Hop Chatter

Previously in "Ode to An Old Friend" I talked about my first true love, Ithaca Flower Power. That post was wax poetic, exemplifying how much I loved that beer and how it molded me into the craft beer drinker I am today. Initially, I almost exclusively drank IPAs and wouldn't touch a dark beer. They were too mysterious.

What's more baseball than freshly cut grass, the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, and the seventh inning stretch? The sound of someone yelling "cold beer here." Baseball and beer have had a tight-knit marriage since the early days of the American brewery boom. Historically, breweries had some of the first sponsorships in the sport. Baseball teams were onced owned by breweries, like the St. Louis Cardinals and Anheuser-Busch and Toronto Blue Jays and Labatt Blue. The Milwaukee Brewers were named to honor the city's huge beer industry. Even baseball stadiums like Coors Field and Busch Stadium have been named after the beer giants.

It's finally that time of the year – the sun is hot, the grill is ready, and the beer is ice cold. Nothing screams "hello summer" like Memorial Day weekend. Whether you spend your weekend at a backyard BBQ, camping in the Adirondacks or boating along the lake, most of your weekends will have a common theme – BBQ and beer. Here are some food and beer pairings for your Memorial Day weekend.

When tasting beer, we often enjoy the intricacies of different styles and variations. We consider this evaluating beer. There are five steps to evaluating beer, which are Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouthfeel, and Finish.

Remember when you were young and you found something exciting, then fell in love? Suddenly a new object, shiny and different came along, you got distracted and moved on to a new love, then another and most likely a few more; but you loved them all. Well, sometimes it pays to go back and visit your old loves. Obviously, I am talking about beer.

Today’s craft beer scene is all about big, hoppy beers. While it may seem like hops are the main ingredient in craft beer, they are actually one of four essential ingredients, along with barley, yeast and water. However, in many American style beers, they tend to steal the spotlight.

My senior year of college was the time that I truly dove head first into beer. I started a brewing club on campus and also joined one led by professors on campus, both were a lot of fun for much different reasons. One of my best friends from college and I started making a lot of weird beers. In the fall, we made a 13% ABV red ale that we pretended was a barleywine that was awful (until it sat for about seven months, then it was suddenly delicious). In the dead of winter, we made a grapefruit IPA with way too many grapefruits squeezed into it, which turned out truly mediocre.

While the majority of beer drinkers look for a clear, clean tasting liquid, the growth in popularity of the so-called "New England-style IPA" has raised the question, does a hazy beer mean a bad beer? While there are some traditional styles, such as Hefeweizen, that are unfiltered (therefore hazy), India Pale Ales are not traditionally known for being murky.