I recently attended a party sponsored by The Boston Beer Company (BBC). This was their way of rewarding the hard-working volunteers at the Atlantic City Beer Festival, of which I was one. The other reason they decided to throw the party was to let all of us know about the new Samuel Adams beer glass. We all received a free sample of the glass to take with us. I have to hand it BBC, the more I read about the development of the glass and the more I use the glass, I continue to be more impressed. Imagine spending a few hundred thousand dollars and countless hours of evaluation just to design a beer glass!

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“I like to say dark beer is a little bit like going to church: Everybody talks about it, but few people actually go.”
- F.X. Matt (The late President-brewer of Saranac beers and Princeton-U grad)

I will be the first in crowd of beer geeks to run to the defense of Boston Beer Company and its Samuel Adams line of beers. Sam Adams founder Jim Koch is one of the pioneers of American craft beer and his beer is usually pretty good. Jim comes from a long line of brewers and was groomed to break from family tradition. Jim graduated from Harvard and was a business consultant when he went astray and picked up the family mash fork and launched Samuel Adams. (more…)

What’s the difference between ale and lager? I will attempt to answer this common and age-old question. Here goes! (It’s okay to take a beer break somewhere in the middle)

It all starts with a simple one-celled creature of the fungus family, saccharomyces cerevisiae (Ale Yeast– see, um, photo at right). This little critter has been around for a long time and has spawned many different variations, all designed to multiply and eat the fermentable sugars in brewers wort; then expel ethanol (alcohol) and burp some CO2. Ale yeast are called “top fermenting” yeast, because they tend to work from the top down in the fermenter. Ale yeast also like to work where it’s warm, around 60-70 degrees F. This last point is the key to why ales were the first beers produced. Beer was first thought to have been brewed 6000 years ago in the warm climbs of Sumeria. Ale critters love to work in that climate, so ale was what was for supper. Ale continued to be what beer was until thousands of years later.

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As you know, I am always ranting (some say whining) about the fact that Charlestonians are being denied access to a wide selection of the finest craft beer due to archaic beer laws and greedy macro-brand beer distributors. That makes it even more important for me to point out the “bright spots” when I see them.

I’ve written previously (here and here) about the wide-ranging beer offerings at Blues BBQ Etc., at the corner of Leon Sullivan Way and Lee Street across from the Clay Center. It seems that my positive recommendation of the place has encouraged manager Kay Dillon to keep the beer selection growing and ever changing. During a recent visit, I took notice of the expanding beer menu and new tap selections. They are now offering a few more bottled products from Rogue, such as the Mocha Porter (an interesting interpretation of the style) and Shakespeare Stout, a very chocolatey and dry stout which is a real treat if you’re a dark beer fan. Rogue’s Morimoto Soba ale and Juniper ale are my least favorites. These beers simply do not offer anything interesting, though I normally like ales with ingedients like juniper or rye.

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