I’m about to divulge a very embarrassing story, but this evening my girlfriend was away at dinnertime — volunteering for Portland Adult Ed — so I thought I would do something slightly romantic for once while she was gone and cook dinner to be ready & waiting when she got home. Well, I improvised a little and created a pretty tasty little pasta dish with some veggies, fake meatballs and some peppers and spices.
Well, for some strange reason I thought it advisable to crush a dried hot pepper by hand and sprinkle it into the sauté; and it wasn’t a bad idea, it tasted quite good actually. But, getting to the point, I must have had some of the oils from the pepper still on my hand when I rubbed my nose post-meal. Well, needless to say – my nose flaired up instantly and it hurt like a SONOFABITCH!
As quickly as I could, I Googled “Hot pepper in my nose” and clicked on the Yahoo! Answers thread which came up first in the Google results. Much to my surprise, the two most common responses for to how to stop nose pain caused by pepper oil were milk and beer. I threw open my fridge, discovered that all I had was soy milk and grabbed a beer instead (something I did have an abundance of); poured it into a bowl and stuck my face right in (I was in a whole bunch of pain at this point). Well low & behold, a few minutes later, my nose started to calm down and the pain started to subside.
I’m still not all the way back to normal but there’s no doubt that the beer definitely helped! So moral of the story? The next time you get hot pepper oil in your nose, stick your face in beer! Cheers!
I’m still recovering from a first-hand witnessing of the EPIC Red Sox domination of those Damn Yankees last night and Jacoby Ellsbury’s historic stealing of home plate so rather than an in depth beery anecdote today, I’m just going to report on some of the happenings in the Beer World which have been gathering in my inbox all week. Enjoy:
The Brewers Association names the 2009 Achievement Award Winners: The Brewers Association Recognition Award went to Ken Allen, founder of Anderson Valley Brewing Co. in Boonville, CA and former chair of the Association of Brewers, a precursor organization of the Brewers Association. The Brewers Association presented the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing to Steve Parkes of the American Brewers Guild. Parkes received this year’s award for demonstrating creativity, excellence in brewing and substantial contributions to the craft brewing community, as well as serving as lead educator for hundreds of today’s craft brewers. And The Brewers Association presented the F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award to Eric Wallace of Lefthand Brewing Co., in Longmont, CO. Eric led the charge to successfully preserve beer drinker choice and selection in helping defeat damaging legislation in Colorado. [From the official Brewers Association press release]
Consolidation in Maine’s beer industry: Atlantic Brewing Co. of Bar Harbor earlier this month bought Bar Harbor Brewing Co., which was founded in the village of Otter Creek in 1990, according to the Bangor Daily News. The paper did not reveal the purchase price.
Atlantic co-owner Doug Maffucci plans to continue to market Bar Harbor Brewing’s three main beers as Bar Harbor Brewing products, and that all of the company’s combined beers would be made at facilities in Town Hill and Portland. Atlantic is the third owner of Bar Harbor Brewing in the past two years, the paper reported. [From Mainebiz]
Guinness Announces the Release of their 250 Anniversary Stout: GUINNESS 250 Anniversary Stout is
Yankee legend "Goose" Gossage, right, and Guinness Master Brewer Fergal Murray pour the ceremonial first pint of Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout, Friday, April 24, 2009, at the Perfect Pint Public House in New York.
being made available in the United States on a limited edition basis (approximately six months). This marks the first new stout offering in the U.S. from Guinness since 1966 – more than 40 years ago – when Guinness draught was first introduced to Americans.
The limited edition release will be available nationally on April 24, 2009. A 6-pack of GUINNESS 250 Anniversary Stout bottles will have a suggested retail price of between $7.99-8.49, and this new offering will also be available in draught kegs.
The commemorative stout is carbonated, not nitrogenated like the traditional GUINNESS Draught. As a result, it has a near-white frothy stout beer head of larger bubble size than that of GUINNESS Draught, and is poured on draught in a one-part pour or gently from a bottle (as opposed to the two-part pour often associated with GUINNESS draught). This product has a crisp effervescent taste with a balanced malty, roasted, hop flavor that is enhanced when released with a lively, refreshing and smooth carbonated mouthfeel. A triple hop addition regime provides a hint of bitterness. [From the official Diageo press release]
A Bitter Ale for Bitter Times:
With government-financed corporate bailouts dominating North American headlines, Howe Sound Brewery in British Columbia is selling an ale it’s calling Bailout Bitter with the slogan “Bitter ale for bitter times.” The beer is usually offered at a lower price than other house brands.
People do tend to drown their sorrows in a recession: Alcohol sales are generally resilient in tough times, with people more likely to frequent bars—and some sectors of the alcoholic beverage industry are currently seeing a spike in sales. While there are serious socioeconomic implications to this trend, times of crisis also cry out for humor and a lighthearted view on what’s in the news. By doing just this, as well as offering a much-needed cost incentive, Bailout Bitter helps remind us that things will invariably get better. [From the JWT Anxiety Index]
Anyway, thanks for reading. I’m going to go continue my post-Red Sox Awesomeness recovery with a bottle of the new Long Trail Brewing Double IPA (which I bought today at the Portland, ME Whole Foods but is available wherever fine Vermont beer is sold). Until next time, faithful BAB clan…
The folks at Magic Hat in Burlington, VT are up to their zany tricks again; going up to, over and quite off the wall. Magic Hat is introducing two new beers for the summer season — The first, their new summer seasonal, is called “Wacko”. And the second is their summertime Odd Notion beer (which will only be available in limited quantities as part of the Magic Hat Summer Scene Variety 12-Pack), which is a sultry Belgian Blonde.
Many thanks to the good folks in the press room at Magic Hat for sending along some samples of each of the beers for review. So far I’ve only had the opportunity to put back a bottle of the Wacko Summer Ale and haven’t gotten to the Odd Notion yet (so look for another quick write up when I do) but the Wacko is quite… interesting.
It’s definitely one of the prettiest beers I’ve ever had. Magic Hat colored the beer with beet juice — not beet sugar like a lot of Belgian ales use, actual beet juice — and the resulting brew is a gorgeous, almost pure pink beer with just the slightest fringe of small white head. The aroma and the taste are both very sweet and malty with almost no hop presence to speak of. While the beet juice was supposed to be used to merely color the beer, I think some of it definitely permeates the taste of Wacko too. While that’s appealing to some, I’m no beet fan so I was put off more by this beer than I would otherwise have been. I think if I hadn’t known ahead of time that the beer was made with beets, I might have enjoyed it a bit more, but the thought of beets was too ingrained in my psyche to let it go. Oh well.
While I wasn’t Wacko’s biggest fan, my girlfriend really enjoyed the half a glass I poured for her. So, at the risk of sterotyping a bit, I think Wacko may be more a “beer for the ladies” than anything else. But isn’t that what summertime is all about? I for one am much more excited for the Odd Notion, as that sounds a lot more up my ally. Look for Wacko in 6 and 12 packs, and as a part of the new Magic Hat Summer Scene Variety packs (along with the Summertime Odd Notion) from April 1st to August 1st. And look for my review of the Odd Notion coming right up.
Note: If you represent a brewery and would like your beer reviewed here on BlogAboutBeer.com, please give me a shout. I do my best to review every beer sent to me. Thanks!
As any longtime readers will know, I’ve long sung the praises of canned craft beer here at BlogAboutBeer.com and wished for an equally long time that one of the craft breweries currently canning their beers elsewhere across the USofA would expand their distribution a tad to include the state of Maine (as of now, no one distributes canned Better Beer here). When it comes down to it, canned beer is superior to bottled beer in almost every way. Despite the fact that the myth lingers on in some uneducated pockets of the beer drinking community, long gone are the days of any sort of “metal taste” associated with canned beer. And the difference in taste between canned and bottled beer is actually really indistinguishable. Anyone who tells you that “bottled beer tastes better than canned” has merely tricked their mind into thinking there’s a difference. But what does canned beer have to do with Earth Day?
Canned Beer is Better for the Environment:
While the electricity and energy required to produce aluminum is greater than the energy needed to produce glass bottles, they require fewer resources to manufacture. Cans are much lighter to carry around, which means less gas used during shipping. And possibly most importantly, cans are more commonly recycled (the Container Recycling Institute claims that the can recycling rate is almost twice that of glass).
Other Benefits to Canned Beer:
In addition to the benefits canned beer has on the environment, cans block nearly 100% of light and oxygen, leaving your beer fresher longer. Glass, no matter the color, cannot come close to the skunk provention power of cans.
Cans can also go plenty of places that bottles cannot. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been sitting on a Maine beach wishing I had a can of beer worth drinking. Anyone who spends any time in the outdoors can appreciate the Case for Cans — you can take them to the beach, to the park, you can take cans camping, you can take them disc golfing (another HUGE pasttime around here); all places where bottles are either frowned upon or flat out not allowed. Cans simply make more sense.
So this Earth Day, as you’re celebrating the simple gifts and bounty of Mother Nature, crack open a can of your favorite craft beer (if you’re lucky enough to live in a corner of the country where you can get such a thing, that is), drink it down (and recycle afterward) and be thankful for what you’ve got. Anyone in Maine want to help me start a canning brewery?
American Craft Beer Week — which runs from May 11th-17th — is less than a month away but there are some things you can do ahead of time to prepare for a week of great beer and to show your support for the American Craft Beer movement. I just received the following statement from the press room of the Brewers Association and I thought it important to pass along:
America’s small and independent craft brewers are making special plans for the annual American Craft Beer Week (May 11-17), a national celebration highlighting the culture and contributions of craft beer. These brewers want the week to inspire beer enthusiasts to declare their independence by supporting breweries that produce fewer than 2 million barrels of beer a year and are independently owned. In the works are special brewery tours, beer and food pairing events, special release craft beers and festivals all across the U.S.
A Declaration of Beer Independence is available on the program web site and the American Craft Beer Week fan page on Facebook, which participating breweries are encouraging beer enthusiasts to sign. Local breweries and restaurants will also post a copy of the Declaration of Beer Independence so that patrons can show their support.
I will certainly report on more of the week’s goings-on (espeically any local events) as they become available, but for the time being definitely get onto the ACBW Facebook fan page or AmericanCraftBeerWeek.org and “declare your independence” (’cause really why not?). Cheers.
and it wasn’t a bad idea, it tasted quite good actually. But, getting to the point, I must have had some of the oils from the pepper still on my hand when I rubbed my nose post-meal. Well, needless to say – my nose flaired up instantly and it hurt like a SONOFABITCH!
Hat is introducing two new beers for the summer season — The first, their new summer seasonal, is called “Wacko”. And the second is their summertime Odd Notion beer (which will only be available in limited quantities as part of the Magic Hat Summer Scene Variety 12-Pack), which is a sultry Belgian Blonde.
Hi and welcome to Blog About Beer. My name is Logan and I live just north of Portland, Oregon, a city that has more craft breweries than any other in the US. I'm a full time marketer, blogger, and dad to the most beautiful girl in the world. I'm also a homebrewing and craft beer fanatic.