WHAT, IN THE name of the late, great Adolphus Busch, is Bacardi Silver?
And what makes Skyy Blue?
These clear, soda-like alcoholic beverages hit the shelves last month and, backed by millions in slick marketing campaigns, are vying to become the Trendy Booze of ’02.
Though their labels imply they contain distilled spirits, Bacardi Silver isn’t rum, and Skyy Blue … Read the rest
With beer guru Michael Jackson wrapping up his Book and the Cook appearances in town this weekend, it’s a little hard for brew fans to focus on next week.
Nonetheless, Beer Philadelphia magazine will thoroughly clear the fog with its annual Split Thy Skull fest next Saturday.
And, yes, this barleywine tasting is as cranially challenging as it sounds. Barleywine, … Read the rest
THE TEAMSTERS last week called for a boycott of Guinness Stout, because the brewer is using non-union workers at its facility in Fogelsville, outside of Allentown.
Well, they’re going to have to get in line.
Seems everybody, from traditional stout sippers to vegans, has a bone to pick with the world’s biggest stout maker.
First, a bit of clarity:
The … Read the rest
Like most numbskull ideas, this one sounded perfectly sane at the time.
The “time,” not surprisingly being the end of a long, confused night at a Center City tap room a couple weeks ago, when a pal told me, “Yo, did you know March 1st is National Beer Day in Iceland? “
Who cares? It’s too freaking cold up there, … Read the rest
Philly-area brewers flashed their stuff at the Real Ale Festival in Chicago earlier this month. The annual festival features beers that are conditioned by secondary fermentation in the keg or cask, then served without extra CO-2.
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant (West Chester) Pig Iron Porter, silver, dark ale category.
Victory Brewing Co. (Downingtown) Storm King Stout, … Read the rest
One hundred bucks for a 24-ounce bottle of beer? That’s the price Boston Beer is asking for its Sam Adams Utopias MMII, the strongest beer in the world. At 24 percent alcohol, it’s the buzz equivalent of a sixpack of Bud.
Sam’s says it’s been aged in scotch, cognac and port barrels for almost two years, then packaged in a … Read the rest
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To win Wyncoop Brewing’s Beerdrinker of the Year award, you’ve gotta drink and think. Some questions from past contests:
1. If beer was an Olympic event, what would the rules be?
2. What is “hop traction”?
3. What beer is the weakest link?
4. What was the first modern microbrewery in Oregon?
5. If you were in Las Vegas … Read the rest
WYNKOOP BREWERY, the Denver brewpub, named its annual Beerdrinker of the Year earlier this month, and as usual the winner was from the East Coast.
This year’s lucky champion has a theory about that, and it has nothing to do with our region’s astounding capacity for beer consumption.
“First prize is free Wynkoop beer for life,” Gary Steinel told me … Read the rest
NEXT WEEK, Anheuser-Busch will roll out its latest abomination, a so-called “flavored alcoholic drink” called Bacardi Silver. I’ll have more to say about the alcopop trend in my next column; by then, maybe I’ll have recovered from the foul, sugary taste of the bottle I sampled the other night.
With any luck, my tonsils will be cleansed with a real … Read the rest
Someday, there will be one big brewery, and it will be called Borgweiser.
Well, maybe not. But globalization of the brewing industry is heating up.
Colorado’s Coors hooked up with the U.K.’s Carling last year in an attempt to spread its germ to Europe. And analysts say Belgium-based Interbrew, the world’s second-largest brewer after its acquisition of Whitbread, Bass and … Read the rest