Happy International Beer Day! I just finished celebrating by brewing ten gallons of smoked stout, and I’m looking forward to a draught of blonde ale from my kegerator later today. I’ve been homebrewing for about two years, and it’s a fun, practical hobby. Variety is the name of the game, both in terms of beer styles to produce but also in terms of the methods used to produce beer: extract, partial mash, all grain, single infusion, decoction, boil-in-a-bag, 1 gallon, 5 gallons, 10 gallons — you get the idea. The hobby facilitates the purchase of a tremendous amount of equipment for each of these different methods. The latest addition to my zymurgy hobby is the cask widge.
Like most homebrewers, I started out bottling the beer I produced. While this makes it easy to share my work with friends and colleagues, I find it to be a tedious, time consuming process. When I bought my first keg, I swore I’d never bottle beer again! Kegging is so much easier, so much faster, than bottling. But it’s not without its problems. → Read More
Beer, the sweet elixir that draws me to the doom of oblivion, is apparently available in places called “Beer Gardens” here in NYC (and in various other locations, but this is NY-centric.) These “Gardens” are not actually gardens at all but are, in fact, large patios where people can sit and drink beer until they reach a heightened level of joviality and fun and convivial relations (until, of course, you have to fight your way to the bathroom.) But how is one supposed to find these “Gardens?” Are they secret, like in that one movie? Or are they like a mysterious Brigadoon, appearing and disappearing every few eons?
Nope. They’re real, and thankfully, there’s an app for finding them. → Read More
Untappd is a beer-sharing system. You note which beer you drank where and then watch as said beer rises or falls in the ranks of beerdom. You can also find out where odd brews have popped up in your vicinity, thereby allowing you, like some inebriated, marauding Ash in Floaroma Town, to attempt to catch ‘em all.
The app itself runs on multiple devices but they’ve just announced a special SXSW version for you and yours. This allows you to compete with fellow tipplers in the streets of Austin. → Read More
Surly Brewing Company in the Twin Cities is a small, popular brewhaus with some pretty exciting beers. Rather than distribute nationally, however, they’ve teamed up with NorthernBrewer to offer something fairly unique: a DIY kit featuring some of their more popular brews. → Read More
Your guy is great, am I right? He’s fun, he makes you laugh, and he can, in a pinch, be counted on to do laundry. He even, occasionally, shaves! Why not reward this positive behavior the way Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, rewards an unruly dog: through forceful direction and, when the time is right, kind words and a treat.
Here are a few great items for your geeky SO this Valentine’s Day and we’ve tried to find items that you can pick up in the next few days. While it’s always nice just to go out for dinner and a movie, why not make this year a bit more special? → Read More
I am not really sure if beer lovers really need this kind of gadget, but Takara Tomy is ready to sell it (in Japan only – at least initially). The company has showcased the so-called “Beer Hour” in Tokyo today, a small device that’s supposed to make it easier to pour beer from cans into glasses. → Read More
In honor of the excellent new program, Portlandia, I present to you this special, sustainable, Vegan-grown, humane leather bike-mounted can cage, a mere $45 from Etsy. → Read More
It’s October 1, which means that you’re average American think Oktoberfest has started. Not true: Munich’s Oktoberfest begins in mid to late September and lasts through October. A minor technicality if all you’re looking to do is celebrate the holiday best known for, well, bier and busen. In any event, there’s a handy iOS App that was just released that can help New York City folk find Oktoberfest beer gardens. It’s called Beer Gardens NYC, and it works quite well. → Read More
Ah, beer. You’re my solace and my comfort in these trying times and I love you. But how do I find you, especially the odd and unique members of your extended family? Thankfully, there now exists BeerBy. → Read More
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11330572&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1 Brewing TV – Episode 1.1 from Brewing TV on Vimeo. If you’ve ever made your own booze you probably know about Northern Brewer, one of the best online brew supply stores. Well, those folks just started Brewing TV which consists of a dude in a hat talking with another dude in a hat about brewing as well as a video of some other dudes in hats. Generally, it’s just as you’d imagine, but so much more. → Read More
While cool, I dunno that I’d recommend wearing this very often. Particularly around law enforcement, since the bottle opener ring could definitely be mistaken for brass knuckles. → Read More
What goes great with eighteen integrated computer workstations and lots of room to spread out when waiting for a flight? How about beer? → Read More
As a homebrewing enthusiast, I’m constantly trying to improve my process and my equipment. I’m busy making a DIY bottle tree to dry my bottles right now. The British, quite probably the world’s best drinkers, have been hard at work improving the vessel of beer delivery, the pint glass. Two new shatter-proof glasses have been unveiled by the British Home Office, designed in collaboration with the Design Council. → Read More
If you have a dog and you’ve thrown a party, you know that dogs generally add a bit of fun to the mix at the beginning of the party but by the end, they’ve mostly eaten food off the coffee table, scared the bejesus out of the three guests who have an irrational fear of dogs, and had a few “accidents” in high-traffic areas like hallways and doorways. → Read More
Meet the arkeg. The ultimate combination of a MAME console, and a kegerator. Those lucky bast blokes at Wired managed to get they hands on one to review. It’s got some good and bad points, but you have to admit it’s cool no matter what. → Read More
After a long, hard day of… playing with toys, watching cartoons, and napping, nothing spells refreshment like a frosty glass of Kodomo No Nomimono – a phrase which I can only assume means something close to “beer for kids” in Japanese. → Read More
If you ask me (and nobody asked me) the standard 12-ounce beer size is long overdue for an upgrade. We, as Americans, like things larger than life and there’s no reason we should still be drinking a single beer in under a minute. Until all beer manufacturers start shipping suds in 32-ounce (or larger) cans, we’ll have to make due with an apparatus such as this: the Portable Tap Dispenser. → Read More
Brewing your own beer by hand is soooo 1992. You can now automate most of the process using an Arduino controller and some source code over at Halfluck.com. → Read More
Okay, this is definitely a new one. The “BeerPaQ CarboPouch for Draft Beers” is pretty much exactly like it sounds, although you could drop “BeerPaQ” and “Carbo” to achieve the same effect: it’s beer, but in a pouch. But why? → Read More
