Summit EPA took GOLD in the Classic English Style Pale Ale category of the World Beer Cup tonight. Congratulations!
Category Archives: Announcements
Odell Brewing Comes to the Twin Cities
I got a press release today from Odell Brewing of Fort Collins, Colorado announcing that they would be starting distribution of their beers in the Twin Cities Metro beginning May 3rd. According to the release, “Odell Brewing will offer 90 Shilling, 5 Barrel Pale Ale, IPA, as well as its Seasonal and Single Serve beers to Minnesota beer fans primarily in and around the Twin Cities. Brewery representative Todd Ewing will relocate to the area to help with the launch and to develop the new market.”
I have made numerous trips to Fort Collins and Odell is an outstanding brewery who’s beers I stock up on when there. Look for more announcements of release events in the near future.
ABCs of Beer at Cooks of Crocus Hill
There are still a few spots open for the ABCs of Beer class that I am teaching at Cooks of Crocus Hill. The class is on Friday night March 26th. Cooks has a 15% discount sale on selected classes going on now. This one is filling up, so check out the Cooks website to reserve your spot.
ABCs Of Beer
Friday, March 26, 6 – 8 PM, $47
What’s the difference between and ale and a Lager? What’s the best glass for my favorite beer? Which beers can I cellar and which ones should I drink young? Join Certified Cicerone (the beer expert equivalent of a sommelier) Michael Agnew as he shows you all the basics and then some. You’ll learn how to taste, select and care for beers of all types and styles. Includes a selection of Craft Beers from around the world representing basic styles and light snacks.
Beer 101 at the U of MN
That’s right, a beer class at the University of Minnesota!
I’ll be teaching a course called A Perfect Pint: The Basics of Beer Tasting and Appreciation for the Compleat Scholar program at the College of Continuing Education. The course meets four consecutive Wednesday nights starting April 7th. Classes will be held at the University Club of St. Paul. Tuition is $160 and there is a $40 fee for beer. Follow the link to register. Here’s the course description:
Most people readily accept the notion that wine is a beverage worthy of contemplation and consideration. Recognition of the subtleties of varietals and terroir is firmly established. After 50 years of a market dominated by light lagers, the same cannot be said of beer. For most people beer is a pale-yellow, fizzy liquid with very little flavor and hopefully even fewer calories. But good beer never went away and is currently enjoying a worldwide renaissance driven by the emergence of small craft breweries throughout the United States. Well-crafted beer rivals wine for flavor and complexity. Join the instructor, a certified BeerCicerone, or beer adviser similar to a wine sommelier, for a course on the basics of beer tasting and appreciation. During each session you will learn about beer styles, ingredients, brewing processes, and history through presentations and tastings. You will gain an understanding of how ingredients such as hops, barley, and yeast contribute to the overall character of particular beers, as well as how regional, historical, and economic forces contributed to the emergence of particular types of beer.Wild Beers
The March Meeting of the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club.
When: Friday, March 12, 2010
Cost: $35
You must be a member of the club to attend. Go to the Twin Cities Perfect Pint Beer Club to join and RSVP.
You only thought the beer club was wild. We’re about to get really wild. I’m talking wild fermentation, baby.
Sour beers were once enjoyed the world over. Even English porter was once a blend of fresh beer with “stale” or sour beer. Guinness still adds a small amount of soured stout to their beer to give it a slight acidic tang, a holdover from that earlier time. Over the years sour beers dropped from favor until only a few examples remained, centered mostly in Belgium where old brewing traditions die hard. The traditional lambic breweries of the Senne Valley have continued to hang on despite declining consumption at home. Enter the American craft beer scene. The discovery of sour beers in the United States has spurred a revival of these styles. American beer fans now provide the main source of support for those very same traditional Belgian breweries, and dozens of American craft brewers are turning up the funk in home-grown barrel-aging programs.
Sour beers are among the most mind-blowing, uniquely complex and delicious beers in the world. These are beers that will forever shatter your notions of what beer is. Acidity, not normally a component of beer evaluation, is what these beers are all about. They inspire flavor descriptors like “horse blanket”, “barnyard”, “old cheese”, and “dirty socks”. Tart, cidery, vinous, fruity, funky and delicious, these are some of the best beers in the world.
For this month’s meetup we’ll dig deep into the wild and wooly world of wild and spontaneous fermentation. Get gaga for gueuze. Luxuriate with a lambic. Delight in a lightweight Berliner Weiss (I may even be able to locate some raspberry and woodruff syrup to drink it the way the Germans do). We’ll do fruity Flanders reds and full-on funky 100% brett fermented beers. With fermentation agents like brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and pediococcus how can you go wrong? Bring a roll of Rolaids and let’s get funky.
And take my advice – learn to look beyond the sour.
Beer Classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill
A Perfect Pint is excited to announce these upcoming beer classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill, taught by Cicerone Michael Agnew.
ABCs Of Beer
Friday, March 26, 6 – 8 PM, $55
What’s the difference between and ale and a Lager? What’s the best glass for my favorite beer? Which beers can I cellar and which ones should I drink young? Join Certified Cicerone (the beer expert equivalent of a sommelier) Michael Agnew as he shows you all the basics and then some. You’ll learn how to taste, select and care for beers of all types and styles. Includes a selection of Craft Beers from around the world representing basic styles and light snacks.
Smoked, Grilled and Sauced: A Wine and Beer Pairing Experience
With Chef Mike Shannon and Sommelier Leslee Miller
Friday, April 30, 6 – 9 PM, $75
Summer’s coming, and that means it’s time to fire up the grill. Join Chef Mike, Sommelier Leslee and Certified Cicerone Michael for a celebration of suds, smoke and vine. The chef will work the grill while our wine and beer gurus pour perfectly matched libations. Explore your palate and learn how to create great pairings for your upcoming summer soirées. Includes Pulled Pork Cobb Salad, Smoked Salmon Pizza, Grilled Lamb Chops with Tomatoes and Chick Peas, Jamaican Chicken with Caribbean Slaw, Cheesecake with Chocolate Almond Crust and Tart Cherry Sauce, as well as an assortment of fine beers and wines.
Cheese and Ale: Pairing Beer and Cheese
With Fromager Ken Liss
Monday, May 17, 6 – 8 PM, $55
Join Fromager Ken Liss and Cicerone Michael Agnew for a satisfying session of sipping and nibbling. You’ll start with fromage fundamentals – types, textures, flavors, shopping, storing and serving – then discover how to choose beers that complement each cheese. Includes cheese and beer from around the world.
I’ve worked with Ken, Leslee, and Mike. They know their stuff and know how to present it with passion. All three of these classes should be filled with fun and excellent eats and drinks. You can sign up or learn more about the classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill here.
Blended Beer Cocktails
My latest post on the Ratebeer Hop Press.
A significant part of my holiday beer consumption this year consisted of what I will call blended beer cocktails. By this I mean two or more beers mixed together. Blending beers is nothing new. The blending of one, two, and three-year-old lambic into gueuze is an art in Belgium and porter is purported to have originated from a blend of mild and stale beers called three threads. Even now, craft brewers like Southern Tier in New York use blending to create new beers, as exemplified by Gemini, a 50/50 blend of their Un*earthly and Hoppe double IPAs and a beer that gives new meaning to the phrase “more than the sum of its parts.” Read More…
Schorschbräu Bests Penguin: A New World’s Strongest Beer!
And the hits just keep on comin’!
Some time ago I reported that Germany’s Shorschbräu was about to release Shorschbock 40%, knocking Brewdog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin off the throne as worlds strongest beer. Well that day has apparently arrived. A new highest alcohol beer has been born. A post on the Schorschbräu website dated December 2009 translates:
A historic month with a further, barely imaginable beer record!
We at Schorschbräu don’t accept upward boundaries. Therefore we have now set a new beer record with an astonishing 40% ABV.
This announcement is reinforced by the boast at the top of the page, “Our current record: 40%. And no end in sight.”
As proof that they have achieved new heights of booziness, Schorschbräu has provided a link to laboratory results from BLB GmbH Brau-Labor und Beratung dated November 9, 2009 showing an alcohol by volume percentage of 39.44.
Congratulations to Schorschbräu! Although I am starting to find this quest for the world’s strongest beer only slightly less silly than the AB-InBev/Miller competition for the lowest calorie beer.
Michael Agnew Featured by the Beer Wench
I’m the featured beer blogger of the day on Drink With The Wench. Check it out.
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays from A Perfect Pint.
Too bad he used Corona bottles.