Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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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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Beer Can Dads

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fathers
With Father’s day less than two weeks away, I thought I’d share this fun project done by the folks at Every Guyed, where they designed eight beer can dads.

fathersday-cartoondads

Here’s the idea:

To celebrate Father’s Day, EveryGuyed and Moxy Creative House have teamed up once again to deliver the second installment of the ‘Cheers!’. This time we had creative director Glenn Michael raise a glass — and his brush — to 8 iconic animated dads, re-envisioning them as beer cans.

When you were a kid, Father’s Day was a pretty boring affair. Now you’re of age, and all of a sudden you have the chance to do something with your dad that he’ll actually enjoy: share a cold one together.

See if you can guess all of the cartoon dads. The answers are below, just under the slideshow, where you can see the eight individuals posters for each beer can dad.

Now I want my own dad can. What would yours look like?

  1. Homer Simpson
  2. Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
  3. Fred Flintstone
  4. Papa Smurf
  5. Popeye
  6. George Jetson
  7. Mr. Incredible
  8. Mufasa (The Lion King)

You can even buy any of the prints as a poster at Moxy Creative House.

Hoppy St. Lupulin’s Day

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Today, two years ago, Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado released a new seasonal beer, an Extra Pale Ale they called “St. Lupulin.”

From the press release:

A mystical legend in the Odell brewhouse, St. Lupulin (loop-you-lin) was the archetypal hophead. He devoted endless summers to endless rows of hops, tending to the flowers and the beloved resin within — lupulin. Extraordinary oils in this yellow resin provide this dry-hopped extra pale ale with an undeniably pleasing floral aroma. “St. Lupulin is our way of honoring the hop plant,” said brewer Jake O’Mara. “The beer has incredible hop character, but it’s balanced and very drinkable.”

I mention all this because I absolutely love the label artwork they came up with and just the idea of having a St. Lupulin. He looks to me like the Johnny Appleseed of hops. So since June 1st is the release date, I’m declaring that June 1 also be the feast day for St. Lupulin, patron saint of American hops. No reason we can’t have yet another beer saint, even a fictional one. We should come with our own myth for him, a tall tale. Happy St. Lupulin’s Day everyone. Enjoy a hoppy beer to celebrate.

Beer In Ads #315: What Great Americans Favored Beer As A Beverage Of Moderation?

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ad-billboard
Monday’s ad is from 1951 and ran in Newsweek. It was produced by the U.S. Brewers Foundation, one of a series of historical ads showing the positive side of beer in a post-Prohibition America, a world, like today, in which the neo-prohibitionists continued nipping at their heels despite Prohibition’s massive, unmitigated failure. The ad answers the question “What Great Americans Favored Beer As A Beverage Of Moderation?” with “Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Patrick Henry—to name just a few.” Since today is Presidents Day, and their list includes three early American presidents, it seemed a good way to celebrate by remembering there was a time when beer wasn’t under constant attack and our most popular politicians openly supported it. Happy Presidents Day.

USBF-washington-1951-newsweek

When Did Valentine’s Day Become A Drinking Holiday?

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valentines
This just struck me as odd. The now neo-prohibitionist MADD is urging people to give the gift of being a designated driver for Valentine’s Day. I certainly think it’s always a good idea to have a DD, but associating this idea with Valentine’s Day, one of the few remaining non-drinking holidays, seems opportunistic in the way that they incessantly accuse the alcohol companies of exploiting holidays. See, it’s all about the love. Uh, huh.

In fact, it’s so much about the love that they’ve even trademarked the phrases “Give the Gift of a Designated Driver™” and “Tonight, I’m DD”™ lest they fall into the wrong hands. So be careful, if you actually use the phrase “Tonight, I’m DD”™ you may have to send them a quarter.

Brewhog Determines No More Winter Ales, Bring On The Spring Beers

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groundhog-day
Over in Gobbler’s Knob, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Phil the Groundhog — a.k.a. Brewhog — raised up his head this morning and looked around, but could not see his shadow anywhere. You know what that means. It’s out with the winter beers and in with the spring beers early this year. Or something about an early spring, I can’t keep it straight. You can see a video of Punxsutawney Phil here. And there’s more information about Groundhog Day at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

groundhog-beer

Beer In Ads #290: Coors, His Truth Is Marching On

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ad-billboard
Monday’s ad is for Coors from around 1990, featuring the painting by artist Ellis Wilson entitled Funeral Procession. It was painted in the 1950s and currently hangs in the Aaron Douglas Collection in the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The painting became well-known in 1985 “thanks to its appearance in the plot of an episode of The Cosby Show in 1985, during the second season of the long-running series. In the program, Mrs. Huxtable acquires the painting—which is ostensibly by her “great-uncle Ellis”—at auction, paying $11,500. At the end of the episode, Dr. Huxtable hung the painting over the living-room mantel, where it would stay for the duration of the series.” Coors used the painting for an ad celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The ad uses the slogan “His Truth Is Marching On” with a subtitle “In memory of the dream …”

coors-mlk

Here’s the original painting:

Wilson-funeral-procession

Beer In Ads #277: Antique Holiday Beer Card

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ad-billboard
Thursday’s holiday ad is something of a mystery. It’s not for a particular brand, at least as far as I can tell. It looks like it’s probably from the 19th century, or possibly the very early part of the twentieth. While not overtly “Christmasy,” is does seem to be about the holiday season, with the green and red colors and the wreath. But that’s all speculation, I’m not even sure exactly what it is, though a postcard or card seems likely. Might the fact that the circle of the wreath is blank suggest it was a sample? Whatever its purpose, it’s a cool piece of breweriana.

Old-Xmas-BeerAd