There are certain things in life that bring us joy, but we begin to take for granted. The first thing many of us might think of here is family, or possibly good health. These are two very important things indeed, and I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to have had good luck with both.  […]

Sometimes a beer becomes one of your favorites the moment it first hits your lips.  So was the case for Don when he first laid buds on Troegs Nugget Nectar. He was instantly smitten with the sweet peach-like hoppiness of the beer, and even left with some in his suitcase last time he visited New […]

Well, the winner is Jill, of course, because she get to try some awesome beer courtesy of B&WB.  For those of you who missed it, I asked our friends and readers to suggest a beer for my friend Jill, who loves wine and is open to trying an interesting craft brew.  Many great suggestions poured […]

I stopped in this morning to get my hair cut by my buddy Jill. She’s super-talented with scissors and it’s always a long wait to get in her chair, but not if you slide in first thing on a Wednesday morning, which is exactly what I did.  While I was there, we started talking about […]

While Don and I were at Victory, we had a chance to chat with them about their collaboration brew with Stone and Dogfish Head called Saison du BUFF.  I cannot wait to get a taste of this beer.  It’ll feature traditional Belgian esters along with sage, rosemary, thyme and a few other herbs that are […]

Eight weeks ago I brewed my first beer from extract, an oak and bourbon aged porter.  It was an ambitious choice for a first brew, but the brewing was actually the easy part – it’s the waiting that has been difficult.  It had to ferment for six weeks, first alone and then with oak chips […]

We’re teaming up again with the guys over at Thank Heaven for Beer for another round of Sip With Us Saturday.  The idea is that everyone drinks the same type of beer on Saturday, then we all report back on our experiences and somehow world peace is achieved.  Actually, I’m not sure about that last […]

So I’m a quirky guy sometimes, and I’m occasionally motivated by strange things.  Take beer labels for example.  If a label is too cartoony or the name of a beer is a pun, I’ll usually avoid it like the plague.  Something inside my head tells me that if they’re trying so hard on the label, […]

I imagine the gruit brewers having a wall of potions (Photo by TW Collins) Hops? We don’t need no stinkin’ hops! That’s the idea behind gruit ale, an ancient unhopped style of beer that is making a bit of a comeback. In fact, I happen to be holding one in my hands right now. A […]

Don and I recently visited the Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, PA and had a beer-soaked blast.  I was thinking about our trip over the weekend while enjoying a growler full of Victory Storm King I picked up at the brewery, and came to the conclusion that every beer nerd in America needs to visit […]

Olmecs, Toltecs and Aztecs, oh my! Everybody thinks that life was so hard back in ancient Mexico. There was the unforgiving jungle, murderous rituals and no cable television.  But they had beer, so how hard could it really have been? New Holland‘s El Mole Ocho isn’t a recreation of a historical brew like Dogfish Head’s […]

If there are two things I love it’s craft beer and indie music.  Imagine my delight when I discovered this video featuring Will Oldmam (AKA indie folk heavyweight Bonnie “Prince” Billy) and Dogfish Head brewmaster Sam Calagione.  Sam plays a robot who has happily removed humans from the brewing process, and he gives Oldham a […]

Of the many places Don and I saw while at Victory, the hop freezer made quite an impression.  Victory uses whole flower hops in just about every beer they brew, and they keep a bunch of them in a walk in freezer by the brew kettle so they have hops on hand when it comes […]

The best thing about this blog is that it brings Don and I together even though we live across the country from one another.  It’s been a couple of years since we’ve actually been in the same place at the same time, but that changed last week, when Don came for a visit here in […]

I was poking around the interwebs and found this funny clips from Carlsberg.  Apparently putting Mentos in beer can be quite disastrous.  Enjoy!