Sunday, November 19, 2006

Beertopia

There's a new beer store in Omaha: Beertopia, owned by and right next door to the famous Crescent Moon Alehouse, on the northeast corner of 36th and Farnam Streets. Bill has brought in hundreds of magnificent beers from all over the world, with a preponderance of Belgian Ales. It's fortunate that I got paid this week, because I visited Beertopia last night and happily dropped half my paycheck on 55 bottles of beer.


The Crescent Moon, along with the Huber Haus Bier Hall downstairs, is already Nebraska's greatest beer bar. Now there's a store right next door that definitely lives up to that standard. Thanks, Bill!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Zurück!

[Edit 2006-12-03: I've had to cut a few breweries off the list due to time constraints. I'll get to them next time!]



[Edit 2006-11-16: Due to circumstances beyond my control, I learned today that this trip will be delayed one week. I've changed the dates below to reflect the new schedule.]



Gambrinus smiles on me again: I get to spend another week in Baden-Württemburg this month! Here's a list of breweries I'm going to try to visit from my "home base" in Konstanz:





If you're going to be near those places and times, let's get together for a beer!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Beer Can House

Thanks to the folks at the Packer Chapter of the BCCA for tipping me off to this one in their recent newsletter:




In Houston, TX there is a house made out of old Texas beer cans. It was constructed by John Milovisch, and was started in 1968. It's now a neighborhood museum. You can check out the Beer Can House — Aluminum Siding 12 Ounces at a Time at:
www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXHOUbeer.html

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Liquid Solutions Blog

Matt Maples of Liquid Solutions has started a new blog listing the new beers he has available and other news about his store. Great stuff! I use his postings (formerly available only via email) to keep my Liquid Solutions page up-to-date.



Which reminds me...it's time I placed another order.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

Services instead of Classifications

Throughout the fourteen-or-so years that Beer Me! has been on the Net, there has been some mild controversy over my classification of the various breweries. For example, Sierra Nevada brews some half-million barrels of beer every year, so they're a "Regional Brewery". But they have an on-site restaurant and pub, so they're a "Brewpub".



After lots of consideration, I've decided that those arbitrary distinctions don't matter. What does matter are the "services" you can expect when you visit the brewery. To that end, I'm now including these new icons with each brewery's listing:




  • Bar/Tasting RoomBar/Tasting Room


  • Beer GardenBeer Garden

  • RestaurantRestaurant

  • Retail ItemsRetail Items (Shirts, hats, glassware, etc.)

  • Hotel RoomsHotel Rooms

  • Beer To Go (Off-License)Beer To Go (Off-License sales, home delivery)

  • ToursTours

  • InternetInternet Access Available



I'm hoping this information makes the site more useful and less confusing. We'll see.

Friday, November 3, 2006

Vancouver: An Embarrassing Error of Omission

Thinking back on all my recent travels, I'm horrified to realize that I failed to acknowledge Jonathan Smolensky's contribution to my enjoyment of beer in Vancouver back in September. I met up with Jonathan a couple of times at Steamworks, and along with discussions of politics and hockey, he gave me a lot of great pointers regarding the Vancouver beer scene. Unfortunately, his schedule didn't allow us to do any pub-crawling together...maybe next time.



Anyway, thanks, Jonathan! I owe you a beer.

German Brewery Lists

I've made something like 1,000 updates to my listings of breweries in Germany, thanks to Lars Seyfrid and his Kampagne für gutes Bier. My data almost certainly still has holes in it, and so does his, but with each iteration we'll get closer and closer to German Beer Reality.



Thanks, Lars!