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A Guide to Barley Wines

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For the serious beer fan, Barley Wines are the pinnacle achievement of the Golden Age of Microbrews.  Built to last, most barley wines are best served years after their inception date.  The many hued flavors of the barley wine are known to change, bringing out a variety of different tastes depending on when they are opened.  Some barley wines have been known to age well even after 10 years.  For this reason, many brew hobbyists collect barley wines of different vintages, as would a conessuier of fine wines.

The term Barley Wine comes from the a seasonal style of beer from England.  Usually made in the Fall or Spring, the Barley Wine would be served around October or March.  Bass Brewery was the first to coin the term commercially for their No.1 Ale, circa 1900.  The earlier version of the barley wine is generally considered to be the “Old Ale”.  According to CAMRA, the English organization for the promotion of REAL ALES old ales are a pre-industrial revolution brew that relied upon high alcohol content to keep it from turning to vinegar.  Used often as an adjunct to mixed porters to make the beer go farther.  While most barley wines are upwards of 7% alcohol, Old Ales can be classified from as low as 4%.  In current makes of Old Ale, bottle conditioning is a standard feature.

Two of the finest barley wines I have run across are the Old Guardian from Stone Brewing Company and the Bigfoot Ale from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  Both of these companies are based the west coast of the United States, but varieties of barley wine are brewed all over the country, and the world.  My personal experience ranks Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Ale as a fine collector’s item.  It seems to age well.  At a barley wine tasting I had some of a bottle that was 7 years old, a real treat.  It was fine and better tasting than the current year’s.  Old Guardian, on the other hand, has the signature hop character of the Stone Brewery, and should be best served within three years, by my knowledge of how hop character disappears with age.  It is also one of the lightest of the Barley wines currently available, so if you dislike dark beers, this would be the barley wine for you to try.

Stone breweries also occasionally makes an incredibly powerful ale called “Double Bastard”.  This ale is remarkable for its similarity to Stone’s “Arrogant Bastard” ale.  I could probably not tell the difference in a taste test, but I wouldn’t bet on it.  The shocking thing is that Double Bastard has literally DOUBLE THE ALCOHOL of Arrogant Bastard.  Truly, it is a rare and masterfully crafted ale.  While I do not know if it is marketed as a Barley Wine, it certainly deserves mention here as one of the strongest beers on the market.

One of the strongest of Barley wines is the Olde School from Dogfish Head Brewery.  This Ale comes out at a whopping 15% ABV.  Another interesting sounding product is the Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine from Sprecher Brewery.  I have had something similar, a bourbon Barrel conditioned cream porter from MacTarnahan’s Brewery.   That was a very fine ale, a special release, with vanilla and charcoal overtones and the same creamy goodness that MacTarnahan’s offers in its cream porter.

Of note in the world of barley wines are also the offerings of Anchor and Rogue Brewing Companies, both renowned for the quality of their ales.  Rouge’s Old Crustacean is sure to age well over the years, not to mention the interesting bottle, which can be displayed as a worthy drinking trophy!  Old Foghorn is Anchor’s brand, a nice dark and rich barley wine.

If you are further interested in Barley Wines, I suggest contacting your local quality liquor store and reminding them that you are interested in these specialty ales.  Start your collection today, and in the years to come you will reap the rewards that only a finely aged barley wine can offer you.

Beer, Wine, and Mead in Myth

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The history and folklore surrounding beer, wine, and mead in myth is extensive.  For as long as history has been recorded, all around the world, we can see examples of these beverages being enjoyed and even fought over.  In the Bible, alcoholic drink is mentioned often.  Going further back, mead is mentioned in the ancient hymns of the Rigveda of India, poets of the Middle ages, and plays an important role in the Nordic mythology of the Eddas.  Wine goes very far back, of course, mentioned often by the philosophers of the ancient Greeks.  It could be said that, as far as we know, the arts of fermentation were among the first technologies developed by humans. 

It appears that beer may be the most ancient of beer, wine, and mead in myth – at least, as far as we know.  Beer is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and beer has been discovered in archaeological sites to be chemically dated back to the year 5,000 BC.  Samples from pottery jars found in the cradle of civilization, what is today known as Iran, yielded these findings.  It is likely that the creation of beer goes back farther than that, but there is little evidence that has survived.  In my estimation, is has all been drunk.

Many more recent examples of the mythic legacy of beer exist – it is widely held that ancient Egyptians enjoyed beer, partially, perhaps, as a method of purifying water.   One myth surrounding beer is the ancient hymn to Ninkasi, which identifies this Sumerian Goddess as one of fermentation, dated back to around 1900 BC.  For most of recorded history, we can see this myth played out in different religious and cultural venues again and again.  Spiritualism was the explanation for everything back then, and the presence of beer, wine, and mead in myth is telling of mankind’s ubiquitous application of supernatural elements to all processes of life.  But, perhaps, the reverence with which humanity approached fermentation in ancient history is also indicative of a deeper appreciation of the experience of inebriation.  In this day and age, such appreciation is not as common, except, perhaps, among the educated – beer fans and connoisseurs.

It took a long time for brewers to discover the creature that is in actuality the cause of the fermentation process: yeast.  Before yeast was discovered, brewers in the Nordic regions would yell and shout obscenities at the beer, hoping to wake up the spirit contained within and excite it to ferment the beer.  Many monasteries during the middle ages would fervently pray over the beer, anointing it with many blessings from the Lord that He may bless the beer with the so-called “miracle” of fermentation.  This process continued for quite some time, and as the church became more and more of an institution for societal control, it became necessary for brewers to hire a priest to bless each batch of beer.  When these blessings became law, it effectively created a church rendered tax on brewing, which, I speculate, lasted in many regions of Europe until the Renaissance period.

In general, the Old Testament is in favor of drink, while the New Testament stands firmly against it (that’s old world values for you).  Never the less, wine has for many centuries played an important role in the religious rites, including that of the Jewish Bar Mitzvah, and the Catholic Eucharist and its derivatives.  There are many Hebrew words for differing kinds of wine and alcoholic beverage.  According to the Bible, Noah was a vintner, as well as Jesus (although in rapid fashion).  There are many warnings against the imbibing of wine as well, and it seems that the myths of many cultures contain this dichotomy concerning alcohol.  There is great appreciation for it, and many warnings against misuse of the beverage.

In the region now known as Mexico, Pulque, a drink similar to a wine cooler, had prohibitions against who could partake. Known among indigenous peoples as Neutle, the drink made from a mixture of fermented Agave nectar and fresh Agave nectar.  This was sometimes mixed with Peyote or other mind altering, or entheogenic plants.  Neutle was a drink reserved for the shaman and for royalty.  Severe penalties awaited those who were caught drunk who were not allowed the drink.

Mead appears most notably in Norse mythology as the tale of the mead of inspiration.  In the days of this story, Odin and his brethren (the Aesir) had made a treaty with the former rules of the heavens, the giants.  Odin had heard of the mead of inspiration, made from the blood of a god mixed with honey.  As the story goes, this mead was being guarded by either a dwarfen woman or a giantess.  Odin convinced the giantess to let him have but one sip of the mead in exchange for a night of lovemaking.  After the long night had ended, Odin took his drink, but swallowed all of the mead.  He then turned into an eagle and fled to Asgard, where he regurgitated the mead for all the Aesir to benefit from.  But as he fled from the Giantess’s house, her father in hot pursuit, some drops of the mead landed to the earth.  From these drops sprang entheogenic mushrooms, from which the poets of man gained their inspiration.

Wine is most notably apparent in the rites and myth surrounding the Greek god on Wine, Dionysus.  This God was always known as a troublemaker, being the spurned offspring of god and man, and an insufferable partier.  Like Dionysus himself, the followers of this God often were called out as rapscallions for their wine enhanced orgies and wild rites.  Known also as Bacchus to the Romans, the rites of this God were outlawed by the senate at a certain point because it was suspected that they were used as a guise to plan the overthrow of the government.  If they weren’t before, they probably were after.

This article is, of course, to short to go into much detail surrounding the presence of beer, wine, and mead in myth.  There are numerous tales of such drinks throughout the world, including Africa, Asia, Russia, and many  more countries.  The book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner is a good source of information concerning beer, wine, and mead in myth.  May your further researches be fruitful.

Medicinal Tonic Beers

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It may be a surprise to you, but in ages past, beer has been considered to be food, a benefit to health, and even a proper medicine for ailments.  This notion seems at odds with how we see beer today.  To look further into this seeming contradiction, we must look without the scientific and ethnocentric (and entheogencentric*) disdain that many hold toward ancient practices.  To put it bluntly, what we think of today as beer is not what these ancients thought of as beer.

One of the greatest changes in commercial beer production was the German so-called “Beer Purity Law”, or The Reinheitsgebot.  This "purity requirement"(as translated literally), is a law that was first instituted in Bavaria in 1516.  It mandated that the only ingredients to be used in beer were water, hops, and barley.  It has been put forth that this law was intended to preserve wheat and rye prices at a low rate, but had many side effects for regional beers in Germany.  At this time, admixtures such as cherries, nettles, and wormwood were not unheard of, and these beers became outlawed, along with any other possible combination of herbal components.  These components were often added to beers to make them not only more palatable, but also for their medicinal or even entheogenic* qualities.

Another factor to consider, aside from admixtures, is the natural state of a finished beer back then, and now.  By back then, I mean what is called in England Real Ale.  Real Ale is served from a cask, without force carbonation, and without pasteurization.  It is, in essence, a term used to affect the preservation of ancient brewing techniques.  Real Ale is often considered to be heartier than its pasteurized, highly carbonated counterpart, and is even sometimes served warm.  There are many recipes from the 1600s and before which call for warm beer, sometimes with toast and cinnamon on top, supporting the view of beer as food.

In his book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers, author Stephen Buhner goes into great detail about antique recipes for tonic and medicinal beers.  Many of the recipes are claimed by their authors to be cures for various types of illness, as well as to be tonics (i.e. beers that enhance general health).  In the days before the germ theory became a widely held belief that inured itself in western medical practice, most folks thought of their health a little differently: tonics were sought after as a way to promote health, instead of people being frightened by the potential presence of germs.  This same idea was revealed by Louis Pasteur himself as he lay on his deathbed, as he recanted his Germ theory as harmful to the practice of medicine.

Let us look at how this idea can be applied to beer.  The change that comes with the process of Pasteurization is important.  Before being pasteurized, beer is literally alive.  Living yeast exists in the beer, an organism which has its own defenses against harmful “Germs”.  These defenses are transferred to the beer, supplemented by the anti-bacterial properties of Hops, and protected by the proper kegging of the beer.  All this makes the beer quite a different creature from the Pasteurized, dead ales which are dominant in the U.S. and many other countries.  While the germ theory and the practice of Pasteurization help commercial interests to make money off of beer, in my opinion, these practices likely transform the beer into a less healthy beverage overall. 

These are a few manners in which the essence of beer has changed over the ages.  There still exists today the tradition of brewing real ale (as defined by CAMRA); ale that is more alive, and potentially healthier for you than most commercially produced ales.  For more information on Medicinal Tonic Beers, you can check out the books Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers by Stephen Buhner, and for more information on the U.K.’s CAMpaign for Real Ale see their website at http://www.camra.org.uk/.

*FROM WIKIPEDIA: An entheogen, in the strictest sense, is a psychoactive substance (most often some plant matter with hallucinogenic effects) which occasions a spiritual or mystical experience. In a broader sense, the word "entheogen" refers to artificial as well as natural substances which induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional shamanic inebriants, even if used in a secular context.

A Guide to Strange and Unique Beer

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One of the greatest benefits of home brewing, and of the golden age of micro brew that we are currently living in, is the ability to create new and unusual brews.  The freedom that comes with experimentation in this realm knows no bounds except those of one’s own imagination and ability.  With practice and planning, even these limits will increase, as the breadth of knowledge in these fields is naturally increasing.  As the golden age of the micro brew expands to even more unique and inventive realms, we are even seeing the list of strange and unique beer that is commercially available expand.

Micro brewers have been experimenting with unique herbal beers well into the origins of beer.  Numerous recipes are available for your edification in books such as Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner, and Wild Fermentation by Sandy Katz.  Sacred and Healing Herbal beers is by far the most influential book on brewing that I have had the pleasure to read.  My whole career as a hobby home brewer has, in fact, been based on this book, as has that of many home brewers that I know.  It is considered in some circles to be the “bible” of strange and unique beer.

To the beer drinkers of the United States, though, even something as simple as a Belgian White Ale is often considered exotic.  While the yeasts of such ales certainly lend themselves to distinction, I wouldn’t call them unique beers.  To qualify for this category, we must take into consideration the following:

Does the beer have a unique buzz or side effect?

And;

Does the taste of the beer differ due to an admixture?

Yeast has an important effect on the taste of any beer, but this only one aspect of beer production.  The quality of the water, the types and mixtures of malts and hops, and especially herbal admixtures affect both of these factors greatly.  Inventive processes can also enhance the taste of the beer. 

Water is the highest presiding factor over the quality of a beer; it makes up roughly 90% of the beer.  I have found that the best beer I have ever been able to brew used as its base pure Alaskan glacier melt water.  The list of all-organic ingredients helped, I’m sure, although other organic ales I have drunk have almost lived up to the taste of that ale, most notably the Fishtale Organic Ale.  I would call these beers of the highest quality, and the Winter Wolf Stout that I made with the Alaskan Glacier melt water “unique” due to the process of collecting the water.

There is one commercially produced ale that I have discovered to venture into the realm of herbal admixtures, although I am sure more are to come.  I am speaking of New Belgium’s Springboard Ale.  It is an innocuous sounding name, but this ale is truly a unique herbal concoction brewed up in the guise of a Seasonal beer: a Belgian Ale with the bite of wormwood and the tonic properties of Goji berries.

The Springboard ale boldly forges ahead to reclaim space for herbal beer brewers.  Ever since the German beer purity laws, or Reinheitsgebot, adopted in 1516, and even before, the powers-that-be have sought to implement control over what manner of inebriation is allowed to the general public.  The only ingredients allowed by law in ale were water, malt, and yeast… hops were added to the list later, by popular demand.  The only other brew known to contain an active amount of wormwood ingredient is the infamous Absinthe, outlawed in the U.S. and many other countries, but still sought after and made by high class moonshiners in the United States, and, I am sure, in other countries in which its production has been outlawed.

Before the release of Springboard, the United States saw a proliferation of specialty ales – some of which contained herbs, others of which contained specialty yeasts.  A variety of Belgian Ales as well as Fraoch Heather Ale paved the way for the release of New Belgium’s Springboard by exposing the beer fans of the U.S. to more and more strange and unique beers.

In my personal experience, home brewers have been the first to experiment with wild and imaginative combinations in strange and unique beer.  I have drunk of the “Orge-Clops-Itar Ale”, containing the herb eyebright, which is regarded as a beneficial tonic for eyesight.  The brewer stated to me that the inclusion of eyebright was to help with night vision and goblin sightings.  Another unique home brew was the “Skull Crushing Hammer”, a beer made with the herb Yarrow.  The herb is said to have immense healing qualities when applied in a salve to open wounds, but when ingested, has inebriatory qualities that enhance the effect of alcohol.

Amongst home brewers is probably the best way to expose one’s self to an amazing variety of strange and unique beers.  It may not be the easiest to find home brewers bent on such strange brews, but it will certainly be a rewarding endeavor.  It might be worthwhile to enquire at your local home brew supply store about some of the “crazier” brewers that come into the shop.

When home brewing was outlawed with prohibition, it took another 50 years before the state repealed the ban on home brew, and now, finally, craft brewing is overtaking the ground it had lost over 200 years ago.  Thanks to the home brew revival, authors like Stephen Harrod Buhner and Sandy Katz, and bold brewers like New Belgium, we are sure to see a revival on the field of strange and unique beers.

Proper Aging of Beer

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Many beers made in this modern age are not suitable for aging.  Some craft and micro-brewed ales can be enjoyed much more fully by aging them a short amount of time, however!  Beers containing a medium to high level of alcohol are the best candidates for ageing.  Proper aging of beer can bring out exceptionally flavorful taste differences than drinking the beer early on.  Beers of the barley wine style can even benefit from aging for as many as ten years!  Subtle differences in the play of the malt and hop character of properly aged beers can be a great treat for the discerning beer fan.

If an ale is of mid-high alcohol content (about 5% to 8%), the taste can usually benefit from aging the beer for up to a year.  This allows for the harshest tones of the ale to mellow out a bit, allowing the subtler tones of both malt and hops to come through.  Most beer is made to be drunk within a certain time period, usually six months.  The tendency of a beer to taste better with proper aging is usually a quality of darker beers.  Make sure that if you are aging a beer that the beer is suited to such a practice, or you may be wasting your time and energy.

One type of beer that is almost always improved with aging is the barley wine style ale.  These ales can reach up to 20% alcohol, although they usually hover around 8% to 14%, keeping them fresh tasting even after prolonged time periods.  This makes them the primest candidates of the beer world for aging.  In many large cities you can find barley wine tastings at the finer alehouses.  Ask around in these establishments if you are interested in finding out a lot more about barely wines. 

If you are a fan of light colored ales, do not be assuaged from ageing beer.  IPAs can sometimes benefit from a short amount of aging, up to six months.  A nice, strong Belgian White can age well for up to a year, but it should be of 6% or more alcohol.

Another sign of a beer that may do well with aging is exceptional hop character.  I would recommend Stone Brewery’s Arrogant Bastard for aging, as well as their double bastard and especially the old guardian.  Stone brewery tends to really emphasize the hopp-y-ness of their ales, and as all us home brewers know, hops keep beer fresh and prevent spoiling.  These are among the reasons that hops have become such a predominant aspect of brewing throughout the ages.

Another aspect of brewing in the modern age that can make it easier to affect the proper aging of beer is the massive advancement in refrigeration technology that has happened in the last hundred years.  Not only is it easy to store even non-pasteurized bottle conditioned ales in the household fridge, but with the invention of the kegerator, it has become a simple matter for anyone to age a keg of beer with no fear of it becoming spoiled.

Whether the kegs are stored in a custom made kegerator, or a home made kegerator conversion, it becomes quite simple to age ales for longer than ever before.  For home brewers, particularly, the kegerator can allow for easier aging.  Also, without a kegerator, it would be very difficult for a home brewer to make a proper lager beer.  The cold temperatures at which these beers must be kept can only be kept with the use refrigeration for prolonged periods of time.

It seems clear that there is no time like the present to practice the proper aging of beer.  So far, I have offered much advice on how the proper aging of beer, but the most difficult task lies ahead, and for which I can give you no tips, tricks, clues, or advice.  Of course, the most difficult part of aging beer is acquiring the patience necessary to wait it out before quaffing your favorite brew!  Good luck and as always, drink it in good health!

Entrepreneurship and Home Brewing

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Home brewing has always been a hobby with numerous possibilities for the financial benefit of the home brewer.  With the skills and knowledge of brew craft that many home brewers have, it is easy to make the jump from a hobbyist into a career brewer.  Some brewers start by opening their own local brewpub.  Others go to one of the many schools offering degrees in Master Brewing, hoping to land a job with a larger company that produces ales of quality.  Some brewers even go underground to sell their concoctions at parties and even speakeasies.  If you are thinking of a career in brew crafting, it is wise to look at many of the entrepreneurial options available to you.  You might just find the perfect new career you have been looking for!

Many home brewers love to brew beer, but have trouble making the jump to using industrial style equipment.  If you are confused by the array of home brewing products out there, just remember: with each jump in technology, you will be able to make more beer, more efficiently, more cost effectively, and more time effectively than ever before.  It is always good to keep your old bottling tools on hand in case you want to make a special gift bottle or limited edition ale.  But for the entrepreneurial home brewer, a move to Cornelius kegs and the larger regulation kegs is an important step.

Cornelius kegs are a great way to get to know how modern beer kegging works, and to experiment with carbonation techniques.  The set-up price is relatively small, and the savings in time that would otherwise be spent bottling is vast.  Another good initial investment is the kegerator, or kegerator conversion kit. A proper knowledge of how your Cornelius keg interacts with a draft beer system will help you greatly when you switch to regulation kegs.  Cornelius kegs are becoming harder and harder to find second-hand, but they are available as brand new or reconditioned units through many home brew equipment suppliers.  

Because of the size of the Cornelius keg (about 6 gallons), it is the perfect choice for the home brewer who wishes to gradually develop their brew shop and range of knowledge.  Most home brewers start out brewing batches in that range, and this will allow home beer production to increase without the need for a larger kettle – but this is the next step!  Once you have started to keg your beer, you will find it so easy to make large amounts, that you will want to increase your kettle size to around nine gallons.  A nine-gallon kettle takes only a little more time to brew than a three or five gallon one.  Many home kitchens are not built to accommodate such massive pots, though, so you will have to plan ahead to ensure success with this increased brew load.

You should always have a spoon or stirring paddle that can easily reach the bottom of your kettle.  Kettles with false bottoms and spigots can easily facilitate the exit of the wort from the kettle, which can be a real problem if your kettle is holding in excess of five gallons.  Because of the weight of the wort, you will basically have to not move the kettle until the wort has cooled.  If you are using a wort chiller to affect this change, you should ensure that the water lines can reach the kettle where it is placed.

The most important jump for the entrepreneurial home brewer is the use of the all grain brewing technique.  By using grains, you will save money over using malty extract, and as your batches become bigger and bigger, these savings will increase exponentially.  There are some more start up costs associated with this kind of brewing, but also many shortcuts you can use while perfecting this brewing technique.  Some find it distasteful, but the use of food grade five gallon plastic buckets can replace the need for a false bottom kettle, and a cleaned and sanitized camping cooler can also help with the mashing process, where maintaining temperature is so important.  If you consider yourself a bit of an engineer, and have a lot of room to work with, the three tier brewing system is the best way to maximize the efficiency of your all grain brewing setup.

The career of a brew master is a fun, creative tradition that is enjoyable for both the brewer and the drinker!  Remember that you need not have a degree to be a master brewer, but a scientific knowledge of brewing will only make it easier to repeatedly produce the unique ale that is yours!  Remember that an eye for invention and mechanical improvisation will save you tons of time and money in this effort, and good luck!

Brewing Up a Fine Camping Trip

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When planning a camping trip, most people remember to bring the tent, the sun block, and the sleeping bags.  But many folks forget that special addition that can make the trip all the more enjoyable after a long hike: the home brew!  Most camping trips can benefit from some home brewed refreshment, whether a small hike or a full-blown lake fishing trip!  With the advances in home brew serving technology these days, it can be simple for friends, families, or couples to brew up a fine camping trip!

If you are going to the lake, or on another kind of car or R.V. camping trip, bringing a larger home brew setup is a great way to enhance the trip.  If you have room in your vehicle and a generator, you can bring along your home kegerator, but most people opt for the draft beer cooler for such trips.  A draft beer cooler is basically a plastic cooler that has either a copper or stainless steel cooling coil placed inside (with lots of ice).  The beer from the kegs flows through this cooling system and out of draft spigots mounted on the front of the beer cooler, producing a cool and refreshing draft beer with a very lightweight and easy to set-up apparatus.

Either draft beer coolers or beer cooler conversion kits can be ordered online, making it even easier for you to focus on your brewing for the camping trip.  Considering the cost of keeping a generator on and kegerator plugged our whole camping trip, the draft beer cooler is a much more economical option for your camping trip.  Make sure you have extra supplies of ice for your draft beer cooler.  If the keg beer flowing through your beer lines is warm, it will melt the ice inside quickly, and it will need to be replaced.  It is a good idea to keep the kegs insulated in thick blankets to keep it cool.

For smaller camping trips, such as one to three day hikes, or walk-in camping, a smaller beer cooler with a few bottle conditioned brews can be perfect.  For colder weather hiking, a nutritious stout, porter, or malty scotch ale is recommended.  These ales will keep you warm under the crisp, cold glare of starlight in the mountains, and help you rest.  No cooler is really necessary for these trips, as an icy mountain stream will cool your bottles off rather easily.  For warmer weather trips, coolers are advised, although it may not be necessary if cold-water streams are along your path.  But for warmer weather hikes, a lighter ale is recommended, at darkest an amber.

One fun aspect of the biggest camping days of the year, namely, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July, is making the extra preparations necessary to build a bar for your camp out!  If you already have a home bar, you will be able to take some of your sturdier decorations out to the campground.  The main issue will be having plenty of seating available for your patrons, be they friends, family, or fellow campers.  Turning your campsite into a party zone can make you some exceptional friends!  To avoid any unpleasant interactions with authorities, it is advisable to disguise your mobile draft beer system.  You may want to read my articles Entrepreneurship and Home Brewing and Disguising a Mobile Beer Draft System if you are planning on setting up a campsite bar during such major party weekends.

Whether you are brewing up a fine camping trip for a small group, or for a large assembly, the mixture of draft keg beer and the wilderness is a pleasant surprise for all.  The association of home brew and the great outdoors is an apt one; brewing one’s own beer is healthier than accepting the bland corporate beers offered in most of the nation, and is especially refreshing after a constitutional in the great outdoors!

Free Beer: A Most Excellent Promotional Tool

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There is little that can generate more interest in your business that the words “FREE BEER” in lights. Indeed, the whole notion of “FREE BEER” is like unto a mystical occurrence in the mind of the average Joe (slack). With such a lure, a canny business can elicit memberships (it has its privileges: FREE BEER!), marketing data such as surveys, email addresses, telephone numbers – really, the potential is nearly unlimited. It is a shame that more businesses do not realize the power of FREE BEER.

Think of the cost, some might say. If you are worried about cost, you are thinking about this all wrong. What is the true cost of offering free beer when, for example, you are asking for half a day’s labor out of someone as a volunteer or intern? Your cost in wages would be far over that of some FREE BEER, even if you buy good quality ale. I have known corporations that have enlisted numerous volunteers for weeks long work “parties” in demanding physical conditions simply for the sake of FREE BEER. Not only do volunteers flock to the event site, but the guarantee of FREE BEER elicits such trust and dedication from volunteers that those seeking financial compensation for their work are looked down upon. For most physical laborers, FREE BEER is indeed all that is needed to ensure their loyalty.

Compare Kegerators

One great way to increase the customer base of a membership-only business is the offering of “FREE BEER ON SUNDAY! (For members)”. You need not offer more than one beer per customer, but the enticing offer will lure many people into your video or canoe rental. Since the offer is only available to those who pass your membership criteria, any unsavory looking (or smelling) characters can be denied beer on the grounds that they do not have a membership with your organization.

Handling the FREE BEER promotional tool legally and efficiently is the key to its success. ID must be asked at all times. Remember that just one free beer handed to a minor can enlist a fine upwards of $2,000, plus probably the end of your FREE BEER policy. To keep things efficient, it is wise to put up either a one or two beer limit per customer. To further tighten the belt on your FREE BEER budget, you should consider the duration that you will be offering it. If, after a trial period of two months, the FREE BEER is working for your business, it is wise to invest in a kegerator. This will keep your keg from souring, and is a more efficient way of keeping beer cool and ready to drink than buying bags of ice or even if you own an ice machine. Kegerators usually pay for themselves within a matter of a year, and ensure that the beer served will be a most enjoyable pub draught.

Another application of FREE BEER is the company event or sale. Sales are enticing, but sales with FREE BEER are guaranteed to hook you in at least an extra 10% – 100% in impulse walk-in customers if advertised properly. By properly, I mean, of course, in large type facing oncoming traffic, but in the storefront will certainly suffice. Of course, the sign should say “SALE! FREE BEER! (For customers)” to leave you and your employees an out for serving beer to unsavory characters.

I am sure that by now you have realized how eye-catching this promotional tool is. For the small business owner, the chain operator, or the corporate event planner, FREE BEER should always be considered as one of the most effective promotional tools available.

Bar Tricks, Jokes, and Legerdemain

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Have you ever gone out to the bar and ended up sitting on your ass watching T.V.? What a waste of an evening! The proper way to enjoy the atmosphere of any bar, be it a night of celebration or merely bar hopping, is to come prepared. By bringing with you a few bar tricks up your sleeve, taking the time to memorize a few lines worth of jokes, and a quick smile, you can not only have an amazing time at the bar, but also become the center of the party! Don’t let your bar experience leave you with a bland evening. Here are some tips for the practical art of beginning legerdemain:

Bar Tricks, Jokes, and Legerdemain

First off, remember, that as the night goes on, people are getting more and more wasted. So if your bar tricks aren’t very good at first, just start your evening out later. Take an hour or so to practice card tricks and read up on stupid jokes before you go out. Often, the only difference between a good joke and a bad one is timing. It doesn’t really matter what the joke is (remember… timing!), and also, as the night goes on, the same joke will become funnier to people that have already heard it. This is known as one of the basic concepts of comedy: Repetition is the key to humor. Timing and repetition. Repetition and timing are the keys to humor!

So now that you have a few jokes memorized, don’t forget to practice some sleight of hand (a type of legerdemain). Some basic palming can get you pretty far (making coins appear from ears, in drinks, etc), but a card counting trick will get you farther. One of the best ways to get people to buy you drinks is to place bets on whether you can pull a trick off. Your pocket book may suffer for this, of course, unless you are practiced. Remember that the trick can be a simple as folding a $20 bill to show the twin towers burning to hammering a nail into your face (a trick that is dangerous and takes training and practice: DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME, KIDS!!!). Presentation is everything.

Here is one effective act of bar legerdemain (in other words, a bar trick) that anyone can do:

Turning a One-Dollar Bill Into a Five

I first saw performed by the showman David Apocalypse as he was talking up a crowd. First off, you have to start up some conversation. A bad joke is good for this. Maybe mention some magic act you have seen. Once you spark some interest, make a friendly wager: ‘I can turn a dollar bill into a five”, you say, “Buy me a drink and I’ll show you how.”

Most folks will be hooked by this line. So you get a dollar bill from them, and start talking about this and that, maybe roll up your sleeves, all the while rolling the bill tightly in a diagonal fashion, maybe unrolling it and rolling it long ways, chatting up your audience with another joke or two, stories, and the like.

Start bending the bill into the proper shape, a straight bar for the top, a ninety degree angle, a little further down another ninety degree angle, basically people should be deeply entranced by your conversation by this time, and at the end of the story, you lay down on the table a dollar bill rolled up and bent into the shape 5. The best thing about this bit of legerdemain is that it is basically a joke, and as long as you maintain the proper wording and misdirection (in the case of smart asses), you can take a drink from almost anyone in a bar.

The coup de grace of this trick is putting the dollar bill from the mark into the bartender’s tip jar. This ensures that you maintain a good relationship with your host, which will avoid the circumstance of inhospitality with repeat performances at the same bar.

Often, people will offer you drinks just for telling a good story, and it is always nice to be able to return the offer. Skill with bar tricks, legerdemain, and storytelling will get you free drinks. Better yet, these skills will make you valuable allies. And even more valuable, friends. Everyone likes an entertainer, and by developing and sharing such skills you will enhance the evening for all present. Don’t let another night go by staring at the re-runs in your local bar. You are there to meet people after all, aren’t you? Now go out there and wow ‘em!