Realbeer.com Beer Therapy

Mardi Gras comes a little later in Burlington, Vermont, than New Orleans, but then so does spring. The 15th annual annual Magic Hat Mardi Gras weekend begins Feb. 26, featuring music, moonpies, parades and community aid. This all-ages extravaganza is a “party with a conscience” to benefit the Women’s Rape Crisis Center of Chittenden County (WRCC), raising over $100,000 over the years.

Festivities start at 9 p.m. Friday with Connecticut-based funk rockers Deep Banana Blackout on stage in the ballroom at Higher Ground. Pre-parade rituals begin at noon Saturday with be Caravan of Thieves, a swingin’ good Gypsy-inspired quartet. At the same time concert poster artist Jim Pollock, who will be signing and selling his specially designed Mardi Gras prints to benefit WRCC. Burlington’s own band of Afro-Brazilian music makers, Sambatucada, follow at 1 p.m. There’s a costume contest at 1:30, with the Magic Hat co-founder Alan Newman crowning the King and Queen of Mardi Gras, who will each win $500 cash!

Thirty floats are expected for the parade along Church Street, beginning at 3 p.m. Per tradition, those on the floats will toss Lake Champlain Chocolates, moon pies and beaded baubles to those lining the bedazzled crowds lining the Church Street Marketplace.

The Mardi Gras Parade Post-Party begins as soon as the last float has been filed away.

The British government has appointed a minister of pubs, who will be in charge of trying to slow the rate at which pubs are closing.

Wentworth MP John Healey, also housing and planning minister, will head a five-minister task force. The Morning Advertiser reports he is considering tax breaks for pubs and giving tenants the right to buy pubs from landlords if they are threatened with closure.

British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said the rate of pub closures slowed from 52 a week in the first half of 2009 to 39 a week, but remains a serious problem.

The BBPA hailed the decision as “great news” and a “clear sign” that its campaigns, Axe the Tax and I’m Backing the Pub, had had an impact. “Pubs now have a strategic place in Government and we could not have asked for a better minister than John Healey,” said BBPA director of communications Mark Hastings.

Healey himself said: “Pubs are often at the heart of community life. And they are important meeting places for many people. While we can’t stop every pub from closing it’s right we do everything possible to back them. But they need help now so I am determined to have a deal on the table with a package of practical help in the next few weeks.”

Goose Island in Chicago has rolled out a new beer called Green Line Pale Ale that is part of the brewery’s Green Line Project, an initiative to reduce the brewery’s environmental impact.

Goose Island is making the beer available only on tap, which reduces packaging. The tap handles were made from reclaimed ash trees killed by the ash borer in Wilmette.

“We had been thinking of ways to brew more sustainably for a while,” Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall told the Chicago Tribune during and event to launch the beer. “So we did an organic beer for Whole Foods a few years back but we wanted to do something more local. We know that when you go into Chicago alleys you often see a lot of garbage, bottles and boxes for beer. We wanted to find a way to reduce that and so we figured one way would be to go with an all draft beer.”

What does it taste like? From the Tribune story:

“Monica Eng, who claims no beer expertise whatsoever, says: nice malty nose, a light refreshing flavor lovely corny finish.

“Josh Noel, our beer correspondent’s take: Considering how good Goose Island’s higher end products are (Matilda, Sofie, Bourbon County Stout) and how middling the lower end stuff is (312, Honker’s Ale, IPA), I wasn’t optimistic about this pale ale. But it’s a winner. Green Line Pale Ale is so drinkable because it doesn’t try to do a lot. The hops are clear (more in the taste than nose), but don’t overwhelm. The malt is roasty, but appropriately restrained. It could stand to pop with a few more grapefruit notes like a good pale should, but a brewer said he expects future batches to be improved in this respect. Green Line will make a particularly fine warm weather beer for those who want a little more muscle than 312. It immediately vaults to the top of Goose Island’s more affordable beers.”

And from blogger Andrew Gill:

“I thought it was kind of like an India Pale Ale with training wheels. Brewmaster Greg Hall said his inspiration for Green Line was mixing 312 with Goose Island IPA at the Pitchfork Music Fest. I think that’s exactly what it tastes like – a session beer with just enough bitterness to be interesting.”

Wynkoop Brewing Company’s judging panel has picked its three finalists for the brewpub’s 2010 Beerdrinker of the Year award.

They will compete in the Beerdrinker of the Year finals on Feb. 27 at Wynkoop in Denver. The event is open to the public and admission is free. Two of the three were also finalists in 2007. They are:

Phil Farrell, a Cumming, Georgia commercial pilot, homebrewer, and beer judge. He has tasted beer in every country in Europe, 1000 of the world’s pubs and 400 brewpubs. He’s known to many in the beer community as the “Chicken Man” because he’s hauled his homebrew club’s mascot, a rubber chicken, around the world and photographed it with thousands of beer people.

His philosophy about beer: “Beer is first and foremost a social drink. It is the most flexible and universally affordable fine beverage there is. Every social gathering and every food item is enhanced with beer. Beer is the greatest gift ever given to the human race and meant to be shared with others.”

William Howell, a Sterling, Alaska, college administrator, retired Navy officer, homebrewer, and beer educator. In 2007 he created a new course for Kenai Peninsula College entitled The Art and History of Brewing, and has traveled extensively across Alaska and the West in pursuit of great beer.

His beer philosophy: “I have been a lover of craft beers since 1984 and a homebrewer since 1989. Since my retirement from active duty I’ve been really been able to “get serious” about beer. I decided it was time to start giving something back to the world of craft beer that had given me so much.”

Logan Perkins, a Denver, Colorado beer enthusiast who has tried nearly 5,000 beers in 45 states, 21 European countries and 5 Asian nations.

His philosophy of beer drinking: “Drinking beer is about enhancing the quality of life through flavors, feelings and friends. I love beer alone, but especially enjoy sharing it with others. I believe in handling, collecting and tasting beers with the same respect as a wine lover. I try to keep everything in moderation, including moderation itself.”

Beer Wars, a documentary which played in theaters across the country for a single night last April and in limited screenings since, will be distributed for home viewing through Warner Bros. and Netflix.

Ducks In A Row Entertainment offered details in a press release:

In the U.S., Beer Wars is available to rent On Demand through Digital Cable and Satellite providers Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevision, Charter, Insight, Bresnan, Verizon FiOS, AT & T U-Verse, Dish Network and DirecTV. It is also available for download on iTunes, Amazon Video On Demand, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

In Canada, the film is available to rent On Demand through Digital Cable and Satellite providers Rogers Cable, Cogeco, Videotron, Sasktel and Shaw.

The film is also available on Netflix either on DVD or “Watch Instantly” beginning February 2nd. And the DVD is available for purchase from Amazon.

More information is available at the company website.

German beer sales continued their downward spiral in 2009, falling 2.8%. The drop was the biggest since 1998.

The only break in the ongoing decline came in 2006, when Germany hosted the World Cup and sales rose marginally. Overall, beer sales have declined 30% in the past 20 years although consumption of alcohol, reduced to pure ethanol, has remained constant.

Krombacher Brauerei, which brews Germany’s best-selling lager, expects beer consumption to decline in its home market this year, blaming an aging population that drinks less.

German brewers export 14% of the beer they produce, mostly to nearby European countries.

Deschutes Brewery in Oregon has bottled a beer otherwise known “Super Jubel” for the first time in 10 years, with Jubel 2010 set to reach store shelves soon.

A brewery press release explains the orgins: “Jubel was discovered by accident two decades ago when a clumsy burglar didn’t realize the weight of his stolen keg of Jubelale (the brewery’s winter seasonal). He dropped it outside to freeze in the season’s sub-zero temperatures – only to be discovered the next morning by Gary Fish, Deschutes Brewery owner. More than half the liquid in the keg had frozen and the remaining beer was a very cold, highly concentrated ‘Jubelale on steroids.’ It was so good that the brewers set about recreating it, coming up with an annual ‘Super Jubel’ that is aged in Oregon oak pinot barrels.”

Deschutes usually sells the beer only at its pubs around the holidays, previously bottling Jubel 2000. A limited amount of Jubel 2010 will be available in 22 ounce wax-dipped bottles and on draft all over the west. The beer contains 10% alcohol by volume.

- To celebrate the release of Top Sail Bourbon Barrel Porter Oregon’s Full Sail Brewing will host two horizontal tastings next week. The imperial porter (9.85% abv, IBU 65) was brewed in February 2009 and aged almost a year in bourbon casks from Maker’s Mark, Stranahan’s and Four Roses.

The special tastings will feature the components as well as the 2010 release. “Since Top Sail is a blend of the three barrel varieties, we thought it would be interesting to try a bit of each before blending, so
we kegged off a very small stash of each variety for the release,” said executive brewmaster Jamie Emmerson.

The special tappings are set for 5 p.m. Monday at Full Sail’s River place brewery in Portland and Feb. 4 at the Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub in Hood River.