the years; some good, some great, and some pretty darn bad.

Here are five that run the gamut:

Star Trek Vulcan Ale

The first in a planned series of Star Trek inspired brews, Vulcan Ale is a 5.4% ABV Irish Red Ale brewed under contract by Montana’s Harvest Moon Brewing Company for Canadian distributor Delancey Direct.  Early indications are that it’s a decent beer, but what “Irish” and “Vulcan” have in common is anyone’s guess – do the Vulcans even have drinking songs?

Romulan Ale

We can’t discuss Star Trek themed beers without a mention of Romulan Ale, an American Adjunct Lager brewed a few years back by Cerveceria La Constancia S.A. in El Salvador.  The one thing this beer had going for it was its color – a raspberry radiator fluid blue that most likely made the drinker think they had bladder cancer the first time they approached the urinal after drinking the stuff.

Monty Python Holy Grail Ale

Probably the best part of this English Pale Ale is its name – anything related to Monty Python immediately puts me in a good mood.  I can’t honestly recall if I’ve had this beer, but I know at least one gentleman (who is not a beer geek and CERTAINLY not a beer snob) who swears by the stuff.  I just wish they’d brew something a little more absurd, like a coconut clapper Porter or an elderberry-scented Saison.

Imperial Stout Trooper

Even after George Lucas flexed his legal muscles and forced a label change that made the beer look a little less, uh, Stormtroopery (and a little more Groucho Marxey), it’s still clear that this beer is from a galaxy far, far away.  Imperial Stout Trooper is a great beer with a cool name and label art that makes you feel like you’re twelve again, only this time you’re not drinking warm cans of stolen beer down by the creek.  That’s a win-win!

Game of Thrones Iron Throne Blonde Ale

I’ll admit I have a crush on Game of Thrones dragon-mama Dany Targaryen, so I’m not going to argue with Brewery Ommegang’s choice to dedicate the first beer in their HBO-licensed series to coolest chic this side of Westeros.  This well made Belgian Blonde Ale is as complex as the shifting allegiances on the show, and would make a great gift if you were trying to woo a warrior princess (well this, or *SPOILER ALERT* a couple of heads in a knapsack).

Of course there’s also all the Dogfish Head/ Sony Music brews to consider, Kid Rock’s Bad Ass whatever, and the soon to be wrought Hanson Mmm-Hop beer, the release of which is being held up by “complications of distribution.” I’ll say, “complications” never sounded so comforting!

I think we can expect to see more and more of these pop culture collaborations come to market as craft brewers seek to stand out in an increasing crowded marketplace and media makers seek new ways to connect with fans.

Hopefully we get more Iron Throne Blonde Ales and fewer blue monstrosities like the Romulan Ale (the folks behind the new Vulcan Ale are working on a new version – here’s hoping they do better!).

At the end of the day, one of my favorite sayings applies to licensed brews, both now and in the future: If the beer’s good, then it’s all good.

So please, Hollywood marketer types, make sure the beer is good!

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Last October, Dogfish Head announced they were taking suggestions for the final ingredient of American Beauty, an Imperial Pale Ale they are brewing as a tribute to the Grateful Dead.

They were looking to add something to the brew that reflected the connection between Deadheads and the band.  I made several suggestions over at Today.com, some of which were most likely illegal.

Well, Dogfish Head just announced what the final ingredient will be, and while not as magical as mushrooms or hip as hemp, it’s actually a very solid choice. 

So what’s the final piece of the puzzle?  Granola, the ultimate hippie fuel.

Dogfish Head credits the idea to 39 year-old chemist Thomas Butler, who attended his first Dead show when he was nine (Dogfish Head’s website has a great recounting of Thomas’ first encounter with Deadheads, from mostly-naked women, to wondering why they were all passing around “cigarettes”).

He suggested granola because as a kid he saw it as a staple food in the Deadhead diet, and, as an avid homebrewer, he sees great ingredient potential from the mix of oats, grains and dried fruits.

Thomas will join Sam Calagione to brew a pilot batch in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in the coming weeks, so he’ll get the chance to see how well his idea works first hand.

The rest of us will find out in October, when American Beauty will be released across the Dogfish Head distribution network.

In the meantime we should all be glad that they didn’t go with patchouli oil.

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Some of you will cringe when I say this, but hype usually makes things seem better, at least for a little while.

Being pumped up about an experience or a product can place a set of rose-colored glasses firmly on your face, which blind you to some of the shortcomings you might experience.  There’s a reason advertising is a 37 billion dollar industry in America.

While hype fades over time – most people eventually come back down to earth and judge even the shiniest of things on their merits – this reality check doesn’t always happen with beer, especially those that are in short supply.

After all, you probably only get 15 minutes a year with a hard-to-find beer, which leaves little time to see past the rosy hue of hype – unless another beer comes and smacks those silly goggles off of your face.

That’s exactly what happened to me on Saturday night. 

I had two super-rare barrel-aged imperial stouts on hand; a 22-ounce bomber of Firestone Walker Parabola, and a 12-ounce bottle of another much-hyped and long ballyhooed brew.  I’m not going to name the second beer, because its brewer was kind enough to send it along at my request, and I don’t want to kick them in the nether regions for helping me out.  I can make my point without pointing fingers.

I started the evening with the 2013 Firestone Walker Parabola, aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels.  It was simply exquisite, with sweet and rich threads of chocolate and vanilla leading the way, and deep nuances of coffee, tobacco, caramel, and dark fruit to explore in every sip.  I’m a barrel-aged beer hound, and this Parabola is one of the best examples of the breed I’ve had in quite a long while.  I shared it with my wife, who immediately asked if there was more, like right after her first taste.

We finished our glasses while watching Argo (a suspenseful movie about people standing in line), and I decided to go crazy and open up the 12-ounce bottle of the other stuff.  It seemed decadent to drink two rare beers back-to-back, but I figured why not go for broke?  What I didn’t figure is that the second beer would pale in comparison to the Parabola.

And boy did it.  It tasted like home brew.  MY home brew, which is mostly a mess. After a couple of sips, I asked my wife how she liked it, and she just squinched up her nose and wiggled her head side-to-side.  No good.

If the Parabola was classical music, the other brew wasn’t jazz or even a gutsy punk song – it was Chocolate Rain.  It was rough and unfocused.  It was noise in a bottle.

I used to LOVE this beer, and have sung its praises in the past.  It tastes the same now as it did when I first tried it, but I’ve sampled many excellent beers over the intervening years, and it simply no longer lives up to the hype it enjoys.

Drinking it right behind the wonderful Parabola certainly helped me to come to this conclusion (if I were a Russian oligarch, I’d have a golden faucet of that stuff in every room of my palatial mountain stronghold), but I think I’d have tasted the disappointment even without the comparison.

As the industry grows and brewers become more sophisticated, we’ll see some of our former idols being eclipsed by a better breed of beer.  While it’s sad that I’m ready to walk away from this once-adored brew, I’m happy that it hasn’t fallen victim to diminishing quality or its brewer not being able to make ends meet – it’s a victim of a vital and thriving beer scene that’s creating beers that are more wonderful than the wonders of the past.

As beer geeks, these are the problems we want to have.

What’s in a name?  Well quite a bit if you’re a business that has spent many years and countless dollars trying to get people to remember it.

For instance, if I say Microsoft, you think about how much your computer sucks.  If I say Nike, you think of little slave children making wonderful sporting goods.  If I say Budweiser, you think of all the other beers you’d rather drink.

Well, the Oregon Beer Company, makers of Rogue Ales, wants to make sure you think about their rather mediocre beers whenever anyone says “Rogue,” and that means preventing others from muddying the waters by using the Rogue name. 

It’s in this spirit that they’ve filed suit against the restaurant Rogue 24, a high-end eatery in Washington D.C. created by James Beard Award winning chef RJ Cooper.

You see, the Oregon Brewing Company is in the restaurant business as well, operating eleven West Coast brew pubs and restaurants that carry the Rogue name, and they hold the trademark on the word “Rogue” for use in restaurants, pubs and adult beverages.

They are simply protecting their turf, which they have a legal right to do.  Actually it’s more than a right, it’s kind of an obligation.  If you don’t go after people who are using your trademark, you weaken your claim to it by letting them get away with it.

If Rogue wants to keep the clear right to be the only “Rogue” restaurant, pub or adult beverage in town (and their products are sold across America, including in Washington D.C., so that “town” could be anywhere), then they have to go after places like Rogue 24, even if it’s kind of a dick move.

And, according to the Washington City Paper, they are definitely going for maximum dickage:

Oregon Brewing Company wants Rogue 24 to stop using the word “Rogue” and destroy all signs, menus, literature, and other materials branded with the mark. (No word on what that might mean for Cooper’s Rogue tattoo.) Oregon Brewing Company is also asking the restaurant to transfer the domain name rogue24.com, and for unspecified additional “injunctive relief.”

My gut tells me the Oregon Brewing Company will win this dispute fairly easily, and the two years Rogue 24 has spent building their brand will be undone by the lawyers.

That’s a shame.  Not that the restaurant will have to find a new identity (that sucks, but the one they decided to use was already spoken for – it’s like someone building a house in your front yard and then feeling sorry for telling them to knock it down).  It’s a shame that there were lawyers involved at all.

A brewer once told me a story of having to change the name of one of his new beers, because it just happened to contain a word found in a more established brew in a different part of the country.  This trademark dispute wasn’t settled by lawyers in a courtroom, it was settled between two guys in an elevator at the Craft Brewers Conference.

I’d love it if the craft beer industry could continue to be a place where people can settle disputes in a civil manner without getting the lawyers involved, but that’s a silly dream.

As the industry grows into the billions of dollars and craft beer brands become household names, we’re going to see more and more legal bickering, even if it’s well founded.

Maybe the Brewers Association can create a beer court, where brewers who have a dispute sit down with judge Charlie Papazian and “relax and have a home brew” and sort everything out amicably.

That’s the kind of Bar Association I think America needs more of.

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Map courtesy of the Beer Institute: http://www.beerinstitute.org/br

USA Today recently published their list of the “10 “best” craft brew states in America,” and it seems that no complex calculations were involved – they simply listed the states with the most breweries, from greatest to least, and then supplied a few examples of why each state is awesome.

Here’s what their list looks like:

The robo-authors (credited as “10best editors”) seem lukewarm about second-place Washington, saying “Washington state has 136 craft breweries, including the well-known Pyramid Brewery, headquartered in Seattle. It’s no surprise that this evergreen state has such a passion for beer, as the first American microbrewery — Yakima Brewing & Malting Co — was based here.“

But they breathlessly gush about how third-place Colorado’s “craft brewery list reads more like a roundup of the best breweries in the country. If that’s not enough, Denver hosts the Great American Beer Festival where you can sample 2,200 beers from 500 of the country’s best breweries.“

Hmm…despite this massive love for Colorado, Washington wins with a “well-known” brewery and a little bit of history?

Clearly, using the number of breweries in a state is a crude way to judge the quality of that state’s beer scene.

Maybe it’s better to look at the states with the FEWEST people per brewery.  This might be an indicator at which states have the most robust brewing scenes, relative to their population.

This is something the Brewers Association calculates for their Capita Per Brewery report, and here’s how those numbers looked in 2011:

Okay, so this is worse.  Much worse, actually, unless you want to try and convince me that Montana, which ranks third on the list, has a better beer scene than California, which ranks 21st.

The only way to create a “best” list is to know which states have the best brewers, the coolest brew pubs and the most dedicated beer geeks. The closest I could get would be to create an unranked collection of the 10 best beer states in America, and even that would be tough.

At any rate, when you use the word “best” you’re talking about quality, not quantity.  Perhaps USA Today should re-title their article as “10 states with the greatest number of breweries.”

Or maybe not – nobody would read that.

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Those of you who have been reading B&WB for a while know that I’m a creature of habit, both in my daily routines, and in what I eat and drink.

While I’m constantly exploring the wonderful nooks and crannies of the craft beer universe, there are two beers I have kept in constant supply at my house  – my go to dark beer, New Holland Dragons Milk, and Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale, my every day IPA.

As you can see from the image above, one of my darlings has been dethroned.  Dales is dead – long live King Jack!

This change occurred before I realized anything was happening.  I’ve been a fan of Dales for a long time, first drawn to it by the novelty of a good beer in an aluminum can (we’re going back a few years here), and then staying with it because it’s a solid all-arounder.

Dales has generous malt backbone and a nice hop profile that splits “piney” and “citrusy” right down the middle.  It has a 6.5% ABV, making it not-so-boozy (at least compared to the Dragon), and it comes in cans, which makes it easier to cool, to store and take to the lake.

But Union Jack is simply a better beer.  Its malt backbone is sweeter than Dales, and its hop profile is pure citrus joy.  I have found myself reaching for it more and more at the beer store until I finally realized that it has become my hands-down favorite IPA.

Once I realized I had mentally moved on from my dear Dales, I decided to try one side-by-side with a Union Jack to see if there was any chance of trying to rekindle my relationship with my canned crush.  You can see the outcome above.  Dales was totally outclassed.

Dales was the first hoppy beer I ever truly loved and craved, my gateway into the land of IPA’s (and, yes, I know that Dales is a pale ale, not an IPA, so please don’t get all herpy-derpy about it in the comments).

Being the creature of habit that I am, it’s going to be difficult to walk past my old flame at the beer store as I scan the shelves for my new main squeeze, but we live, we love, we learn, and we change.

Goodbye Dales.  You’ll be missed.

Now where did I put that bottle opener…

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“Does this can make me look fat?”

How a brewer chooses to seek innovation tells you a lot about what motives them.

If you had any question as to where Budweiser’s priorities lie, look no further than their new bowtie-shaped can which will be hitting the shelves early next month.

While a brewer like Sly Fox is working to get around the aroma-robbing issues with their new topless can, and Samuel Adams is torturing themselves to create the perfect aluminum vessel to bring out the best in their wares, Budweiser has spent three years and “significant capital investments” developing a can that simply looks cool.

It also only holds 11.3 ounces of beer, so drinkers are getting even less than they would from a traditional can of Budweiser.

From the details shared in the press release below, the new bowtie-shaped beer seems to do nothing to enhance the flavor or aroma of the beer for the drinker.  Actually, there’s no mention of flavor or functionality for the drinker at all, only breathless quotes from Director of Innovation for Anheuser-Busch Pat McGauuley about how neat the thing looks.

Here’s a sampling of what he says: 

The world’s most iconic beer brand deserves the world’s most unique and innovative can. I think we have it here.

I’d shy away from using the word “innovative” when describing something that’s all about style, not substance, but I don’t work for Bud.

We explored various shapes that would be distinguishable in the marketplace, but also viable from an engineering standpoint.

Again – it’s all about looks – no mention of flavor or functionality for the drinker.

Wait, I take it back – it’s easy to grip…

This can is certainly a conversation starter: eye-catching, easy-to-grip, trendy and – according to our research – very appealing to young adults.

Yes, the research has shown that “young adults” will have hours of fun in conversations started by the trendy and eye-catching new can:

Young Adult One: Hey dude – what up?

Young Adult Two: Hey.

Young Adult One: Want a Bud?

Young Adult Two: Umm, sure. What’s up with the can?

Young Adult One: I dunno – Mike bought ‘em.

Young Adult Two: Stupid Mike.

Young Adult One: Yeah, he’s kind of a tool, but free beer, you know?

Young Adult Two: I guess…

I know I’ve recently picked on Budweiser for the ridiculous Black Crown Media Kit, and I honestly don’t want to harp on them.

But I’m going to, because it’s striking to see that, at a time when craft brewers are bringing ACTUAL innovation to canned beer, Budweiser is once again putting style in front of substance.

It bothers me that a company with the resources to do something amazingly innovative chooses instead to do something vapid and useless.

I know they’re a marketing company that happens to brew beer, but as the landscape of the American beer scene is changing, I wish AB-InBev would concentrate on making a positive difference in the marketplace and not just more noise.

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Here’s the entire press release from Budweiser’s media page:

World’s Most Unique Beer Can:
BudweiserIntroducing
Bowtie-Shaped Can on May 6

ST. LOUIS (April 17, 2013) – This spring Budweiser will introduce a striking and original new beer can – a bowtie-shaped aluminum can that mirrors Budweiser’s iconic bowtie logo.

Beer lovers can see for themselves the new bowtie-shaped can when it becomes available in a special 8-pack on store shelves nationwide beginning May 6.

“This can is incomparable, like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” said Pat McGauley, vice president of innovation for Anheuser-Busch. “The world’s most iconic beer brand deserves the world’s most unique and innovative can. I think we have it here.”

The proprietary can, in development since 2010, will be available only in the United States and in an 8-pack and will not replace the traditional Budweiser can.

To make the new can possible, Anheuser-Busch engineers needed to solve a number of technical challenges, and major equipment investments were required at Budweiser’s can-making facility in Newburgh, N.Y. Significant capital investments also were required to upgrade packaging lines at the Budweiser breweries in Los Angeles and Williamsburg, Va., the first breweries with capability to package this unique can innovation.

Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City and 90 miles south of Albany, is where proprietary equipment is located that shapes the can. Creating the can requires a 16-step process – 10 steps to form the bottom half of the can, with an additional six steps to form the top portion.

The Anheuser-Busch Global Innovation Group has been investigating potential can innovations for several years.

“We explored various shapes that would be distinguishable in the marketplace, but also viable from an engineering standpoint,” McGauley said.  “Aluminum can be stretched only about 10 percent without fracturing, which requires that the angles of the bowtie be very precise.”

An initial run of more than 10 million bowtie cans were produced in Newburgh through March 31 for the spring introduction. An additional 8 million cans are scheduled to be produced this month.

Due to the can’s slimmer middle and sleek design, it holds 11.3 ounces of beer and has about 137 calories, approximately 8.5 fewer calories than a traditional 12-ounce can of Budweiser.

“This can is certainly a conversation starter: eye-catching, easy-to-grip, trendy and – according to our research – very appealing to young adults,” McGauley said.  “It’s a beer can like no other.”

Though there is no written documentation on the origins of the Budweiser bowtie, it is a brand icon found the world over.  According to company lore, the bowtie was introduced when too many people were using the “Bud” bar call too frequently, so the double triangles were added to emphasize the full Budweiser name.

The Budweiser bowtie can is a natural progression from the new packaging introduced in 2011 that emphasized the iconic bowtie, a symbol that first appeared in a national advertising campaign for Budweiser in 1956.

The bowtie can is another example of how Budweiser continues to innovate, evolve and attract a new generation of beer drinkers. “It builds on the success of Budweiser Black Crown, the crowd-sourced fan favorite introduced earlier this year,” McGauley said.

The launch of the can is being supported with a marketing campaign that includes digital, print and television. It will be offered for sale in grocery stores and super markets, convenience stores and packaged liquor stores.

These things happen so fast.

Just a few years ago, the Heineken bottle was a happy and innocent little green vessel, one that liked to hang around the house with the grownups and maybe have a play date with its buddy Chip (and sometimes his brother Dip) on a Sunday afternoon. It loved to watch football with you, or snuggle up and read a book.

But things have changed.  The Heineken bottle has grown up, and it’s ready to dance shirtless all night in a laserbeam sweatbox packed with the beautiful people. 

The Heineken Ignite bottle concept debuted a few days ago at Milan Design Week.  Packed with sensors and LED lights, the bottle throbs to the beat the DJ is spinning, flashes as you click it to another bottle, and dances with lights as you take a sip.

In other words, baby is tripping balls.

The “magic” all comes from a reusable module that snaps onto the bottom of the bottle, a sort of psychedelic cozy intent on setting off any epileptic within eyeshot.

Like all experimental things teenagers do, there no word on just how harmful this new partying behavior is on its insides (you know, the beer), but I can’t imagine blasting light into the stuff is good for it, especially because green bottles don’t offer the best photo protection to begin with.

Unlike it’s more grounded craft beer brethren – you know, the one who still plays with cans and enjoys quiet conversation – we always knew that one day the cute little green bottle would be drawn to life in the fast lane, but you’re never really prepared when it happens.

Maybe 28 days at the recycling center will help…

Video of the Ignite bottle in action:

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By now, you may have seen the video of a Mariners fan catching a foul ball in his beer and then chugging down it like a gladiator at the Colosseum. If not, I’ve posted the clip below.

The beer-baller gets style points for sure. Not only do we see richly tan foam splashing down his chest, a closer look at his beer shows is dark brown.  That ain’t no Coors Light in his hand!

We’ve been here before.

Just about two years ago, we shared a video of a Red Sox fan catching a foul ball in his beer cup and drinking it like a man.  Back then, the beer was very pale and fizzy, not rich, dark and foamy.

Here they are side by side – consider it a demonstration of how beer at the ballpark has improved in two short years:

It look like better beer might be becoming as American as apple pie and, well you know, despite the fact that some ballparks (*cough* Yankee Stadium *cough*) don’t seem to know what REAL craft beer is!

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Sometimes I forget that there was life in the craft beer universe before the late 1990′s, when breweries like Stone, Dogfish Head and Russian River crawled out of the primordial wort.  But there was, and after coming across a nice piece at AllAboutBeer.com written by “Beer Curmudgeon” Harry Schuhmacher, I realize that the “craft beer bubble” people like to talk about may have already popped, more than 15 years ago.  

The article is look back at the 1994 Craft Brewer’s Conference.  It was a young and eager Harry’s first time attending the CBC, and as he recounts the excited vibe of the conference, he also shares some jaw-dropping growth stats about the “microbrewery” industry from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties:

The exuberance and electricity in the air were palpable. Craft beer was hitting the national radar, and rags-to-riches stories abounded. Since 1985, the craft beer segment had not experienced less than 20 percent growth per year. In fact, for most of the years between 1985 and 1997, volume was up 40 to 60 percent, and in 1987 it was up more than 100 percent. These were heady numbers, and everybody from disenchanted Wall Street financiers to burned-out engineers to young get-rich-quick swashbucklers was looking longingly at our little industry.

Those are some crazy numbers, nothing like the steady 15 percent or so growth the industry has seen in recent years.

All those suitcases full of money being thrown around by the get-rich-quick folks can do some pretty significant damage, and that’s exactly what was to come:

What we didn’t know back in 1994 was that this euphoric craft beer bubble was about to burst. The 40 high-volume increases we had seen since 1985 were to turn into a 1 percent gain in 1997. The frenzy of new contract-brewed brands had hit a fever pitch, and people were shipping beer to distributors regardless of demand. Suddenly, beer of questionable taste and quality started backing up the supply chain until distributors and retailers said “no more.” Shipments were refused and a shakeout ensued. Strong brewers continued to grow, but others fell like flies.

I think the key to this last passage is “beer of questionable taste and quality started backing up the supply chain.” As beer geeks, we know that when the product goes bad, our happy little universe will likely begin to struggle.

This makes me think of what the mega-brewers are trying to do with Blue Moon, Shock Top, Batch 19, and all the other mass-produced craft beer lookalikes – exploit a trend with products of “questionable taste and quality.”  Harry’s history lesson gives us a good reason to be wary of them.

He goes on to talk about his outlook on the industry and if we’re headed for a second bubble or not.  It’s a really smart and funny read, and you should really check it out for yourself when you have a minute.

Here’s to hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself.

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UPDATE (4/15/13): The story is now posted over at Today.com.  Thanks to everyone who submitted their answers.  It was great to get such a big response, but due to word count limitations, I wasn’t able to fit everyone into the piece, and then it was further cut down when Today asked that a nutritionist chime in on the pros and cons (mostly cons – nutritionists are buzzkills!) of drinking a beer post-marathon.  Anyway, I think it turned out great and thanks again to all who took the time to participate!

UPDATE (4/10/13 @2pm): Thanks to all for the wonderful responses – we had a great turnout for this.  The piece I’m writing has been bumped up to this week, so I’m afraid there’s no time left for any further submissions.  Thanks again to everyone who took the time to help out with this – I’ll post a link here when the piece is live.

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Attention long distance runners who love craft beer – I need your input for an article I’m writing for the Today Show’s website next week (my other writing gig).

The Boston Marathon is this weekend, and I just received a package from Samuel Adams containing “Boston 26.2 Brew,” their Gose-style beer brewed to celebrate the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.

Here’s the description from the brewery:

Boston 26.2 Brew offers a lighter body with a slightly lower alcohol level (4.5% ABV) than many of our other styles – it turned out to be the perfect compliment for the record heat we experienced in 2012! In terms of flavor, drinkers enjoy light cereal notes from malted and unmalted wheat, rounded out by a spicy, peppery character with a soft mineral quality from a touch of salt. The result is an unusual and delicate brew that is full of flavors to discover… and worth crossing the finish line for.

The beer will only be available along the race route and at marathon-related events, and I’m sure parched marathon runners will be able to get a pint or two after the race.

This got me to thinking about what other craft beers runners deem worthy of post-marathon imbibement, so I’m reaching out over the magical wires of the Internet and find out.

If you’re a long distance runner and brew lover, please take a minute and answer the following questions:

- When did you start running, and how did you get into it?

- What craft beer do you most enjoy after 26.2 miles (or 13.1) of pavement pounding, and why do you choose it?

- What does that first post-race sip taste like?

- Do you imbibe immediately after the race, or do you wait a bit or do other things like hydrate and load up on carbs or protein (or whatever you runner-types do)?

- What’s your greatest accomplishment as a runner?

- How do you balance out beer consumption and training?

- How often do you run races, and what kinds do you run?

- How would you like to be referred to in the piece?

- Where are you from?

- What do you do for a living

- Any fun additional beer and running tales to tell?  Share those as well!

Please cut and paste the questions above into an email and send your answers at jim(dot)galligan(at)hotmail(dot)com, and I’ll pull quotes from some of the stories and include them in the article.  Your answers can be as long or as short as you like – try to have fun with it.

I’m hoping to have all replies in by Friday 4/12 at 5pm.

Also, if this little plea for help goes largely unheeded , there’s a chance that I’ll scrap the article and write about breweries that are going green for Earth Day.  You don’t want that to happen, do you?!

If not, be sure to pass this link around to your running friends, and thanks to all who play along – may the road rise to meet you (or not, if that would totally screw up your foot strike).

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below, and I’ll answer ‘em for you.

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Original image courtesy of http://www.opacity.us purveyors of cool pictures of abandoned places.

I was thinking (naturally) about beer yesterday afternoon, and came up with a question for myself – What’s the one brewery I cannot live without?  After giving it some thought, I was genuinely surprised by the outcome.

At first I thought of the tent pole breweries, the ones that make a wide variety of interesting and excellent beers.  These are places like Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, etc. The big dogs who delight beer geeks and noobs alike.

As it turns out, these guys can all burn to the ground (which kind of happened to New Belgium this weekend), and I’d be heartbroken to see them go, but I’d still be saving the water in my fire hose for someone else.

Then I thought about the Wild Child brewers, the ones who make the crazy beers that fuel the imagination of the entire industry.  Places like Dogfish Head, the Bruery, and all the other folks who go to the farmers market and see an endless supply of possibilities for new beers.  Zucchini Lager?  Why not?!

While I appreciate what these mad scientists do, there are enough people thinking outside the bottle to fill the void if any one of them happens to go away.  Again, I’d be sad, but life would go on if one of these innovators faltered.

Then I thought about particular beers that I can’t live without, the ones that satisfy me like no others can.  Thinking about it this way made answering the question easy.

The one brewer I cannot live without is New Holland, because they make a beer that I don’t want to live without, my beloved Dragons Milk, a peppery and rich Bourbon barrel aged stout.

I apologize for bringing up this beer again, but I have yet to find a brew that can match it, and I sample lots of barrel aged stouts.  From its creamy mouthfeel, to its rich notes of caramel and chocolate, to the big bite of Bourbon in the back, this beer checks all of my boxes like no other can.

And believe me, I’ve been searching for alternatives, but until Bourbon County Brand Stout comes my way or Schlafly manages to get off their asses and get some of their Reserve Imperial Stout on the shelves, Dragons Milk remains the king of the mountain.

Meanwhile, there are several IPA’s I feel are pretty much interchangeable (although few nail it like Firestone Walker Union Jack) and many Browns, and Reds, and Saisons, and Pilsners, and Lagers that are fairly fungible, too.  But so far, there’s only one Dragons Milk.

The funny thing is, the rest of the New Holland beers could be pulled off the market and I wouldn’t mind. I don’t really care for The Poet, or Mad Hatter or Night Tripper, and I think Charkoota Rye is an abomination of nature. Actually, I think they should do what The Alchemist does with Heady Topper and just focus on brewing one amazing beer.  More Dragons Milk for everyone!

So that’s where I wound up – how about you?  Tell us below what’s the one brewery you couldn’t live without and let us know why.

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Hello from Bahstahn, home of Tawmy Brady and the Paytreeuhts!

I’m up here for a conference until Saturday afternoon, and while I didn’t pahk tha cahr in Havaahd Yahd (sorry, I couldn’t resist being ‘that guy’), I did find a pretty nice beer bar near the hotel I’m staying at.  As a guy who doesn’t get out much, this excited me.  But as a beer geek, it depressed me.

You see, I found the place on Yelp, where a couple of reviews written by beer geeks made it sound like a craft brew paradise.  Tons of beers on tap.  Cash only.  Swearwords on the menu.  I’m in!

When I got there, there were only 12 taps, and most of the beers were ones I can find in New Jersey.  Undeterred, I had a Troegs Nugget Nectar, a sample of their cask beer, and another sample of a beer they had on nitro.  Three decent beers was about all I could handle last night, and two of those were in tiny tasting glasses.

What depressed me was the lack of shared enthusiasm for craft beer I found there.  People were there talking, watching the Devils-Bruins hockey game, and generally just taking the interesting selection of beers FOR GRANTED.

There was no banter with the bartender about hop profiles, or talking to the guy next to me about breweries we’ve visited.  There were just a bunch of normal youngish people hanging out in a bar.  How dare they!

I realize that this is how all bars work, but I guess I was expecting a little geek-on-geek action based on the Yelp reviews, and it wasn’t to be had. 

Oh well, just like any other (fill in the blank)-on-(fill in the blank) action, you can always find it on the Internet.  So here I am, fellow geeks.  Let’s get to it.

Tell me what you’re drinking this weekend, and tell it to me slowly.  Mmmmmmm…

(This really took a turn, didn’t it? Sorry about that.)

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We tried about 8 different beers, and he left me with one, their Spiral Jetty IPA which I haven’t tried yet, but it is soon on my list.  I’m told it is an English style IPA at about 6.6% ABV.  Looking forward to that easy drinker.  We tried a lot of good solid beers, but there were a couple that stood out. First was their Brainless on Raspberries.  That is their Belgian ale that was fermented with Raspberries as an adjunct.  It was good, but their Brainless on Peaches that is Barrel aged is stellar so it was very good, but not my favorite of their Brainless beers.

No the one that stood head and shoulders above the rest was their Elder Brett.  This is a Saison golden ale that is brewed with Brettanomyces and then aged in wine barrels.  This was a beautiful beer.  Delicate and refreshing with a dry, oaky finish that was very reminiscent of a high end Chardonnay,  but so much better, because it was beer and still retained that hop presence and sweet malt backbone.  This is THE BEER to choose when trying to convince a wino that beer is worth a second look.

Its character is a very delicate mix of beer and wine.  I’ve had some that are pretty ham handed, but this one is very well done.  It starts sweet and very refreshing, with good carbonation, you know the tickle your nose kind of carbonation.  Flavor was grapey and citrusy with a nice sparkle and a really nice dry and oaky finish.  I loved this beer, and I think it is one that would make any white wine drinker sit up and take notice to the possibilities that are available in the beer universe.

It also has a very nice surprise, it is 9.8% ABV, it really packs a whollup. And it is perfectly disguised, I had no idea I was drinking something that could be considered “Imperial” based on ABV.  I would have guessed around 5%ABV based on flavor.  If you find this gem pick it up and enjoy some warm summer evening, or better yet pair it with a white fish or chicken dish.  You won’t be disappointed.

-Don

I made this animated gif for a piece about Sly Fox’s “new” topless beer can that I wrote for Today.com.  The animation wasn’t used on their site, so I figured I post it here to give hard-core beer nerds like you (and me) the chance to see what it looks like when you peel the top off of one of these babies.

Now you know.

For more information about the development of the can (including the fact that SABMiller had a hand in its creation and it’s three years old) and a review of the beer inside, click over to Today.com.  And while you’re there, why not “like” the article on Facebook? 

Also, is it just me, or do repeating gifs like this make you twitchy, too?

As a bonus, here’s a close up of the lid – it’s actually quite safe.

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