Beer

Beer Department: What is a Cicerone?

In our day-to-day lives, everyone needs a little guidance from time to time. What car should I buy? Where should I go to dinner? How do I hang a door? Perhaps most importantly, we are often in need of guidance as to what beer or wine we might want to drink. In all of these instances, we lean on the knowledge and expertise of those with more experience than us. That, however, raises the question of how we certify that someone is an expert.

Beer Department: Get to Know a Style: Kölsch

With warmer weather on the horizon, it seems a great time to offer a little insight into a great light beer option that’s often misunderstood, even in the geekiest of beer geek circles.

Kölsch is the native beer style of the city of Cologne (Köln in German) in northern Germany. Its production dates back to the early 20th century at the Sunner brewery. At one time there were as many as 40 breweries in and around Cologne brewing Kölsch but the devastation wrought by World War II reduced the number of functioning breweries to just two.

Beer Department: The Rise of American Craft Lager

Lager is something of a dirty word in American craft beer circles. Before a few centuries ago, all beers were brewed as ales, i.e. warm, top fermented beers with plenty of secondary yeast aromas and flavors. All ales also used to be some shade of amber, brown or black. The ability to gently dry malt that yielded a lightly colored golden beer coincided with the isolation of lager yeast in the 19th century. Thereafter, these clean,

Beer Department: Cellaring Beer

Everyone knows that certain wines can benefit from age, with some wines taking decades to reach their peak. What is less known, and even less understood, is that beer can benefit enormously from proper cellaring. While many people want to begin cellaring beer, the prospect of starting and maintaining a cellar can be overwhelming. So let’s break it down step by step and get you on the road to enjoying cellared beer!

WARNING: Cellaring beer is a fun and interesting hobby that rewards patience and experimentation.