Craft Beer

Beer Department: Get to know a style: Nitrogen In Beer

One of the things we all love about beer is the fizz! All those fizzy bubbles help aroma perception, create texture, and improve beer’s versatility with food. A cold glass of beer with a proper collar of foam is a thing of beauty; that’s why you should always insist beer pours with an appropriate head. Flat beer is a terrible beer!

But I digress. In bottled and canned beer, the bubbles called carbonation are either a result of the beer forcibly injected with CO2 or naturally occurring CO2 created during fermentation.

Beer Department: Get to know a style: Double/Imperial IPA

I had so much fun writing about hefeweizen last month I thought I’d keep the train rolling with a profile on another beer style: the vaunted Double IPA, also known as Imperial IPA. This style of beer is distinctly American in origin and has been winning over devoted hop lovers for the better part of the last 30 years.

To start, let us understand that the terms Double IPA (DIPA) and Imperial IPA (IIPA) are interchangeable.

Beer Department: Get to know a style: Hefeweizen

As spring begins to loom on the horizon and the weather (hopefully) begins making a turn for the better, I’ve noticed that a stalwart of craft beer, the humble wheat beer, has seen a resurgence in popularity lately. Bearing this in mind, I thought it high time we better understand one specific style of wheat beer: the Hefeweizen.

To start, let’s understand that today I’ll be describing Hefeweizen specifically, also known as hefeweissbier or simply weissbier.

Beer Department: How to Age Beer

As a general rule, the overwhelming majority of beer should be consumed fresh and all beer is packaged tasting the way the brewer intended it to taste. However, some beers possess characteristics that will allow them to develop interesting and new flavors over time, given the correct storage conditions. Devoting age-worthy beers to a cellar (whether makeshift or elaborate) allows you, the drinker, to take part in the creation of the finished product because these age-worthy beers will often taste drastically different after months or years developing in a cellar.

Beer Department: Give the gift of Beer!

The holidays are a time of happiness, joy… and usually a fair amount of stress. To mitigate some of this stress, remember that all beer geeks (like yours truly) love to receive beer as a gift. This makes gift giving for the beer lover in your life extra easy. For the inside scoop on some great sudsy gifts under the tree this year, read on to learn more about some of the awesome options available in the Jungle.

Beer Department: Get to know a style: Pilsner

When a style is as ubiquitous as Pilsner (pils, for short), one might be inclined to believe they understand it. After all, pilsners have dominated global beer consumption since their introduction in the 19th century. Pilsners, or descendants thereof, can be found everywhere beer is drunk, from Sapporo and Asahi in Japan to Efes in Turkey and from Quilmes in Argentina to Budweiser in the good ol’ US of A. Many beers, such as Miller Lite,

Beer Department: What is Wet Hopping?

In the modern proliferation of hazy, aroma driven New England Style IPAs, most people have become familiar with the term “dry-hopped.” Dry hopping simply means adding hops to a finished beer after fermentation finishes as a way to impart more aroma. You let the hops soak in the beer for a while, then remove them, and voila! You have a dry-hopped beer.

Confusingly enough, wet-hopping is not the opposite of dry-hopping. The two techniques are not even related,

Beer Department: Oktoberfest season!

It is no secret that the heavily German Greater Cincinnati (Zinzinnati) area loves Oktoberfest season. Our humble little city actually hosts the second largest festival in the world, second only to the original in Münich. Being the proper descendants of German immigrants that we are, we revel in German culture at this festival: music, food, attire, and, most importantly, beer! Festbier is widely consumed, but poorly understood, and that’s a crying shame! Let’s dive into this confusing world of beer and sort things out!

Beer Department: Pairing Beer with Food: Hamburgers

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I love food almost as much as beer and I carry the extra pounds to prove it. In fact, pairing food with beer is one of my favorite things about beer, so I thought I’d share a few pointers and then illustrate those tips with a real-world example: that most American of foods, the hamburger.

First, let’s establish why we would want to put any mental effort into pairing beer with food in the first place.

Beer Department: The Facts about Alcohol Intoxication: Staying Safe This Summer

The sun is hot, the days are long, and opportunities for celebration abound. Yes, ladies and gents, summer is officially here! So, if partying is on your horizon (and I hope it is), I want to clear up a few misconceptions and offer a few tips to make us all happier, smarter, and more responsible party animals this summer.

There is a widespread belief that mixing different types of alcohol or consuming various alcohols in a particular order is bad and that drinking numerous alcohols in other sequences is somehow safer.