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See What's in my Beer Cellar!


May 31, 2010

May 26, 2010

Pabst Brewing may have a buyer

I got the story on my Examiner page today. May not mean much to drinkers of better beer. In an ideal world, the new owner would spin off all the regional brands Pabst gobbled up to individual brewers in the cities they first came from. And the beer fairies would bring me a pint at work when I snapped my fingers.

May 19, 2010

Ebert calles for a campaign for Real Movies - Roger Ebert's Journal

Cannes #7: A campaign for Real Movies - Roger Ebert's Journal
Ebert thinks CAMRA would be a good model to promote "real" movies, after seeing a day of movies at Cannes with no CGI or 3-D. An apt metaphor, even from a guy who had to join AA years ago.

May 17, 2010

Brewers have high hopes for N.C. hops - Food - NewsObserver.com

Interesting note about attempts to grow hops in NC, a bit south of the plants' usual "comfort zone," but being in the mountain areas may help it work.
Another attempt to find a crop to replace tobacco in the area, could be good for prices. Part of the reason for the many new American wines out there is that many former tobacco farms turned to grapes.
Brewers have high hopes for N.C. hops - Food - NewsObserver.com

May 15, 2010

Chicago Craft Beer Week calendar, Sunday-Monday, May 16-17

Chicago Craft Beer Week calendar, Sunday-Monday, May 16-17 Everything beery and good kicks off Monday, although a few people jumped the gun and went in for Sunday. Check 'em out!

May 13, 2010

Chicago Craft Beer Week kicks off May 17

Chicago Craft Beer Week kicks off May 17 An event so big, I will have separate calendar listings for each day! Keep checking in!

May 10, 2010

Rhubarb?

Among the flora in our recently purchased house's lot, we have found mulberry trees, only one of which bore fruit last year, and spearmint. Now we find we have a good-sized crop of rhubarb. Well, none of us really cares for rhubarb, but when times are tight, it's foolish to ignore the bounty in one's back yard. I've already made a mead with last year's mulberries that still needs to be bottled. I've tried the spearmint in a mint julep, but appearntly rather than just mashing the leaves in a glass of whiskey, I needed to boil them into a simple syrup.

So now I'm looking at things to do with rhubarb. There are the old pies and jellies, but if no one else will like it, I'm left with brewing something using rhubarb. I've seen some beer recipes that use only a few stalks per five gallons for a wheat-fruit ale or a Berliner weisse (sour beer). But if I'm to use more of what Nature has given to me, I need to check out some Mead or Rhubarb wines:

RHUBARB-MEAD, HONEY BASED MEAD
Rhubarb mead recipe

Though I've also found something for Rhubarb Margaritas that could be a good thing in the summer, too! I'll let all know how it shakes down!

Chicago area craft beer calendar, May 10 - 17

Chicago area craft beer calendar, May 10 - 17. Check out the listing at my Examiner.com page.