Things just got real.  As a beer geek with a little bit of a voice on the Internet, I’ve tried to educate people about the difference between real craft beers and the lookalikes that Big Beer pump out in an attempt to capitalize on the craft beer craze. Most recently, it was a review of […]

I’ve been nursing a brutally bad back since Monday, when it decided to go out without provocation or reason.  I’ve also had a head cold, which is just an AWESOME thing to have when your spine is resting against the nerves in your lower back. /Sneeze /Scream /Repeat I took some muscle relaxers and they […]

Things just got real. Beer geeks have had our collective noses pressed up against the glass at Goose Island, wondering how the takeover of the brewery by Anheuser-Busch might effect the quality of the beer. Up until now, there was a safeguard in place – Goose Island founder John Hall was hanging around keeping an […]

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% […]

Advertising Age has reported that Heineken USA and the producers of Skyfall, the next Bond movie, have struck a deal which will have James drinking a Heineken on screen.  Apparently it’s the first time Bond has appeared with a branded brew, and I’m sure Heineken spent a pretty penny to have their product integrated into […]

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 […]

Every once in a while, I’ll be heating up something in the microwave and wonder, “how come they haven’t invented the same thing for making stuff cold?”  Well it looks like I wasn’t alone in those thoughts, as Korean appliance powerhouse LG is adding a new feature to some of their high-end fridges – the […]

Mike Esterl of the The Wall Street Journal recently posted an interview with MillerCoors Chief Executive Tom Long where they touched upon many subjects, including a new aluminum can Miller Lite will be launching this spring that has two openings; one for drinking and one that allows air into the can so the beer flows […]

News out of the Europe is that SABMiller is launching an authentic line of Belgian craft beers after inking a distribution agreement with the Van Steenberge brewery in Ertvelde, Belgium, and the Saint Stefanus monastery. The beers will be offered in select markets (no word on US distribution yet) under the St. Stefanus label, the namesake […]

It took them five years of searching the world to figure it out, but scientist have concluded that the forebearer of German lager yeast may have originated from beech trees in Southern Argentina some 600 years ago.  The study is co-authored by Todd Hittinger, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  I wonder how […]

Good beer always makes you feel better.  That’s true after a long day at work, or after a verbal skirmish with your significant other,  or as it turns out, when the world in general seems to be going to hell.  Even as there is unrest in the streets of England’s capitol and markets around the […]

Will Glass is the co-owner of the Fire House bar in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and he’s pissed.  The object of his ire is Motion 414, a sneaky little addition to the Wisconsin state budget that makes it harder for craft brewers to distribute their wares in the Badger State.  Motion 414 was supported by MillerCoors […]

There’s an old business adage: if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em, and that’s what Anheuser-Busch is doing, buying out Goose Island Brewery for somewhere between $22.5 million (according to MarketWatch) and $38.8 million (according to the Chicago Tribune). When I first saw this I thought it was an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke, but […]

It seems Oskar Blues has the tiger by the tail, or sticking with our theme here, the great white shark by the caudal fin. They recently pulled out of Idaho and seven other states because they can’t keep up with demand in other (apparently more important) markets.  Don cries about this in our latest podcast, […]

Well maybe it is. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that 2009 saw the biggest decline in beer sales volume in the last five decades. But that only goes for the big awful macro-brewed crap, where sales volume is down 2.2%. Craft beer sales are up this year, with Sam Adams showing an increase of […]