The food website Chow had an article recently on holiday beers by food and music writer Heather Shouse. It’s a nice beginner’s overview of the topic with an interview with Fritz Maytag and some history of holiday beers.
Eckhardt on Cheese
Today’s Statesman-Journal from Salem, Oregon has an article interviewing Fred Eckhardt and Rogue brewery owner Jack Joyce about the joys of pairing cheese with beer.
The Lego Beer Song
A friend just sent me this. I’d heard the song before but hadn’t seen the video, which is done with legos in a stop-motion way. The song may be a little too celebratory of binge drinking but with the video is still pretty funny.
Beer in Fiji
Currently only Foster’s brews on the island of Fiji, but that’s about to change as Flour Mills of Fiji Limited (FMF) has announced it will be entering the beer market. Rumor has it that FMF is in talks with India’s United Breweries, which owns the Kingfisher brand. I mention that because FMF recently applied to register the following brand names: Ahista, FB or Fiji Beer, Iguana, Kingfisher, Kings Beer, Polar, BB or Bobs Beer and Thums Up.
I’m up for visiting this one. Who’s with me?
CAMRA’s Christmas Pairing Suggestions
The Campaign for Real Ale, Britain’s advocacy group for cask-conditioned real ales, has made several suggestions for food and beer pairings to use with Christmas dinner. Here are their more general suggestions, too, for pairing beer and food.
Bangor Daily News Calls Maine’s Label Ban Misguided
The Bangor Daily News has a nice, short editorial calling the State of Maine’s recent banning of three beer labels “misguided” and worrying that it will make Maine a laughingstock around the country and the world. To which I can only add, too late.
Full Sail’s LTD Series
Full Sail Brewing of Hood River, Oregon announced a new limited series of beers to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The “LTD Series” 01 will be released this month.
From the press release:
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The “LTD Series” will be available in six-packs this month. I din’t know if you can quite read it, but the six-pack carrier reads “From Our Ace Crew of Libationary Wunderkinds” and also a “An Easy-Drinking Albeit Wicked Awesome Limited Edition Lager.”
Ancient Beer Bottles Found
From today’s Publican, a number of old beer bottles were found in the vaults of Worthington’s White Shield brewery in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, now owned by Molson Coors. Some of the bottles are over 130 years old. The oldest bottle is 137-years old, bottled in 1869. That beer is Harry Ratcliff’s Ale and was brewed to commemorate a son being born into the Ratcliff family, which was later part of the Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton breweries in the late 1800s.
Above, Worthington White Shield’s head brewer, Steve Wellington. “It was always rumoured that there were some vintage beers on site but uncovering such an interesting collection is fantastic. I believe this is one of the most exciting and unique discoveries ever made in British brewing.”
From the Publican:
Dr George Philliskirk, beer expert and Chief Executive of the Beer Academy comments: “This discovery is remarkable, especially as the oldest beer of all dates back to 1869 and tastes so fresh, and with such attractive ripe plum and honeyed flavours. This demonstrates the potential for vintage beers to be taken seriously – maybe even being worthy of a special section in wine lists at Britain’s top restaurants.”
As a result of this find, Worthington’s in conjuction with CAMRA, is sponsoring a contest to find the oldest unopened bottle of beer in the U.K. The winner “will be invited to the White Shield Brewery in Burton upon Trent to brew their very own vintage.”
Below are some more photos of the bottles found in Worthington’s cellars:
Brewing at John Harvard’s
Today’s Boston Globe online edition has an interesting photo essay of a day in the life of John Harvard brewer Maria Poulinas called “Try This Job: Craft Beer Brewer.” She brewes at the Framingham, Massachusetts brewpub.
A New Gluten-Free: There’s Vikings in Them Thar Dark Hills
There’s new gluten-free brewery coming. This one is Dark Hills Brewery and is viking themed. It’s located in northest Arkansas near Fayettville. Owners Constance Rieper-Estes and Leigh Nogy (who’s also the brewmaster) plan to have the production facility up and running by fall of 2007. They will be producing five different beers all using just rice and corn as the grain substitutes.