41%

Sink the Bismarck.

Giving new meaning to going into the drink.

Tasting this Monday at the Toronado from six to nine.

Givn' It a Whirlwind

I really couldn't resist picking up a case of Victory Whirlwind at Wychok's in MT earlier this week.

A very tasty, easy drinking, springtime Witbier.

Victory Whirlwind: Making yard work fun again.

Nationwide Support Your Local Brewery Action Alert

The following is a reprint of something I received in an email on Sunday.

Dear Beer Enthusiasts, Homebrewers, Breweries & Beer-Allied Companies,

We are asking you to support America's small brewers by making a very simple request of your U.S. Representative to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 4278.

Federal legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 4278 (link opens a PDF), seeks to enact a reduction in beer excise tax for America's small brewers.

For small brewers brewing less than 6 million barrels annually, this legislation would cut the small brewer tax rate in half, to $3.50/barrel on the first 60,000 barrels, and reduce the upper tax rate from $18/barrel to $16/barrel on beer production above 60,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels.

Of the 1,525 breweries in America, 962 are brewpubs and 470 are the smallest bottling breweries, which produce volumes of 15,000 barrels of beer a year or less and sell their beers in local markets. Once barrel equals about 13.8 cases of beer.

The original small brewer tax rate of $7/barrel was established in 1976 and has never been updated. Since then, the annual U.S. production of America's largest brewery increased from about 45 million to 107 million barrels and over 200 million barrels globally (or 1,240,000,000 five-gallon batches of homebrew!). Much has changed and the challenges small brewers face as small American businesses have grown dramatically since 1976.

Why is this a good idea?

A tax reduction will help grow small business breweries and provide greater access to the beers you enjoy.
Harvard University's John Friedman's study, Economic Impact of Small Brewers Excise Tax Reduction (H.R. 4278), (link opens a PDF), reveals that H.R. 4278 would also help stimulate job creation quickly and at a low cost:
The bill would generate more than 2,700 new jobs over the first year to 18 months, followed by an average of 375 new jobs per year over the following four years.
Please contact your U.S. Representative and ask that he/she sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 4278.

We have developed a resource page to give you the information and tools you need to make the case to your Representative for supporting this tax relief measure—and by extension, for supporting the small brewery businesses that are such a vital part of our local communities.

On the resource page, you will find a link to a list of current sponsors of H.R. 4278. If your Representative DOES NOT appear on this list, please take a moment and email your Member of Congress to ask them to cosponsor H.R. 4278.

If your Representative is already a cosponsor, please email him/her a brief thank you for their support of small brewers and you, the craft beer drinker and enthusiast.

Thanks for helping us advance the interests of all small brewers by contacting your Representative on this issue. Your active support is absolutely essential to our success.


Charlie Papazian
President
Brewers Association




Gary Glass
Director
American Homebrewers Association

Goodbye Brother

Our youngest brother Chris passed away unexpectedly early Saturday morning at the age of 39.

Chris described himself as a runner, a scooterist, a beginner cyclist, crepe maker, kielbasa maker and software developer living in the hills of NE Pennsylvania.

He loved running. Some of his favorite runs were around Harvey's Lake--he sometimes did two 8 mile circuits in a training session; the Mountain Springs run from 487 all the way down the Mountain Springs road and back; the Deep Six closer to home; the Meyers track where we scaled the fence more than once to get in interval workouts on a good surface; the Devil's Elbow run.

He was tenacious at everything he did. Being the youngest of five boys I think he had to be as he had to always run harder to keep up. He ran the New York City Marathon. He ran the Berwick Run for the Diamonds at the age of 10 and didn't miss more than one or two and perhaps no races over the next 29 years. One summer, at a very young age, somewhere between 10 and 12 my memory tells me, him and all his brothers (save me) and our Dad, rode their bicycles to Maine and back. He was going to ride a bike race on Saturday.

Chris had a BS In Computer Science and he was a great programmer. I remember him and I sitting up all night when I had first gotten a compiler for my Commodore Amiga, writing a runner's log program. He was learning then as we worked together and he quickly surpassed me--he never stopped educating himself at software development and whenever I saw him, he'd have some new .Net book he was reading.

Recently, his artistic and creative side had begun to show itself. He and his wife Laura had married in 2007 and he was very happy. He grew to love crepes and he tried and created what must be 100 recipes or more. He wanted to open a craperie someday. He got a nice smoker for Christmas and had started to make kielbasa and was developing great recipes. Ummm. What Polish boy doesn't love kielbasa?

Chris was a keen observer of life and I have mental images of him sitting amongst friends and family in a group, listening, watching, taking it all in, then offering a gem of wisdom or wit sometimes framing the discussion, sometimes ending it, but usually propelling it into a direction not yet pondered. He was good at that.

He helped me through the darkest part of my life so far, back in 2002 when my marriage was breaking up. For one glorious Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall we trained together every week and he got me into the best shape of my life. He got me to stop worrying and start living again. We did a lot of talking and thinking on those runs.

On this year's Super Bowl Sunday we had started to run together again and were going every Sunday or so since. Our last run together was the Devil's Elbow run two Sundays ago. That was the last time I saw him. Damn! I'm gonna miss those runs!

Chris, I freaking miss you. Walk in the light dude. We'll run again someday.

A Visit to Krugel's Georgetown Deli

I met a guy in Krugel's last night and he saw me with two bombers of Breaker Brewing Company 16 Ton IPA, one in each hand.

We had a conversation that went something like this:

“I see you've got some of Breaker Brewing Company's beer, the double IPA. A good choice. Did you ever wonder what they did with all the spent grain and hops from the brewing process?” he asked.

I responded: “Well, I suppose they could let it decompose and use it as fertilizer or give it to some farmer to feed to his animals.”

“You see that cow out there?”, he pointed.

I said “Yeah, her name is Three-Oh-Nina, isn't it?” Silence.

About then it dawned on me: “Whoa. You're not telling me she eats all that stuff?”

“Yeppers. She's got a five barrel brewing system in her belly that's very efficient. And she just loves the taste too.”

“As a matter of fact, her system is so state-of-the-art that it can extract sugar from grain even AFTER it's been used in a normal brewing process.”

“Wow! Who'd a thunk it?”, I pondered.

“Yep. And those big teats? They don't give milk either.”

A fitting end to Old Man Winter

Sitting here basking in the late Winter, late afternoon sunshine, it's fitting that I'm doing so with the Troegenator.

One last wonderful pint.

Good bye Old Man, see you next Winter.

Brass Monkey

Not to be confused with Golden Monkey which has me humming Brass Monkey right now.

Beer Sessions Coming Soon

The Good Beer Seal is going to sponsor a new radio show called Beer Sessions on the Heritage Radio Network!

Every Tuesday at 5:00 PM, Jimmy Carbone (of Jimmy's No. 43- a founding member of The Good Beer Seal) will play host to an audio ale salon alongside a rotating corps of co-hosts including Sam Merritt (founder of Civilization of Beer) and Ray Deter (owner of d.b.a.).

Beer loving raconteurs will offer toasts, share craft beer news, and swap anecdotes about their lives on the front lines of the craft beer movement. Feel free to email questions, toasts and your personal beer lore to our hosts at beersessions@gmail.com.

Beer Sessions will begin airing on March 2 at 5:00 PM, and every Tuesday thereafter. If you miss a week, don't worry! You can access archived radio programs from the Heritage Radio Network site. Keep this link for quick access to your new favorite show!

Beer Adages

People who drink beer shouldn't ever be far from a bathroom.

The effects of beer are only borrowed.

Buy a man a beer and he's a friend for an hour--teach a man to brew and the friendship lasts at least a case.

Beer spills. Get over it.

Brewing: The happy art.

A Visit to the Beer Sage

Have trouble telling a Porter from a Stout?

Confused about why a logger would be found in a bottle?

Well still thy heart beer drinker. The Beer Stop's a place that will set your mind at ease.

When you visit ask for Alan. If he's around, engage him in some conversation about beer--he's as knowledgeable about beer as Webster was to words and always willing to guide, explore your tastes, and help pick out something new that will tickle your palate.

And whether it's just a can of Steel Reserve to steel your nerves before going home to the wife and kids, or a bottle of Terrapin Hopsecutioner that you stash away for when you hunker down for the coming storm, or a bottle of Serpent's Stout to take on your next church outing, chances are the Beer Stop has it.

The wisdom of a beer sage, a wide selection of single beers, sixes, and cases, and a convenient location in southern Luzerne County.

A win-win-win.

American Craft Beer Week

American Craft Beer Week is May 17 - 23, 2010.

This national celebration of America’s small and independent professional craft brewers needs you! Homebrewers helped unite 10,000 fans of American Craft Beer Week 2009, and you can help make 2010 just as much fun. This year’s American Craft Beer Week includes a homebrew recipe from the AHA's Big Brew celebration. Participating breweries will be brewing the American Craft Beer Wheat recipe and tapping it May 17-23.

Learn more at American Craft Beer Week

Did I just visit a wine shoppe?

I just visited The Beer Stop again and for the first time in my life, felt like I was in a wine shop picking a vintage.

Just say'n...

Was ist los? Der Bier Stube!

Purely by intention we found ourselves under a partly cloudy sky driving east through Iowa with the fertile plains all around and nearing the mighty Mississip with enough driving under our belts to have worked up quite a mean hunger.

And by Glorious Accident (that again!), when we exited I-80 we found this delightful place called Der Bier Stube in LeClaire Iowa right on the west bank of the river.

I have it on good word that Der Bier Stube means, roughly translated, the beer room--a place every home has (or should have) where friends and family gather for a good time. Indeed.

Specialty meats shine here and we had a wonderful Würste plate with many tasty varieties of sausage including: Knackwurst, bratwurst, weisswurst (sans the sucking), polish, frankfurter and landjäger. On the side was a small bowl of zingy coarse mustard that paired perfectly with the meats.

Along with the sausage platter I opted for one of my long-time favorite beers: Paulaner Hefeweizen from the tap. S opted for the same. Their draft list and bottle list is pretty nice with a smattering of Pilsners and Hefe-Weiss and dark and light Weizen's. What would you expect at a Bier Stube? IPAs? Well there are a few IPAs on their bottle menu if you must.

Our server was a pretty blond babe: cute as a button, possibly Polish, pleasant and attentive too!

The beer was fresh and the würste was best. Worth a stop if you're passing through.

Prost!



















This post lost it's way on the trip from NEPA to Mountain View and is being posted better late than never!

What is it about Scotch when it's Cold and Snowing?

Adventurers have known for a long time how bracing a dram (or three) of scotch whisky can taste after long days and weeks voyaging across land, sea, snow, trail and ice.

Now we have some proof. Somewhere around 80.

Some of Sir Ernest Shackleton's cache of scotch was recently chipped from the Antarctic ice under his hut. Certainly you've heard about it: The scotch was carried along over 100 years ago on an expedition he led to the South Pole, as fortification for he and his men during their long adventure. Even though this period of big-balls, frozen though they were, was the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, Sir Shackleton sadly realized that heroism had its limits and when the expedition ultimately failed, the scotch was abandoned.

Now, five cases have been retrieved, some bottles still intact. In the interest of science, some of the Scotch is being returned to the original distillers for study and possibly to try to recreate the recipe.

Some find, eh?

And there you are, at the helm, commanding that H.M.S Office Desk all day, facing that interminable Outlook calendar and following that 10 days old, 20 page email trail to try to figure out what happened to whom.

You've come to seek the same solace at the end of your days as Sir Shackleton and his men did on theirs.

Looking out the window and dreaming of building a snow fortress or maybe contemplating five o'clock conquests? Go outside and shovel the foot of snow in front of your mailbox.

And whatever you do, don't drop your flask in a random snowbank when you discover you can't keep up with the falling snow. Heroism, after all, has its limits.