Author Archives | Jim

Infographic: Sobering Facts About Drinking and Driving

According to an email I just received from Sarah at CertificationMap.com, it’s Impaired Driving Prevention Month. Hooray!  And here I was looking forward to Christmas! To “celebrate,” they created the infographic below, which shares some very sobering facts about driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Please pass this along to folks as a […]

Continue Reading

5 Breweries That I Want to Love but Can’t

There are things in this world that some people love but are totally lost on me.  In many cases, I’m totally okay with it. I don’t need to watch Modern Family, or read The Hunger Games books, or drink Kombucha tea to feel like I’m living a full life. In other cases, it kind of […]

Continue Reading

Pop Singer Adele Turns Her Back on American Craft Beer

Thankfully, I have no idea who Adele is, but apparently she’s an important cog in the industrial macro music machine because she’s been nominated for six Grammy’s.  They reserve these honors for industry insiders, not decent indie singers like Jenny Lewis or Leslie Feist or Chan Marshall, so I guess if Adele were a beer […]

Continue Reading

It’s Snowing on the Blog!

Those white specs you see drifting across the screen aren’t eye floaters or Don rubbing his dandruffy beard atop the logo, they are digital snow, courtesy of WordPress.  They give folks with WordPress-hosted blogs the option of turning on the snow when the holidays draw near.  We had it on at the tail end of […]

Continue Reading

Guess What’s My Favorite All-Around Beer of the Moment?

Here’s a hint… I was drinking a beer while watching a football game this weekend, and it struck me that it did everything pretty well.  It had the big and malty flavor that I love this time of year, it’s heavy enough to feel substantial, but light enough to not bog me down.  It also […]

Continue Reading

Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale Sucks as a Holiday Ale

Let’s be clear from the outset – I won’t ever be wishing anyone “hoppy holidays.”  It’s not that I don’t like hops – sometimes they call to me, especially when I have an Avery Maharaja chilling in the fridge.  But hops and holidays don’t mix in my book.  This time of year I want big […]

Continue Reading

Friday Randomness: Lick the Rainbow

Well this is disturbing. Even if you see the gag before you touch the screen, try it anyway – it’s still waaaay creepy. You can almost feel that fella’s tongue.  Ewww! Have a great weekend and drink something good!

Continue Reading

What Does “It’s the Budweiser of…” Mean?

When someone says “It’s the Cadillac of…” you know they are saying it’s the best, the most feature-rich and the most prestigious of its peers. The phrase is used to describe something that provides both pampering and pride, something that probably exceeds your needs and will make those around you green with envy.  Of course […]

Continue Reading

Hanson MMMhop IPA: Why Not?

You may have heard that 90’s “supergroup” Hanson has recently declared “We are soon going to be selling our own beer. I’m not joking – MMMhop IPA anyone?”  And some in the craft beer world groaned.  After all, many folks consider the Hanson boys to be more Partridge Family than Jackson Five, a used up […]

Continue Reading

Comment Fight: How NOT to Defend Your Beer PR Stunt

We had quite a dust-up in the comments here yesterday, where a fella calling himself “Geez” questioned whether or not I had any facts to support my assertion that Natty Light’s recent “Beer in Space” viral video campaign was hatched by an advertising agency. Well I didn’t until he got involved! Here’s an excerpt from […]

Continue Reading

The First Beer in Space is…Natty Light?! Really?!!

Just when you think something amazing has been achieved, it turns out there’s a catch that totally ruins it.  In this case, two enterprising young fellas have sent a can of beer into space and back down again so they could have the privilege of drinking the world’s first “space beer,” and what do the […]

Continue Reading

I Scored a Beer and Whiskey Hat Trick!

I don’t follow hockey, but I know that when you score three times in a game it’s called a hat trick, and that’s exactly what I did over the holiday at a little hole in the wall beer store I stumbled into.  It was one of those magical beer (and in this case, whiskey) moments […]

Continue Reading

My Thanksgiving Beer Plan: Malty, Earthy, then Sweet

Turkey Day is tomorrow, and I’m finally getting around to planning the beer portion of the proceedings.  Last year I broke the day down into three beer courses: before the meal, the feast itself, and the afterglow.  I’m thinking along the same lines this year, with a few different beers and even *gasp* a little […]

Continue Reading

Northern Brewer’s Holiday Gift Guide Video is Reading my Mind

. Every once in a while you see something that makes you feel totally transparent, like someone is looking right through your skull into the inner working of your feeble little mind.  That’s just what happened to me when I watched this video from homebrew supply mecca Northern Brewer.  It’s just a marketing video full […]

Continue Reading

The Best Beer You’ll Ever Taste is the One You Weren’t Expecting

I recently had the pleasure of sampling a very rare, very highly regarded beer, and it was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be.  The problem?  High expectations, or hype. It’s like a nasty ester that spoils the brew, an off flavor that casts a pall on an otherwise good […]

Continue Reading