Welcome to my blog. I write about beer and brewing through the lens of a science educator and craft brewer. I hope that you’ll find a similar interest in the science and history of brewing.
All tagged craft beer
For some reason tourism in Iceland has been blowing up in recent years. Maybe it's the unique, other-worldly, volcanic landscapes, or the winter Northern Lights, or the summer midnight sun, or the Game of Thrones filming locations - or maybe it's the emerging craft beer scene....
Since my wife hails from the "O.C." (Orange County) we find ourselves visiting regularly. Over the years we've seen an impressive growth of craft beer in her neck of the woods. While Huntington Beach, CA is known as "Surf City USA" and is typically a summer destination for campers, beach-goers, and surfers alike, it is also starting to build a reputation as a craft beer destination.
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) has been around since the 1990s with a purpose of defining and distinguishing between various beer styles throughout the world and providing the common vocabulary necessary to describe the differences in the taste, smell, mouthfeel, and appearance of those styles. Thus, it provides a standard framework upon which brewing competitions may be based when comparing the quality of various beers produced by both hobbyists and professional brewers. In this series of two posts I will discuss my experience in preparing for the BJCP exam which enables individuals to participate as qualified judges in BJCP-sanctioned brewing competitions. In this first part I will discuss the preparation for and completion of the online portion of the exam ("Entrance Exam") and in the second part I will discuss the tasting portion of the exam.
Taiwan is an island that has a reasonably developed craft beer scene. My previous experience with Taiwan had only been a long-weekend trip to Taipei back in 2013, but I recently took a 4-day trip to southern Taiwan and it was in the unassuming town of Hengchun that my wife and I would stumble across a pleasant surprise for the craft beer lover.......3000 Brewzeum.
With over 4,000 breweries and growing by the day, the United States is never a bad place to go for interesting craft beer. This past Summer I had the opportunity to visit breweries in Middlebury, Burlington, and Stowe and I was left thirsting for more. This post will touch on a handful of breweries in this self-proclaimed "weird" state and the wonderful beers that they produce.