The Strongest Beer in the World!

FYI only 12 bottle were made and each bottle went for $765 per bottle!!!

Where to Find Good Beer Screen Cast!

Where to Find Great Beer in Chicago

     I drive my wife nuts, because anytime we decide to go out she knows that my choice is almost always dominated by what beers are available to pair with my future meal.  The problem becomes, that I really don't want to get stuck at a restaurant where my best option is Miller Lite, so i frequent a great site called Beer Menus, which allows me to find out what bars/restaurants/beer stores are in the area and what they have to offer.  I have found that if a restaurant is passionate about the beers they serve, they have a greater chance on focusing on the quality of food that they serve.  This isn't a hard and fast rule, but more often then not it keeps me out of Olive Garden type places where the food is mundane and so are the brews

Who are the BIG players in the tiny Craft beer industry

There are over 1,600 craft breweries in operation in the United States alone right now, and that number is growing at an incredible rate.  Some are very successful and some are real dogs, but here is a fun list of Craft breweries that have made it and how many barrels of beer they produce in a year!  This info comes from Beernews.org, one of the leading craft beer related news sites on the web.

The Top 50 Small Brewing Companies of 2010 (split from parent companies) 2,000,000+ barrels
• 1. Boston Beer Co.
• 1. D.G. Yuengling & Son
500,000+ barrels
• 3. Sierra Nevada Brewing
• 4. New Belgium Brewing
200,000+ barrels
• 5. Spoetzl Brewery
• 6. Minhas Craft Brewery
• 7. Widmer Brothers Brewing
• 8. Deschutes Brewery
150,000+ barrels
• 9. Pyramid Breweries
• 10. Redhook Ale Brewery
• 11. Magic Hat Brewing
• 12. F.X. Matt Brewing
• 13. Bell’s Brewery
• 14. Boulevard Brewing
• 15. Harpoon Brewery
100,000+ barrels
• 16. Kona Brewing
• 17. Goose Island Beer Company
• 18. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
• 19. Alaskan Brewing
• 20. August Schell Brewing
• 21. Stone Brewing
• 22. Gordon Biersch Brewing
• 22. Abita Brewing
• 24. Brooklyn Brewery
• 25. Lagunitas Brewing
• 26. Full Sail Brewing
75,000+ barrels
• 27. Shipyard Brewing
• 28. Summit Brewing
• 29. Great Lakes Brewing
• 29. New Glarus Brewing
• 31. Anchor Brewers and Distillers
• 31. Long Trail Brewing
• 33. Rogue Ales
• 34. Firestone Walker Brewing
• 35. SweetWater Brewing
30,000+ barrels
• 36. Flying Dog Brewery
• 37. Mendocino Brewing
• 38. Victory Brewing
• 39. Lost Coast Brewery
• 40. Odell Brewing
• 41. BridgePort Brewing
• 42. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery
• 43. Straub Brewery
• 43. Rock Bottom Restaurants
• 45. Blue Point Brewing
• 46. Oskar Blues Brewery
• 47. Stevens Point Brewery
• 48. Big Sky Brewing
• 49. Mac and Jack’s Brewing
• 50. Saint Louis Brewery (Schlafly)

Local 60 Beer Tasting!

My NBC News Debut

     Back in the end of October, I had the chance to do a three and a half minute segment on craft beers for the Saturday morning NBC News.  Enjoy!

Beer Rating Sites

    There are over 1600 craft breweries in the USA and it is almost impossible to know what are the great beers that all those breweries have to offer and where are the good places in a city to get them.  The good news for the internet savvy who has a thirst for only the most interesting brews, there are a couple of great sites you can go to to find out more then you ever wanted to know about craft beer!  The two sites that you really need to hit up are BeerAdvocate and RateBeer, both of which have the benefit of being run by passionate beer lovers who have created a haven for users to express their opinion on their favorite frothy concoctions.

BeerAdvocate.com is an outstanding site, that is simple to navigate and is populated by some of the most hardcore and critical beer aficionados on the internet today.  This site allows the user to search beers by name and brewery, but it also allows you to find breweries, beer stores and home brew shops in all 50 states and around the world.

RateBeer.com is also very good, containing many well written articles and easy searches to find whatever beer you are looking for.  The downside of this site is that a bit more difficult to navigate and has recently added a "premium content" aspect which has nerfed the usefulness of many aspects of this site.