Well folks, the snow is falling again in Charlie-West once again but I am pleased to tell you that I am sitting at the Sam Adams Atlanta airport! It was too close for comfort. All of the anxiety of getting out of town has left us thirsty!

The Beers to You drinking team is heading to the Bavarian beer capital this week in an attempt to once again re-balance the world’s beer supply. Last year the objective was Belgian ale, this year it’s German lager, with a bit of ale in the form of hefeweizen.

I know it sounds crazy, traipsing about in the freezing cold, schlepping from brauhaus to bierstube just to tip back a maß full of excellent German lager, but this is what we do. Airfares to Europe are at their lowest this time of year along with hotel prices. The dollar has also rebounded quite well against the Euro. So it’s cold, big deal; that only means we likely won’t be taking in very much biergarten action on this visit (unless global warming rears its head while we are in town). We will be doing most of our research indoors at some of the greatest beer halls in the world.

Every team needs ground intelligence when on such operations. We are using a book called “The Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich” by Larry Hawthorne. This little jewel of a book is very well organized and aims to get you to the best Munich beer gardens and beer halls all via public transit.

Stay tuned to the blog next Thursday through Sunday, I will be periodically posting team reports along with our exact coordinates and even pictures of what we are drinking or eating. I might even leave it to some of you to figure out where we are by using clues such as our coordinates and other info contained in the blog posting. Don’t worry we will have some hardcore beer reviews and reports when I get back…

I would like to introduce my readers to iBlogger, an iPhone application that let’s me post mini-blog postings from the road. I am stranded in Columbus tonight due to snow but Don’t worry, I have positioned myself at a hotel that is within walking distance of 3 brewpubs. I am enjoying am excellent doppelbock at Gordon Biersch.

Stay tuned for more of these mini blogs when the "Beers to You" crew takes on Munich in a few weeks!

I have been a gadget-head for most of my life; always the guy to rush out and buy version 1.0 of just about any technology that I deemed “cool”. Let’s see, I have owned a Newton, a Magic Link and several other PDA’s in-between my periods of swearing off technology for nice leather bound Franklin day-planners. I am almost embarrassed to tell anyone that I just purchased my first iPhone last week.

The reality is that I couldn’t justify switching from my Blackberry due to the exceptional international voice and data coverage that is available for the “BB”.  I still can’t totally justify the switch, but I did find out that I could easily switch the measured (discounted) international features of the iPhone very easily via my online account. So, if you think that’s a lame excuse for inaction or maybe rationalization to justify such a cool toy, you are probably right on either count.

Much has been written about one of the newer iPhone features called “The App Store” implemented last year. The folks at Apple opened up the iPhone as a computing platform for third party developers. Currently, there are hundreds if not thousands of applications in the ”App store” for this gadget - some that are useful, some that are fun, and some that are very useless. Among the hundreds of fun and useful applications are several that are directly beer related. I have loaded up four “beery” applications into my iPhone that I plan to use. Let me give you a quick rundown…

BJCP Styles- This is a free download that I urge all of you beer-geeks to have handy on your iPhone. BJCP stands for “Beer Judge Certification Program,” a non-profit organization of which I am a member and a beer judge. The style guidelines from BJCP are the most detailed descriptions of beer style written in modern times; though primarily written for home brewing competitions, it can be useful in expanding one’s beer knowledge.

Beerpad- this little tasting notes diary is worth the $2.99 download. Beerpad has a simple user interface in which to enter extensive tasting and product notes. Beerpad keeps all of the information in a handy, “browse-able” database.  

Brewmath- on the geeky homebrewing side of things, Brewmath is $4.99 well spent if you are a brewer that doesn’t already use a PC or Mac-based brewing software such a Pro-Mash or Beersmith. Brewmath features many of the calculator tools that you may find handy, like temperature correcting a hydrometer reading or calculating the proper pressure to attain a certain CO2 level in your beer. Like I said, you have to be geek or brewer (or both…).

iBeer- This, hands-down is the most useful of the programs on my list. Imagine the ability to be able sit back in you cubicle at work, pop open a virtual beer and chug it down to the amazement of your jealous co-workers! iBeer allows that to happen and in fact delivers better beer flavor and head retention than that of ice-cold Michelob Ultra. I just wish I could turn off the iBurp at the end!

Well there is my rundown on the “beery” side of the iPhone. I can honestly say that such wonderful beer applications do not justify anyone running out to buy an iPhone. But if you need a few more grains of rational justification to tip the scales, you now have them…