Pittsburgh's Craft Beer Homebrew Club

According to this Pittsburgh Business Times article, Wegmans Food Markets have established a segregated area where beer can be purchased.  More than likely it’s limited to 3.3 beer but at least it’s a start.  Pennsylvania is known for its strict policies on alcohol sales which hopefully will become more reasonable in the future.  Someday our children’s children may see craft beer being sold at the local market!

The Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) is releasing an Imperial series this month.  The series will include Samuel Adams Imperial White, Samuel Adams Imperial Stout, and Samuel Adams Double Bock. 

“For me, the best part of the craft beer movement is America’s evolving palate, and the constant challenge for brewers to broaden the limits,” Jim Koch, founder and brewer of Samuel Adams beers, said in a statement.

Read entire article:

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/02/sam_adams_offer.html

Sierra Nevada to turn beer yeast into fuel

The Sacremento Business Journal published an article on Sierra Nevada’s recent move to using it’s discard yeast as an agent to increase the level of alcohol in Ethanol. 

Los Gatos-based E-Fuel, the inventor of the world’s first home ethanol system — the Efuel100 MicroFueler — and Sierra Nevada have agreed to house MicroFuelers at the brewery in Chico, enabling Sierra Nevada to manufacture its own ethanol using waste from its brewing process.

Read entire article:  http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2009/02/02/daily26.html

The New Yorker did an excellent piece on Dogfish Head on November 24th, 2008.  A friend of mine suggested this to me and I’m now suggesting it to all you beer lovers and aspiring brewers.  It’s an excellent read for those who are passionate about brewing and seek inspiration from people who have become sucessful.  It starts out describing the creation of palo santo, covers a little history of Dogfish Head and craft brewing, and moves on to describe Dogfish’s run at making sahti, a rustic juniper-flavored beer originating in Finland around the 9th century.  I recommend everyone give this a read!

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_bilger?currentPage=1

A little from the article:

Then again most brewers don’t make beer with rocks. When sahti was first brewed, in the Middle Ages, Calagione told me, Finnish farmers used wooden kettles. The wood couldn’t be set directly on a fire, so the brewers heated up rocks and threw them into the mash, caramelizing the barley and giving it a smoky flavor. Calagione wanted to use the same method, but he wasn’t sure that he had the right material. “I told my maintenance guy to get rocks without a lot of quartz in them,” he said. “Otherwise, when they get hot, they’ll explode in your face.”