An American exploring the world of European beer while living in the UK
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 →
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 →
As I was scrolling through my social media accounts this morning I saw that Wolf's Ridge Brewing scored a gold medal at the Festival of Barrel Aged Beers (FoBAB) yesterday in Chicago. My first instinct was to tweet to Chris Davison congratulating him and everyone else at Wolf's Ridge, but when I scrolled through the... Continue Reading →
After years of unbridled growth, the American craft beer industry appears to be entering a new phase. Over 800 craft breweries opened their doors in 2016, but the rate at which they are opening is gradually starting to slow. A small but increasing number of breweries are closing up shop, Blank Slate Brewing in Cincinnati... Continue Reading →
Many great beer styles are associated with a region—pilsners with the Czech Republic, lambics with Brussels, goses with Leipzig, saisons with Wallonia, steam beer with San Francisco, and so on. While most styles originated in Europe long ago, America has made important contributions in my lifetime. American-style pale ales and IPAs originated in the Pacific... Continue Reading →
This month marks the fourth anniversary of the Pat’s Pints blog. Looking back, I realize that I fortuitously started this adventure at a point in time when the beer landscape in Ohio was in the early days of its current renaissance. At that time there were about ten craft breweries in Franklin County, some of... Continue Reading →
Craft brewers have benefited from the eat/drink/buy local movement as much as anyone. There’s something that feels right about having a pint of beer in the place where it was made, sometimes even served to you by the person who brewed it. While frequenting local breweries undeniably helps support the local economy, it doesn't boost... Continue Reading →
This past Sunday marked another successful finish to one of Ohio’s longest running beer traditions, the Barley’s Homebrew Competition. The contest dates back to last century, the summer of 1996 to be specific. At that time I was still in graduate school in Oregon, drinking the likes of Rogue, Deschutes and Widmer. In those days... Continue Reading →
In the crowded landscape of craft brewing some aspect of your business should differentiate you from the competition. Maybe it’s your location, or your branding, but ideally the beer itself can stand out from the crowd. With over 200 breweries in Ohio that task is easier said than done, but breweries such as Zaftig (high-gravity... Continue Reading →
It’s a brisk Saturday afternoon in early March and I’m wandering through the rows of a nondescript industrial park in Whitehall, just south of the Columbus Airport. This is not the result of an out of control Friday night bender at the Actual taproom either, I’m searching for the 2 Tones Brewing production facility, with... Continue Reading →
How can you have a craft beer week without a collaboration beer? Admittedly it's not against the law, but it would like the All Star Game without a home run derby, like the state fair without butter sculptures, like Lucy without a sky of diamonds. Since the 3rd annual Columbus Craft Beer Week is less than three weeks... Continue Reading →
Last night Land Grant Brewing held their first session of what they call Land Grant University, a series of educational sessions on the key ingredients in beer. The inaugural session was devoted to yeast, future sessions will focus on hops, malts and water. Attendance was capped at 50 participants and there was a full house... Continue Reading →
Last month while attending an event at Barley's Brewcadia, Mary MacDonald, Executive Director of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association (OCBA), asked if I would be interested in a media pass to attend the Ohio Craft Brewer’s Conference in Cincinnati. I think we can all agree it’s a rather liberal interpretation of the term “media” to include... Continue Reading →
For the past two years I’ve made a list of my favorite Central Ohio beers of the past year. Before this January slips away entirely it’s time for my 2016 list. To be eligible a beer should be new (or at least new to me), newly packaged, flying under the radar, or have made waves in... Continue Reading →
I know the holidays can be a hectic, for some downright stressful, time of the year. There are parties to attend, gifts to buy, carols to sing, and stockings to stuff. While acknowledging those demands on your time, you need to do whatever it takes to clear your calendar for this coming Saturday (Dec. 17),... Continue Reading →
It’s a beautiful fall day and I’m driving southeast to visit one of Ohio’s up and coming breweries, Little Fish Brewing in Athens. Over the course of the ninety minute drive the flat landscape and urban sprawl of Ohio’s largest city give way to the rolling western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Downtown Athens has a... Continue Reading →
The 2nd annual King of Ohio contest is now in the books. For those not familiar with this contest it started two years ago when a group of Ohio beer bloggers teamed up to sponsor a contest designed to pick the best Ohio-brewed IPA. The eventual winner, Hoof Hearted’s Musk of the Minotaur, was an unknown... Continue Reading →
Soccer leagues throughout most of the world practice the concept of promotion and relegation. At the end of each season the teams that finish at the top of a given division are promoted to the next higher division, while those that finish at the bottom are relegated to make room for the newcomers. Anticipating more revenue,... Continue Reading →
Back in July Tom Aguero, the man behind the Brewminds blog (formerly Queen City Drinks) contacted Rick Armon, Ohio's beer writer laureate and the man responsible for the most up-to-date and informative beer blog in the state, The Beer Blog - Ohio, and yours truly to see if we were interested in participating in the Six-Pack Project — an idea developed several years... Continue Reading →
To finish my three part series on American IPAs (better late than never) we return to where it all started—to the bold, flavorful hop varieties born and bred in the USA. Within the IPA genre it’s a big tent approach when it comes to the malt bill—East Coast, West Coast, Session IPA, Double IPA, Rye... Continue Reading →
