It’s a busy time of year for Guinness brewmaster Fergal Murray, as you might imagine. Not only is he tasked with ensuring the quality of every batch of beer at Dublin’s St. James Gate Brewery (which produces approximately 4 million pints each day), but he serves as the globetrotting brand…
There are probably as many ways to rank beers as there are beer drinkers, though most stick to similar criteria. Beer Advocate users frequently grade by appearance, smell, taste, mouth feel and drinkability, while RateBeer users grade by aroma, appearance, flavor, palate and overall. Of course, standardizing how beers are…
For all those times you’ve come home from work with a throbbing headache, and the walls close in too fast, here’s an iPhone app to Tarzan-in and keep you from dying. Or at least crying. It’s called Happy Hours, and it’s powered by Go Time and Village Voice Media. It’s…
Every first Monday of the month our very own Pete Freedman serves as DJ for the Libertine Bar on Greenville Avenue. During the Local Hang ol’ Playlister P plays nothing but local music (naturally) and so, being a fan of quality music played where I can eat and drink, I…
As you may know from Jim Schutze’s cover story this week, one of the issues challenging Oak Cliff businesses is the neighborhood’s dry status. Liquor stores are banned, and some grocery stores such as Whole Foods find it economically unfeasible to open in the area, as the profit margin is…
For all that I wrote last week about seasonal beers that fall outside of the usual dark and heavy winter warmer classification, the first thing I wanted once it was safe to send Lady Hophead on a beer run … was a porter. Along with a few old favorites, she…
With the exception of a few Saint Arnold’s Christmas Ale six-packs, recent trips to Central Market, Goody Goody and Applejack are proving that the bounty of holiday brews is but a fond memory. Only those wise souls who stocked up on Anchor, Scaldis Noel, Delirium Noel and other wonderful beers…
I’d like to give a lake of beer to God / I’d love the Heavenly Host to be tippling there for all eternity … I’d sit with the men, the women of God, there by the lake of beer / We’d be drinking good health forever and every drop would…
Number 7 on the Hophead Beer of the Year list last month was Inedit, a new creation from Barcelona brewery Estrella Damm specifically created as an alternative to wine for food pairings. What landed this brew on my year-end list wasn’t the taste. In fact, I hadn’t even tried it…
See, I’ve started this whole “eating well and exercising” bullshit that’s totally overrated because it’s making me feel better, sleep better, lose jiggle…wait, what? Yeah, it’s working and I’m totally pleased, so I guess it’s not really BS, but I like the snark so whatever.Only problem with my new life…
O gude ale comes and gude ale goes; Gude ale gars me sell my hose, Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon-Gude ale keeps my heart aboon! — Scottish poet Robert Burns, whose birthday is toasted annually on or around January 25With Burns Night coming up, what better time to…
I made no New Year resolutions. At least, I’ve not called any of my plans to become a better me “resolutions.” Too easily broken once you put that dastardly moniker on them, you know. But I will say that this Lose It! iPhone app is coming in handy and my…
Delaware’s Dogfish Head landed at No. 2 on the Hophead Beer of the Year list for 2009, thanks in large part to its creative approach. But the brewery isn’t just forward-thinking with its innovative beverages–it also has a healthy respect for the past, and goes so far as to resurrect…
Now that yesterday’s Epiphany has come and gone, even those who hold onto the holiday spirit well past New Year’s Day have to admit that it’s time to get back into the workaday routine. But that doesn’t mean the spirit doesn’t linger a bit, at least when it comes to…
It’s almost time to pop the cork on your favorite bottle of bubbly (and surely anyone reading this column will know that beer is bubbly too). That means it’s time for Hophead’s contribution to City of Ate’s endless stream of Year In Review posts. While I may not have sampled…
In testing out the theories and recipes and perfect stomach liners for this column, I’ve realized (I actually always knew, but epiphanies are so much more on trend these days) that due to the “event” quality of a girl drink, we can drink fewer of them than just any ol’…
While last week’s Hophead focused on just a very few of the great Christmas beers available this time of year, this week’s is a more general look at winter seasonal beers along with beers that are well suited to drinking by the fireplace or in a warm pub escaping the…
Spring ales, summer hefes and autumn’s Oktoberfest beers are nice when the season arrives. But for many beer lovers, including myself, nothing can compare to the rich variety of beer that winter brings. Along with seasonal stouts and porters (which I intend to write about next week), winter also heralds…
Dearest Smoke,On two separate occasions you have wooed me and my posse with food and drink divine. I’m not even going to get into discussing the hominy casserole for fear I’ll abandon all responsibility and drive to you to eat it now. But the drinks? I would be happy to…
It’s not carbonated. It is aged for years in a variety of barrels, served in 2-ounce pours at room temperature, contains 27 percent alcohol by volume (54 proof, in other words) and carries suggested retail price tag of $150 for a 24-ounce bottle. And it’s beer. The 2009 version of…
If barley be wanting to make into maltWe must be content and think it no fault For we can make liquor to sweeten our lipsOf pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips. –Anonymous colonist, 1630Though some dispute the story, many beer lovers cling to the legend that the Pilgrims landed at…
Last week, Pyramid’s Haywire Hefeweizen proved a tad, shall we say, underwhelming. This week seemed a perfect opportunity to try a couple of macro-brewed attempts at craft-brew styles, just to put things in perspective. After all, if a relatively small outfit like Pyramid can’t get the wheat-beer style right, surely…
