Review of Old St. Francis School

Well, it’s sort of a review: over on my other blog I wrote about visiting the Old St. Francis School after work today (er, yesterday). Basically, it’s awesome. And there’s a little bit about beer, too. 🙂 You can read it there, but I’m also reprinting it here for convenience. … Continue reading

Naming Beer

Looking for a way to gain notice of your beer and grow its popularity? Come up with a great, outstanding name. That, and relocate to Montana to brew—or at least that’s the inference from this article. The highlight beer of the article is "Olde Bongwater Hemp Porter" (from Kettlehouse Brewing … Continue reading

Southern Oregon Brewery Growth

This article from the Mail Tribune highlights three small breweries in Southern Oregon—Caldera Brewing Company and Standing Stone Brewing Company of Ashland, and Walkabout Brewing Company of Central Point—and hits upon the growth the industry is starting to see again. I found it particularly interesting because these truly are small … Continue reading

Old St. Francis School soft launch

Looks like McMenamins Old St. Francis School will be doing a "soft launch" by opening their doors on the 16th, two days before their official grand opening. If you’re in Bend on Tuesday, grab your chance!

Lemurians?

News of the weird: Brewing company goes looking for Lemurians. It’s very odd; I’ve heard the term "Lemurians" before but I didn’t know they were supposed to be living on or under Mt. Shasta. Even worse, I didn’t know there was a brewing company in Weed (California)! We drove through … Continue reading

How-to on Kuro5hin

Kuro5hin has a decent article on brewing beer (Contradiction in Terms: How to make beer) that does a good job of covering the basics, from ingredients to drinking. Actually, looking it over again, it’s probably one of the better online beginner’s sources for brewing, concise and well written. I don’t … Continue reading

Pumpkin Ale percolating

My batch of Pumpkin Ale is fermenting up nicely. When I checked it this morning, roughly 12 hours after I pitched the yeast, it was already active—the airlock was percolating beautifully. And it’s going strong this evening, too. This should turn out to be a good beer.

Batch of Pumpkin Ale

I started a batch of my Pumpkin Ale this evening, five gallons of it, and now the house smells like sweet wort and pumpkin pie. I think it’ll turn out to be a good beer, no problems at all tonight, not even a runaway hot break (which leads to a … Continue reading

Pabst Brewing Remnants

Interesting story on the AP that I picked up from DuluthNewsTribune.com on the historical remnants being unearthed at the now-defunct Pabst headquarters. A yellowed visitors’ registry and vintage photographs uncovered in a basement storage area of the former brewing complex provide a link to the rich heritage of Pabst, once … Continue reading

Too far for a beer?

Too far for a beer? A woman has been arrested for digging up her dead boyfriend’s ashes from a cemetery more than 10 years ago and drinking the beer that was buried with him, possibly out of spite for his family, authorities say. I have to wonder: why was he … Continue reading