Lee Norman Williams (He may hurt me for using the middle name) hails all the way from Bristol, England. These days he hangs his hat in Brooklyn, New York. Lee is the mastermind behind ‘Hoptopia’, one of the best beer review sites out there.

Mr. Hoptopia himself

Lee is everywhere. Twitter. Facebook. The internet. The iPhone. Android. Yes, he even has apps for the iPhone and Android. The man seems insistant on taking over the craft beer reviewing world.

I had a chance to talk with Lee a little about himself, craft beer and Hoptopia.

O.k. Lee, a few questions for you. Here goes:

Classic question, how’d you get into beer, and more importantly when did you get into craft beer?
I really got into beer when I was living in Philadelphia, about 7 or 8 year ago. I mostly have to thank the arcane law in Pennsylvania that makes the sale of 6 packs illegal There is a great beer store in downtown Philly called The Foodery that wasn’t too far from where I used to work. I would stop into The Foodery after work and pick up a random assortment of 12oz singles. I had no clue what any of them were at the time really. The fact I did not have to commit dollars to buying a six pack of something I might not like, definitely helped expand my beer horizons beyond the Newcastle, Blue Moon, Bud, Boddingtons and Guinness I would normally drink.

In Europe, women have been very involved in beer and brewing. Why is the culture in the U.S. so different?
Honestly, judging by the number of female homebrewers and pro brewers in the U.S. these days, I think the U.S, actually has the upper hand when it comes to women involved in craft beer and the beer industry at large. My girlfriend Stevie Caldarola, recently started a group called Ladies of Craft Beer that has been growing at a break neck pace. It’s another example of just how many women are interested in good beer.

What are your favorite watering holes?
Rattle N Hum Bar, Blind Tiger, Beer Table, The Gate and Mission Dolores – all in NYC

Your website, Hoptopia, is quite impressive. How did you get it started? You also have an iPhone app for it, how did that come about?
Thanks. From the beginning I wanted to keep Hoptopia simple. I wanted the focus of the site to be just my opinion and my enthusiasm. Honestly, I think Hoptopia’s success can be mostly attributed to my wanting to meet and talk to as many people about beer as possible.

The iPhone app – and now Android app – was something I wanted to do from outset. I have a weird ability to pick up on trends before most people do and I could see that consuming information was going more and more in the direction of simple and intuitive apps. Apps are a vital tool in getting my reviews in the hands of more people.

What are your goals with regards to craft beer?
My goal initially was to get more people interested in craft beer. Since then I’ve become more and more acutely aware of just how detrimental macro breweries and factory produced food and beverage has been to our society and the World at large. I sincerely think it’s had a negative effect on how we live and interact on a daily basis with each other, let alone the devastating environmental impact. As you can tell, this subject gets me pretty fired up. I now feel that teaching and exciting people about craft beer has almost become something of political cause for me.

How do feel this perception toward women in craft beer is changing?
I think the perception of women involved with anything once considered the domain of men, is and has been changing for the better for a while now – though not as fast as I’d like.

What’s your favorite beer and/or style? Why?
American IPA. Not entirely sure why, but the leafy greenness and bite really appeals to my palate.

Thanks to Lee Williams or taking time to answer a few questions. I look forward to having a brew with you at The Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado later this month!

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.

Real Ale Brewing has its humble beginnings back in 1996. Water from the nearby Blanco River is used in their brewing process. It utilizes a 60-barrel brewing system. Its staff is small, but all are dedicated to producing fine Texas craft beer. Now, I live in San Antonio. I’ve been here since 1995, a year before Real Ale opened their doors. I’ve travelled many places and visited many a brewpub and brewery. I’ve long since been a fan of Real Ale. Yet, I have never taken the time to stop by. Well, on a sunny Friday afternoon I decided to load up the car and head up to Blanco. From San Antonio, this is but a meager 45 minute drive.

Arriving into town soon after leaving, I passed up the historic courthouse right off Main st and took a right on San Saba. Soon I arrived and Real Ale. The Friday tastings and tours had just begun, so I parked an quickly headed in. The tour had just started, so I had made it in time. The tour was led by the brewery manager and he quickly led everyone through the brewing process at Real Ale, while also making everyone feel at home.

The tour moves from the where the brewing magic begins, at the mash and lauter tun, to the kettle and then to the fermentors. A little simplistic explanation, but you get the drift. The tour also explains where all the ingredients come from, where they come up with new ideas for others beers and where they experiment. The tour discuss the bottling and kegging process and moves over to the cold room, where all the beer is stored before is is distributed throughout the state. When the tour ended, we just happened to be at the tasting room. Aww, shucks! The folks here are very generous and will happily pour you samples of what they have on tap. I stuck around for a few minutes afterwards and chatted with the owner and head brewer about upcoming events in the area and seasonal brews that were on their way.

A great day to be sure and a destination that should be considered whether you live in the area or are visiting nearby San Antonio, Austin or Houston. There are plenty of nearby Bed and Breakfast places to stay and much to be done on the nearby Blanco River.

Photo Credits (all): Jeremy Banas

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.

Melange A Trois is a complicated ale. Officially a Belgian stye Blonde Ale, it was then aged in French Oak Chardonnay barrels. Blondes are mostly an American creation, mostly malt, very little hops, very crisp and very pale in color. Only they know what they used to give it a Belgian twist. I’ve a feeling they used a Belgian yeast strain, amongst other things.

This one has a beautiful medium gold color to it. The minimal carbonation seems to creep up the side of the glass, almost as if it’s seducing you on its way to the top. The lacing is perfect and appropriate for this style, clinging to the glass for dear life.

Take one whiff and you instantly get the aroma of Chardonnay wine. Take another and you get a nice malty sweetness to balance it out.

Touching glass to lips, I instantly got what was truly a combination of both the Chardonnay I smelled and the malty sweetness. Another sip tells me a little Munich or crystal malt was used. That aging in the Chardonnay barrels was a nice touch and truly brings the tannins from the barrels in touch with the malty sweetness you get on the back end.

Mouthfeel if very crisp, very light.

Overall, this was amazing. A great summer beer despite the 10% ABV. Just make sure you enjoy it over time, with something Italian, definitely a seafood plate and of course good friends.

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.

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.

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.

Ranger Creek will start out with four regular beers likely next week. Their German Dortmunder-Export lager dubbed South Texas Lager; which uses  pilsner malt and German Tettnang hops; A Mesquite Smoked Porter that is all Texas, brewed with malted grain that is mesquite smoked on site at the brewery in a custom built smoker; A Oatmeal Pale Ale that uses Texas grown oats, malted barley, English Fuggles and American Amarillo hops; and lastly their Dark Belgian Strong Ale known as La Bestia Aimable, or the Friendly Beast after the French explorer explorer La Salle’s ship the Aimable and honoring Texas’ Mexican heritage.

The show piece of the brewery is their 30 barrel still which I have to say is a site to see. Manufactured in Europe, it is just …beautiful. I was able to get a tour from both head brewer Rob Landerman (who was busy putting together their cold room when I stopped by) and Marketing guy Mark McDavid who came buy during his lunch hour.

It was fantastic to see how they rig their brewing equipment. Both Rob and Mark were easy to understand as they explained the brewwing process for the beer as well as the whiskey. Once open, they plan to have weekly tours of the brewery and tastings for the public, as well as a special tasting event more geared to the locals each month.

Suffice it to say, that many people love to go on tours of the wine country in California, Washington and other parts of the country. With craft beer being more diverse than wine, and Texas growing at a fast pace with more brewpubs and breweries each year, make a Texas brew tour a must for your visit to South Texas.

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.”

Colorado even has a Chief Beer officer, Scott Kerkmans of the Four Points by Sheraton hotel chain. Scott has even called Colorado the ‘Napa Valley of Beer’.

With good reason too. Denver it’s self produces more beer per capita than anywhere in the U.S. and second in the number of breweries it has. More than a hundred breweries grace the beauty of Colorado.  From Oskar Blues in Lyons, to New Belgium in Ft. Collins, to Ska Brewing in Durango and that’s literally just scratching the surface.

Now the nice thing is that every part of this great land has a different vibe to it and that extends to craft beer. Portland and San Diego for example of epic craft beer scenes and put out some of the most amazing stuff you’ll ever try. For me, Colorado is and always will be home, so maybe I am a little biased in my love for Colorado craft beer. I may have good reason though.

Growing up, the joke was always that there was a 7-Eleven on every corner. These days, especially in Denver, there seems to be a craft beer bar or brewpub on every corner. On my iPhone, I have an app appropriately title ‘BeerTour CO’. Let me tell you, it has come in handy on many occasions. When I pull up the app, a map is displayed with every brewery and brewpub in the state. It’s amazing, it looks like New York City lit up at Night.

I’ve had the opportunity every time I head home to Colorado to drive around and visit many of these fine breweries. One of my favorite places is the Grand lake Brewing Co in Grand Lake, Co. Located smack dab in the Rocky Mountains, at 8,369 it is the highest packaging microbrewery in the United States.

Even the great Charlie Papazian, founder of the American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association, is from Colorado. In fact, the largest beer festival in the United States is in Denver each September, The Great American Beer Festival. More to come on that.

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.

Massachusetts Press Release

Photo courtesy of beersuggest.com

The brewery has been around since..well, I’m no sure to be honest. Not a lot out there on them and there website is under construction at the moment. Suffice to say, it’s been a few years at least.

This one is in the style of an American IPA. That’s India Pale Ale. This style traces its origins back to the 1700’s when Pale Ale’s were basically tweaked to be maltier and hoppier to withstand the long voyages to India. In the last twenty years or so, Americans have ‘tweaked’ even this, making the IOA more flavorful, definitely hoppier, often with an herbal tone to them.

Poured from a bottle into a standard pint glass, appearance was a medium, cloudy gold color. Carbonation was on the heavy side, as I had to stop pouring half way through the bottle, but left a good lacing on the glass.

Aroma was a little disappointing. Usually I would expect some floral notes, a little citrus even. With this one I do get a very malty IPA as I’d expect, but the hop profile was so minimal it bordered on a Pale Ale.

Tasting much as it smells, the malt really does come out. A slight caramel to it in fact. Not overly impressive though.

Mouthfeel was ok. medium bodied, but greatly affected by the over carbonation.

Overall, it was indeed drinkable. A nice Pale Ale it was. Not an IPA though. Which is surprising. I’ve had this one before at the brewpub and was impressed. Perhaps it was the bottle. ABV not on the bottle, but seemed around 6%. Would pair well with poultry dishes that are spiced up, and some of your sharper cheeses.