I believe Captain Hops from Beer Haiku Daily said it best way back on April 26th when he went through what I’m going through this weekend:

My world in shambles
And everything boxed away
Beer still takes me home

That’s right – we’re moving this weekend. While not all that far (literally, from the 3rd floor to the first floor of the same building), it’s amazing how boxing everything up and moving everything downstairs throws things into shambles. Thankfully I was able to keep a 6-pack of homebrew from being boxed up, and it’s helping me get through all the schlepping.

I also may or may not have much internet access during the next week (and hopefully not any longer, although it’s a slight possibility), so I apologize in advance if there’s a lack of posting around here.

Have a great, safe, beer-filled weekend everyone. Cheers!

What do you do when you own all of the strip clubs, gyms, and most of the buildings in downtown Tampa Bay Florida? Run for local government? No, after that… open a brewery, of course!

And that’s just what Tampa King Pin Joe Redner, along with his son Joey, plans to do. The pair would like to open Cigar City Brewing by September. A Brewery which would specialize in local flavors and teach patrons how to match beer with meals. According to Tampa Bay Online,

A key part of the plan is to hold catered dinners at the 6,000-square-foot brewery on Friday nights. Diners would be served a five-course meal, each course paired with a different beer. The Redners expect about 50 people to attend each dinner.

But the brewery will be just that and won’t have a bar or regularly serve food (except for the Friday night events). The younger Redner told the Tampa city council that,

…he has no plans to sell pints of beer or turn the venture into a bar. His goal is simple, he said: Produce about 2,000 barrels a year and focus on local flavors, such as exotic fruits. He wants Cigar City Brewing to be the go-to microbrewery in Tampa.

Joey also told the council, apparently, that he has been a beer connoisseur for years, and has written about beer for many Web sites and trade publications. He claims it has been a dream of his family’s — his multi-millionaire father is financing the project — to open their own craft brewery for a long time.

Who knows, maybe there will be a strip club or a gym tucked away behind the mash tuns…

source: “Redner Has New Idea Brewing: Beer Venture with Son” [Tampa Bay Online]

Mashable.com today lists 13 of the web’s best (in their opinion, not necessarily in mine) resources for beer geeks lovers.

Do you like beer? Are you one of those folks who always drinks the same brand, or are you willing to try something new? If the answer is the latter, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a wealth of beer-related sites out there with great info for beer connoisseurs. Let the taps flow!

To check out their list — which includes, of course, BeerAdvocate, AllAboutBeer.com, BYO.com and the newcomer: BeerSuggest.com — click here. What would you add to the list?

[image and article courtesy of Mashable]

The blog oddee.com the other day listed 7 of the coolest beer gadgets in the known (robot) universe (thanks Wren, for pointing them out!). Some of my favorites included the R/C Cooler, which really touches on my pension for laziness:

And the beer launching fridge… because there’s just something about drinking a beer that really makes me want to play catch. Check out the sweet video demonstration:

Check out the rest of the list here. And have a happy, safe, sunshine & beer-filled holiday weekend, everyone!

The Folks at Flying Dog Ales were nice enough to send me a bottle of the 4^th member of their Canis Major Series — and their newest beer — Kerberos (ker-burr-os) Tripel. Kerberos is a bottle conditioned Belgian-style Strong Ale that weighs in at 8.5% ABV. It’s brewed with Pilsner and Aromatic malts and Golding and Saaz hops, yielding a deep golden to light copper in color and pretty, puffy (although quickly disappearing) finger-wide head.

Kerberos (the mythological three-headed guard dog of Hades) tastes sort of like a much ballsier version of their spring seasonal Garde Dog. One of its most note-worthy features is the millions of tiny bubbles, making it feel almost champagne-like across the tongue. But the uniqueness of the beer doesn’t stop there; the first few sips are almost overly sweet and unexpected. It’s as if someone drenched candied pancakes in alcohol. Then, as the beer warms, a few bitter and spicy notes begin to peak through. Lastly, whole thing finishes very dry and strong.

The best part about this beer is, for the almost 9% ABV, it’s surprisingly easy to drink (maybe not that surprising, as many of the Flying Dog ales can be described this way)! It’s really a perfect session beer but, unlike it’s session-counterparts, it still packs a punch! For more on the process of creating this beer, watch this video interview with Flying Dog Brewery Lead Dog Eric Warner and Executive Brewer Matt Brophy and look for Kerberos Tripel as part of the “Canis Major” 4-packs on shelves nationwide this summer.

Flying Dog Brewery Kerberos Tripel from Flying Dog Brewery on Vimeo