• Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    July 17, 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.

    What I liked about this week’s winning post was the follow-up comment.  While I love the pictures posted to the site, I very happy that Skylar took the extra time to do a micro review of the beer in the comments section.

    This was actually very good. I’d read a ton of reviews, and they all cited that the beer lost a little something as it warmed up, so I stored mine in the freezer overnight. It poured thick, but clean. The flavor was similar to the 60 minute IPA, albeit, sweeter. For ~120 ibu, this beer was surprisingly sweet, actually. I finished it by the time it was room temp(~30min) and followed with a beer I will post tomorrow. All in all, a good beer I will be buying more of.

    Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA (~18% ABV) posted by user http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/07/15/dogfish-head-120-minute-ipa-18-abv/

  • I Have Brewed Too Much Beer

    July 16, 2012 Author: Scott
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    I was thinking about what I was going to brew this week when it dawned on me, I can’t brew beer this week.  Not because I don’t have time.  Not because I couldn’t go to the store and buy supplies.  I can’t brew beer this week because I have no where to put it.

    You see, I have gone a little nutty with the beer brewing.  I decided to see what would happen if I brewed 5 gallons beer every.single.week.  5 gallons of beer is about 2 cases and a 6 pack of beer, but you drop some volume during brewing, so we’ll just say 2 cases.  That’s a lot of beer.  I can do a keg a week (with a little from my friends), but it’s not the norm.

    Currently I have 2 kegs of beer in the fridge, and 4 buckets (5 gallon each) fermenting.  I have no more kegs, I have no more buckets, I have no room for more beer.  6 weeks straight of brewing have finally brought me to a place of rest.

  • Craft breweries represent more than 95% of the breweries in America, but make only 6% of the beer

    July 13, 2012 Author: Scott
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    A map of the states with the most breweries per capita.
    Source: Brewers Association
    Credit: Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

    In non-beer markets there are issues where the vast majority of the companies making a product are only producing a fraction of the actual product in the market place when compared to one or two major stake holders.  This issue, however, is most pronounced with beer.   It seems that while making up 95% of the market place, craft breweries only produce 6% of the beer.

    Three multinational corporations own most of the 20 gigantic, highly industrialized breweries that produce the vast majority of American beer. It’s been a great Wall Street bonanza, but the results are sobering. The largest brewer in the US, Anheuser-Busch, belongs to Brazilian multinational InBev, the largest brewer in the world. American number two, Miller, is part of SABMiller, headquartered in London, the second largest brewer in the world. Coors was acquired by Canadian brewer Molson, now the Molson Coors Brewing Company, fifth largest in the world. As if that weren’t enough deal-making, SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company formed the joint venture MillerCoors. However, Pabst Brewing Company is still independent.

     

    But craft beer brewers operate in their own micro climate. In 2011, production jumped 13% to 11,468,152 barrels, for a 5.7% share of the US beer market in volume, according to the Brewers Association. With craft beers being more expensive, retail sales jumped 14.5% to a record $8.7 billion—for a 9.1% share of the $95.5 billion US beer market.

    Even with this relativity small market share, big beer is not happy.  They continue to exert their force in the market place pushing their nationally distributed craft beer brands into every corner of the market, forcing out locally brewed beers.

    Big beer knows that nationally produced and distributed beer representing the largest market share can easily be replaced by brewing your own beer or going down to your local brew pub for a beer that was brewed locally.  It is for this reason that they market their product so aggressively.

    That being said, you can make a difference.   Producing your own beer or buying local beer helps keeps money and jobs in a local economy.  So next time you’re out buying your beer remember, think globally, but act locally.

    Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/

  • Beer Boosts Bone Mass

    July 12, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Today’s article is another one promoting beer drinking for better health.  It seems that drinking beer boosts bone mass.

    Yet in this study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers adjusted for lifestyle factors and showed that among 3,218 women who consumed more than one drink a day of alcohol had a significantly greater femoral neck and lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) than those who never consumed alcohol.

    It seems, however, that not just any alcohol will do, the study states, “neither wine nor liquor intake was significantly associated with BMD —but rather beer.”

    Registered dietitian Elizabeth Brown MS,RD,CPT,CDE, says that beer’s bone benefit is due to its silicon content. “Studies report that dietary silicon intake of more than 40 mg per day correlates with increased BMD; however, the average daily intake of silicon is about 20 to 30 mg.”

    I’m more than happy to have a pint or two of my favorite beer or homebrew for better health.  Maybe the saying should be, “A beer a day keeps the doctor away.”

    Source: http://latino.foxnews.com

  • Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    July 11, 2012 Author: Scott
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    We have a new site just for beerporn called http://hashtagbeerporn.com, as in #Beerporn.  We’ve been working on the site for over a month now, and the cool thing is that anyone can join and post pictures of beer to the site.  We have also been 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.

    This week, we have a backlog to get through as we have been doing this for a few weeks now.  So here are the winners for the past three weeks, in the order in which they won.

    Fuller’s ESB posted by user Husar
    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/06/23/fullers-esb/

     

    Konig Bavarian Hefeweizen posted by user Michael
    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/06/28/konig-bavarian-hefeweizen/

     

    Missile Command Pint posted by user Husar
    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/07/04/missile-command-pint/
     

     

  • Samuel Adams and Boston Beer Get a Downgrade

    July 10, 2012 Author: Scott
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    It seems not even craft beer is immune to a bad economy.  Yesterday the Boston Beer Company’s shares were downgraded from sell to neutral.

    Boston Beer has shown solid growth with new products such as Twisted Tea and seasonal drinks. But UBS analyst Kaumil Gajrawala downgraded his rating on the company’s shares to “sell” from “neutral” on Monday, saying the company’s growth may slow as its innovations age.

    Amidst the news the stock price fell 4.5%.

    The problem, it seems, is that 70% of Boston Beers recent revenue growth has come from Twisted Tea and seasonal products.  It’s hard to maintain that type of growth, and Gajrawala believes they are hitting the top of the market in performance.

    I think what we’re really seeing here is similar to what happens to any company when they get too big and fail to innovate in the market.  This is strikingly similar to the path that the big beer companies have taken.  I’m still a fan of Boston Beer Company’s beers for now, but hopefully they don’t take the path of getting bigger and buying smaller craft breweries to meet share holders expectations in the market.

     

    Source: http://money.msn.com/

  • Major League Baseball Craft Beer Guide

    July 9, 2012 Author: Scott
    2 Comments

    Looking to get yourself a frosty beer while you’re watching your favorite team play baseball?  If you’re at the ball park there are lots of choices, but not all are good craft beer.  The folks over at craftbeer.com put together a great list of which beers can be found at which parks.  I’m happy to see Flying Dog Brewery and Heavy Seas Beer are available at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD.  Do you see any beers you’d love to drink while watching America’s pastime?

    Angel Stadium of Anaheim | Los Angeles Angels | Anaheim, CA
    Bootlegger’s Brewery, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery

     

    AT&T Park | San Francisco Giants | San Francisco, CA
    Anchor Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

     

    Busch Stadium | St. Louis Cardinals | St. Louis, MO
    Boulevard Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing Company, Samuel Adams, Schlafly Beer, Urban Chestnut Brewing Company

     

    Chase Field | Arizona Diamondbacks | Phoenix, AZ
    The Phoenix Ale Brewery

     

    Citi Field | New York Mets | Flushing, NY
    Abita Brewing Company, Blue Point Brewing Company, Brooklyn Brewery, Ommegang, Sierra Nevada, Six Point Brewing Company, Victory Brewing Company

     

    Citizens Bank Park | Philadelphia Phillies | Philadelphia, PA
    Anchor Brewing, Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, Flying Fish Brewing Company, Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Sly Fox Beer, Victory Brewing Company, Tröegs Brewing Company, Yards Brewing Company

     

    Comerica Park | Detroit Tigers | Detroit, MI
    Bell’s Brewery, Inc.

     

    Coors Field | Colorado Rockies | Denver, CO
    Boulder Beer, New Belgium Brewing Company, Odell Brewing Co., Oskar Blues, Samuel Adams

     

    Dodger Stadium | Los Angeles Dodgers | Los Angeles, CA
    Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Gordon Biersch Brewery, Samuel Adams

     

    Fenway Park | Boston Red Sox | Boston, MA
    Harpoon Brewery, Samuel Adams

     

    Great American Ball Park | Cincinnati Reds | CIncinnati, OH
    21st Amendment Brewery, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Avery Brewing Company, Bell’s Brewery, Inc., Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., Founders Brewing Company, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Rivertown Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Co.

     

    Kauffman Stadium | Kansas City Royals | Kansas City, MO
    Boulevard Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing Co.

     

    Marlins Park | Miami Marlins | Miami, FL
    Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales

     

    Miller Park | Milwaukee Brewers | Milwaukee, WI
    Lakefront Brewing Company, New Glarus Brewing

     

    Minute Maid Park | Houston Astros | Houston, TX
    Samuel Adams, Spoetzl Brewery, St. Arnold Brewing Company

     

    Nationals Park | Washington Nationals | Washington, D.C.
    Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, Flying Dog Brewing Company, Heavy Seas Beer, Brewery Ommegang, Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

     

    Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | Oakland Athletics | Oakland, CA
    Lagunitas Brewing Co., Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

     

    Oriole Park at Camden Yards | Baltimore Orioles | Baltimore, MD
    Flying Dog Brewery, Fordham Brewing, Heavy Seas Beer, Old Dominion Brewing Co.

     

    PETCO Park | San Diego Padres | San Diego, CA
    Ballast Point Brewing Company, Karl Strauss Brewery, Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., Stone Brewing Co.

     

    PNC Park | Pittsburgh Pirates  | Pittsburgh, PA
    21st Amendment Brewery, Brooklyn Brewery, Church Brew Works, Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, East End Brewing Company, Erie Brewing Co., Flying Dog Brewing Company, Harpoon Brewery,  Lagunitas Brewing Co., Pennsylvania Brewing Co., Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Co., Tröegs Brewing Company

     

    Progressive Field | Cleveland Indians | Cleveland, OH
    Buckeye Brewing Co., Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., Great Lakes, Hoppin’ Frog, Thirsty Dog Brewing Company

     

    Rangers Ballpark | Texas Rangers | Arlington, TX
    Brooklyn Brewery, New Belgium Brewing Company, Rahr & Sons,  Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Spoetzl Brewery, St. Arnold Brewing Company

     

    Safeco Field | Seattle Mariners | Seattle, WA
    Fremont Brewing Company, Harmon Brewery, Iron Horse Brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Co., Lazy Boy Brewing

     

    Target Field | Minnesota Twins | Minneapolis, MN
    Samuel Adams, Summit Brewing Company, Surly Brewing Company

     

    Tropicana Field | Tampa Bay Rays | St. Petersburg, FL
    Cigar City Brewing Company

     

    Turner Field | Atlanta Braves | Atlanta, GA
    Abita Brewing Company, Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Sweetwater Brewing Company

     

    U.S. Cellular Field | Chicago White Sox | Chicago, IL
    Bell’s Brewery, Inc.

     

    Yankee Stadium | New York Yankees | Bronx, NY
    Brooklyn Brewery, Samuel Adams

    Source: http://www.craftbeer.com/

  • Of the Top 100 Beer Brands, Anheiser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors Control the Majority.

    July 6, 2012 Author: Scott
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    You know that here at Indy Beers we love to promote the little guy.  Well, we also like to let you know the monopoly the big guys have in the market.

    Last week’s announcement that Anheuser-Busch InBev had agreed to buy Corona maker Grupo Modelo is the latest move in a long trend of consolidation in the beer market, leaving it increasingly about two giant players — AB InBev and Chicago-based MillerCoors.

    The folks over at www.chicagotribune.com put together a great graphic showing who owns what, so check it out below and see who owns what beers.

     

     

    Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/

  • Church or Beer?

    July 5, 2012 Author: Scott
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    The folks over at www.floatingsheep.org put together a nice little Infographic on the difference between tweeting about beer or tweeting about church.  The sample data set was from June 22, 2012 through June 29, 2012 and looked for either the word “Beer” or “Church” in a tweet.  They found a total of 17,686 tweet mentioning “church” (half of which were sent on a Sunday) and 14,405 tweets mentioning “beer”.

    The data was reviewed further to break down the numbers by state.  Below is the breakdown on a per county basis of the tweets.

    They also created another graphic that clearly shows a north South divide in the country between these two keywords.

    Given the cultural content of the “church” tweets, the clustering of relatively more “church” than “beer” content in the southeast relative to the north-east suggests that this could be a good way to identify the contours of regional difference. In order to quantify these splits, we ran a Moran’s I test for spatial auto-correlation which proved to be highly significant as well. Without going into too much detail, this test shows which counties with high numbers of church tweets are surrounded by counties with similar patterns (marked in red) and which counties with many beer tweets are surrounded by like-tweeting counties (marked in blue).  Intriguingly there is a clear regional (largely north-south split) in tweeting topics which highlights the enduring nature of local cultural practices even when using the latest technologies for communication.

    I’m not sure what this means, but in Maryland, we seem to be right in the middle, and that’s fine with me.

    Source: http://www.floatingsheep.org/

  • The Beer Fag: Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale!

    July 3, 2012 Author: Scott
    1 Comment

    This is Gus Stathes.  Gus calls himself, “The Beer Fag” and his video reviews can be pretty funny at times.  As I once told him, “Watching these videos is like watching a train wreck. I really don’t want to watch, but I can’t look away. There is always something in them that makes me laugh.”

    To that end, I thought I would share one of his videos with you today.  If the general consensus is good, I’ll pick some of his videos from time to time to be featured on Indy Beers.  Without Further ado, allow me to introduce The Beer Fag.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_VMAPY-Q4E