Sunday, September 29, 2013

Buy beer with Bitcoins?

Bar in Woolloomooloo Sydney to be Australia's first pub with Bitcoin acceptance.


[caption id="attachment_1872" align="alignleft" width="316"]Old Fitzroy Hotel proprietor Garry Pasfield is taking Bitcoins as payment for beers Source: News Limited Old Fitzroy Hotel proprietor Garry Pasfield is taking Bitcoins as payment for beers Source: News Limited[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1873" align="alignright" width="225"]url What the froth is a Bitcoin?[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

On Sydney's harborside, Old Fitzroy Hotel now allows anyone with a smartphone and bitcoin wallet to pay their tab with Bitcoins: Wave of the future, my friends, slow moving tsunami of change.

Bitcoin was introduced in 2009 by a mysterious programmer known only as Satoshi Nakamoto, which is thought to be a pseudonym, and who has never given an interview.

Beers should cost customers around 0.05 bitcoins, the equivalent of $7. But the price of your bitcoins can change over time as we can see here, so some days it might be cheaper... or more expensive depending on the market (which makes you sound smart).

Let us not debate the ups and down of a purely fictional digital currency and just get on with it. If you own a business, hesitate not! Installing bitcoin software requires no more modification than ensuring a workable WiFi system.

Bitcoins are great for computer geeks, international travelers and people looking to keep their spending pattern a secret. What better way attract interesting clientele?

Beercoin


beercoin-head

An interesting experiment done by some SF geeks who set out to start a bitcoin spending surge with beer driven coins.

[–]em-an-re-su from Reddit explains:

"The payment flow worked like this:Get a ticket from the organizers, which was a piece of paper with a QR code of a bitcoin address (along with an illegibly small ascii version). Pay 1.1 bitcoin to that address with whichever software you want (or convince another attendee to pay to that ticket). Go to an organizer at the bar and give them the ticket. They had software that scanned the ticket and verified the account had 1.1 bitcoin. I think it used blockchain.info for verification. Then they'd tell the bartender to give you a beer of your choice.Most people used the android bitcoin wallet. I saw a couple of people using intersango.com, and a few used the blockchain.info javascript wallet. I heard one guy had their own proprietary web app wallet.I saw some people selling prepaid tickets for dollars.There were also normal patrons unaware of the event, as well as a few event hecklers who knew but refused to use bitcoin on the grounds that it is a waste of time or a pyramid scheme or whatever. No bitcoin event is complete without the hecklers."

How and where


If you want to see what it takes to go from zero bitcoins to a beer in hand, then swing through this International Business Times article: how to buy drinks with digital money, following a man on a #Beer4Bitcoin mission. It isn't as easy to start a bitcoin account as one might hope, but once you are an established net nerd then the possiblities (could) be endless! (Until bitcoins fall apart.) (Cross your fingers.)

Here is a bar in NYC that is accepting bitcoins

Parking Bar in Warsaw might take your money and give you drinks, if you come in as a group.

Or just check out the real world bitcoin map here.

 

What else can you use to buy beer?


One time I traded a subway card with all the stamps for a Ninkasi Tricerahops.

Have you ever used something besides money to gain a brew? And I don't mean festival tickets, ya lug.
tricerahopssubway6

Nitch finishing the day kicking back some boring ol' money purchased beer and waiting for the days when beer backed currency will arrive. 


XOXO


 

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Cider loving Female Half puts up a good beer resistance fight

I've been living with wine people. Hardcore wine or die kinda French. The Male Counter-Part will partake of all reasonable alcoholic items. He enjoys the clink of the drink! The Female Half on the other hand has a stigma against beer.
She likes cider.

As a beer evangelist, I quickly went work with my beer enlightenment. Thus far to no avail.

[caption id="attachment_1844" align="alignleft" width="178"]DIPA DIPA[/caption]

Granted, I started off with a super IPA. A DIPA. My hysterical hop loving mistake. When one is nose deep in the floral notes of Dordogne Valley by Corrézienne then it is impossible to think someone wouldn't love it as much as yourself. I smell the wilderness and home, romance and stability. But... granted, when you taste the beer it burns a little. To those who are less accustomed to the sting of love, it can be a rough road.

I then graced her over to pale ales in which she politely sampled a sip but refused another drink.
"Do you like coffee and/or chocolate?" I posed casually.

And since she did, I went right away into the darkness. Women LOVE the darkness.

Or so I thought.

Here's what happened:

We started on the wrong foot again, classic bumbling me. I assumed a porter would be more "beer" and less drastic a change from what she was used to appeasingly drinking when men were around. Didn't want to shock the poor girl.

Chocolate Porter by Meantime Brewing Companyporter


Was a failure of nose wrinkles and polite smiles. "Yep, tastes like beer. Ew."

I corrected my mistake, let's completely ignore "beer" and give her something that is russian winter stout with body and delight.

Tzarine Imperial Stout byBrasserie du Mont Salève


a90bb43c5b9de4bc8386c745656bd603_320x320

Warrented a pre-tasting battle of "oh, but I really don't feel like it...." and then "oh okay..."

All the while I'm holding my breath, waiting for the.. ya know.. light to click.

She drank a glass of cider to wash down the evil broth that had been pushed upon her for yet another awkward evening.

Now, don't think this was an every day sort of thing. I'm a lady! This was gradual and spontaneous!

To which, naturally, follows with gaping unexpected set backs...

Black Bear Beer by Brasserie de Fleurac


[caption id="attachment_1847" align="alignleft" width="300"]2eddf52656ba79b9e360519ba303ff06_320x320 Black Beer Beer makes me drool[/caption]

Black bear beer is my new absolute favorite French beer. My favorite current beer. My go to AND impresser. Like a hat trick at 10% it will give you a buzz from one sip, but has the body of a knock out porter and the head of a hop duchess. It is all leather and lace.

So it is natural that when the Male Counter-Part tried to once again force his partner into beer sampling (always trying to be the helpful, inventive type) he exposed her to group bondage orgies when she had hardy had come to realize sex was possible with the lights on.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout by Wells & Young’s Brewing Company


[caption id="attachment_1848" align="alignright" width="200"]Youngs_Double_Chocolate_Stout_200 PintLog[/caption]

Was my home run!

I thought it was going to be my home run anyway. I thought it was going to a halo around her head and tears to her eyes.
"It all makes sense!"

But alas, to me even, my much loved Young's Double Chocolate Stout wasn't as chocolate as I remember. Or maybe had thought I remembered it being more dynamic in my younger beer discovery years.

At that point I had moved on.

I had a Rogue Chocolate Stout and didn't even offer it to her. What was the point?! She would hate it. The girl likes cider and, although I hadn't even began to help her explore Gueuze and Lambics, I felt totally defeated. No hope. No justice in the world! I had lost my touch. I was no longer a messenger of god (Ninkasi).

Rogue's Double Chocolate Stout


[caption id="attachment_1849" align="alignleft" width="194"]Rogue Double Chocolate Stout is love the world over Rogue Double Chocolate Stout is loved the world over[/caption]

This stout had been sitting in the frig for over two weeks. That is how much beer sampling had declined in the Nitch household due to lack of companionship.

This night. Not but one hour ago, my French Man asked if we could drink the bright red beer in the frig and I obliged because we were drinking whiskey and smoking things. It was a party! And the movie had just ended. Oui.

As people milled around, I saw the French Man pour the beer into his glass and I felt a little tickle in my soul. It had a black, saucy body and a velvet cream head. He held the glass up commenting on its lush appearance. I drooled. He went to get another glass and I commandeered his.

Chocolate cream with a bitter chocolate bite, finishing with a milky chocolate ring.

I was gob smacked. THIS was the dynamic beer I was looking for. THIS was the chocolate stout to convert nuns into can-can dancers. I had to test it on the Female Half.

"No thaaank you..." she tried to slide out of the way around me as I husked in an almost creepy voice, "so.. did you try this one."

I cleared my chocolate beer coated throat and tried to explain that his was different from the other ones. Again, I mean. Different-er.

Male Counter-Part had tasted the beer said she would hate it, she hates coffee.

"I like cafe," she protested

I hand her the beer, insisting eagerly. Maybe too expectantly. This whole thing had become an obvious obsession for me and she thought I had already left her alone. Given up. She wasn't going to like beer and I wasn't going to be able to change her mind.
Yes. But taste this.

Wide eyes, nose wrinkled and a playful smile of, "yum, I can't taste it yet but I know I'm going to hate it," she sipped the stout.

I don't know what I was expecting. Halos? Epiphanies?mySuperLamePic_98b4b1342f7d3746779a233ab5726be2

She set the glass down giggling awkwardly, following quickly with a sip of water.

It was just too bitter, all evil and darkness. She liked apples and champagne. It lingered and she didn't like the aggressive nature.

The French Man made a beautiful speech about how he found the enlightening path into beer foodie-dom. How he had been around me and sampled so many beers in Australia and America that he was no longer able to drink a Heineken without thinking of what a beer could be. So sweet of him, but there was no saving my credibility, it had leaked all over the floor. Quel dommage.

The Male Counter-Part mentioned that it was still too bitter, it reminded him of his morning coffee.
Breakfast stouts, I grumbled. Breakfast stouts.

We discovered that, for wine drinkers, it is helpful to compare dark beers to light beers as one compares red wine to white. Most novice wine drinkers (women implied, having lowered alcohol experience aka are fucking dumb to that sorta thing) don't like red wine.

At one point a French Girl says that she never drinks red wine because of "you know, Freud." Red wine reminds woman of her period, the pain and discomfort. The French Girl never drinks red wine.

And so we end the evening...

No epiphanies, no shining light of transformation, but...evil laugh

...more determined then ever to make the Female Half try Lambics!

Bwahhahaa. Nothing can resist the CANTILLION!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

My Beer Company, BièrEVOLUTION- a French Beer Geek Meet

"When we sell out beer at the Levallois market, none of the locals believe that there is a brewery in the area. I even had a girl who said she went to the address, thus proving that there is no brewery. "

Perched on the top floor of a 5... 6... what feels like 7 story building, in a 10 meter squared office above his own family's flat, Fabrice Le Goff runs My Beer Company. With the help if his co-brewer Anthony Baraff he makes the many stair'ed march with bags of grain and the occasional brew equipment. The man is a legend.

Me, out of shape beer blogger that I am, and my internal collection of beers (beer gut) were sweating, panting and appalled at the idea of hulking malt up that mountain of a building, while Fabrice kindly offered water and said that is was a bit tiring. He wasn't even breathing hard, the animal.

Fabrice, a native of Brittany, founded My Beer Company two years ago and says that the craft beer scene in France has changed dramatically in the those two short years. But that materials are easy to come by seeing as how France is one of the world's (if not the) largest producer of malt.

Also joining our tasting session, the owner and founder of BièrEVOLUTION, William Faria, American born French citizen who is one of those beer geeky beard rubbing types.

[caption id="attachment_1802" align="aligncenter" width="995"]Will on the left, Fabrice on the right, Brewery in the back Will on the left, Fabrice on the right, Brewery in the back[/caption]

Fabrice and Will met a few years back and were over joyed to find one other, mentally hoppy-capped beer lovers both living in the same area.
"We were both so alone, it was nice to see other beer fools."

Both men agree that their biggest obstacle at the moment is storage. They both use the same underground storage facility that is handled by workers who are used to hauling around wine. When it comes to storing flats of beer, the French employees groan, grumble and merde.

logo

Will hints that he might be making some big additions to his import list, so if you live in France, get your local shop to ring him up (+33 (0) 6 99 70 06 73) and soon, you'll be basking in the beauty of international beer bottles galor.

As the lone wolf operator of BièrEVOLUTION Will is at the forefront the changes that have been waving across the French beer scene in recent years.

But... the change is gradual. French craft beer isn't at a point there consumers are ready for seasonal beers even. Although there are a few places like, L’Eurelienne in Chandres who do a Christmas cuvee, don't expect to be seeing any pumpkin pints around Paris anytime soon.

My Beer Company


P1010558


When asked if My Beer Company had any plans in the future of distributing to larger chain stores, Fabrice shook his head with an infatic no.

We are not looking to sell in the grocery stores because there is a huge difference between the small bottles shops who are able to educate the customer and a consumer who simply picks up a bottle. They won't know what hit them!

Tasting


LEVALLOISE-JPEGMY BEER COMPANY- Levallois 5.7%


A: Chill hazed golden blond

S: Soft fragrant floral hops, sugared malt

T: Sweet hops, melting caramel and great exotic fruits. Almost like fruity pepples with it's great floral bouque and wild fruits.

M: Medium body

O: Great hoping wonder, here is a beer that you can drink all evening and not get your hop loving face melted off. Smooth and drinkable with just a perfect amount of aggressive bittering to give you a kick but not repeat the tongue lashing after it's down your throat.

Last batch was closer to an IPA admits Fabrice- hop addicts brewing beer need to show restraint.

MY BEER COMPANY- Citra Galactique 6.5%


S: Amazing NZ hops, citra galore

T: Dancing hops and a refreshing hop bite, palate pleasing and "yes I'll have another."

My first go with Citra Galactique back in the heat of June was no less in love than now.

Label Change


beer_185792The label of Citragalactiue is about to get an overhaul! French legislation requires anything consumable goods to have a certain percentage of and proper labeling to indicate the amount of, said ingredient. You put Citra on your label? That is a hop, please label your beer with the exact amount of that Citra hop used, Miseur et Merci, au revoir.

French legal system is a tough piece of jerky, so it is easier to change the label then account for the minuscule amounts of hops used in the beer.

MY BEER COMPANY- Porter Gourmande 6%P1010557


A: Big, thick bubbled head

S: Vanilla, roasted malt, warm coffee and caramel

T: Yeasty, slight vanilla- caramel malt backbone.

M: Warming and dry

O: Smooth, bitter, lingering dry hopped bitter with balancing vanilla notes

Was dry hopped with vanilla beans!

We finished the tasting session with a a French Breakfast Stout that the pair pulled out from the back room, in back reserve and not currently being sold. (o.0) Special.




[caption id="attachment_1838" align="alignleft" width="300"]bouley_pain_au_chocolat Pain au chocolate- common French breakfast item YUM[/caption]

A: No head- super dark

S: Meaty, malty , chocolate sweet

T: Like a French breakfast- pain au chocolate

M: Slippery and smooth

O: Great chocolate loving Mary this tickles the tummy! Stouts are a beautiful thing but when the coffee notes take over, Nitch takes a break. This stout hints at coffee without whamming you in the face with cold coffee grinds. Delicate and delicious! Literally like a dark chocolate bar, wrapped in buttery French croissant. Looking forward to seeing more of this French Breakfast Stout on the shelves at CaB.

We are at the dawning of a new age, in Paris!


It is black and white on the streets of Paris- New vs Old. You have classic belgian beer bars across the street from new craft beer bars and their are grumbling and eye rolling in both directions.


Belgian beer bars have matching glasses for each beer, traditional lagers and beers defined by their color while new craft beer bars have brews from around the world, beer educated servers and define beers by their style.


TRAVELERS NOTE: If you are out and about in foreign beer hunting territory try looking for beers with their style on the label rather than color.


giphy


 

Thank you very much to both Fabrice and Will for welcoming a lone beer geek into the Paris underground. We all look forward to many years of craft beer expansion, hop culture saturation and a shift from traditional to My Beer Company with an evolution of beer.


Merci beaucoup Fabrice et Will pour accueillir un passionné de bière solitaire dans la résistance de Paris. Nous attendons tous avec impatience beaucoup d'années d'expansion de bière de métier, la saturation de biere culture et un changement de traditionnel à My Beer Company avec la évolution de bière a Paris.


XOXO



Follow My Beer Company and BièrEVOLUTION for more updates

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Tasting- MOOR'S Old Freddy Walker

Moving from written word to video world is no minor task. I think I'm a perfectionist. This tasting was done a few weeks ago while I filmed my new venture- vlogging.

Unfortunately I can't stop editing the damn thing and still have no desire to share it with the outside world. More on vlogging later On to the beer!

MOOR BEER COMPANY- Old Freddy Walker


Collage

A: Black as might night, black as pitch, blacker then the foulest witch! A rusty, big bubbled head that is full and lingering.

S: Spices like clove and thyme, yeasty cooking bread smell and then almost a pine tree hint deep under a chocolate boozy head.

OurBeersOFW2T: What a delight! Melts in your mouth, I feel instantly drunk. Drunk with delight and not with alcohol. There are no strong alcohol esters. Vlogging and drinking, oh my. Tastes of prune, red fruits and smooth chocolate. Very little bitter at the end balancing out the sweet toffee middle.

M: Smooth and fully body

Collage2O: Yum, yum, yum! I would love to shelf some of these and see how they age over the years. I feel like the notes will change gradually over time, revealing more of the under tones with the spice and ripe fruit or it could move toward more chocolate and molasses. What a great, hardy beer that isn't carried away with alcohol. Although the bottle is large, a beer geek like yours truly can take work herself through the whole bottle before a nap beside the fire. It screams of the holidays and sharing- so maybe it is one of those brews to save/collect each year and open with the friends and family on a cold winter night.

My video review isn't global but BeerGogglesReviews has a spot on description of Old Freddy Walker.

"Smells like christmas pudding in the kitchen- herbal notes from things like stuffing, and then you've got something.. almost like your nan is sitting at the end of the table with a port. Buxom, like a chubby bride's maid, warm and inviting- holiday cheer in a glass."

http://youtu.be/XRv_5SPH674

Couldn't agree more!

Cheers to Old Freddy Walker and merci to Will at Bierevolution for the tasting donation.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Beer saturated Bend, Oregon spawns The Beer Painter


"Keep playing with your food and drinks- you never know what you'll discover!"



Karen Eland aka the Beer Painter is an Oklahoma born, Bend Oregon resident who takes the term "playing with your food," to new, artistic heights.

A drinkable medium!il_570xN.375529852_tcav


Although Karen says that having taken a few art classes at the age of 15 got her solidly interested in the world of art, she didn't begin working with beer until four years ago.

The monochromatic nature of either coffee or beer painting is somehow both soothing and challenging to me. I really do find the shades of brown beautiful and the fact that it's a drinkable medium appeals to my whimsical side.

Don't think Beer Painter is limited to just tasty craft beers and rich urban coffees she also works with spices, tea, wine, and some liquors. If it is drinkable, she can paint with it!

Surrounded by beer in Bend, Oregonil_570xN.405461174_350j


It was an easy leap from doing coffee art to beer art being surrounded by so many quality brewers.

Karen views the brewing world with love and appreciation for the artisanship that is required in making our beloved brews:

I want to create more art to highlight the level of art that goes into making a delicious beer, whether it's individual ingredients or the procedures and chemistry.be


Karen is currently a certified beer geek who is not only is a hop loving Chainbreaker drinker but admits that her early beer interest was next to zip due to the distasteful taste of mainstream lager. That is until she tried McMenamins Terminator Stout:

and a whole new world opened up. It's not my favorite anymore but I like the path it set me on.

Also, like most beer geeks, Karen isn't able to choose just one beer that she loves the most, but does state that for the moment she would perhaps prefer something along lines of a bourdon-barrel aged dark beer. Maybe Three Floyd's Dark Lord, Deschutes's Black Butte XXV or, in fantasy rich and lucky land, Samuel Adam's Utopias.

Karen could then take on of the world's mots expensive beers and make one of the world's most expensive beer paintings: a bottle of Utopia goes for about $190. The important question is rather or not you'd be able to use such a fantastic and rare beer for art instead of lip smacking consumption?

How Beer Painter Paints


[caption id="attachment_1812" align="aligncenter" width="570"]Possibly one of her best pieces: 1920s Tour de France Possibly one of her best pieces: 1920s Tour de France[/caption]

After drawing the sketch, I erase most of the pencil so it doesn't blur. Then I build many layers, usually from light (water mixed in) shades to the darkest. It's on absorbent watercolor paper called Arches, which has been made in France since 1492!

Score another point for France's bull headed determination to keep old traditions alive- super absorbent watercolor paper? Yeah, we do that. We do that the best and we've been doing it since before America was a country. Merci.

Karen states that even though she's done some huge paintings (including a four panel piece for Worthy Brewing), one of the most difficult pieces with a small commission of a lighthouse:

It was hard to get the right gentle fade of the light into the dark sky. It would have been easy in oil paint to just add the white light over the dark sky, but in beer painting you have to leave the paper showing through for the white parts. 

When asked of she was available for personal orders, ya know, a cat portrait done in the new Hello Kitty beer maybe, she not only said yes but also that she had already done a few cat portraits. (Reddit's cat addiction is seeping into all corners of reality.)

Your inner beer artist


There have been times when I've spilled a bit of beer on a napkin and thought- what pretty colors, but spilling drinks does not make one a painter make and Karen has shown just what can be done when you put America's favorite craft pastime with humanities most prevalent art form.
"And a big thank you to all the craft brewers and supporters! We are all a part of bringing more beauty to this world." -Karen Eland

Isn't she a delight!


Check out more from the Beer Painter with this video or on Etsy.com. Prices are extremely reasonable and if someone gets another one of those beer painted cat portraits commissioned, I'd love to see it!


XOXO


okay, one more




[caption id="attachment_1809" align="aligncenter" width="570"]this is my current desktop, I LOVE IT this is my current desktop, I LOVE IT[/caption]

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Man Survives On Hops

Paris resident and American national, Brandon aka American Beer Geek in Paris is 'Super Size'-ing his hop intake with a two week vow to imbibe only beer, #noH2o.

Man Survives On Hops


[caption id="attachment_1789" align="alignnone" width="600"]Brandon with his Nanny State at Brandon with his Nanny State[/caption]

That beer is BrewDog's Nanny State, a 0.5% abv near beer that was originally a joke concept created in 2009 as a rebuttle to local outcry at their then newly released 18% abv beer Tokoyo.

Nanny State follows in the steps of BrewDog's 3.5% abv IPA How To Dissapear Completely, taking the concept of a hop session to a new level.

'There is over 60 kilos used in our tiny 20HL batch. It contains more hops than any other beer ever brewed in the UK. It has a theoretical IBU of 225."

BrewDog states:

"You can buy some and make your own little protest against the bueorocracy and regulation epidemic that is apparently all that stands between us and the slow and gradual downfall of Western civilisation here."

Brandon is protesting against the 'bueorocray and regulation epidemic' of general health practicioners by depriving himself of water (he admits to having a glass of juice every now and then) and seeing if it is, in fact, possible to die from hops.

Death by Hops?


Google says that it isn't really possible, even the cdc doesn't have any cases of hop poisoning. Hops are a dangerous plant though- for dogs. And can be smoked by humans, but usually just causes a headache (first hand account, that one there).

Put a little beer on it


Not only does Brandon add the highly hopped beer to his cooking but substitutes Nanny State for his milk with cereal and keeps a bottle on his shower rack.

[caption id="attachment_1791" align="aligncenter" width="819"]Collage How a man survives on hops[/caption]


BrewDog has got wind of Brandon's mission to prove the health abilities of low alcohol beer and have made a few suggestions themselves, including:

Steam his clothes with a beer-powered iron

Washing car

Boiling rice

Brushing teeth (a hop rinse please)

Hot Tea

But why not also:

A bubbly mixed fruit bowl

Nanny State and scotch (man's gotta drink while fasting)

Eye contact beer rinse

Or you could get real culinary and do what the Beeroness suggests:

IPA Ceviche lettuce wraps

IPA Caesar salad dressing

Jalapeno IPA Hummus

Old idea with new approach


Trying to kill oneself with beer isn't a new concept, my father tried to do it for years, just as humanity has  tried done ever since creating and consuming alcohol. Using beer in new creative ways is a funny thing to watch, like people sitting in cold beer baths or, heck way not fill your prosthetic legs with lager. But beer as means to internal health?

30 day beer cleanse to lose weight

Modern drunkard wakes up pools of his own shit

Brandon might not be changing the bureaucracy, finding the cure for cancer, or even deeply effecting his own physical well being (other than making his piss hop scented) by using .5% abv beer as a water substitute for two weeks but he is doing something we (American) beer geeks admire- pushing hop consumption to new, ever ridiculous levels.

Thumps up for #Man Survives On Hops!


original


XOXO

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Tasting Location- Bières Cultes in Cardinal

Paris, France delivering another boutique beer location, this one with a tasting station and custom sampling classes- Bières Cultes in the 5th district, Cardinal.

With Brewberry being closed during regularly scheduled hours, I was off to find wifi so I could boo hoo on your shoulder when I walked past this joint:

[caption id="attachment_1741" align="aligncenter" width="516"]877f18c4b4bfb84104868408969a03fd Bières Cultes Pic from Foodavenue.fr[/caption]

Hellllooo "work research"!


I love the beer business



No camera on hand today and, of course, your truly doesn't have a phone at all, let one with a fancy smancy camera attached. So you get net pictures and built in macbook photos.  And I get to be the crazy lady holding beers up to her monitor.

mySuperLamePic_33ca768fe3ea9ae0bdc914eaa6bd14d1

With four locations in Paris Bières Cultes is one of the craft beer heavy hitters at the moment and, although my store attendant wasn't the greatest, seeing shelves lined with beet bottles is a delight.

Xavier (store owner) working attendant has no sense of urgency (it's a French thing) and not a huge desire to pry into one's beer thoughts, but is a super chill dude with many beer answers who also happens to be a master gamer with sweet xbox skills.

There is a nice rounded selection of beers from around the world, including some French (Craig Allen) and a few American (Sierra Nevada). All the big hitters you'd imagine to be there (the Trappists, Brewdog, Chouffe), are in their place as well as the more commercial brews like Leffe, Pietra and Chimay (all available at the super market).

Tasting


mySuperLamePic_7601d8d9982b0e97303dced39768814c mySuperLamePic_20d262eb89039ea4d9ca22d812a34ffb

Highlights


6. Multiple locations throughout Paris- accessibility is half the battle.

5. Free limitless wifi- for bloggin, tweeting and general anti-social activities

4. Groovy juke music- via store ipod and junky speakers in the back, I dig. I bet if I asked to play somethin, I'd be welcomed.

3. Outdoor seating area with four plastic chairs- for smokers I assume but still a nice little area for good weather appreciation or exploding bottle openings

2. Xbox with television- wasn't in use, but it's right behind the bar, ready to go so Xavier can show you his masterful gaming skills*.

1. Classes- Most inportantly is education! Shop manager Xavier says that if you give him a call, then we can put together a customized class for you and yours. Price is for the beer- education is free. W00t!

-1. they close at 9- they aren't an effing bar people so calm down. These guys close pretty early-beware, check the website.

[caption id="attachment_1740" align="aligncenter" width="494"]Bar area of 4 month old Cardinal location Bières Cultes- Bar area of 4 month old Cardinal location[/caption]

Verdict


It ain't no Cave à bulles but it's a step in the right direction! Bières Cultes is a great beer geeking outlet.

Lets us see about getting one of these classes put together and... a young attractive male with a unicycle (of all strange things) just walked in... he went right to his beer of choice- Gulden Draak

.... oh Parisians, how I love thee.

270-gulden-draakThanx for giving my place to rest my lappy, Bières Cultes, and rest my metro tired heels while I enjoy your crafty selection and dig on the groove. Thumbs up for beer!

XOXO



 *master gamer status yet to be varified

The Session #79: Old World Beer vs New World Beer

session

The Session is upon us again and this month we are putting up dukes and drawing lines in the sand.

'What the hell has America done to beer?'


Thank you Ding for stirring things up. (as usual...)



The Session, a.k.a. ‘Beer Blogging Friday’, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry. Friday September 6th will see my turn to ‘host’ The Session, #79 in the series.

Tasting Nitch was all ready to cat claw and pin wheel her lovely lady arms on the face of combatants around the world during this Old* vs. New** and 'what did they do?!' debate... but after laying out my words, then reviewing and revising, I found that I am all effing purrs and puffs today.

'USA versus Old World Beer Culture' or how I stopped worrying and learned to love the atomic hop


Ding, ding- let the games begin!


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Round 1- I live in France


First off I want to say that I'm fully a New World fighter. I'm addicted to hops, I like beers with strange ingredients, I require pumpkin ale for the holidays and I not only demand fresh/unique beers on a rotating basis but I assume those around me do also. I am American and my opinions are loud.

That being said, it must be known that I live in France- the culture hoarders of the world, perfection in all things gastronomic and nasal expressions for things that displease. There is no beer culture beyond lager (some, but not much). And if you want to give me that shrug about being close to Belgium and Germany, then you can join these people.

Being in places void of New World beer flair has caused a dedication to the craft addiction bordering on insane, I admit. So when I hear people preach about Old World beer and it's perfection I get a little eye ball rolly. Classics are great but... when you've ridden the big roller coasters, the ferris wheel ain't got the same kick!

Round 2- It's about the generation not the location


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Like the Star Wars series, great things will cycle and slightly evolve as the new generation moves in. The standard beer geek in the 80's was a wire rimmed, long-haired, science nerd who would often throw up the 'live long and prosper.' Today, the term 'beer geek' is becoming a fashion and people educating themselves about their drinking options is 'the cool thing'. Nothing wrong with that.

Hipsters might be something of the new world development. Can't hate em, they are going to inherit the world- bright yellow skinny jeans, sparrow tattoos, mustaches and all.

[caption id="attachment_1776" align="aligncenter" width="720"]Hipster evolution Hipster evolution[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1774" align="aligncenter" width="750"]EvolutionOfCanadianBeer2-01 Evolution of Canadian Beer[/caption]

Old world is was stagnant. Until New world rolled in and reminded the beer world (the entire world) that crafting things with love creates people who love what they craft. And a community to support it.

The fact that Belgium nearly lost it's entire brewing culture up until the 90's due to over commercialization is something a lot of Belgian brewers will admit to. They give thanks to New World's crazy unique beer addiction (while also blaming them for the bastardization to begin with).

Check out this interview with Yvonne De Baets from Brassier de la Senne. (5:00 in gets to the topic)

Old world needs to shakes hands with New world, pat it on the head, thank it for the help across the street and offer up some words of wisdom. Maybe something like, "Don't call them Lambics if they're made in the US. Lambic is specific to Payottenland. Feel free to make what you want and call it what you want, other than Lambic. Good luck, kiddo."

Round 3- Make beer, not war


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If you ask a German who invented beer (after a bit of name dropping and switch foot confusion) say it was Germany. Ask an English man where the best beer comes from and he is bound to bring out the hail storm of British beer history, rather or not traditional english ales are his favorite.

url-1We all have our traditions, roots and misconceptions about beer, which is why the time has come to let go of dependable old Reinheitsgebot and let the blending begin.

Beer culture is as vast as the vats that created it.

So yeah, New World beer is mucking up the traditionally clean waters of the brew house- but think what a little mud would do for the flavor of the beer? For good or bad, stagnant Old World beer needed a little alkalization in the mix to keep from incestual death.

Keep the traditions alive! By allowing the younger generations to play, Ding. We might be psychotic addicts to over hype but New World is the future and the base of our future is the love of doing what we do, the way we do it (with costume parties, hop injectors and frankenstein beer concoctions).

Knock out


[caption id="attachment_1777" align="alignright" width="191"]China is doing it too... China is doing it too...[/caption]

What about countries like Brazil, Chile, China and South Africa? They are starting to making newer, more complex and possibly even MORE completely bastardized beers! Will it then be Old World vs New World vs Future World?

How about we make it One World.

One Beer World, under Ninkasi, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Now, lets shake on it.

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XOXOX



*Old world- Belgium, Germany, The United Kingdom, and any other place that once had real kings and queens in stone castles.

**New World- Canada, the United States, Australia (aaaand... then you have everyone else who isn't Old World but doesn't quite rock the boat as much as the first three.)

 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Beer Freaks! What do they eat, wear and Hello Kitty?

That is right, my sweet faced friends and subscribers, today is something special. Today is a hot, buttery bustling day in Paris and to go with that mess of cultures and coffees, we have a...

[caption id="attachment_1714" align="aligncenter" width="259"]7n7PCv1378386020 see what I did there... mash tun.. mash up... oh the cleverness of me![/caption]

Step one:


What does a proper beer geek slip into after his/her morning beer soak?

All Beers has you covered with this blog and vid about the exceedingly trendy beer thread location in São Paulo, Brazil called Beer Freaks.

6876778e72With freakishly funny and uniquely geeky beer gear, Beer Freaks delivers the social requirement for chest coverings while keeping with the time old nerd tradition of statement piece cotton t-shirts.

Loads of female options (go boobs!) and even some sweat shirts for our cold weather drinkers (Canada, I'm looking at you.)

[caption id="attachment_1715" align="alignleft" width="198"]ac53ec4177 Beer Freaks does beer and zombies effectively doubling the nerd point out put[/caption]

The site is slightly confusing, being all in Portugeuse but my google translate tells me that international shipping isn't an option at this time. Ebay? No luck. Asos, nothing. I give up. I shot over a desperate tweet asking how beer freakers like you and I could get our sticky LME hands a shirt or two. Update when available.

Step Two:


Slap some beer flavored chocolate butter on toasted bread and juice your oj- breakfast of champions. OR, if you are American Beer Geek in Paris and you are trying to Super Size Me yourself to death with hops (#ManSurvivesHops), pour a Nanny State and dip your beer nutella in that.

Unfortunately, like the Beer Freaks threads, Birra Spalmabile (spal-ma-bile? We need this pronounced by an Italian), will not be available in the US and costs about £25 ($40 or  €30) for shipping around the EU. Selfridges&Co says they have plans to get the stuff over to the US in the next coming months, but don't hold your breath and hope that the reasonably low price of jar (£8, $12, or €9 depending on the day) doesn't change with it's new found popularity.


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Steps Three and Four:


Slip on your favorite Hello Kitty sneakers, put on your Hello Kitty hat and headphones, apply your hello Kitty glip gloss, comb your beard with your Hello Kitty beard comber and grab a few bottles of your new Hello Kitty beer from the Hello Kitty refrigerator before leaving your Hello Kitty house.

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Oh yeah- Hello Kitty beer, that just happened.

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This Hello Kitty beer thing has happened before with Beck's, but never has it had such exciting new flavors!

Hello Kitty lemon lime, Hello Kitty peach! Passion fruit and Banana Hello Kitty beer might be out there in Bejing somewhere but no one has yet to sample it. Mostly marketed for China, this Beer Gear Mash piece might also not be available to the common American- yet.

[caption id="attachment_1724" align="alignleft" width="214"]images-1 Not available in Hello Kitty pink, unfortunately[/caption]

To keep your Hello Kitty Peach flavor beer chilly fresh, put the cans in this Case Coolie. Lightweight, ice-less, build in holder and all the Case Coolie is your picnic, tailgating Hello Kitty shopping best friend.

Our Beer Gear has been mashed together and we are ready to set out on anther hop hunting adventure!

For other beer related (but not drinkable) ideas, including a prediction about our future selfs downloading beer directly into our cortex, check out The BeerCast with: is drinking passé?

XOXO