Daily Loaf

While I really enjoyed Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter, the 4th installment of the Terrapin Brewing Side Project series, I was distracted by thoughts of what the brew would taste like with higher ABV and a bitter coffee injection. As I drank Dos Cocoas, I couldn’t get Terrapin’s Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout out of my mind. I fully realize that in some circles mixing beer is frowned upon, but my intense curiosity compelled me to swallow the snobbish pride and entertain my inner mad scientist. Read the rest of this entry »

Bit from the Stone Brewing website via Vimeo:

“I Am A Craft Brewer” is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character, and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement. Created by Greg Koch, CEO of the Stone Brewing Co. and Chris & Jared of Redtail Media…and more than 35 amazing craft brewers from all over the country. The video was shown to a packed audience of 1700 craft brewers and industry members at the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference as an introduction to Greg’s Keynote Speech entitled “Be Remarkable: Collaboration Ethics Camaraderie Passion.” As is tradition for the CBC Keynote, a toast to the audience was offered. This time, the beers offered for the toast were all collaboratively brewed craft beers including Isabella Proximus, Collaboration Not Litigation, AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple, Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-Ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale, and 2009 Symposium Ale “Audacity of Hops.”

Happy, powerful, beery video after the break:

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Garrett Oliver is the man; the philosophy reflected in his book, The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food, speaks to my holistic sensibilities and makes my mouth water for fine brews and food prepared in the old school tradition — from scratch with fresh ingredients and no preservatives or other modern food science. But Garrett Oliver doesn’t just write rousing books; he also brews exceptional beer. Since becoming the brewmaster in 1994, he has propelled Brooklyn Brewery to high status among the top 40 breweries in the nation.

I love Brooklyn’s year-round lineup; the seasonal Oktoberfest Marzen is on par with the authenticity of Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest and the buttery, peppery Local 1 is the definition of Belgian strong light ale. The Brewmaster’s Reserves and Limited Releases — Black OPS, Blast Imperial IPA, Flemish Gold, Manchester Star, and Savoir Faire — are all crazy delicious. So are the innovative collaborations with Schneider Brewery — the Brooklyner- Schneider Hopfen-Weiss and the Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen-Weiss.

A new addition to the Brooklyn lineup — Local 2 — is a dark ale crafted from German pilsner malt, English chocolate malt, Belgian dark sugar, New York state raw wildflower honey, citrus peel, Belgian yeast, and hopped with Perle, Aurora, and East Kent Golding hops. After brewing, a secondary fermentation takes place inside the corked, 25 ounce bottle. Read the rest of this entry »