There is a new show on Discovery Channel called Brew Masters which follows around one of the most well-known craft brewers in the U.S. – Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery. The show has had 5 episodes so far and the rumor going around is that the show is not a success and will likely not be picked up for another season. Regardless, for beer geeks it is an awesome show to demonstrate the ins and outs of running a successful craft brewery. I only watched 1 and a half episodes but so far it was pretty entertaining. In the first episode, Sony approached Sam to create a special beer to coincide with the 40th anniversary release of Miles Davis’ album, Bitches Brew. He had something like 3 months to come up with the concept, brew a test batch, brew the final large batch, bottle and label and distribute so that it would be released on the same date as the album.

I recommend this show if you can find it.

I generally hate the Fall season. It’s not winter yet, so you can’t go skating, snowboarding,  or have a snowball fight. Even if you hate winter, at least when you are in the thick of winter you can think to yourself “Okay, this is as cold as it’s going to get, I just need to fight through this”. When it’s Fall, all I can think  is “You have got to be kidding me, it’s going to get waaaayy colder than this and I am already miserable”. So the summer is great, winter has it’s upsides, but the Fall is basically a state of waiting.

With that said, I have finally found a reason to enjoy the fall: Pumpkin Beer. A lot of brewers can mess it up, but when they get it right, pumpkin beer is a wonderful thing. Enter Alley Kat Pumpkin Pie Spiced Ale. A clear flavor of pumpkin, but also some nutmeg and cinnamon. None of it overpowering though and you still get a nice malty beer flavor.

Another one I stumbled across was Howe Sound Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale. It boasts an 8% ABV and is actually made with fresh roasted pumpkins.

The fact that most of the good Pumpkin beers are only available during the fall make them even better and something to look forward to. This fall go get yourself a pumpkin beer and fight this crappy season.

Over and out.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I had a Trappist Beer night. The goal was to get at least one of every Trappist beer, share them and revel in their awesomeness. Unfortunately at the time, Orval and Chimay were unavailable in the city. I made some calls to my top liquor stores in the city and discovered that the distributor for those beers went bankrupt and hence no distribution in Alberta. This temporary snag didn’t stop us from having our Trappist-filled night however, and in hindsight it is actually a good thing we didn’t have those 2 more beer, otherwise I definitely would have been sick. We successfully shared 7 beer (one of which is a 750ml) and I am not ashamed to admit I was pretty drunk. 7 beer does not sound like much but many of these are over 10% ABV.

We began the night with Rochefort 8, and moved on to Rochefort 10. The 10 was noticeably stronger but also had a sweeter more caramel flavor. At this point I am already feeling a buzz. Off to a good start. We then went straight for the Westy. Yes, Westvleteren 8. I had enjoyed one all by myself before this point and can say that does live up to the hype. Unfortunately a Westy 12 was not in the books for us. Now on to the only Trappist beer I haven’t tried, aka the only non-Belgian one, Koeningshoeven Quadrupel. Daaammnn boi, we both decided this was our favorite. And there was oh so much of it to enjoy.

Ok at this point I am basically drunk. We move on to the Westmalle Tripel and Dubbel, and drink it out of an authentic Westmalle glass, might I add. Not much to say here except that Westmalle Tripel is likely the single best in the world of it’s style and also the original Tripel. I could live on these. The dubbel is darker and maltier, and less boozy which is a feature I am looking for at this point. Getting too drunk.

We take a bit of a break and move on to the Achel 8 Brune and then I drank about 10 big glasses of water. It was a good night.

It kind of ticks me off when I order a pint and receive a small, 14 ounce glass of beer. A pint isn’t not just another word for a glass of beer, although it seems to get interpreted that way at some establishments. A pint is an official unit of measurement.

The pint is an English unit of volume or capacity in the imperial system and United States customary units. The imperial version is 20 imperial fluid ounces and is equivalent to about 568 ml, while the U.S. version is 16 U.S. fluid ounces and is equivalent to about 473 ml.

Source: Wikipedia

So technically speaking, a pint is 20 ounces everywhere in the world except for the U.S. Well, I don’t live in the U.S. so I want my damn 20 ounces.

I went to a restaurant recently that had an advertisement outside which said “All Pints are $5.00 today!”. I couldn’t pass that up, so I ordered a pint of Trad, I believe. What I received was a pathetic excuse for a pint. It was a small glass of beer, maybe 14 ounces. I could have complained about false advertising but instead I just sat there and enjoyed my beer a little less.

I often get asked by friends what new beer they should try. I am by no means a beer expert but I have probably been exposed to more beer and beer types than the average person over the past few years. It has become a mild obsession of mine which is obviously becoming apparent to the people around me.

It really can be difficult to recommend specific beers when you aren’t sure of the person’s taste. The thing I am most afraid of is recommending a beer that may be too extreme or different for a particular person and end up scaring them away from craft beer for good. So here is a small list I have comprised of what I would consider ‘gateway beer’. In other words, good introductions to the craft beer way of life. And it is a way of life. Read more