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Did BeerAdvocate Drop the Ball?

February 8th, 2013 · Beer, Rambling (aka Blog)

Last night at about 1am, BeerAdvocate announced that the Friday night session for Extreme Beer Fest has been postponed due to the impending blizzard. Today that announcement has been updated to include both Saturday sessions.

I believe that this is entirely the right move by them. Obviously it’s the last thing they want to happen, but with the closure of public transit they have no other option. The roads will be practically closed for cars, making it near impossible for brewers to deliver their kegs and equipment. Only those whose house or hotel room is within walking distance could feasibly show up, meaning attendance would be dismal at best.

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#BostonBound

February 7th, 2013 · Rambling (aka Blog)

I haven’t had much time to update the blog over the last couple weeks, but this time I actually have a really amazing reason (read: excuse). I landed myself a new job, doing work I’m excited to do, in an industry I’m passionate about, located in a place I want to live, with ample opportunity for my career to grow. That’s a lot of positive stuff, needless to say I’m pretty fucking ecstatic about the entire opportunity.

Comm Ave in Black and White

Spicing things up with an obligatory photo Megan and I took of Comm Ave

So yes, back to being busy. Well I didn’t know for sure that I landed the job until the end of last week, and my first day is this coming Monday. So that leaves me all of one week to get my current job wrapped up. Seeing as how my current job is basically acting as the gears and the oil that keep the day-to-day operations moving smoothly, I’ve had my hands full trying to make sure everything continues to chug along after I leave. I feel that I’ve accomplished quite a bit so far this week, and am confident that the guys here should be able to handle the administrative duties I had been taking care of. It’s not as if a lot of this work is incredibly hard, its just tedious and it’s stuff they haven’t had to think about for quite a while now.

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Double IPA – amidoinitrite?

January 20th, 2013 · Beer, Homebrewing, Rambling (aka Blog)

My good friend Andrew has been wanting to brew a beer with me for a long time, and I finally got our schedules to match up for him to come out to the burbs and get brewing! We set up to watch the wildcard NFL games on Sunday afternoon while brewing a Sierra Nevada Torpedo clone recipe I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

Another good friend, Megan’s brother Hunt, has also been wanting to brew an IPA for some time, but wasn’t available that Sunday to join us. Being the awesome person that I am (super awesome, I promise) I devised another clone recipe and picked up the ingredients for it at the same time as the Torpedo. This one was for a Harpoon Rye IPA clone, and Hunt and I brewed it together the following Saturday.

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Craft vs Crafty: How I Disagree With Thee, Let Me Count The Ways

January 18th, 2013 · Beer, Business, Rambling (aka Blog)

The following has started as a simple reactionary post, and constant editing in my drafts has transformed it into somewhat of a diatribe. In fear of adding to it, or even worse deleting the entire thing, I am going to publish it on my blog. Feel free to agree, disagree, or not read it at all; it is a blog, and blogs seem to exist as a means of discussion, argument, or just be ignored completely. If you do have any comments or questions, feel free to email me at proici@gmail.com or leave a comment at the end of this article.

Last month the Brewers Association published a statement regarding “the increase in production and promotion of craft-like beers by large, non-craft breweries.” They are calling this “Craft vs Crafty” in an attack on the marketing efforts and acquisitions that Big Beer has made in the past couple years to compete in the craft beer market. The argument is that these massive breweries are not being transparent with the labeling of their beers, making them appear to come from small, independently owned craft breweries in order to capitalize on the current sales momentum in the craft beer market. The BA believes that this intentional duping of consumers is an unethical way for Big Beer to market these “faux craft” beers, and they want to take action against it.

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Extreme Beer Fest 2013… I’ll be there!

January 7th, 2013 · Beer, Rambling (aka Blog)

Back in October, my girlfriend alerted me to a post that Beer Advocate made on their forum. They are doing a collaboration with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery for an “Extreme” beer for the 2013 Extreme Beer Fest. Basically, they were crowd-sourcing the recipe and wanted suggestions for ingredients. The guidelines were the ingredients must come from small “mom & pop” businesses, they must be able to provide enough supply for a 5bbl batch within about a month’s time, and that the beer follows the Reinheitsgebot Bavarian Purity Law of 1516.

I quickly jumped on the forum to contribute. I saw they had already selected a few key ingredients, but there was a gaping hole in their recipe for a base malt. Racking my brain for a malt house that fit their guidelines, I recalled reading about Colorado Malting Company on HomeBrewTalk when I was researching gluten-free beers. So, I googled them and found their Base Pale Malt, read a little about the company and the availability of malt to microbreweries, found that they fit all the requirements, and posted their product as a suggestion.

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