Tales of ales from the heart of Ohio to the ends of the Earth
Last month I completed a week long, beer-centric trip around Belgium. What an amazing trip and not just because of the beer. For a country with the second highest population density in Europe, it has a surprising amount of green space. We encountered vistas as diverse as the wooded hills of the Ardennes, the verdant... 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 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 →
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 →
For reasons that are not completely obvious to me Czech beers have had less impact on American brewers than beer styles from elsewhere in Europe. Have a look at the commercial examples listed with each of the four subcategories of Czech lager in the BJCP style guidelines and you won’t find many familiar names. When... Continue Reading →
Scotland’s contributions to the world far exceed any reasonable expectation for a country with half the population of Ohio. The world would be a duller place without the likes of whisky, golf, curling, kilts, bagpipes, and the catchy 80’s pop hit “In a Big Country”. We can thank Scotland for the steam engine (James Watt),... Continue Reading →
As many of you know I’ve temporarily relocated to the north of England, where I’ll be spending the next eleven months on sabbatical at Durham University. Obviously, my ability to cover beer goings on in the Buckeye State are going to be limited during this period, and believe me I’m already missing the great beer... Continue Reading →
One of the perks of being an academic is the occasional opportunity to travel to faraway places. If you’ve been reading this blog for long enough you’ll know that I try to take advantage of these opportunities when I can. I’ve got a responsibility to my readers after all. Earlier posts described my efforts to... Continue Reading →
Recently I spent two days in Boston with my amazing, adventurous wife, Laurinda. A weekend getaway in a cosmopolitan, historic city seemed like a great way to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After all what’s more romantic than excursions to out of the way industrial parks in parts of the city with absolutely no connection to... Continue Reading →
Back in July I took a five day trip out to Colorado with the sole purpose of visiting breweries. I met my friend Ralph Wolfe at the Denver airport, and the two of us set out to find the best beers and most interesting breweries Northern Colorado has to offer. The first two posts in... Continue Reading →
After spending two nights in Fort Collins we got up on Friday morning and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some sightseeing and a bit of hiking. I highly recommend it making the drive up into the mountains to take in some gorgeous vistas, especially if you are visiting breweries and have time... Continue Reading →
Have you ever gone on a beercation? I’m not talking about working a few brewery visits into your normal vacation, but a trip where the itinerary revolves around seeking out and drinking the most delicious beer you can find. Learn about the intricacies of decoction mashing instead of wasting time at the art museum. Visit... Continue Reading →
Last November work took me to Helsinki where I spent the weekend search for the elusive Finnish farmhouse ale, Sahti. Fast forward six months and I find myself in Europe once again in search of a beer style that not so long ago was perilously close to extinction—gose. Despite its German heritage gose thumbs its nose... Continue Reading →
I don’t know about the rest of you but by the middle of February I’ve had my fill of winter. So when we finally get to the spring equinox I’m more than ready to move on. This year on the last official day of winter (March 20, 2015) I found myself in Denver, Colorado on... Continue Reading →
Before Thanksgiving I promised a series of posts from my October visit to Oregon, but aside from a post on the Bend Ale Trail I haven’t followed up on that promise. Better late than never here is the second installment in this series, a visit to one of the most unique breweries in the country –... Continue Reading →
Most of my travel destinations are dictated by work or family commitments. The beer excursions that you read about on the pages of this blog must be creatively worked into the itinerary of those trips. This explains why my first report from Europe since starting this blog is not from Brussels or Munich, but from... Continue Reading →
Pat's Pints 