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Tim told me it was happening. I was hesitant to believe him. How could it be possible? How could another 18 beer companies be opening up in Maine in 2014? You all know I’m a believer in these lush times of beer opulence, but 18? 18! Tim said, “I had one. It’s great.” “Great? Like …
Continue reading “Drink Bissell Brothers The Substance (Now!)”
Can we make a pact right now? If any one of us in the US of A catches another beer drinker complaining that he can’t find a good IPA in his local beer store that we slap some sense into said beer drinker. Literally. If said beer drinker persists, can we please stare at him …
Continue reading “Wolf Among Weeds IPA Keeps the Great Hopocolypse Rolling”
I’m not a wheat ale guy. Usually, that is. Wheat ales generally don’t have the hoppy bite or right malt character for this guy’s palate. However, I am a firm believer that every beer has its time and place. Since we live multi-faceted lives, there should be a beer for each facet we find ourselves …
Continue reading “Parish Brewing Co.’s Canebrake Turns Summer Up to Eleven”
We live in a world with a glut of hoppy beers. Let’s get something straight: I’m not complaining. When I die, I’d like to be entombed in citra hops. In this heavily-hopped world we live in, however, we’ve begun to hit a wall. Though we have access to a myriad of piney and uber-citrusy West …
Continue reading “Rising Tide’s Zephyr Pushes our IPA Boundaries”
Then an old man, a keeper of a bar, said, Speak to us of Beer. And he said: Would that you could live simply on the fruits of the earth and be sustained by wine. But since you were born to drink delicious craft beer made locally by brewmasters who harness the powers of grains …
Continue reading “Lost Beer Passage from Kahlil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’”
You find yourself in Burlington, Vermont, and you don’t know why. You’re not frightened. You’re where you’re supposed to be. It’s night. You walk down Church Street and get a Bombay Grab IPA at Vermont Pub and Brewery. This is delicious, you think. After tipping the angelic woman behind the bar, you walk up St. …
Continue reading “Hill Farmstead Brewery is a Microbrew Dream”
To some people, the title of this blog might be blasphemy. Like when Mick Jagger sang through those big puffy lips, “I know, it’s only rock and roll, but I like it.” A lot people were up in arms. Only rock and roll?! How can Mick be saying this only five years after Woodstock? How?! …
I’ve figured it out. It came to me while I was enjoying a glass of Zombie Dust this past weekend. It all seems so clear now I feel foolish to have missed it before. Here it is: the key to making world class beer is keeping the taste notes simple and graceful. Here’s another way …
We live in a new world. I like to think of it as the post-Anheuser era. The neo-beer years where we are no longer shackled by watered-down lagers as the only option in our drinking lives. The store shelves are lush with a varietal of craft-brewed beers. As with all great eras in human history, …
Continue reading “Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the American Ale Gold Standard”
Yeah, bold title, but it’s true. Maine Beer Company’s Lunch is the best tasting beer in the great state of Maine. And that’s saying something in a state that boasts a deluge of world class brews. The new hip beer on the scene is the sweet/sour, yeasty saison. In Maine, craft beer disciples are gushing …
Continue reading “Maine Beer Company’s Lunch is the Best Beer in Maine”
DAVE PATTERSON 