International Beverage Company

As you can imagine, we spend a lot of time checking out various bars, and there's one thing that remains consistently inconsistent: a proper pour of beer. Whether the pours are being regulated by bar management, as part of an individual bartender's style, or maybe just by plain ignorance, the majority of pours we witness not only do beer a disservice but they do beer drinkers and bar owners one as well.

To see what they have discovered and the different kinds of pours click here!

To read the article that this is featured in from Mlive click here!

The economic downturn hurt the restaurant industry and canceled a lot of travel plans, but it hasn't dampened enthusiasm for the ales, lagers, stouts and other specialty brews known as craft beers.

While overall beer sales fell by 2 percent last year, the first decline in six years, the craft segment keeps growing. Craft beers still account for just 4.5 percent of U.S. consumption, but sales have increased by about 50 percent over the last five years, according to Beer Marketer's Insights.

And that's got big brewers looking for a bigger piece of the action.

It's particularly evident in Chicago, where Guinness, an import owned by London-based Diageo is testing a craft beer-like specialty brew, Guinness Black Lager in local bars, groceries and liquor stores. Chicago-based MillerCoors, meanwhile, has established an independent division, christened Tenth and Blake Beer Co., to nurture its craft and import beers, including Blue Moon, Leinenkugel, Peroni and Pilsner Urquell.

Read this article in full by clicking here!

They say great wine is made in the vineyard, but how about beer? The process, for the uninitiated, is both surprisingly complex and beautifully simple, an alchemical tango between quality natural ingredients and precise operations in the brewhouse. Working with the basic ingredients of malted barley (or sometimes wheat or other grains), fragrant hop flowers (in various forms), yeast, and water, brewers conjure an amazing array of flavors in over 130 recognizable styles.

We recently visited Denver, Colorado's Great Divide Brewery for a crash course in the art and science of brewing craft beers. The process varies by style from place to place, but here, for your edification, are the basic ten steps to make a craft beer.

Read the article in full by Christian DeBenedetti by clicking here!

The granddaddy of all beer festivals is descending on Denver tonight, and the people who snagged a ticket before it sold out should be hopped up on the chance to try more than 2,200 different beers under one roof.

The Great American Beer Festival is entering its 29th year and will again be held at the Colorado Convention Center. The largest collection of U.S. beer ever gathered in one place will boast approximately 460 breweries and a beer for any taste bud.

“The who’s who in brewing is descending upon Denver,” said Julia Herz of the Brewers Association. “It’s the one place where you get to try all the brands that you can never find. It’s the beer world’s main event.”

Read this article in full from the Denver Daily by clicking here

 

 

There is a fairly recent cooking trend, if you’ve seen television shows like “Top Chef,” that involves the “deconstruction” of food.There are two methods to this that are hotly debated. One method simply involves taking a familiar dish such as Eggs Benedict and serving the ingredients separately on the plate so that the diner can one by one complete the whole dish. From what I’ve read online, many experts consider this the lazy method.Their argument is that deconstruction means to take the individual components of a familiar dish and put them back together in unique ways.



Read more: http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20100916/APC0402/100915077/Beer-Man-De-Construction-ale-is-golden-no-matter-what-the-name#ixzz0zoH8PWHs

Just three-quarters of way through 2010 and Arcadia Ales in Battle Creek is reporting record growth, a trend that is expected to increase throughout the year.

According to Rick Suarez, Arcadia's Vice President of Sales and Marketing, the brewery's numbers are up 55% in Michigan and 39% collectively in nine states outside of Michigan. That number will only continue to rise as Arcadia adds two new 40-barrel fermenters to its current production line, says Head Brewer Josh Davies.

In 2009, Arcadia produced and sold over 7,091 barrels of beer throughout the Midwest, East Coast and Mid-Atlantic regions (up from 6,481 barrels in 2008). So far in 2010, more than 6,000 barrels have been produced and sold and it expected that Arcadia will reach a record 9,000 barrels overall for the year.

Read the full article plus more from Beer Advocate by clicking here!