Beer
First brewed at least 5,000 years ago, beer is one of the oldest and most universally consumed alcoholic drinks. It is usually made from cereals, most frequently malted barley, but other ingredients can be used, such as wheat, corn, or rice. In the majority of cases, hops are added to the process (originally as a preservative), although in centuries past other flavorings were used. Today, a whole host of flavored beers exist, ranging from conventional ingredients such as fruit to crazier additions including bacon, donuts, and rocky mountain oysters (aka bull testicles). The most popular beer style, however, is the easy-drinking pale lager style. It used to be thought that beer in cans was inferior quality to beer in bottles, and that there was a safety worry over the use of aluminum, but that is no longer the case. Cans are perfectly safe and sales of canned beers are growing while bottles are on the decline.
Top Beer Posts:
Lager? Ale? Beer? What’s the Difference?
6 Beers from Melvin Brewing, 2018
12 Beers from New Belgium, Early 2017 Releases
7 Beers from North Coast Brewing Co.
The last time we took a look at Scottish brewers Innis & Gunn, they had just collaborated across the pond with Tullamore Dew to age their stout in the distillery’s Irish whiskey casks. While that bottling, dubbed Kindred Spirits, was a rare partnership with a particular distillery, it wasn’t the first time Innis & Gunn had…
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Few would associate Texas’s Shiner Beer with IPA, but public outcry has demanded the traditionally lager-based brewery to head into that direction. To that end, a new IPA franchise, called Tex Hex (aka TexHex), and its flagship offering: Bruja’s Brew. The first of three Tex Hex offerings, Bruja’s Brew is a bright and juicy beer…
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Sierra Nevada has four beers in its “Little Thing” series, and recently the brewery refreshed the packaging for all of them, bundling them together in a mixed 12-pack called the Little Things Party Pack. We reviewed a couple of these beers last year, but this is our first look at the quartet together. Let’s try them…
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A relatively new brewery, Ferment Brewing Company opened in 2018 in Hood River, Oregon. They offer a range of beers in various styles, including ales and lagers. Today we’ll be trying their Nitro Dry Stout, brewed in the tradition of Irish stouts. Ferment also brews an Imperial stout which boasts 11% abv – much heavier…
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Dutton Estate is one of the more unsung, high-quality wineries in California’s Russian River area, and recently the operation made a bold move that’s highly unusual in these parts: They launched a cider, born from 200 acres of organic apple orchards in the region. Today we look at a collection of five newly released wines…
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Indiana-based Sun King dropped a heap of beers on us just before Christmas, and it’s taken us a while to get through them all. Why? Almost all are well over 10% abv, the kind of winter-themed brews that pair best with ski slopes and fireplaces. Clearly, some moderation has been in order. Below please find…
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It’s hard to believe but Breckenridge Brewery and Breckenridge Distillery are not owned by the same company. (Breckenridge Brewery is actually part of Anheuser-Busch, while the distillery is still independently owned.) Buddy Pass is nonetheless a natural collaboration between the two operations, a barrel exchange in which Breckenridge Brewery brewed an Imperial Oatmeal Stout which…
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Since its merger in 2019 with craft beer behemoth Boston Beer Co. (maker of Sam Adams), beachy brewery Dogfish Head has added several new offerings but also eliminated some of the old standbys from their initial craft lineup. Lighter pilsners and IPAs, like Hazy-O, have taken the place of darker beers like Burton Baton and…
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While double IPAs are often sweet and even cloying, Bend Oregon-based 10 Barrel Brewing’s latest DIPA is surprisingly down to earth, showcasing more of a west coast style with hearty notes of forest floor and alpine tree bark. The beer finishes with a touch of citrus and cookie dough, upping the sweetness component, but not a…
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There were a whopping seven different releases from Goose Island’s Barrel House line in 2021, including, of course, the fan favorite Bourbon County Stout. Among those options, one in particular may have been familiar to early Goose Island devotees. Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Fourteen Stout originally debuted way back in 2014 as part of…
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