In Memory of the Virginia Tech Massacre

I just wanted to dedicate this blog entry to 32 Virginia Tech family that were struck down seven years ago. Yes, this blog is suppose to be about beer, but my life has been shaped by many of Virginia Tech alum. The Girlfriend was a student at the time (and two of her friends were shot)and one of my best friends at my school also had one of his friends shot. Though I wasn't there, these events shaped the people in my life, and thus have shaped mine. I hope something like this never happens again, and I can only wish the best for everyone in the future. Love life, love friends, and maybe share a beer or two with them.

Craft Beer, just a Phase?

Ok, so maybe trying to keep up a blog while in the middle of track season, switching jobs, and making sure the evil dogs don't take over the house is just plain old hard. I will try my best to actually post, but again, as of now it's empty promises in your head. Anyways, let's get to the beer blog.

There has been a lot of talk that the Golden Age of craft brew has jumped shark, nuked the fridge, or is on its last legs. Though I might agree that the Golden Age as we know it can not sustain itself, craft beer will not just disappear, or even decline. Yes, I might be biased (okay, lots.) but craft beer is here to stay like a bad case of crabs . Here are my three of my reasons (and please feel free to comment)

Dogfish Head, the Legendary American Brewery

1. Quality: When I was a wee lad, my father, his friends, Hollywood, and most of Europe thought of American beer as swill. Budweiser, Miller, Coors, and their Light counterparts were the height of American Beer quality. Well, thanks to Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, and Dogfish Head, American Beer can keep it's head high in the beer world. No longer do we have to hang our hats on one Blue Ribbon. If you look at Beer Advocates Top 250 we have plenty, if not most beers in the Top 250. Yes, Beer Advocate is slightly biased towards American Beers, but look this years past World Beer Cup results. All American, and damn it feels good. Which leads me to my next point.

A Little Old, but Some Interesting Numbers

2. Quantity: The above article can just be about the sheer quality of beer America has, but in reality, it's the amount of good beer there is. I'm not talking about the top 250, I'm not talking the top 500. Just the fact you can finally go into almost any beer, liquor, alcohol store and gets something that isn't an InBev POS. Look at your favorite beers from square one. For me, it was Coors Lite (American), then Michelob Amberbock (American), to Magic Hat #9 (American), to New Belgium Fat Tire (American), to finally Rochefort Trappist 8 (Belgium).

This was Once a Rarity to see, now it's my Tuesday!

3. Beer Culture: Myself, The Girlfriend, The Entire Great Trio are all mid-twenties. We go to craft beer bars as many times as a nun goes to church. A lot. And the demographic that walks in isn't just us; it's Black, White, Asian, French, Old, Young (21+ of course), Men and Women. And what we see is everyone loves good beer. Sure, when we are watching the Ravens trouncing on the Steelers we knock back swill light beers, but when we are having a nice dinner, wine isn't paired with the food, beer is. Or in The Girlfriends case, the food is paired with the beer. Beer, real beer, is here to stay.

Of course, you can argue my argument proves we are seeing the end of the Golden Age. But lately, Brew Pubs are taking hold. We might not see national craft beers like we used to, but local and regional beers are just taking hold.

Have a beer and have a Happy Easter!

Slainte

My Christmas Present, Part 1

Sorry for the late post, it’s been a hectic couple of weeks. But I promise you I’ll be posting at least once a week for now on. If I don’t, you can find my at World of Beer, and force me to drink Miller Lite, and only Miller Lite for the whole night. So let’s get down to business, beer business.

For Christmas this year (well last year) I bought The Girlfriend a beautiful Finnish watch. She, being the loving amazing girlfriend got me nothing for Christmas. Rather she got me the best thing to date, a brewery tour of the Eastern Shore. So for a good two months, I had to wait for my present, and needless to say, it was worth it.

The Girlfriend planned everything, as I literally only hadto sit in the car, walk into bars, breweries, and distilleries, and drink. She picked me up from work and we drove from Annapolis, to the St. Michael’s Md. Here, we dropped off the puppies to our mutual friend and went to a local brewery, ReAle Revival.  Here, I sampled the first beer of the weekend. Here I struck up a conversation with the bartender and started talking beer and home brewing. Little did I know, it was the Brew Master, and he invited me to check out his brewery. Needless to say, I was giddy. As I got a private tour, I was given sample of sample of  beers, mostly taste batches, but each pretty good. As it ended, he asked why I was here, and told him it was my Christmas present from The Girlfriend. He told me to wait a minute and he came back with a pleasant surprise. Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10 Aged in Oak Barrels. If you don’t know about Epic you are missing out. Either way, the Epic Series was amazing.

Next, we hit Evolution in Salisbury (uneventful) before heading to Bethany Beach. Waking up, The Girlfriend takes me to Starboards. There I am required to drink an Orange Crush. Let’s just say, my liver hasn’t done much morning drinking since college. And let’s just say, 8 a.m. was the last time I was sober for the rest of the day. After breakfast, we went to Berlin Maryland, to hit our favorite Maryland Brewery, Burley Oak. Now Burley Oak is a small brewery, but it makes perhaps the best Saison ever. Period, end of statement, the best. SummaRye, is a Rye Saison, that happens to be panned as absolutely amazing by everyone I’ve known who has drank it. I was psyched to go, but oh so sad when we got there and saw a closed sign. I moppely walked up only to find it was a beer release party and they were glad to have anyone come in. We walked out with a slightly used liver, and a bottle of beer, 1 or 440.

That’s it for now, I’ll finish the rest of our trip later. But I’ll be adding one of the Great Trio’s blogs tomorrow.

Till next time,

Slainte!