Underage drinkers
In the spirit of the Despair Demotivational posters, everyone is now creating their own nugget of truth. Most aren’t funny. This one is. And unfortunately I couldn’t find a source. If you created it, let me know. Click for a larger image.
High gravity beers gain traction
I just read an interesting article on Time.com. Perhaps I’m a little late to respond, but I will anyway. I’m the one with the blog. The article itself is grossly misrepresented by its title, as E.S. points out here. In fact, the growth numbers aren’t pulled out from the overall growth of the craft industry, so it’s hard to justify the argument with the numbers laid out in the article. Just because craft beer is growing doesn’t mean all subsets of craft beer are growing.
However, it’s not hard for me to believe that big beers are indeed garnering more support. One of the best quotes from the article gets at a possible reason for this shift. From Sam Calagione (founder of Dogfish Head):
It’s a kind of a blue-collar connoisseurship. Anybody can afford to buy the world’s best beers. But if you wanted to buy a bottle of the world’s best wine, you’d have to spend thousands of dollars.
I think there will always be a stigma, albeit a lessening one, that wine is more high brow than beer. Why? It will always be more expensive than beer. And we Americans equate price with quality. But the surge in big beers is turning more people on to the quality to be found in wine-esque beers, in my opinion.
As any self-respecting beer drinker knows, big beers aren’t for chugging. Sipping is recommended. Making the adjustment from a watered-down lager to a nice barleywine takes some doing. Truthfully they shouldn’t even be in the same beverage category. Don Younger agrees:
You’ve got to be careful with them. But they are self-limiting. They are very rich. It would be like trying to drink a quart of whipping cream. Your body will reject it because they are so rich.
I’ve never had the pleasure of drinking a quart of whipping cream. But I have had the pleasure of drinking many a high gravity beer. And I hope that more and more people have that same pleasure in coming years. As an upstart brewery, part of our duty is to educate the consumer. We’re up for the challenge.
Putting the “I” in “IPA”
Yesterday Jeff and his enormous ego made it clear to the entire blogosphere that it was perfectly okay to post large pictures of yourself in a blog post. I have never before stooped to this level (not true), but I thought it fitting to display my mustachio’d self. Because not only was I able to make it to Jeff’s house, but I was actually doing work!
It’s true. Despite the ulcers I was able to make it to part of brewing last night. I have no doubt that I was still more help than the ne’er-do-well Joel. We brewed our famous Swashchuckler IPA.
We had a good turnout last night, though there weren’t as many mustaches as I would have liked. *hint* As a side note, do you know the great thing about a bushy blonde mustache? You can dress it up or dress it down! It’s fitting for any occasion, whether a Monday evening brew session or a black-tie dinner!
Q&A with Jeff of MNB
Jeff has played a central role in the development of Monday Night Brewery. His carefully crafted recipes and business savvy have vaulted MNB to the center of the microbrewery development blogosphere with alarming speed and success. I caught up with Jeff at his midtown Atlanta office.
Me: Jeff, will there be brewing tonight?
Jeff: Yes, there will.
Me: What will you be making?
Jeff: We’ll be making a batch of Swashchuckler IPA, one of MNB’s most popular beers.
Me: Do you have any beers on draft that I could consume were I to show up this evening?
Jeff: You know, we do. We’ve got our latest batch of Drafty Kilt, which I’m really pleased with. It’s dialed back a bit, and drinks like a smokey, delicious porter. We’ve also got a bit more IPA and our second batch of our Belgian Dubbel, which though not as good as our first, is still decent.
Me: Jeff, thanks so much for taking the time.
Jeff: No problem, I enjoyed it. Hope to see you out tonight.
Mustaches are sprouting up on upper lips everywhere
Mustaches for Ulcers is making headway. It’s my dream to have a sponsor for all 8 of my ulcers by next week. Here’s what we’ve got so far. First, apparently there are other “legitimate” charities doing something similar with mustaches. Prostate cancer is arguably more of a threat than ulcers. But still.
Here are the submissions we’ve received to-date:
1) Will’s mexistache
Will, I accept your mustache, even though it was grown awhile ago. It makes you look like a well-groomed Nazi, which kind of scares me. I’m not complaining though, an ulcer is an ulcer.
2) Anna and Lauren’s faux mustaches
These bad boys were phoned in from Memphis, TN. They’re mustaches of the exotic variety. Not because they’re from Memphis, but because they’re plastic. I’m counting them as worth one ulcer together, given their dubious background.
3) Ben’s pornstache
Now this is a good one. An existing mustache in good, working order. Ben has been sporting this thing for far too long, but he has graciously dedicated it to the cause. It makes me tingle just thinking about it.
4) Nicole’s future ‘stache
Nicole from the office has declared that no razor will touch her upper lip, in honor of one of my lucky ulcers. While her mustache hasn’t yet grown in fully, I’ve included a simulated time-lapse photograph of the glory-to-be.
5) Dave’s brewing mustache
Dave at Muckney Brewing tried to grow a mustache… until his wife made him stop. To compensate, he has dedicated a beer to the cause, for which we will be designing a joint label. Look for that in the future.
That’s it for now. As you can see, there are still plenty of ulcers that need loving sponsors. If you’d like to be involved, leave a comment or shoot me an email. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out. It’s for a good cause.
Bryan Adams rocks our world
Sunday night was monumental for team MNB. As you all know we have a long running affinity toward both Bryan as a person and to his fantastic music (as you’ll notice on the side nav have have 15 posts dedicated to him). On Sunday we had the privilege of seeing him live at the new Verizon amphitheatre.
Several months ago I purchased 6 tickets (for the whopping price of $9.85 each) and the plan was for Jeff, and I to go with our respective wives and to use it as a chance to find a date for Jonathan. I even planned to get submissions on the blog from eligible bachelorettes (and what quality girl wouldn’t want a free date to Bryan Adams). Unfortunately Jonathan’s health problems foiled that plan but through our text messages, phone calls, and e-mails we tried to make him feel right at home.
Our goal for the evening (in addition to making out to “Let’s make a night to remember”) was to get a chance to talk to Bryan Adams, invite him to MNB, and give him an MNB t-shirt. Unfortunately we failed on all fronts. I did manage to make it to the mosh pit up front (and by “mosh pit” I mean swooning 40 year olds and their obedient husbands who stood by with their drinks in hand). I actually almost touched his foot (as evidenced by the crotch pic below.
The concert ended (or the good part at least…Foreigner was the 2nd band…totally nowhere near as cool as BA) and despite the security guards saying their was no way to see Bryan, Jeff and I would not give up. We proceeded around to the back entrance where the tour buses are located and the video below best recounts the interaction between the security guard and ourselves.
Note from Jonathan: Amazing. As you’ll notice, Joel chickens out towards the end. I think if I was there I would have been able to sneak past that guard while Jeff was keeping her occupied.
