What makes a beer nerd truly good? We’ve been giving this some thought lately and came up with the graphic you see above.  It’s the Ten Commandments of Craft beer, a set of guidelines that we think would lead to a better world if all beer fans followed.  Of course, just like the real Ten […]

Sunday Afternoon I had the pleasure of cracking open a 2010 Old Stock Ale from North Coast Brewing.  This is an old style English ale that is just beautifully crafted and a real treat.  It is 12.5% ABV with all the flavors in the glass beautifully integrated to where I didn’t even notice the alcohol. […]

New Jersey is hot right now, and for all the wrong reasons.  It started several years ago with the Sopranos, which had redeeming editorial value even though it showed New Jersey as a hot bed of mob activity.  Allegedly.  As they say in these parts, the Mafia doesn’t exist.  Got it? But recently things have […]

Last week we put up a poll asking which style of beer got you more into a Fall state of mind: pumpkin beers or Oktoberfest marzens.  Being the open-minded beer folks you all are, the leading response was “why choose? I like both.” Unsatisfied with such an enlightened answer, I took matters into my own […]

OK, so enough GABF already.  This isn’t going to be another post where I go on and on about how great GABF was.  What I do want to emphasize here is how it has messed me up for this entire week.  Jim and I joked while we were in Denver that the GABF killed our blog, […]

Well it’s Friday, which means the weekend is fast upon us.  Last weekend Don and I were in Denver for the GABF, so I doubt either one of us will match our beer totals from a week ago, but I’m happy to say that my “Craft Beer Overload” has subsided and I’m eager to drink […]

‘Tis the season for Fall beers (literally – look at the calendar).  And there are two styles of beer that typically mark the season: Pumpkin Beers and Oktoberfest Beers. I haven’t had either yet, but the beer fridge is barren and I’m due for a trip to the beer store.  When I go, I’m gonna […]

There’s a proposition to legalize (and tax) marijuana on the California ballot in November, and the California Beer & Beverage Distributors don’t like it one bit.  In fact they’ve donated $10,000 to Public Safety First, a committee created to oppose the measure. In doing so, they may have alienated a pair of their largest members. 

Today is the first day of Fall!  A great time of year, my personal favorite.  Crisp and sunny days, bright colors and cooler temps.  What is not to love.  And of course this is the unofficial time when the beer community jettisons their pilsners and lagers in favor of more hearty offerings like stouts, porters, […]

Consider my mind just a little bit blown by seeing a finely-picked selection of craft beers appearing in the Martha Stewart Universe. There was an article a couple of weeks ago on Martha Stewart’s Radio Blog celebrating the new season of Cooking with Emeril, a radio show that appears on the Martha Stewart Living Radio […]

I found this beauty over at Geekologie, a web site for cool guys who like cool things.  It’s not for geeks.  Really.  I’m cool, okay?! Anyway, I think it does a brilliant job of showing how the many styles of beer are interrelated.  I finally understand Kolsch!! Hit the pic to see the full size […]

Don and I “get our bitch on” in our latest podcast, where we sample three bitchin’ beers: Dogfish Head’s Bitches Brew, Flying Dog Raging Bitch and Bitch Creek’s ESB. We also talk about the things that bug us about the world of craft beer and small batch whiskey.  Some of our blog readers get into […]

Don and I decided to do a podcast at the GABF to document our thoughts about the event before the brain cells carrying them succumbed to alcohol poisoning.  It was a close call! Check out our iTunes page or PodcastDirectory.com to get our thoughts on the beers we enjoyed (and didn’t enjoy), the folks we […]

This is Frank from Victory Brewing in Downingtown Pennsylvania.  Jim and I got to meet Frank when we were at the brewery in April, and he is a super nice fella.  Frank also runs Victory’s yeast lab, and I nicknamed him the “Yeast Whisperer” because he really is into the awesome power of those little […]

Yes.  Yes you can. This happened to me this past Friday at GABF.  The day started with a flight, not of beers, but on an airplane.  I was up at 4:30am in New Jersey and in Denver at 10am local time, where Don greeted me at the gate.  I was impressed that he had held […]