There’s an old and famous saying in the wine industry that “It takes a lot of great beer to make great wine.” Russian River Brewing Company in the heart of California wine country even makes a beer named that. The reason is that when workers on the vineyard are sweating in the sun, they’re usually reaching for some brewskis instead of a bold Cabernet. If it takes a lot of great beer to make great wine, then it must take…
I’ll admit it, when I first got into craft beer, I didn’t give lagers, especially Pilsners, much respect. To me, the word “lager” was synonymous with with the bland, yellow, fizzy stuff I was trying to move away from. It certainly didn’t help that German and Czech lagers actually are yellow and have higher carbonation levels. However, as I matured as a craft beer drinker, I learned that “lager” wasn’t a dirty word at all, it has just been bastardized…
We were already working on a recipe for a new lower alcohol pale ale when we heard of David Bowie’s passing. Although I have never been a Bowie superfan, I respected him and his work. One of our assistant brewers, Nathan, suggested we make a Bowie tribute beer. I knew that the new pale ale I was making was going to exclusively use Simcoe hops, so I racked my brain for an appropriate tie in. Finally, I thought of Ziggy…
Is there anybody out there? One of the best concerts I have ever been to was seeing Roger Waters perform The Wall live in it’s entirety. It was fashioned after the old Pink Floyd shows, with the building of the wall between the band and the audience during the first half, before ultimately blasting it apart during the end of “The Trial.” At the end of the show, Waters addressed the audience, saying that when he wrote the album he…
Animals is Pink Floyd’s darkest and most bitter album, narrowing the entire human race into three classes, conniving, insincere and aggressive businessmen (“Dogs”), the hypocritical, greedy and callous upper class and government (“Pigs”) and meek, obedient and dim peasants (“Sheep”). Jeez, which one do you think you are? The album is loosely based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm, released in 1945. However, Animal Farm is a critique of communism and Stalinism, while Animals is a strong critique of capitalism. Pigs…
Saison might have been the first beer style that made me go “whoa.” I had drank a lot of American craft styles, such as Ambers, Browns, Stouts, Pale Ales and IPAs, but hadn’t ventured into the Belgian styles yet. I think my first Saison was probably Ommegang’s “Hennepin” or Boulevard’s “Tank 7.” Once I got my hands on one, I was obsessed. It almost immediately became my favorite beer style (for a time, at least). To this day, it is…
Wish You Were Here may not be as well known as the massive, globally successful Dark Side of the Moon, but it may be Floyd at their absolute peak. After breaking from their normal song structure on Dark Side, Floyd returned a bit to the style of their previous works, designing longer and experimental songs. It took awhile for the album to come together as the band was completely drained from the success of Dark Side and the touring that…
Originally named Whale’s Tail Winter Warmer after the ski run at Breckenridge, Alpenglow is one of our oldest recipes from our homebrew days, and it was the first beer we won an award with. We had been homebrewing for less than a year and we finally felt comfortable entering beers into competition, so we entered the Snowdown Homebrew Competition hosted by Ska Brewing and took home first place in it’s category. Imagine our excitement for winning a blue ribbon in…
It starts with silence, like someone forgot to press the right button. But then here it comes slowly, a heartbeat. And it’s just a heartbeat for a short time, growing louder, a constant thumping coming through the speakers. Soon there’s a swooshing, then a chatter like noise, then some light, almost indistinguishable talking complemented by what sounds like the laughter from an insane asylum. Finally, there’s a woman’s voice that sounds like she’s screaming like a newborn. It builds and…
The genesis of Naughty and Nice comes from our homebrewing days, back in December of 2012. During that time, we had brewed 12 different beers and gave them to our friends and family as Christmas gifts, and the project was affectionately known as the 12 Beers Of Christmas. One of the beers we had been brewing on an annual basis since 2009, which was a stout that we infused with vanilla beans and bourbon soaked oak chips. To add some…