Hop Notch IPA has the full bodied flavor of an imperial IPA without all the booziness.  It is brewed to 7.3% ABV with 82 IBUs so there is plenty of pucker factor, and how sweet it is.  This beer has been nicknamed the Pliny Killer by my buddy Rick over at Brewforia.  This beer has a beautiful and well balanced nose and flavor mixing seamlessly floral flavors with piney and grapefruity hop character in a perfectly balanced IPA.  The mouth feel is medium bodied and it leaves a creaminess on the palate, but the little bubbles are also bright and sparkle-y.

I loved this beer at the dinner, as it was paired with some amazing crab cakes with some sort of aolie …aiole …sauce that was amazing.  The pairing was by far the best of the evening and the flavors really played off of each other well.  Imagine my happiness when I went back 3 days later to see they had put the keg back on tap, and me with my growler!  I filled up my growler, and let it sit in my fridge for the next week.  While it did lose a bit of fizz, the great flavor was still intact and I enjoyed every last drop of my 35 oz growler!

I too paired this beer with something, but it wasn’t food.  I was sent a cigar from Teds Cigars. They sent me a Maker’s Mark Cigar, a regular robusto, and a Hopz cigar.  Yes this cigar has Hops infused into it, and it claims to be a Craft Beer Cigar.  I though what a better time to smoke it then when enjoying a super hoppy IPA.

Much to my disappointment, the Hopz cigar didn’t deliver.  It didn’t make the beer a better experience, and I could taste no evidence of hops in the cigar.  Maybe my palate was just overwhelmed by the beer, but the hoppiness of the cigar was really underwhelming and didn’t do much for me.  Hopefully the Makers Mark cigar will be better.  I had high hopes for this as it actually uses hop leafs in the rolling of the tobacco, but alas it was lost on me.

I started this post by calling this beer the Pliny Killer aleuding to the fact that it is comparable to Pliny the Elder  (I have not had the younger).  Having had both I must admit that I like the Hop Notch better.  I love Pliny, don’t get me wrong, I think I am one of the few people left in America that thinks it lives up to it colossal hype.  The funny thing is, this beer is better…more balanced, and more flavorful, and yet it has almost no hype at all around it.  Maybe if it was only brewed a couple times a year in California in small batches instead of being brewed in Utah and readily available in all the states it is distributed in.  That’s the thing about hype it is a double edged sword.

If you see this beer buy it and enjoy.  You’ll never miss Pliny again!

-Don

I humble-bragged the other day that I have been invited to be a regular contributor to the The Today Show’s food blog.  My first post appeared this morning, a “beer brawl” between New England and New York in honor of the Super Bowl.  I’ll admit that this is certainly not the most original post idea, but I’m trying to aim for the middle of the target a bit with my first submission.  I don’t want to blow it right out of the gate! 

Click image to read the post

The post turned out well, but something happened that I hadn’t anticipated – my stuff was edited.  Mostly the edits were good ones and the post is certainly the same in spirit, but it’s a strange feeling to have someone come between me and an audience when I’m writing about beer.  I’m sure I’ll get used to it (it happens all the time at work), but it’s strange to have someone messing with my stuff.  Even if she made it better. 

Anyway, everyone head over to the post and check it out, and while you’re there, maybe leave a comment or ten so the folks over at NBC think I’m a genius.  Everyone except John King of course, who would probably write that the “Bites” blog bites a little more today because of my crappy post.

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Behold our future overlords, the Nano Quadrotors.  While I’ll admit that this is very cool, I can now plainly see a day in the not-too-distant future where the “intelligent” little gadgets we create wind up snuffing us out (especially as we get fatter and dumber while out technology becomes free-roaming and autonomous).  It turns out the Terminator wasn’t entertainment – it was a prophesy!

Somebody start feeding beers to those nerds over at UPENN’s GRASP Lab stat – we need to slow this boat down!

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Let me start off by admitting that I love good branding.  I appreciate products that project a fully realized vision, from the packaging to the nuts and bolts inside.  The easiest (and these days the most clichéd) example here is Apple, which creates a lovely and cohesive brand experience from the store where you shop to the packaging you touch to the device inside. I’m not sure if liking such things makes me a yuppy, a metrosexual, a brand snob, a moron who overpays for shiny crap, or all the above, but I am confident that a few of you will let me know in the comments. 

In the beer world, the first brewery that pops into my head when thinking about a “complete brand vision” is the Bruery.  Their packaging is as elegant and well-crafted as the beers you’ll find inside.  It all works together beautifully.  Another brewery that fits this bill for me is one I sorta loathe – Brew Dog.  I bitch about their PR stunts, but their in-your-face punk ethos screams at you from the shelf when you gaze upon their products – you can’t deny that those guys have a cohesive brand. There are a bunch of other breweries that fit this bill as well, like Coney Island, Clown Shoes, Great Divide, Left Hand, Flying Dog, etc., etc., etc.  You get the idea.

So those are some who get it right.  There are many other breweries that make really good beer, but have wonky branding and packaging.  I hate to say that this has stopped me from buying their beers, as it makes me look like a shallow brand snob, but it has certainly slowed me down in some cases.  I wanted to taste Bruery Mischief the moment I saw that red and black label; I can’t say the same for Ruckus’ Hoptimus Prime (the punny name didn’t help).

I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll look past the labels and buy a beer from a brewery that I’ve never tried, but if I’m being honest, the nicer the packaging and the more cohesive the “idea” of the brewery, the sooner it makes it into the cart.

Here are some examples of breweries that make great beer, but suffer from poor branding or the art on their containers: 

Voodoo Brewery: I’ve adored everything I’ve ever had from the Voodoo Brewery, but their “image” is a mess (as is their website). They have a voodoo-themed brand, but aren’t located in the swamps of Louisiana or Southern Florida, rather  in a small town in Western Pennsylvania.  Um, okay.  Their beers have interesting names, like Pilzilla (which is awesome), Wynona’s Big Brown Ale (also awesome), Four Seasons IPA (again, wonderful), but none of these have anything to do with voodoo, which feels like a miss to me.  Some of their other beers fit the voodoo theme, like Big Black Voodoo Daddy (just assume I wrote “awesome” after all of these – my “a” key is getting worn out), White Magick / Black Magick, Voodoo Love Child, etc.  That’s a good thing, but overall, the whole “voodoo” idea doesn’t hold together, which I find unsettling.  Also, the art on their packaging struck me as a little lackluster at first (I overlooked it for a few trips before they caught my eye), but after tasting their stuff, I’ve come to salivate at the sight of it, so I suppose it’s effective. Anyway, if you see something from Voodoo, buy it, despite what your inner brand snob says.

Laughing Dog:  First off, I’d like to apologize to Fred Colby, owner of Laughing Dog and a dude who we adore.  Fred, your beer is stellar and an incredible value, but I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to figure that out if Don didn’t turn me on to you guys.  I love your brand concept (dogs and laughter and beer are go together wonderfully), but your labels don’t do justice to what’s inside.  Is the label art a dealbreaker?  No way, but your stuff deserves as much attention as it can get.  I know we had a Rocket Dog IPA label design contest going here a while back, and some of the submission were pretty powerful – maybe Don needs to shake a leg on that.  Anyway, if you’re a beer geek who has overlooked Laughing Dog in the past, you’re missing out on some seriously good beer – don’t let the labels stop you!

Dogfish Head: There, I said it.  I’m talking about their six packs here, as most of their bombers, especially Fort and the recent Sony Records collaboration beers (that felt weird to type), are pretty sweet looking.  But the 12oz bottles look dated and don’t reflect the creativity and craftsmanship of what’s inside.  I’m not sure I’d change it at this point, as Dogfish’s humble look is becoming almost iconic in the beer world, but it would be great to see the look and feel of the cartons and bottles live up to the taste and creativity of the beer they hold.  That said, I think Dogfish is doing just fine with the current packaging, so I guess if it ain’t broke…

One thing all of these breweries have in common is that they continue to be successful, which is terrific.  Most hardcore beer geeks don’t really care about what’s on the label, only the beer that’s inside. We read about beer on the internet, talk about beer with our friends, and jump at the chance to expand our horizons by trying something new.  In many cases, we look past packaging because we already know what a brewery or beer is all about.

But as the craft beer marketplace continues to grow and the big boys and their marketing machines begin to infiltrate our happy little world, branding and label appeal become more important than ever.  Many new craft drinkers aren’t ever going to become full-fledged beer nerds, rather they’ll walk up to the shelf and pick what looks good to them.  If wonderful beers like the ones above don’t make a clear emotional or intellectual connection with these new drinkers (and do it in three seconds or less), chances are they’ll be overlooked for ones with a clearer, more cohesive brand identity, like those supported by the macro brewers will surely posses.  While it kind of sucks that this is where craft beer is heading, it’s important that good beer wins the day, and that means good packaging.

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I’ve been hanging out at my favorite watering hole, Brewforia quite a bit lately,  and drinking a bit of beer that they have on tap.  Thing is that if something doesn’t seem “right” to me, I won’t order it.  I know this seems like a simple concept, if you don’t want something you don’t order it, but it has made me aware of something that is much deeper seated in me than I ever knew.  I really don’t want beers styles that seem out of place on this crazy beer and whiskey timeline I have in my head.

Here is a good example.  Saison is one of my favorite styles.  I think it gives the brewer a ton of latitude and can really allow for some creativity within the style.  I saw that there was a saison on tap, but did I want it?  Not only no, but Hell No!  Its 30 degrees outside, it isn’t time for Saisons!  However there was a Barleywine on tap, and that, along with the stouts really appealed to me.

Put a stout on tap in the summer, and I’m gonna leave it 9 times out of 10, I want an IPA or a Pale Ale or a DIPA or something aged in *GULP* Chardonnay Barrels!  YIKES!  I guess I always knew that I like the pace of the seasons and the different beers that are associated with them, but I never thought I was a creature of habit where my drinking palate was concerned.  Turns out I can set the calendar by it.

How about you?  Do the season’s influence your drinking preferences to the point where you won’t drink a certain style of beer?  Let us know in the comments.

I’m gonna go dig out that bourbon barrel aged quad I’ve been hanging onto.

-Don

I’ve recently been asked by the folks over at the Today Show to do some beer posts for their website. My first thought was to write a manifesto about why craft beer is the World’s Greatest Beverage – I figured it’d be a good tone setter.  They figured differently, and instead suggested I do a Super Bowl-themed article.   Fair enough – I guess they like to keep things topical.

But now I have the talking points of my little manifesto bouncing around my head, so I’ve decided to unleash them here.  You could see this as a B&WB exclusive, or as the Today Show’s rejects. Either way, here are five reasons why I think there’s no beverage in the world that can compare to the wonders of craft beer. 

Variety and Creativity: I can’t think of another beverage (except maybe Gatorade – those guys pump out a new flavor every day) that offers the breadth of variety and creativity found in the American craft beer scene.  You have dozens of styles, and thousands of brewers putting their own unique spin on each.  And that’s not to mention the legion of total oddball beers that are bubbling with imagination and craftsmanship.  You could drink a craft beer every day and probably never have the same beer twice in a decade.

Affordability: Craft beer isn’t cheap, but the value you get for your money is immense. Most are brewed with premium ingredients and lots of them.  Also, I think it was Sam Calagione who said the coolest thing about craft beer is that just about anyone can afford to buy the best beers in the world.  You can’t say that about wine or spirits. Craft beer cost more than macro lagers, but you get so much more for your money.

Regional Availability: This is a double-edged sword, but all told, the limited distribution reach of many craft beers makes traveling more fun, as you can get a taste of beers you can’t get at home. I’ve spent the past few summers visiting our parents in Wisconsin, and the first trip I take from their house is usually to the beer store to see what’s available.  I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I see stuff from New Glarus, Bells, Central Waters and other great breweries just sitting there on the shelf.In this age of Amazon and on-demand, there’s a certain charm in having to wait a while to get what you want.

No Snob Appeal: We talk about beer snobs all the time, but outside our happy little craft beer bubble, most folks think beer is for NASCAR fans, bowling leagues and frat boys on a budget.  I tend to shy away from status symbols and self aggrandizing (except when I’m humble-bragging about the Today Show – see paragraph 1 above), and that’s what’s so great about beer.  You can be the biggest beer geek in the world and NO ONE is going to think you’re trying to be a fancy man.  I like that!

You Can Live on It: Fact: you can live on beer.  This guy did it for Lent last year, and it’s a centuries-old tradition amongst Franciscan monks as well.  Even this guy lived off of Coors Light for three days while stuck in a snowbank, and that hardly even counts as beer!  The fact is craft beer (especially when unfiltered) is packed with enough nutrients to sustain life.  Try doing that with whiskey – you’d be living the real world version of Leaving Las Vegas, which didn’t end well…

So those are the first five reasons why craft beer is the world’s greatest beverage that popped into my head.  Are there any you’d add to the list?

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So Sunday a ray of hope was posted to the blog which I just have to share.  I got this rather lengthy comment from new Master Distiller Rob Dietrich.  It sounds like things are back on track, and perhaps better with the financial backing of Proximo.  I’ll let you be the judge.

Hello all,
Glad to see the passion and support still burning brightly for this fine whiskey.
I had some big (gigantic!)shoes to fill when Jake left the building, and tossed and turned many a night as to what the future would bring with the new ownership and what my role in this wood-soaked saga would really be.
I cut my teeth in the industry on Jake’s watch, hired on as the first night distiller and midnight ninja (which required BB gun sniper skills (mice), multi-tasking (sleeping on a cot next to the still with my dog on fireman’s hours, while maintaining the stills) and the random requisitions,(Flying dog Brewery beer leftovers) while learning much from him and experimenting on my own as well. I couldn’t have picked a better time, place or person to learn this craft.

The gist of it is, this whiskey sells itself. It’s freakin’ amazing. I love it. I would never change it.
Pioneers before me created a masterpiece; my job as the current steward is to maintain its beauty.
That being said; yeah, the times, they are a changin’-as they always do, whether we like it or not. The building is being renovated, production being first in line (thank you Jebus, for more clamps, valves and hoses!) and what we are doing is making more whiskey, faster.
An oxymoron, I know.
But it boils down to this: More fermenters, more stills, more barrels. The recipe doesn’t change, the aging doesn’t change, we just make more-which is a good thing.
My apologies to the outer states-we’re only distributing in Colorado right now, with good standing that we will distribute nation-wide once again when we can catch up with aging.

So, that being said…

Before the torch of head distiller was passed, I was the barrel manager. Not an unpleasant job…but, as I was fond of saying and still say; I’m always living in the past, present and future.

What was barreled in the past, affects our present. What is barreled now, affects our future. What we currently harvest, affects everything.
I am so VERY careful as to how that turns out- because I love whiskey as much as all of you…and I fucking love THIS whiskey.

I still have beers with Jake every week, if I can. I still sit at my local when I can and I don’t always drink what I make. I love what I do, I drink to my mood, but generally it’s whiskey and it’s usually THIS whiskey. Can’t help it-I’ve grown accustomed to its face.

I wax poetic and long. My apologies, but can’t help it; I’m old school and don’t blog. I write letters with a typewriter, work on my own cars, make my own liquor; I’m a combat veteran and generally stay away from people. I’m still getting used to it all.
Thanks for staying strong, for being patient and I will do my best to get to you the finest malt-barley whiskey this side of the wide Mississippi.
Cheers,
Rob Dietrich

I think with a guy like Rob at the helm, Stranahan’s will remain a strong brand and moreover continue to make great whiskey for a long time to come.  Thanks Rob.

-Don

As some of you may know, I’ve spent the past week taking care of our mom and helping her move from Wisconsin to Michigan.  She needs hip surgery and is to the point where she can’t really walk, stand or do anything on her own, so I had to stay sharp day and night and be on call to assist her.  This meant very little sleep and NO beer for Yours Truly.

The first part of the week was spent buttoning things up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and while I was a little bummed that I couldn’t pop over to Ray’s Liquor and load up on treats from New Glarus, my mind was on more important things, like making sure my mom didn’t fall and break her other hip.  This wasn’t a leisure trip by any stretch of the imagination. 

But just because I didn’t buy any beer doesn’t mean there weren’t any adult beverages in the house.  The fridge in the garage was full of leftovers from happier times.  There were several Mike’s Hard Lemonade’s that my sisters would sip on the front porch on warm summer nights.  There were a handful of Bells Two Hearted Ale’s that I didn’t have a chance to finish during my last trip out, along with a few New Glarus Spotted Cows I had picked up for my sister Wendi and a six pack of New Glarus Two Women that Don picked up at Ray’s on the recommendation of an employee there. There were four Basque beers that my niece dragged over from France for me to try that I absent mindedly left in the meat drawer.  And there were an assortment of singles from places like Victory, Stone and Rogue, remnants of six packs purchased long ago.

The fridge had to be emptied for the move to Michigan, and I had no idea what to do with the beers.  I couldn’t take them home, as I was traveling with a small carry-on suitcase that was already stuffed with clothes for the week.  I couldn’t take them in the car to Michigan because cargo space was at a premium, and none of our family there is into beer.  I thought about shipping them home, but I had so much on my plate that packing them up and getting them to the UPS store didn’t seem realistic, nor was it fair to leave my mom alone at home so I could ship beer to New Jersey.  I figured they’d have to stay.

I was literally frozen for a moment gazing upon the scene you see above, 20 or more good beers with no place to go.  I couldn’t bear to throw them out – that’d be a total waste.  Instead, I found an old wicker basket we were giving to Goodwill and filled it with the bottles.  They actually fit quite nicely.  And there they sat, in the Goodwill pile, to be left behind and hopefully found by a neighbor or a realtor who would find them a good home.

But that was still too much uncertainty for me, so I offered the assortment of beers to the movers who were loading my mom’s belongings into a semi trailer. The grudgingly accepted them, almost as if they were doing it as a favor to me.  Maybe they saw the look of mild panic in my eyes that the beer would be left without someone to enjoy it.

It’s a silly thing to worry about a handful of good beers going to waste, but I guess it’s in moments like these when we realize just how much we care about craft beer.  Guess I’m an uber nerd!

Have you ever been faced with throwing away perfectly good craft beer?  As always, let us know below.

P.S. – it’s good to be back – I missed you guys and gals quite a bit!

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It is simple choose your first initial from the first list second from the second, etc. Let me know your results!

Click on picture for larger image.

Since she was in the process of moving she had two choices, stay put in Wisconsin for the next 6 months while this is taken care of and rehabbed or stay the course and move, move all her care to MI, and have the operation up there.  She chose the latter.  It does make sense financially and for aftercare reasons, as her new place is only a couple blocks away from my sister Stacy.

So getting back to Jim, he is with her this week, coordinating doctor appointments, record transfers, moving trucks, and driving her and her dog up to Michigan.  If everything is going according to plan he is driving to Michigan today, probably as I type this.  Once there they will stay with my sister, and Jim will coordinate the move into the new place and begin to unpack.  Meanwhile we will try to get mom scheduled ASAP for hip replacement surgery.

I wanted to let everyone know why Jim is a little sparce around these parts for this week, although I just got off the phone with him, and he has a really cool beer story he will be posting later this week, so he won’t be non-existent.

I have managed to do a bit of drinking and moreover some cooking with beer this last week or so.  Actually I have cooked more with beer this week, and ever before, and lets just say the results have been stellar! First the beer…

Mendocino Brewing is a new brewery around these parts, although the brewery itself is almost 30 years old.  What initially drew me to them was their price point.  This 12 oz bottle of Oatmeal Stout only ran about $2.25.  I figured even if it was just ok, for that price I could afford to find out.  To my surprise it was better than ok, it was good.  It pours nice and dark with a tan head and a bit of froth that lingered throughout.

The mouthfeel was kind of medium bodied to light, and I was hoping for a little more viscosity than it had, but not unexpected for a lighter stout at 6% ABV and not a deal killer.  The flavor was all oatmeal stout!  It had the kind of grainy oatiness that you would expect that combined with the sweet maltiness of the stout for a very solid flavor.  My one problem with this beer was there was a bit of an astringent aftertaste, which is not uncommon for the style, but this was just a little more pronounced than I would have preferred.  I only drank about a half a bottle, and it was the kind of flavor that would most likely dissipate once your palate acclimated to it.  So overall I liked it.  Not out of this world, but a solid oatmeal stout.

Where this brew really shined was in cooking.  I made these brussel sprouts with this beer and they were fantastic!  Worthy of any 4 star restaurant IMHO.  These cooked up beautifully, and here is how I did it.

That afternoon I fried up about a half pound of bacon and crumbled it into bits.  I then cleaned and stemmed about 1.5 pounds of fresh brussel sprouts and cut them in half.  In a fry pan over medium heat I heated some olive oil and put the sprouts in and let them saute for about 4 or 5 minutes until they turned a bright green.

I then threw in the bacon crumbles and stirred them around.  Then I turned up the heat to about an 8 and let the pan get good and hot.  I then added about 2/3 cup of the oatmeal stout and covered the pan and let them steep in the sizzling beer for about 7 or 8 minutes until they got softish.  I then removed the cover and stirred them until the cut sides of the brussel sprouts turned a golden brown.

That was it.  I then ate them…almost all of them! They were fantastic.  Oh yeah, I also added a bit of fresh ground pepper and sea salt towards the beginning of the saute.  The sweetness of the beer counteracted the Brussel Sprout’s natural acrid flavor and made them delectable!

Later that week I used a Mendocino Imperial Stout to cook a Pork Shoulder for pulled pork, that my family is still raving about!  This is good solid beer, and great beers for cooking as it will not break the bank to cook with and imparts a ton of delicious flavor into your food.  What beer recipes do you have?  What was your favorite?

-Don

I’m not sure if this is cool or cringe-worthy, but I’m leaning towards cringe-worthy.  There’s something about the whole process that makes me sightly…uncomfortable.

Everybody loves babies, and quite a few folks like to drink.  Put these two things together, and you get drunken babies, an almost irresistible marketing force. 

At least that’s the way the Latin American branch of Dentsu, one of the worlds largest advertising agencies, figures it.  They put together this drunken baby campaign to promote L’univers de Chocolat, which are French chocolates infused with Jack Daniels whiskey made in Brazil.  Hey, that covers three continents!

Guess these treats are best kept away from toddlers.

I haven’t seen an ad campaign as “brilliant” as this one since those Boy Scouts with beards!

Click an image below to enlarge it.

Tip of the hat to our pal @BeerPoet who pointed us to these images at visualnews.com

Other kinds of nerds have discovered what beer geeks have known for a long time: Brewers yeast is an amazing little critter.  In the world of brewing, yeast is a major factor in the character and potency of a beer.  In the world of science, it is an industrious single-cell organism that is sometimes called upon to help humans unravel the underpinnings of life on Earth.

The most recent example of this comes from the University of Minnesota, where a couple of experimental evolution geeks (Post doc researcher William Ratcliff and his adviser Michael Travisano) were trying to figure out the coolest thing they could do in their lab. They didn’t have the resources to play around with the origins of life, so they decided the next best alternative was to explore the origins of multicellular life. 

Multicellular life isn’t a simple thing to create.  It took our primordial ancestors about three billion years to evolve from single-cell organisms, and billions more to morph into the collection of 100 trillion cells (with over 200 varieties working in concert) that makes up today’s average web-surfing American.  Of course with all the brain cells we burn on cable TV and alcohol, our cell count is probably closer to 90 trillion, but I digress. 

Ratcliff and Travisano weren’t looking to create anything as complex as a human.  Instead, they aimed to create primitive multicellular creatures, and decided brewers yeast was great place to start.  Brewers yeast lives a simple existence – it floats in fluid, eating sugar and budding off daughter cells who float away and in turn do the same thing.

William Ratcliff, Uber Nerd

Ratcliff and Travisano placed brewers yeast in flasks full of broth, which were shaken for a day and allowed to settle.  They then extracted a small sample of yeast from the bottom of the flask and put it in a fresh broth and repeated this process again and again.

By doing this, they isolated the cells that dropped the quickest, favoring the cells that were the most dense.  After a couple of weeks, they noticed that the yeast was sinking very fast and forming a cloudy layer at the bottom of the flasks.  When they looked at it under the microscope, they were greeted with snowflake-shaped clusters of multicellular yeast.  This wasn’t that a bunch of single-cell critters that were stuck together – these were bonafide multicellular organisms, each with hundreds of cells.  Brewers yeast managed to accomplish in a couple of weeks what took our single-cell ancestors billions of years to do.

When one of these cells was plucked off the organism and allowed to reproduce, its babies went right about the business of forming clusters of cells.  This showed that the organism had indeed mutated into a multicellular creature.  When allowed to grow to adulthood (which takes just a few hours), these new multicellular organisms would expand the arms of their snowflakes until they pressed together, breaking one away, which would then form into its own snowflake and repeat the process.

Ratcliff tells the New York Times that “Forming clusters isn’t a freaky yeast thing.” It is the way that many animals and plants began their climb to what we see today, so this is indeed a peek at how multicellular life got its start, with single cell organisms mutating through the process of natural selection.  In the case of this brewers yeast, the survivors were the critters at the bottom of the flask, in nature it was the ones who best responded to their environment and propagated successfully.

Ratcliff and company are still playing around with the evolution of yeast cells, but won’t say where they’re headed until they publish their results.  All Ratcliff would tell the Times is that, “We’re getting really interesting things happening now.”

This got me to thinking about what might be happening in the two carboys full of homebrew that have been sitting in my master bathroom tub for several months.  If Ratcliff and his colleagues got multicellular organisms to form a couple of weeks, I imagine by now my beer has opposable thumbs!

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Beer shipments in the U.S. slipped an estimated 1.4%, or 2.9 million barrels, from 2010 to 2011, according to recent newsletter published by Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Of course it was the Big Boys who took the hit, with Anheuser-Busch InBev shipments slipping 2.9% and MillerCoors seeing shipments fall 3%.  Imports didn’t fare any better, as shipments of Guinness fell 2.4% and Heineken dropped 3.9%.

Those are some pretty significant drops, and a sign that beer in general may be falling out of favor in the United States. 

According to BMI, the American beer industry must take action, and apparently they’re quite serious about it, because they broke out their marketing-speak handbooks:

“Big brewers need to regain drinking occasions taken by spirits over the last decade, especially among Millennials,” the group wrote in a recent blog post. “Consumers continue to face [a] plethora of new beverage choices.”

Oh those Millennials and their plethora of beverage choices for their drinking occasions! What’s a brewer to do?

Well, they could start by brewing better beer, like Sam Adams, whose shipments were up 8%, and Yeungling, who gained a whopping 16.9% in shipments over the past year.  This certainly doesn’t make up for the loss in overall sales volume beer has been experiencing, but it does show a trend towards things “better” than macro beers.

I can’t help but wonder if the rise of craft beer is hurting overall sales volume of The World’s Greatest Beverage.  I’m totally speculating here (rare, I know), but perhaps as “Millennials” ( A.K.A people born in the 80′s) have been introduced to craft beer, it’s made them realize that macro beers aren’t worth drinking. Because craft beers aren’t as widely available as macro lagers, people are skipping beer altogether and choosing distilled spirits or wine. In this way, craft beer is actually hurting beer sales, as it’s opening people’s eyes to the fact that the majority of beer available in American isn’t very good.

Certainly it sucks to see beer losing traction in the U.S. marketplace, but it’s also good to see Americans looking for something more interesting than light industrial lagers. We’ll have to see what happens to these numbers as craft beer continues to rise in popularity and, perhaps more importantly, availability.

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