An American exploring the world of European beer while living in the UK
I’ve spent a considerable chunk of my spare time over the past year exploring the roots of historical beer styles ranging from pilsners to Flander’s Reds to Scottish Ales, On returning to the US what better way to reintroduce my palate to home grown brewing than a trip to Vermont, a state that can take... Continue Reading →
When you strip it back to the basics brewing beer is a pretty simple process. You need some malted grains, preferably barley, some water, and a way to heat the water. The quality and efficiency goes up significantly if you can measure and control the temperature, but there are workarounds like decoction mashing if you... Continue Reading →
In yet another episode without a proper guest Mark, Hans, and Pat take a deep dive into the world of Trappist Tripels and Belgian Golden Strongs. They start with the progenitors of the two closely related styles, Westmalle Tripel and Duvel. Having paid homage to these trailblazing examples, they look at the way Italians treat... Continue Reading →
It’s a Friday afternoon in early April, two days into my Belgian beer holiday. As I write this I’m sitting in the modern tasting room of Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen, savoring a 2012 vintage bottle of oud geuze and a cheese board. Sunlight streams through the windows, it seems like the first completely sunny day in... Continue Reading →
I just returned from a short family vacation to Scotland. My traveling companions for the journey included my wife Laurinda, our daughter Iris and two of her friends from Columbus, and my buddy Ralph Wolfe, who also doubles as father of one of the aforementioned friends. On a trip where half of the party are... Continue Reading →
Welcome to the third installment of my Belgian beer adventure. Those who have been following along at home may remember that part two ended on a Monday afternoon at Brasserie Dupont in the tiny village of Tourpes. After leaving Dupont we crossed back into Flanders and made our way to the beautiful city of Ghent,... Continue Reading →
Belgium is formally divided into three regions, Dutch speaking Flanders in the north, French speaking Wallonia in the south, and bilingual Brussels lying roughly in the middle. Setting the capital territory aside, the other two regions are separated by more than just language. Each has its own parliament, political parties, religious preferences, and of course... Continue Reading →
Last month I completed a week long, beer-centric trip around Belgium. What an amazing trip and not just because of the beer. It’s a country full of scenic landscapes and down to earth people. For a country with the second highest population density in Europe, it has a surprising amount of green space. We encountered... Continue Reading →
Nine Ohio breweries were recognized at last night’s World Beer Cup award ceremony in Nashville, TN. This year’s competition featured a record setting 8234 entries from 66 different countries, almost double the 4754 entries at the 2014 competition. Only 302 medals were awarded, which means that less than 4% of the entries were honored with... Continue Reading →
As an American living in the UK it’s been interesting to observe the outcomes of recent votes by two organizations that exist to protect and promote beer in the UK. In March the Society for Independent Brewers (SIBA) voted against raising the maximum amount of beer a brewery could produce and still belong to the... Continue Reading →
Have you ever stumbled across a bottle of beer that has been forgotten for far too long? I’m not talking something that's just a few years old, but a beer that was bottled when you were just a kid or possibly before you were born. Your first instinct might be to toss it in the... Continue Reading →
After spending a few enjoyable days in Amsterdam, today I leave the land of tulips and windmills, Rembrandt and van Gogh, Heineken and Grolsch. My destination, Belgium, has long been at the top of my list of dream travel destinations. The anticipation is palpable, and for good reason. In Belgium brewing is elevated to an... Continue Reading →
After more than a year in hibernation the Pat's Pints Podcast returns with an episode devoted to British Ales with a focus on beers with heavy metal themes, including Camerons Motorhead-inspired Road Crew and Robinsons Iron Maiden themed beers. Mark and I are joined by longtime friend Hans Gorsuch for an extended discussion of bitters,... Continue Reading →
After a few months of the dark, damp English winter my wife was pining to head south to reacquainted herself with the sun. A few destinations were discussed, and eventually Rome rose to the top of the list. With all that the Eternal City has to offer—unrivaled history, inspiring architecture, amazing food, babes suckling on... Continue Reading →
When I first moved to the UK it didn’t take long to figure out that Cloudwater Brewing represented something very modern. The visuals—16 oz cans with wrap on labels, ingredients listed on the can for all to see, prodigious hop additions, premium pricing—were immediately familiar to someone from the USA. When I bought a can... Continue Reading →
It’s New Year’s Day in Dublin, the first day of my first visit to the Emerald Isle. With temperatures hovering a little above the freezing point and a stiff wind blowing out of the west, this is not the night for a leisurely walk by the Liffey. It’s not raining, but the streets are still... Continue Reading →
As the days get short and the mercury drops, the popularity of strong, dark beers waxes. What better time to break out that bottle of barrel aged imperial stout that’s been quietly aging in your cellar. A perfect time for the long awaited next installment of my Ohio vs the World series, a sporadic feature... Continue Reading →
Most craft breweries are small businesses in the truest sense of the word, and the people who launch them are often forced to be creative when it comes to siting their breweries. In Ohio alone, I’ve visited breweries housed in old car washes (Lineage) and auto parts stores (JAFB), in pole barns (Little Fish) and... Continue Reading →
If beer styles were celebrities Berliner Weisse might well be viewed in the same light as David Hasselhoff or Def Leppard, more popular abroad than in its native land. Yes, I know Napoleon dubbed it the champagne of the north when his armies occupied Berlin, but the 20th century was not a good one for... Continue Reading →
Pilsner occupies a rather unusual spot in the pantheon of beer styles. When people first get turned onto craft beer their instinct is to gravitate to something dark or hoppy or fruity. Lagers are generally none of those things, in fact they are almost the antithesis of what casual observers think craft beer is about,... Continue Reading →
