| For your next brew, chew:
In order to follow the authentic Peruvian method for making
chicha, the corn must be milled and moistened in the mouth of
the chicha-maker, known as the “chichaee.” The drinker
is the “chichaor.” The “eew” factor
is significant. Early American “chichaists” include
the late “Beer King” Alan Eames and homebrew king
Charlie Papazian, who wrote about their experiments with the
Peruvian “beer” many years ago. The latest to throw
his saliva into the ring is media maven Sam Calagione from Dogfish
Head in Delaware. Sure, we’ve all spit in our beer, but
usually not on purpose. Sam, who knows a thing or two about
working the media, got a major story in The New York Times recently
about making chicha with some local foodies. We don’t
know if he’s come up with a name for the beer, but we’re
pulling for Spitting Image IPA. Rumors have it that Sam is now
working on getting the entire state of Delaware to chew up enough
corn for a 100-barrel batch. It’s important to get the
entire state so he can label it “Estate Chewed.”
Chew betcha!… Circulating the Internet is a
video from a security camera in a Louisiana convenience
store that shows a rather, um, substantial woman in a muumuu
stealing a 12-pack of beer by putting it between her ample
legs and waddling toward the door. This sort of woman is a
keeper for the true beer aficionado… at least in Louisiana…
Gary Lohin, a legendary brewer from British
Columbia with a passion for hops, never stops experimenting
with new beer styles. His latest offering is, believe it or
not, an energy drink! Perhaps similar to many currently on
the market — the one that “gives you wings”
comes to mind — his ingredients are the usual taurine,
caffeine, vitamins, sugar and water. But his take on the genre
has the addition of a little hemp. Gary has chosen the saucy
name “BC Bud” for his new creation. No, seriously.
This BC Bud’s for you! Go ahead, check it out at bcbud.ca
and get back to me…
It seems like everyone is doing weird things
with beer these days. Adam Avery, one of the famed “Brett
Pack” five, recently performed an interesting molecular
gastronomy demonstration at Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colo.
Frozen beer foam was created by submerging the head from sweetened
Avery White Rascal wit into liquid nitrogen at approximately
-320º. You’re going to need some new equipment to duplicate
this one. The result was a sort of beer-flavored snowball.
In another experiment, “hop caviar” was created
by mixing hop tea with sodium alginate and dripping it into
a bowl of calcium chloride. This produced little squishy hop
balls that an observer described as “hoppy snot.”
Thank Dan Rabin for that contribution. That snot funny, Dan…
Beer blogger extraordinaire Jay Brooks claims
to be experiencing the early onset of Ales-heimer’s.
I guess that’s where you just had a beer but you can’t
remember what it was. Let’s hope he finds his way back
from the pub…
Brick Brewing Company, the Ontario, Canada–based
craft brewer, is suing its founder for $1 million (Canadian)
for “wrongs against the corporation” causing “significant
damages,” the company said. Brick Brewing said its lawyers
served papers on founder and former chairman James Brickman.
Brick Brewing has not detailed the specific allegations. Mr.
Brickman founded the brewery in 1984, retired in December
2008 and left the board in February 2009. In April, the company
posted a net loss of $7.5 million. Just recently, the discount
brewer said it was slapped with a lawsuit alleging that its
Red Baron Lime infringes on trademarks and copyrights of Bud
Light Lime, the popular brew from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA
and its Canadian division, Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. The claim
asks for damages and an injunction to prevent Brick from continuing
to sell its lime beer. Brick vowed to fight the legal action,
depicting the clash as a classic David-and-Goliath tale —
even as one of its executives admitted that the company had
rushed its lime beer into stores as a copycat product this
summer to capitalize on Bud Light Lime’s explosive growth.
They put the lime in the coconut…
It is with mixed emotion that we report
that Back Street Brewery Irvine brewer Dave Moody’s
significant other, Tami, has been undergoing breast cancer
treatment for the past few months. While the news is disheartening,
it is wonderful to see the community unite in assisting Tami.
The folks at Fox Barrel Cider (specifically Bruce Nissen)
are in the process of releasing 25 kegs of barrel-aged cider
and are donating the profit to Tami’s cause. In addition,
two of the barrels (when empty) will be used by Back Street
Ladera brewer Ryan Aikens to age his Belgian Brown. This beer
will then be blended back into a 10-barrel batch and sold
at all four Back Street locations, with $2 per pint donated
to help offset Tami’s medical bills. Many thanks also
go to Crosby & Baker for underwriting all of the malt
for this most worthy project. Beer (and cider) people are
the best…
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