Winters are supposed to be the slow season for beer. Sales are down due to the weather. It is a chance for craft brewers to catch their breath, do some maintenance and clear out the backlog of paper work. Apparently… Continue Reading →
A year or so ago, I was feeling rather hopeful about the state of craft beer in western Canada’s pub chains (as evidenced by this post). I was particularly bullish on Hudson’s Canadian Tap House, who had just initiated “Beer… Continue Reading →
My column in the current issue of Planet S Magazine revisits a longstanding beef of mine – date codes. I have never understood why breweries feel the need to mask the production/best before date in a jumble of letters and… Continue Reading →
You will all be forgiven – even you Edmontonians – for not knowing about the Edmonton Metropolis Winter Festival. This new six-week long event was designed to draw people downtown during the cold winter months. Its big draw is supposed… Continue Reading →
Last year, Alley Kat in a couple of moments of fancy, released two single hop Double IPAs, Red Dragon (with Simcoe) and Blue Dragon (with Columbus). They were surprising one-offs, not a part of any planned series or seasonals (which… Continue Reading →
So, this is a day late and a few dollars short, but this morning CBC posted my most recent column online. In honour of Super Bowl weekend, I humbly offered an alternative to the oceans of Bud and Bud Light… Continue Reading →
The current issue of Vue Weekly is running my review of Bruton Bianca (sorry, no link yet – you will have to go analog and pick up a paper copy). As I have mentioned earlier, it is a nice interpretation… Continue Reading →
The intrepid folks up at Yukon Brewing have for many years produced a variety of seasonal and one-off beer. Alas, they have always been reserved for their loyal local customers in the Territory. Which means those of us South of… Continue Reading →
I mentioned a while back that two of Alberta’s breweries in the same week each released a Belgian-inspired seasonal. I have had an opportunity to give them each a try, and am intrigued at how different they are. As a… Continue Reading →
A few months back here at onbeer.org, during some discussion around what defines craft (found here and here), there was some debate about whether the use of adjuncts is an important aspect of differentiating brewers. Some felt that adjuncts –… Continue Reading →