For Amelia and Zoe – LIF Raffle

Help a family overcome tragedy LIF

Hey guys, please read the full post on this heartbreaking story over on BA, donate using PayPal ForAmeliaandZoe@gmail.com and spread the word as much as possible to your peers. I know that the craft beer community will do it’s part to step up and help where they can. Thank you all.

(Also make sure when you donate you specify it is for a friend and do so from your checking account. Or do a solid for BigGene and pay the credit fees if that’s how you choose to pay.)

mr. sheeps: This Is How I Use BeerAdvocate

mrsheeps:

As a dork – in this case, attemtping to update Hof Ten Dormaal/Stillwater’s Bronze Age listing:

Submit a Change Request – Change Type: Brewer

My bottle clearly states that this is “brewed and bottled by Brouwerij Hof Ten Dormaal” as well as that it is a “PRODUCT of BELGIUM”. I have…

Unfortunately, that’s just not how collabs work. There’s pretty much nothing that says because it was brewed in a certain location that it’s that brewery’s beer. This is really the basis of “contract brewing” and why Matt FX can brew Brooklyn’s stuff without their name being on the label, and how Olde Saratoga can do the same with He’brew, Coney Island, and Keegan’s. The only requirement on the label is to say where the beer was brewed, not by whom.

This is especially pertinent to Stillwater Artisanal Ales since Brian Strumke is a “gypsy brewer” (or whatever term they’re throwing around these days) and doesn’t actually have his own private brew space for Stillwater, not even at Of Love and Regret. This is different than contract brewing since Brian actually goes and does the brewing himself with the brewmaster at the brewery in question rather than handing the recipe off to someone else (same goes for the maker of that Meadowlark IPA you had the other day, Pretty Things, which I didn’t get a chance to try when I was in MA, you bastardo).

So he travels the world renting space and equipment from breweries all over the globe (all of whom use 12 Percent to import, as far as I know) adding a touch of local flair to each of his brews. And while that brewery may package and bottle that beer for him it’s still technically a Stillwater Artisanal Ale.

mr. sheeps: This Is How I Use BeerAdvocate

My Lucky Crouton: Bacon Jam Recipe

2 pounds decent bacon, preferably smoked and cured

4 small to medium yellow onions, julienned

smoked paprika, or sweet Hungarian if preferred

celery seed freshly ground

cumin freshly ground

black pepper freshly ground

Cut bacon into quarter length strips. Place in dutch oven or heavy deep…

Old recipe but I HAVE to make this.

My Lucky Crouton: Bacon Jam Recipe

Heady Topper Summer News

From The Alchemist’s Blog:

Unfortunately, we can no longer let retailers outside of our distribution area pick up Heady Topper for resale.  We now have multiple retailers in each town that are interested in carrying Heady Topper, but we are unable to fill every account interested.  By law, you cannot ‘pick and choose’ your accounts within the same area.  So, we are unable to sell to a select group of retailers until we have enough to get it to everyone.  AND WE ARE WORKING ON IT.

Well, looks like I’ll be driving a little further to get my Heady Topper fix. Good thing I just bought a few four packs at the cannery last week.

Plans are under way to double our Heady Topper production- hopefully this will happen by fall.

Fucking awesome.

Brewer’s Fest is going to be a blast this year.  John brewed some great collaboration beers with Todd Mott of Portsmouth Brewing (Tarnation- a hoppy milk stout), Dieu du Ciel (American IPA) and Shaun at Hill Farmstead (hoppy, low abv ale).

I need these. In or around my mouth.

Heady Topper Summer News

PJ’s BBQ going year-round in 2012 [BBQ]

Man I don’t know how I feel about this. More power to them to try to get more business going year round, but I really don’t think that’s going to be the case. The biggest draw for these three season restaurants is the word of mouth and hype leading to them re-opening for the season.

Two restaurants come to mind. Jack’s Drive and and Ted’s Fish Fry. Both are ran by the same peeps. One is a local chain that’s open year-round with multiple locations. The other is closed for the winter and opens with huge fan-fare every spring. When was the last time you saw a line at Ted’s Fish Fry? Now, when haven’t you seen a line at Jack’s at lunch or dinner, sometimes 20+ people long? Same thing goes for Kay’s pizza. It’s just not “special” if it’s open all year round, and definitely loses it’s at lot of it’s charm.

PJ’s BBQ going year-round in 2012 [BBQ]