Launched in Sep 2008, Budweiser American Ale is a fairly new product in the Budweiser range so it is receiving a fair bit of heavy marketing about the place at the moment with ads like the one above, a fancy website, a youtube channel and even an iPhone app. American Ale is an amber ale style all-malt brew made with caramel malted barley from Idaho and Minnesota, then dry-hopped with Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest. The result is apparently more of a micro brew style of beer than the traditional Bud products. We haven’t tried American Ale yet but this sounds like good news to us, when in the States we drank a fair bit of Bud although it wouldn’t be our first choice when looking in the liquor shop fridge. If you have had this Bud let us know what you recon below. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts under ‘Americas’
When you are having more than one
This funky 1970’s ad above is a real classic and is for the Schaefer Brewing Company. Schaefer was founded in New York in 1842 and went on to become the longest operating brewery in New York City. The company was finally purchased by Detroit’s Stroh Brewery Company who continued to produce the Schaefer brand. Most of Stroh’s brands was eventually purchased by Milwaukee based Pabst Brewery in 1999. Allegedly the brand is still produced by Papst today although I don’t remember any evidence of it when I was around that region late last year. If you are drinking a Schaefer now let us know on the comment form below. Read the rest of this entry »
A brief history of the American beer industry
We found this great short video on youtube that describes the history of beer brewing in America. The video is far more interesting than some of the watery brews put out by America’s big two brewers, and also highlights that there are some good brews in the US thanks to the rise of the many micro breweries making inroads to the US market. We also agree with what the guy suggests at the end of the vid, go out taste, experience and live beer. Read the rest of this entry »
The love of a beer can
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the beer can according to the Rocky Mountain News so we thought we would celebrate by not only having a can of beer ourselves, but also by showing you a video we found on Youtube of the Beer Can Museum in East Taunton around 40 miles south of Boston. The Museum features a collection of more than 3500 different beer cans along with other beer memorabilia. Watch the video above or check out the museum’s official website below. Read the rest of this entry »
Schlitz Beer- More than a feeling
This beer commercial was nominated for a London Advertising Award and was shot on the Florida beaches using 70’s pop band Boston’s More than a Feeling for a huge UK campaign. After a few mishaps and bad decisions trying to save money in the early 1980’s Schiltz disappeared from the market. But in recent times the now owner Milwaukee’s Pabst Brewing Company has tried to resurrect the name and if early market trends are any indication the name may yet survive.
The ‘real’ Duff Beer no. 2
You might remember our story a few months ago about Duff Beer from South Australia (see our story) which was on the market for a short while in the 1990’s but ran into trouble with 20th Century Fox for copyright issues being too close to the Duff Beer as seen on the Simpsons and was removed from shelves. Well some guys down in Mexico have gone one further- not only have they used the Duff name but they have produced beer packaging pretty much exactly the same as Moe serves to Homer, Barney, Carl and Lenny- and the whole town of Springfield for that matter. A guy called Rodrigos Contreras from Guadalajara in Mexico has some how been able to register the Duff trademark (the same as the one used on the Simpsons) and has started up producing Duff. Now Duff was not a registered trademark before this guy came along but Mexican law does have some protection that 20th Century Fox can use if they wish as Mexican Law does recognize the concept of “brand notoriety”, which states that if any brand is well-known by a specific section of the consumers or the industry due to the commercial activities and/or advertisement done by its owners, they have the right to claim the ownership of the trademark. It will be interesting to see what happens to the future of this beer and Contreras for that matter. Read the rest of this entry »
The Ithaca Beer Co of New York
Today Hoppsy features a interesting little brewery from Ithaca New York- The Ithaca Beer Co. Ithaca is about 4 hours drive North West from New York City and is a major college town on the southern shores of Lake Cayuga. Well anyway back to the brewery, The Ithaca Beer Co opened in 1998, and produce some pretty interesting brews including a Apricot Wheat Beer, a award winning pale ale called Flower Power, and our favorite (although we haven’t had the pleasure of tasting it yet) Cascazilla. CascZilla is a very hoppy red ale and with a name like that has got to be a winner and it has a 7% alcohol content kick. For those visiting Ithaca drop in to the brewery for a taste of their craft brews any day between 11am – 6pm or look out for it in the north eastern USA states its available in a number of places. If yourve tried one or more of these beers drop us a line and tell us what you thought. Read the rest of this entry »
Oh Christmas Ale, Oh Christmas Ale
Check this fun video out its a couple of guys giving tribute to their favorite Christmas beer- Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Christmas Ale. Great Lakes Brewing comes from Cleveland Ohio and have brewing great beers for about 20 years. They are Ohio’s most celebrated and award winning brewer- and looking at the passion of these guys in the video they must make a great beer. Their Christmas Ale is available during November and December, it has a robust spicy style with honey ginger and cinnamon added to the recipe. The beer has a 7.7 alcohol volume and has won quiet a few gold medals at the World Beer Championships, 1999, 2006, 2005 and 2007. Its a great beer for the cold North American Christmas and goes great with all those rich Chrissy foods of the season. See if you can get your hands on some for Christmas- as the final worlds in the song say it all…”In a few short weeks it will all be gone”
For more information; http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com
Goose island Beer- Chicago’s finest
Goose Island Beers
Goose Island Beer originates from Chicago in the USA and they have been producing fine beers for about 20 years and are regarded as the city’s finest and freshest hand crafted ales and lagers. They produce a great range of classic brews and some very tasty seasonal beers including a Christmas Ale which is currently being served for the winter. It’s not hard to see a draught tap of Goose Island at the bar they have a very stylish goose neck handle as the pourer- you cant miss it. Goose island have two brew pubs which any visitor to Chicago shouldn’t miss one called Wrigleyville which is in North Clark Street not far from Wrigley park and the other in beautiful Lincoln Park called Clyborn- there is no better place to taste this great beer. We visited Chicago recently and just loved the Goose Island beers, the Honkers Ale is delicious and India Pale Ale is one of the tastiest we have ever tried- and we were very partial to the Harvest Ale too. Look out for Goose Island Beer it ships to about 15 states in the US and even to the UK….Hopefully they will remember us guys down here in Australia and send some our way soon- we can’t wait! Read the rest of this entry »
Anchor Steam’s Christmas Ale
Anchor Steam Christmas Ale
Back in 1975 the Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco produced their first Christmas Ale, Thirty four years later the 2008 Christmas Ale follows the fine tradition and is now available for the festive season. Every year the secret recipe changes bringing Christmas Joy between November and mid January. The beer is available in 12 ounce bottles, magnums and even on draught at selected pubs throughout the USA. The beer has become so sought after many people collect the beers from season to season. Each year the label features a different tree which symbolizes the winter solstice which is only a few weeks away in the Northern Hemisphere.
