Another Barley Wine this week. Horn Dog from Flying Dog, one of our favorite breweries, because they give us free beer on occasion, hint, hint to other breweries!

News

A bit of a tragic news story out of Colorado. The ramp at Colorado 58 to eastbound I-70 in Wheat Ridge was closed after a 53-foot refrigerated semi tractor-trailer hauling beer overturned. The driver wasn’t injured and no other cars were involved, said Lisa Stigall, spokeswoman for Wheat Ridge police. The ramp is expected to be closed until for at least afternoon, while the truck is set back on its wheels and the beer off-loaded, Stigall said.

Flying Dog Horn Dog Barleywine

• This weeks show comes from a company that we have talked about a few times, Flying Dog Brewery, located in Frederick Maryland. I believe we have covered their Gonzo Imperial Porter and Doggie Style Pale Ale in the past on Your Next Beer.
• It orginally opened as a brewpub in 1990 in Aspen Colorado and was it’s first brewery in 100 years.
• In 2006 they starting to shift operations to a Frederick Maryland brewery and in 2008 shifted all production to that location. They currently brew around 50,000 barrels a year at this location.
• Tonight’s beer, Horn Dog, weighs in at 10.5% abv and is part of the Canis Major series.
• It is made with 3 types of malt and 3 types of hops and is actually aged for 3 months before it is bottled. It actually wone the 2004 silver medal at the World Beer Cup for the barley wine catergory.
• One of the nice things about Flying Dog is that they suggest that types of food to go with beer. For this one, they suggest cinnamon desserts, game, and hearty beef dishes.

Next Week

Well we are three beers deep in this series, with a couple more to go. Next week we go to a brewery that many people will have trouble finding, Weyerbacher and Blithering Idiot. So tune in and listen to us become blitering idiots while drinking it.

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A new brewery for the second in our Barleywine series. Tonight we talk about Clipper City Heavy Seas Below Decks.

News

Tonight’s story is from across the pond from the UK. Police raided a 16th birthday party at a leisure centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, and seized 110 pints of beer, or about 13.75 gallons. A police spokesman said: “The amount of alcohol … could have resulted in someone being seriously ill or hurt if they had been able to consume it.” I must say, that seems like quite a bit of beer for a 16 year olds birthday party.

Heavy Seas Below Deck

• Well, I think that we said we would be doing a beer from Brooklyn this week, but as normal we have changed things up a bit on the show. Instead, we are going to be doing a beer from Clipper City Brewing and their Heavy Seas series.
• Clipper City was founded by Hugh Sisson in 1995. Mr. Sisson also operated Baltimores first brewpub, named Sisson’s in 1989.
• In 1998 Clipper City bought Oxford Brewing Company and expanded in size. They currently brew about 15,000 barrels a year.
• The website says that the brewery is named for the famed Clipper ship, first developed and built in Baltimore.
• The Heavy Seas line is made up of beers that are a bit higher in alcohol, including the beer that we are going to talk about tonight, Heavy Seas Below Deck Barleywine.
• Below Deck weighs in at around 10% ABV which is about average for the style.
• It was created to celebrate Clipper City’s 10th Anniversary and is extremely limited and “vintage” dated. It is made with both three type of malts and three types of hops.

Next Week

Well next week we are going to be staying in the Maryland area with Flying Dog Horn Dog Barleywine, so tune in and listen.

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A departure from our Barley Wine series as we often do around the Holidays.

We take a look back at four Winter Beers we covered last year.

I pulled out just the tasting notes for:

• Rouge - Santa’s Private Reserve
• Great Lakes - Christmas Ale
• Sierra Nevada - Celebration Ale
• Troegs - Mad Elf

Consider it a sampler pack of just the tasting notes on those beers. If you want to see the original posts, just click on Winter Beers here, above or in the sidebar.

Next Week

We’ll be back at it with a LIVE tasting show. That is Jim and I will be in the same room huddled around a microphone enjoying a beer. And who knows some friends of the show may be around too, so it could be a good time.

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For the inquiring minds, I didn’t include the Winter Lager/Winter Moon show because the sound quality was crap.

A new series this week as we dive into Barleywines. For this week a familiar west coast brewery, Sierra Nevada, brings us Bigfoot Barleywine.

News

This weeks news story comes from the ice bowl known as Lambeau Field. This past week, a longtime Lambeau Field beer man Allan Hale became the 11th member of the Green Bay Packers Fan Hall of Fame. A friend who often sits in section 119 where the 70-year-old Hale has worked since 1963 nominated him. Hale told The Associated Press in a profile January that he became a beer man by accident, looking for a ticket to a game in 1963 when he was approached by a vendor.

Barleywine

• Tonight, we start a new style of beer, the Barleywine. This style is not for the meek, with average ABV’s running from 8 – 15%.
• A barleywine is first off a beer and not a wine. It is brewed like any other beer as opposed to just being left to ferment like wine.
• The taste of barleywines can range from fruity to sweet to bitter and can be amber to dark in color.
• One of the resounding flavors that you can generally pick out in these is the alcohol warming. My experience with these is that they can almost resemble lower proof brandy’s and whiskeys at times, so just be aware of what you are getting into, but don’t be scared.
• This style of beer originated in Great Britain, which we will talk more about next week.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine

• Sierra Nevada, for those of you just tuning in, is located in Chico, California, and was founded in 1980 by Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi.
• Sierra Nevada is on the verge of becoming a big brewery, but is by no means a small local one right now. They brew approximately 700,000 barrels a year, most of which is going to be the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, their flagship beer which we have talked about on this show.
• The Bigfoot Barleywine weighs in at 9.6% ABV and is pretty widely available. I actually got to sample this one last Friday on tap.
• The beer has won the gold medal for barelywines at the GABF in 1987, 1988, 1992, 1995, and 2005, so it is a pretty well received beer as well.
• I had this beer in a snifter style glass, and when it came to me it didn’t have much of a head on it at all. The color was a dark brown with some hints of orange in it.
• Smell was hoppy, some malt laying in the background, but the taste was what I loved about it.
• I found it to be a balanced to hoppy beer, with a nice soft hop finish. I say that I found it to be this way because this beer, like most barelywines can be cellared and will taste dramatically different year to year.

Next Week

While we’re not exactly sure what we are going to talk about, but Monster Barleywine from Brooklyn Brewing Company.

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Our last in the Rye series is Hop Rod Rye. The edit might be a bit rough, because well I didn’t listen to it. Erin and I are traveling sans computer so I had to wing it.

News

Authorities in southwest Florida say an drunk man had his 9-year-old son take him on a beer run. Cape Coral police arrested the 27-year-old man last week, after seeing a pickup truck drive onto a median. When officers stopped the truck, the man told them he was teaching his son to drive. Officers say the father’s speech was slurred, his breath smelled of alcohol and he unable to stand without swaying. The man was charged with cruelty toward a child and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive.

Hop Rod Rye

• Bear Republic is located in Healdsburg, California which is located in Sonoma County, home of some great wine.
• One of the owners is also the brewmasters here, Richard G. Norgrove. The other owner is Richard R. Norgrove. I am guessing they may be related too.
• I will be honest, I could not turn up a lot on this brewery, although they do make a few tasty beers such as Racer 5 IPA, Big Bear Stout Ale, and tonight’s beer, Hop Rod Rye.
• The distribution for this beer is actually not although if you live in the north middle and south east of the country you could be in trouble. They distribute to Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, So. Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
• Tonight’s beer weighs in at around 8.00% ABV, so it has a little kick to it, and is probably close to an IPA or APA style.
• The bottle tells me that it is, “a high performance, turbo charged, alcohol burnin’ monster ale with dual overhead hop injection, made with 18% rye.”
• The beer is an unfiltered beer, so it may have some sediment in the bottom so watch when you pour. Mine poured a dark brown, although not like a porter or stout brown, but the color of the bottle. The head is a little off white and sticks around for a second or two.
• The smell right away is hops, shocking from the name and all, but then comes the slight sweetness in the aroma that seems to grow a little bit with each sniff. Think along the lines of sweet citrus here.
• The taste follows through with the hops on the front and back but there is that subtle taste of malt and rye as well. The malt gives it the sweetness, the rye kind of lends a little twang to it.

Next Week

Next week we will start the month of Jim getting drunk, or in other words, we will be starting our barley wine series.

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After a week wishing you Happy Thanksgiving, we are back to our series on Rye beers. Jake was actually able to find Terrapin Rye Ale, so that’s what we look at this week.

News

A Japanese company, Bandai, has come out with a new beer shampoo. The beer foams up and overflows like a shaken up bottle of beer when water is added. Bandai has given Beer Shampoo a fruity citrus scent just in case those who have already imbibed a few REAL beers don’t down the wrong suds. The bottle is convincingly beer-like and the shampoo itself contains hops. The product is released on December 1st in Japan, although Bandai has no plans to export Beer Shampoo to the U.S.

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale

• Rye, like barley, is a grass cearal grain. It is mainly grown in eastern, central, and northen Europe. Typically you are going to see rye used in breads like pumpernickel. The beer with have some of that same earthy flavors to it, a little more sharp than the typical barly malt.
• So tonights beer comes from Terrapin Brewing Company, which is located in Athens, Georgia.
• Terrapin was founded by Brian “Spike” Buckowski and John Cochran and was named after the Greatful Dead album Terrapin Station. Mr. Buckowski is a bit of a Deadhead it seems.
• There first release for the brewery was this Ryle Ale was in 2002.
• The Rye Pale Ale won a Gold Medal at the GABF for American Pale Ale in 2002, and weighs in at 5.3% ABV and is brewed with 10% rye malt.
• So the name should give this away, but this is a pale ale, that means that you shouldn’t expect a big rye taste.
• Pours a copper, little darker than a pale with a little white head that goes away after a few sips except around the edge of the glass
• Nose is very pale ale no real rye.
• Taste starts the same way but in the mid-pallet you get a different kind of malt taste, that’s the rye. Best way to describe it is a bit more bitter and grassy than your normal malt taste
• Finish is what you expect from an APA nice grapefruity hops

Next Week

One more week of rye beer, and this one is going to come from California and Hop Rod Rye and Bear Republic. This is going to be the last of the Rye Beers that we cover.

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Back to our normal show, Jim’s internet is limping along. We give you our Thanksgiving Show. We talk about 10 or 15 beers so get your pen and paper ready.

News

The AB/Inbev deal that we talked about on several shows is finally a done deal. Most of what had to happen was formality, there was rumors in recent weeks of some doubt that the deal could get done due to the current economic climate. The 52 billion dollar deal did close however, and the new company will be called Anheuser Busch InBev.

Thanksgiving Beer

• I am just guessing here, but most people probably have some sort of wine with the big turkey dinner. I know my family enjoys a few bottles of Asti every year. Well, believe it or not, you can substitute beer in there and it can work just as well if not better.
• The trick with Thanksgiving though is that there are lots of different situations to work with. You have the before dinner drink, the dinner drink which has to pair well with a variety of flavors, and then the dessert drink which is a completely different creature.
• The great thing about beer is that you can have bottles for each part of the meal and not only will it cost you less then the wine, but for the most part you will probably be less intoxicated as well, if you were to drink the same amounts of wine vs beer.
• Lets first deal with the pre-meal drink. Now traditionally, I do actually drink beer here, although it is usually what my family has around which is a light beer of some sort. Recently we have actually have some decent lagers around, which aren’t bad ideas. You don’t want that is really powerful or overwhelming here, because it could taint the rest of the night. Think something crisp like a pilsner or a basic lager.
• Now the meal itself is kind of difficult, so I am going to speak to my personal tastes here. Generally, the dinner is going to be a little on the saltier side, with the stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, and vegetables. I like to balance that out with a sweeter beer, maybe a belgian of some type like a saison. Actually the Hennipen here from Ommegang would be pretty good because the high carbonation would also help to push flavors off your tongue so that each bite is a new flavor.
• Now what about desserts? Generally, I drink coffee or some more wine with a slice of pie or two. What you are looking for then with a beer is something with a roasty, chocolaty, coffee like finish. Look for some nice porters, stouts, or even imperial stouts here.

Next Week

Alright, next week I promise we will go back to rye beer. We’ll be talking about Terrapin Rye Pale Ale and Jake will be doing the tasting for a change.

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Well with Jim involuntarily unplugged you get a clip show.

Enjoy!

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A new series with a kind of beer we’ve never talked about, Rye. We start this week with Founders Red’s Rye

News

This weeks news story comes from Rice University where scientists have said that they have created a beer that can help save your life. BioBeer, as it’s called, has three genes spliced into special brewer’s yeast that produce resveratrol, the chemical in red wine that is thought to protect against diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other age-related conditions. Don’t expect this product to hit the shelves any time soon.

Founders Red’s Rye Ale

• The rye beer style can vary, and is generally defined as any beer that has rye in it. How is that for vague.
• The style probably originated in Germany and was called Roggenbier there. These beers typically had a very high rye content, as opposed to the modern US versions that can vary greatly.
• Typical American Rye beers are going to to have moderate bitterness in order to allow the often spicy and sour-like rye characteristics to pull through.
• This weeks beer comes from Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapid, Michigain. Founders Brewing Company was started by Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers in November of 1997. These two were home brewers, as were many people who start breweries.
• Today, Founders small facility of 10,000 square feet that houses all its manufacturing needs. Current capacity allows for approximately four thousand barrels (31 gallons) per year.
• Tonight’s beer, Founders Reds Rye, weighs in at 6.8% ABV, so it is a little on the higher side. This is a smaller brewery, so there is a good chance you won’t be able to find it out there.
• This beer pours dark copper in color, not quite red like the name suggests, but still a very nice hazy color. This beer also appears to be unfiltered to some degree. The head is a nice tan and sticks around for a few seconds.
• The smell is very strong on the hop character. Think along the lines of a big IPA. You get a little rye on the nose, but not a lot. The hops overpower that one to some degree.
• That taste you can get a bit more rye, a little bit spicey, a little bit bready. The hops for this one are still up front, but they move towards the back a little with more and more of the malt and rye coming forward.

Next Week

In the next two weeks we will be doing Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic. We’re looking for another beer for next week, but if we can’t find anything we’ll go right to the Hop Rod.

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A departure from Pumpkin beers, because all the good ones are sold out in Chicago. This week we look at a “scary” beer, Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

News

Tonight story is a little bit of a warning to all you home brewers out there. Don’t try to brew with drugs. A 28 year old graduate student in organic chemistry used poppy pods to brew beer. The only problem is that he apparently used a chemical procedure first to extract the opium from the pods which was then placed in the beer to give it a little extra kick. Well the law didn’t like that idea, and they went after him, but not too hard. His punishment for this fancy homebrew is that he has to have the soil in his back yard tested where he dumped the spent grain to make sure there is no contamination, go to drug classes, and stay clean for the next 18 months. Not too harsh, but still, don’t try to brew with drugs. That is just a bad idea!

Dead Guy Ale

• Now there are surprisingly lots of beers out there with Halloween sounding names, such as Lucifer, Red Devil, Hop Goblin, or the Hopness Monster, however after looking over the shelf I could come up with no better choice than Rogues Dead Guy Ale.
• We have talked about Rogue a few times on the show, but for those of you who are new, Rogue Brewing Company is based in Newport, Oregon and was founded in 1988 and is run by Jack Joyce.
• One thing that most all of their beers have in common is that they use a proprietary strain of yeast they call Pac-Man yeast, which will give the beers a flavor that you can’t find in other ones.
• Tonight’s beer, Dead Guy Ale, is their flagship beer and weighs in at 6.5% abv. This beer is classified as a Maibock beer, which is tends to be a lighter colored bock beer that is generally brewed in the spring around May.
• Before we get into the beer itself, Dead Guy has a very distinctive bottle and tap handle, both showing a skeleton sitting on a barrel of beer. This is probably my favorite tap handle out there.
• The beer is made with four types of malts and two types of hops, and as always it has a suggestion of food on the side which is for pork or hot and spicy food.
• The beer pours a lighter color, maybe a light gold, with a nice pillowy orange white head that sticks around for a bit.
• The aroma here is mainly malt but even that is sort of subdued to some degree. Rather sweet smell with just the vaguest hint of hops in the aroma here.
• The taste is a bitter malt taste at first which is something that you aren’t expecting when you smell the beer. The hops are there, but they aren’t overpowering. However, that is only with the first sip. After I had a few sips, the malt sweetness seems to come forward in this beer and the hops tend to move to the back. There is a little alcohol hotness as well in the aftertaste, but nothing to bad. This is only a 6.5% beer after all.
• I would call this a good session beer, but it is still a little high in abv for me in that regards. I would say that it would make a good Halloween night beer however, so enjoy!

Next Week

Well enough of this Halloween themed stuff, we are jumping back into a normal series again next week, this time it is going to be Rye beers. Which Rye is yet to be seen. This is one of Jake’s favorite styles.

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Google has cemented it trend of giving away services to nonprofits by announcing, free payment processing from Google Checkout. Speaking of free stuff and Google YouTube is letting nonprofits setup video channels free of charge. This means your nonprofit can extend your brand onto YouTube.

And if you thought online video was just fun and games, the Will it Blend videos increased sales of blenders five times.

Now as I’ve mentioned Web 2.0 isn’t a build it and they will come venture. So you need to think more about what exactly your organization is trying to accomplish, Michael Brooke calls this being a ball bearing not a beach ball.

NTEN is reporting a new study about Web 2.0 adoption by nonprofits published by the Overbrook Foundation.

The line that will grabbed my attention: “I’m in a perpetual state of anxiety about which tools I’m supposed to be paying attention to.”