Original Quote:  “Where there is love there is life.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Original Quote:  “Without music, life would be a mistake.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

Original Quote:  “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ― Mark Twain

Original Quote:  “What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?” ― Charles M. Schulz

Original Quote:  “One love, one heart, one destiny.” ― Bob Marley

Original Quote:  “The mouth is made for communication, and nothing is more articulate than a kiss.” ― Jarod Kintz

The post Fractured Beer Quotes: Almost Famous Words About Beer & Life first appeared on The Craft Beer Blog.

I was working on Christmas Eve, a regular Bob Cratchit, and I couldn’t make it to the grocery store before it closed. Unfortunately, that meant that Christmas dinner would consist of whatever we already had at home… which, turns out, was a frozen pizza…and now beer!

Sucks is described as an American Strong Ale, as well as an American Double and an Imperial IPA… whatever you call it, Lagunitas describes this beer as a ‘cereal medley’ of barley, rye, wheat, and oats. At 8% ABV, it’s full of ‘complexishness’ from the grains, then dry-hopped for big aroma and resinous flavor. All you really need to know, is that it’s a damn good beer.

The beer was first brewed in 2011 as a substitute to Lagunitas’ seasonal release, Brown Shugga’. In the midst of rapid growth, the brewery was hitting full capacity, brewing around the clock. They were brewing 80 barrels of their core brands, every 3 hours, but could only brew 60 barrels of Shugga’ every 5 hours… which meant for every case of Shugga’ brewed, they’d be short 3 cases of their regular lineup. Instead, they brewed a beer that would fit better into the brew schedule, calling it “Lagunitas Sucks” to play on their mistake.

So Christmas arrives, and it’s my husband, my sister, and I… none of us had much time off for the holiday so we were all just enjoying not being at work. As it were, there was a Brew Dogs marathon on TV, so the three of spent the day in front of the tube, in our pajamas. Merry Christmas.
After a couple episodes we busted out the Sucks and fired up the oven to thaw out our 12″ feast. Turns out, a Brew Dogs marathon, with 2 quarts of Lagunitas Sucks and a pizza, is not a bad way to spend a Wednesday afternoon! Looking around, everyone was smiling… we had everything we needed. Quite fitting for a beer

Of course, a frozen pizza and 64 oz. of beer goes pretty quick when you’re splitting it three ways… luckily, Acme Bar & Pizza opened at 7pm, so we put the word out to anyone else that might be hanging around looking for something to do on Christmas, and we made a party out of it and spent the night eating even more pizza, and drinking great beer with friends. So really… my Christmas didn’t suck at all!

The post Why My Christmas Sucked… first appeared on The Craft Beer Blog.

Rohrbach Brewing Company, established in 1991, officially opened their doors in 1992 at the German House in Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood. John laughs as he tells me that the toughest part of starting the brewery was getting his brewers license. But he didn’t have trouble getting approval… it was actually finding the application. “There were so few breweries in NY at that time, no one at the State Liquor Authority could find an application!”

The brewery expanded in 1995, when they opened their brewpub on Buffalo Road, serving great food alongside their award-winning line-up of craft beer. That location, still going strong, was joined by their new production brewery and tasting room in 2008. Located at 97 Railroad Street in Rochester’s historic public market district, the brewery is bustling every Saturday with market shoppers stopping in for tastings, tours, and growler fills. Being near the market is reminiscent of the European markets John remembers from his time in Germany. ”Over there, every town has it’s own brewery.” he explains, “The move to Railroad Street has been great. People come to the market to get fresh, local, quality produce… and now they can get fresh local beer too! The kids that come in enjoy our new root beer and orange cream sodas. The farmers take our spent grain back to feed their livestock. We love being a part of the community here.”

When asked about the evolution of craft beer in Rochester and across the country, Urlaub reflects, “It’s been an incredible revolution. In the beginning, we did all we could just to get people to try a flavorful beer!” Over the years, he’s seen a shift from “micro” to “craft” brewing. “It’s not just about being small, you have to make good beer. These days, it’s all about what’s in the bottle.” John says, “But we’ve always had a great crowd in Rochester. People here have always embraced good beer.”

So what’s next for Rohrbach Brewing Company? Newly planted hops at their Buffalo Road brewpub are part of a plan to start sourcing more locally grown ingredients. The 60 rhizomes, planted in early May, will be used in a wet hopped beer, where fresh hops are added during the brewing process. John says he’s also started looking into getting an on-premise license for the Railroad Street location and will be expanding to add a kitchen. But don’t expect the same fare you find at the brewpub! “We’re going to do it a little different over here.” he says, “I think people will be really surprised with what we come up with.”

The post John Urlaub, Rohrbach Brewing Company first appeared on The Craft Beer Blog.

Located at 79 North 11th Street in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Brewery has been at the center of a cultural and gastronomical renaissance, taking place in Brooklyn over the last 20 years. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon, greeted by Steve Hindy, president and co-founder. The tasting room is simple, a large warehouse with concrete floors. We grabbed a beer and sat at picnic tables while Steve told us the story of how he, a foreign correspondent, and his neighbor Tom Potter, a banker at the time, came to start the brewery 25 years ago. To hear stories of Steve’s time in Beirut, and of his other experiences as a journalist, I am inspired. Enchanted by his sense of adventure and nostalgia, like falling in love.

The night continued with a short walk to the Shanty, home of New York Distilling Company. There, we were given a tour and a brief history of the distillery by Tom Potter, who happens to have co-founded the Brooklyn Brewery along with Steve Hindy! Tom left the brewery in 2004 to pursue other interests… like traveling the world with his wife and paddling America’s rivers in his kayak. During his travels, he noticed a number of small distilleries popping up all over the Northwest, reminding him of the way the brewing industry had been 25 years earlier. In 2011, he started the New York Distilling Company, along with his son, Bill, and Allen Katz, one of the nation’s leading experts on distilled spirits and cocktails. After the tour we had the chance to try some of the Shanty’s specialty cocktails… I tried the Up In Smoke (Mezcal, lime, Velvet Falernum, Parfait Amour, Doc’s Cider Reduction, Bittermen’s Mole Bitters, and Prosecco, up), which was SO GOOD! Definitely one of the most uniquely delicious cocktails I have ever had.

From there, we headed to The Brooklyn Kitchen, for a 5-course beer pairing dinner, by none other than Garrett Oliver. Yup, THE Garrett Oliver, head brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery and the man who, literally, wrote the book about pairing beer with food. The food was fantastic! We started with a Goat Cheese & Green Apple Omelette, paired with the Brooklyner Weisse, a Bavarian-Style wheat beer. Garrett, the whole time talking while he cooked, gave us some tips on cooking the perfect omelette. (By the way, you’ve been over-beating your eggs… simply fold them together with your other ingredients for a delicious, fluffy omelette!) The next course was an Indian-Spiced Crab Cake, paired with the East India Pale Ale, Brooklyn’s English-style IPA. Next, a Pasta Carbonara, with the Local 2, a Belgian-inspired Dark Abbey Ale with notes of dark fruit and a hint of spice. I was absolutely blown away by the next course, a Boneless Quail stuffed with Foie Gras and Black Truffle Mousse, paired with a Kriek from the Ghost Bottle Series – a beer that starts similar to the Local 2, then aged on cherries and bottle conditioned with a blend of Champagne yeast and Brett. Whoa. Dessert was a Vanilla Ice Cream Float made with Brooklyn Black Ops, another one from the Ghost Bottle series.

After dinner, we made a few more stops to see the sites of Brooklyn and make sure all the city’s tap lines were in proper working order (If ya know what I mean…). We met at the brewery bright and early the next morning, warmly greeted by an array of NY bagels and coffee. Carla Villa, coordinator of Brooklyn’s Beer School program, gave us a short history of brewing and the opportunity to sample some fresh wort from the morning’s batch. From there, we met Tom Price, brewer & lab manager, who took us on a brewery tour.

For me, it’s always interesting to visit new breweries and see the variations from place to place… but, once you’ve visited enough of them, the “this is how beer is made” spiel can become a little mundane. Luckily, the tour at Brooklyn Brewery included a stop in the “warm room”, where their “Big Bottles”, like their Belgian inspired Local 1, are stored for bottle conditioning. In general, Belgian yeast requires higher temperatures to condition efficiently — around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The warm room holds the temperature constant throughout the conditioning period, which help to impart certain flavor attributes and mouthfeel, as well as helps to stabilize the beer; giving it a long shelf life.  We also got to check out the barrel aging room where they store some beers in whisky barrels before bottling. Brooklyn Black Ops is conditioned here, in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels for four months before being released and consumed by very lucky people.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience… I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend and my sincerest thanks go out to everyone at the brewery for extending such hospitality to us all. If you find yourself in Brooklyn, definitely stop by the brewery and check it out… and get to The Shanty for some cocktails too!

The post Brooklyn Beer School first appeared on The Craft Beer Blog.

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