Monthly Archive for August, 2010

Real Ale Brewing Company

Published on August 31, 2010 in 2010 and Here's What's Brewing. 0 Comments

Orignaly posted on Aug 31, 2010 19:31 – By: Jeremybanas
Weekend Destinations for the Craft Beer Aficionado

Texas is big. I know, surprise, surprise. You can drive for hours and never leave the state. So where can you go for a quick weekend get away? A place that takes both no time at all to get to, but gets you away from the daily grind? There are many places in and around San Antonio, Austin and Houston that both natives and visitors can get to with relative ease. Blanco, Texas is one such town. Nestled in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, this quant little town boasts quite a lot of history, beautiful landscape and fun things to do. Rivers, hills and lots of antique shopping. Plenty for everyone. For those who also partake in the pleasures of a American craft beer, Blanco is also home to the Real Ale Brewing Company.


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Melange A Trois. Nebraska Brewing does it again.

Published on August 22, 2010 in 2010 and Beer Reviews. 1 Comment

I really must visit Papallion, Nebrasaka at some point. Yes, I’ll get a chance to meet Tyson Arp, the genius behind these brews, and Paul Kavaulik, fouunder and brewer at the Great American Beer Festival next month. But to truly experience their beers, I’ll need to go to them.

The Melange A Trois is the latest in Nebraska Brewing’s Reserve Series. A series of barrel aged beers that take what is already good and make it better. Melange A Trois was actually the first and has recently come back again. Thanks to Paul and Tyson for the bottle.

Liquid Heaven

Nebraska Brewing Company is a wonderful dining experience tucked away in the middle Husker country, but we won’t hold that against them. Founded by Paul Kavulak, a brewer himslef, and rounded out by brewing genius Tyson Arp, Nebraska brewing seems to be becoming the stuff of legend in the craft beer world.

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Deep thoughts, by Jeremy Banas…

Published on August 22, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

As I sit here on my 39th birthday, I must ponder where I’m at. Yes, it’s more common to do this when you to turn 40, but I’m feeling the vibe now.

We all have been through a lot in our lives, many adventures, both good and bad. I’m no different. After considering all I’ve I’ve been through, growing up in Colorado, living in Vegas and Hawaii, finally getting my degree and all other events in between, all I seem to really care about these days is my family and friends, my boys in particular.

As corny as this sounds, they truly are all of the best parts of me. If I do nothing else right in my life, I want my boys to be the only achievement I have.

I will not digress, so thank you everyone, for being a part of me.

Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling

Published on August 20, 2010 in 2010 and Here's What's Brewing. 0 Comments

Orignally posted Aug 20, 2010 14:32 – By: Jeremybanas

The name Ranger Creek conjures up thoughts mountains, streams and everything outdoors. Not the vision one might get when thinking of Texas. Yet, here they are, Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling. Texas’ first brewstillery. Yes, that means they will be making fresh Texas craft beers and homegrown Texas Whiskey. When they start brewing, Ranger Creek will be the first production craft beer brewery in San Antonio in quite a while. San Antonio is best known for for The Alamo, The San Antonio Spurs, Davy Crocket and the Dallas Cowboys. A great city to be sure and a must visit when heading to Texas. They’ve even hosted the mens and womens Final Four a couple of times. I’ve spent many a night meandering down the twists and turns on the world famous Riverwalk.

When I heard these guys were going to be opening soon, I just had to contact them and stop by. I had to know more. I wanted to see what the buzz was all about. Texas has a steadily growing craft beer scene, one that is long overdue. I contacted their head brewer Rob, and head of Marketing, Mark and all was set for a visit.

Where the brewing magic happens

After map questing the directions, I located Ranger creek in the most unlikely of places, near an industrial park. Not where’d I’d expect to find a brewery. I parked next to a vehicle who’s bumper sticker read “I’d Rather Be Homebrewing’ and I knew this was the place to be.

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Drinking the Blues at Oskar Blues Brewing Company

Published on August 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Orignally posted by moi on Uptake August 16, 2010

One conjures up images of the snow capped mountains, running streams and a cool breeze when thinking of the Rocky Mountains. You’ll get all of these and more when you meander through the area of Lyons, Colorado. Lyons is located a little south of Estes Park, Colorado at one entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. A beautiful area to be sure, and the icing on the preverbal cake is a must visit to the original Oskar Blues brewpub: Oskar Blues Grill and Blues.

It took a few minutes to find, but once I pulled in, you could tell from the patio outside that this was going to be one fun place to visit. Mountains in the background, music making its way through the place outside and folks talking it up on the patio. I grew up in Colorado and had been through Lyons many times, but never able to stop in. With Oskar Blues being one of my favorite breweries, I had to stop at the brewpub that started it all. They’re not just known for their beer though, all though they are somewhat recognized for kick starting the trend of canning again in craft beer. They are also known for their grub.

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Colorado, Craft Beer and The Great American Beer Festival

Published on August 15, 2010 in 2010 and Here's What's Brewing. 4 Comments

When most people think of Colorado, they instantly think of  The Rocky Mountains,  John Denver, skiing and everything outdoors. What most people do not think of is Colorado and it’s more than solid craft beer scene. In fact, Colorado is one of the best states for craft beer, as it is very tourist friendly, high concentration of restaurants with good beer and the scenery can’t be beat.

In fact, the Colorado Tourism Office states that “If you like beer, you’ll love Colorado. Colorado has more breweries per capita than any other state in the U.S. And, we’ve been brewing beer since the 1800s. In addition to major breweries, Colorado also has one of the largest concentrations of microbreweries (producing specialty beers in smaller quantities) in the nation, with more than 100 located throughout the state. Most of the breweries offer tours of their facilities as well as beer tastings. The Great American Beer Festival, the largest domestic beer festival in the United States is held each year in Denver.”

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The World’s Strongest Beer. Thoughts and Musings on Pushing the Envelope

Published on August 8, 2010 in 2010 and Here's What's Brewing. 3 Comments

It’s August newsletter, Scottish craft brewery, Brewdog, announced it had yet again brewed the world’s strongest beer. This one weighing in at 55% ABV. For the longest time, Samuel Adams Utopias was the strongest, weighing in at around 7%, depending on the year. Then last year, Brewdog hatched its Tactical Nuclear Penguin, weighing in at 32%. This was achieved by freezing the beer, removing water from it, thus increasing the alcohol by volume. Soon after, German brewer, Schorschbrau, came up with a brew that was 40% ABV.Ok, now we’re justing trying to one up each other. Not to be out done, Brewdog came bck with a 41% ABV concoction called ‘Sink the Bismark!’. Now Brewdog has arrived at ‘The End of History’. A 55% ABV beer.

Although beers of this high an alcohol concentration should be enjoyed in very small pours and over a sufficient period of time, it’s hard to really enjoy these beers. Utopias was pushing it as it is. That tasted like a fine cognac and a very good one. With Tactical, Sink The Bismark! and The End of History, we seem to be getting to the point where were artificially upping the abv simply because we can, and not pushing the edge of brewing.

It seems to be trendy to have the highest ABV beer out there and as much as I love and respect what Brewdog is and seems to be trying to do, please, let’s stop the madness and brew a beer that isn’t a marketing ploy. Brewdog has some very solid beers and I buy many of them, let’s stick with creative and not blow my palette .

That being said, I don’t mean to offend the fine folks at Brewdog. I love their stuff. I just had to get this off my chest.