• Crab Soup Contest at Ellicott Mills Brewing Company

    October 8, 2012 Author: Scott
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    The winners and judges pose for a picture.

    The crab soup contest at EMBC was once again a huge success this year. This year’s event was in an effort to raise money for 27forOldEC, a  relief efforts from the derailment of trains in Ellicott City, MD. Overall there were 7 entrants that were mostly either a standard Maryland crab soup or a cream of crab soup.  The Judges were given samples to taste in a predetermined order and then graded the soups on such items as appearance and taste.

    When the contest was done, everyone at the bar was allowed to sample as much as they wanted of the remaining soup.  I made sure to get a sample of all that was available while enjoying some of the great beers the brew on premises.  Jonathan Postma (third from the right in group shot) won the overall contest with the prize being a wine rack with 4 bottles of wine.

     

    The contest is underway, and Timmy is serving up the first soup.

    The contest is underway, and Timmy is serving up the first soup.

     

    This soup left in whole crab claws!!!!

    This soup left in whole crab claws!!!!

     

    The judges score their results of the various soups.

    The judges score their results of the various soups.

     

    All contestants received a shirt from a locally made vodka.

    All contestants received a shirt from a locally made vodka.

     

    Which they were happy to model.

    Which they were happy to model.

     

    The winners and judges pose for a picture.

    The winners and judges pose for a picture.

     

  • Barenaked Ladies Team Up with The Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

    October 5, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Pearl Jam did it with Dogfish Head, and it seems it the new thing for bands to do.  Barenaked Ladies have teamed up with Flying Monkeys to create a craft beer.  I’m not really sure why this is happening, but my guess is that it’s nothing more than a cross marketing effort to benefit both parties.

    The project, which saw the band members hang out at the brewery on the Barrie waterfront for a day last week, was the brainchild of Flying Monkeys boss Peter Chiodo.?

     

    “I was drinking some of the Pearl Jam beer, and they really only put their names on it. I thought it would be a lot cooler if there was something where the band actually came into the brewery and helped make it. It would have more meaning that way,” said Chiodo. (That “Pearl Jam beer” was called Faithful, and was brewed last year by Delaware craft brewery Dogfish to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the band’s groundbreaking debut album Ten).

     

    Chiodo contacted several Canadian musicians, seeing if they were interested in helping come up with their own beer. The Barenaked Ladies leapt at the chance, said Chiodo.

     

    During the day at the brewery, drummer Tyler Stewart tweeted a picture of himself holding a mug of cocoa nibs which were then dumped into the brew.

     

    In a press release, Stewart said he was excited to take part.

     

    “I worked in the Beer Store when I was younger, but never dreamed I would have my own beer one day,” Stewart said.

     

    While the band was on hand for the brewing day, and even helped out, Chiodo admits it was his recipe.

     

    “All they said was that they wanted it to be the kind of beer you could share. I bounced the idea of a chocolate imperial stout off them, and they liked it,” said Chiodo.

     

    The BNL Strong Beer is definitely something you shouldn’t be polishing off on your own — not only does it come in a 750 mL bottle, Chiodo says it will be 11 per cent alcohol by volume. Then again, at $13.95 a bottle, you might want to be going halfsies on the purchase anyway. Chiodo says the high price for the special suds is warranted.

     

    “It’s expensive because it costs a lot more to brew than our regular beer. There are about four times as much of each ingredient as there are in our other beers,” he said.

    Source: http://www.thestar.com/

  • [Infographic] The Science of Beer Goggles

    October 4, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Ever wonder why you’re more attracted to people after a few drinks?  Have a look at the following infographic and learn why.
    The Science of Beer Goggles Infographic

  • Record Beer Consumption at Oktoberfest — And It’s Only Half Over

    October 3, 2012 Author: Scott
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    It seems the party in Germany is large this year.  On any given year Oktoberfest brings drinkers together from all over the world for the opportunity to  drink themselves into oblivion.  This year, however, the record is being broken.

    The number of Bierleichen, or “beer corpses” — a term referring to people who have drunk themselves into a state of unconsciousness — jumped by almost 20 percent to 445, most of them aged 30 or under, according to the Red Cross.

     

    Visitor numbers to the famous folk festival have increased to 3.6 million from 3.5 million at the same time last year, thanks to sunnier weather, the organizers said. And the all-important statistic — the number of one-liter Mass glasses of beer guzzled — rose by almost six percent to 3.6 million, up from 3.4 million last year, the Bavarian capital of Munich said on Sunday.

     

    At this rate, the festival could top last year’s all-time record beer consumption of 7.5 million liters — which would be an impressive feat given that the 2012 Oktoberfest has a fifth less space than usual due to an adjacent agricultural fair which ended on Sunday.

     

    More Lost Children

     

    A total of 60 oxen and 26 calves have been devoured, and the sale of fried chicken portions is up five percent. The number of children lost and handed over to staff also rose significantly, to 93 from 56. By Saturday evening, a total of 2,600 lost items had been handed in, including a French horn, a hearing aid, two wedding rings, a pair of suit trousers and two pairs of Lederhosen.

     

    Watchful security guards also confiscated a total of 63,000 empty beer glasses that visitors had tried to smuggle out of the tents as free souvenirs.

     

    The number of police operations logged at the festival rose six percent to 1,059 from 999 at this point last year.

     

    No Attempted Killings

     

    “Happily, there were no attempted killings during the first half of the festival, and no extremely serious injuries,” the Munich police said in a statement. That’s despite the increased use of the heavy beer glasses in tent brawls.

     

    Glasses were used in 38 assaults, up from 26 in 2011. “Striking people with Massglasses or throwing them is an extremely dangerous offense. That is why it was very important that we are able to arrest 25 attackers on the spot,” said Robert Kopp, deputy president of the Munich police.

     

    If you didn’t make it this year, there’s always next year, but who’s to say if it will be another record breaker.

    Source: http://www.spiegel.de/

  • Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    October 2, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Tuesday is Editor’s Choice award day on http://hashtagbeerporn.com.  We are giving out an Editor’s Choice Award each week to the picture we think best represents beerporn during that week.  As an ongoing feature on Indy Beers each week I’ll be posting the Editor’s Choice winner from #Beerporn.  Remember, anyone can join and post pictures of beer to http://hashtagbeerporn.com.

    This week’s winner is Michael.  I like the fact that he got the name of the company, the brew equipment, and the beer in the same shot.

    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/09/27/thumb-butte-american-brown-ale/

  • [Infographic] Percent of Alcoholic Content per Calories per Ounce

    October 1, 2012 Author: Scott
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    We recently shared an infographic that detailed the calories in various drinks, but how do the calories line up with the ABV?  Check below for a list of beers that give the most ABV bang for their caloric buck.

     

    Beer Efficiency Score Infographic

  • The Beer Fag: Southern Tier’s Mokah!

    September 28, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Another great video brought to you by Gus.  I love his whimsical take on beer, and this time he has an imposter.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-gNzswRIxQ

  • [Infographic] How Long Does it Take to Afford a Beer?

    September 27, 2012 Author: Scott
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    We all work hard for our money, but how long does it take the average person to save enough money for one beer?  In the United States it takes about 5 minutes to save the average amount (although I think $1.80 is a little low unless this is retail, not bar prices).  India seems to take the longest at almost an hour.

    ON SEPTEMBER 22nd, the beer started flowing at Oktoberfest in Munich, an annual Bavarian beer festival which confusingly begins at the end of September. Last year, over the course of the 16-day event, visitors glugged 7.5m litres of beer, sold at an average princely price of €9 ($12.50) a litre, which is what a typical large stein holds. Germans love beer and down around 100 litres per person a year. Away from the Oktoberfest beer is readily affordable. Analysts at UBS, a Swiss bank, have calculated that it takes a German earning the national median wage just under seven minutes of work to purchase half a litre of beer at a retail outlet. At the bottom of the pint glass, low wages and high taxes mean that boozers in India must toil for nearly an hour before they have earned enough to quench their thirst.

    Source: http://www.economist.com/

  • Drinking Lots of Beer Will Strengthen Your Muscles (But Also Kill You)

    September 26, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Want bigger muscles? Start drinking more beer, lots and lots of it.   A research team has found that beer can help prevent muscle tissue deteriorating, thanks to the “prenylated flavonoids” found in hops.  Unfortunately, you have to enjoy about 30 gallons a day, or about 240 pint glasses.  The Tokushima University research team in Japan found the prenylated flavonoids had positive effects on the muscle mass of incapacitated rats (such as ones with paralyzed legs).  Now all we need is an alternative way to get the needed dosage into humans.  Too bad it would take too much beer.

    However, to achieve the same effects on the scale of a human, one would have to eat 1kg (2lbs) of hops a day.  Since that would be really disgusting, we would rather consume them in beer form.  This way, one must drink anywhere from 83 to 20,000 litres (22-5000 gal) of beer per day to achieve the needed dosage of the prenylated flavonoid known as 8-prenylnarigenin (8-PN).

    Source: http://en.rocketnews24.com/

  • Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    September 25, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Tuesday is Editor’s Choice award day on http://hashtagbeerporn.com.  We are giving out an Editor’s Choice Award each week to the picture we think best represents beerporn during that week.  As an ongoing feature on Indy Beers each week I’ll be posting the Editor’s Choice winner from #Beerporn.  Remember, anyone can join and post pictures of beer to http://hashtagbeerporn.com.

    This week’s winner is Husar.  The funny thing about this picture is it’s not even his beer.  He just liked the beer bottle so much he had to have the picture of it with the flowers.

    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/09/18/spotted-cow/