March Theme Week musings

March is surely one of the most popular beer drinking months (along with October, I would imagine), largely because of St. Patrick’s Day. And since the beginning of Theme Week this months falls squarely on that day, March 17th, one possibility for the Theme is Irish Beer. Of actual Irish … Continue reading

Stumptown Porter

Stumptown Porter

Stumptown Porter is one of the house beers from the Lucky Labrador Brewpub in Portland, one of the bottles I picked up to go while up there a couple of weeks ago. On their website they note, "Brewed using abundant caramel malts and a little roasted barley to give this … Continue reading

End of the week news and links

Catching up on a few things I haven’t blogged about in the past couple of weeks, some of which everybody and his brother already mentioned. Matt Venzke won Wynkoop Brewing‘s "Beer Drinker of the Year" contest. The Yorktown, Virginia man beat out other finalists including Oregon beer drinker J. Mark … Continue reading

Blue Dog Pale Ale

Blue Dog Pale Ale

Blue Dog Pale Ale is one of the pub standards to be found at the Lucky Labrador Brewpub, which I blogged about yesterday. I was able to buy a bottle from the pub for $4.75, which they filled and capped on the spot for me. Now, you’ll look at my … Continue reading

Lucky Labrador Brewpub

Lucky Labrador Brewpub

Since I was wrapped up in Theme Week last week, I hadn’t had a chance to write up reviews from our Portland trip a couple of weeks ago. We managed to get one brewery visit in: the Hawthorne brewpub for the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company. Their Hawthorne Avenue location, in … Continue reading

Blue Dot Double IPA

Blue Dot Double IPA

Blue Dot Double IPA is a vintaged ale released by Portland’s Hair of the Dog Brewing, and has garnered all sorts of acclaim. The bottle I had, which I picked up around Christmastime, read "Spring 2007" and it says on the label "Double India Pale Ale." So it’s of the … Continue reading

Press Release: Flying Dog Brewery to Pour and Pair at SAVOR

Press Release: Flying Dog Brewery to Pour and Pair at SAVOR

48 American Craft Brewers Gather to Harmonize Craft Beer with Food in May Flying Dog Brewery leads a group of over four dozen independent, American craft brewers from across the country that have been selected to showcase the pleasures of fine food enjoyed with great beer in Washington D.C. later … Continue reading

Canned Beer Week: Boddingtons Pub Ale

Canned Beer Week: Boddingtons Pub Ale

Since I posted my questions/thoughts on the beer can widget, I figured I’d follow up by reviewing a British beer with just such a contraption: Boddingtons Pub Ale. This was also one of those ubiquitous British imports that I’ve seen but never tried, so it was good timing. This is … Continue reading

Canned Beer Week: Why beer widgets in British/Irish cans?

Canned Beer Week: Why beer widgets in British/Irish cans?

Surveying the field of British and Irish canned beers—Guinness, Murphy’s, Old Speckled Hen, Boddingtons, etc.—it’s obvious that all of these come with the nitrogen beer widget. But the question occurred to me: why do we only see these widgets used in these canned beers from the UK and Ireland? Why … Continue reading

Canned Beer Week: Caldera IPA

Canned Beer Week: Caldera IPA

I snagged a can of Caldera Brewing‘s other offering today—their IPA. Along with their Pale Ale, it’s the only two beers they offer in a can, though I wish they would start making some of their other beers available, after looking over their list. The beer is an aggressively hopped … Continue reading