If I were to ask you what beer has the strongest brand equity in America, you’d probably grimace a bit and reply with a dejected “Budweiser.” And I say, “nope.” “Coors Light, then,” you might say. “They have those stupid frozen train ads during football, where they blast through neighborhoods, probably running down pets and […]

My post this week for the Today Show Online is about how I went a little nuts when I saw that out of 39 entries, Coors Light won gold at the World Beer Cup for “American-Style Lager or Light Lager.”  I know the big boys have been winning this category for years, but it still […]

I know it is HARD to believe, but BrewDog is in the middle of a Media Kerfuffle. I know…what are the odds…right?  Well to set it up properly, BrewDog has been doing some pretty wonderful things to change the beer culture in their native Scotland.  They have introduced the Brew Pub in a totally unique and […]

Good news for beer nerds trapped in the Magnolia State – starting July 1st, you’ll be able purchase beers with up to 8% alcohol by weight (roughly 10% ABV) without playing Smokey and the Bandit and making a run to Alabama or Louisiana (or eBay). The previous limit was 5% alcohol by weight (about 6.25% […]

For this week’s Today post, I explore whether or not Sam Adams kept intact the home brewed essence of the winning LongShot recipes when they ramped them up to an industrial scale. As part of preparing that article, I did email interviews with this year’s winners, but only used a few snippets in the actual […]

This study by the FABBS Foundation (which is short for something, I’m sure of it) has been making the rounds over the last week.  In a nutshell, it shows that men with a blood alcohol level of 0.07%, or a couple of beers worth of booze on board, performed better at “creative problem solving.” This […]

We rarely get political here on B&WB – how you choose to vote and what candidates you support is your own business.  But there’s a serious matter that has come to our attention, one that has been called perhaps “the most important election of our time!*

Beyond TODAY is an extension of our weekly column for the TODAY Show food blog. Over there, I explore why The Simpsons features such a bad beer if the show takes place in Oregon. Over here, Don has a recommendation for Homer and his buddies – switch to Hop Valley!  Click here to check out […]

Green Flash came to Idaho, and as quickly as they got here, they were gone… in a flash…could’a been green. Here is the story.  It starts with a new distributor in Boise.  This new distributor who shall remain nameless, wasn’t fully aware of the legal issues around his profession.  See I guess he thought he […]

Wednesday I put together an article warning about Big Beer’s influence on craft beer.  In this particular example I used Old Dominion’s Oak Barrel Stout as a beer that may have been influenced by the Big Beer bean counters.  Turns out all that speculation, was just that…speculation.  Yesterday I received a very nicely worded letter […]

If you’re a foodie, you know the James Beard Awards are a big deal.  I know this because Padma announces any Top Chef guest judge who has won the award like it’s an important honor.  It’s right up there with that Zagnut review and whatever prize the Michelin Man gives out.  🙂 There is a […]

I’m not someone who responds well to gimmicks, especially when it comes to beer.  I have shuddered at chick beer, beer for the gays, dog beer, and caffeinated beer, and now we can add another painful marketing-idea-in-a-can: Pong Beer.  Yes, it’s a light lager brewed specifically for putting into red solo cups and throwing balls […]

Whiteclay, Nebraska has a population of 12 people, yet each day four local shops manage to sell more than 13,000 cans of beer. So where’s it all going?  According to a federal suit filed by the Oglala Sioux tribe, it’s being smuggled onto the Pine Ridge Reservation just over the border in South Dakota. Reuters […]

Buckbean Brewing will be closing its doors forever at the end of this month.  February 29 will be the end of this brewery.  This was reported by Adam over at Beernews.org.  You can see his article here. Jim and I have warned about this before, and it looks as though the future is upon us. […]

Looks good!  Oskar Blues will enter into the 16 oz tallboy cans with their first run of Deviant Dales IPA.  This IPA uses Dale’s pale ale as their base then dry hops the shit out of it 4 different times during the brewing process, and then again at the end when it goes into the […]