Stone Old Guardian 2011 Classic Release vs. BELGO Version

While not everyone thinks it’s a tremendously creative idea, Stone Brewing Co. this year has introduced a program called “Odd Beers For Odd Years,” in which the recipes for Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine and Stone Imperial Russian Stout are tweaked. This year, the brewery is adding the Belgian yeast…

Tasting Offerings From Two Prospective Dallas Breweries

Deep Ellum Brewing Company and Peticolas Brewing Company are both making progress toward opening and making their wares available to the general public, with DEBC completing the hire of Saint Louis’ Andrew Huerter as brewmaster and making inroads with distributor Ben E. Keith, while Michael Peticolas’ one-man operation (using equipment…

Blue Fish’s Happy Hour: Reason to Rave

Each week, Happy Eating highlights a restaurant happy hour food menu. This week, we’re on Lower Greenville for sashimi at The Blue Fish. Where: The Blue Fish Sushi, 3519 Greenville Ave. When: 5-7 p.m. Monday-Friday The Scene: Dining at any Blue Fish will always feel like eating sushi at a…

Peticolas Brewing Company Sets Sights On Dallas Location

Deep Ellum Brewing Company looks to be on pace to be the city’s first non-brewpub microbrewery, but it may not be the only one for long. Attorney and homebrewer Michael Peticolas was looking into investing in a new brewery in another city. Yet the more he investigated, the more he…

Sampling Spring Seasonals From Samuel Adams and Magic Hat

Boy, doesn’t this lovely weather just put you in the mood for a crisp, cold spring beer? Well, the temperatures may not quite yet be spring-like, and spring may not officially begin for more than a month, but spring seasonals are already appearing on grocery shelves — just as it…

My Loko Night: Testing Black-Market Original-Formula Four Loko

First they came for Sparks, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t drink Sparks.Then they came for Four Loko, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t drink Four Loko. Then they came for Moonshot ’69, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t drink Moonshot ’69. Then they…

Makeshift Cocktails to Give You a Rolling Blackout

This week, we had, I believe, three blackouts in Girl Drink Drunk Land. Some Aters saw six according to Twitter reports, and yet another Ater offered that her home temp dropped from 70 to 56 degrees during one of the blackouts in the OED.So, I got to thinking about some…

Upcoming Beer Events, Including Two That Prove Jester King Is No Joke

As impressive as I found Commercial Suicide, from Austin’s Jester King Brewery, I didn’t have a chance to sample any of Jester King’s other offerings until last week, when The Common Table featured Black Metal Imperial Stout on BrewsDay Tuesday. And while I wasn’t completely blown away, it really was…

Beers Of The Year

Overall, it’s been another great year for beer, at least from my perspective here in North Texas. If I didn’t suspect reader list burnout, I could probably do another top 10 piece on the best developments of the past year, and even another on things I’m most looking forward to…

Hophead’s Personal Top 10 Beers Of The Year

This week, I’m looking back on 2010 with a couple of lists. First, I’ll share my 10 favorite beers of the year. They’re not my top 10 of all time, but rather 10 brews I tried (and in many cases, subjected to the Hophead Ranking System) this year and really…

And The Libertine Holiday Beer Dinner Winner Is…

Thanks to all who shared their tales of holiday embarrassment, trauma, blackouts and illness in our latest commenting contest. It was a lot of fun (and sometimes just sad) reading them, and also oddly comforting to know that I’m not alone in finding that the holidays aren’t just a nonstop…

Win Two Seats At The Libertine Bar’s
Holiday Beer Dinner

The Libertine Bar sent along details about its December 29 holiday beer dinner, as well as a pair of tickets for one lucky City of Ate reader. Or rather, for the purposes of this contest, “one unlucky City of Ate reader” would be more accurate. Winning the tickets would be…

Where In Dallas To Taste Some of The World’s Strongest Beers

Sink the Bismarck! from BrewDog on Vimeo.Scotland’s Brewdog brewery made headlines early this year with Sink The Bismarck!, a 41-percent ABV quadruple IPA that surpassed German brewery Schorschbrau’s 40-percent ABV Schorsbock 40% as the world’s strongest beer. Schorsbock 40% had earlier one-upped Brewdog’s 32-percent ABV Tactical Nuclear Penguin as the…