September 2014 – Ben's Beer Blog

The Friday Link Roundup 09.26.14

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Ben

Untitled The Friday Link Roundup is a semi-regular feature wherein Ben’s Beer Blog lazily points you to other beery things worth reading on the interwebs this week.

	On brewing industry mergers and the vaguely scary future of global beer consolidation via The New York Times
	Evil Twin Brewery’s Jeppe Jarnit-Bjegsø has a dispatch from Mexico for Vice to explain why craft beer there is exploding.
	For anyone who’s spouse won’t let them homebrew because of the ugly jugs, this might be the world’s most visually interesting homebrew kit.
	Draft Magazine introduces us to Wild Run Brewing, a craft brewery making good beer in an RV park‘s former game room.
	Australia’s favourite hangover cure is coming to America via Bloomberg
	The Atlantic has a surprisingly interesting (and lengthy) look at the history of the shaker glass.

Labatt is planning an expensive, intentionally misleading ad campaign for Shock Top

Posted on September 22, 2014September 22, 2014 by Ben

ShockTopCorp

Shock Top is a beer made by the massive, multinational brewing company AB-InBev.

People who drink craft beer know that Shock Top is a beer made by AB-InBev and its local consortium Labatt, and those same people who know that Shock Top is a Labatt product often speculate that the line between Shock Top and actual “craft beer” is likely left intentionally hazy so that Labatt might conceivably pass Shock Top off as craft beer–which it most certainly is not.

And while we, the stout sniffing cognoscenti, have always known in our heart of hearts that Shock Top is part of the macrobrewery effort to get “crafty” as a means to compete with (and presumably crush) small brewers, it doesn’t make it any less galling to actually see that strategy laid out on paper.

But now we can. Continue reading “Labatt is planning an expensive, intentionally misleading ad campaign for Shock Top” →

Thank you

Posted on September 18, 2014September 21, 2014 by Ben

Last night I was awarded the inaugural Golden Tap Award for The Best Beer Writer in Ontario.

In case you’re unaware or you’re somehow not among the many I pandered to directly or indirectly to vote for me, the Golden Tap Awards are awards chosen by the general public, who can pick their favourites in a variety of beer categories online.

There are many people who feel that this method of selection unfairly favours those with the best social media presence. It has oft been a source of contention among beer folks, for example, that Beau’s All Natural Brewery are able to be named the best brewery in Ontario year after year–they were unseated last night for the first time in five years–because while they do indeed make decent beer, they also campaign for awards like this aggressively.

I’m not going to dwell on the structure of The Golden Tap Awards (I’m pretty sure that other writers have and will, in print or otherwise), because I have no illusions about what these awards are and I will readily admit that I campaigned (hard) to win.

I haven’t written any books about beer, I don’t have any formal certifications or training related to beer, and I’ve never worked in the brewing industry. Indeed I often rely on those with more expertise and who’ve been doing this longer than I have for help. Jordan St. John, who writes about beer for QMI, maintains the blog St. John’s Wort, and who wrote two (two!) books about beer this year, remains my most frequent source of borrowed knowledge and, since I started writing about beer three years ago, has essentially acted as the beer version of wikipedia for me when I’m writing a story or otherwise just curious. So too have I called upon the imitable Crystal Luxmore for her wealth of beer knowledge, asked the veteran Stephen Beaumont for guidance, gained insights from food and beverage aficionado David Ort, and, as we all do in the beer writing game, blatantly mined the work of the wily Greg Clow for my own references and purposes.

That said, I am extremely passionate about beer and that passion goes into my writing. Continue reading “Thank you” →

Wining and Dining at The ACC

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Ben

Call it a throwback Thursday if you want, but this post originally appeared on Post City in November of 2013. I recently had occasion to revisit it and thought it might be worth sharing again (i.e. I’m a little busy right now and this is an excellently lazy way to get a little blog traffic today!)

ACC

W hile recent years have done much to lower our expectations when it comes to the athletes who call the Air Canada Centre home, there is a group of people who happen to work in the same building who put in a remarkable effort every single Leafs and Raptors game (not to mention Toronto Rock games and all the concerts).

They are the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment food service employees and, while the city has clearly grown all too forgiving when it comes to “off nights” from both the Raptors and the Leafs, we’re far less apt to show forgiveness when it comes to the beer and hotdog we buy at the game, so these people need to be on their game.

Thankfully, it’s a responsibility they take seriously. As Robert Bartley, Senior Director of Food and Beverage will tell you, “We like to think of it as hosting a dinner party for 18,000 people every night.”

Indeed, the ACC is one of only a handful of professional sports facilities that opt to cook for their dinner guests themselves. Most sports facilities, like The Rogers Centre down the street, contract third parties to handle foodservice. The Jays, for example, have left the foodservice to Aramark, a massive US-based foodservice company that handles sports facilities in addition to educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and even prisons. Continue reading “Wining and Dining at The ACC” →

Contest: Win two tickets to The Beer Experience

Posted on September 3, 2014September 3, 2014 by Ben

BeerExperience

One of the things I don’t like about beer events (and yes, I’ve mentioned a few things before) is the tendency for brewers to trot out mostly the same old beers to these things.

I know it’s a bit unfair to expect brewers to create a new beer for every beer event, but wouldn’t it be sweet if there was an event where all the beers being offered were being offered for the first time?

Well, there is actually.

The Beer Experience promises just that. According to their promotional material, “Each brewery [involved] has either brewed something totally unique specifically for this event, or they are bringing you a brand new brew that hasn’t hit the shelves yet!”

The promise of a lineup that’s entirely beers you’ve never had before? Officially awesome, yes? Continue reading “Contest: Win two tickets to The Beer Experience” →