It seems as though I have been waiting for years, and I know the folks at www.beeradvocate.com have actually been waiting for over 10 years. They have pulled it off! I just received the inaugural issue of Beeradvocate magazine. It really feels great to know that there are other beer geeks and even beer snobs out there that lap this stuff up with as much enthusiasm as I do.

The Alstrom brothers (Todd and Jason), have built their beery credentials the hard (and fun) way, one beer at a time. Ten years ago they started a website that was dedicated to sharing their love and respect of beer with the world. Today, “Beeradvocates” everywhere exchange information and reviews of beer. They post beer-related events schedules, beer road-trip reports and offer suggestions of great places to have a beer. It’s a great resource for beer geeks everywhere…

The Beeradvocate inaugural issue is an elegant presentation of interesting articles, discussions on beer style and current-events in the beer world. The magazine appears to have been printed on Euro-sized paper, since it is much wider than the typical US rag. There is a great article that discusses the trend to pair beer with food called “Stop Your Wining” (sorry, John Brown), and I especially enjoyed a piece discussing the wonders of Weizenbock. It made me very thirsty for one of these strong German wheat ales, but unfortunately they are unavailable in WV due to our archaic beer laws. And I agree with the article’s assertion that putting a lemon on top of any wheat beer is like “squirting ketchup on a T-bone at Morton’s.”

A neat feature is the BA reviews of 24 winter beers (see my past blog on winter beers). The boys aren’t afraid to give a beer a grade. In this sense, the magazine goes along with much of what they have been doing on the website for years now; fearless enthusiasm for great beer! Contributing writers to this issue include Joe Sixpack Mr. Don Russell, Lew Bryson and Andy Crouch, all award-winning beer writers. They have my subscription for the year. I hope each will bring me the same enjoyment and make me thirsty like the first issue did. “My Kingdom for a Weizenbock!”

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