This is a great book we have seen for sale on Amazon, it is written by Andy Crouch who is also responsible for a book called “The Good Beer Guide to New England” and written extensively for magazines including BeerAdvocate, Beverage Magazine and the like. This book “Great American Craft Beer” was released in August of 2010 and is a must for any lover of fine American beers. The book features some great historic stories and photographs which will give you a insight into the rich history of brewing in the United States. The book explains the ingredients and the brewing terminologies to help give you a good understanding of this amazing craft. There are stories and tasting notes on hundreds of specialty beers from the four corners of the USA.
To find out more on this book click here
Posts under ‘Americas’
Great American Craft Beer: A Guide to the Nation’s Finest Beers and Breweries
Finger Lakes Riesling Festival
We received a great email from Anne who is the co-ordinator of the Finger Lakes Riesling Festival which is held in a town called Canandaigua in New York State USA which is not far from the northern end of the Canandaigua Lake close to the Canadian Border. Anna’s note mentions a fantastic festival in the area which will be held on the 14th and 15th of August this year. Read her note below and if are near the region in August pop in for some of the great craft beer on offer. We would love to hear what you thought of the festival and the beers so be sure to drop us a line.
“I am writing you on behalf of the 2010 Finger Lakes Riesling Festival to be hosted in Canandaigua, NY on August 14th and 15th. Along with having dozens of wineries on board for Riesling sales and sampling, the festival will feature live entertainment, local food and a craft beer tent. We would be thrilled if you would mention this year’s festival in your blog, and would be happy to send you Riesling samples from any of our participating wineries. So far Brooklyn Brewery, North American Breweries, Saranac Beer, Rooster Fish Brewing, Ithaca Beer and Soda Co., Southern Tier Brewing Company, and Ellicottville Brewing Company will be attending the event.”
Thanks Anne and goodluck with the event!
You can see more details about this event at http://www.RieslingFestival.com
Budweiser American Ale
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 »
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
