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 ‘Beer Types’
Great American Craft Beer: A Guide to the Nation’s Finest Beers and Breweries
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
Brasserie Dupont’s Saison Ale
Today we feature a beer which is a bit different, it is a Saison Ale, which is a term we have never heard of before at Hoppsy, but by the taste of this magnificent beer there are bound to be more stoires of Saisons in coming months if this is any indication- it is sensational. The beer in question is Saison Dupont which is produced by Brasserie Dupont which is located in Tourpes in Belgium. The brewery only dates back to the 1950′s and is found on a farm which dates back to 1759. The Dupont Beer is a 6/5% alcohol volume beer and like many great Belgium beers is fairly cloudy and light yellow in colour- not unlike Hoegaaden and has a fruity and spicy aroma and taste- and being bottle fermented is well carbonated, and there’s a cork like champagne to pop when opening the bottle. The beer is available outside Belgium and is a popular Belgium beer in the USA, and we found it here in Australia at one of our specialty beer stores. Look out for it when you are wanting something a bit special. Read the rest of this entry »
Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale
With Halloween only a month away have we got the perfect beer for you. Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale. This beer was first introduced in 2005 and is a tasty malty ale which has been brewed with golden delicious pumpkins and some fancy herbs and spices like ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. It might sound a bit weird but believe me it taste amazing. Brewed by the A Bush Michelob Brewing Company this beer has just won silver at the North American Beer Awards Herbed Spiced Beer Category. Like many boutique beers to get the best flavor out of it, the glass you are drinking from matters- for a truly special experience drink the Pumpkin Spice Ale in a tall fluted glass, a bit like you would drink champagne, it really brings out a special taste and aroma.
Why not rye one of these!
Before the Bavarian beer purity laws beer was often brewed using Rye Malt, but some bad harvests meant rye was only allowed to be used in bread production making such breads as pumpernickel. But in recent years rye beers have reappeared and once again the Bavarian’s are back in force producing this interesting stlye of beer. The rye beers range from a light lager style color right up to a dark beer not unlike porter. Like all grains the rye is toasted to various darkness to produce the required color and flavor. Popular Munich brewer Paulaner make a lovely rye beer called Roggen. It contains a 5.3% alcohol content and is quit dark using a dark roasted rye, it has a gingery, liquorices even nutty in taste. This beer goes great with all things German, like cheeses, cold meats, mustards, pickles and of course rye bread. Look out for it and give it a go.
It’s the Beez Neez
Over 4000 years ago ancient civilizations like in Babylon and Egypt celebrated by adding honey to their beer brew. In fact the word honeymoon can be traced back to these times when the bride’s father would fill his new son in-law full of the honey mead which would give him all the energy he would require for his after wedding celebrations. It was believed the honey mead was an aphrodisiac. Today there are quiet a few honey flavored beers entering the market and Beez Neez from Matilda Bay in Australia is one of the best. It has a very tasty blend of premium malted barley and malted wheats forming a pale ale and the addition of some light honey added to the kettle. The beer is delicious remarkably fresh tasting with a distinct honey taste. The Matilda Bay Brewing Company started in the Western Australian town of North Fremantle, just outside of Perth in Western Australia, today it is part of the huge Australian Fosters Group. Read the rest of this entry »
Pumkin Ale – trick or treat?
The German Purity Laws state that beer should only be made from Water, malted grain, hops and yeast- well it looks like the American have their own rule, make it with anything- how’s this one- Pumpkin Beer. Yes that’s right beer made out of pumpkins. Going back to the olden days the colonial brewers couldn’t afford barley so they thought we have plenty of pumpkins and Halloween is a few months away so lets turn them into beer. They roasted them up and made them into mash and presto pumpkin beer. It wasn’t so bad and with some spices like nutmeg and cinnamon the flavour jut got better. The beer is today brewed by several boutique and smaller breweries and is quiet popular. A few tasty varieties we have tried are Buffalo Bills and Smuttynose, we have heard there is another popular one called Dogfish Head but we haven’t been able to get our hands on that one yet. Both of the ones we tried have a sweet and pumkiny taste – as you would expect and are quiet nice. The hops and the spices give them a real fruity kick well worth a try if you see a bottle. Don’t give up after the first mouthful, the second and third gets better, once your mouth come accustomed to the different spicy taste. It’s not the beer you would drink every night after a hard day at work, but it sure is a tasty drop to have once in a while- Not bad indeed.
Pizza + Beer = Pizza Beer
We did a story a few weeks back for a pizza recipe using beer in the pizza bread, but now we have found something even more special – Pizza flavored beer. Sprecher Brewing Company which is near Milwaukee in the USA is making a special batch of Pizza Beer which will go on sale this month. They are brewing up 40 barrels just to see how things go and if it takes off, who knows it might be the next big beer taste. The beer isan ale and it is brewed with oregano, basil, tomato and garlic. There is no news whether they are planning an anchovy version or even a ham an pineapple – we can only hope. Read the rest of this entry »
Organic Beers
Like most food products many beers contain artificial flavors, preservatives, colorings and other chemicals and additives and many of the grains used are fertilized or protected from pests using some nasty chemicals. It’s no wonder organic beers are starting to take off, they not only usually taste better than the processed beers but they have got to be better for you. Many microbreweries are popping up all over the world offering fresh clean organic beers. With no added chemicals the beers ferment better, they are free of many of the allergies and nasty tastes beer can have and they really leave your head feeling better in the morning compared to normal beers. The only downside, is with no chemicals the beers need to be drank sooner (as if that’s a problem) and they require refrigeration. Some of the larger breweries are starting to see the benefits and the commercial rewards of organic brewing, one example is the huge US based Anheuser-Busch, which is now produces two organic beers Wild Hop lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale which are being sold to test the market and doing quiet well.
mmmm chocolate
Ever wonder how brewers get that rich brown chocolate flavor in some of their stouts and dark beers- well many of them actually use chocolate. The brewers use dark roasted malt which acquires a rich chocolate flavour and then they mix in small amounts of real chocolate or cocoa. Some breweries are even having success using such things of coffee in their brews. Belgium as you would expect the kings of beer and chocolate have had some pretty good brews mixing chocolate with their dark beers and there are dozens of microbreweries in the United States who have a choclate stout as their signature brew. The secret is to add dark chocolate to the brew while it is boiling and then add some rich chocolate essence to the brew after filtration.
