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Breweriana: Specialty Beer Glasses

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Specialty Beer Glasses

Specialty glasses have existed throughout the ages, whether they are for wine, champagne, or different types of beers. From crystal goblets to stoneware steins, and, more recently, Belgian glass goblets, glass, ceramic, wood, and metal crafters have produced their visions of the perfect vessel for the perfect drink. The ratio of slope to surface area, breathing area, and volume contained within, are all tailored to the liquid viscosity and temperament of the beverage in question.

Having a unique specialty beer glass for each of your alcoholic beverages has always helped to make the moment special. Who ever heard of sitting around the local pub, drinking mugs of ale? That may be true for mid-evil re-creationists, but most beer fans prefer pint glasses. That way you can see what you’re drinking. In mid-evil times, you didn’t always WANT to see what you were drinking.

Having a nice rack of differing specialty beer glasses is good for when company comes over. It can encourage your friends to bring some fine ale if you have some Chimay glasses around. These glasses are called chalices, and feature a wide, flat bottom and straight sides to allow the many aromas of the monk-style Belgian ales to be smelled.

Having a set of German bier Steins up on the shelf may also lend clues to guests as to what you’d like at the next potluck (better Heineken than Budweiser, at least). The stein and the mug are best suited for ales of the inimitably quaffable kind. Beer that is guzzled easily. Beer that you want to drink a lot of because you want to become intoxicated.

European specialty beers often fall into the category of beers that should be served in specialty beer glasses. If you walk into a bar that serves a selection of Belgian ales, this is a good place to learn more about the difference between specialty beer glasses, but until then take my word for it: Weiss biers and hefeweisens have a glass which is curvy and top heavy. This gives a little lip at the bottom to catch any yeast sediment, which may result from drinking the bottle-conditioned variety of theses ales.

Pilsner glasses are the more straightforward, simple and elegant tall glasses with only the slightest of curves. The relatively narrow top channels the bitter aromas into the nose, facilitating an aromatic blast with each swig.

Lambics, being specialty ales from a nation of specialty ales, are best indulged in what is known as a flute glass. This resembles a champagne glass, but with more curves. This keeps the bubbles moving around, for like champagne, lambics are highly carbonated. The narrow top keeps the aromas from floating about too much.

Barley wine glasses usually hold less beer – barley wines being much stronger in alcohol and flavor than regular beers (around 7%-12% alcohol). In order to prevent patrons from stumbling over each other drunk or passing out in the bar, the volume of the glass is decreased. The glasses usually have a fairly open top to allow the rich and malty bouquet of the barley wine to waft above the specialty glass. Go to a good barley wine tasting and you will see what it is all about.

The Samuel Adams brewery of Boston, Mass., just this last year released a glass, which their brewers claim, serves beer as brewers intended. The Samuel Adams Boston Lager Pint Glass shares many traits with the flute, but it is bigger and has a much wider mouth.

"We wanted to create a glass that offers beer lovers a full sensory experience by fully showcasing Samuel Adams Boston Lager’s complex balance of malt and hop flavors.", said Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams.

And last, but not least, one good reason for having different specialty beer glasses, for different kinds of beers, is to help bar patrons to remember which glass is theirs. A night of drinking can sometimes muddle ones perceptions. In any case, is not a finely crafted beer worthy of its own glass?

Evolution of the Beer Keg

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From wooden casks to stainless steel and aluminum, from spile and shive to Sanke tap, the evolution of the beer keg has also influenced the evolution of beer. Driven by the mass production demanded by beer fans the world over, brewers have tinkered with and improved the beer keg in many ways during its evolution. Some of these changes have also impacted the quality of beer and even the brewing process. Though the old style cask ales, or “real ales” are still in production in some parts of England and the U.S., modern beer is dominated, even in the microbrew and craft beer markets, by pasteurized and filtered beers. Here we will look at the evolution of the beer keg and the effect mass production has had on the beer it has kegged.

Evolution of the Beer Keg

History shows us that the drinking of beer goes back at least 4,000 years. In that time, beer was most likely stored in clay urns and pots. But somewhere along the line, humans discovered that beer could be carbonated by sealing it in a bottle or cask and letting the yeasty “spirits” or “miracles” of fermentation go about their business. With this discovery came the first beer keg.

As far as historical records go, we can see a lot of light shed on the development of beer in Europe. Originally, European beer, i.e., beer-as-we-know-it-now, was predominantly kegged in wooden casks. These casks were usually made of oak or other hardwoods that had a reputation for being non-toxic. Beer at this time was un-pasteurized and usually unfiltered, which lent it to spoiling. This beer had an expiration date!

Most of the advances in brewing and kegging technology since then have focused on increasing the life span of beer. The most important of these was the process of pasteurization. Pasteurization is a process by which a product in a bottle or can is rapidly heated and then cooled. This process ensures that any organism that may be purposely or un-purposely left in the product (in this case, the beer keg) is killed. Through the use of pasteurization, beer kegs have been granted a much longer shelf life.

For some, the change in taste that the pasteurization process yields is too much to ask for the benefits of increased shelf life. An organization known as CAMRA, the CAMpaign for Real Ale, has taken up the cause of un-pasteurized and un-filtered beer. Through this group, folks interested in cask ales and real ales may find them in the U.K. Interest in cask ales is present in the U.S. as well, although the term real ale does not have the same weight as in the U.K., where strict guidelines have been established. Real ales are those ales that are still “alive” with living yeast. Cask ales are ales that are served from a cask, although not necessarily a traditional wooden one. These ales may be filtered, but they are usually cask-conditioned. This means that they gain their fizzy carbonation through the natural process of fermentation instead o the “force-carbonating” that is usually done by commercial beer makers.

The modern Sanke beer keg is designed to be rugged, easily cleaned (at least with the right industrial keg cleaning machines, and to hold a great amount of beer while still being light enough to be handled by one person. Unlike the cask, the progenitor of the keg, the Sanke keg requires little preparation and knowledge to operate. Sanke kegs took the Shive hole and the keystone of casks and put them into the same hole, locked in with a coil spring and valve, released with the push of the tap once attached.

Today, most cask ales are served from steel or aluminum casks, just as regular beer kegs are. They still require the care of an attentive landlord or barkeep, however. The gas must be vented and the beer prepared two to three days ahead of time. The benefit of a little extra tooling and care produces the result of an ale the likes of which might have been enjoyed 2,000 years ago! For all the modern influence of technology on brewing, it is refreshing to see that some people still like to do things the old fashioned way.

See related keg beer articles: History of the Kegerator, Beer Keg Directory, Beer Kegging Tutorial

Beer Trends: Women Drinking Beer

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Many men consider the world of beer to be a masculine realm, and these many men are increasingly more mistaken.  With the variety and taste sensations offered by the golden age of microbrew, many women are becoming more acquainted with the pleasures of drinking beer.  In addition to the trend of women increasingly drinking beer, some medical studies have shown that, for women, drinking moderately can help fight high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Woman Drinking Beer

Although the beer market is still mostly a male demographic, beer analysts are realizing that up to 30 percent of the market is actually made up of female beer drinkers.  As of 2005, London based research firm Datamonitor has reported that low carb and light beers are driving greater beer consumption in U.S. women.  Some beer companies have even launched specific lines of beer to appeal to women, such as Heineken’s new malt cider Charli, and Poland’s Karmi.  Beer advertisers are noticing this trend as well.  A 30 percent market share cannot be ignored, and the public has already seen a shift in the content of beer ads.

Women are also drinking a lot of micro brewed beer.  According to a National Restaurant Association survey, about half of women are ordering microbrews when eating out.  Microbrewers must be even more aware of this trend in beer than industrial brewers.
 
For some women, it has been clinically proven that moderate drinking can have health benefits.  Two studies published by the Archives of Internal Medicine and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition support this claim in different ways.  The first study found that younger women who drink an average of two to three alcoholic beverages weekly have a lower risk of having high blood pressure than those who do not drink.  This study used 70,000 women aged between 25 and 42 years old.  The study tracked the women’s health from 1989 until 2002, and found that women had a 14 percent less chance of having high blood pressure problems. 

The second study, the one published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, focused on older women, 51 of them, who were aged above 60 years old.  The women’s diets were all strictly controlled. This study found that alcohol could lower cholesterol, but only if only one or two drinks were taken in a day.  The women were given strict dietary plans, including either a zero, one, or two-drink quota per day.  The health benefits showed up for the single drink group, but dropped off for the two-drink group.

With studies like these enhancing the trends already present in the category of women drinking beer, we can see that it is only more likely that this trend will continue.

But one Canadian study showed some slightly dismaying aspect for women drinking beer: "My study suggests that sober women who drink alcohol are less able to perceive facial symmetry when sober," said Dr Kirsten Oinonen, Dr. at Lakehead University in Canada,

"When sober, these women are worse at judging facial symmetry, and therefore may find less attractive men more attractive. Given that symmetry is associated with attractiveness of faces, my study does suggest the possibility that alcohol intoxication may decrease facial symmetry perception, and make people look more attractive."

 

It seems that scientists in Canada have found the technical term for the curious phenomenon commonly known as "beer goggles".

Bohemian Black vs. Blackened Voodoo

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A Comparative Analysis of Black Lagers

Lagers are clearly one of, if not THE most popular beer style in the world. Lagers have become popular enough that many sub varieties have developed. Around the world, you will find beer fans that prefer their favorite style, be that the American-style lager, the Bock, the Dunkel, the Helles, Märzen, Pilsner, Schwarzbier, or Vienna lager. Of the lagers commercially available, I have always preferred the darker varieties including the Bock, Dunkel, and especially Schwarzbier, or black lager in United States parlance. Here I’ll take you through a tasty comparison of my two favorite commercially produced black lagers, or Schwartzbiers, Dixie Brewing Company’s Blackened Voodoo Lager and Shiner’s Bohemian Black Lager.

Black Lagers

Dixie Brewing Company’s Blackened Voodoo Lager was a rare treat I enjoyed with falafel dinners when I was living in Berkeley, CA. This lager was a long way from it’s home brewery in New Orleans, LA, and didn’t suffer from it. It was even more rare after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans hard, but now Dixie brewing company is back at it, although the company has subcontracted out some of its brews while recovering and rebuilding from Katrina.

The Blackened Voodoo lager is light and crisp, with a distinct flavor of the chocolaty elements of its dark-roasted barley malts. The hops add what I would call a medium bittering element to the beer, with subtly musky flavorful aftertastes that arise from the mix of the dark roasted malts and the hops mingling. The hops used in this beer’s production are Mt. Hood and Cascade hops. The yeast flavor is very sublte in this beer, just adding the slightest of fruity accents on the aftertaste, which I consider to be a mark of patience in brewing and proper lagering. The body qualifies as on the heavier side of the medium range, which to me seems a bit light for a black lager. 

For some reason, I always find myself remembering how well this beer went with the Mediterranean food that accompanied my first experience with it. The Blackened Voodoo lager was especially effective at clearing the palate with its somewhat dry yet solid flavors and crisp carbonation. The alcohol level is 4.7%, a level at which the taste of the alcohol is easily overcome by the flavorful nature of the brew. A fine brew to cool off with after a long days work in the hot sun (or even the hot shade, in Louisiana!).

Shiner’s Bohemian Black is a fairly recent addition onto the Texas beer scene, and a welcome one. Shiner’s Bohemian Black was originally a limited edition produced in honor of the Spoetzl Brewery’s 97th anniversary, but it’s popularity earned it a continued production run as a permanent part of the Shiner line of beers in 2007. This Black lager is very refreshing on a hot day, much like the Blackened Voodoo Lager. Shiner’s Schwarzbier has a sweeter taste, even with it’s slightly elevated alcohol level (4.9%). The darkly roasted grains seem to impart more body into the Bohemian Black without so much of the chocolaty taste that I found in the Blackened Voodoo Lager. The hop character, once again, seems meant to embolden the bitter aspects of the malts rather than hit you over the head with hoppy dankness. I would call the Bohemian Black a smoother lager, with more body than the Blackened Voodoo. Less carbonation is evident in this beer as well.

One aspect of the Bohemian Black which is clearly enhanced over the Blackened Voodoo Lager is consistency. I have never heard of a complaint about the Bohemian Black, but it seems that the Blackened Voodoo Lager can have some variety regarding carbonation and flavor. My guess would be that the lager may be subject to alteration depending on temperature changes. Also, with the advent of hurricane Katrina, the Dixie Brewing Company has contracted out some of their brewing, including Blackened Voodoo Lager, to Minhaus Craft Brewery of Wisconsin. This might cause some problems, as the new brewery must adjust its apparatus to attain the same results as the New Orleans brewery.

If you are a lager fan, I recommend trying both for yourself. Shiner’s Bohemian Black will most likely be much easier to find. If you should stumble upon the Blackened Voodoo Lager, you should definitely pick up a six pack, because you never know where or when you might see it next!

5 Social Networks For Beer Lovers

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Beer Social Networks

In the wondrous age of the interweb, we have seen many strange, amazing, and annoying trends. One trend that encompasses all of these traits is the concept of social networking websites. Sites like myspace, verb, tribe.net, facebook, hi-5, the list goes on and on.

It becomes so hard to choose with hundreds of websites trying hard get your whole life listed in their database. It makes me wonder, sometimes- why would ANYONE want EVERYONE on the web to be able to know EVERYTHING about their self? It seems as though too many people don’t take the time to consider this. I’ve just got to put this out there before I encourage anyone to join yet another social networking website. I am a fan of disclaimers.

Social networking on beer gives me more hope than social networking just for social networking’s sake (gah!). With a highly focused topic, it is clear that a social networking site about beer can be a good thing. This is true of the many beer forums as well. Such sites can help a lot of beer fans to better understand the craft of brewing and the wide spectrum of flavors accessible in the beer universe. I still wouldn’t suggest that you sign up for anything with your actual email address, unless you just luuuuv spam. And I’m not suggesting you use your grandma’s email address either. Just make one up that you will never use again except to get confirmed at the beer social networking website you are checking out.

One site that strikes me right off the bat as a good resource is the homebrew wiki (reachable at http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki). This site and wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) are both veritable treasure troves of information regarding beer, wine, mead, and basically any fermented or distilled beverage. You can find info about virtually every type of beer as well as the history of beer. Before entering the forums and social networking sites about beer, I suggest taking a surf through the wikipedia or homebrew wiki search engines.

BrewPoll.com

Now, as far as actual social networking sites, I must say that I was initially attracted to brewpoll.com through their affiliate website beersmith.com. Beersmith.com offers a free trial of their Beersmith software, a program that helps homebrewers to determine what ingredients to use for their recipes, accounting for price and amount of beer to be made, among other factors, and offers a brew calendar and reminders, too. Brewpoll.com is itself a “Digg-Like” news site where home brewers and craft beer fans can share and gather news. A voting system allows members to catapult relevant and useful articles to the top of the lists. Since this site links to “news” stories from other sites, it offers a chance to search a wide array of topics and beer making tutorials.

This site will probably be quite useful if you are a home brewer with some specific questions, like this one: Should I put olive oil in my beer? I had never thought of that on my own, but some brewers at New Belgium brewery have tried it and I found their results on brewpoll via fermentarium.com!

MustLoveBeer.com

Another social networking site on beer is mustlovebeer.com. Although it is a fairly young site with few members, it is equipped with many myspace-like features, such as extensive profile information, profile pictures, room for uploading pictures, messages, and friends. This site seems somewhat desolate at this time, but if you have friends a long way away that you want to keep in touch with, it might be a good way to do so while also meeting other beer fans with similar interests… in time. The site only seems to have 200 members or less, from what I have seen poking around on it.

RealBeer.com

Although it is not, in the strictest sense, a social networking site, realbeer.com is a fun site for information about beer. I recommend visiting this site if you are just “surfing the web” to find out interesting news flying about in the beer world, funny stories, and the like. I discovered three great stories just on one visit: a “Bones & Brew” Zoo benefit in Oregon put on by Rogue brewery, 2,000 pints of ale mis-delivered to Windsor Castle, and a historical mis-quote attributed to Ben Franklin. These were just some of the top stories on this site.

HomeBrewTalk.com

Homebrewtalk.com is a very active site which has social networking applications. This site is full of articles, recipes, updates on new equipment, and many stories about home built beer making set-ups, kegerators, and beer interest stories too. The site is funded by its members and some advertising, so they ask all members to consider upgrading accounts to either yearly or lifetime memberships ($25 a year or flat $100). Basic memberships are offered for free, however.

BeerJunction.com

Homebrewtalk.com is a very active site which has social networking applications. This site is full of articles, recipes, updates on new equipment, and many stories about home built beer making set-ups, kegerators, and beer interest stories too. The site is funded by its members and some advertising, so they ask all members to consider upgrading accounts to either yearly or lifetime memberships ($25 a year or flat $100). Basic memberships are offered for free, however.

BeerJunction.com

BeerJunction.com is a new social networking site for beer lovers that seems to focus more on sharing the love of home brewing. You can create a profile and log all of your brewing in a personal blog. One cool feature is the ability to add pictures, video and create your own groups. This community is handy for home brewers, or home brew clubs, or someone who really loves beer and wants to create a network of friends that love the same.

With this basic overview of sites, you should be able to have most of you questions and queries answered. By gaining membership with these social networking sites on beer, you can certainly find more people who may be able to answer any questions you have about beer.

Beer of Fire: When Barley and Peppers Mix

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With the advent of the golden age of microbrews, we are constantly seeing new and inventive beers. One of these beer combinations is the mixture of beer with peppers, especially Chipotle chilis. Rogue brewery’s Mexicali or Chipotle beer, and Cave Creek’s Chili Beer are two examples of commercially produced “beers of fire”. Looking online, you can see that home brewers have been eager to take up the challenge of brewing with Chipotle and other peppers, peppering discussion forums with chat and recipes for beer of fire. Here is a new frontier for beer brewers around the world.

Beer of Fire

The best of the new chili beers that is commercially available, in my opinion, is Rogue brewery’s concoction. A delightful spiciness is added onto an already solid beer. This is the perfect example of a well crafted beer of fire. The beer was originally called Mexicali, but now the name is the more descriptive Chipotle Beer. The base of the beer is Rogue’s Amber Ale. The Amber Ale comes out a rich amber color with a medium amount of carbonation. The flavor normally has a nice maltiness to it, somewhat sweet, but in the Chipotle beer, the malt and hop flavors seem subdued. The result is your ability to really taste the Chipotle as the smoky flavor of the pepper mixes with the flavors of the malt.

Rogue’s Chipotle beer was inspired and remains dedicated to Spanish author Juan de la Cueva. La Cueva wrote in 1575 of a Mexican dish that combined seedless chipotles with beer. Rogue recommends a tasty combination on their website: blend the Chipotle beer with Rogue Chocolate Stout to create a Mole black and tan!

Cave Creek’s Chili Beer is a far lighter offering from the state of Arizona. This beer is the invention of “Crazy Ed” who claims his inspiration comes from being annoyed by yuppies. According to Cave Creek’s website:

“…in 1989, he started brewing his own beer. The town was suspicious. And became even more so when an entire brewery arrived in crates at the foot of Black Mountain, along with a German named Arnold. But after the first batch the people began to come around. The beer was good, damn good, So good in fact, the yuppies started driving in from all over to try it.  Something had to be done, So , whenever one of them whined for a "wedge of lime" Ed started putting a hot Serrano chili pepper into the beer instead. Amazingly, about 2 out of ten actually liked the stuff.”

Cave Creek’s Chili Beer is made in the small town of Tecate, Mexico, where it seems that Crazy Ed and his pals drop a jalapeno into a beer bottle and then fill it with “a fine Mexican lager beer”. The way the wording is displayed, I wonder if it is the same beer that Crazy Ed used to make….

One place where beer with chilis is not new is Mexico. For a long time, beer fans in Mexico have enjoyed a beer cocktail called the michelada. This is another way to enjoy the mix of barley and peppers. Lime juice and chili powder are added to a regular beer of your choosing to make the michelada. If you have been wondering about micheladas, and the new beers coming out with lime juice or chili and lime, now you know! Although brewing with chilis has been a successful prospect so far, I hazard to state that fresh lime juice must surpass any manufactured lime juice substitute that may be coming out in beers like Miller’s Lime and Salt beer and Anheiser-Busch’s Lime flavored beer.

BREW YOUR OWN

  1. For the home brewer interested in experimenting with Chipotle beer, I recommend first brewing a fine chocolate stout.
  2. After racking, take the stout and fill three one gallon jars halfway with your stout.!
  3. Now, prepare your chipotles. You should put them into a strainer, be sure to remove the seeds (the spiciest part), and pour boiling water over them to soften them up and sanitize them a little. Add one, two, and three chipotles to the three separate bottles.!
  4. After two weeks, strain out the peppers, bottle, and label.!
  5. You now have one, two, and three pepper rating Chipotle Chocolate Stout! See how much spice you can handle!

Kegerators.com's Top 5 Names in Domestic Beer

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The U.S. beer industry is in a constant state of flux. New ideas and innovations are changing the face of beer every year, especially in the micro brew market. As the primary field of growth in the brewing industry, kegerators.com will name the top ten names in domestic craft beer production. These are names to look out for. These are brewers associated with quality, ingenuity, tradition, social responsibility, and most of all, good tasting beer. For these qualities, we name New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, Colorado), Dogfish Head Brewing Company (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware), Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner, Texas), Rogue Ales (Newport, Oregon) and St. Arnolds Brewery (Houston, Texas).

New Belgium Brewery New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collin, Colorado, is here honored for the company’s integrity, ingenuity, and the amazing quality of its high production level brewery. A forward thinking, 100% green company which shares its profits with its workers, New Belgium has consistently contributed innovative brewery techniques, while at the same time maintaining ancient and venerated beer traditions, such as its 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. Kudos to the first beer company to recycle its waste grain and harvest methane from it! This full circle renewable energy source now contributes 30% of the energy required to produce over 450,000 barrels of beer annually.

Dogfish Head Brewing Company Dogfish Head Brewing Company, a smaller brewer located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is here honored for ingenuity and fearless experimentation in the realm of brewing. These brewers have gone where few dare to go, preparing beers of up to 18% A.P.V.! Using admixtures such as raspberries, raisins, blueberries, chicory, and coffee, Dogfish Head has prepared some mighty interesting and mighty tasty concoctions. Brewers of the Midas Touch, Dogfish Head has even created a facsimile of a brew scientists discovered only traces of on urns in King Midas’ tomb. A true blend of tradition and experimentation. But you’ll have to go to Delaware to sample some of their latest innovations: small scale craft spirits!

Spoetzl Brewery, of Shiner Spoetzl Brewery, of Shiner, Texas, is a middle-sized brewery (much bigger than a microbrewery at 300,000+ barrels per year) that has, just in recent years, ventured into the craft beer market. Spoetzl is here honored for returning to the craft beer traditions from the precipice of the homogenized U.S. beer fad. For many years, the Spoetzl Brewery kept mainly their Shiner beer going, but now has distribution for many craft beers, in addition to their rather main-stream tasting Shiner and Shiner light. All of this is, in part, to Shiner’s centennial beer program, which started in 2005. The centennial program began producing one special edition beer in small batches at the end of each quarter. With this foray into the realm of experimentation, the brewers at the Spoetzl Brewery found flavors that were received quite favorably. Spoetzl’s Shiner 96 Märzen Ale, Shiner 97 Bohemian Black Lager, Shiner 98 Bavarian Style Amber, and Shiner 99 Munich Style Helles Lager, are all high quality craft beers worthy of recognition along-side the best microbrews of the day.

Rogue Ales Rogue Ales, of Newport, Oregon is a brewery which has maintained an exacting level of perfection with its recipes while keeping an open mind toward new innovations in brewing. With brews as diverse as Soba, Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and the Juniper Pale Ale, Rogue has demonstrated it’s willingness to live up to its namesake. Yet still, for all this invention, Rogue beers are remarkably reliable – one bottle will always taste like the next, even with such extreme different flavors. Here’s another great thing about Rogue Ales: they are all without preservatives or pasteurization.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company Saint Arnold Brewing Company, of Houston, Texas, is here honored for their dedication to serving their community with traditional, well made craft beers. You may not have heard of St. Arnolds unless you have visited central or east Texas. This is because St. Arnolds is more devoted to serving their immediate community than they are in expanding their distribution. St. Arnolds certainly stands a part from the other breweries in this list, being a straight-forward craft brewery with an honorable dedication to traditional beer styles. St. Arnolds has had quite a time dealing with the destruction of Hurricane Ike, but they are moving into a new location and will surely be up and running again soon.

These have been Kegerators.com‘s five most distinguished domestic brewers of 2008.

Mini Kegerators

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When discussing mini kegerators, it is important to make the distinction between which type you are talking about. There is the kegerator that is made from a mini refrigerator, and then there is the mini kegerator gadget. The mini kegerator that is made from a mini fridge is a compact, but still largely immobile device that is usually home made, using half sized or even smaller fridges. The mini kegerator that is a gadget is a new appliance on the market. It is quite portable, and a good way to enjoy draft beer while on the go – that is what we are talking about here.

Mini Kegerators"Gadget" Mini kegerators are a new retail item that helps you to enjoy cold beer without the expense of owning a full-on kegerator. Mini kegerators are becoming a more and more affordable way to ensure that you have draft beer on the go. Most brands come with a variety of options, such as DC power, cleaning kits, and temperature control. Mini kegerators that dispense 5 liter mini kegs are made by Krups, Heineken, Avanti, EdgeStar, Vinotemp, and other companies as well, so there are a variety of models to choose from.

These gadgets are currently priced right around $200 – $300. For all practical purposes, the less expensive units do just as good a job as the more expensive ones. For example, the Avanti Mini-Pub Kegerator retails for about $230, and the Vinotemp Mini Keg Beer Dispenser retails for about $100 more – $330. The Avanti has the benefit of being more compact, and the Vinotemp has a better temperature regulator. So, unless you have really exacting temperature requirements for your beer, you might as well get the more inexpensive brand – it is more likely to fit in the trunk or boat, or whatever you are traveling in. General compact-ability is a feature of most mini kegerator gadgets – at least, compared to the mini fridge kegerator or a full-blown kegerator. For this reason, these compact mini kegerators have enjoyed popularity among the draft beer fan crowd.

One of the great advantages of the mini kegerator is that they come with AC and DC power supplies. This allows you to run the mini kegerator off of your car, RV, or boat battery, even solar systems can power these mini kegerators. This makes it easy to take a small amount of beer (standard mini kegs hold 5 liters) out for a picnic, boating, or car camping trip. Mini kegerators can also be easily installed into your RV or boat as a semi-permanent appliance.

New advances in refrigeration technology may see a whole revolution in the way we cool all manner of things, including beer. Researchers at Penn. State have made headway in electromagnetic cooling devices. These devices operate without the use of a compressor or of Freon, and, if commercially viable, will produce machines that are much more compact than the bulky fridges we are used to. On top of this, Ben and Jerry’s, the famous ice cream men, have developed a way to cool their dessert via sound waves. By using a machine that employs pressurized helium gas and ethyl alcohol as a cooling medium, they keep their ice creams at a delightfully cold level.

The increased popularity and availability of kegerators is likely to create an industry that is capable of harnessing these new technologies and putting them to good use. It seems clear that, with this latest invention of the mini kegerator, the kegerator industry is willing and capable of incorporating new, inventive ideas into its arsenal of products. In short, we are sure to see more and more interesting forms of kegerators in the coming years.

The new options that these mini kegerators provide give fans of draft beer an excellent opportunity to enjoy draft beer in a variety of settings. While in the past, draft beer fans have gone to great lengths to install kegerator systems in their R.V.s, now it as simple as shopping around for a convenient new appliance. Some day, we may see mini kegerators replacing coffee makers in the office (certain offices, anyways), or at least be seen side-by-side with them. As it is, we will see them on the beach, the mountain retreat campsite, at sea, and at the omnipresent tailgate party. Draft beer to-go has become a reality at last.

Beer and Oysters: Sea foods and Their Malty Counterparts

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Beer and Oysters go great together.  Beer is commonly served with seafood of all sorts.  The key to enjoying your seafood dinner is finding just the right beer to enjoy with it.   From fish and chips to sushi to raw or fried oysters, complimentary flavors can be found.  The culinary joys of beer and seafood are celebrated in festivals, such as Richmond, Virginia’s "River City Beer & Seafood Festival"; recipes, such as Oysters boiled in beer, beer-battered fish; and cultural traditions from seaside villages all over the world.

Beer And OystersMany kinds of beer work well with oysters.  Porter, Stout, IPA.  Strong flavors work well to cleanse the palate in between bites so that the fishiness of the oysters is not overwhelming.  A good, clean break in between bites is highly desirable.  In regions where beer choice is limited, beer is still preferable to non-alcoholic drinks.  For raw sea foods, a hard liquor is helpful for keeping any rouge bacteria in check.  Tequila and Sake shots especially, although please don’t mix.

If you are talking about grilled fish, grilled salmon, mussels, prawns, your best bet for a complimentary beer is a dark beer.  Porter, Schwarzbier, Stout, all go well in this setting.  I recommend the black lager especially for enjoying beer and oysters a hot or warm day.

Lighter beers have their place, too.  Certainly for broiled or boiled fish, shrimp, mussels, a pale ale, a pilsner, or even wheat beer can be quite complimentary.  Bitters and IPAs can also help break down the oily taste of deep fried sea foods (very popular).  A good idea to wash down a plate of fish and chips.  This would be my choice for raw, shucked oysters, especially when I am enjoying them on the gulf coast of Vera Cruz in Mexico.  I always like to stop for raw oysters when traveling in that region.

One place where you can sample all of this and mix and match is Richmond, Virginia’s River City Beer & Seafood Festival in June.  Over 40 varieties of beer show up among vendors, brewers, and chefs at this festival annually to celebrate the union of microbrew and seafood.  Music is provided by the festival, and samples are provided for a festival fee.  For $25, you can buy a festival sample mug to enjoy unlimited samples from the brew selection.

Another festival honoring this tradition is the Confluence Wine, Beer, Seafood & Music festival in Oregon state’s Douglas County on the Oregon Coast.  Admission is only $7 at the door or $5 in advance. Confluence means "the flowing together of two rivers or more rivers."  The festival is held at just such an intersection, at Gardiner, Oregon, just two miles north of Reedsport.  A confluence is also "a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point."  The perfect name for an event which gathers so many different aspects together under one banner.

Brewers in the land down under have found a way to express their love of beer and seafood. From Australia comes a unique beer designed specifically to enhance the flavors of seafood.  According to Blue Bottle Beer’s website:

"…[we’ve joined] American hops with German yeast, Australian barley and fused it with the cleanest water. We then added our unique ‘zesty finish’.  Bluebottle Beer ® is a seductive blend of lifted aromatics, bitterness, and a citrus sting to enhance the flavors of the sea."

This would seem to go well with broiled, boiled, or BBQ’ed fish and seafood.  The zesty citrus sting they allude to gives me the idea that some Belgian ales would also enhance a seafood meal. 

Recently, when I went to eat at San Antonio’s Water St. Oyster Bar, I encountered the particular mix of Chimay with some Arcadian style cooking, and I must say I was quite pleased!  The especially spicy styles of cooking coming from the Louisiana area need a powerful beer to balance them best.

Beers of the World

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Beer has circled the globe more than a few times. One of the great treats a beer fan can enjoy is sampling the great variety of flavors that the beers of the world provide. In the U.S., beer fans have had the great pleasure of being served the beers of the world right here in our own country. Thanks to the rising popularity of fine ales, many of the beers traditional to Belgium, Germany, and the Nederlands are even being made by micro-breweries in the states. In the world of beer, there are still many as of yet unexplored brews from unexpected corners of the world. Here I will discuss a sampling of unique beers from 5 different countries: Africa (Palm beer), Brazil (Manioc), Tibet (Chang), and Scotland (Heather ale), all of which are described in Stephen Harrod Buhner’s book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers.

Beer tends to be defined, in common parlance, as an alcoholic beverage made with hops, barley, yeast, and water. When talking about beers of the world, we must be ready to broaden our definition of the word beer to encompass that which is at hand. Grains of different types are used, from wheat to millet, rice, and even corn. In some place in the world, barley and hops are not available or simply do not grow there – and so, people make do with what they have.

For example, as we learn from Buhner in his book Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers, in Brazil, one native beer is known as Masato, or Manioc Beer. This beer has been made for approximately the last 4,000 years from a root called Manioc, which is also used to make tapioca. The Manioc root grows quickly, and attains a weight of up to 30 pounds within just a few months. It is used for food as well as to make the Masato. Traditionally, the root is chopped, boiled, and the starch to sugar conversion is catalyzed with human saliva. The women of the tribe chew the root pieces and then put them back in the boiling pot. Wild yeast is allowed into the wort to start the fermentation process. The Manioc plant is deeply ingrained into the cultures of the people who make it still, with it’s own mythology. You can read more about Manioc in Buhner’s book.

Another beer of the world made with unconventional ingredients (at least to the western world’s beer fan) is Palm beer. According to Buhner, palm beer is made with the unrefined sap from a variety of palm trees: date palms, coconut trees, moriche, sago, and palmyra being the most common. For many indigenous peoples throughout Africa, South America, and even India, Palm beer is an important part of life that transcends the physical world. Thus, it is often shared with the ancestors and used to help communicate with their spirits.

Getting back to more familiar ingredients, we shall look at Tibet. There, a brew called Chang is made mostly from Barley. Millet and buckwheat are used in some cases when barley is unavailable. What really makes this brew different from others, as we learn from Buhner, is the use of ginger-root-based yeast cakes for both the starch to sugar conversion and to start fermentation. Yeast cakes are made by crushing dried ginger root and mixing it with rice or barley flour. The mixture is then moistened and formed into cakes that are added to the boiled barley, rice, or millet that are being used to make the drink.

Heather Ale is an interesting beer of the western tradition that encompasses the herb heather as an admixture. The making of heather ale goes back to the culture of the indigenous Pictish tribes of the British Isles. In addition to numerous literary and folkloric assertations about the history of heather ale and mead, Buhner sites, in his book, an archeological dig on the Scottish Isle of Rhum. This dig discovered a pottery shard dating 2,000 years B.C. with “traces of a fermented beverage containing heather.” Heather ale has recently become commercially available in the U.S. as Fraolich ale, brewed in ???.

These five beers are just the tip of the iceberg. There are innumerable beers in the world, some still hidden away in remote corners, making the world of beer a very interesting place. New varieties of herbal beer are popping up among beer fans on the U.S. as well as inventive new micro-brews containing herbal admixtures, re-creations of ancient recipes, and brand new ideas in brewing. Keep your eyes open for the next invigorating (and inebriating) discoveries among the beers of the world.