The Brew Times
Why A-B InBev Suddenly Chose to Go After Homebrewing
Many proud homebrewers felt slighted when Northern Brewer & Midwest Supplies revealed their acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBev this month, but what seemed especially curious for the beer brewing community was the underlying question – why a homebrew supply store?
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Tasting 3 of the Outstanding, Hop-Forward Ales of Toppling Goliath
Our Warehouse Manager, Jackson, brought some essential Toppling Goliath ales back with him from Iowa, so we decided to taste them all. Back to back. And let me tell you – Toppling Goliath's hop game is serious.
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16 American Beers to Do You Proud on American Beer Day
Happy American Beer Day, brewers! Time to revel in the greatness of the bold and delicious American beer styles we boast in our recipe pages. Here are just 16, including our 2 brand new clone recipes taken from Great American Beer Festival Gold Winners!
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Stone's Xocoveza Varieties & the Diverse Flavor Profiles They Offer
It is that time of year again, when Stone's "winter-spiced mocha stout" hits the brew shop shelves, and we all buy it up and hoard it best we can until the next winter arrives.
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What is a Malt Liquor? + A Brief History Defending Its Honor
American malt liquor often gets a bad rap as "sleazy," "bottom shelf," or somehow exclusively for drunkards because of the inexpensive adjuncts added to the malted barley to get a higher ABV in the finished beer. Let us not forget that malt liquor is brewed with much the same ingredients and processes of strong American-style lagers, in fact, if you're ever enjoyed an HG (High Gravity) Lager, you're essentially drinking malt liquor.
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The Freedom to Brew Your Own Way: Coopers, Mr. Beer, & The Merger
Considering Coopers' reputation for excellence and integrity, it should come as no surprise that when the brewery approached Tucson's Mr. Beer to acquire them in 2012, both sides saw great mutual benefit. Coopers Marketing Manager, Scott Harris, said at the time that, "the culture at both companies was similar, as was our ideology of home brewing and how it should be presented to the consumer."
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Rich & Malty Stout Cupcakes to Bake for Chocolate Cupcake Day
It's Chocolate Cupcake Day, so we thought we'd post our Chocolate Stout Cupcake recipe to show off just how delicious beer can make a cupcake! Stout in your cupcake, and Bailey's in your buttercream if you're feeling bold.
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When Just an IPA Won't Do - A Black, Red, & Double IPA Tasting
This time we focused our efforts on taste testing hoppy beers – in this case IPAs and one dry-hopped California Common. The taste testing offered a broad spectrum of different hop flavors, and demonstrated that hops should not be synonymous with strict bitterness.
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Why Oskar Blues is the Arbiter of Cool, Canned, Craft Beer
Oskar Blues is serious about canned craft beer. They are said to be responsible for the first released canned craft beer in the United States, which was their Dale's Pale Ale in November 2002. They still only package their beer in cans and kegs, never bottles.
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7 Dessert Inspired Beers to Brew on Apple Betty Day
October 5th is National Apple Betty Day, and while that may drive some to bake, the holiday motivates us to get brewing. We've got a favorite Apple Betty recipe of our own, and it's called "Apple Brown Beery."
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The Search for the Best Fall Beers - Pumpkin, Cider, & Spice
Our objective with this tasting was to try out some flavorful fall beers to celebrate the start of the season - with some malt liquor for good measure. (Actually, we tasted the malt liquor because we are working on our own recipe and needed to make sure we are hitting the mark).
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Fresh, Bright Citrus Beer for the Tasting, plus Scotch Ale
As we do every week, we enjoyed a Thursday afternoon beer tasting to inspire us when creating new recipes. The "common thread" here wasn't particularly strong – we tasted a Scotch Ale, then compared and discussed the citrus flavors in the IPA and Saison. We talked about common vs. tropical citrus flavors, how much is too much citrus, and beers with a citrus flavor that tastes more like a cleaning product.
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How to Prepare for Brewing Beer at Home
We're very confident that the beer recipes and equipment you are working with will make the process fast, clean, simple, and very tasty. That being said, good beer is terribly hard to wait for. This is where many of the issues happen for new brewers - shortcuts get taken and their final beer tastes less than awesome. So, we've collected 7 points in an effort to curb that temptation.
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