Ever sip on your Widmer Brothers Beer and think who those brother are, and if they really exist.  Well, they do, and they’re a lot of fun.  In fact, they took us out for a delicious beer paired dinner at Maverick – and to our surprise tasted us on some of their newer creations.  The same brothers that brought you your first hefeweizen are now making a whole line – everything from IPA to amber, to their newest bourbon barrel aged beer (named “Brrr” – love the name!)  We sat with the master brewer (the guy in the blue shirt), the two brothers (on either side of him), and some of the Widmer and Craft Brewers Alliance Team.  The fabulous Maverick team made a delectable paring:

RSVP LIST IS NOW FULL. YOU CAN STILL JOIN, TICKETS ARE NOW $5 AT THE DOOR. SEE YOU THERE!

How green beer is going to save the world. By Corey Hill (GlobalExchange.org) (From issue 8.) Mention “green beer,” and the first thing that comes to mind is likely a garish concoction sloshing over the rim of a giant plastic cup, watery beer slurred with food coloring, a vague memory of a questionable libation accompanied by visions of questionable acts you committed on that notorious day in March. But let’s rethink the term. Green doesn’t have to be artificial – think recycling, biking to work, and turning off the lights when you’re not in the bathroom. Green living is bubbling to the forefront of our collective consciousness, and unfortunately for concerned beer lovers, a great deal about beer is bad for the environment. In fact, studies estimate that a single six-pack of beer produces over six pounds of carbon dioxide emissions in its life cycle. Six pounds, for purposes of [...]

When we were invited to check out Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, I hesitated knowing how far it is.  For some reason, I had imagined Half Moon Bay miles further than Pacifica – in reality it took us 20 minutes to drive there from San Francisco.  An easy trip – and if you have never driven down there you should. It’s absolutely beautiful.  The short drive takes you along the cliffs over looking the water and winds through the hills.

We’re giving away tickets to San Francisco’s Premier Wine, Food, and Spirits Week. We have 4 tickets to the Sugar Party, 4 to the Spice party, and 4 to the Industry Party. It’s easy to win! 1. Tell your friends about Drink Me 2. Get them to sign up for our email list (top right of this page) We will choose 6 new email addresses and they will win a pair of tickets to one of the events (and bring you)! The more friends you tell, the more chances you have to win. Good luck. We’ll see you there. SFChefs 2010 presented by Visa Signature®, is a food and wine event celebrating the unique flavor, diversity and bounty of Northern California. The main tasting tent will be in Union Square, where chefs, wine makers and distillers will offer an exploration of taste featuring local products. Classes and seminars will offer [...]

by Katie Pizzuto Lambic in general, is a world of beer unto itself. Completely unlike any lager or ale you’ll ever taste, Belgium’s lambics serve as a reminder that not all beers are brewed equally, and at some point or another, if you find yourself becoming a sort of craft brew geek, you inevitably wind up exploring lambics as a sort of rite of passage. While most of the world’s breweries are clinically sanitized and sterilized, the natural spontaneous fermentation of a lambic is what gives the beer so much complexity, and what creates the bizarre mix of aromas and flavors that would mean a spoiled batch of beer in any other place in the world. But knowing that casual beer drinkers—not merely Budweiser-swilling folks, but even those with a more experienced palate—might be turned off by intensely sour beers, Belgian brewers began adding fruit to lambics and doing a [...]

by Nate from Whiskywall Aging beer in a barrel is by no stretch of the imagination a new idea. In the history of beer making, beer has certainly spent a lot more time in wooden barrels than any other container. But not most of the beers we grew up with. More often then not, the beer you saw your dad drinking, that you pilfered from you dad’s stash, or that you actually shared with your dad depending upon your particular situation, was born in a metal receptacle and served in a can. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of quality brews currently out there that have never known the caress of a plank of wood. And cans are on the comeback with good reason. Whether for traditional reasons or wild-eyed experimentation, a large selection of barrel aged beers are increasingly available to those seeking an old/new twist. While Belgian brews have been a reliable source for seekers of barrel aged [...]

By Brian Yaeger ( article from issue 8 ) First and foremost, there is one primary way to discuss and grade a beer and that’s by how much you like it or don’t. Seriously, it’s either thumbs up, thumbs down, or if you’re wishy-washy, thumbs sideways. But to really get down to the multifaceted ways of appreciating a beer, you can begin to smell for aromas ranging from earthy to spicy to toasty. You can size up its body based on a billowy head or the web-like lacing it leaves on the glass. You can turn into a math nerd and quantify numbers such as original or final gravity, which dictate its percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) or how hoppy it is based on its international bitter units (IBU). But whereas all those factors build up to the beer’s overall character and, essentially, flavor, one characterization gets paid the [...]