The IPA Glass

| February 5th, 2013 | 4 comments

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Calagione, his wife, Mariah, and Sierra Nevada’s father-son team of Ken and Brian Grossman worked hand-in-hand with Spiegelau to bring this glass to life. Through a series of design and tasting sessions, the team created a glass with:

 

Any thoughts on this? I’ve personally never been a fan of top heavy glasses (like the Sam Adam’s glasses) but I do kinda like the look of this one. Click above to view Dogfish Head’s full announcement.

Dog Gone Saison Tapping Party

| February 2nd, 2013 | 3 comments

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For the unaware, fellow Hooked on Hops contributor, Grant Heuer, recently got a job at Big Dogs Brewery. This past weekend, if you attended Big Dog’s Winter Beer Fest, you have Grant to thank for all the awesome beer choices. Most recently however, Grant was given the opportunity to brew his first professional beer on Big Dog’s 20 barrel brewhouse. And now this Wednesday, Dog Gone Saison will see the light of day!
If any of you have taken an opportunity to read BJCP Hero, then you know that Grant knows his way around a Belgian beer. He’s won several BJCP awards, and I can only assume that Dog Gone Saison will be equally award winning.
This Wednesday, February 6th, get to Big Dog’s at 6pm. Your first pint of Dog Gone Saison is free. Not only that, the first 50 people get a free appetizer paired to go with the beer. Meet us, meet Grant, and meet everyone else in the Las Vegas craft beer community.
See you there!

Anchovy Craft Beer Pizza

| January 30th, 2013 | No comments

I’m typically not a fan of red ales. I find them filled with too much caramel and far too sweet. If it isn’t obvious yet, I prefer my beers to be either on the bitter or sour side of the taste spectrum. But something about this beer stood out to me. I think it was the big red crab. It reminded me of the fish market back home in Seattle.

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In deciding what to make for dinner to pair with this beer, I was suddenly in the mood for fish. Anticipating the sweetness of the beer, I opted for an intensely salty fish, anchovies. Pizza is, of course, the best delivery method for anchovies, and I decided to add some mushrooms to try to tone down the saltiness a bit, and add some earthiness to the pizza. If you’ve never had anchovies before, it basically just tastes like concentrated ocean water. (more…)

How To Suck Like Lagunitas

| January 24th, 2013 | 2 comments

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Selling out happens when you forget why it is that you are in that position in the first place. It’s easy to believe your own press. In our case, we realize that, as ever, we still suck and have a lot of work to do to earn a place in the world. Like I said above, beer-lovers are driving our bus and we do respect the bus driver!

Lagunitas is probably the most amusing brewery there is. As seen above, Lagunitas CEO and founder, Tony Magee, tries to ensure that the brewery doesn’t take itself too seriously, ensures they have fun, and laughs at themselves whenever possible. Examples include the release of a butterfly knife-styled bottle opener, and releasing a beer called The Kronic. The name later got denied by the TTB, so it was renamed Censored. (more…)

Understanding Cask Beer

| January 23rd, 2013 | 2 comments

Simply put, cask beer is a beer that is brewed and fermented, and then placed into essentially a small keg, where it is then conditioned and naturally carbonated through a secondary fermentation. The beer is transported to its serving location in this vessel and served directly from this vessel without the use of any additional pressure.

That being said, cask beer is delicious. Todd English’s PUB and Public House always have at least one cask beer available at any given moment. There are a couple other places in Las Vegas that also have cask beers available off and on. If you get the chance, try out one of these beers!

Here’s what to expect: (more…)

Pancakes

| January 20th, 2013 | No comments

A month ago, Emily, Melissa, and Danny sat down to drink a few beers and share their thoughts. What was meant to have been a single, short, video, has turned into a series of 5 videos. Today, we share the final video, featuring Twisted Pine Billy’s Chilies.

Will there be more of these videos in the future? Maybe. Let us know if you enjoyed watching these, and maybe you’ll see a few more in the future!

All Beer is Good

| January 12th, 2013 | 3 comments

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I believe that all beer is good, and I don’t like seeing beer lose market share to wine or spirits as it has been recently. …we don’t want to tell our consumers which beers they should give a shit about. That’s why we make 34 different kinds of beer.

The above quote is from Sam Calgione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, and current board of directors chairman at the Brewers Association. I’ve always admired Sam’s stance on craft beer because he truly is an advocate of both promoting beer, as well as allowing consumers to make their own decisions, whether it be for Dogfish Head or not.

I play on an adult hockey league team. And every week it’s one of my teammate’s job to bring a 30 pack of cheap, cold cans of lager. And whatever one it is, whatever brand it is, I look forward to having it. There’s nothing like that light lager for refreshing after a hockey game. There’s really not any other occasions in my week where I’m craving that kind of beer. But I’m a beer geek, not a beer snob. And all beer is good. And there’s a time and place for any kind of beer. (more…)

C-Words And Cat Pee

| January 8th, 2013 | 2 comments

Emily and Melissa drink Bear Republic Racer X. So, by this point in the recording, things start getting a bit belligerent.

There is only one more video left after this one. As always if you’ve missed the previous videos, they can be found here.

Top Articles of 2012

| January 7th, 2013 | No comments

Juma_Tenaya_Creek_07.jpg.scaled1000One week into 2013 and I finally took the time to look back at 2012. I thought I’d reshare several of the most read posts over the past year. I hope you all enjoy this look back!

#drinklocal
An ode to supporting all the businesses here in Las Vegas that promote craft beer across the valley!

The Great Las Vegas Festival of Beer
A recap of the 2nd annual Vegas Festival of Beer. Worth reading up considering the 3rd Festival of Beer is coming up soon!

Hooked on Hops at Tenaya Creek
Last year we held a special food pairing at Tenaya Creek with their Imperial Stout and Goran’s gingerbread stout cake!

An Updated Guide to Aging Beers
Worth reading through a few times if you have any interesting in understanding how to age beers.

Freshness Matters
Worth reading through a few times to understand the importance of drinking beer as fresh as possible.
Kind of contradicts the aging article huh? Nope. Read both and learn why!

Bacon and IPA Spaghetti
Another one of Goran’s food recipes featuring beer!

The Las Vegas Downtown Brew Festival
After the success of the Great Las Vegas Festival of Beer, 2012 saw the premiere of the Downtown Brew Festival!

What The Craft Beer Scene Can Learn From The Metal Scene
Last year saw craft beer fans searching for the most obscure breweries possible, while calling out the pioneers as overrated. Armando shared his thoughts here.

Danny is a Ninja
Right at the tail end of the year, we launched a video mini-series reviewing some beers. The first iteration is New Belgium’s La Folie. We have since added Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, and Stone Vertical Epic 12.12.12