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Baseball Bat Beer

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seattle-mariners
ESPN had an interesting little item today by Jim Caple entitled Pitcher Finds Good Use For Mariners’ Bats. The story concerns Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Chris Ray. In addition to pitching for the Mariners, Ray is also an avid homebrewer and has plans to open his own brewery, along with his brother Phillip, in Virginia. They’ve even picked out the name, COTU Brewing, which stands for “Center of the Universe.”

In Caple’s story, Ray is making beer using a dozen baseball bats, made of maple, for a charity beer he brewed at the nearby Fremont Brewing in Seattle. In the article, Ray is quoted about his beer.

“I’m not sure if it adds a ton of flavor, but it ties it into baseball and gives it a unique twist,” Ray said. “It might add a little bit of flavor, but maple is a hard wood — that’s why they use it for bats — so there’s not a whole lot of absorbing going on. There are a lot of beers that age on oak chips and toasted oak chips, so we just thought if it added a little flavor, great. If not, it’s a nice story.”

The beer, dubbed Homefront IPA, is a charity beer to honor American soldiers and debuted at Safeco Field this past weekend and will also be available in 22 oz. bottles beginning this week. Proceeds from sales of Homefront IPA will go to Operation Homefront, an “organization that provides emergency financial assistance to the families of military personnel.”

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NBC Sports also had the story back in June about when the beer was first brewed. But the best account comes from Kendall Jones who writes a firsthand account of the brew day for his Washington Beer Blog in a post entitled A Relief Pitcher of Beer.

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Chris Ray pulling out spent grain (photo by Kendall Jones).

After the beer was brewed, the beer was then aged on Louisville Sluggers donated by the bat company. According to Jones:

The maple bats will be used to lend some extra character to the beer. They will be added to the conditioning tanks. Some of bats will be left whole and pristine, others cut into smaller pieces to help enhance the flavor imparted on the beer. Once the beer is ready, the whole bats will be removed, dried, and autographed by Chris’ teammates. The bats will then be auctioned off to raise money for Operation Homefront.

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UPDATE: The CEO of the hops company Yakima Chief, Steve Carpenter, sent me a funny link about Ray that appeared in a Seattle fan blog, U.S.S. Mariner. In the post (which I should point out at the end is revealed to be satire), Chris Ray’s enthusiasm for good beer is gently skewered.

One reliever noted that Chris Ray had gotten “pretty annoying” by foisting dry-hopped XIPAs on his teammates, whose tastes tended towards lagers and mixed drinks. Eventually, the aspiring brewer went down with an injury and is now on the 15 day disabled list. Another pitcher confessed he was excited for the change. “Look, it’s finally warm out, I want to go out with my girlfriend and have something fun. I like Chris, but he was always rambling on about ‘simcoe’ and ‘amarillo’ and I was thinking he was talking about the Texas League or something, but no, he’s just explaining — again — why the beer I’m drinking is stupid.”

Wikio Beer Blog Rankings For August 2011

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wikio
The August 2011 standings will soon be released for Wikio’s Beer Blogs. This month there’s a new sheriff in town, who leapfrogged over Jeff, from Beervana, and me as we were do si do-ing around the beer blogging dance floor earlier this year. Congratulations to the folks at The New School as they ascend to the top spot. Here’s what happened to the Top 30 over last month:

Wikio August 2011 Beer Blog Rankings

1The New School (+2)
2Brewpublic (+2)
3Beervana (-1)
4Brookston Beer Bulletin (-3)
5Appellation Beer: Beer From a Good Home (+2)
6Drink With The Wench (+4)
7A Good Beer Blog (-2)
8The Daily Pull (+1)
9Washington Beer Blog (-1)
10The Not So Professional Beer Blog (+6)
11The Stone Blog (-5)
12BetterBeerBlog (+11)
13Brewer’s Log (Blog) (+8)
14KC Beer Blog (=)
15The Brew Lounge (+2)
16The Brew Site (+16)
17Hoosier Beer Geek (+8)
18Oakshire Brewing (-5)
19Seattle Beer News (+9)
20The Session Beer Project™ (-5)
21It’s Pub Night (-10)
22Seen Through a Glass (-10)
23Craft Austin (-4)
24Top Fermented (+5)
25The Potable Curmudgeon (-3)
26San Diego Beer Blog (-8)
27Beer at 6512 (-3)
28Musings Over a Pint (-2)
29Beer-Stained Letter (+13)
30I Love Beer (+11)

Ranking made by Wikio

As usual, I included the relative movements of each blog from last month. Last month — and for the past few — movement among the top of the list was limited and things were fairly static. All that’s changed this month, as only one of the top 30 is in the same position as last month, and only three moved up or down only one spot. That means of the remaining 26, each one moved at least two spots along the continuum. Things are shaking up.

This month’s champion mover was The Brew Site, who jumped 16 places. As always, I continue to stress that this is just a bit of fun and that we shouldn’t take it too seriously. Until next month ….

OBF Opening Ceremonies

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obf
After we marched from McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the Oregon Brewers Festival, the ceremonial keg was brought into the park by the Hammerheads from this year’s parade host brewery, McMenamin’s.

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Hammerheads and the ceremonial cask.

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The Hammerheads and the Ruby Witches McMenamins’ folks positioned themselves in front of the stage.

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Then Art Larrance got things started.

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This year’s parade host represented by Brian McMenamin, took the ceremonial hammer.

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And passed it off to next year’s host, the Cascade Barrel House.

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Then Grand Marshall Fred Eckhardt had a few words for the crowd, before tapping the first keg.


Fred, tapping the keg.

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Fred drinking the first toast to OBF 2011.

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Fred and me catching up with a pint after the ceremonies.

Oregon Brewers Festival Parade 2011

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Although I missed last year’s Oregon Brewers Festival for the first time in many years, it felt like it had been at least five years since I’d been back. That’s how much I missed Portland, and I was thrilled to be there again. After the Brewer’s Dinner Wednesday night, I attended the brunch, this year held at McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom, and helped setup for the event beforehand, as well. After everyone feasted and prepared their stomachs for the day’s drinking, what looked to be close to 1200 people lined up for the parade. That’s just a guess, but it was easily the biggest crowd I’d seen for the parade, and this was my third time, of the five so far. Many of the usual suspects were there, the band, the Rogue Friars, people in kilts, people wearing literal hopheads, etc. This year’s Grand Marshall was Portland legend Fred Eckhardt who led the parade via pedicab down to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the annual home of the beer festival. Here are some photos from the parade. Enjoy.

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Pedicab leading the OBF Parade with Grand Marshall Fred Eckhardt and OBF founder Art Larrance.

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Here we come.

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… walking down the street,

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We get the funniest looks from …

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Everyone we meet.

After arriving at the festival grounds, it was time to tap the keg and officially start the festival. Look for the ceremonies coming soon in part 2.

Next Session Turns Sour

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session-the
Our 54th Session turns sour … sour beer, that is. Jon Abernathy, who writes The Brew Site, has chosen the topic Sour Beer, which he describes like so:

Instead we’ll be in the heat of the summer and while we’ve had Sessions covering Summer Beers, Fruit Beers, and Wheat Beers already (all which could suitably cover summertime beer enjoyment), it occurred to me that the topic of Sour Beers fits well within the season and (surprisingly!) hasn’t come up yet.

I’ve been gradually exploring Sour Beer and finding myself seeking out and trying various beers which fit into the “sour” realm (yes, I’m purposefully avoiding the word “style” here as it is entirely too loaded): beers inoculated with wild yeasts, soured with fruit (often in conjunction with those wild yeasts and barrel-aging), lactic acid beers like Berliner Weisse-influenced beers and the rare Gose, and so on. It’s a challenging area, both in acquiring a taste for soured beer and in brewing them—fortunately many brewers are being adventurous and branching out these days, giving us many more options.

So that’s our topic for August: Sour Beer. I’ll leave the implementation up to you, but here are some suggestions: seek out and review a sour beer of some kind; write about your experiences with brewing a sour beer; talk about your first sour beer experience; who’s brewing the better sours—Belgians or Americans (or somebody else)?; perhaps a contrary approach—what you don’t like about sour beers. Or if you have the perfect sour beer idea you want to write about, I can’t wait to read it!

Personally, I LOVE sour beer, so this one should be fun. So practice your pucker face and get ready to write all about it for the next Session on Friday, August 5.

Happy International Brewers Day

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ibd-circle100
Today is the 4th annual holiday celebrating brewers around the world, International Brewers Day, which I created in 2008. While I haven’t been able to put as much effort into it as I might have liked, someday I will. In the meantime, some parts of the international brewing community are carrying on with celebrations, most notably in Australia. For now, a quiet celebration involving beer and any brewer you happen to encounter today is in order.

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You could see the original idea, the plan and why I chose July 18 at the old International Brewers Day website, but unfortunately it’s currently down. I’ll have to get that moved and back up again one of these days.

Here was my original driving thought:

Brewers have given so many of us the pleasure of their artistry and enriched our lives with their beer since civilization began. So I think it’s time we recognized their efforts by celebrating their lives, their commitment and their craft. We’re all beer people, but without the brewers what would we be drinking?

Did I mention that hugging brewers is a big part of the holiday?

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As the old Czech saying goes:

“Blessed is the mother who gives birth to a brewer.“

Travel + Leisure Chooses The Best American Beer Cities

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travel+leisure
Travel + Leisure magazine, in their July 2011 issue, made their picks for America’s Best Beer Cities. Actually, the title is a bit misleading. It’s not really the “best” cities so much as the most “popular;” and most popular according to the magazine’s readers; and not all of their readers but specifically the ones who took the time to answer the poll. Looking more closely, the readers polled were asked to choose among 35 pre-chosen cities, too, meaning there was no chance for any town not on the starting list, too. Asheville, NC, for example, was presumably not among the 35 cities on Travel + Leisure’s list.

So that’s a very different thing and probably accounts for what I can only describe as some odd, but interesting, inconsistencies with other similar polls. Certainly Portland deserves the top spot, though it probably goes without saying I’d place San Francisco a tad higher than ninth. But Philly fourth from the cellar — along with San Diego even lower? — that seems like a travesty.

It does, however, tell us how people who like travel enough to subscribe to a periodical devoted to it perceive which cities are best for beer. Undoubtedly, many people voted for their local city so in a sense it’s partly a reflection of the magazine’s geographic readership. But that probably doesn’t tell the whole story. When asked to rank 35 cities, most people (apart from the very well traveled) I’d wager have not been to all of the cities. That would mean they’d be inclined to go with what they’d heard or read about the cities they hadn’t personally visited. They’d make a value judgment based on that particular city’s perception of beer-worthiness. Seen through that prism, it’s a more interesting list, to me at least. It also means I need to visit Savannah. What’s your take on the list?

Travel + Leisure’s 2011 Poll: America’s Best Beer Cities

  1. Portland, OR
  2. Denver, CO
  3. Seattle, WA
  4. Providence, RI
  5. Portland, ME
  6. Savannah, GA
  7. Boston, MA
  8. Austin, TX
  9. San Francisco, CA
  10. Nashville, TN
  11. Kansas City, MO
  12. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
  13. Charleston, SC
  14. Chicago, IL
  15. Anchorage, AK
  16. New Orleans, LA
  17. Philadelphia, PA
  18. San Diego, CA
  19. Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ
  20. Houston, TX

IPA Day Holiday Set For August 4

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IPA-Day
There’s nothing I love more than a new holiday, especially one celebrating a personal favorite: IPAs. The brainchild of Ashley V. Routson and Ryan A. Ross, August 4th has been designated as the date for the new holiday.

From the announcement:

Announcing International #IPADay: A Social Celebration of Craft Beer

Attention all craft beer evangelists, brewers, bloggers, and suds-savvy citizens! On Thursday, August 4th 2011, you are cordially invited to participate in the largest international craft beer celebration and virtual conversation the world has ever seen.

International #IPADay is a grassroots movement to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide through social media. On Thursday August 4th, craft beer drinkers across the social sphere and across the globe will raise pints in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India Pale Ale. This celebrated style represents the pinnacle of brewing innovation with its broad spectrum of diverse brands, subcategories, and regional flavor variations – making it the perfect style to galvanize craft beer’s social voice.

#IPADay is opportunity for breweries, bloggers, businesses and consumers to connect and share their love of craft beer. Getting involved is easy; the only requirements are an appreciation for great beer and the will to spread the word. Anyone can participate by enjoying IPA with friends, making some noise online with the #IPADay hashtag, and showing the world that craft beer is more than a trend!

Tips on How to Take Part:

  1. Organize an #IPADay event at your brewery, brewpub, restaurant, bar, home, or office (Ex: An IPA dinner/cheese pairing/comparative or educational tasting/cask night/tap takeover…). Share your events on the official #IPADay forum at http://www.ratebeer.com.
  2. On August 4th, share your photos, videos, blog posts, tasting notes, recipes, and thoughts with the world. Be sure to include the #IPADay hashtag in your posts Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, RateBeer, Foursquare, Yelp, Untappd or any other social media site.
  3. See what other people are saying by searching “#IPADay” on Google, search.twitter.com, et cetera…
  4. Track down your favorite IPA’s, ones you’ve been meaning to try, and ones you’ve never heard of; share them with friends and share your thoughts with the world.
  5. Have a good time and know that by sharing your experiences online, you’re strengthening the craft beer community at large.

Mark your calendars, stock up on hops and get ready for IPA Day, coming to a bar or refrigerator near you on August 4.

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Flying Beer

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flying-beer
Here’s an interesting little tidbit from David Bonneywell, a professional special effects artist from Great Britain, who’s worked on such shows and films as Dr. Who and Clash of the Titans. For a television show he was working on several years ago, he had to create a special effect of beer flying out of a glass in slow motion, with the results pictured below.

Flying_beer_by_Kaduflyer

Here’s how Bonneywell describes the process he used:

For an episode of the TV series ‘Keen Eddie‘ they wanted a Matrix style ‘bullet time’ shot of a bar room brawl. However, these type of shots normally require dozens of cameras and lots of time and money, things sorely lacking in TV productions! The answer?? Suspend tables and chairs on wires, get your actors to stand VERY still in mid punch etc and get some FX guy to make plastic, freeze frame beer!!

Using photos of real beer in flight I cut a shape from clear sheet plastic and shaped it by heating and bending it. I stuck this into a real beer glass and then built up the ‘beer’ with epoxy glue coloured with brown inks. Considering it’s not the sort of thing I normally do (no boobies, monsters or blood!!…lol) I thought it turned out quite well.

For the same series I also made some over head rubber masks of Duran Duran (the group not the film character) used in an episode as disguises by some bank robbers!!

The series was an American show but for some reason was made in the UK…I’ve never actually seen it. If anyone here has I’d be interested to know how well this worked in the show!!

Kinda nailed it, I’d say.