Mashed Potatoes, Enchiladas and an Easter Egg. My head told me no, my stomach the same. But for some reason I piled on a plate of inexplicable combinations. This was the result. Next time I’ll stick to beer.

A few years back I lived in London. It doesn’t snow there, ever. Actually, once it snowed 1 inch and the city fell apart at the seams. Anywho, for some reason I decided to read The Guardian while listening to the new Lily Allen album. I have no explanation for this series of events. I did drive a possible crack addict from Kansas City, Missouri to the gas station after his car (which was really a truck) ran out of gas outside of a bro bar I work at. Maybe that explains all of this.

Well, anyhow, it snowed some 10 inches in London in the past few days and the city can’t seem to cope with the event. The following headlines are mindnumblingly amazing for someone who lives in a snowy American city. Well, what are you waiting for.

1. The day the snow came and Britain stopped
2. Sledges have sold out – a nation goes out to play
3. How to make the perfect snowball
4. The Arctic blast that may have cost British businesses £1.2bn

The Blager has been on an extended vacation from blogging, but hopes to bring you more great tidbits on beer and other happenings around the cities in the coming months. For my birthday I headed over to the Summit Brewery. I was expecting to pay a few bucks to get a shoddy and short tour and then drink some delectable local brews. Well the later two were true, but the tour was free. Not only that but you get not one, not two, but three free beers. Because lil’ gal couldn’t drink more than one I ended up downing four beers before noon.

Why free, you ask? Well, the state of Minnesota, unlike its drunken neighbor Wisconsin, does not allow breweries to sell directly to their customers. So a small brewery, like Summit, turns it into a marketing cout. You don’t have to pay anything, though it is suggested that you bring a non-perishable food item. The Blager brought some pork and beans and oatmeal; the only two products a true beer enthusiast can stomach.

Summit is turning 23 years old this year, just likes yours truly. St. Paul’s premiere brewery outgrew its makeshift brewing space along St. Paul’s University Avenue in the late 90s and moved into its new location in 1998. The building was the first new brewery built in Minnesota in more than 100 years.

After the brief and informative tour, sis blager, her boyfriend, lady blager and I sat down for a few rounds of beer. After a delectably smooth Oatmeal Stout, a strong and sturdy Winter Ale, a hopped-up IPA and the original Summit brew, the Extra Pale Ale, I had a nice buzz just as the little hand turned past the twelve. Not a bad way to spend the day that I was born. To all the beer lovers out there I suggest you give the Summit Brewery tour a shot. Heck, it won’t cost you a dime.

The Summit Brewery Tour is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 p.m. and on select Saturdays at 10:30 a.m and 1 p.m. Plan ahead.

Here’s a shameless plug for a magazine we worked on at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Comm. In the battle of wine vs. beer, who wins? Head over to Digest Mag to find out.

Sometimes it seems like winos run the world; they even get better movies, à la Sideways. When you see beer in popular culture, it’s a bunch of frat boys doing keg stands or sad saps in sad bars. I don’t want a wine list longer than the Yellow Pages. Hand me a Surly, Fat Cat or Mothership and bring a few friends. That’s what makes me happy.

I’m from Cudahy, Wis., This little town lies in the shadows of one of the world’s largest breweries: Miller. That certainly isn’t an argument on beer’s side; in fact, it should probably have turned me off. But somehow, the aroma of hops and barley must have permeated my subconscious, because at some point I became a devotee to many a brew, just not Miller.

When I’ve told this story in the past I’ve claimed that God spoke to me, telling me to drink a wheat beer, or Weißbier as it is known in Germany. In reality, it was a good friend from my Milwaukee days whom pointed me to one of the world’s great brews, Weihenstephaner Weißbier. Ironically, I ran into him waiting for a tour while staying in Berlin. Later that day, we decided to head over to Prater Garten, the city’s oldest beer garden.

For the five days I stayed in Berlin, I ended up there. It was part park, part pub with rows of picnic benches under ancient trees, laced with big white Christmas lights. The Weißbier was light and airy, like an Italian soda for big boys.

Looking back, it probably didn’t matter what beer I was drinking, though it didn’t hurt that it was great. It was the atmosphere, the cool spring air and the conversations, not to mention the pretzels, brats and wiener schnitzels. There was no grandstanding or swishing of glasses. You could see and taste the beauty without pretense. We drank mug after mug. The night slowly faded, but I still remember it vividly. So next time you drink a beer, find a friend and start a conversation. That’s what really makes beer great.

Schlitz is Back!

Milwaukee beers get a bad rap, but heck don’t most of the Ameircan mega-brews. Schlitz was once at the heart of Milwaukee’s brewing powerhouse. But don’t be worried, there’s plenty of brews still being brewed in my hometown and a lot of them aren’t half bad.

The “Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous” is back and I just happened to have seen a few sightings and tasted the original recipe not to long ago. No, they’re not returning to the 1849 recipe, which would be awesome, but they have returned to the “classic” 1960′s recipe. Now I know we’re going to have detractors from both sides. Some may call the beer utter crap, but I have to say it isn’t half bad. As their other classic catchphrase put it, you get “just a kiss of hops.” It’s in the same category as American style lagers like Premium or Pabst, but I think it might just be better.

As it turns out Schlitz is under the umbrella of the Pabst Brewing Co. The Milwaukee brewer happens to own few other cheapies including Old Milwaukee, Black Label, Old Style, etc. The list just goes on and on. It seems that Pabst is using its newfound hipster cred to expand its other brands and what better beer than Schlitz. The dominance of the lite beer from 1980s onward shifted the playing field. When Schlitz and Pabst didn’t pursue this new market and dismissed mass marketing they fell from top five brands nationally to nonexistant. The emergence of Micro Breweries seems to have been the catalyst for the diversification in the marketplace. The intersting fact that lies at the end of this is that Miller is brewing its former competitors under contract and in a sense preserving “What Made Milwaukee Famous”.

So why did Schlitz fall out of the limelight, maybe this is the answer.

Because I’m not that interested in writing today here is a history of why beer is great today and where it came from the New York Times.

Beer used to be easy: You were a Bud guy or Miller guy, maybe even a Schlitz or Ballantine guy. Not that it mattered much, since they tasted virtually the same.

But the days when American beer was all suds are long gone. In a great example of grass-roots renaissance, the American industry has been completely reborn in the last 30 years with the rise of craft beers. A trip to the deli can now offer some of the greatest beers in the world, characterized by freshness, vibrancy and depth of flavor.

Would you like an ale or lager? Brown ale? Red, golden, amber or pale? India pale? A porter or stout, a bock, pilsner or dunkel, a bitter or Kölsch, a wheat beer, a Trappist, abbey or farmhouse ale, a lambic or gueuze?

How did we get this glorious bounty? The story begins with Prohibition, which devastated the local and regional brewery business. Then came the Depression and World War II; by the middle of the last century the brewing industry was well into its long consolidation. By the early 1970s a few giant corporations were responsible for just about all domestic beers in the United States.

Read More…

Beer lovers had few attractive options. They could try imported beers, but few good ones were available and even fewer survived the rigors of travel. So some aficionados began to make their own. These home brewers formed the core of the craft-brewing revolution, which, through the advent of small breweries and brew pubs, brought the lost or forgotten styles back.

The movement was not solely American. Even earlier in Britain, the Campaign for Real Ale protested the brewing industry’s consolidation and spearheaded its rejuvenation. Similar movements occurred in other beer-rich cultures.

The most basic division of beers is into ales and lagers. The two differ by the type of yeast that begins fermentation, which transforms sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Ales, older by far, are generally fermented at ambient temperatures and tend to be rounder, fruitier and more complex.

Lagers were discovered almost by accident. Bavarian brewers who would store their beer starter over the summer in icy Alpine caves found that a different sort of fermentation was taking place. Unlike ales, which were ready to drink shortly after brewing, these cold-brewed beers fermented more slowly and needed time to mature. They came to be called lagers, after the German word for storage, and they were simpler, sharper and livelier. In the 19th century, scientists discovered the role of yeasts in fermentation and found that ales and lagers were products of different strains. The yeasts in ale floated to the top; in lagers the yeasts sank to the bottom.

Malted barley is the preferred grain in most beers, and its preparation can affect flavors. Dark roasts can be used in porters and stouts, while the palest malts are used in lagers. Some beers add different grains, like wheat or even rye. Insipid mass-market beers cut the barley with rice or corn.

Then there are the hops. Brewers use dried cones of the hop plant to impart flavors, aromas and bitterness. Hops also act as a preservative, which is why India pale ale, created to survive the long ocean voyage from Britain to India, is so hoppy. Specialty beers can be created by adding herbs, fruits and spices, by altering quantities of the ingredients, or by otherwise manipulating the brewing process. — Eric Asimov, March 11, 2008

I salute you Eric.

Here is a recent story the piqued my interest on NPR’s All Things Considered. It seems pretty crazy that some 87 years after the end of prohibition that there are such harsh laws still on the books. Then again everything is illegal in America. This is after all the land of political correctness. Anywho, listen to this great story at the link below and buy poor Dan a beer, he might even enjoy it.

Click on the link below to listen to the story.

Alabama Beer Drinkers Fight for Stronger Brews

Wilco recently played a five night stand at Chicago’s Riviera Theater. Rolling Stone recapped the career spanning shows and much to my chagrin, Wilco had Wisconsin’s own New Glarus backstage.

Pre-show, the band snacks on seafood curry and jasmine rice while roadies tap a keg of the hard-to-get Wisconsin microbrew New Glarus. (”We discovered it at a venue in Milwaukee,” says Stirratt.) Tweedy, who’s sipping sparkling water and munching chips, drives each night from his nearby home. And he’s saving his fitness routine for the road. “I’ll usually go for a hike or a run before the show,” he says. The tour, which wraps on March 9th, includes a stop at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of Tweedy’s favorite venues. “It’s probably the only place that Bob Wills and the Sex Pistols both played,” he says. “Maybe there’s another place like that, but I don’t know it.” For more behind-the-scenes photos of Wilco, click here.

Spotted Cow has to be one of the best beers on the market. I suggest you go out tonight, pick up a six pack and listen to some Wilco. I couldn’t ask for anything more myself. Here’s some shitty YouTube footage of a classic. I see a DVD in the future.

Red Eyed and Blue/Eye Got You

As my computer seems to be in good shape now I can return to “real” life. I’m not sure if this guy has to much time on his hands or what, but who doesn’t want a beer launcher? Sir, my hat is off to you, you’re a gentleman and a scholar.

The Beer-Launching Refrigerator

I yearn for a time when we didn’t have computers or instant communication. I look back at a simpler time, while I look forward to a relaxing summer breeze. Damn Windows Vista and Final Cut Pro. I’m not sure what this has to do with beer, but I sure could use one. The past year has been full of great experiences (ie London, Summer in Minneapolis, New York, etc), but some kind of technological voodoo has been following me. First my brand new digital camera broke when I was in England, TWICE! Then I spilt tea on my six month old laptop and a few months later the culprit was my fancy dancy cell phone. It’s like I’m running on a treadmill and getting nowhere. Fix one problem and bam, there’s another.

You may be wondering what I’m getting at, this being a beer blog after all, but its my damn computer and my blog. Why is it that after all these years Microsoft can’t make a decent product. Even a huge brewery like Miller can make a decent beer, all be it a crappy one. Is mass consumption for suckers? I sure think so. Why do I have to watch code go up and down my laptop, while I sit here in front of my girlfriends iBook. Yup, she’s never had a problem with her computer. Her power chord doesn’t require her to bend it five different directions before you can actually get a current going and her battery actually takes a charge. All this headache inducing troubleshooting makes me want to leave the city life behind and live way up north in the Iron Range.

Maybe on my next vacation I should leave behind all the technology or, heck, leave it behind for a week, this week. How the hell did our parents manage to live before all the iPods, PCs and Cell Phones? My mind can’t wrap itself around the notion. Now I just want to forgot about these modern amenities and go outside. Hey you, yeah the one person who reads this lousy blog, put down that cell phone and HAND ME A FAT CAT.