Coming soon: 5 Questions with the Brewer – Jason Yester of Trinity Brewing
That’s right Beer Faithful, USABeerTrends will be making the rounds of the Front Range next week and Jason Yester of Trinity Brewing in Colorado Springs has agreed to subject himself to 5 Questions with the Brewer.
So, now we turn to you, beer lover, and ask you to submit your questions. What beer questions do you want to ask young Jason? Send ‘em to us and we’ll put the top 5 to Mr. Yester.
Your USABeerTrends Scientific Question Askers are also trying to set up a few more interviews while we’re in Colorado. It’s shaping up to be a busy couple of days.
Send your questions for the brewer to: trends@usabeertrends.com or just click HERE.
Cheers!
Your Sideways USABeerTrends Beer-Travel Team
Coffee Porter, Saison, or moi?
That’s right, Beer Lovers, the clock is ticking. Have you gotten your sweetie something special for Valentine’s Day yet? Have you dropped hints about what you’d like? The most recent USABeerTrends survey is asking what beer woulod you give, and what beer would you want to get, for Valentine’s Day.
It’s a quick little survey and you can take it by clicking HERE .
Bush sniffer test
Our scientific beer love scientists will collect, analyze and report back on the data right here on Wednesday the 10th of February. This should give you enough time to get some good ideas or drop some good hints to the one you love.
Cheers all.
Love,
Your USABeerTrends Love Doctors
Photo: Vachon, John, 1914-1975, 1940 May Library of Congress
Love is in the air, Beer Nation. We can tell by the percentage of TV spots being run by the cheesey jewelry chain stores and chocolate brands with fancy names and such. Yep. Valentine’s is just around the corner.
And being the beer-loving fools that we are, the question bouncing around the USABeerTrends cave: What craft beer will you give your lover this Valentine’s Day? And, even more important, because it’s how we roll: What beer, if you could have any beer out there, would you want as a Valentine’s gift from your lover?
Any beer out there in this big old world. Hmmmm. Think of the possibilities.
When you’ve got it figured out, go HERE and let us know. Keep it clean, now. We’ll post the results a few days before the day of love. You know, with enough time for you to say, “Oh, look dear, these fine USABeerTrends folks have a post on giving beer for Valentine’s.”
Wink wink. Nod nod. Say no more.
Love,
Your Amorous Ale Adorers at USABeerTrends
Gruntings and belchifications, Beer Nation! The new year is cranking right along and the “Big Chill” has finally moved elsewhere. I think it is due, in part, to the great number of folks drinking winter warmers. Right? Hey, we recently asked what winter warmer was keeping you all toasty during the long, cold, dark winter nights, and you responded.
Beer marketing folks, take notice:
Where? Answers poured in from all over the Beer Nation from places like Rochester, NY and Glendale, CA and Plymouth , MI and Greenville, SC. Folks from different parts of Oregon, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts and Texas also chimed in.
How old? 30% of you are in the 21-30 year old age group. 40% are 31-40. 20% are 41-50, and 10% are 51-60.
Top Choices: 17% are drinking Widmer Brrr and 17% are drinking Sierra Nevada Celebration. 9% say you are making Deschuttes Jubelale your winter warming device. The other 57% of you have choices spread out all over the map. There are a few who say they are not drinking any winter warmers at all. Thanks for sharing.
Alpha Klaus
Divine Reserve #9
Here’s a sampling from what the rest of you say you are drinking to stay warm: Custom Brewcrafters Wee Heavy, Pretty Things Babayaga, The Bruery Two Turtle Doves, Hair of the Dog Adam, Highland Brewing Cold Mountain Winter Ale, Full Moon, Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #9, Independence Brewing Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Great Divide Hibernation, New Galrus IPA, Great Lakes Christmas, 3 Floyds Alpha Klaus, Goose Island Mild Winter and on and on.
Hibernation
Whatever it is that keeps you warm, whether it’s a traditional winter warmer or not, thanks for supporting beer, and especially American craft brewing and your local breweries. And, uh, thanks for helping to get the freaking temperature above freezing (even if only for a little while).
Cheers!
Your warm and toasty, bundled up and cozy, dreaming-of Tahiti USABeerTrends Scientific Beer Survey Scientists
Howdy, Beer Nation. What’s been keeping you busy? Hmmm? The USABeerTrends crew found themselves in the great frozen city of the South, Atlanta, last week on “other business”. Actually, we were in Peachtree City, about 20 miles south of downtown. But, as always, we make room for beer, no matter what or where the “other business” is.
And by frozen, we mean frozen. The temperature only got above 32 a couple of times during our stay. Kept thinking I was in Durango, except there were no mountains, and no Ska, no Steamworks … OK, snap out of it. Back to Atlanta.
Ah, the first night. After travel and all day meetings, we were hungry and thirsty. Steak sounded good. Turns out, the options were fairly limited, and our client was all hot for Outback. OK, then. While Outback has a variety of macros, they are kinda thin on imports and American Crafts.
There was a guy at the bar talking with a construction company buddy about his new online business – a women’s cosmetic web site. He was knocking back a Bud Light and looked at me kinda funny when I ordered the Sam Adams Winter Lager. I asked if he’d ever tried it. Taking another pull from the Bud Light, he said, no, that he didn’t like no beer he couldn’t pound. Well, now.
Pounding a Bud Light
Steak was on the barbie, Sam Adams Winter Lager was in the house, and in our glasses.
As the time in Atlanta passed, it became evident that the USABT crew was not going to be able to get to Twain’s or Brick Store like we wanted to. They are priorities for our next visit, though.
Mmm, another group meal with the client, who really likes chain casual dining establishments. This time, we found ourselves at the Red Lobster in Newnan. Again the requisite selection of
Sam Adams Winter Lager
macros, a couple of imports, and a couple of American craft beers. I asked the bartender what beer was selling best recently. He said it was the Sam Adams Winter Lager. I was surprised, and glad folks are venturing outside the normal macro bounds. Yuengling was also present, but not as popular in the colder weather, he said, as it had been a few months ago. I’d already been the Sam Adams route, so, wood-fire grilled trout and Yuengling this time.
I was able to report back to our home base for a couple of days, thank goodness. Spent some time at our Flying Saucer’s 2nd anniversary bash. Special casks, special prices. Good times. Met the guys behind Hops and Grain, a soon to be brewery here in Austin. Learned about their sustainability mission. Pretty cool ideas. Check ‘em out.
The trip home was over as fast as it began and the USABT crew was back to the frozen tundra of Peachtree City, GA. Still no opportunities to hit those famed beer joints in Decatur. Rats. Next time!
Nope. The “other business” kept us locked under the bubble that is Peachtree City. Watch out for them golf carts! Our only opportunities for beer, once again, came with the tour de chain restaurants. The first evening, we met our client and someone from their Brooks transit division at Longhorn (Yep, steaks again). I was happy to see Sierra Nevada on the beer list this time and made that my choice for the evening. The bartender was very proud of their selection of Budweiser, Miller and Coors (and associated breweries) products. They had a few imports, too. Mostly the same fare we found at the other chain joints. There were a couple of guys at the bar lamenting their pay compensation plans. They were in some kind of high tech sales jobs. Travel around quite a bit. It was funny to see one of them raise his right eyebrow and give a knowing nod when I ordered the Sierra Nevada. I told him of our adventures, searching for American craft beers under the Peachtree City bubble. Turns out, he’s a craft beer geek like us. That’s when he told me about the Taco Mac.
Now I have heard of Taco Mac. Have even eaten and had beers at one elsewhere in the Atlanta area in the past. I even think we’re Twitter friends. I did not know they had a location in PTC almost next door to Longhorn! Oh, happy day.
The next day, it was hard to concentrate on the tasks at hand, knowing we’d go to dinner at Taco Mac. Why the excitement? If you don’t already know, Taco Mac is an Atlanta chain that started with a restaurant in the Virginia Highland section of town. Wings and beer. Lots and lots of beer. Now they have locations in and around Atlanta and also in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
At the Peachtree City location (275 Market Place Connector 770-692-0006) they boast 100 beers on tap and 300+ beers in bottles. Our kind of place. The USABeerTrends crew fit right in. In fact, they were nervous we wouldn’t leave at closing time. Check out the bottles, taps and cold room. Excellent!
Duck Rabbit Milk Stout
On this evening, Taco Mac was featuring some Colorado beers. Tommyknocker Cocoa Porter, Breckenridge Vanilla Porter and Fort Collins Brewery Chocolate Stout. Our crew rotated through the Breckenridge Vanilla, Terrapin’s Golden Ale, and Red Brick Porter from Atlanta Brewing Co. Then, finished with Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. We were pleased with all of the choices with one of the crew complaining that the Terrapin was a little too light. Maybe so. compared to the other beers we were sampling. But still plenty good! And the Duck Rabbit Milk Stout – creamy, roasted goodness.
(l-r) Terrapin Golden Ale, Breck Vanilla Porter, Red Brick Porter
Hooray, Taco Mac. Our savior in beer. And the wings don’t suck either!
The 7:00 a.m. flight came too early. But sleep on the plane came easy.
Cheers!
We're here for da beers.
Brrrr, Beer Nation! With much of the USA dealing with some supa-chilly weather, USABeerTrends wants to know what Winter Warmer is helping you keep your glow. Jump over to our scientific survey thingy and answer some quick questions. We’ll post the results early in the coming week.
Bundle up, now.
Your fleeced up, bundled up, cozy USABeerTrends BeerFriends
Howdy Beer Nation. Hope your 2010 is starting off on the right track! We’re looking forward to a beery new year, ourselves. We’ll be traveling some, guest writing some, and tasting a few beers – and, of course, we’ll be bringing you more polls and opinions regarding American craft beers. Occasionally, we may venture off the craft beer track if we see something we like. This post is a case in point. We recently received a note from Angela Bruno, who is part of a group documenting a pretty cool mural project in New York City. Read here note below:
I’m part of a documentary crew in New York City working on an art and film project commissioned by Stella Artois. Beer is a whole new world to me and your site has definitely been more than educational.
So, to better explain myself, Stella Artois commissioned NYC sign painters, to be more specific, the guys over at Sky High Murals (New York’s finest, as
they are known around these parts: http://colossalmedia.com/about ), to paint the entire 9-step Belgian pouring ritual, step by step. Over 21 days
of painting, they/we created a stop-motion film on a 20×50 wall.
Here’s one of the videos:
These muralists painted each step from scratch on a 20 foot x 50 foot surface in New York City (in SoHo on Crosby and Broome to be exact). Imagine
doing something on such a large scale, enjoying the moment, and painting over it! That’s a lot of hard work, and a great effort from the painters to
keep the talent and creativity going from day to day.
Beyond that, we are delving into the painters’ world. In the coming weeks, we will be releasing a short documentary about them online and at events
around the U.S.
I thought that your blog would be a good place to share this experience as we’re hoping to connect with like-minded folks.
To watch more footage from the project, please visit the site: http://www.theritualproject.com. It’s all there and there’s more coming. And
I’ll definitely be keeping you posted on when the entire documentary is ready to screen.
Best,
Angela
Thanks for sending this, Angela. We’re happy to share with the Beer Nation!
Cheers!
Your Popcorn Eating, Movie Watching, Craft Beer Drinking Buddies at USABeerTrends
That’s right, Beer Nation, the USABeerTrends crew is in Atlanta for a few chilly days. Hopefully, we’ll actually get to visit some of our favorite beer joints while here. Check in with us over the next few days as we update.
Cheers!
Your Syrupy Sweet USABeerTrends Southern Magnolias
The Beer Nation nominated. The Beer Nation voted. For this survey, USABeerTrends only asked you to nominate and vote, and we then collect the data and spit it back out atcha. So, no whining if you didn’t nominate or vote. And if your fave didn’t make it this time, perhaps you can be their advocate for the 2010 edition.
Onward. Let’s recap. In November, we asked the Beer Nation to nominate people, breweries, beer related things they felt were “trendsetters” (because, we are USABeerTrends) in 2009. The five with the most nominations are below.
The Bruery Placentia, CA 
Why nominated? You said: always brewing interesting Belgian-style brews; New, young brewery that is producing some unique and well crafted beer!
(from their site)
A small craft brewery located in Orange County, California. Our simple but often confusing name is a fusion of ‘brewery’ with our family name, Rue.
Our calling is to create beers with character and depth using the simplest and purest of means. We do not filter or pasteurize our beers. All of our bottled beers gain carbonation through 100% bottle conditioning, allowing carbonation to naturally occur through a secondary bottle fermentation. We strive to use unconventional ingredients, and we will proudly state what we put in our beers.
We enjoy serving you, your friends and your family.
Dogfish Head Brewing Milton, DE
Why nominated? You said: They are always on the cutting edge; not afraid to push the envelope; the founder is an awesome advocate for the craft beer industry; they do things their own way; consistently good beers.
(from their site)
Dogfish Head? An unconventional company? No way …..
Okay, so maybe we are a little nuts! We brew strange concoctions of beer, sell silly accessories with our name on it and have our own music group, The Pain Relievaz!
We like to keep it a little kooky and wacky around the Dogfish joint!
Fullsteam Durham, NC
Why nominated? You said: For using the most locally produced ingredients possible; a friend to foodies and the “extreme” beer crowd; they’re primed to make a big splash.
(from their site)
In the past few years, North Carolina’s beer selection has flourished with beers around the world: Belgian dubbels, tripels, and quads; English bitters and barleywine, German lagers. Amazing craft beer from US breweries establishing regional traditions and styles: the West Coast IPA phenomenon. Hearty Wisconsin lagers. Experimental beers from the Northeast.
But we have yet to develop a Southern craft beer identity. Fullsteam’s mission is to reflect the unique Southern confluence of industry and agriculture, crafting a distinctly Southern beer style.
Rock Art Brewery Morrisville, VT
Why nominated? You said: For taking on a corporate juggernaut; for bringing arcane copyright laws to light; for fighting the good fight and coming to a happy solution.
(from their site)
Matt and Renee created Rock Art Brewery to brew beer for you and your friends to enjoy. The brewery is located in Morrisville, VT.
Ska Brewing Durango, CO
Why nominated? You said: Brand new “green” building, supporting homebrewers, increasing capacity and brewing experimental beers; they win points for being in Durango; the guys that run the place rock.
(from their site)
“it takes characters to brew beer with character.”
Now, for the month of December, we asked you to cast your votes for these nominees with the goal of announcing them yesterday. Yeah, we got carried away with New Years and got a little behind. Here’s how the beer nation voted:
For “Top Choice”, 293 of you cast votes. Rock Art’s loyal following answered the call and helped the Vermonsters get 41% of the votes. Second place for “Top Choice” goes to the funky little brewery with the cool new and very green facility in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing. Ska came in with 28% of the Top Choice votes. Third place in the “Top Choice” bunch, with 14.3% of the votes, goes to the Off-Centered Delaware folks at Dogfish Head. Fourth place, in a tight race (8.5% of the votes) goes to Durham’s FullSteam. Rounding out the “Top Choice” is The Bruery with 8.2%.
In the coming days, we’ll parse the numbers in a couple of different ways to show you what the Beer Nation was thinking when they voted.
Happy New Year to all, and congratulations to Rock Art and all of our Top Craft Beer Trendsetters of 2009, and congratulations to the craft beer industry as a whole for a great year.
Cheers!
Your Little New Years Baby USABeerTrends Beer Lovin’ Freaks
Yep, Beer Nation, your loyal USABeerTrends team is here early on this New Years Day counting votes. We’ll post the Top 5 Craft Beer Trendsetters her later today.
Cheers and Happy 2010!
USABT
